24th November 2019

Environment John Conyers: Longest-serving black congressman dies aged 90

Environment John Conyers: Longest-serving black congressman dies aged 90

Environment

environment John Conyers (D-MI) (L) greets President Barack Obama as he arrives aboard Air Force One at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Michigan January 20, 2016.Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

John Conyers greets Barack Obama in Detroit in January 2016

The longest-serving black member of the US Congress, John Conyers, has died at home at the age of 90, police in Detroit say.

The Democrat resigned under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations in December 2017 after a career lasting nearly 53 years.

In office, he was known for his liberal stance on civil rights and liberties.

He memorably fought for 15 years to make the birthday of Martin Luther King what it is today – a national holiday.

Conyers was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Environment How did his career pan out?

Born on 16 May 1929, he grew up in Detroit and served in the military for nearly a decade, including 12 months in Korea during the war there (1950-53) when he was a Combat Engineers officer.

I like to think that my worldview was broadened by my military experience,” he later reflected, according to USA Today.

Going on to train as a lawyer, he became involved in the civil rights movement.

In 1964, he narrowly won his first election in Michigan, becoming one of just six black members of the House of Representatives.

He began his campaign to create “MLK Day” (a movable holiday which next falls on 20 January) just days after the civil rights champion was assassinated in 1968.

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Media captionThe moment Americans learned of MLK’s death

It was finally signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

He was involved in reforms ranging from the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and the Hate Crimes Act of 2009 to the Jazz Preservation Act of 1987, the Detroit News recalls.

He was also the only House Judiciary Committee member to have sat in on two presidential impeachment hearings: for Richard Nixon in 1974 over Watergate, and for Bill Clinton in 1998 over his relationship with a female intern.

He died on Sunday, apparently of natural causes, the Associated Press reports.

Environment What were the allegations made against him?

In November 2017, he admitted to settling a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 with a former employee who had accused him of sexually harassing her – but he denied misconduct.

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Reuters

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On Capitol Hill in July 2008

More women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct, but he continued to deny wrongdoing:

  • Elisa Grubbs, who had worked for Conyers from about 2001 to 2013, accused him in a sworn legal statement of having slid his hand up her skirt as the two sat in church together
  • His former deputy chief of staff, Deanna Maher, came forward to say she had rejected him when he had asked her to his hotel room to have sex in 1997, and that he had subsequently groped her several times

Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi and her then Republican counterpart, House Speaker Paul Ryan, both called on Conyers to step aside.

“I vehemently deny any and all allegations of harassment or dishonor,” Conyers was to say later, “but I recognize that in this present environment, due process will not be afforded to me. I was taught by a great woman, my mother, to honor women.”

Notwithstanding the shadow cast over his career by the misconduct allegations, fellow Democrats paid tribute to Conyers.

“His impact on our state, whether by spearheading reforms in criminal justice and voting rights in Congress or through his lifetime of civil rights activism, will not be forgotten,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders tweeted to “celebrate” the late congressman’s “extraordinary service”.

24th November 2019

Environment Extreme E: British driver Billy Monger to race in new series

Environment Extreme E: British driver Billy Monger to race in new series

Environment

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‘I was happy to be alive’ – Billy Monger wins Helen Rollason award

Britain’s Billy Monger is one of the latest racers on the Extreme E championship drivers’ programme.

Monger is a double leg amputee after suffering serious injuries in a high-speed Formula 4 crash at Donington Park in 2017.

The 20-year-old returned to competition earlier this year with Carlin Racing in the Euroformula series in a car with specially adapted hand controls.

“Fighting climate change is incredibly important,” Monger said.

“Everything we do now will affect future generations. It’s definitely a responsibility, and one that I can’t and won’t just ignore.”

Extreme E, set to launch in 2021, is an environment-focused racing series in which 12 teams race off-road in fully electric SUVs in five remote locations around the world to highlight the effects of climate change.

Joining Monger on the series’ drivers’ programme is ex-Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok, European Rally champion Chris Ingram and W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, who was named on the programme in September.

Other new drivers named in the programme – which does not guarantee a seat but allows teams to pick from the pool of racers – include Sam Sunderland, the first British winner of the Dakar Rally, and Formula E drivers Jerome d’Ambrosio, Daniel Abt, and Oliver Turvey.

What is Extreme E?

Extreme E is the sister series to Formula E and will see teams race over three days on routes designed with natural obstacles, in electric SUVs capable of reaching 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds.

The series will have a ‘floating garage’ – the newly renovated St Helena, a former Royal Mail cargo ship – which will be used to transport championship freight to each location, and is thought to reduce carbon emissions when compared to air travel.

Onboard will be a laboratory and a team of environmental experts from Cambridge University to study the environmental impact of climate change in each region.

Locations include Greenland, the Amazon Rainforest, the Nepalese Himalayas, and the desert in Saudi Arabia, with one more to be announced.

Testing begins in mid-2020, with the series starting in February 2021.

The RMS St Helena will become a “floating garage” for Extreme E

24th November 2019

Science Hong Kong student’s death sparks impromptu protests and vigils

Science Hong Kong student’s death sparks impromptu protests and vigils

Science

science Mourning studentsImage copyright
Reuters

Image caption

Students at Mr Chow’s college, the University of Science and Technology, mark Alex Chow’s death after his death was announced during a graduation ceremony

A Hong Kong student has died after falling during protests on Monday – sparking impromptu protests and vigils from pro-democracy activists.

Alex Chow fell from the ledge of a car park during a police operation to clear the area on Monday morning.

The exact circumstances of his fall are unclear, but reports say he was trying to get away from tear gas.

The 22-year-old’s death came after another week of political violence in Hong Kong.

On Wednesday a pro-Beijing lawmaker was stabbed in the street by a person pretending to be a supporter.

Mr Chow had been in a coma since Monday and was certified dead early on Friday, according to the hospital he was treated in.

Fellow students at the city’s University of Science and Technology called for an investigation into how Mr Chow fell, and why it took paramedics nearly 20 minutes to arrive. Amnesty International echoed that call.

At the time of his fall, dozens of riot police were approaching, firing tear gas into the car park and surrounding areas to clear away protesters.

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Reuters

Image caption

Students attended a ceremony to pay tribute to the 22-year-old at Hong Kong’s University of Science and Technology

Police said they used tear gas to disperse protesters near the site but denied any wrongdoing, saying their actions had been justified.

But Mr Chow’s death is expected to fuel more anger at the police, who are already under pressure as Hong Kong faces its worst crisis in decades.

“Today we mourn the loss of the freedom fighter in HK,” Joshua Wong, a pro-democracy campaigner, said on Twitter. “We will not leave anyone behind – what we start together, we finish together.”

Protesters gathered across the city, taking part in mourning events. Thousands left flowers at the spot in which he fell at the car park. Some people sang hymns.

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EPA

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Thousands have paid tribute to Mr Chow, leaving flowers and candles at the site where he fell

A 23-year-old student, who said she attended the same university as Mr Chow, told AFP news agency: “I think there should be an independent inquiry commission to investigate his death and other incidents that happened during the movement.”

Other people gathered in the shopping district of Causeway Bay, lining the streets in silence.

At Hong Kong’s University of Science and Technology, dozens of protesters vandalised a Starbucks, Bank of China and at least three cafeterias on site, the South China Morning Post reports.

They wrote “condemn police brutality” on the walls of the Starbucks store.

Protesters are calling for more demonstrations this weekend.

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Media captionHow Hong Kong got trapped in a cycle of violence

Science Why are there protests in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is part of China but as a former British colony it has some autonomy and people have more rights.

The protests started in June against plans to allow extradition to the mainland – which many feared would undermine the city’s freedoms.

The bill was withdrawn in September but demonstrations continued and now call for full democracy and an inquiry into police behaviour.

Clashes between police and activists have become increasingly violent and in October the city banned all face masks.

24th November 2019

Science Russia professor arrested after woman’s arms found in bag

Science Russia professor arrested after woman’s arms found in bag

Science

science Sokolov dressed as Napoleon in 2014Image copyright
AFP

Image caption

Prof Sokolov enjoyed dressing up as Napoleon

A well-known Russian historian has confessed to murdering his partner, his lawyer says, after he was found in a river with a backpack containing a woman’s arms.

Oleg Sokolov, 63, was drunk and fell into the river as he tried to dispose of body parts, Russian media said.

Police then found the decapitated body of Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24, at his home in the city of St Petersburg.

Prof Sokolov is a Napoleon expert who has received France’s Légion d’Honneur.

“He has admitted his guilt,” his lawyer, Alexander Pochuyev, told AFP news agency, adding that the historian regretted what he had done and was now co-operating.

He lived with Ms Yeshchenko in a flat by the Moika river in St Petersburg, and they had been together for three years.

They were experts on French history: she was a postgraduate student at St Petersburg State University and had co-authored some works with him.

They both enjoyed wearing period costume, with him dressed as Napoleon, and participated in historical re-enactments.

Prof Sokolov was treated in hospital for hypothermia, after rescuers hauled him out of the icy water early on Saturday, and is now in police custody.

He is suspected of having killed Ms Yeshchenko with a sawn-off shotgun before dismembering the body. A stun pistol was found in the backpack along with the woman’s arms.

The shotgun, knives, an axe and ammunition were also found in his apartment, Interfax news agency reported.

Prof Sokolov reportedly told police he had killed Ms Yeshchenko during an argument and had then sawn off her head, arms and legs.

He is said to have planned to get rid of the body before publicly taking his own life dressed as Napoleon.

Some students at the university, quoted by Russian media, described the professor as “eccentric” and a woman student said she had complained to the police about his behaviour previously.

A St Petersburg local councillor and former student of the professor, Vasily Kunin, has tweeted that he raised concerns about Prof Sokolov’s behaviour but the university authorities did not act on his complaint.

More than 2,000 people have now signed an online petition demanding an inquiry into the university management and the history faculty’s director.

According to students, quoted by AFP, Prof Sokolov enjoyed speaking French, did impressions of Napoleon, and called Ms Yeshchenko “Josephine” and asked to be addressed as “Sire”.

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AFP

Image caption

Police divers have been searching St Petersburg’s Moika river

Science What do we know about the victim?

Ms Yeshchenko moved to St Petersburg to study from Krasnodar region in southern Russia, and was a postgraduate student at the time of her death.

“She was quiet, sweet and always the ideal student,” an acquaintance told Russia’s RIA news agency. “Absolutely everyone knew about their relationship.”

Russian media report that her mother is a police lieutenant colonel and her father a school PE teacher. A brother once played as a goalkeeper for the national junior football team.

The papers here are full of details of this murder, the tragic and gruesome tale of a brilliant and beautiful young student shot and dismembered by her 63-year old former professor-turned-lover.

In these accounts, Oleg Sokolov emerges as a historian whose interest in Napoleon bordered on the obsessive. He had a glittering CV as a respected expert on French military history, who had been visiting professor at the Sorbonne. He was also a major figure in the world of historical re-enactment.

One friend told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper the professor had organised costume balls and picnics, as well as recreating battles. But organisations he’s been linked to have now scrubbed his name from their websites.

Anastasia Yeshchenko’s three-year-long affair with the married professor was common knowledge at the university. Friends say she was a top student, highly intelligent, who shared her lover’s passion for Napoleonic history. One person described the professor as “eccentric but not aggressive”; others claimed he considered himself Napoleon reincarnated.

Anastasia’s brother told RBK Media that she called him in tears in the early hours of Friday morning, saying the couple had had a furious row sparked by the professor’s jealousy. She was planning to spend the night in a student hostel.

At 01:49 the two spoke again, and Anastasia told her brother she was fine. It was the last anyone heard from her.

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AFP

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Prof Sokolov’s apartment, where Ms Yeshchenko’s decapitated body was found, has been sealed off

Prof Sokolov was also a member of France’s Institute of Social Science, Economics and Politics (Issep), which on Saturday said it had removed him from his position on its scientific committee.

“We learn with horror… the atrocious crime of which Oleg Sokolov is allegedly guilty,” it said in a statement. “We could not have imagined that he could commit such an odious act.”

Issep was founded by Marion Maréchal, the niece of far-right National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and a former lawmaker for the far-right National Front party.

24th November 2019

Science Analysis: Large-scale tree planting ‘no easy task’

Science Analysis: Large-scale tree planting ‘no easy task’

Science

science TreesImage copyright
Getty Images

We now have yet another green battleground in this election campaign: trees.

After claim and counter claim about everything from a ban on fracking to improving flood defences to reducing carbon emissions, there’s a flurry about forests.

The Conservatives say they’ll plant at least 30 million more trees every year, a pledge that is roughly in line with a recommendation from the government’s official climate advisers. But that would represent a massive increase compared with earlier targets set by the government and, as the other parties are keen to point out, these have not been met.

For their part, the Liberal Democrats have gone much further than the Conservatives by promising to plant 60 million trees a year – that’s double the Tory number – arguing that that’s needed to help fight climate change.

The Labour Party says its plan for trees, when it comes, will be guided by the science.

Experts in forestry say a huge programme of tree planting is needed if the UK is to have any chance of reducing its carbon emissions to effectively zero. They also say that the aim, though difficult, is feasible but will depend on careful planning – “to get the right trees in the right places”, as one specialist put it to me.

Finding enough land may be one of the toughest challenges. Farmers will want incentives to convert their fields to forests, not just to help with the cost of planting trees but also to compensate them for the long decades before they can earn an income from them.

Prime arable fields are unlikely to be selected for this role but areas currently used for livestock may be in line, and that might force the country to make some highly sensitive choices between producing meat and growing forests.

It could also mean a profound change to the look of much of the countryside, with the familiar sights of grazing cattle and sheep replaced by woodland.

Officials in Defra are currently working on a new post-Brexit system of subsidies for farmers, the exact details and aims of which may well determine whether these vast tree schemes succeed.

Urban areas may offer scope for planting but these will be relatively small and possibly more expensive.

Another concern is tree disease. The UK could theoretically grow enough saplings for the new forests but a crash programme of planting would probably mean buying from abroad, just at a time when many species are already suffering from pests that have arrived from other countries.

The specialist I spoke to also said the effort had to be properly funded and “joined-up”, by which he means coordinating many different government agencies, forestry organisations and farmers – no easy task.

24th November 2019

Science Russian historian found with body parts accused of murder

Science Russian historian found with body parts accused of murder

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionOleg Sokolov broke down in court and confessed to the killing

Russian prosecutors have accused a renowned historian of murder after he admitted shooting and then dismembering his student partner in St Petersburg.

Oleg Sokolov, 63, was rescued drunk from the Moika river in the city early on Saturday and was found to have a woman’s arms in his backpack.

Police later found other body parts further downriver and in his flat, identified as Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24. She had been living with him.

He sobbed in court, saying: “I repent”.

Mr Sokolov was ordered into pre-trial custody for two months.

In court he admitted shooting Ms Yeshchenko four times with a sawn-off shotgun, then chopping up the body with a saw and kitchen knife. A stun pistol was also found in the backpack.

Divers are still searching for more remains: he is suspected of having dumped two more bags in the river.

He sobbed so loudly in court that at one stage the judge adjourned proceedings.

Mr Sokolov is a Napoleon expert who has received France’s top state award, the Légion d’Honneur. He has written dozens of historical research papers, and Ms Yeshchenko, a postgraduate student, co-wrote some of them.

He organised Napoleonic re-enactments – playing the role of Napoleon himself – and she participated.

Mr Sokolov said the pair had been living together for five years, though other reports described it as a three-year relationship.

The case has triggered outrage: women’s rights activists say it illustrates widespread indifference towards sexual harassment and domestic violence in Russia.

An online petition has collected more than 7,500 signatures, demanding that the managers of St Petersburg State University, where he lectured, be dismissed.

It accuses them of having ignored previous students’ complaints about Mr Sokolov.

Image copyright
AFP

Image caption

Oleg Sokolov enjoyed dressing up as Napoleon

In court he alleged that Ms Yeshchenko had attacked him with a knife – and at that point he shot her – during a blazing row.

“This girl, who seemed like a beautiful ideal to me, turned into a monster,” he alleged. He said she was jealous of his children from a previous marriage.

Her parents rejected his version of events.

The Kremlin has described it as a “monstrous” crime. President Vladimir Putin graduated from St Petersburg State University.

The university has now dismissed Mr Sokolov and he has also been removed from a post at France’s Institute of Social Science, Economics and Politics (Issep).

Mr Sokolov was treated in hospital for hypothermia after rescuers hauled him out of the icy water on Saturday. Ms Yeshchenko was killed in his flat on Thursday night.

Her head was found in the flat, as well as the shotgun, knives, an axe and ammunition, Russian media report.

He is said to have planned to get rid of the body before publicly taking his own life dressed as Napoleon.

A St Petersburg local councillor and former student of the professor, Vasily Kunin, has tweeted that he raised concerns about Mr Sokolov’s previous behaviour but the university authorities did not act on his complaint.

According to students, quoted by AFP, Mr Sokolov enjoyed speaking French, did impressions of Napoleon, and called Ms Yeshchenko “Josephine” and asked to be addressed as “Sire”.

Image copyright
AFP

Image caption

Police divers have been searching St Petersburg’s Moika river

Ms Yeshchenko moved to St Petersburg to study from Krasnodar region in southern Russia, and was a postgraduate student at the time of her death.

“She was quiet, sweet and always the ideal student,” an acquaintance told Russia’s RIA news agency. “Absolutely everyone knew about their relationship.”

Russian media report that her mother is a police lieutenant colonel and her father a school PE teacher. A brother once played as a goalkeeper for the national junior football team.

The papers here are full of details of this murder, the tragic and gruesome tale of a brilliant and beautiful young student shot and dismembered by her 63-year old former professor-turned-lover.

In these accounts, Oleg Sokolov emerges as a historian whose interest in Napoleon bordered on the obsessive. He had a glittering CV as a respected expert on French military history, who had been visiting professor at the Sorbonne. He was also a major figure in the world of historical re-enactment.

One friend told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper the professor had organised costume balls and picnics, as well as recreating battles. But organisations he’s been linked to have now scrubbed his name from their websites.

Anastasia Yeshchenko’s affair with the married lecturer was common knowledge at the university. Friends say she was a top student, highly intelligent, who shared her lover’s passion for Napoleonic history. One person described the professor as “eccentric but not aggressive”; others claimed he considered himself Napoleon reincarnated.

Image copyright
AFP

Image caption

Mr Sokolov’s apartment, where Ms Yeshchenko’s head was found, has been sealed off

24th November 2019

Science Is climate change to blame for Australia’s bushfires?

Science Is climate change to blame for Australia’s bushfires?

Science

science Massive flames and smoke clouds from a major bushfire hang over a suburban street in Harrington, New South WalesImage copyright
AFP PHOTO / KELLY-ANN OOSTERBEEK

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The scale and intensity of the bushfires is unprecedented

Australia is enduring a bushfire crisis that has left three people dead, razed more than 150 homes, and prompted warnings of “catastrophic” danger.

Bushfires are a regular feature in the Australian calendar, but the blazes in New South Wales and Queensland have not previously occurred on such a scale and so early in the fire season, officials say.

This has led many Australians to ask how closely the fires can be linked to climate change.

The science around climate change is complex – it’s not the cause of bushfires but scientists have long warned that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to Australia’s fires becoming more frequent and more intense.

But the nation’s political leaders are facing a backlash for batting away questions on the subject.

Science What have Australia’s leaders said (or not said)?

On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to answer a question about climate change, saying: “My only thoughts today are with those who have lost their lives and their families.”

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Media caption“Unprecedented” bushfires turn skies orange

When asked the same question, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters: “Honestly, not today.”

Some Australians agreed, but others were furious the question was being ignored.

Mr Morrison later tweeted to offer “thoughts and prayers” to those affected, but critics compared that to rhetoric used by US lawmakers who have opposed gun reforms after mass shootings.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack stoked the most anger, when on Monday he dismissed climate change as the concerns of “raving inner-city lefties” who were ignoring the needs of rural Australians.

“We’ve had fires in Australia since time began,” he said.

Science What is Australia’s climate change commitment?

The nation’s target under the Paris Agreement – the global deal to tackle rising global temperatures – is a 26-28% reduction in emissions by 2030. Some have criticised that as inadequate for a G20 country.

Last year, the UN reported that Australia – the world’s largest coal exporter – was not on track to meet its commitment.

Mr Morrison told the UN last year that Australia was doing its bit to address climate change, and “balancing our global responsibilities with sensible and practical policies to secure our environmental and our economic future”.

Science So are these bushfires due to climate change?

“We find it very difficult in general to attribute climate change impacts to a specific event, particularly while the event is running,” said Dr Richard Thornton, chief executive of the Bushfires & Natural Hazards Co-operative Research Centre.

“But what we do know is that the average temperature in Australia now is running about 1C above the long-term average.” He added fire seasons were starting earlier and “the cumulative fire danger” in many areas was growing.

Prof Glenda Wardle, an ecologist from the University of Sydney, agreed: “It’s not every weather event that is the direct result of climate change. But when you see trends… it becomes undeniably linked to global climate change.”

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JACKI POCOCK

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Massive bushfires in November have destroyed hundreds of homes

She said there was a “collective shift” in the timing and intensity of weather events.

Australian National University climate scientist Dr Imran Ahmed called it a direct link: “Because what climate change does is exacerbate the conditions in which the bushfires happen.”

Science Will Australia’s bushfires get worse?

“We will start to see the extreme end of the fire behaviour scale occur more frequently because of the increase of temperatures”, said Dr Thornton.

“Everything we normally see as variability between a good fire season and a bad season is sitting on top of that extra 1C – and that means that the severe events will occur more frequently.”

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Media captionWhy Australia bushfires are now “hotter and more intense”

Science Do scientists believe Australia is doing enough?

But Prof Wardle said the government was “passing the buck” on climate change and not doing enough to help stem the rise in global temperatures.

“It hasn’t just been fires, there’s been flood, there’s the drought,” she said. “Every time [the government] has had the chance to take on the big issue of climate change and do something, they choose not to and blame other things like land management.”

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AFP

Dr Ahmed said the leaders’ responses this week were a “very unfortunate” reaction to peer-reviewed warnings by leading scientists.

“With that sort of evidence on the ground, it’s hard to see that you still have the politics around doubting climate change,” he said.

Science Was Australia warned about the risk?

The Bureau of Meteorology’s State of the Climate 2018 report said climate change had led to an increase in extreme heat events and increased the severity of other natural disasters, such as drought.

In April, 23 former fire chiefs and emergency leaders issued a letter, warning the government about “increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events”. It requested a meeting which was declined by the government.

24th November 2019

Science Spanish election: Five face off in race to run Spain

Science Spanish election: Five face off in race to run Spain

Science

science (L-R): Pablo Casado, Pedro Sánchez, Santiago Abascal, Pablo Iglesias and Albert RiveraImage copyright
EPA

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(L-R): Pablo Casado, Pedro Sánchez, Santiago Abascal, Pablo Iglesias and Albert Rivera

Spain has held another inconclusive general election – its second since April and fourth in four years.

Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose Socialists have gained the most seats, announced the vote in September after failing to secure enough parliamentary support to form a government.

After months of fractious negotiations and political turmoil, Spaniards had hoped to break the political gridlock.

Here we look at the leaders of the main national political parties and what they represent.

science

Getty Images

We are going to add a new felony to the criminal code that forbids, once and for all, the celebration of illegal referendums in Catalonia.

Pedro Sánchez, 47, is arguably at an advantage in his current position as caretaker prime minister, even though he has never yet won a parliamentary majority.

His tenure began with the fall of the conservative Popular Party in a June 2018 no-confidence vote. Since then the Socialist (PSOE) leader has implemented a series of eye-catching measures that appealed to his base, such as raising the minimum wage and appointing a female-dominated cabinet.

He wants more ambitious, structural reforms; he has talked about plans to overhaul the education system, legalise euthanasia, change labour regulations and shake up national broadcaster RTVE.

He has also sought to lower tensions with Catalonia, Spain’s semi-autonomous north-eastern region whose failed bid for independence in 2017 sparked the country’s biggest political crisis for 40 years.

Mr Sánchez is opposed to another independence referendum, but has previously recognised Catalonia and the Basque Country to be nations within Spain, not just regions.

science

Getty Images

I want to lead a government that protects the elderly… and encourages youngsters to achieve their dreams.

Elected leader of the Popular Party (PP) in July last year, Pablo Casado‘s appointment was seen as a shift to the right for Spain’s main opposition.

The 38-year-old, who wants to lower income and corporation taxes for Spaniards in an effort to boost productivity, has called for revisions in the European Union’s freedom of movement and border policies.

Mr Casado, who previously served as the PP’s communications chief, took control of the party after it was implicated in a corruption scandal that led to the ousting of former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

He has consistently taken a hardline stance on Catalan separatists and has previously labelled Mr Sánchez “the biggest villain in Spain’s democratic history” for holding talks with Catalan President Quim Torra.

science

Getty Images

We would suspend the autonomy in Catalonia and take control of the region’s media, police and education.

A former PP member, Santiago Abascal now leads Vox, a party that has seen its support rapidly grow.

Vox’s success was seen as a turning point for the far right, who had not won seats in parliament since the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the restoration of democracy (with the sole exception of a single seat in the first parliament of 1979-1982).

While Mr Abascal rejects the far-right label, the party’s views on immigration and Islam place it in line with far-right and populist parties elsewhere in Europe.

Vox has a plan to deport migrants legally entitled to be in Spain if they have committed an offence, and wants to prevent any migrant who comes in illegally from staying.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionWho are Spain’s far-right party?

The party also wants to repeal laws against gender violence, and opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. Critics see it as a nationalist throwback to the Franco era.

science

Getty Images

We should not be intimidated by the ignorant and violent right wing that says there is no such a thing as a plurinational country.

Pablo Iglesias, 41, leads the left-wing Podemos (We Can) party, whose anti-austerity policies focus on investing in public services such as education and health and protecting social rights.

He formed Podemos in January 2014 with a group of fellow left-wing university lecturers.

Mr Iglesias was a member of Spain’s Communist Youth Union and was part of the anti-globalisation movement in the 1990s. He survived a Podemos confidence vote last May after controversially spending €600,000 (£527,000; $700,000) on a luxury home.

Some rank-and-file Podemos members said purchasing the property, which included a swimming pool and guest quarters, undermined the party’s grassroots credibility.

Ahead of Sunday’s election, Mr Iglesias said that he would work with Mr Sánchez to form a government that would focus on progressive policies if no single party secured a majority.

Along with leading his party, Mr Iglesias presents talk shows on Spanish television and is a lecturer in political science.

science

Getty Images

I am the only candidate that has vowed to negotiate reforms and agreements with the parties that support the constitution in order to get Spain on track.

Albert Rivera, who turns 40 next week, launched his Ciudadanos (or Citizens) party in 2006 handing out campaign posters in which he appeared naked.

Selling itself as socially liberal, Ciudadanos is committed to free market economics. Although it veered to the right before the April elections it pitched for the centre ground in the November vote and saw its support plummet, coming sixth with fewer seats than Catalonia’s pro-independence ERC party.

Ciudadanos had risen to prominence in Catalonia with a campaign against independence.

More recently, Mr Rivera has said he would have dealt with the Catalan crisis by permanently suspending the region’s autonomy and removing Mr Torra from office.

He has said he will play his part to help break the deadlock.

In the run-up to the election, Mr Rivera urged younger Spaniards to vote with “enthusiasm”. His social media feed featured videos and messages apparently endorsed by his “secret weapon” – a dog named Lucas. In this post he welcomes the dog as “already part of the Citizens family”.

Science Seats won in April 2019

24th November 2019

Science Pakistan pollution: Teens court fight to save Lahore from toxic air

Science Pakistan pollution: Teens court fight to save Lahore from toxic air

Science

science Nariman Qureshi and her daughter Anya in their gardenImage copyright
Courtesy: Nariman Qureshi

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Nariman Qureshi’s daughter Anya is one of the victims of Lahore’s pollution problem

When Nariman Qureshi returned to her home in Lahore after a week-long work trip in early November, she discovered her five-year-old daughter Anya had spent two nights in intensive care.

The reason was her asthma, which had flared up severely. For Qureshi, it was the cost she had to pay for living in a city whose air quality is among the worst in the world, and which has spent last week either on top, or among the top five worst cities in the world to breathe in.

“I can’t say for sure that we found out about Anya’s asthmatic condition due to the worsening air pollution, or that the smog itself caused it, but what I do know is that since the 2017 smog season, she’s been on asthma medication. I wonder if we were elsewhere, maybe that wouldn’t have been the case,” Qureshi says.

Delhi may have been hitting the headlines this week, but by the evening of 6 November, Lahore had taken the title of the world’s most unbreathable city – with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 551, forcing the provincial government to announce closure of all schools in the province on Thursday.

In fact, it was the third time in seven days it had topped the table with numbers which, according to America’s Environment Protection Agency classification, fall into the “hazardous” category, and defined as “emergency conditions” likely to affect everyone in the area.

However despite Pakistan being ranked second worst for air quality in the world back in 2018, attempts by campaigners to force the government’s hand and take some much-needed action have not met with much success.

But things could take a turn for the better for Qureshi, her daughter and rest of the nearly 12 million people living in Pakistan’s second largest city if three teenagers achieve what they have set out to do.

Image copyright
AFP

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In January, the early morning fog mixed with pollution to create a toxic smog over Lahore

On 4 November, Laiba Siddiqi, Leila Alam and Misahel Hayat filed a petition in Lahore High Court (LHC), requesting the court to declare government’s smog policy and action plan “null and void” for being “illegal and unreasonable” and come up with a new plan.

The Chief Justice of the LHC heard the case himself and ordered provincial authorities to appear before the court next Tuesday for a response.

Ms Hayat, 17, a professional swimmer who represented Pakistan in the 2016 South Asian Games, told the BBC that as an athlete who trains outdoors the smog affects her particularly badly and she often finds it difficult to breathe properly.

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Courtesy: Mishael Hayat

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Misahel Hayat is one of three teens taking on the politicians through the courts

“For swimmers, your lung capacity and ability to hold your breath is even more important than most other athletes, so knowing that 50% of those exposed to smog of these levels experience reduced lung capacity or that it is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day is not encouraging,” she says.

“Every day I and a group of other swimmers, most of them children, exercise outdoors and not all of them wear masks. I fear that if this situation continues in future years, the long-term effects will be much worse than even what we see today.”

For 18-year old Ms Siddiqi, another petitioner, the experience of breathing in Lahori air is just beginning. Speaking to the BBC, she expressed her concern that she might not have seen the worst of it.

“I only moved to Lahore in September to pursue my studies and I am afraid that I haven’t really fully experienced the worst of the smog yet. But I do see the alarm that permeates Lahori society when it comes to the smog season and the widespread investment in air purifiers and face masks.”

Image copyright
Abdul Mueed

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Laiba Siddiqi hopes the petition will spark a conversation and build on the momentum of the city’s climate march

The petition challenges the AQI measurement system adopted by the provincial body and accuses it of “underreporting the severity of air pollution”.

This misreporting, says 13-year-old Leila Alam, the third petitioner, means she doesn’t know “when to wear a mask and when it is all right to go out without it”.

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Media captionWatch how children in India’s capital Delhi are affected by air pollution

Air pollution in Punjab, and Lahore in particular, has long been a menace to citizens and the government has don little in response.

When the Punjab’s Chief Minister Usman Buzdar announced this week’s school closures, Amnesty International’s Omar Waraich took him to task, reminding the minister that his government has had more than a year to deal with the crisis.

But some at the top seem unwilling to take any responsibility – including Climate Change Minister Zartaj Gul Wazir.

Science World’s most polluted countries

Sorted by estimated average PM2.5

She and Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry both blamed India on Twitter for Lahore’s pollution.

Ms Gul Wazir went further – she questioned the AQI data and insisted Lahore’s air was “nowhere as bad as being asserted by vested elements”.

Sara Hayat, a lawyer with expertise in climate change law and policy and no relation of petitioner Mishael Hayat, says such buck-passing is pointless.

“There should be no contention on whether the smog situation is or isn’t a public emergency. The government needn’t waste any time disputing this,” she says.

She says air pollution is a political issue and the authorities must act.

“The government should stop shifting the blame for smog on India and accept that Pakistan’s transportation, poor fuel quality, industrial emissions and agriculture have placed us in a state of smog emergency,” she adds.

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Courtesy: Aysha Raja

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Leila Alam – at just 13 – is the youngest petitioner

Ms Siddiqi, who helped organise a march against climate change in the city earlier this year, feels the High Court petition has made the right amount of noise.

“It has definitely helped to start a conversation. I feel our objective of maintaining momentum after the climate march is being achieved,” she says.

Ms Hayat, the swimmer, hopes that the petition will force the government to do something.

“Unless we speak up about issues that affect us there can be no change, and this can only be sustained if the public is involved – especially young people,” she says.

24th November 2019

Science Want to run faster? Improve your algorithm

Science Want to run faster? Improve your algorithm

Science

science Eliud KipchogeImage copyright
Reuters

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Could good data help Eliud Kipchoge run even faster?

Runner Guillaume Adam wants to go faster, further and for longer.

Like many modern runners, the former French national team member uses technology as a key element in helping him hit a new personal best.

Gadgets are as essential a part of a runner’s kit as the shoes on their feet. Few head out these days without a step counter, GPS watch, smartphone or smartwatch.

The wearables keep an eye on the distance covered, pace, heart rate and cadence – helping to ensure they get as much out of the session as possible.

“I’m a scientist as well as a runner so when I want data I want to get reliable data,” said Mr Adam.

Unfortunately, he said, many wearables do not gather data accurately.

One study by consumer group Which? suggested many fitness trackers underestimated the distance runners cover – with the least accurate adding unnecessary miles to a long run.

“You can get data with a GPS watch but you do not know how the algorithm is made or its accuracy,” he said. “If you want to analyse the data, it needs to be available to you.”

In a bid to manage his workouts better, Mr Adam is now trialling a wearable that has emerged from medical research.

Called GaitUp, the sensor has been developed by Dr Benoit Mariani, based on his work on spotting the early signs of degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

Science ‘Our sixth vital sign’

These physical signs, says Dr Mariani, make themselves felt in very subtle ways long before standard tests can catch them.

“If you have a muscle weakness or neurological disorder it will be reflected in your gait first,” he said.

“Those signs have been under the radar because there’s been no easy tool to measure them.”

Changes in the way people walk can be as revealing as those seen in other recognised markers of bodily health – heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, respiration rate and oxygen saturation.

“Gait is our sixth vital sign,” he said.

Image copyright
Reuters

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Regular runners monitor their workouts with a variety of wearable sensors

The sensor developed by Dr Mariani’s engineering team does more than just measure steps. It can capture rear and forefoot strike angles, as well as the amount of time each foot is in contact with the ground.

“We’re interested in the quality of the gait,” he said.

He is not the only one. Researchers are keen to get better data about the way elite athletes run, says sports scientist Dr Yannis Pitsiladis from the University of Brighton.

He is part of the long-term Sub2Hrs research project that aims to develop the training methods, techniques and technology that will help a runner set a recognised world record for running the marathon in under two hours.

On 12 October this year, Kenyan running great Eliud Kipchoge broke that barrier but the help he got, from a phalanx of pace-setters and an electric vehicle, meant it was not recognised as a world record.

Science ‘Asymmetries and quirks’

“To break the sub-two hour barrier, you need to get everything right,” Dr Pitsiladis told the BBC.

“You need to identify the right athlete, right weather conditions, right track and also you need bio-energetics,” he said.

Making sure the minimal amount of energy is expended at each step of the marathon will be key, he said.

“The more economical you are, the more you can maintain that pace until the end of the race.

“Anything you do to make you more economical, whether it is the shoe, or the data, or the terrain you are running on being 1% or 2% or 3% better will have a huge impact on your performance,” he said.

It took an improvement of less than 0.5% for Kipchoge to shift his fastest marathon time below the two-hour mark. Improving by 1% or more would mean smashing the barrier.

“With these kinds of athletes, I would argue that we have not got the best out of them yet,” said Dr Pitsiladis. “There’s not a lot of science in their training and a lot of these athletes train themselves.”

There was ample room for improvement, such as refining their stride pattern or pacing, he said. Sensors are now so small that they can be worn during a race without becoming a burden.

Until now, most analysis of pace and performance has happened on a treadmill or after an event but this does not really capture what an athlete undergoes while racing, said Dr Pitsiladis.

For instance, treadmills can exaggerate the way a foot rolls during each step and give a false sense of how a runner moves.

After-the-event analysis of the way a runner moves during a race or training run is useful, he said, but it would be better to do it as they are running and adjust as they go.

Mr Adam used GaitUp to prepare for the New York City marathon and it helped him become the fastest French finisher in that race, hitting a time of 2h 26m.

Image copyright
Getty Images

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Runners such as Paula Radcliffe excelled despite not running “perfect” races

Running coach Sam Murphy questioned whether the information provided by sensors such as GaitUp was too comprehensive.

“What are you actually going to do about the information that tells you your left foot externally rotates more than your right?” she asked. “Or that your take-off angle is too flat?”

Many elite athletes such as Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe had “asymmetries” and “quirks”, she said, suggesting the body can work around the disadvantages physiology or upbringing may have imposed on them.

Also, she added, given that runners typically take about 10,000 strides per hour, altering each foot strike to make it perfect could be difficult.

But she conceded that having “greater awareness” of how people run and what they do when they run was undoubtedly useful.

Steady improvement was all about acting on feedback, said Ms Murphy.

“Sometimes getting that data or feedback internally may be more impactful than from an external source such as these devices,” she said. “We aren’t machines, we’re way, way smarter than that.”

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