Spotless giraffe, thought to be only one in world, born at Tennessee zoo

Oliver Milman
Mon, August 21, 2023 

One of the rarest sights in the animal kingdom has appeared in the unlikely setting of a Tennessee zoo, which has hosted the birth of what is thought to be the world’s only singularly colored giraffe.

The female giraffe, born on 31 July, is a uniform brown color, lacking the distinctive patched pattern that giraffes – along with their exceptionally long necks – are known for. Brights zoo said the giraffe is already 6ft tall and is under the care of her mother and zoo staff.

The zoo believes the giraffe is one of a kind, given that giraffes are very rarely born without their mottled appearance, which primarily serves as a form of camouflage in the wild.

Related: Japanese man lives dog’s life in long-haired collie suit – in pictures

The skin under the spots also has a system of blood vessels that allows giraffes to release heat through the center of each patch, providing a form of thermal regulation.

Each giraffe – apart from the Tennessee newcomer – has a unique pattern of patches, with researchers believing that these patterns are inherited from their mothers.

Brights zoo said it hoped the unusual birth would help highlight the challenges faced by giraffes in the world. The world’s tallest animal is threatened by the fragmentation of its habitat in Africa, as well as from illicit poaching.

“The international coverage of our patternless baby giraffe has created a much-needed spotlight on giraffe conservation,” the founder of Brights zoo, Tony Bright, said to the local television news station WCYB. “Wild populations are silently slipping into extinction, with 40% of the wild giraffe population lost in just the last three decades.”

The zoo has announced a contest for the public to name the new giraffe. The shortlisted options are Kipekee, which means “unique” in Swahili; Firayali, which means unusual; Shakiri, which means “she is most beautiful”; and Jamella, which is “one of great beauty”.

Crying wolf to save livestock and their predator

Nina LARSON
Mon, August 21, 2023

Swiss NGO OPPAL has enlisted hundreds of volunteers this summer to chase predatory wolves away from grazing livestock (Fabrice COFFRINI)

Using a powerful torch, Aliki Buhayer-Mach momentarily drenches a nearby mountain top in light, straining to see if wolves are lurking in the shadows.

If the predator were to get past the electric wires stretched around this high-altitude pasture in the Swiss Alps, the 57-year-old biologist knows "it would be a massacre".

She and her 60-year-old husband Francois Mach-Buhayer -- a leading Swiss cardiologist -- have settled in to spend the night watching over some 480 sheep grazing in the remote mountains near the Italian border.

The pair of unlikely herders are among several hundred people volunteering this summer through OPPAL, a Swiss NGO seeking a novel way to protect wolves, by helping chase them away from grazing livestock.

"Our goal is that by the end of the summer season, the livestock are still alive... and the wolves too," OPPAL director Jeremie Moulin told AFP.

He co-founded the organisation three years ago in a bid to help promote and improve cohabitation between wildlife and human activities, at a time when swelling wolf populations had emotions running high.

"I think this project helps enable dialogue," Moulin said.

- Soaring wolf attacks -

After being wiped out more than a century ago, wolves have in recent decades begun returning to Switzerland, like several other European countries.

Since the first pack was spotted in the wealthy Alpine nation in 2012, the number of packs swelled to around two dozen by the start of this year, with some 250 individual wolves counted.

Nature preservation groups have hailed the return, seeing it as a sign of a healthier and more diverse ecosystem.

But breeders and herders decry soaring attacks on livestock, with 1,480 farm animals killed by wolves in Switzerland last year alone.

In response, Swiss authorities, who in 2022 authorised the cull of 24 wolves and regulation of four packs, last month relaxed the rules for hunting the protected species.

And with news of wolf attacks on livestock dominating the summer headlines, the Swiss Farmers' Union has urged more hunting permits to be issued to take advantage of the laxer ordinance.

"Rangers alone will not be enough to bring exponentially growing wolf populations back under control and reduce them to a manageable density," it said.

Moulin said he understands the farmers' frustration.

"For them, the wolf obviously represents a large additional workload," he said, adding that OPPAL aimed to help sensitise the broader population to the challenges, and also provide some relief.

- 'Extremely fast' -

Up to 400 volunteers will take part in OPPAL's monitoring programme this summer, spending nights camped out in mountain pastures, watching over grazing sheep and calves.

Aliki and Francois joined from the start, and now do two five-day stints in various locations each summer.

"It's our vacation time," Francois said, looking around the desolate spot, reached after a four-hour drive from Geneva and a nearly two-hour hike up a steep, rocky path.

At 2,200 metres (7,200 feet) above sea level, temperatures quickly plunge as the sun sets.

Using a tarp, the couple have created a lookout shelter, equipped with camping chairs, thermal blankets and a propane coffee maker to get them through the night.

They have also pitched a small tent where one could theoretically rest as the other keeps watch, but acknowledge they have barely used it.

All through the frigid night, they take turns scanning the horizon with thermal, infrared binoculars every 15 minutes for signs of animals moving towards the flock of resting sheep, their bells chiming softly in the darkness.

"You have to look often, and you have to look well," Aliki said, "because the wolf can see us in the darkness and knows when to try its luck. And when it moves, it moves extremely fast."

- 'Magical' -

To frighten off a wolf, "you can't be all that scared yourself", Francois said, explaining how he and Aliki two nights earlier had chased away wolves three times in a few hours.

"It takes two people," he said. "One keeps an eye on the wolf with the binoculars, and the other runs towards the beast with the torch... and a whistle".

It is an athletic endeavour, running up mountain sides in the dark, tripping over rocks and molehills, he said. "But it is magical."

Moulin said OPPAL volunteers on average chase off wolves once every 20 nights, with 32 such events registered last year.

Shepherd Mathis von Siebenthal appreciates the effort.

"It is such a big help," he said after delivering the flock to Aliki and Francois for the night.

"If OPPAL were not here, I would be always... thinking if the wolf is coming or not," said the 36-year-old German national with a tanned, weathered face.

"Like this, I can go to sleep."

After a long, cold, uneventful night under a sky of shooting stars, Aliki said she was looking forward to getting rest at the mountain refuge about a kilometre away.

"The last two hours are the worst," she said bleary-eyed.

"Between 4:00 and 6:00 am we dream of nothing but morning, coffee, and sleep."

nl/vog/giv

COLLECTIVISM VS INDIVIDUALISM

WATCH: 50 Baboons Beat Up a Leopard

Dac Collins
Mon, August 21, 2023 

The baboons attack as a group and throw the leopard off guard.

Baboons hate leopards—and for good reason. The big cats are one of a baboon's top predators, typically hunting the primates at night by climbing the trees where they sleep in large groups. It’s a different story when the sun is out, however, and a recent video filmed in South Africa shows that the large monkeys occasionally get their revenge.

The video, which was shared to the Latest Sightings Instagram page on Aug. 15, shows a troop of 50 or so baboons attacking a leopard in the middle of the road. It was filmed in Kruger National Park by Ricky da Fonseca, according to a post on Latest Sightings.

Fonseca explained that he was in a vehicle near the Tshokwane picnic site when he spotted the large male leopard strolling near the side of a road. As the vehicle pulled over and Fonseca got his camera ready, he noticed the troop of baboons in the middle of the road. He then watched as the leopard crouched in the grass and started stalking the group.

“As the leopard closed in on the baboons, anticipation hung in the air,” Fonseca said. “Suddenly, with a burst of speed, the leopard sprang from the grass in an attempt to catch one of the baboons off guard.”

The leopard’s attempt was over before it began.

As the cat closes in on the troop, one of the biggest baboons in the group runs straight at the leopard, blocking its approach. The two collide, and by the time they hit the ground, eight or nine baboons are already on top of the leopard. The rest of the troop then turns around, and within seconds, dozens of them are biting, kicking, and tearing at the leopard while it spins around helplessly on its back. The racket of baboon screeches and leopard roars is deafening.

Read Next: Watch: Leopard Leaps Out of a Tree and Takes Down an Impala

“They attacked as a troop,” Fonseca said. “This threw the leopard off, and they capitalized, surrounding it, screaming, and biting at it. They showed no mercy at all.”

The merciless beat-down continues over the next 10 seconds as more baboons jump into the fray while the leopard tries to kick them off. The cat is eventually able to get up and run away, but as the video ends, the baboons are still chasing after it.

“With a few bruises and cuts on his body, the leopard ran off,” Fonseca said. “Surely his ego was more hurt than his body.”

Furry creature likely lived undetected for millions of years — until now, study says

OUR FRIEND THE OLD MOLE ARISES FROM THE UNDERGROUND

KARL MARX

Brendan Rascius
Tue, August 22, 2023 

Biologists recently made two “very rare” discoveries — and they’re not making a mountain out of a molehill.

But their discoveries are certainly making molehills out of mountains.

They found two new species of moles burrowed into the snowy peaks of eastern Turkey, according to a study published on July 18 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Such findings are very uncommon as “there are only around 6,500 mammal species that have been identified across the world,” David Bilton, one of the study authors, said in a news release from the University of Plymouth in the U.K.

“By comparison,” Bilton said, “there are around 400,000 species of beetles known, with an estimated 1-2 million on Earth.”


One of the new species, Talpa hakkariensis, pictured here in the Hakkari region of Turkey.

To conduct their analyses, biologists captured specimens from Turkey, while also using previously collected animals kept in museum collections, according to the study and release.

The biologists, who are affiliated with universities in the UK, US and Turkey, then employed state-of-the-art DNA technology to confirm the moles belonged to previously unknown species.

Differences in the animals’ physical characteristics, such as subtle variations in skull shape, were also used to support their conclusion.

The new species, named Talpa hakkariensis and Talpa davidiana tatvanensis, belong to a genus of 16 other moles found throughout Europe and Asia, according to the release.

Moles, adapted to live underground, generally have poor eyesight, according to the National Wildlife Federation. What they lack in vision, though, they make up for in their exceptionally sensitive snout and their large claws used for digging.

The newfound creatures are also extremely hardy, capable of surviving temperatures up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit as well as harsh winter conditions. The furry diggers could be blanketed under 6 feet of snow and still soldier on.

Biologists believe that unbeknownst to humans, the moles have been living in the mountains of Turkey for up to 3 million years. This would make the small animals far older than humans, who are believed to be only several hundred thousand years old, according to the Natural History Museum.

“We have no doubt that further investigations will reveal additional diversity, and that more new species of mole remain undiscovered in this and adjacent regions,” Bilton said in the release. “Amid increasing calls to preserve global biodiversity, if we are looking to protect species we need to know they exist in the first place.”

Temple ruins on uninhabited Greek island reveal 2,400-year-old statues. Take a look

Aspen Pflughoeft
Tue, August 22, 2023

Entering the temple, ancient worshipers passed under several sets of watchful marble eyes. The stone statues once gazed across a bustling settlement. Millennia later, the fragmented figures are the last occupants on an uninhabited Greek island.

The Mantra archaeological site is located along the coast of Despotiko island, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports said in an Aug. 21 news release. Excavations at the site began in 2001 and have uncovered ruins dating from the Iron Age to the eighth century A.D.

While excavating near a ruined temple for the god Apollo, archaeologists found several walls that likely formed an entrance hall. Amid the rubble, they found several parts of a statue, the release said.

The marble statue was about 2,480 years old and depicted a male figure standing upright, a type of statue known as a kouros, archaeologists said. A photo shows the carved figure’s upper body and torso. Its lower legs, arms and face are gone.


Kouros statues were “popular” in ancient Greek culture from the sixth century B.C. to the fourth century B.C., according to Britannica. The young male figures were used as tombstones, monuments and “sometimes represented the god Apollo.”

Apollo was “one of the most widely revered and influential of all the ancient Greek and Roman gods,” according to Britannica. Among his many meanings, he was worshiped as the god of “religious law,” prophecy, crops and the sun.


The most well-preserved kourus statue found at the ruins of the temple of Apollo.

Archaeologists previously found fragments of two other kouros statues in the area, the release said.

When Mantra’s ancient Apollo sanctuary was functional, the statues were part of the entranceway, archaeologists said. After it was abandoned, the statues were reused as building materials. A photo shows a wall section where a carved head and torso form part of the structure.


A wall by the temple entrance where fragmented statues — including a head and torso — were reused as building material.

Archaeologists excavated new sections of the site’s water management system, including an oval water tank, according to the release. A photo shows the large, inset structure. Stones line its edges and a conduit channel runs out of one side.

A circular water tank found at the site.

Excavations also unearthed a four-room building with an unknown purpose, the release said. Pottery artifacts found in the structure dated to the fifth or sixth century B.C.

Another ruined structure at the site.

On the other side of the Mantra site, archaeologists worked on restoring a 2,600-year-old religious structure. Photos show the rectangular, white columned building.

A ruined religious building during restoration work.

Despotiko island is about 100 miles southeast of Athens, located on the southern tip of mainland Greece.

Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports.

HEKATE

2,300-year-old statue depicting 3-headed goddess of witchcraft found in Turkey. See it

Moira Ritter
Mon, August 21, 2023 

More than 2,000 years ago, the city of Kelenderis was a thriving port on the southern coast of Turkey.

The city was founded during the rule of the Phoenicians, and it remained a thriving center for religion, culture and trade through the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s, according to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Archaeological excavations and explorations of the city were initiated more than 30 years ago, but experts are still uncovering new artifacts. Most recently, a team of experts from Batman University unearthed an ancient sculpture of the Greek goddess Hecate, the university said in an Aug. 18 news release.

The 2,300-year-old statue depicts the Greek goddess Hecate with three heads.

The approximately 8-inch statue depicts Hecate with three heads, photos of the discovery show. Experts estimate that the figure dates to the Hellenistic period, making it about 2,300 years old.

Hecate

Hecate is a goddess of Greek religion known for bestowing wealth and the blessings of daily life, according to Britannica. Early depictions of the goddess showed her as a single form wearing long robes and holding a torch, but later representations began illustrating the deity with three heads or bodies.

Starting in the fifth century B.C., Hecate became associated with death, witchcraft, magic and night creatures, according to the World History Encyclopedia. She was often shown with three faces because of her role as the guardian of crossroads and boundaries.

Triple-headed or triple-bodied forms of the goddess were used as “hekataia,” guarding entrances and gates, the encyclopedia said. The first example of this form was discovered at the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens.

Other finds in Kelenderis

Decades of excavations have revealed numerous important historical discoveries in Kelenderis, now known as Aydincik.

Previous finds include the remains of an ancient castle and wall, an ancient bath complex with a mosaic, an ancient theater and a mausoleum dating to the late second or third centuries A.D., according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from Batman University and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism website.

A nearly 100-year-old wooden house survived the Lahaina fire. Its owners are stumped as to why, but experts say this photo reveals crucial lessons for homeowners.

Grace Eliza Goodwin,Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Mon, August 21, 2023

The house on Front Street in Lahaina stands amid the rubble.Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images

The Maui wildfires that burned down Lahaina shockingly spared a red-roofed wooden house.


A photo shows the buildings on all sides of the house were destroyed.


Yard work and ample space may have saved it, experts say, since those are the best ways to protect your home from wildfire.

The wildfires that struck Maui earlier this month devastated the historic town of Lahaina, reducing nearly every building to ashy rubble — but one wooden house in the center of it all survived unscathed.

Experts say this red-roofed home offers a crucial lesson in wildfire safety.

"When we look at these pictures, we look at what has burned. We look at the cars and the houses, and we neglect to look at what didn't burn," Pat Durland, a former wildland fire manager, current wildfire-mitigation consultant, and board member at the non-profit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, told Insider. "That's where the answers lie."

Two key things protected this house: space and a lack of flammable vegetation, or other fuel for the fire, around it.Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty

The owners of the house were shocked to find it still standing. They hadn't made any efforts to fireproof their home, they told local news outlets.

"It looks like it was photoshopped in," homeowner Trip Millikin told the Honolulu Civil Beat, referring to how the white, red-roofed home now looks, as rubble surrounds it. Even the car in the driveway looks unscathed.

But the Millikins made a few key choices that meant this house "didn't meet the requirements for ignition," Durland said. "It's not a miracle or luck."

The good news is that many homeowners can do the same: keep a perimeter of at least five feet around the house totally free of dry or flammable vegetation or mulch, keep the roof and gutters clear, remove anything flammable from underneath porches and decks, and install non-combustible 1/8-inch mesh screening on any vents to a crawl space or attic.

That all helps ensure there's no fuel for any embers to ignite if they drift to your house.

"People believe that they're helpless," Durland said. But they're not, he insisted: "Nine out of 10 times, this boils down to words: yard work."
The open, vegetation-free space around this house may have saved it

Trip Millikin and his wife, Dora Atwater Millikin, bought the Front Street house in 2021, according to the Civil Beat. The home, which once housed a local sugar plantation's management employees, is thought to have been moved from the plantation to its current location in 1925, the Civil Beat reported.

The house was pretty rundown when the Millikins bought it, so they decided to renovate it and preserve a piece of Lahaina history, the Civil Beat reported.

That decision may have saved everything they own.

Atwater Millikin told The Los Angeles Times that she doesn't quite understand why the home was spared, but she thinks it might have something to do with how they renovated it.

"It's a 100% wood house, so it's not like we fireproofed it or anything," Atwater Millikin told the outlet.

But they did make it more fire resistant, even if on accident. For one, Atwater Millikin said they laid stones in place of foliage surrounding the house.

"The first thing I see is space," Durland said.

Some of that is a lucky location: The ocean is protecting their deck. There's a lot of space between them and the neighboring houses. But the absence of mulch or dry plants around their house, or tree branches too close to it, means there's no fuel to spread fire to the house itself.

"If shrubs and bushes, especially flammable ones, are right up next to the house and embers catch them on fire, the heat can burst the window and it goes right into the home from there," Susie Kocher, a forestry advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension, who co-authored a guide to retrofitting homes for wildfire protection, told the Times.

"People generally think that it's a big wall of flames that is catching houses on fire, but often the mechanism is embers," she added.
The clear roof helped too

Atwater Millikin also said she and her husband replaced the asphalt roof with a metal one.

"When this was all happening, there were pieces of wood — 6, 12 inches long — that were on fire and just almost floating through the air with the wind and everything," Atwater Millikin told The Times. "They would hit people's roofs, and if it was an asphalt roof, it would catch on fire. And otherwise, they would fall off the roof and then ignite the foliage around the house."

An asphalt roof isn't actually more flammable than metal, Kocher and Durland said. That would have been fine. But the fact that the Millikins' roof is clear of debris certainly helped, they said.

"I felt guilty. We still feel guilty," Trip Millikin told the Civil Beat, adding that he and his wife plan to open up the house to their neighbors who lost their homes.

"Let's rebuild this together," Millikin told the Civil Beat. "This house will become a base for all of us. Let's use it."

For Fukushima supermarket owner, water release spells renewed battle for survival

Mon, August 21, 2023

Japanese imports of seafood are seen in a supermarket in Hong Kong

By Akiko Okamoto, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Tom Bateman

SOMA, Japan (Reuters) - On a recent Wednesday morning, supermarket owner Takashi Nakajima expertly sliced into slabs of raw sea bream and horse mackerel, placing the thin wedges of the local Fukushima catch on a plate to be sold in the store he inherited from his father.

It's been a long battle to get radiation-wary customers back to the seafood from waters near the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was wrecked in the 2011 tsunami, Nakajima says. Now, with the imminent release of treated radioactive water from the plant into the Pacific, he fears a return to square one.

"This can't be happening," the 67-year-old said in the backyard kitchen of his supermarket in Soma city, just 45 km (28 miles) north of the stricken power plant.

"If diluted with a large volume of sea water, it wouldnaturally be thinned out enough to be considered safe. Theproblem is, this water release will go on for at least 30 years."

Japan said on Tuesday it would start discharging more than 1 million metric tonnes of the treated water on Aug. 24. The plan, which the U.N. nuclear regulatory body considers safe, has alarmed the local fishing industry as well as neighbouring countries, especially China.

The government says the water has been filtered to removemost radioactive elements except for tritium, levels of which would be well below internationally approved levels after dilution.

Nakajima recalls the discouragement he felt in the months following the nuclear disaster, which spewed radiation into the atmosphere for hundreds of miles. Customers shunned the produce that was the source of their own community's livelihood, leaving him to wonder whether he should be selling it at all.

"I lost confidence right then," he said.

NEW BATTLE

Over the years, customers slowly returned as food safety tests came back negative for abnormal radiation levels. Encouragement also came from long-time customers like former fisherman Yasutaka Shishido, who had no qualms about buying local fish and vegetables.

Still, with so many unknowns, Nakajima, who also heads a group suing the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power for compensation, said the day of the water release could mark the beginning of a new battle.

"No scientific research has been conducted as to what would happen as a result of the discharge of all the water over the 30 years," said Nakajima, adding he may take fresh legal action to stop the plan.

"The release is unscientific in the extreme, and will surely dampen fish sales."

To help the fishing industry cope with possible reputational damage such as slow sales from the water release, the government has set up funds totalling 80 billion yen ($550 million) to help develop new sales channels and keep excess fish frozen until they can be sold when demand recovers, among other measures.

For Nakajima, the stakes are high not just for today's fishermen but for those that will come down the road.

"If we remain uninterested, take no action and look theother way, we will inevitably become the target of criticism from later generations. If we are to avoid that situation, the day will come where we will have to fight."

($1 = 145.4100 yen)

(Reporting by Akiko Okamoto, Kiyoshi Takenaka, Tom Bateman; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Stephen Coates)

Factbox-Excerpts from Japan's response to China and Russia's inquiry on Fukushima water release

Reuters
Mon, August 21, 2023 

An aerial view shows the storage tanks for treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima, Japan

(Reuters) -Japan said late on Monday it had responded to inquiries from China and Russia about the ocean discharge of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power station, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco).

The Japanese government has shared its responses to the two neighbouring countries in a document dated Aug. 18 and posted on the International Atomic Energy Agency's website.

Tepco has been filtering the contaminated water, using machines called Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate from water. Tepco will dilute the water until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits before pumping it into the ocean from the coastal site.

Below are key extracts from the Japan's response:

DISPOSAL OF FUKUSHIMA WATER

"The ALPS treated water will meet both Japanese regulatory standards based on relevant international standards. In other words, tritium levels in the treated water and diluted water will be below those considered safe for drinking."

"Meanwhile, it is not the practice of any country to drink the water discharged from nuclear facilities."

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has concluded... that the approach to the discharge of ALPS treated water into the sea and the associated activities by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) and the government of Japan, are consistent with relevant international safety standards and the discharge... will have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment."

RELEASE OPTION

"There is insufficient additional storage capacity in existing tanks (97% full); constructing more storage tanks is not feasible at the FDNPS (Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station), as all available space for tanks at the site is already occupied."

"Use of storage tanks in the long term is dangerous, as the surrounding areas are prone to earthquakes, which would put tank integrity at risk."

"The discharge into the sea was selected because it can be implemented more reliably as it has a proven track record in domestic and overseas nuclear facilities, it is easy to forecast the diffusion behaviour, and it is the easiest for monitoring of any potential impact on the environment."

NORMAL OPERATION AND WATER FROM A NUCLEAR ACCIDENT

"International safety standards do not distinguish between water released from normal operation, and water from a facility that has suffered an accident. This is because what matters is the content of the water to be discharged, not its source.

The IAEA has confirmed... that the planned discharge of the ALPS treated water... will not harm people or the environment, including the marine environment."

ANNUAL DISCHARGE LIMITS

"Japan does not consider it necessary to set such limits because Japan will ensure that the ALPS system reliably removes nuclides other than tritium below the regulatory standards before any individual batch of ALPS treated water is discharged.

This will be ensured through comprehensively sampling each batch of ALPS treated water prior to beginning the dilution and discharge of that water."

RELIABILITY OF ALPS SYSTEM

"The ALPS performance has been approved by the NRA (the Nuclear Regulation Authority), an independent regulator of Japan. Since 2019, the ALPS system has functioned stably and effectively enough to purify the water to meet the regulatory standards."

"No discharges of ALPS treated water will be made from any tank to the sea unless the water from that tank meets the discharge standards instituted by the NRA and reviewed by the IAEA as part of its safety review.

Because every batch will be tested, and actual concentration levels will be determined, there will be no need to estimate or project the nuclide concentrations in any batch before discharge."

CREDIBILITY OF MONITORING RESULTS

"The IAEA and several third-country laboratories selected by the IAEA analyzed the samples of treated water taken in March 2022... these findings provide confidence in Tepco's capability for undertaking accurate and precise measurements related to the discharge of ALPS treated water.

Furthermore, based on the observations of the IAEA, Tepco has demonstrated that it has a sustainable and robust analytical system in place to support the ongoing technical needs at the Fukushima facilities during the discharge."

EXTERNAL SUPERVISION IN MONITORING

"The Government of Japan is of the view that the participation of the third-country laboratories as part of the IAEA review will ensure the credibility and transparency of Japan's monitoring.

Japan respects the IAEA's decision in this regard, and therefore is of the view that Japan's individual invitation of stakeholders for monitoring is unnecessary."

DIRECT PARTICIPATION BY CHINA AND RUSSIA IN THIRD-PARTY MONITORING

"The Government of Japan is of the view that the independent analysis and corroboration activities by the IAEA and third-country laboratories will assure the quality of, and provide confidence in, the results of Japan's source monitoring and environmental monitoring."

"Japan repeatedly proposed individual briefing sessions to Chinese nuclear experts as well as government officials with a view to engaging in scientific discussion and promoting China's understanding of the matter.

These offers are in line with Japan's commitment to ensuring maximum transparency with regard to the safety of the planned discharge. It is regrettable that such meetings have yet to be realized."

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

"Should a problem be detected during the monitoring process such as detection of unusual value of concentration of the radioactive materials, Japan will take appropriate measures, including immediate suspension of the discharge."

PARTICIPATION BY CHINA AND RUSSIA IN DECISION-MAKING OF WATER RELEASE

"The IAEA in its Comprehensive Report positively noted the efforts that Japan has made to provide information to and engage in consultations with the interested parties including both international and domestic ones, and to conduct significant outreach activities to ensure transparency."

TERM OF ALPS TREATED WATER

"The ALPS treated water is not 'contaminated water' as the concentration of radioactive materials is far below the regulatory standards. These two terms should not be mixed up."

(Reporting by Yuka ObayashiEditing by Katya Golubkova and Gerry Doyle)

Factbox-Who are the Pakistani Islamists vowing 'death to blasphemers'?

Reuters
Mon, August 21, 2023

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An outlawed Islamist political party with the main objective of protecting Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws and punishing blasphemers has been linked to violence against Christians last week in which several churches were burnt.

Members of the public and government sources accused the group, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), of whipping up a Muslim mob that attacked a Christian community in Punjab province after accusation two Christians had desecrated the Koran.

The TLP denies instigating the violence and says it helped calm it down. Police say people who made announcements from mosques calling on Muslims to attack Christians later joined a so-called peace process.

Following are some facts about the group:

- The main focus of the TLP, or the movement of the Prophet's followers, is to protect Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws. It has been involved supporting and carrying out vigilante violence action against those accused of blasphemy.

- The group, whose rallying cry is "death to blasphemers", belongs to the Barelvi Sunni sect of Islam, which is followed by a majority of Pakistan's 241 million people.

- It came to the fore in 2015 in a protest campaign to demand the release of Mumtaz Qadri, a police guard who assassinated Punjab province's governor, Salman Taseer, in 2011 over his calls to reform blasphemy legislation.

- Qadri was sentenced to death and executed in 2016. The TLP announced its entry into electoral politics at his funeral, attended by tens of thousands of people.

- The TLP won more than two million votes to emerge as the fifth largest party in a 2018 election.

- Its founder, fiery cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, died of a heart attack in 2020. Tens of thousands of devotees from across Pakistan attended his funeral. His son, Saad Rizvi, now leads the party.

- In 2017, the TLP demonstrated for the first time its ability to mobilise on the streets with a march on Islamabad by thousands of supporters who blocked a main highway to protest against any attempt to give voting rights to members of the Ahmadi minority community, who they term heretics.

- The standoff, in which several people were killed, ended after the government met all TLP demands in a military-brokered deal, including the resignation of the then law minister.

- In 2021, the group led violent protests over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. It demanded the expulsion of the French ambassador, a boycott of French products and cutting trade ties with Europe.

- The TLP was outlawed later in 2021 under the government of then prime minister Imran Khan after deadly clashes with police during the protests.

- The clashes ended only after the government met most of the group's demands as par of a deal, including removing its leader from a terrorism list.

- Despite the ban, the group operates openly and often backs election candidates contesting as independents who support its ideology.

(Compiled by Asif Shahzad; editing by Robert Birsel)