Who Pays The Price For America’s Aggressive Climate Policies?

By ZeroHedge - 

• The dramatic rise of electric vehicles has been touted as a major win for the environment.
• 
  
• While this transition to ‘zero-emission’ vehicles may benefit developed nations, front-line communities and emerging economies are paying the price.
• 
  
• The world desperately needs to find a healthy and fair balance in its energy transition.

In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, locals watch helplessly as their ancestral lands wither and die, their precious water resources evaporating in salar brines. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hope for a better life dissolves as well-funded Ugandan-led extremist groups force children as young as six into cobalt mines.

Closer to home, Nevada’s Fort McDermitt Tribe and local ranchers fight to protect a sacred burial site and agricultural lands set to be sacrificed by Lithium Nevada, a mining company, in the coming days.

Meanwhile, in California and other states, politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) pat themselves on the back for their “aggressive” environmental stance and boast that their gas-powered vehicle bans are leading “the revolution towards our zero-emission transportation future.”

The Hidden Costs

According to politicians like Newsom and President Joe Biden, electric vehicles are “zero-emission” because they use lithium-ion batteries—consisting of lithium, cobalt, graphite, and other materials—instead of gas.

Thus, starting in 2035, California will ban gas-powered vehicle sales, while several other states plan to follow suit, citing the embargo as a “critical milestone in our climate fight,” on Twitter.

Additionally, according to a statement from Biden, banning gas-powered vehicles will “save consumers money, cut pollution, boost public health, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.”

Disagreeing with such claims, John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch, pointed out to The Epoch Times that “industrial” nations might benefit from the electric vehicle transition but it’s at the expense of others.

“This expansion of [lithium] mining will have immediate consequences for front-line communities that are taking the ‘hit.’”

For example, Copiapó, the capital of Chile’s Atacama region, is the location of one of the world’s largest known lithium reserves.

“We used to have a river before that now doesn’t exist. There isn’t a drop of water,” Elena Rivera Cardoso, president of the Indigenous Colla community of the Copiapó commune, told the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

She added that all of Chile’s water is disappearing because of the local lithium mine. “In all of Chile, there are rivers and lakes that have disappeared—all because a company has a lot more right to water than we do as human beings or citizens of Chile.”

In collaboration with Cardosa’s statement, the Institute for Energy Research reports that 65 percent of the area’s limited water resources evaporate in salar brines.

That’s displacing indigenous communities who have called Atacama home for over 6,000 years because farmers and ranchers have cracked, dry soil, and no choice but to abandon their ancestral settlements, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Mine Proposed in Northern Nevada

Saying goodbye to an ancestral homeland as a local lithium mine destroys it is something the communities in Northern Nevada are fighting to avoid.

“The agricultural communities on either side of the pass are likely to be changed forever,” Hadder told The Epoch Times. “The [Thacker Pass mine] could affect their ability to farm and ranch in the area. The air quality will decrease … and increased water scarcity is likely.”

By Zerohedge.com

Poland discussing hosting US nuclear weapons to counter Russian threat

Polish President Andrzej Duda believes his country could join NATO’s nuclear sharing program

October 06, 2022
editor: GRZEGORZ ADAMCZYK
author: GAZETA POLSKA
via: DEFENCE24.PL

Poland is in talks with the United States about participating in a nuclear weapons sharing program to counter growing threats from Russia, Polish President Andrzej Duda revealed in an interview for Gazeta Polska weekly.

“The issue of Polish participation in the nuclear sharing program is open,” said the president.

When asked about the Russian threats of using a nuclear weapon, Duda answered that they indicate a way of thinking that “if Russia does not become great, then the world can cease to exist.”

He added that if Russia started a nuclear war, the ones responsible would be “cast out from the entire world.”

“The main problem is that we do not possess a nuclear weapon. Nothing indicates that Poland will have it any time soon. There is also a potential possibility of participating in nuclear sharing. We have talked with American leaders about whether the United States is considering such a possibility. The issue remains open,” said Duda.

The Polish president also stressed that his country will continue to stand by Ukraine. “Ukraine must defend itself and survive this war. We seek to achieve a situation in which Russia is forced to withdraw its troops,” said Duda, adding that Ukraine should regain all territory lost post-2014 when the Russian aggression first started.

He also discussed the recently opened Baltic Pipe pipeline, which transports natural gas from the North Sea to Poland.

“Our neighbors did not see the problem that their deliveries were coming solely from Russia. In Poland, gas deliveries were also solely from Russia until recently,” said Duda.

He added that if there were no leaders in Poland who desire change, there might not have been an LNG terminal in Świnoujście, the Baltic Pipe, or other investments that make Poland more independent from Russia.

Westinghouse to build first nuclear power station in Poland despite German opposition to Polish nuclear power capacity

The Polish government is set to choose American company Westinghouse for the construction of its first nuclear power station, but only the first one due to current politics, reports portal ‘W zielonej strefie’

October 06, 2022

editor: GRZEGORZ ADAMCZYK

author: PIOTR MACIĄŻEK

via: STREFAINWESTOROW.PL

Source: pexels.com

The Polish government is expected to announce in the coming days that American company Westinghouse will build the first nuclear power station in Poland, according to reports. However, for political reasons, a compromise will be struck by which Westinghouse will only be allowed to build the first nuclear power station, leaving the door open for other providers. 

This solution is expected to lead to delays in the project, as the European Commission is likely to block, at Germany’s behest, Poland’s intention to allow the construction of the first nuclear power station to proceed. The Czechs have avoided falling into such a trap. 

The Polish government was put under pressure from the American government, which pushed the Westinghouse case and gave Poland a 30-day deadline, despite the fact that the Polish-U.S. nuclear power agreement sets no deadlines on proceedings. The U.S. pressure has been intense.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in August attempted a reset in relations with France. One of the reasons for that reset was to gain France’s help in countering German opposition to Polish nuclear power capacity. France also has aspirations to participate in Poland’s nuclear build-out.

According to portal “W zielonej strefie,” the government has opted for a “squalid compromise,” which the portal feels will lead to the delay of the whole nuclear project in Poland. The decision to give Westinghouse the right to build the first nuclear power station was only made to address French concerns and persuade them not to lobby the European Commission to block the tenderless process Poland is about to choose. 

However, the French do have some strong cards they can play. Poland had, under the previous energy tsar Piotr Naimski, favored the Americans with an actual state-level agreement, which may also have been desired by the French EDF and Korean KHNP. The whole process favored the Americans since they were the only ones able to prepare a detailed offer, as they had full information about the required parameters on the basis of AP-1000 reactor, which is the technology Westinghouse uses. 

According to European law, for the process to be free of public tender requirements, a member state must prove that there is only one potential offer that meets the desired criteria or that the investment is a continuation requiring the same technology. It does not seem as if Poland met these criteria. The Czechs actually did hold a tender, and its terms of reference were negotiated with the Commission. 

The Polish government is aware that the choice it is about to make is likely to lead to the Commission blocking the project. Germany is already lobbying France to block Poland’s nuclear power program. However France is still counting on Poland deciding to mix technologies and allow it to participate in the program. 

The danger for Poland is that the French will feel cheated in the same way they felt let down over the cancellation of the Polish tender to buy the French Caracal helicopters. If they join forces with Berlin, the result could be a serious delay to the 2033 target date for the activation of the first nuclear power station in Poland, and a political defeat for the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) just months before it seeks re-election. 

Could Nuclear Power Help Poland Kick Coal?

By Haley Zaremba - 

• Poland is a heavily-coal dependent country and it is being hit hard by sanctions on Russian fossil fuels.
• 
  
• Poland is scrambling for new energy supplies, and the nation’s leaders have set their sights on nuclear power.
• 
  
• Nuclear giant Westinghouse is offering to help Poland develop its nuclear power industry.

3.8 million people in Poland depend on coal to keep their homes heated through harsh northern winters. Last month when the European Union slapped sanctions on Russian coal, Poles flocked to local coal mines, queueing for days in the late August heat and sleeping in their cars in hopes of securing enough coal to make it through the winter. While Poland is the third biggest coal producing nation in Europe (after Germany and Russia), the nation has grown increasingly reliant on cheap Russian coal imports in recent years, rendering them vulnerable to coal price shocks in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing economic sanctions and supply chain volatility.  "This is beyond imagination, people are sleeping in their cars. I remember the communist times but it didn't cross my mind that we could return to something even worse,” a man in the coal lines told Reuters. Poland is one of many nations that have recently been reminded in recent months of the dangers of relying too much on any one nation or form of energy production. Much of the EU is reeling from the loss of Russian natural gas after the Russian state-owned and -run gas company Gazprom cut off supply to the bloc indefinitely, blaming infrastructural issues that conveniently took place just as the EU decided to impose a price cap on Russian oil. France and China are also suffering from their own over-reliance on certain energy sectors: in France, nuclear production has plummeted at the worst possible moment thanks to a myriad of issues, and in China prolonged drought has slowed hydropower production to a trickle. Both of these squeezes have forced an increase in coal consumption, causing global coal prices to rise and compounding Poland’s energy woes. 

Now, Poland is scrambling for new energy supplies, and the nation’s leaders have set their sights on nuclear power. Late last month, as Poles slept in their cars in coal queues, Poland's Council of Ministers amended national law in order to ease nuclear energy investment. The country had already planned, beginning last year, to start building six nuclear reactors to help wean Poland off of its long-standing reliance on coal under increasing pressure to lower carbon emissions and phase out the dirtiest fossil fuel. But the first nuclear power plant wasn’t slated to begin construction until 2026, and the first Polish nuclear reactor would not be commissioned until 2033. Subsequent units would be built every 2-3 years, bringing the budget for the whole project to a whopping PLN150 billion (USD32 billion) – at least. That plan, however, no longer seems feasible. 

As Poland frets over how to keep homes heated through the winter, the government is in a huge hurry to speed up the nuclear power investment process. Warsaw is seeking a partner to help them start and scale up their nuclear energy sector as quickly as possible, and the United States has thrown its hat into the ring. The partnership, as Poland proposes it, would involve helping to install 6-9 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity, and the partner would have to provide 49% equity financing for the project. "It's more than a commercial offer, it reflects 18 months of work and millions of dollars spent on analysis and evaluations,” says the Polish climate ministry. 

Just this week Poland received an offer from Westinghouse, a Pennsylvania-based nuclear power company, to cooperate on the project. Westinghouse is competing with other entities from South Korea and France to win the nuclear project. South Korea's state-owned Korea Hydro Nuclear Power has submitted an offer to build the first nuclear plant in Polish history as soon as April. Several different French-based companies are also in talks with Poland, and the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has been cozying up to French nuclear industry leaders, although France’s own domestic nuclear industry is currently in crisis.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com 

Yemen: Strife-torn country once again at the mercy of regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia

With the end of a truce on October 2, the Yemeni population is facing more hardship as the two warring factions, backed by Iran and Saudi Arabia respectively, pick up where they left off.



The city of Taiz remained blocked and was shelled by the Houthis group throughout the past six months of a truce

After a six-month cease-fire, Yemen's warring factions, the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi group and the Saudi-backed internationally recognized Sunni government, are nominally back at war.

This takes the conflict, which has has been named the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe by the UN, into its eighth year.

Hans Grundberg, the head of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, put it diplomatically when asked whom he held responsible for the failure of the talks between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government. "I appreciate the position of the Government of Yemen on engaging positively with my proposal," the Swede said in a statement.

The talks had aimed at extending the truce for another six months, however, according to the UN, the Houthis were not willing to make far-reaching concessions, in contrast to the internationally recognized government.

In fact, the Houthis had started firing rockets within minutes of the end of the recent truce — which had been in place since April 2 and ended at midnight on October 2.

For the Washington-based Yemeni-American analyst Fatima Abo Alasrar, a non-resident scholar at the think tank Middle East Institute (MEI), it is obvious that "the Iran-backed Houthi militia favored disengagement from the process and a return to violence […] since they have no incentive to share power," she wrote in a piece for the think tank's website.

Moreover, a new openness by the Houthi group about its Iranian backing underlines its political and military strategy.



"Tehran has long denied its role in supporting the Houthis despite evidence of the contrary," Alasrar told DW, adding that "the Houthis have been increasingly vocal about their relationship with Iran."

The Houthis' strengthened position in Yemen has been further underlined by a statement, which was published on Twitter by one of the group's spokespeople a few hours after the end of the truce. The message stated in Arabic that the Houthis gave oil companies in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates the opportunity to "arrange their status and leave […]"

For Jens Heibach, a research fellow at the Hamburg-based GIGA Institute of Middle East Studies, this explicit warning resembles the highest possible alert for Saudi Arabia's defense system. "In light of Saudi Arabia's increased international relevance as an oil supplier, the Houthis have issued the biggest threat they have at the moment," he told DW.

The warning won't go unnoticed in Saudi Arabia as Houthi-led attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia demonstrated the kingdom's military vulnerability in March this year.

The war in Yemen began in 2014 with the Houthis' seizure of Yemen's north, including the then-capital Sanaa with its international airport and the important port in Hodeidah in the country's west. It escalated a year later in 2015, when a Saudi-led Sunni coalition joined the war in support of the internationally recognized government in the newly appointed capital Aden.

It is no secret that the war is widely seen as a proxy war between the arch enemies Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

Preferred option: Exit strategy

However, given that the war in Yemen is now in its eighth year with no sign of a military resolution, it doesn't really come as a surprise that the Saudi Kingdom has become less willing to continue fighting against the Iran-backed Houthis, Adnan Tabatabai, CEO of the Bonn-based think tank CARPO, told DW.

"Saudi Arabia has an increased desire to end the war in Yemen as soon as possible for security and economic reasons," he said.

YEMEN: AID ORGANIZATIONS RUNNING OUT OF MONEY
Shortage of aid
The humanitarian crisis in war-torn Yemen is getting worse again. According to the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), 13 million people there are in danger of starvation. This is due to the ongoing civil war in Yemen and a shortage of humanitarian aid.
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In terms of security policy, it has been impossible to neutralize the security threat from northern Yemen through military operations against the Houthis since 2015, Tabatabai added.

Moreover, the ongoing war in Yemen also has a negative economic effect for the ambitious Sunni powerhouse.

"The war generates high costs and, moreover, undermines the international appeal of ambitious megaprojects such as Neom [a Saudi city being built in northwestern Saudi Arabia — the ed.] which leads to reluctant international investments," Tabatabai said, and added that "this results in a willingness in Riyadh to consult with Iran."

However, the current unrest in Iran, which followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, and has led to global pressure on the regime, "increases the unpredictability of the peace process in Yemen because Houthis' and Iran have mutual interests in the pursuit of this war," MEI analyst Alasrar said.

Yemen: High human cost

While the cease-fire had brought relief in the form of significantly reduced military action, and an increase of international aid deliveries by planes and ships, this situation is now expected to change for the worse for the population of the war-torn country.

According to this year's Human Rights Watch report, the war has caused the deaths of nearly 250,000 people, while another four million are internally displaced, and about half of the population faces acute levels of food insecurity.

However, for the decisive regional actors, Yemen's humanitarian disaster doesn't seem to be a note-worthy factor.

"Security considerations in Saudi Arabia and Iran will be the sole determining factor for a possible end to the Yemen conflict," Adnan Tabatabai said.

"Namely, as soon as both sides conclude that they would be better off with an end to this dispute, they will commit to a new cease-fire."

Edited by: Rob Mudge

DocFilm - Yemen’s Dirty War  

#documentary #dwdocumentary

Yemen's dirty war | DW Documentary

Jun 11, 2022

At least 370,000 people have already died in the Yemen conflict, while millions have been displaced. The United Nations ranks the bloody proxy war and its effects as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The conflict in Yemen, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, has been going on for years, and has recently seen renewed intensity. In January, an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a prison in the north of the country killed at least 70 people and left hundreds injured. The war has now effectively divided Yemen in two. Its causes are more than just economic and religious ones. It is seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. At stake are regional dominance, untapped oil reserves and access to the Red Sea, including the all-important Suez Canal. 

Sana’a, the erstwhile Yemeni capital, is now considered one of the most inaccessible places on the planet. For the past six years, the city has been controlled by a Houthi political and military movement calling itself "Ansar Allah." But Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates view the Houthi rebels, who belong to the Zaydism branch of Islam, as heretics who pose a threat to Wahhabism. Using weapons provided by the West, they have relentlessly bombarded the north of the country. Meanwhile, a strict embargo is starving the population, with some 400,000 children at risk of death from famine.

Should not have to take ‘begging bowl’ to rich polluting nations after floods: PM Shehbaz

Dawn.com Published October 6, 2022


Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addresses the nation in this file photo.

— DawnNewsTV

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan should not be forced to go to rich polluting nations with “a begging bowl” in the aftermath of the catastrophic flooding which has affected nearly a third of the country.

Latest data and estimates show nearly 1,700 people have been killed in the floods and their aftermath caused by heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers.

Thousands more have been displaced and the United Nations has sounded the alarm on the rise of water-borne diseases in the country, particularly among the flood-hit population.

The government estimates the cost of the damage at $30 billion, and both the government and UN have blamed the catastrophe on climate change.

Read: Villagers in flood-hit Khairpur surviving on a sliver of land

In an interview published in The Guardian on Thursday, PM Shehbaz said he would be seeking “climate justice” from the international community.

He went on to say that Pakistan was facing an unprecedented crisis of health, food security and internal displacement after the “apocalyptical” monsoon rainfall.

With Pakistan contributing marginally to global carbon emissions, the premier said it was the “responsibility of the developed countries, who caused these emissions, to stand by us”.

“I’ve never seen this kind of devastation, inundation and suffering of our people in my lifetime. Millions have been displaced, they have become climate refugees within their own country.”

PM Shehbaz said that while the global community had pledged funds and aid, it was “not enough”.

“The enormity of this climate-induced catastrophe is beyond our fiscal means,” he told the publication. “The gap between our needs and what is available is too wide and it is widening by the day.”

However, the premier made it clear that he was talking about “climate justice”.

“We are not blaming anybody, we’re not casting allegations, what we are we saying is this is not of our making but we have become a victim. Should I be asked to cast my appeal into a begging bowl? That is double jeopardy. That’s unjust, unfair.”

Commenting on the support from world leaders, PM Shehbaz said that while he was grateful for the “very touching words and statements”, it was “all very fine but more important is practical demonstration of these statements into action”.

“While they are doing a very good job, and we appreciate it, this is not enough. They must come forward with a far better and a far bigger plan to rescue us and rehabilitate us and put us back on our footing.”

He also pointed out the unfulfilled promise made by rich nations over a decade ago to commit $100bn a year to a climate fund for developing nations at the forefront of the climate crisis.

“Where’s that money? It’s high time that we question and remind these countries to fulfil their commitments and pledges they have made.”

“We’re not asking about reparations,” he went on to say. “No, we’re not. I don’t think talk of reparations is proper at this point in time. What I am saying is that they should take notice of the situation, take responsibility and act speedily before it’s too late, before the damage becomes irreparable — not just for Pakistan, but for the world.”

Earlier this week, the UN revised up its humanitarian appeal for Pakistan five-fold, to $816 million from $160m, as a surge of water-borne diseases and fear of growing hunger posed new dangers after weeks of unprecedented flooding.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said on Tuesday Pakistan was “on the verge of a public health disaster”.

“The water has stopped rising, but the danger has not, we are on the verge of a public health disaster. Many more lives than were lost in the floods could be lost in the coming weeks if we don’t mobilise greater support for Pakistan,” he said.

Pakistan: Bilawal Bhutto calls for climate justice, rejects Western pressure over Ukraine

In a DW interview, Pakistan's foreign minister says people in his country are paying the price for the industrialization of richer nations. He stressed Islamabad is determined to stay neutral in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Pakistan has witnessed catastrophic flooding over the past few weeks that have affected more than 33 million people — some 15% of the nation's population — and submerged a third of the country.

The natural disaster has killed over 1,500 people and caused damage worth billions of dollars, compounding the woes of an economy already beset by a raft of problems, ranging from a heavy debt burden and ballooning current account deficit to a tumbling currency and skyrocketing inflation, particularly food prices.

Eight million people still remain displaced, and the World Bank said that the loss of jobs, livestock, harvests and houses as well as the spread of disease, among other problems, threaten to throw millions of people into poverty.

Scientists have said the recent devastating flooding in Pakistan was made worse by global warming caused by greenhouse-gas emissions, which is leading to some kinds of extreme weather becoming more frequent and intense.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is currently visiting Berlin, where he held talks with German authorities to gather support for his country's efforts to help flood victims and overcome a worsening economic crisis.

On Friday, Bhutto-Zardari met with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. In a joint press conference after the meeting, he described the floods in his country as a crisis of "biblical proportions." The German foreign minister told him that Pakistan can count on German solidarity, offering financial support worth €60 million.

"I'm grateful to Foreign Minister Baerbock for her hospitality," Bhutto-Zardari told DW's Richard Walker. "Going forward, we want to work with our partners, including our friends in Germany, on figuring out ways to finance the reconstruction and rehabilitation as a result of the devastation caused by the floods," he added.

'Not a charity'

Some Pakistani government officials, however, have slammed the international response to the climate catastrophe in Pakistan as "inadequate."

But Western countries are currently busy dealing with rising tensions with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February.

Pakistan faces food shortages after flooding

As a result of the war in Ukraine, European countries are facing an energy crisis and record inflation. The German government recently announced that it wanted to spend €200 billion on trying to keep energy prices low in the country.

The Pakistani foreign minister said that he understands the difficulties Europe is facing right now. "We've just faced a pandemic that has affected the economies of countries everywhere. We've also seen the devastation in Ukraine and the sanctions that come along with it. That has resulted in difficulties for the people of Germany, just as it's resulted in difficulties for the people of Pakistan," he said.

Bhutto-Zardari, however, pointed out that helping Pakistan deal with the climate crisis is not a "charity" from Western nations.

"It's a question of justice that a country that produces 0.8% of the global carbon footprint is the eighth most climate stressed country on the planet. Some 33 million people are paying with their lives and their livelihoods for the industrialization of richer countries," he said, underlining that "this is a global problem demanding global actions."

"We hope that it also has global solutions despite the incredible difficulties that everybody is facing at this time," the minister added.

Ukraine-Russia conflict: Islamabad refuses to take sides

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was slammed by the West for visiting Moscow at the time when Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine. Later, Khan accused the US of being involved in a "conspiracy" to oust him from power.

The new government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, however, does not have a much different position on the Ukraine crisis, with Islamabad trying its best to remain neutral.

Pakistan abstained on a UN General Assembly resolution in March condemning Russia's Ukraine war and is likely to do the same when the body votes on a new draft resolution next week.

"We have a principled position to abstain and not be drawn into a new conflict," Bhutto-Zardari said. "We had the fall of Kabul just a year ago, and that was for us one conflict after another, decades after decades, as we've confronted war and devastation in our neighborhood," he added.

Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan is still facing the consequences of the Taliban's seizure of power in Afghanistan, adding that NATO ended the war "without consulting us or without significant engagement with the previous civilian government in Afghanistan."

"We have longstanding ties with Ukraine. We used to import wheat from Ukraine. We still believe that dialogue and diplomacy is absolutely necessary for us to resolve this conflict," he said.

DENGUE OUTBREAK COMPOUNDS MISERY OF PAKISTAN FLOODS
Flood aftermath
Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan have submerged large parts of the country, killing more than 1,500 people. Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the floods have been left homeless. Residents now face disease outbreaks, particularly the mosquito-borne dengue virus.
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Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

SpaceX capsule heads to space station ferrying NASA crew and Russian

The mission is notable for the inclusion of Anna Kikina, 38, the lone female cosmonaut on active duty with Roscosmos, making the first spaceflight of a Russian launched from U.S. soil in two decades.

Oct. 5, 2022
By Reuters

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX rocket soared into orbit from Florida on Wednesday carrying the next long-term International Space Station crew, with a Russian cosmonaut, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut flying together in a demonstration of U.S.-Russian teamwork in space despite Ukraine war tensions.

A high-ranking official of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said shortly after the launch that the flight marked “a new phase of our cooperation” with the U.S. space agency NASA.

The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Endurance, lifted off into clear skies at noon EDT (1600 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. The two-stage, 23-story-tall Falcon 9 ascended from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life in billowing clouds of vapor and a reddish-orange fireball.

The mission is notable for the inclusion of Anna Kikina, 38, the lone female cosmonaut on active duty with Roscosmos, making the first spaceflight of a Russian launched from U.S. soil in two decades. As the spacecraft entered Earth orbit, Kikina radioed her thanks to NASA, Roscosmos and their International Space Station (ISS) partners for “giving us this great opportunity.”

“We’re so glad to do it together,” Kikina said.

Kikina, who had trained in the United States for the flight since spring 2021, was essentially swapping places with a NASA astronaut who took her seat aboard a Russian Soyuz flight to the ISS last month under a new ride-sharing deal signed by NASA and Roscosmos in July.

About nine minutes after Wednesday’s launch, the rocket’s upper stage delivered the Crew Dragon into a preliminary orbit as it streaked through space at nearly 16,000 miles per hour (27,000 kph). The reusable lower-stage booster flew itself back to Earth and landed safely on a drone recovery vessel at sea.

The four-member crew and their autonomously flying capsule were expected to reach the ISS in about 29 hours, on Thursday evening, to begin a 150-day science mission aboard the orbital laboratory some 250 miles (420 km) above Earth.

The mission, designated Crew-5, marks the fifth full-fledged ISS crew NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX vehicle since the private rocket venture founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk began sending U.S. astronauts aloft in May 2020.

This latest team was led by Nicole Aunapu Mann, 45, a veteran combat pilot making spaceflight history as both the first Native American woman sent to orbit by NASA and the first woman to take the commander’s seat of a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

Moments after reaching orbit, as mission control wished the crew “Godspeed,” Mann radioed back, “Awesome. Thank you so much to the Falcon team. Whew! That was a smooth ride uphill.”