Jumat, 17 September 2021

California: World's largest tree wrapped in flame-resistant blanket to save it from wildfires - Sky News

The base of the world's largest tree has been wrapped in a flame-resistant blanket, in an attempt to save it from wildfires raging through California.

The General Sherman Tree, located in a national park in the Sierra Nevada, was covered in an aluminium wrapping that can withstand intense heat for short periods.

In Sequoia National Park's Giant Forest some other large sequoias, the Giant Forest Museum and other buildings were wrapped for protection against the possibility of intense flames.

Smoke plumes rise from the Paradise Fire in Sequoia National Park. Pic: AP
Image: Smoke plumes rise from the Paradise Fire in Sequoia National Park. Pic: AP

Federal officials said the material has been used for several years throughout the western US to protect sensitive structures from flames.

The Colony Fire, one of two burning in the national park, is expected to reach the Giant Forest - a grove of 2,000 sequoias - within days, fire officials said.

The General Sherman Tree is the largest in the world by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet.

It towers 275ft (83 metres) high and has a circumference of 103ft (31 metres) at ground level.

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Prescribed burns - fires set on purpose to remove other types of trees and vegetation that would otherwise feed wildfires - have been used for the last 50 years to help the parks' sequoia groves survive by lessening the impact if flames reach them.

Cones block the entrance to Sequoia National Park as the KNP Complex Fire burns nearby on Wednesday. Pic: AP
Image: Cones block the entrance to Sequoia National Park as the KNP Complex Fire burned nearby on Wednesday. Pic: AP

A "robust fire history of prescribed fire in that area is reason for optimism," said fire spokeswoman Rebecca Paterson.

"Hopefully, the Giant Forest will emerge from this unscathed."

Giant sequoias are adapted to fire, which can help them thrive by releasing seeds from their cones and creating clearings that allow young sequoias to grow. But the intensity of fires can overwhelm the trees.

Last year, wildfires killed thousands of sequoias in the region, some thousands of years old.

Flames from the KNP Complex Fire burn a hillside above the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park. Pic: AP
Image: Flames from the KNP Complex Fire burn a hillside above the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park. Pic: AP

Historic drought and heatwaves linked to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West.

The wildfires are among the latest in a long summer of blazes that have scorched nearly 3,550 square miles in California and destroyed hundreds of homes.

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2021-09-17 16:18:45Z
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Climate change: UN warning over nations' climate plans - BBC News

CO2 emissions
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Despite all the promises to take action, the world is still on course to heat up to dangerous levels.

That's the latest blunt assessment of the United Nations.

Its experts have studied the climate plans of more than 100 countries and concluded that we're heading in the wrong direction.

Scientists recently confirmed that to avoid the worst impacts of hotter conditions, global carbon emissions needed to be cut by 45% by 2030.

But this new analysis shows that those emissions are set to rise by 16% during this period.

That could eventually lead to a temperature rise of 2.7C (4.9F) above pre-industrial times - far above the limits set by the international community.

"The 16% increase is a huge cause for concern," according to Patricia Espinosa, the UN's chief climate negotiator.

"It is in sharp contrast with the calls by science for rapid, sustained and large-scale emission reductions to prevent the most severe climate consequences and suffering, especially of the most vulnerable, throughout the world."

Infographic

It's a stark warning about the scale of the challenge faced at the COP26 climate conference, scheduled to take place in Glasgow in just over six weeks' time.

The central aim of the giant event is to keep alive hopes of limiting the rise in global temperatures by persuading nations to cut their emissions.

Under the rules of the Paris Agreement on climate change, countries are meant to update their carbon reduction plans every five years.

But the UN says that of 191 countries taking part in the agreement, only 113 have so far come up with improved pledges.

Alok Sharma, the British minister who will chair the COP26 conference, said nations that had ambitious climate plans were "already bending the curve of emissions downwards".

"But without action from all countries, especially the biggest economies, these efforts risk being in vain."

A study by Climate Action Tracker found that of the G20 group of leading industrial nations, only a handful including the UK and the US have strengthened their targets to cut emissions.

In another analysis, the World Resources Institute and Climate Analytics highlight how China, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - together responsible for 33% of greenhouse gases - have yet to submit updated plans.

It says that Australia and Indonesia have the same carbon reduction targets they did back in 2015 - while the Paris Agreement is meant to involve a "ratchet mechanism" of progressively deeper cuts.

And the study finds that Brazil, Mexico and Russia all expect their emissions to grow rather than to shrink.

For the poorest countries - most vulnerable to rising sea levels and new extremes of heat and drought - seeing a rapid fall in the gases heating the planet is a priority.

Sonam P Wangdi, chair of the Least Developed Countries group, said: "G20 countries must take the lead in quickly cutting emissions to mitigate climate change.

"These are the countries with the greatest capacity and responsibility, and it's well past time they step up and treat this crisis like a crisis."

There are hopes that China may revise its climate plans ahead of the Glasgow conference.

As the world's largest emitter, it has previously said it aims to peak its emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

An announcement soon of more ambitious targets would give the talks a significant boost but there are no clues about when - or even whether - that might happen.

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2021-09-17 15:21:30Z
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Apple and Google drop Navalny app after Kremlin piles on pressure - Financial Times

Apple and Google have removed a tactical voting app made by supporters of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny from their online stores following strong pressure from the Kremlin, as voting began in the country’s parliamentary elections.

Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store blocked further downloads of the app in Russia on Friday morning after “multiple legal demands, not requests” from the country’s communications regulator and law enforcement, according to a person close to the situation.

The move is the biggest concession yet by western tech companies to the Kremlin’s increasingly stringent demands for censorship of online content. President Vladimir Putin has said the internet could make society “collapse from the inside” if it does not “submit to formal legal rules and the moral laws of society”.

The person close to the situation also said Google employees had received public and private threats of criminal prosecution if the company did not comply with the Kremlin request to remove the app from the store and search engines.

They said armed men, thought by staff to be police officers, spent several hours in Google’s Moscow offices on Monday. Russia’s bailiff service said on Tuesday its officers had visited to demand the company comply with a Moscow court ruling to remove the app from search results.

The person believed threats to staff of this nature were unprecedented, saying it had “never got this bad before.”

Apple and Google both declined to comment on Friday.

Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to Navalny, said the US tech companies had “caved to the Kremlin’s blackmail” after the app — which is designed to encourage tactical voting against Putin’s United Russia party — disappeared from the App Store and the Google Play Store.

“This is a crucial moment for Russia. It looks like big tech companies are starting to co-operate even more closely with the authorities’ repression,” said Alena Epifanova, a researcher at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.

Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, welcomed the technology groups’ decision and said the opposition app was illegal in Russia © AP

Apple justified the decision under a Moscow court ruling in June that declared Navalny’s foundation an “extremist organisation”, according to a screenshot posted by Ivan Zhdanov, the opposition group’s former director.

The anti-corruption activist was arrested in January when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he had been treated for a nerve agent poisoning he accuses Putin of ordering.

After Navalny’s supporters organised protests in dozens of cities nationwide, Russia responded with an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that forced most of his top allies into exile.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters the Kremlin welcomed the technology groups’ decision. “This app is illegal on the territory of our country,” Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

The move indicated the Kremlin’s determination to clear the internet of dissent ahead of the country’s three-day vote, which United Russia is expected to win easily despite rising discontent about slumping living standards.

Putin has made bringing the internet to heel a priority, according to a person close to the Kremlin.

“Imagine if it was the other way around and [a Russian platform] had 30 per cent of the US search market? These platforms are global and politics is national. So you either have to make them comply with the law, or ban them,” they said.

With dozens of Navalny’s allies struck from the ballot, his team is urging supporters to vote for Kremlin-approved “loyal opposition” candidates recommended by the app. Peskov said the tactic was “provocative” and would “harm voters.”

Russia has accused Silicon Valley companies of meddling in the vote by refusing to scrub all mention of Navalny’s app from the internet.

At a hearing on Thursday lawmakers then threatened Apple and Google’s local staff with criminal prosecution if they failed to comply, as well as fines ranging between 5 per cent and 20 per cent of the companies’ local revenue.

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2021-09-17 11:40:21Z
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Aukus: US and UK face international backlash over Australia defence deal - BBC News

The US and UK are facing growing international criticism over a new security pact signed with Australia.

The deal - seen as an effort to counter China - will see the US and UK give Australia the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.

But the move angered France, which said it had been "stabbed in the back", while China accused the three powers of having a "Cold War mentality".

And the pact has raised fears that it could provoke China into a war.

The alliance, known as Aukus, was announced by US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Wednesday.

While they did not mention China, Aukus is being widely viewed as an effort to counter Beijing's influence in the contested South China Sea.

Mr Johnson later told MPs that the agreement was "not intended to be adversarial" to China.

But the prime minister was questioned by his predecessor, Theresa May, about whether the deal could lead to Britain being dragged into war with China.

She asked the prime minister about the "implications" of the partnership in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Mr Johnson replied: "The United Kingdom remains determined to defend international law and that is the strong advice we would give to our friends across the world, and the strong advice that we would give to the government in Beijing."

Democratic Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state, but Beijing has increased pressure on the island which it views as a breakaway province.

'A very low moment'

Meanwhile Washington has sought to quell anger in Paris at the pact, which has scuppered a multibillion-dollar submarine deal France had signed with Australia.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called the announcement a "stab in the back".

He called it a "brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision" that reminded him of former US President Donald Trump.

French diplomats in Washington cancelled a gala to celebrate ties between the US and France in retaliation.

"It's a very low moment," France's former ambassador to the US, Gérard Araud, told the BBC's World Tonight programme. "The US knew that this contract and this strategic contract were essential French national interests, and the US didn't care."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called France "a vital partner" and said Washington would still work "incredibly closely" with Paris.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki shrugged off the French criticisms.

"There are a range of partnerships that include the French and some partnerships that don't, and they have partnerships with other countries that don't include us," she said. "That is part of how global diplomacy works."

'Profound strategic shift'

The pact, which will also see the allies share cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence and other undersea technologies, was described as showing "profound strategic shifts" by the UK's national security adviser Stephen Lovegrove.

It means Australia will become just the seventh nation in the world to operate nuclear-powered submarines.

Mr Lovegrove said the pact was "perhaps the most significant capability collaboration in the world anywhere in the past six decades".

Who has nuclear-powered subs?
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China, meanwhile, has accused the allies of having a "Cold War mentality" that would hurt their own interests.

The Chinese state-run Global Times warned of an arms race for nuclear submarines, adding that Australian soldiers were likely to be the "first to die" in a Chinese "counterattack".

And on Friday, China's President Xi Jinping said foreign powers should not be allowed to interfere in the country's affairs.

"The future of our country's development and progress should lie firmly in our own hands," he said, according to state media.

But Australia's defence minister, Peter Dutton, brushed aside Beijing's reaction.

"This is not the first time that we've seen different outbursts from China in terms of Australia's position," he said.

"We are a proud democracy in our region. We stand with our neighbours in the Indo-Pacific to ensure enduring peace, and this collaboration makes it a safer region. That's the reality and no amount of propaganda can dismiss the facts."

Meanwhile, China applied to join a key Asia-Pacific trade pact on Thursday as it attempts to strengthen its position in the region.

The country's foreign ministry, however, denied that the move to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was a response to the UK-US-Australia pact.

Joining the CPTPP, which was signed in 2018 by 11 countries including Australia and Japan, would mark a significant boost to China's trading power.

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2021-09-17 08:35:02Z
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COVID-19: Italy makes vaccine passport compulsory - workers can be fined and suspended without pay - Sky News

Italy is to become the first European country to make a vaccine passport system compulsory for all workers.

Proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from infection must be provided or staff will be suspended without pay and face a fine.

However, they cannot be sacked.

The pass is unpopular among some Italians
Image: The pass is unpopular among some Italians

The law set to apply to both public and private employees from 15 October after the Italian government approved the measures on Thursday.

"Nothing like this has been done in Europe... we are putting ourselves in the forefront internationally," said public administration minister Renato Brunetta.

It's hoped the move will lead to more people getting vaccinated and the minister said the government expected an "enormous" jump in people getting jabbed.

Some European Union countries have made it mandatory for health workers to get vaccinated, but none have made its so-called Green Pass a requirement for all employees.

More on Covid-19

It was originally intended to ease European travel, but Italy was one of a few countries that made it a requirement for entering venues such as indoor dining, gyms and museums.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi faced resistance from right-wing leader Matteo Salvini on extending the reach of the country's COVID pass.

However, Mr Salvini's party is split on the issue and the cabinet unanimously approved the change.

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COVID-19: Booster jabs explained

The main employers' federations have also backed the move in the hope it will prevent any more lockdowns.

Unions said tests should be free for workers who don't want to be vaccinated, but the government said they would be capped at 15 euros.

Italy's COVID-19 death toll is the highest in Europe after the UK, with more than 130,000 deaths, and it was the first country on the continent to go into lockdown.

About 74% of people have had one vaccine dose and 68% are fully vaccinated.

In the UK, the government rowed back on plans to bring in a vaccine certificate system for access to large and crowded venues such as nightclubs, but has kept the option on the table as part of its "Plan B" for winter.

Care home workers will also need to be fully vaccinated by 11 November in order to be employed, while Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said the requirement is "highly likely" to be extended to all frontline NHS staff.

On Thursday, the French government said about 3,000 workers in hospitals, care homes and health centres have been suspended for failing to comply with mandatory COVID vaccination.

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2021-09-17 06:10:14Z
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Kamis, 16 September 2021

Covid: Italy to require all workers to show 'green pass' certificate - BBC News

School staff check for "green pass" certificates at a school in Turin, Italy, 13 September 2021
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Italy is to make it compulsory for all workers to have a Covid "green pass" - proof of vaccination, a negative test or recovery from the virus.

The measures are a first for Europe and some of the strictest in the world.

Anyone without a pass will reportedly face suspension from work and may have their pay stopped after five days.

The measure, due to come into force on 15 October, aims to boost vaccinations in a country that has been badly hit by the virus.

Green pass certificates for Covid-19, provided both digitally and on paper, are already required to access Italian train stations, cinemas, restaurants, gyms and swimming pools.

School staff are also required to show a pass and some teachers have reportedly been turned away from work.

On Thursday, the Italian government approved a new law to extend the requirements to all workplaces and employees across all sectors, including the self-employed.

Businesses and staff could face fines of up to €1,500 (£1,280) if people are found to be working without a valid green pass.

Announcing the decision, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said the new measures would improve safety and "make our vaccination campaign even stronger".

"The implementation of a pass such as the one we are bringing into force with this decree will, we are certain, help us push forward this vaccination campaign," he said.

Despite a vocal anti-vaccination minority, Italians have broadly backed the government's vaccination campaign.

Nearly 65% of Italians have now been fully vaccinated, but infections have been rising, driven by the Delta variant.

Italy has recorded more than 4.6 million cases of Covid-19 and over 130,000 coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The green pass was initially introduced to make travel within the EU more efficient, and several countries have since introduced requirements for people to show the certificate for different reasons.

France requires a health pass for access to restaurants, bars, planes and trains, while Austria and Cyprus are among other EU countries to have used similar schemes.

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2021-09-16 22:01:14Z
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African ISIS leader blown up by a French drone strike riding on a motorbike four years after ambush - Daily Mail

African ISIS leader was blown up by a French drone strike while riding on a motorbike four years after masterminding ambush that killed four US soldiers

  • ISIS leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi killed in August by a French drone strike
  • Sahrawi had ordered execution of six French charity workers in Niger in 2020 
  • US had offered reward of $5m (£3.6m) for information after deadly 2017 attack
  • Emmanual Macron hailed the killing of the terrorist leader 'a major success' 

A West African ISIS leader was blown up by a French drone strike while riding on a motorbike four years after masterminding a deadly ambush that killed four US soldiers.

Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi was killed in mid-August after being tracked by French counter-terrorism forces in northern Mali, France's Defence Minister confirmed on Thursday.

The US had offered reward of $5m (£3.6m) for information on Sahrawi after a targeted attack in in Niger in 2017 killed four American soldiers as well as four Niger service personnel. 

On August 9, 2020, he had personally ordered the killing of six French charity workers and their Nigerian guide and driver, four men and four women aged between 25 to 50, who were on a day trip visiting a giraffe reserve.

ISIS leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi (pictured) was killed in mid-August by a French drone strike after being tracked by counter-terrorism forces in northern Mali, French authorities confirmed on Thursday

ISIS leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi (pictured) was killed in mid-August by a French drone strike after being tracked by counter-terrorism forces in northern Mali, French authorities confirmed on Thursday

Sahrawi was the head of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), a jihadist group that broke away from other militants in Mali in 2015 when it pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Since then, ISGS militants have spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, carried out hundreds of deadly attacks on civilians and armed forces, and rendered large areas of West Africa's arid Sahel region ungovernable.

French authorities called the drone strike by military forces a 'decisive blow' against the group, and vowed to continue hunting down jihadist leaders to restore stability in the Sahel.

'The death of Sahrawi is a decisive blow to ISGS and its cohesion,' French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told reporters. 

Sahrawi had been tracked by French counter-terrorism forces in northern Mali, and then killed by a drone strike while riding a motorbike in mid-August, she said. 

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly (pictured) called the drone strike a 'decisive blow' against the group, and vowed to continue hunting down jihadist leaders to restore stability in the Sahel

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly (pictured) called the drone strike a 'decisive blow' against the group, and vowed to continue hunting down jihadist leaders to restore stability in the Sahel

Oon August 9, 2020 Sahrawi had ordered the killing of six French charity workers and their Nigerian guide and driver, who were on a day trip visiting a giraffe reserve in Niger (Pictured: The car in which the French aid workers were travelling)

Oon August 9, 2020 Sahrawi had ordered the killing of six French charity workers and their Nigerian guide and driver, who were on a day trip visiting a giraffe reserve in Niger (Pictured: The car in which the French aid workers were travelling)

France estimates the group is responsible for the deaths of 2,000-3,000 people, mostly Muslims, and that it still has hundreds of fighters, although Parly said its leadership was now less international and more from the local Fulani tribe.

French President Emmanual Macron hailed the killing of the terrorist leader 'a major success' in the fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel.

He thanked the 'heroes who died for France' in a Twitter post late on Wednesday that announced Sahrawi's death, and remembered the bereaved families, saying that 'their sacrifice is not in vain'. 

Rumours of the ISIS leader's death had been circulating in Mali for weeks but had not been confirmed by authorities. 

Paris has started reshaping its 5,000-strong Barkhane mission to include more European partners and earlier this month began redeploying from bases in northern Mali.

France has launched a diplomatic offensive to stop the Malian junta from agreeing a deal to enlist Russian mercenaries, which Paris has said would be incompatible with its presence in Mali.

French President Emmanual Macron hailed the killing of the terrorist leader 'a major success' in the fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel (pictured on September 16)

French President Emmanual Macron hailed the killing of the terrorist leader 'a major success' in the fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel (pictured on September 16)

He thanked the 'heroes who died for France' in a Twitter post late on Wednesday that announced Sahrawi's death, and remembered the bereaved families, saying that 'their sacrifice is not in vain'

He thanked the 'heroes who died for France' in a Twitter post late on Wednesday that announced Sahrawi's death, and remembered the bereaved families, saying that 'their sacrifice is not in vain'

The strike on Sahrawi, which comes just two months after the death of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram, follows other hits on ISGS's senior ranks, that have been weakened by recent targeted operations that have killed five of its seven top leaders.

Yet the group remains dangerous and has carried out a series of deadly attacks on civilians, especially in Niger, where casualties have risen sharply this year.

'We have no information on a successor at this stage, but it probably won't be easy to find a leader who has the same weighting than the one who was killed,' Parly said.

Bernard Emie, head of France's external intelligence service, told reporters there would now be increased focus on neutralising Iyad Ag Ghaly, the head of al-Qaeda's north African wing, whose group has carried out sporadic operations around the Ivory Coast and Senegalese border regions.

'The death of Sahrawi will likely disrupt ISGS operations in the short-term,' said Alexandre Raymakers, senior Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. 'But it is unlikely to permanently cripple the extremist group.'

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2021-09-16 13:57:01Z
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