Berlin rally draws thousands to denounce push for harsh new immigration rules

At least 160,000 turned out to protest in Berlin on Sunday against the center-right party, who is the front-runner in an upcoming federal election this month, for seeking the support of the far-right to push through tough new legislation on immigration.


Issued on: 02/02/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES

Protesters take part in a demostration under the motto 'Loud against Nazis' with the landmak Brandenburg Gate in the background in Berlin on February 2, 2025. © John Macdougal, AFP

Tens of thouands of demonstrators converged on Berlin on Sunday to protest against Germany's conservatives' norm-shattering overtures toward the far right.

Police said at least some 20,000 people had gathered just after the protest's 3:45 pm (14:45 GMT) kick-off time outside the Bundestag, Germany's parliament building.

But with demonstrators carrying placards and banners denouncing the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party arriving "from every direction", a police spokeswoman said that tally "could rise considerably".

Organisers planned to march towards the headquarters of the CDU, whose seeking of the far-right AfD's support for an anti-immigration bill in parliament last week sparked the demonstration less than a month ahead of a snap federal election.

Since the end of World War II, German parties have had an unwritten agreement not to work with the far right at the national level.

But CDU chief Friedrich Merz, frontrunner ahead of the February 23 election, broke that so-called "firewall" by canvassing for the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The two parties successfully passed a non-binding resolution on Wednesday in an attempt to block undocumented foreigners at the border, including asylum seekers.

On Friday, they failed to pass another contentious bill to further restrict immigration.

Merz launched his all-out immigration crackdown after police arrested an Afghan man following a deadly knife attack a week ago against a group of kindergarten children.

He "wants to cut through" the norm of not working with "right-wing extremists in one fell swoop", said left-wing NGO Campact, one of the organisers of protests in Berlin.

On Saturday, more than 220,000 people already marched in cities across the country, including Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne or Stuttgart, according to figures compiled by public broadcaster ARD.

Many trade unions, civil society and human rights groups, churches and environmental activists have answered the call.

Center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned that the conservatives and the far right could soon join forces to govern the country, as has been the case in other countries.

(AFP)

Canada to challenge Trump's tariffs at WTO, seeks redress under free trade deal

Ottawa plans to challenge President Donald Trump's tariffs through a World Trade Organisation claim and seek redress under a regional trade agreement, a Canadian official disclosed on Sunday. Canada views these tariffs, including a 25% levy on imports and 10% on energy resources, as breaches of US trade commitments.


Issued on: 03/02/2025 -
2 min
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference February 1, 2025 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. © Dave Chan, AFP


Ottawa will file a World Trade Organisation claim against US President Donald Trump's tariffs and also seek redress under a regional free trade deal, a Canadian official said on Sunday.

"The Canadian government clearly considers these tariffs to be a violation of trade commitments that the United States has taken," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told a briefing.

After weeks of threats, Trump on Saturday signed off on 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports except energy resources, which will be hit with a 10 percent levy.

"We will obviously pursue the legal recourse that we believe we have through the agreements that we share with the United States," the official said, citing the WTO and US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) that Trump himself signed in 2018.

Read more Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico ‘motivated by politics’, expert says

A review of the pact, which a Canadian official called a "gold standard agreement," was due to be held next year.

Ottawa also unveiled on Sunday a list of 1,256 American goods it plans to target in a first round of counter tariffs worth Can$30 billion starting on Tuesday.

The list includes cosmetics, appliances, tires, tools, plastics, furniture, coffee, wines and spirits, dairy and fruits.

Officials said the Canadian tariffs do not target specifically Republican states, but aim to put pressure on lawmakers with influence over Trump, who are more likely to be Republicans.

A second round of counter tariffs could be announced in the coming weeks, when total amount of the products targeted would rise to Can$155 billion (US$106 billion).

"Our hope is that the actions we have taken already will be sufficient to persuade the United States that it has gone down the wrong path and that they will reach out to work with us on how to get back to a more normal state," an official said.

"If not, the prime minister and others have indicated that all options remain on the table, and there are a suite of additional measures that could be contemplated."

(AFP)

Portugal's approach to drug decriminalisation: A model for the rest of the world?


In 2001, Portugal embarked on an unprecedented shift in its drug policy, one that would attract global attention. Two decades on, the country’s experience continues to raise important questions about the possibilities and limits of such a radical transformation.


Issued on: 31/01/2025 -
FRANCE24
By:
Elena POMPEI
Malvina RAUD
ENTR


VIDEO
Is decriminalisation the solution? © ENTR


It’s a Wednesday afternoon in the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal. Just like any other day of the week, the outreach team of the NGO Crescer is getting ready to go around the neighbourhood to distribute food and clean supplies.

“Normally in the streets, we take out this kit, it’s an injection kit. Sometimes, with this kind of job, the people and the community don't understand because it looks like we are promoting the use of drugs,” says Nuno Maneta, 54, a peer worker at Crescer. After spending a decade using heroin and cocaine, he turned his life around and has since been working with harm reduction organisations.

A job like Nuno’s can only exist due to Portugal’s radical drug policy.

In 2001, the country decriminalised all drugs, becoming the first one in Europe to adopt a public health approach to drug use. The law marked a radical break from traditional punitive drug policies. Instead of punishing users, the country offered therapeutic treatment and long-term support.

This policy, which remains unique in Europe, has had profound effects on the nation’s health and social outcomes. The law came as an extreme measure after Portugal had spent over a decade grappling with one of Europe’s worst heroin crises. In the 1990s, around 1 percent of the country’s population was addicted to the drug, causing an epidemic in drug-induced HIV infections.

Miguel Moniz, a researcher at the University of Lisbon, explains: “Something had to be done. Putting people in jail, telling people that they can't use drugs, and prohibiting them from using it... These very classic ways of trying to deal with drug problems in most societies were untenable and weren’t working. It was a critical situation in Portugal, and I think they were a little more willing to try a more dramatic measure.”

The impact: health and safety before punishment

The policy stands on the idea that eradicating all drugs is an unattainable goal and is grounded in the belief that addiction is an illness, not a crime. While drug trafficking remains a criminal offense, those caught with drugs for personal use are not prosecuted but referred to "Dissuasion Committees" – a panel of health and social professionals who assess the user’s level of addiction and provide therapeutic support.

With no criminal charges for possession, individuals have the chance to seek help without fear of legal consequences. As a result, outreach programs and harm-reduction services have flourished, providing users with safer options and vital support.

Nuno, who has firsthand experience of the policy’s benefits, shares: “I experienced a time when the point of view was different. I got beaten by the police in the 90s, the police stole my drugs and threw them on the floor. And I’d get angry in those times, I got afraid of those guys.” This changed after the law, he says: “There's a lot of helping happening in the streets, like outreach teams. And you can feel it's more secure because you're not a criminal anymore. So you can get help without getting beaten up. It's very safe now.”

The long-term social benefits of decriminalisation

The outcomes of Portugal’s drug policy have been striking. A 2015 study showed that the social costs of drug use fell by 18% in the first decade, largely due to a reduction in the number of criminal cases and imprisonment for drug-related offenses. Public health outcomes have also improved dramatically, with drug-related deaths decreasing significantly, while the number of HIV diagnoses linked to drug use dropped from 50 percent of new cases in Europe to just 1.68 percent by 2019.
Portugal’s success and global impact

Portugal’s success has sparked interest worldwide, with some countries considering or adopting elements of the Portuguese model. In 2020, Oregon became the first US state to decriminalise all drugs, citing Portugal’s example. However, the policy was reversed in 2024 after a surge in overdose deaths. Experts argue drug-related deaths were tied to the Fentanyl drug sweeping across the country together and the impact of the Covid pandemic, rather than the policy itself.

The question remains: why hasn’t the world followed Portugal’s lead? Watch the full story of Portugal’s drug policy in the video, where ENTR dives deeper into the successes, challenges, and lessons from one of Europe’s most ambitious drug policy experiments.

NAKBA 2.0'

Civilians caught in crossfire of Israeli military operation in West Bank's Jenin

Issued on: 04/02/2025 - 

On January 21, less than 48 hours after a ceasefire came into effect in Gaza, the Israeli military launched an operation dubbed "Iron Wall" in Jenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank. Its stated aim is to destroy armed Palestinian groups operating there. Civilians have been asked to evacuate, but have nevertheless found themselves at the centre of a new warzone. FRANCE 24's Claire Duhamel and Luke Shrago report from Jenin, where they met some of those affected by the conflict.

By:
Luke SHRAGO
Claire Duhamel

06:00FOCUS © FRANCE 24

Israeli army operation in West Bank’s Tulkarm ‘like a smaller-scale Gaza’


The Israeli military has expanded its operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, from the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp to Tulkram, further north in the occupied Palestinian territory. The IDF says it has found what it calls terrorist infrastructure in Tulkarm. But residents of the neighbourhood say only families live there, who are being unfairly targeted and inhumanely treated.


Issued on: 03/02/2025
By: FRANCE 24

Video by:
Raïd ABU ZAIDEH
Mark OWENFollow
Pauline GODART

02:56

Hussein Cheik Ali surveys his abandoned home in Tulkarm amid an ongoing Israeli military operation in the West Bank town. © Screengrab, FRANCE 24




Under drone and sniper threat, Hussein Cheik Ali walks cautiously on a deserted dirt street, sticking close to house walls, to reach a spot where he can see the remains of his home in the West Bank town of Tulkarm.

“I want to go further, but I’m scared. They can see us, there are drones, we can hear them,” said the Tulkarm community leader.

The Tulkarm refugee camp is being targeted in the Israeli army’s ongoing operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, in the West Bank.

It makes no sense to the Palestinian families living there, many of whom have either fled their homes or live in fear of going outdoors as the deadly Israeli military operation continues.

Ali's sister, Um Samer, lost her son in the Israeli raid and says the latest military operation is the most brutal she has experienced in her hometown.

“This time it was different, more savage, like a smaller-scale Gaza…[there were] soldiers brought from Gaza to carry out the same destruction here in Tulkarm camp,” she said.

A nearby cemetery has been filling up rapidly since the raids began, she added. “Go look at the headstones, there are 108 graves. At the start [of the operation], there was only the grave of my son. Now they are everywhere. They are all youngsters, less than 22 or 23 years old.”

The residents of Gaza may have a brief respite from the fighting since a ceasefire came into effect last month. However, for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank – where Israeli operations are intensifying – there is little escape from the violence.

Click on the video player above to watch the full report.

Israeli military kills dozens of PALESTINIANS militants in weeks-long West Bank operation

The Israeli military reported Sunday that over two weeks, at least 50 militants were killed in the West Bank, with operations including the destruction of 23 buildings in Jenin refugee camp, identified as terrorist infrastructure.


Issued on: 03/02/2025 
FRANCE24/AFP
By: NEWS WIRES

01:42

Smoke billows from the site of several explosions during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin © Mohammad Mansour, AFP


The Israeli military said Sunday that it had killed at least 50 militants during more than two weeks of operations in the occupied West Bank, earlier levelling buildings in Jenin refugee camp in the territory.

"As part of the operation to thwart terrorism... the IDF (military) recently destroyed several buildings in Jenin," the military said in a statement, adding that they "were used as terrorist infrastructure".

The army later said it destroyed 23 buildings in the operation.

An AFP journalist reported thick columns of smoke billowed over the surrounding area following the blasts.

Palestinian official news agency WAFA said Israeli forces "simultaneously detonated about 20 buildings" in the eastern part of Jenin refugee camp, adding that the "explosions were heard throughout Jenin city and parts of the neighbouring towns".

The Palestinian foreign ministry in a statement condemned the Israeli action "to blow up large neighbourhoods", describing the result as a "brutal scene".

The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the West Bank on January 21 aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed groups from the Jenin area, which has long been a hotbed of militancy.

The military said it had "eliminated over 35 terrorists and apprehended more than 100 wanted individuals", referring to action during the operation dubbed "Iron Wall".

"In an advance operation, over 15 terrorists were eliminated in aerial strikes," it added. A military spokesman told AFP that the operation was launched on January 14.

The Palestinian health ministry meanwhile said that the Israeli military killed two individuals in separate incidents in the West Bank on Sunday.

Large deployment

The ministry said that a 73-year-old man was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Jenin refugee camp, adjacent to the city.

A 27-year-old was killed also by the Israeli army gunfire in Al-Aroub camp, in the southern West Bank, the health ministry and Palestinian Red Crescent said, confirming his name as Mohammed Amjad Hadoush.

Witnesses reported a "large" deployment of Israeli forces in the morning around the towns of Tubas and Tamun, southeast of Jenin.

An AFP journalist said the army was blocking the exits of the nearby Faraa refugee camp and entering homes, evicting residents. Drones were also visible in the sky.

The army said early on Sunday that a "tactical group" had begun operations around Tamun and uncovered weapons.

It added it was "extending the counterterrorism operation... to five villages".

It also distributed leaflets in Arabic saying the operation was meant to "eradicate armed criminals, the lackeys of Iran".

The Israeli government accuses Iran, which backs armed groups across the Middle East including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to send weapons and money to militants in the West Bank.

The leaflets warned residents not to approach Israeli forces.

Surge of violence

On Saturday, Israel conducted two air strikes in Jenin, and "struck and eliminated a terrorist cell on its way to carry out an imminent terrorist attack" in Qabatiya, the military said, adding that "two terrorists" were killed.

"After the strike, secondary explosions due to explosives that were inside the vehicle were identified," the military said on Sunday.

Islamic Jihad's military wing confirmed in a statement on Sunday that two of its fighters were killed.

The military said one of those killed had been released from Israeli detention in 2023 as part of the first truce in the Gaza war.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday evening that Israeli strikes in the Jenin area had killed five people, including a 16-year-old.

When asked about that strike, the military told AFP it had "struck armed terrorists".

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 883 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 30 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.

(AFP)

‘The flood of the century’: How well prepared is Paris for a natural disaster?

It has been more than 100 years since Paris’s last great flood, meaning the city is well overdue another mammoth deluge that authorities predict could leave hundreds of thousands of people without water or electricity. How prepared is the French capital for the next “flood of the century”?


Issued on: 31/01/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: Joanna YORK

The flooded banks of the Seine photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on June 3, 2016. © Jérôme Delay, AP


The waters will rise slowly when the next great flood comes to Paris. There will be no flash flood that sweeps away infrastructure in an instant. Instead, the River Seine will creep up at a rate of about 2cm per hour.

It will take 10-15 days for water to reach the same levels as the capital’s last centennial flood in 1910, during which the river reached a depth of 8.62 metres.

Forecasts show a flood of this scale submerging vast swathes of the city underwater. Hundreds of streets in proximity to the riverbanks will be deluged, but flooding could also extend as far north as Saint Lazare station in the 8th arrondissement (district). The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre-Dame Cathedral will all be inundated, as will thousands of homes.

When this happened in 1910, the city ground to a halt as tens of thousands of buildings flooded and infrastructure collapsed. As the streets filled with icy waters, polluted by the city’s sewage system and drains, police, firemen and soldiers used boats to distribute emergency supplies to stranded residents, while evacuees were housed in emergency shelters in churches, schools, and government buildings.

Could the same thing happen in modern-day Paris? “We use the 1910 flood as a reference in terms of the height the river reached and the speed at which it flowed," says Ludovic Faytre, risk specialist in the Environment department at research institute L'Institut Paris Region. “But the region has been modified so much that we can’t compare the events of 1910 to what could happen today.”

The ‘flood of the century’

For one thing, Paris now has emergency flood plans in place. By the time the authorities are sure enough to warn the public that the great flood is coming – and urge those who can to leave the city – preparations will be under way.

Every day, Paris authorities monitor river levels using a measure fixed to the Austerlitz bridge. When the water hits the critical threshold of 6.18 metres – more than double its normal depth – the city’s emergency plans will go into action.

The Louvre museum will start moving valuable artworks to safe storage outside of the city. The more modern François Mitterand library, built in the 1990s, will shut the watertight doors in its subterranean carparks. The police will call in thousands of soldiers to reinforce their security operation, and evacuations will begun in municipal buildings including hospitals and homes for the elderly.

At this level the river will be visibly overfull, having risen so high it is impossible for most boats to safely pass underneath its bridges.

People stand on the Bir Hakeim bridge looking at the floodwaters in Paris on June 4, 2016. © François Mori, AP

But simulations for the "flood of the century" are based on the river rising more than two metres higher, to the same height as in 1910.

Each year, there is just a 1% chance that a flood of this magnitude will hit Paris. But experts are “certain that it will happen” at some point, says Faytre. “Statistically we know that this phenomenon will occur in Ile-de-France, but we don’t know when,” he says.

An underground crisis

In some ways, Paris is now more vulnerable to a large-scale flood. As climate deregulation accelerates, the risk of severe weather throughout France has increased and become less predictable. Traditionally, the risk period for a major flood in Paris would be from November to March, but now one could just as easily happen in June.

Paris has also become the most densely populated city in Europe with the lowest percentage of green space.

The police prefecture says it will be able to alert the public 2-4 days before the floodwaters reach their peak – time enough for those who can to leave the city. But hundreds of thousands of people will still be stranded living in old apartment buildings that are poorly prepared to withstand natural disasters.

Official estimates are that nearly 350,000 homes could be deluged and more than 700,000 could be subject to electricity cuts. Schools, libraries, hospitals, parks and small businesses in the flood zone will also be impacted.

And as conditions deteriorate above ground, a crisis will be unfolding underneath the city.

Below street level sits centuries worth of underground excavations from historical limestone quarries and war bunkers to modern carparks and shopping malls, not to mention the city sewers, telephone and electricity cables, and the underground metro system.

All of this will be inundated, partly due to the lack of green space in the city. “There is no natural floor that can absorb the water,” says Boris Weliachew, an architect and civil engineer specialising in natural disaster mitigation. “So the floodwater will basically go underground, get into the subway and damage everything.”

Paris’s public transport network, the RATP, has a flood emergency plan which includes mobilising 1000 employees to build emergency protective structures throughout its network in the days before the flood hits. Even with these in place, it estimates repair costs of up to €5 billion due to an accumulation of mud and debris in tunnels and destruction of tracks and facilities.

An overground metro runs on tracks along the Bir Hakeim bridge during floods in Paris on Saturday, June 4, 2016. © François Mori, AP

An ‘expensive disaster’

As the floodwaters will be slow to rise they will also take time, possibly weeks, to disperse; the great flood of 1910 took 45 days to recede.

During this time, residents will be surrounded by stagnant, possibly polluted pools of water and streets and buildings will be weakened by prolonged exposure to damp. Interconnected infrastructure throughout the entire Ile-de-France region will be impacted, potentially affecting more than 12 million people.

One of the biggest challenges of the flood will be “getting things up and running again quickly", in the aftermath says Faytre.

Doing so will also be expensive, with the OECD estimating direct damage could total up to €30 billion in repair costs.

“Paris flooding is perhaps the most expensive disaster that could occur in France,” Weliachew says.

But much of the damage could be preventable with more of the right kind of protections in place, he says. “The disaster is not the flood itself. A disaster is caused by a hazard hitting an area a lot of people are living in, and it’s the vulnerabilities of the area that cause damage.”
Preparation plans

In the past 20 years Paris has “made a lot of progress” towards flood preparation, says Faytre, "but the region is so complex that there remains a lot of work to do".

While the city has made emergency flood plans and has encouraged institutions and infrastructure networks to do the same, not all of them have.

In 2022 France’s supreme court, the Cour de Comptes, found that Paris was insufficiently prepared for another major flood, and “much less protected against major floods than other international cities”.

This, the court said, was largely due to a lack of co-ordination between local authorities in the Seine River basin, the drainage basin for the river and its tributaries which stretches from north of Dijon in eastern France to Le Havre on the Atlantic coast.

A combined effort could enable flood protections along the length of the Seine that would better protect the capital – as in the southeastern city of Grenoble where efforts to create controlled flooding fields and alluvial forests outside the city have successfully reduced the impact of flooding.

One such project is under way in Ile de France. Public river management organisation L’Etablissement Public Territorial de Bassin in January carried out a flood test on the fifth giant reservoir it has constructed on the outskirts of Paris, designed to help manage river flows.

The new giant basin in Seine-et-Marne has a capacity of 10 million cubic metres and could reduce flood levels in Paris by 15 cm, “considerably” cutting down damage in the event of smaller floods said Baptiste Blanchard, General Manager of Seine Grands Lacs.

But in the case of major flooding, the reservoir “won’t offer total protection”, Blanchard said.

Read moreGiant anti-flooding device built upstream of Paris

In the meantime, other efforts to prepare for floods continue. In 2025, Paris city hall is planning a crisis simulation exercise based around a river flood with the police prefecture.

It will also run training sessions open to all residents providing information on what each home should keep in its emergency kit, and how to keep safe during a flood.

Raising public awareness about flood preparations and safety is now a key concern.

“There is still a lot of knowledge that needs to be shared,” says Faytre. "[People need to know] yes, we live in an area prone to flooding and it’s not just because you live on the second floor that you won’t be exposed to the risks – you’ll be directly impacted by the flood, when it happens, and it's going to be very difficult to live through for a few weeks.”

 

Study debunks nuclear test misinformation following 2024 Iran earthquake

Johns Hopkins University

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image: 

Triangles mark seismometers used to study the Oct. 5, 2024, earthquake, along with two similar events identified by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. The 2015 event shares a nearly identical seismic pattern with the 2024 earthquake. Key Iranian nuclear facilities are shown as yellow and black dots. Red lines indicate major fault zones.

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Credit: Benjamin Fernando/Johns Hopkins University, with topography provided by NOAA.

A new study debunks claims that a magnitude 4.5 earthquake in Iran was a covert nuclear weapons test, as widely alleged on social media and some mainstream news outlets in October 2024, a period of heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Led by Johns Hopkins University scientists, the study warns about the potential consequences of mishandling and misinterpreting scientific information, particularly during periods of international conflict. The findings appear in the journal Seismica.

“There was a concerted misinformation and disinformation campaign around this event that promoted the idea this was a nuclear test, which is not something you often see happen with an earthquake,” said Benjamin Fernando, a Johns Hopkins seismologist who led the study. “This shows how geophysical data played an important role in a geopolitical crisis.”

The earthquake occurred on Oct. 5, 2024, approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Semnan, a city in northern Iran, and about 216 kilometers (134 miles) east of Tehran. Iran is prone to earthquakes, as it sits within a seismically active region at the convergence of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Fernando’s team analyzed seismic signals from the event, identifying natural seismic activity caused by the earthquake. Using publicly available data from seismic monitoring stations, the researchers concluded that the earthquake originated along a gently sloping fault where Earth’s crust was being deformed by the collision between Arabia and Eurasia. The process aligns with the geophysical forces that characterize the region’s tectonically active interior and rules out any connection to a particularly unusual source or nuclear test, the study concludes.

“Seismic waves carry information about the earthquake that produced them as they propagate around the planet. By recording the waves at different points on the Earth’s surface, we can work out what the properties of the source that produced them were,” Fernando said. “In this case, the source was what we call a reverse fault—a motion associated with the Earth’s crust being crushed as the Arabian and Eurasian plates collide. Nuclear tests have very different signatures, which are explosive.”

Historical seismic data further supports this conclusion, Fernando said. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors nuclear tests worldwide, reported that earthquakes with similar characteristics and magnitudes occurred in the same region in 2015 and 2018—both unrelated to nuclear activity.

Despite the clear scientific evidence of natural seismic activity, claims that the earthquake was a nuclear test began spreading rapidly on social media just 17 minutes after the event. Initial tweets misinterpreted seismic data, which soon gave way to misinformation and likely active disinformation, Fernando said.

The first suggestion that this was a nuclear test appeared on Twitter/X 27 minutes after the earthquake. Over the following hours, misinformation escalated, with some posts citing seismic data from an entirely different earthquake in Armenia earlier that day to substantiate the nuclear test narrative.

The misinformation gained traction as conspiracy theories linked the Iranian earthquake to a supposed seismic event in Israel the same evening. While the study noted that it is difficult to confirm deliberate disinformation, the sustained engagement and specialized use of seismology data on social media suggest potential human authors with expertise. One of the most widely shared posts promoting the nuclear test theory came from an account tied to Russian-supported disinformation campaigns, the researchers found.

Within hours of the event, the false narrative moved from social media to news reports worldwide. Indian English-language media were the most active in reporting the nuclear test claims, often referencing each other’s stories, and citing the incorrect seismic data. The researchers also identified media reports from the United States, Israel, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, France, and the United Kingdom.

In contrast, Persian-language media generally described the event accurately as a natural earthquake. These reports drew on local expert commentary and official seismic data more often than English-language media, offering a more precise understanding of the event.

The researchers recommended greater rapid-response collaborations among seismologists to quickly fact-check and correct misinterpretations of data, and to more actively counter misinformation.

“Scientific agencies could issue detailed reports swiftly to counter misinformation,” said co-author Saman Karimi, a Johns Hopkins geophysicist. “Giving amplification to contents coming from verified scientific accounts could help reduce the misleading narrative. This can be done via partnership between social media platforms and trusted seismologists or agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey.”

Other authors are Ross Maguire of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Brianna Fernandez of Brown University, Elizabeth Koenck of Georgetown University, Göran Ekström of Columbia University, Tom Rivlin of Technische Universität Wien, and Celeste Labedz of University of Chicago.

---

Journal

Seismica

DOI

10.26443/seismica.v4i1.1512 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Article Title

The propagation of seismic waves, misinformation, and disinformation from the 2024-10-05 M 4.5 Iran earthquake

Article Publication Date

4-Feb-2025

 

UNM researchers find alarmingly high levels of microplastics in human brains – and concentrations are growing over time

University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

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University of New Mexico Health Sciences researchers have detected microplastics in human brains at much higher concentrations than in other organs – and the plastic accumulation appears to be growing over time, having increased 50% over just the past eight years.

Microplastics – tiny bits of degraded polymers that are ubiquitous in our air, water and soil – have lodged themselves throughout the human body, including the liver, kidney, placenta and testes, over the past half century.

Now, University of New Mexico Health Sciences researchers have found microplastics in human brains, and at much higher concentrations than in other organs. Worse, the plastic accumulation appears to be growing over time, having increased by 50% over just the past eight years.

In a new study published in Nature Medicine, a team led by toxicologist Matthew Campen, PhD, Distinguished and Regents’ Professor in the UNM College of Pharmacy, reported that plastic concentrations in the brain appeared higher than in the liver or kidney, and higher than previous reports for placentas and testes.

The rate of accumulation mirrors the increasing amounts of plastics waste on this planet, Campen said. “This really changes the landscape. It makes it so much more personal,” he said. Additionally, they observed that much of the plastic appears to be much smaller than previously appreciated – in the nanometer scale, about two to three times the size of viruses.

The findings should trigger alarm, he said.

Complicating matters, brain tissue from people who had been diagnosed with dementia had up to 10 times as much plastic in their brains as everyone else, Campen said. But while there is a clear correlation, the study design cannot show whether higher levels of plastic in the brain caused the dementia symptoms – they may simply accumulate more due to the disease process itself, he said.

The new research builds on a novel method devised by the UNM researchers to specify and quantify the microplastics in tissue, which has previously been used to document quantities of plastics in human placentas and both human and canine testes.

In the current study, they analyzed brain tissue samples donated by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, which by law must retain tissue from autopsies for seven years before disposing of it. The older brain tissue dated back to 2016, on average, and was compared with tissue from 2024. All of the samples were collected from the frontal cortex, the brain region above and behind the eyes, Campen said.

The researchers chemically dissolved the tissue, creating a kind of slurry, then ran it through a centrifuge, which spun out a small pellet containing undissolved plastic. The pellet was then heated to 600 degrees Celsius, a process known as pyrolysis. The researchers captured gas emissions as the plastics burned. Ions derived from the combusted polymers were separated chromatographically and identified with a mass spectrometer.

The technique detected and quantified 12 different polymers, the most common of which was polyethylene, which is widely used for packaging and containers, including bottles and cups.

The team also used transmission electron microscopy to visually examine the same tissue samples that had high polymer concentrations – and found clusters of sharp plastic shards measuring 200 nanometers or less – not much larger than viruses. These are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier, although Campen says it is unclear how the particles are actually being transported into the brain.  

It is also unclear what effects plastic, which is considered to be biologically inert and used in medical applications like heart stents and artificial joints, might be having, he said. The physical characteristics of these particles may be the real problem, as opposed to some sort of chemical toxicity.

“We start thinking that maybe these plastics obstruct blood flow in capillaries,” Campen said. “There’s the potential that these nanomaterials interfere with the connections between axons in the brain. They could also be a seed for aggregation of proteins involved in dementia. We just don’t know.”

He suspects that most of the microplastics in the body are ingested through food – particularly meat, because commercial meat production tends to concentrate plastics in the food chain.

“The way we irrigate fields with plastic-contaminated water, we postulate that the plastics build up there,” Campen said. “We feed those crops to our livestock. We take the manure and put it back on the field, so there may be a sort of feed-forward biomagnification.” The team has found high concentrations of plastic in meat bought at grocery stores, he added.

Microplastics tend to accumulate in fat cells in the brain’s insulating myelin sheath, which wraps around neurons and helps to regulate signal transmission. That, in turn, might help explain the higher concentrations of plastic in the brain.

Plastic production around the world continues unabated, but even if it were halted tomorrow, it would be a ticking timebomb. Because it can take decades for existing polymers to decay into microscopic particles, concentrations of micro- and nano-plastics in the environment will continue to grow for years to come.

Campen, who often cites the toxicologist’s maxim, “Dose makes the poison,” says the new results should give rise to alarm about a global threat to human health. He acknowledges it can be hard to motivate consumers, who often shrug when warned about environmental contaminants that tend to be measured in parts per billion.

But the new findings might finally get their attention, he said. “I have yet to encounter a single human being who says, ‘There’s a bunch of plastic in my brain and I’m totally cool with that.’”

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Journal

Nature Medicine

DOI

10.1038/s41591-024-03453-1 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains

Article Publication Date

3-Feb-2025

 

Hidden images in Jackson Pollock paintings diagnosed

Cambridge University Press

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According to new research published by leading psychiatry professor, Stephen M. Stahl, artist Jackson Pollock clearly incorporated images into his pre-drip paintings and repeatedly used the same images in multiple drip paintings, potentially as a result of “extraordinary” spatial skills related to his bipolar disorder. These findings appear in a research paper by Professor Stahl, published in Cambridge University Press journal CNS Spectrums. 

The paper emphasises that Pollock met the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder; that he didn’t paint when he was intoxicated or depressed; and that he both had extensive exposure to Rorschach ink blots during his psychiatric treatment and had visual images and hallucinations of images. 

Dr Stahl, currently a professor at the University of California, San Diego, argues that Pollock either consciously or unconsciously encrypted images in his paintings to tell a story. 

“Certain images make their way repeatedly into his paintings – including booze bottles, images of himself, monkeys, clowns, elephants and more. We consequently have good reason to believe Pollock encrypted these images into his paintings, whether consciously or otherwise.  

“His remarkable ability to hide these images in plain sight may have been part of his creative genius, and could also have been enhanced by the endowment of extraordinary visual spatial skills that have been described in some bipolar patients.” 

Although Pollock was variably diagnosed by his psychiatrists as having “alcoholic psychosis,” being “schizoid”, or possessing “a schizophrenia-like disorder characterised by alternating periods of violent agitation and paralysis or withdrawal”, in today’s world he would more likely be diagnosed as bipolar. Chronic and severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder can be associated with creativity and genius, with good outcomes possible especially with effective treatment. 

Seeing images in Pollock’s drip paintings has been both a popular pastime and a controversy ever since these paintings were created. Some art critics argue emphasise the formal elements of Pollock’s work, arguing that no images are present and that viewers can find whatever they are looking for within the paintings’ abstract lines and composition. This line of reasoning suggests that perhaps Pollock’s paintings merely prompt viewers to project their own emotions onto these works, and that no actual images are hidden between the lines.  

Dr Stahl, however, says: “Seeing an image once in a drip painting could be random; seeing the same image twice in different paintings could be a coincidence; seeing it three or more times – as is the case for booze bottles, monkeys and gorillas, elephants, and many other subjects and objects in Pollock’s paintings – makes those images very unlikely to be randomly provoked perceptions without any basis in reality.”

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Journal

CNS Spectrums

DOI

10.1017/S1092852924001354 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Pollock’s Abstract Images in Paintings Prior to His Drip Paintings