World will face climate change even after reaching carbon neutrality goals — Rosneft CEO

Igor Sechin stressed that the Earth's climate had never been static

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

VERONA, October 28. /TASS/. The world will face climate change even if it reaches carbon neutrality goals by 2050, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin during the Eurasian Economic Forum.

"The Earth's climate has never been static, and even after reaching the carbon-neutral goals by 2050, humanity will still face climate changes," he said.

At the same time, he noted that energy transition is possible only if the stability of energy supplies and the development of new technologies are maintained. "The development of new materials is no longer an energy issue, but a much more serious issue of changing the structure of the economy. Despite the variety of plans to reach carbon neutrality, the energy transition will remain a pipe dream without developing new technologies and materials. Even in the long term renewable energy will not be able to completely replace traditional energy resources," he said.

Supporters of complete refusal to invest in the oil and gas sector ignore the risks of market imbalance, Sechin added. "This year has clearly shown that wrong decisions in the field of climate policy can lead to serious negative consequences for the entire global economy and society," he said.

Sechin believes that the climate agenda puts pressure on oil and gas prices, and not the OPEC+ policy. "Pressure from climate activists stops the implementation of joint projects with international companies, which forces majors to cut investments in oil and gas production, redirecting funds to renewable energy. It is the climate agenda that is now putting pressure on the global oil and gas market," he said.

Meanwhile, the gas crisis may cause additional demand for oil in the amount of 1 mln barrels per day, which could further increase oil prices, he noted. "According to Citi and Goldman Sachs, ultra-high prices for natural gas could create additional demand for oil in the amount of up to 1 mln barrels per day, which will increase imbalance similar to gas, and will further increase oil prices," Sechin explained.

According to Rosneft CEO, a variety of factors caused the gas crisis in Europe, but Russia is only helping resolve it. "The gas crisis did not occur for any one reason, but because of a variety of factors that had a simultaneous impact. Russia, for its part, helps resolve the crisis as much as possible, ensuring the stability of gas supplies to Europe. At the same time, our country always fully complies with all its contractual obligations," he said.

TRANSFORMING SOCIETY
Gen Z activists fuel Climate Express to Glasgow

Vum AFP|Update: 01.11.2021

Passengers chat in a special Climate Summit train bound for the COP26 UN climate meet in Glasgow / © ANP/AFP/File

One car was themed 'climate reality,' another 'transforming society' and a third 'stop talking and start doing' -- welcome to the Glasgow-bound Rail to the COP.

With more than 400 young climate warriors on board, many in their mid-to-late teens, the 10-hour trip from Amsterdam with changeovers in Brussels and London was shot through with camaraderie, determination and anger.

One thing these young activists did not bring on board was the illusion that the 13-day UN summit starting Sunday would by itself beat back what they called the existential threat of global warming.


"Politicians won't achieve the Paris Agreement goals, they won't keep the temperature under 1.5 degrees Celsius," said Johnny Dabrowski, an 18-year old high school senior from Warsaw, referring to the cornerstone target in the 2015 treaty signed by nearly every country on the planet.

But rather than simply joining the Fridays for Future student strikes launched by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Dabrowski has put climate action at the centre of plans for his own future.

He has enrolled to become an environmental engineer to compensate for the failure of the world's major economies to slash greenhouse gases.

"We have to take carbon out of the atmosphere, it's simply a fact," he said with a poise beyond his years.

Elin Wilhelmsson has already dedicated her career to the environment.

Describing herself a Nature buff from the time she could walk, the 24-year-old is today a waste management engineer in the Swedish city of Aneby.

"I want what I do professionally to matter," she said, peering over the edge of a snug-fitting face mask.

- 'Panicky' -

Wilhelmsson was leading a small delegation of Swedish scouts, some with jackets adorned with merit badges and all wearing the signature striped scarf.

She has a coveted "observer" status at the UN negotiations and she said she would play a watchdog role as best she can.

The Rail to the COP journey, spearheaded by the non-profit Youth for Sustainable Travel, was also meant to send a message -- highlighting the low-carbon virtues of train travel.

At the station in Brussels, Eurostar Director General Jacques Dumas said that, on average, taking the train emits ten times less CO2 than flying.

Vinne Luyt, a 22-year old volunteer with Oxfam and a student in international relations from Ghent, Belgium, wanted to go to the COP26 talks in Glasgow in support of people from the Global South who could not attend for lack of a vaccine.

"A lot of young people would have come," said Luyt, who had become friends online with three activists in Indonesia, India and Colombia.

"They are getting panicky about the impact of climate change on their daily lives," he said.

 NOT THIS YEARS CLASS FOR HOGWARTS

Rail passengers leave the special Climate Summit train in London to take a second train to Glasgow for the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference / © ANP/AFP/File

Just over one degree of warming compared to preindustrial levels has been enough to unleash a deadly cascade of storms, wildfires and flooding, with far worse on the horizon, scientists say.

The more than 20 cars on the climate express were also crawling with journalists, including those from a new generation of news media run by young people for young people.

-It's all about networking -

Lucas Wicky and Florian Thomas, both in their early 20s, recorded testimonials of activists for Brut, a video-only platform that lives on, and through, social media.

"We do storytelling for young people," explained Thomas.

Some videos posted by Brut, which has editions in half-a-dozen countries, have scored more than 10 million views.

About half-way on the leg from London to Glasgow, the voice of a crew member from Avanti West Coast Trains pierced the bustle of animated conversation.

"My name is Fatin Abdalla, and I am so excited to be on this train," she said over the speakers.

Abdalla, originally from Sudan, it turned out, had gone to landmark Paris climate talks in 2018 as a youth delegate for an NGO, and the experience left a huge impression.

While working in Avanti's sustainability department, she is completing a PhD in mechanical engineering to develop ways to store heat generated by solar panels that can be used in developing countries -- like her own -- where most people don't have electricity.

For many on board, the trip to Paris was more to meet other young activists than diving into the details of the highly technical UN talk.

"It's all about networking," said one young woman to a new-found friend.

"Yes I've had so many good conversations," the other agreed

Sea level is already guaranteed to rise by 5 feet, climate scientist says

David Knowles

·Senior Editor

Sun, October 31, 2021, 

Based on the amount of greenhouse gases humans have already added to the Earth’s atmosphere, the world is guaranteed to experience approximately 5 feet of sea level rise in the coming decades, climate scientist Benjamin Strauss told “The Climate Crisis Podcast.” 

“It’s in that range, you know, 5 feet plus or minus. And that’s because we’ve already warmed the planet by around 2 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.1 Celsius,” Strauss, the president and CEO of Climate Central, a nonprofit that tries to educate policymakers and the public about the threats posed by climate change, told Yahoo News. “Think of it this way: If I dumped a truckload of ice in the middle of Phoenix, we’d all know it’s going to melt. But it takes time to melt. And the same thing is true for the big ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica and glaciers around the world. We turned up the thermostat. We’ve already heated the planet by a couple degrees, but they’ve only begun to respond by melting. And that’s why we have all this extra sea level in the pipeline and it’s, it’s enough, I’m afraid to say, it’s hard to imagine the long-term future of South Florida, let’s say, right, with the sea level that’s already in the pipeline.”

A woman stands off Bikeman islet in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati in 2013. (David Gray/Reuters)

Strauss, who has testified before Congress on the number of American houses that will be threatened due to sea level rise caused by climate change, noted that current estimates are that seas will rise by 2 to 3 feet by the end of the century and will continue rising in the decades that follow. Yet the fact that roughly 5 feet of sea level rise has already been baked in to the planet’s future is, for Strauss, even more incentive for the world to come together to prevent that figure from creeping even higher. 

“I think we can help ourselves a lot by slowing down these changes,” he said. 

G20 leaders talk up climate action but avoid real commitments, casting a shadow over crucial Glasgow talks

October 31, 2021 

The G20 summit in Rome concluded over the weekend with a disappointing outcome for Earth’s climate.

Leaders of the world’s wealthiest countries, including Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, failed to reach a commitment to phase out fossil fuels. And the meeting’s final communique did not include a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

G20 leaders made significant strides to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on global vaccine targets. They also struck an agreement that will mean profits of large multinational companies pay more tax.

But breakthrough leadership on climate change was missing. This outcome does not bode well for the Glasgow talks – the world’s last hope for keeping the 1.5℃ global warming limit within reach.

G20 leaders, including Australia’s Scott Morrison and the UK’s Boris Johnson, failed to reach a commitment to phase out fossil fuels. AP

No timeline for coal exit

The G20 meeting was seen as a crucial precursor to the COP26 negotiations. But while world leaders agreed substantial action was needed to stay within 1.5℃ of global warming, they made few real commitments to meeting that target.

Going into the G20, Morrison was under pressure, after US President Joe Biden on Saturday described Australia’s handling of the cancelled French submarine deal as “clumsy”. And in the months leading to the talks, both the US and United Kingdom had called on Australia to up its climate ambition.

Days before leaving to attend the summit, Morrison struck a deal with the Nationals for Australia to adopt a target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The Rome talks, however, failed to set a concrete 2050 target for all G20 nations – instead underlining the importance of reaching the target by or around the middle of the century. This phrasing meets the positions of China and Saudi Arabia, which don’t plan to reach net zero until 2060.

Read more: Scott Morrison attends pivotal global climate talks today, bringing a weak plan that leaves Australia exposed

China has pledged to reach net-zero emissions until 2060. Shutterstock

Morrison’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 was welcomed by some, and scrutinised by others, particularly for lack of detail.

UK Climate Change Committee chair John Gummer said international pressure “squeezed out” a net-zero pledge from Morrison, and the plan lacked the action necessary to meet the target.

Major global news outlets have labelled Morrison’s plan “hollow” and “hard to believe”. CNN called Australia “the rich world’s weakest link at COP26”.

In his closing statement at the G20, Morrison talked up the nation’s record on emissions reduction and sought to justify his government’s “technology not taxes” approach to climate action.

He promoted the case for emerging technologies, saying many existed now. He conceded some technologies were not yet invented, but likened the challenge to development of the COVID-19 vaccine which “didn’t exist two years ago”.

Morrison’s focus on technology appeared to resonate. G20 leaders agreed to “cooperate on the deployment and dissemination of zero or low carbon emission and renewable technologies, including sustainable bioenergy, to enable a transition towards low-emission power systems”.

Read more: If all 2030 climate targets are met, the planet will heat by 2.7℃ this century. That's not OK

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres had called on G20 leaders to strike a deal on coal, saying wealthy countries should phase out coal-fired power by 2030 while developing nations should do so by 2040.

But he was left disappointed. The G20’s final communique failed to put a timeline on the phase-out, instead saying it should be done “as soon as possible”.

Unsurprisingly, Australia pushed back on coal phase-outs, alongside India and China.

However, small steps towards phasing out coal were achieved. Leaders accepted the G7 position to end international public finance for “new unabated coal power generation abroad by the end of 2021”. But this commitment does not address existing coal plants, and it means coal can still be burned with carbon capture and storage technology.




Now to COP26

Australia’s overall contribution to the G20 was low-key. In a defiant statement about climate policy issued last week, Morrison declared the nation “won’t be lectured by others who do not understand Australia”. On this, Morrison may regard the G20 as a success, for it required few concessions to Australia’s position on climate.

Morrison enjoyed some positive moments at the G20, including a bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. This resulted in a joint statement on cooperation on the green economy and energy transition – an important move that advances the bilateral relationship while recognising the significance of Indonesia’s forthcoming G20 presidency.

But that high note was overshadowed when French President Emmanuel Macron claimed Morrison lied to him about cancelling the major French submarine contract.

The comments deepen the rift between Australia and France. Heading into COP26, this could cause Australia issues with coalitions such as the G7, the OECD and the European Union, where France is a major player.

Of course, there’s still room for diplomatic pressure and progress on climate action in Glasgow.

There, attention will turn towards national pledges for emissions reduction by 2030 and the action required to meet them. Australia’s 2030 target lags almost all developed countries, and we are one of very few rich nations not to ramp up its 2030 target since the Paris Agreement six years ago.

Macron has declared “2030 is the new 2050”. On that score, Australia is likely to feel the heat.

Read more: Glasgow COP26: climate finance pledges from rich nations are inadequate and time is running out

Authors

Caitlin Byrne
Director, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University

Disclosure statement
Caitlin Byrne receives funding from the Australia Indonesia Institute.

Susan Harris Rimmer
Professor and Director of the Policy Innovation Hub, Griffith Business School, Griffith University

Disclosure statement
Susan Harris Rimmer receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Partners

G20 disappoints on key climate target as eyes turn to Glasgow

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
31 October, 2021
The G20 major economies committed on Sunday to the key goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but some disappointed leaders warned more was needed to make a success of UN climate talks beginning in Glasgow.


The G20 nations between them emit nearly 80 percent of carbon emissions (Getty)

The G20 major economies committed on Sunday to the key goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but some disappointed leaders warned more was needed to make a success of UN climate talks beginning in Glasgow.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the COP26 summit that opened on Sunday, said the pledge from world leaders after two days of talks in Rome was "not enough", and warned of the dire consequences for the planet.

"If Glasgow fails, the whole thing fails," he told reporters, saying the G20 commitments were "drops in a rapidly warming ocean".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he left Rome "with my hopes unfulfilled - but at least they are not buried".

The G20 nations between them emit nearly 80 percent of carbon emissions, and a firm commitment on action was viewed as vital for the success of the UN's COP26.

US President Joe Biden said the summit made "tangible" progress on many issues but said he found it "disappointing" that Russia and China, whose leaders attended only via videolink, did not offer stronger climate pledges.

He vowed to "continue to focus on what China is not doing, what Russia is not doing, and what Saudi Arabia is not doing."

Meaningful actions

In a final communique, the G20 reaffirmed its support for the goals in the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords, to keep "the global average temperature increase well below 2 degrees and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels".

They said this would require "meaningful and effective actions and commitment by all countries, taking into account different approaches", while they also promised measures against coal use.

But experts say meeting the 1.5 degree target means slashing global emissions nearly in half by 2030 and to "net-zero" by 2050 - and the G20 set no firm date, speaking only of reaching the goal of net zero "by or around mid century".

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who hosted the G20 talks, said he was "proud of these results, but we must remember that it's only the start".

Eyes now turn to Glasgow, where more than 120 heads of state and government, including Biden, India's Narendra Modi and Australia's Scott Morrison, were heading from Rome.

Lacking ambition

The G20 leaders did agree to end funding for new unabated coal plants abroad -- those whose emissions have not gone through any filtering process -- by the end of 2021.

But environmental campaign group Greenpeace slammed the final statement as "weak, lacking both ambition and vision", saying G20 leaders "failed to meet the moment".

"If the G20 was a dress rehearsal for COP26, then world leaders fluffed their lines," said Executive Director Jennifer Morgan.

Friederike Roder, senior director at anti-poverty group Global Citizen, told AFP the summit had produced "half-measures rather than concrete actions".

European leaders pointed out that given the fundamental divisions among the world's most advanced nations, a joint commitment to what was the most ambitious Paris goal was a step forward.

"I hear all the very alarmed talk on these subjects. I'm myself worried and we are fully mobilised," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

"But I would like us to take a step back and look at the situation where we were four years ago", when former US President Donald Trump announced he was pulling out of the treaty.

Draghi said that the needle had moved markedly even in the past few days, including by China -- by far the world's biggest carbon polluter.

Beijing plans to make its economy carbon neutral before 2060, but has resisted pressure to offer nearer-term goals.

'Dream big'

Earlier on Sunday, Draghi, Britain's Prince Charles and Pope Francis had all called on leaders to think big.

Calling climate change "the defining challenge of our times", Draghi warned: "Either we act now... or we delay acting, pay a much higher price later, and risk failing."

Pope Francis, who is outspoken on the issue and received several G20 leaders at the Vatican this weekend, said: "This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities... The time to act, and to act together, is now!"

Hackers threaten to out Israeli LGBTQ dating site users

Issued on: 31/10/2021 
Tel Aviv (AFP)

A hacking group calling itself Black Shadow threatened Sunday to reveal personal details of a million users of Israeli's leading LGBTQ dating site, an attack some cyber experts linked to Iran.

"If we have 1 Millions $ in our wallet in the next 48 hours, we will not leak this information and also we will not sell it to anybody," Black Shadow wrote on Telegram.

The Atraf dating site was compromised after Black Shadow hacked CyberServe, an Israeli internet service provider whose clients include public transportation firms, museums and a travel company.

On Saturday, the group dumped tens of thousands of records online from the various sites it had penetrated, including 1,000 user profiles from Atraf.

The leaked records included users' HIV status, sexual orientation and unencrypted passwords.

Ran Shalhavi, CEO of The Aguda -- The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, told AFP his organisation had extended its emergency hotline hours to deal with a flood of worried callers.

"They are exposed, and if they are in the closet, they are exposed to situations they never knew before," he said, adding that the association was working with different groups to "reduce damage".

Libi Oz, a spokeswoman for the government-funded Israel National Cyber Directorate, said her office warned CyberServe "several times" it was vulnerable to attack.

AFP was unable to reach Atraf for comment, and CyberServe did not return AFP's calls.

Cyber intelligence researcher Ohad Zaidenberg said the breach appeared to be linked to a hack of Israeli insurance firm Shirbit last year, also claimed by Black Shadow, as well as an attack in March on Israeli insurance company KLS Capital Ltd.

"Now they are doing something relatively similar," Zaidenberg said.

"We know that attack on Shirbit was Iranian, and therefore we can say, if it's the same attacker and that attack was Iranian, this attack is Iranian."

Keren Elazari, a cybersecurity expert and researcher at Tel Aviv University, agreed that the attack appeared to be Iranian.

"A big part of the hacks we've seen is not about ransom," she said. "It's about embarrassing Israeli companies, embarrassing Israeli citizens."

She said the pandemic had opened new vulnerabilities for Israeli firms, as working from home offered less cybersecurity and has "multiplied the opportunity for attacks".

"CyberServe did not apply necessary procedures to protect itself," she told AFP.

© 2021 AFP

Iranian civil defense chief says US & Israel behind cyberattack that disrupted thousands of gas stations this week

31 Oct, 2021 08:45

A gas station in Tehran, Iran, October 27, 2021. © AP/Vahid Salemi

Iran’s civil defense chief has accused the US and Israel of paralyzing the work of the country’s gas stations this week. He said “internal factors” may have also been involved in the cyberattack.

The head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, compared the recent cyber intrusion to last year’s attack on the Shahid Rajaee terminal near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz, and the hack that disrupted the country’s rail service in July. 

Reuters quoted Jalali as saying on Iranian state TV that while he was “still unable to say forensically,” he believed “analytically” the US and Israel were responsible for the attack. The general added that “internal factors” may have been involved as well, and said security services were investigating the matter.

“This attack is similar to cyberattacks on the railways and Shahid Rajaee, and we think it was definitely carried out by the Americans and the Zionists,” Jalali was quoted by IRNA as saying, referring to the Israeli government. 

Iran has seen a wave of explosions, fires, and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure since the beginning of last year amid heightened tensions with Washington and Tel Aviv. Iranian officials regularly accuse the US and Israel of carrying out various subversive activities on Iranian soil. American and Israeli officials either deny or do not comment on such claims. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi confirmed on Wednesday that a cyberattack had disrupted the work of thousands of gas stations across the country. The intrusion disabled the government-issued smart cards that many drivers use to buy fuel. 

Raisi said hackers wanted to make “people angry by creating disorder and disruption.” Jalali told IRNA on Sunday that 60% of the stations resumed work 12 hours after the hack. 

Israeli media reported this week that the Black Shadow hacker group had broken into the servers of an Israeli internet hosting company, Cyberserve, bringing down a number of websites, including a data storage company, a transport company, and an LGBT dating service. According to reports, the group, which has targeted Israeli companies in the past, has links to Iran.  

Last seven years on track to be hottest on record: UN

Issued on: 31/10/2021 - 

Recent years have seen an onslaught of extreme weather, including wildfires made more intense by climate change

 Patrick T. FALLON AFP/File

Glasgow (AFP)

The years from 2015 to 2021 are on track to be the seven hottest on record, the World Meteorological Organization said on Sunday, warning that the planet was heading into "uncharted territory".

The preliminary WMO state of the climate report, launched as the UN COP26 climate conference opens, said that global warming from greenhouse gas emissions threatens "far-reaching repercussions for current and future generations".

Based on data for the first nine months of the year, the WMO said 2021 was likely to be between the fifth and seventh warmest year on record -- despite the cooling effect of the La Nina phenomenon that lowered temperatures at the beginning of the year.

"From the ocean depths to mountain tops, from melting glaciers to relentless extreme weather events, ecosystems and communities around the globe are being devastated," said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement on the report.

He added that the two-week COP26 climate conference "must be a turning point for people and planet".

The WMO found that the average temperature for 2021 was around 1.09 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels.

And the average temperature over the last 20 years (2002-2021) for the first time exceeded the symbolic threshold of 1C above the mid-19th century, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale.

This will "focus the minds of delegates at COP26 aspiring to keep global temperature rise to within the limits agreed in Paris six years ago", said Stephen Belcher, chief scientist at Britain's Met Office.

The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to cap global warming at "well below" 2C above pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.

Since then the world has seen a litany of weather disasters including record-shattering wildfires across Australia and Siberia, a once-in-a-thousand-years heatwave in North America and extreme rainfall that caused massive flooding in Asia, Africa, the US and Europe.

"Extreme events are the new norm," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

"There is mounting scientific evidence that some of these bear the footprint of human-induced climate change."

'Unimaginable' consequences

The state of the climate report is a snapshot of planetary health, including temperatures, extreme weather, glacier retreat and ice melt.

Ocean acidification due to the absorption of carbon dioxide by the seas was "unprecedented" in at least 26,000 years, the WMO said, adding that this will lessen the ability of the oceans to take in more C02.

Meanwhile, sea level rise -- mainly caused by the expansion of warming sea water and the melting of ice on land -- was at a new high.

The report is "shocking and deeply disturbing and yet another wake-up call to world leaders that time has run out for talk", said Jonathan Bamber, Director of the Bristol Glaciology Centre, in comments to the Science Media Centre.

He said on the current trajectory, sea level rise could exceed two metres (more than six feet) by 2100, which could displace some 630 million people worldwide.

"The consequences of that are unimaginable," said Bamber.

"What is required now is profound and comprehensive action by every nation and state actor to limit further and deeper climate breakdown."

© 2021 AFP

La Palma volcano update: Volcanic lightning becoming more frequent

Sun, 31 Oct 2021

Volcanic lightning at the eruption on La Palma 

(image: INVOLCAN)

Scientists from INVOLCAN documented several volcanic lightnings seen in the eruption column.

Over the past days, these have become more frequent. This goes along with the observed increase in explosive behaviour at the vents - more material is being fragmented into ash (as opposed to liquid lava fountains) and the resulting particles are probably finer as well.

Such volcanic "thunderstorms" are often seen during explosive eruptions producing large quantities of ash, although the details are still poorly understood. In a simplified model, the lightnings are the result of electric charges accumulating in different parts of the eruption cloud, where friction between the ash grains rip of electric charges (electrons) from each other. The more quantity of ash emitted, the faster and more turbulent it is moving and the finer the ash grains, the more likely this process occurs.
Video of the explosive activity yesterday:

All news about: La Palma volcano
Information about: La Palma volcano

Volcanic rocks cover water off Japan's Okinawa after 1,500km journey – video

Play Video  1:02

A Japanese artist has filmed herself trying to swim in a sea with a layer of pumice rocks about 30cm deep in the water. The stones are believed to have travelled almost 1,500km from an eruption in the Pacific's Ogasawara Islands in August

Rescuers race to reach 9 firefighters in Brazil cave

Issued on: 31/10/2021


A handout picture released from Sao Paulo state's Military Police shows firefighters working to rescue other firefighters buried in a cave after a collapse near the Brazilian city of Altinopolis - Sao Paulo State's Military Police/AFP

Brasília (AFP)

First responders on Sunday were racing to rescue nine Brazilian firefighters who remained trapped in a cave after its roof collapsed while they were training inside, authorities said.

The accident occurred as a group of 26 firefighters were on a training exercise in a cave near the city of Altinopolis, the Sao Paulo fire department said on Twitter.

"The roof of the cave collapsed," trapping part of the group, it said.

According to a statement from the Altinopolis mayor's office, "currently nine victims remain underground."

A previous report said 15 were still buried, and that three of the victims who were rescued suffered fractures and hypothermia.

Five people in total were taken to a local hospital and discharged, according to the mayor's office.

Police and emergency health teams have joined firefighters in a desperate effort to free those still trapped, but the work has been hampered by heavy rains.

Access to the remote site is difficult and threats of new collapses have complicated the rescue.

Speaking to GloboNews, Cristina Trifoni, mother of one of the instructors participating in the training, explained that the group had planned to spend the night inside the cave.

"What happened is that the entrance to the place they were in collapsed. I'm desperate," she said next to relatives of other firefighters who anxiously awaited word on the rescue effort.

Altinopolis is known for its caves, a major regional tourist attraction.

RECENT REPORTING IS THAT THE NINE REMAINING TRAPPED ARE DEAD

Nine Brazilian firefighters dead in cave collapse while training | TheHill

GAMING

I Created A Socialist Utopia In New World To Screw Over Amazon

BY HARRY ALSTON

PUBLISHED 10 HOURS AGO
THE GAMER.COM

Sometimes you've just got to take matters into your own hands.


Gambling is rife. House taxes are break-your-back expensive. A recent gold exploitation glitch has injected thousands of gold into the economy, and that's without even mentioning the fishing bots. You pay taxes in New World - which is more than Bezos does. You’ll work five days a week to pay them, then get taxed on crafting and trading, too. All that gold is given to one company (or sometimes, just one player) on the server. Everything costs money, and yet you hardly make any. Welcome to Amazon’s capitalist hellhole.

What did we really expect? New World is a game about colonizing an island and destroying the inhabitants, after all. It’s also developed by Amazon Game Studios, a subsidiary of one the largest companies in the world, headed up by cowboy-hat-wearing space-jockey Jeff Bezos. Surprising absolutely no one, the economy in the game is awful and ripe for exploitation. Cheers, Jeff.

Take this as an example. The leader of one of the largest companies on my server, no names here, sucked up the one hundred thousand gold in their company treasury and booked it to another server. All that money, all those hundreds of hours played by their underlings to stock the company’s coffers, vanished in a moment. People were pissed off. It all felt a bit too ‘real life’ - some caviar-sniffing folk making off with all their hard-earned gold. Cheers, Jeff.

Beyond the exploits, deflation is hitting New World’s economy hard. The prices of materials drop by up to 50 percent with each week that passes. It’s now pretty much impossible to make money from the auction house. You need to pay taxes on your homes and you need to repair your armour when it breaks. Even the cheapest house is around 500 gold a week and armour costs only increase the higher your level. How is anyone meant to pay for anything? Cheers, Jeff.


I wasn’t going to take this, not from a tax-dodger like Jeff. In an attempt to bring economic balance to our server, I teamed up with my company mates to do something about the awful economy. We’d heard stories from other servers about gambling rings, fight clubs, and a glitch that let you set up camps in the middle of town. But all of these didn’t really seem like what we wanted to achieve. We hold Windsward. We make a ton of gold. What can we do with it to make our server a better place?

So began the long process of wealth distribution. It started with handing out potions to the low-level players we saw wandering around Windsward. We produce hundreds of mana potions and health potions anyway, so why not share them? When we started getting thanks we were like “Hey, this feels pretty neat”, so we started giving out rawhide, wood, and other materials to players we saw at the workstations.

We also began funneling resources to the most hardcore crafter in our company. This guy is at level 200 in furnishing and cooking, which means he can pump out some of the best items in the game. Bring him the resources and he’ll make it for you. I make the potions, my pal crafts armor, and everything is divided up without a penny spent. We love collaborating, sharing, and providing gear for new faction members.

We run a lottery in Windsward two or three times a week. Lotteries aren’t socialist, in fact, they’re pretty much the opposite, but ours are a little different: all of our earnings go right back into the community. You always walk out with a prize, even if it's just a couple of hundred rawhide. It’s a one gold entry fee and you might win a tier 5 bag. We get maybe 50 entrants from all three factions, so we’re hardly making anything, and the odds of winning something expensive are pretty good.


We’re not in it for profits though, just the experience is fulfilling enough. It brings the server together. You can stop for a minute and hang out in a busy square before heading out into the wild to spend the next few hours killing monsters and cutting down trees. This emergent experience is what MMOs are all about.

Our positive energy has spread around the server. Other players in our faction have started to share resources. We hardly use the auction house anymore. Regular DMs appear from newer players asking if we can craft their weapons and tools if they bring us the resources. Sure, why not?

New World is a game, and we like making it better for people. You don’t need a Prime subscription, and you definitely don’t need to give all your gold to a company leader who might disappear overnight. We’re not grinding to buy a superyacht, Jeff. We’re grinding so the other people on our server can chill out and play the game without the virtual tax man (dressed in an Amazon uniform) knocking down their door. Now we’ve just got to see about actually paying those housing taxes...

NEW WORLD

About The Author

Harry Alston is a writer based in the UK. He was once number one in the world on Call of Duty: Black Ops and now spends his days chasing that past glory.

New Zealand's bird of the year may actually be — a bat?

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The long-tailed bat, or pekapeka-tou-roa, is critically endangered

CBC Radio · Posted: Oct 29, 2021 6:04 PM ET | Last Updated: October 29

The pekapeka-tou-roa, or long-tailed bat, is one of New Zealand's only land-based native mammals. (Ian Davidson-Watts)

For 16 years, birds across New Zealand have battled each other in a gripping competition to be named Bird of the Year. But this year's front-runner is the native bat — a fact that has ruffled some feathers.

"It's true. There is a sneaky mammal who only comes out at night and has snuck its way into the bird list," Bird of the Year spokesperson Laura Keown told As It Happens host Carol Off.

Bird of the Year is a fun competition in which politicians get involved and people make memes and even fake Tinder accounts on behalf of the birds to garner votes, Keown says.

In the course of that process, she says people also get to learn about the many species that are in danger of becoming extinct. 

• Ancient cave poop reveals how bats have adapted to humans and climate change

• Vampire bats share blood meals with their besties

Hunters and predators, often mammals, have long threatened New Zealand's native birds, which is why the long-tailed bat, or pekapeka-tou-roa in Maori, one of New Zealand's only land-based native mammals, is a controversial contender.

One Twitter user said that a mammal has hijacked the competition, while another made a point to clarify that bats are not, in fact, birds.

But Keown defended the bat's inclusion. She says it's unfortunate that bats now remind some people of the global pandemic, as the coronavirus may have have spread from bats to another animal before affecting humans

"Hopefully, if our bat kind of makes history by winning a bird contest, they can get famous for that instead," she said.

The kākāpō is a large, flightless parrot that won New Zealand's Bird of the Year last year and is now trailing behind the bat in second place. (Kimberley Collins)

Plus, she says, the bats are at risk of habitat loss, as they roost inside the nooks and hollows of New Zealand's old growth trees. 

"It's a pretty special little species and it doesn't get much attention all on its own in its own category over there," Keown said.

"Mammal of the Year was going to be a really boring competition, so we thought it was a great awareness-raising opportunity ... and they just jumped on the list with the rest of the birds."

Laura Keown is the spokesperson for New Zealand's Bird of the Year. (Submitted by Laura Keown)

Once, there were three species of bats native to the New Zealand: the long-tailed bat, the short-tailed bat and the greater short-tailed bat, which is believed to have gone extinct. The long-tailed bat is classified as "nationally critical" while the short-tailed bat is vulnerable, but recovering.

By including pekapeka-tou-roa, Keown says the contest hopes to raise awareness about the threats facing both long- and short-tailed bats.

New Zealand bats roost inside large, hollow trees and sometimes caves when they rest or hibernate. (Ian Davidson-Watts)

Pekapeka-tou-roa bats are quite small, with a wingspan around the size of an outstretched hand, and a furry body about the size of a thumb. 

When they wake up at dusk, they fly up to 60 kilometres an hour and use echolocation calls to hunt for moths, mosquitos and other crawling insects. 

"They're really great for controlling insects," Keown said. "And they're also really cute."

---

Written by Mehek Mazhar. Interview with Laura Keown produced by Ashley Fraser.

Macron says Morrison lied to him about AUKUS submarine deal

French President Emmanuel Macron said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him over the cancellation of a submarine building contract in September, and indicated more was needed to be done to rebuild trust between the two allies.

 French President Emmanuel Macron looks on at the end of the annual Bastille Day military ceremony on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, on July 14, 2020. - France holds a reduced version of its traditional Bastille Day parade this year due to safety measures over the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic, and with the country's national day celebrations including a homage to health workers and others fighting the outbreak. 

(Photo by Ludovic Marin / POOL / AFP) 

Story by Reuters and Angus Watson, CNN 

Macron and Morrison were in Rome for the G20 summit, the first time they had met since Australia scrapped a multibillion dollar submarine deal with France as part of a new security alliance with the United States and Britain announced in September.

The new security alliance, dubbed AUKUS and which could give Australia access to nuclear-powered submarines, caught Paris off guard and saw the French ambassadors recalled from Washington and Canberra amid accusations France had been betrayed.

"I have a lot of respect for your country. I have a lot of respect and a lot of friendship for your people. I just say when we have respect, you have to be true and you have to behave in line and consistently with this value," Macron told a group of Australian reporters who had traveled to cover the G20.

Asked if he thought Morrison had lied to him, Macron replied "I don't think, I know."

Morrison, speaking later at a media conference on Sunday in Rome, said he had not lied and that he had previously explained to Macron that conventional submarines would no longer meet Australia's needs.

"I was very clear that what was going to be provided to us was not going to meet our strategic interests, and there was still a process we were engaged in, and we then engaged in, over the months that followed. And then we communicated to him (Macron) our ultimate decision," Morrison said.

Morrison repeated the acquisition of at least eight nuclear propelled submarines in a new deal with the US and UK was preferable to the 2016 agreement with France.

"The Australian Government secured this, something that no previous government has been able to secure in 50 years, and this has well-positioned Australia to defend ourselves into the future. So I make no apologies for getting the right result from Australia. And we knew it would be a difficult decision."

Asked about how his administration would move forward with France, Morrison said that his administration has begun to fix relations on projects of shared and mutual interest, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, but admitted that "these things take time."

On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he had thought France had been informed of the contract cancellation before the AUKUS pact was announced, and said that the handling of the new security agreement had been clumsy.

Are Arab Americans people of color? Mayor vote raises issue

BOSTON (AP) — Are Arab Americans people of color?

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The question has been bubbling beneath the surface of Boston's historic mayor's race, where one of the two candidates, Annissa Essaibi George, has found herself challenged on the campaign trail about her decision to identify as one.

On Tuesday, Essaibi George faces off against fellow Boston City Councilor and Democrat Michelle Wu, a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. Whoever wins will be the first woman and first person of color elected to the city's top political office.

Essaibi George, who describes herself as Polish-Arab American, acknowledges she hasn’t always identified as a person of color — in part because Arab Americans don’t fit neatly into the boxes Americans are typically asked to check off on official forms, including on the U.S. Census.

“We have found ourselves in this weird position where there isn’t a place for us to identify as Arab," Essaibi George said in a recent interview on GBH News. “It’s unfortunate that Arabs don’t have that proverbial box to check and it is important for the Arab community to be counted, to be seen, to be heard and to be recognized."

She has identified as a person of color during her years in elected office, Essaibi George said.

Essaibi George has frequently talked about the obstacles faced by her father, a Muslim immigrant from Tunisia, and the challenges he believed she would also face as his daughter. Her mother, a Catholic, immigrated from Poland.

In a city like Boston with its long history of electing white men, particularly of Irish and Italian descent, a girl with an Arab name could never be successful in politics, her father warned, with no chance of becoming mayor.

But the 47-year-old Essaibi George, a lifelong Boston resident and former public school teacher, went on to win an at-large seat on the Boston City Council in 2015 and came in second in a September preliminary election, setting up the head-to-head match with Wu, who won the preliminary.

Although she identifies as a person of color, Essaibi George acknowledges her physical presence — including a heavy Boston accent — allows her a certain amount of privilege as “a woman who can maneuver in different rooms in different spaces."

She has also said that while her father's family came from North Africa, she doesn't consider herself African American, a term meant to refer to Black people.

The question of whether Arab Americans should identify as people of color extends to the Arab American community itself.

Nuha E. Muntasser, who describes herself as an Muslim Arab American or Muslim Libyan American, said she cringes whenever she has to check the box for “white” instead of being given the option of identifying as North African or Middle Eastern.

“I do not identify as white and it’s frustrating when I have to identify as that,” she said.

The choice is all the more discouraging because many Arab Americans don’t share the same experience as white Americans, she said. That sense of otherness can be even more pronounced among Arab or Muslim American women who wear the hijab, she said.

“People like me, we have to prove our Americanness,” said the 26-year-old, who lives in Sudbury, 45 miles west of Boston, and serves on the town’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

Muntasser also hesitates to call herself a person of color. “Because I understand the difference of what Black women experience in this country, I am not comfortable with saying I am a person of color,” she said.

The lack of a box to check for Arab Americans can also limit economic opportunities, said former Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen, an Arab American and an American Muslim.

That’s particularly relevant when dealing with possible business contracts, especially with the federal government.

“When you’re a minority- or veteran- or women-owned business, that’s important,” Mazen said. “People make a lot of assumptions about which boxes you can check.”

Mazen, who lives in Cambridge, said he doesn’t look like a Black person but also isn’t seen as white, occupying what he described as a kind of moving window.

“I don’t go around saying I’m a person of color or not a person of color, but I know someone like me faces a lot more discrimination than your average upper class white Cambridge resident,” Mazen said.

A pivotal moment in the trajectory of the lives of many Arab Americans came with the Sept. 11 attacks, with many still feeling singled out and under suspicion 20 years later.

A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted ahead of this year’s 9/11 anniversary found that 53% of Americans have unfavorable views toward Islam, compared with 42% who have favorable ones.

Mohammed Missouri, 38, executive director of Massachusetts-based Jetpac, a nonprofit seeking to build political power among American Muslims, said earlier generations of Arab Americans tended to focus on assimilation rather than leaning into their identity.

“With younger people in the Arab American community, you’re seeing people whose goal is to build actual power and not just power for themselves but for the community at large,” said Missouri, an Arab American. “Younger Arab Americans are very proud of their heritage and see that as integral to their identity as Americans.”

Missouri also said that while he’s forced to check “white” on Census forms — defined as “all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Europe, the Middle East or North Africa” — he doesn’t consider himself white.

Whether Arab Americans fall into the broader category as persons of color is still a matter of debate within the community he said, adding that some “white-passing Arab Americans” prefer to identify as white.

“It’s going to be a fluid conversation we’re going to keep having,” he said.

The city’s previous elected mayor — Democrat Marty Walsh — stepped down to become U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden.

Walsh was replaced on an acting basis by Kim Janey, sworn in March 24 as Boston’s first female and first Black mayor.

Steve Leblanc , The Associated Press