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News Burst 29 June 2023 – Featured News
- [Burned Brains] The European Union is joining an international scheme to investigate whether major interventions in the Earth’s natural processes, including deflecting some of the Sun’s rays, can help mitigate climate change, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The agency cited a draft document that might be made public later this week, aimed at assessing the consequences of global warming on water and food scarcity, and the risks of them triggering new conflicts or mass migration waves. The paper will also feature plans to study atmospheric re-engineering technologies and the dangers associated with them. Such projects could range from reflecting a certain percentage of sunlight back into space to altering weather patterns, Bloomberg noted. The EU is seeking international discussions on the schemes and the potential to set down rules for this field.
- Five of the six living US presidents are direct descendants of slaveholders, according to an investigation by Reuters published on Tuesday. The comprehensive study, released just days after the country celebrated the ‘Juneteenth’ federal holiday on June 19, which commemorates the emancipation of African American slaves, details that Donald Trump is the only living current or former US head of state not to have familial links to slavery. The ancestors of current President Joe Biden, as well as Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, are all descended from slaveholders, the report states. Obama’s links to slavery are on his mother’s side of his family, according to the study, which examined the extended genealogies and census data of those who occupy Washington’s halls of power.
- Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has proposed moving Christmas celebrations in the country to December 25 instead of January 7 – the date traditionally marked by the canonical Orthodox church – according to a bill published on the national parliament’s website. Currently, both dates are considered official holidays in Ukraine. An explanatory note attached to the bill claimed that the people of Ukraine were “imposed on by Russian ideology in almost all spheres of life,” including observing the Julian calendar. Catholic, Protestant and several Orthodox churches use the Gregorian or New Julian calendars, which differ by 13 days and celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25.
- A large number of cats have inexplicably become ill over the past few weeks across Poland, with some of the felines dying from a mysterious disease, Polish media are reporting. The affected felines reportedly suffered neurological and respiratory symptoms, including high fever, loss of appetite, apathy, seizures, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. Experts suspect that the symptoms point to some kind of contagious illness that is spreading through the country. Paulina Grzelakowska, director of the Tri-City Veterinary Clinic in Gdansk in northern Poland, said that the disease has a sudden onset and progresses rapidly. “The animals die in a short time,” she told TVN24, noting that cats of all ages have been affected, regardless of whether they were kept indoors or outdoors or had been vaccinated against infectious diseases. She noted that none of the various treatment schemes applied to the cats have had an effect.
- Africa experienced a significant decline in tree cover last year, amounting to around 3.6 million hectares (14,000 square miles), recent data has shown. According to the study by the University of Maryland, which is available on the World Resource Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch platform, around 800,000 hectares (3,000 square miles) of this comprised primary or old-growth tropical forests. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where primary forest loss remains persistently high, accounted for the majority of the decline. The country is said to have lost over half a million hectares in 2022 as a result of agricultural expansion into primary forest areas in response to rising food demand. While losses in countries such as Angola and Cameroon have accelerated, Ghana has experienced a dramatic increase in tropical primary forest declines in recent years, mostly within protected areas. With a 71% score, the report says Ghana had the highest proportion of losses of any tropical country in 2022.
- Swedish police have allowed a demonstration in Stockholm during which activists intend to burn the holy book of Islam on the first day of a major holiday for Muslims. Similar actions had earlier sparked Türkiye’s outrage, with Ankara warning that such stunts would be a significant obstacle to ratifying the Nordic nation’s accession to NATO membership. According to the demonstration permit quoted by local media, the rally would be taking place on Wednesday afternoon outside a mosque in the southern part of the Swedish capital. The city’s police did not explicitly give the green light to burn the book, referring to the protest rather as a “demonstration about the Koran” while also warning of possible fines, according to state broadcaster SVT.
- Scotland will move to rejoin the European Union should it secure independence from the United Kingdom, First Minister Humza Yousaf has declared in an interview. The country voted to remain within the ranks of the UK in a 2014 referendum but, faced with the realities of post-Brexit Britain, Scots have a renewed vigor to sever ties with London and look towards Brussels as Edinburgh navigates its political future, Yousaf said.
- The Indian pharmaceutical firm Marion Biotech, whose cough syrups fatally poisoned 19 children in Uzbekistan last year, used a toxic industrial-grade ingredient in the medicine, Reuters has reported, citing two sources. The company based in the state of Uttar Pradesh bought the chemical – propylene glycol – from a Delhi-based trader, Maya Chemtech India, which did not have a license to sell pharmaceutical ingredients and only “dealt in industrial-grade,” the news agency said. According to sources close to the ongoing investigation, Marion bought commercial-grade propylene glycol rather than the legitimate pharmaceutical version.
- US policymakers are being consumed by their desire to undermine Russia at all costs, which is pushing them to pump Ukraine with more and more weapons, Moscow’s embassy in Washington has said. In a statement on Tuesday, the embassy commented on the Pentagon’s latest decision to provide Ukraine with an additional $500 million security assistance package, including armored vehicles, anti-tank systems, and various types of ammunition. By supplying Kiev with arms, the US “is making futile attempts to defeat the Russian Federation ‘on the battlefield’ with the hands of Kiev puppets,’” the embassy said.
- The Swiss government has rejected a request to export 96 Leopard 1A5 tanks that are intended for delivery to Ukraine, it announced in a statement on Wednesday. The proposal was inconsistent with the European nation’s law and its neutrality principles, it explained. The request came on Tuesday from the defense firm RUAG AG. It wanted to sell a specific group of tanks, currently in storage in Italy, and needed authorization from the Swiss Federal Council, the statement said. The plan was to have the older armor refurbished in Germany and then deliver the tanks to Ukraine. “The Federal Council has concluded that the sale of the 96 tanks is not possible under the law as it stands,” the Swiss government said.
- Officials in Texas have ruled that the harrowing death of a 27-year-old San Antonio International Airport contractor, who was sucked into a jet engine, was a suicide. The incident unfolded on Friday night as a Delta Airlines flight taxied toward a terminal soon after arriving from Los Angeles. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), ground crew worker David Renner was “ingested” into the plane’s engine as it neared the gate just before 10:30pm. He died instantly. While the airport initially described the episode as an “accident,” a staffer at the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to CNN on Monday that the manner of death had been listed as suicide, while the cause was found to be blunt and sharp force injuries.
- Ukraine is considering imposing a complete ban on the circulation of cash in the country in a bid to stamp out corruption, the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Rostyslav Shurma, revealed on Wednesday. Speaking at the London Ukraine Recovery Conference, he said his government will present a roadmap on “whether we will do it or not.” The politician expressed hope that “the decision will be ‘yes’,” adding that such a measure would help prevent bribery. The initiative could become a “very effective instrument for liquidation of 95-99% of all corruption cases” in Ukraine, according to the official.
- NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has rolled up on a rocky donut that may have fallen from the sky. On Friday (June 23), Perseverance snapped a photo of a big, dark stone with a hole in its center. The intriguing rock is surrounded by others of a similar hue, suggesting a common origin — one that may extend beyond Mars. The donut rock “could be a large meteorite alongside smaller pieces,” representatives of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California said via Twitter on Monday (June 26).
- The first long-duration Emirati astronaut to reach space photographed Mecca on Monday (June 26) during an annual pilgrimage there by Muslims. United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, who also observed Ramadan off Earth shortly after his March 2 launch to the International Space Station (ISS), paid tribute to the Hajj (pilgrimage) alongside a tweet showcasing the Saudi Arabian sacred city. “Today is Arafat Day, a pivotal day during Hajj, that reminds us that faith is not just about belief, but also action and reflection,” Al Neyadi tweeted on Tuesday (June 27) in a post that featured the photo, which he snapped on Monday. “May it inspire us all to strive for compassion, humility and unity.”
Rose Rambles... 