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International Court of Justice heard arguments on whether Russia’s invasion can be challenged under 1948 treaty.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/DaOnS

Moscow and Kyiv faced off this week in The Hague over Ukraine’s claim that Russia’s 2022 invasion violates a landmark treaty, the Genocide Convention of 1948.

The case before the International Court of Justice, an arm of the United Nations, proceeded decorously as bombs exploded 2,000 miles away and Russia continued to ignore the court’s preliminary orders last year to halt its attacks. Findings by the world court and other international tribunals could influence both allied support for Ukraine and the shape of an eventual peace, meaning the record both sides sought to establish could someday have consequences.

Russia argues that however its invasion is characterized—“special military operation” is the Kremlin’s term—it isn’t covered by the Genocide Convention and therefore Ukraine’s complaint should be dismissed. Kyiv argues that Russia violated the treaty by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in the country’s Donbas region to justify the invasion.

“For nine years we have endured lies about genocide from the highest level of the Russian government. For a year and a half we have suffered terrible attacks because of those lies. Today Ukraine is simply asking for its day in court,” Ukrainian Ambassador Anton Korynevych told the court Tuesday.

A lawyer for Russia, Alfredo Crosato, said the Kremlin’s political rhetoric about genocide was legally irrelevant.

“What this case is really about is the legality of the special military operation and the recognition of the DPR and LPR as states,” Crosato said at Monday arguments, using abbreviations for the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, puppet states Moscow has recognized in occupied portions of Ukraine.

“The legality of these actions [falls] not under the Genocide Convention, but under the U.N. Charter and customary international law,” Crosato said, and therefore outside the world court’s jurisdiction.

Proceedings will continue into next week, including arguments from Australia, Canada, the U.K. and 29 other countries that have intervened in support of Ukraine. If the court declines to dismiss the case, a future round will consider the merits of Ukraine’s claim.

The U.S. also sought to intervene in support of Ukraine, but the ICJ ruled that Washington was ineligible because it hasn’t itself agreed to be bound by the court’s application of the Genocide Convention.

The 15-judge world court hears disputes between nations that consent to its jurisdiction but has no independent enforcement power. Its current president, Joan Donoghue, is a former official with the U.S. State Department. The court issued its March 2022 order for Russia to halt its military operations by a 13-2 vote, with the Russian and Chinese judges dissenting.

Russia and its leaders face legal scrutiny from several international bodies, including the International Criminal Court, which in March issued warrants for President Vladimir Putin and a senior Kremlin official, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, over the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. A Kremlin spokesman dismissed the ICC warrants as an outrage and said Russia wasn’t subject to the court’s jurisdiction.

Like the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court has no police force and must rely on the cooperation of national governments for enforcement of its orders.

By Jess Bravin
Updated Sept. 19, 2023 2:59 pm ET

Plans could include delaying a ban on sales of new petrol cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.

BBC News - Rishi Sunak is considering weakening some of the government's key green commitments in a major policy shift.

It could include delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and phasing out gas boilers, multiple sources have told the BBC.

The PM is preparing to set out the changes in a speech in the coming days.

Responding to the reported plans, he said the government was committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but in a "more proportionate way".

The prime minister said: "For too many years politicians in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs. Instead they have taken the easy way out, saying we can have it all.

"This realism doesn't mean losing our ambition or abandoning our commitments. Far from it.

"I am proud that Britain is leading the world on climate change."

He added that the UK was committed to international climate agreements it had already made.

Mr Sunak said he would give a speech later this week "to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children".

If he presses ahead with the plan it would represent a significant shift in the Conservative Party's approach to net zero policy, as well as establishing a clear dividing line with the Labour Party.

According to multiple sources briefed on Downing Street's thinking, Mr Sunak would use the speech to hail the UK as a world leader on net zero.

But he would also argue that Britain has over-delivered on confronting climate change and that other countries need to do more to pull their weight.

Some specifics of the speech are still thought to be under discussion, but as it stands it could include as many as seven core policy changes or commitments, documents seen by the BBC suggest.

First, the government would push the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars - currently set to come into force in 2030 - back to 2035. The 2030 date has been government policy since 2020.

Second, the government would significantly weaken the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, saying that they only want 80% to be phased out by that year.

Third, homeowners and landlords would be told that there will be no new energy efficiency regulations on homes. Ministers had been considering imposing fines on landlords who fail to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency.

Fourth, the 2026 ban on off-grid oil boilers will be delayed to 2035, with only an 80% phase out target at that date.

In addition, Britons will be told that there will be no new taxes to discourage flying, no government policies to change people's diets and no measures to encourage carpooling.

Mr Sunak is also likely to rule out what he sees as burdensome recycling schemes.

The government had reportedly been considering a recycling strategy in which households would have had "seven bins" - with six separate recycling bins plus one for general waste.

A Labour spokesperson said: "This is a total farce. The country cannot go on with a Conservative government in total disarray, stumbling from crisis to crisis.

"Ministers need to urgently provide clarity on all eight of the policies reportedly up for review."

Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, the former chairman of the UK government's net zero review, said diluting green policies would "cost the UK jobs, inward investment, and future economic growth that could have been ours by committing to the industries of the future".

"Rishi Sunak still has time to think again and not make the greatest mistake of his premiership, condemning the UK to missing out on what can be the opportunity of the decade to deliver growth, jobs and future prosperity," he said.

Former Conservative minister, Sir Alok Sharma, who was president of the COP26 climate summit, said the UK had been a leader on climate action "but we cannot rest on our laurels".

"For any party to resile from this agenda will not help economically or electorally," he added.

Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas called any rollback on net zero "economically illiterate, historically inaccurate and environmentally bone-headed".

But Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who chairs the net zero scrutiny group, said he was "pleased to see some pragmatism" from Mr Sunak.

Moving back dates for net zero targets "will take pie in the sky 'greenwash' measures out of clearly unachievable deadlines".

Former Conservative minister Andrea Jenkyns told Sky News she backs weakening green pledges "a million per cent".

She said constituents in her red wall seat "don't buy the net zero - it's not only the freedom argument, it's the economic argument".

On Thursday, the King will be on a State Visit to France, where he will host what is known as a Climate Mobilisation Forum.

The event convenes specialists in climate finance, and aims to help developing economies make adjustments to cut emissions.

The King will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Reporting By Henry Zeffman & Chris Mason & Brian Wheeler

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/xQwhm

The crash site for a stealth fighter jet that went missing during the weekend after its pilot ejected has been located in rural South Carolina after the military asked the public for help finding an aircraft built to elude detection.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The crash site for a stealth fighter jet that went missing during the weekend after its pilot ejected was located Monday in rural South Carolina after the military asked the public for help finding an aircraft built to elude detection.

The debris field was discovered in Williamsburg County, about two hours northeast of Joint Base Charleston. Residents were being asked to avoid the area while a recovery team worked to secure it.

“We are transferring incident command to the USMC this evening, as they begin the recovery process,” the base posted Monday on the X social media platform.

Authorities had been searching for the jet since the pilot, whose name hasn’t been released, parachuted to safety into a North Charleston neighborhood about 2 p.m. Sunday. He was taken to a hospital, where he was in stable condition, Marines Maj. Melanie Salinas said.

“The mishap is currently under investigation, and we are unable to provide additional details to preserve the integrity of the investigative process,” the Marine Corps said in a news release on Monday evening.

The Marine Corps announced earlier Monday it was pausing aviation operations for two days after the fighter jet’s crash — the third costly accident in recent weeks.

Gen. Eric Smith, the acting commandant of the Marine Corps, ordered the stand-down while authorities searched near two South Carolina lakes for the missing FB-35B Lightning II aircraft.

It’s the third event documented as a “Class-A mishap” over the past six weeks, according to a Marine Corps announcement. Such incidents occur when damages reach $2.5 million or more, a Department of Defense aircraft is destroyed, or someone dies or is permanently disabled.

Commanders will spend the stand-down reinforcing safe flying policies, practices and procedures with their Marines, according to the Monday release.

The announcement gave no details on the two previous incidents. But in August, three U.S. Marines were killed in the crash of a V-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft during a training exercise in Australia, and a Marine Corps pilot was killed when his combat jet crashed near a San Diego base during a training flight.

Cpl. Christian Cortez, a Marine with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, said the details of what prompted the pilot to eject from the aircraft Sunday were under investigation.

Based on the missing plane’s location and trajectory, the search was initially focused on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, said Senior Master Sgt. Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston. Both lakes are north of North Charleston.

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division helicopter joined the search after some bad weather cleared in the area, Stanton said. Military officials appealed in online posts Sunday for any help from the public in locating the aircraft.

The pilot of a second F-35 returned safely to Joint Base Charleston, Salinas said.

The planes and pilots were with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing based in Beaufort, near the South Carolina coast.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/FLK1X

Zelenskyy warns Putin could cause World War III if not stopped in Ukraine, says Putin counting on U.S. instability during the 2024 election and says drone strikes will continue if Russia keeps attacking infrastructure.

We met President Zelenskyy as he prepared to depart Kyiv for the United States. This week, he will speak at the U.N. and meet President Biden. It is a critical time. U.S. officials tell us that over nearly 600 days, almost half a million troops have been killed or wounded—both sides, all together—part of the cost, so far, of Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion. We spoke to Zelenskyy on Thursday. He told us that his people are dying every day to prevent World War III.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (translated): We're defending the values of the whole world. And these are Ukrainian people who are paying the highest price. We are truly fighting for our freedom, we are dying we are not fiction, we are not a book. We are fighting for real with a nuclear state that threatens to destroy the world.

Scott Pelley: The United States has contributed about $70 billion to your war effort, and I wonder if you expect that level of support to continue?

Zelenskyy (translated): The United States of America [is] supporting Ukraine financially and I'm grateful for this. I just think they're not supporting only Ukraine alone. If Ukraine falls, Putin will surely go further. What will the United States of America do when Putin reaches the Baltic states? When he reaches the Polish border? He will. This is a lot of money. We have a lot of gratitude. What else must Ukraine do for everyone to measure our huge gratitude? We are dying in this war. (PAUSE) Look, if Ukraine falls, what will happen in ten years? Just think about it. If [the Russians] reach Poland, what's next? A Third World War?

Pelley: What will it take? Another $70 billion?

Zelenskyy (translated): I don't have an answer. The whole world [has to] decide whether we want to stop Putin, or whether we want to start the beginning of a world war. We can't change Putin. Russian society has [lost] the respect of the world. They elected him, and re-elected him and raised a second Hitler. They did this. We cannot go back in time. But we can stop it here.

Ukraine stopped the Russian advance, but at a terrible cost. Ruined cities, millions of refugees, untold thousands of dead, all for Vladimir Putin's nation-building vanity.

Today the war is fought on a 700-mile front. The red area is the 20% of Ukraine still occupied by Russia. That is where western donated tanks were supposed to punch through cutting the Russian force in half. But trenches, minefields and artillery stopped the armored advance. Now, it's an artillery duel with each side firing about 40,000 shells a day. Ukrainian infantry is advancing bloody yards at a time. It's World War I with drones.

Pelley: How would you describe the fighting at the front?

Zelenskyy (translated): It's a difficult question. I will be completely honest with you. We have the initiative. This is a plus. We stopped the Russian offensive and we moved into a counter-offensive. [But] despite that, it's not very fast. It is important that we are moving forward every day and liberating territory.

Pelley: You have about six weeks of good weather left, and I wonder, after that point will the front be frozen in place?

Zelenskyy (translated): We need to liberate our territory as much as possible and move forward, even if it's less than [half a mile or] a hundred [yards] we must do it. we can't lose time. Forget about the weather, and the like. In places that we can't get through in an armored vehicle - let's fly. If we can't fly – let's send drones. We mustn't give Putin a break.

If the front is stationary, Ukrainian drones have vaulted into Russia itself, hitting the Kremlin, warplanes and Moscow high rises. Officially, Ukraine does not acknowledge these attacks.

Pelley: The drone strikes in Russia are being done on your orders?

Zelenskyy (translated): No.

Pelley: Not on your orders?

Zelenskyy (translated): Well, you know…

Pelley: How was it happening?

Zelenskyy (translated): You know that we don't shoot at the territory of the Russian Federation.

We decided to try the question another way.

Pelley: What message is being sent with these drone strikes in Russia?

Zelenskyy (translated): You do know that we use our partners' weapons on the territory of Ukraine only. And this is true. But these are not punitive operations, such as they carry out killing civilians. But Russia needs to know that wherever it is, whichever place they use for launching missiles to strike Ukraine, Ukraine has every moral right to send a response to those places. We are responding to them saying: "Your sky is not as well protected, as you think."

Last winter, it was Ukrainian skies that were filled with missiles in a Russian bombardment to destroy powerplants. Millions shivered in the dark. With winter approaching again, Zelenskyy had this warning.

Zelenskyy (translated): They must know if you cut off our power, deprive us of electricity, deprive us of water, deprive us of gasoline you need to know we have the right to do it [to you].

Russia takes Zelenskyy seriously now because Putin's mass invasion was a fiasco. The red marks where Ukraine stopped Russia's advance last year. It also marks the stain of Russia's war crimes.

Pelley: Mr. President, in traveling around Ukraine for the last year and a half we spoke to people in bombed-out schools in Chernihiv, we've seen destroyed apartment blocks in Borodyanka, a bombed hospital in Izium, civilians in a mass grave in Bucha. These are not military targets. What is Vladimir Putin trying to do?

Zelenskyy (translated): To break [us]. And by choosing civilian targets, Putin wanted to achieve exactly this – to break [us]. this person who has made his way with such bloody actions, with everything he has said, cannot be trusted. There is no trust in such a person because he has not been a human being for a long time.

Pelley: The Russians have suffered grievous losses without resorting to nuclear weapons, and I wonder if you believe that the threat of nuclear war is now behind us.

Zelenskyy (translated): I think he's going to continue threatening. He is waiting for the United States to become less stable. He thinks that's going to happen during the U.S. election.

He will be looking for instability in Europe and the United States of America. He will use the risk of using nuclear weapons to fuel that [instability]. He will keep on threatening.

That U.S. election he mentioned worries him. His negotiations with President Biden have been contentious at times. But Zelenskyy tends to get what he asks for, even if, in Zelenskyy's opinion, it's generally, six months too late. This week, Zelenskyy will press Mr. Biden for missiles with longer range. Congress is debating another 24 billion dollar package.

Zelenskyy (translated): And if Ukraine had enough of these modern systems, we would have already restored the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We would have already done that. These systems exist.

We first met Zelenskyy not long after the invasion when his office was a blacked-out bunker. Now a year and a half later, we noticed a difference. As we were setting up the interview, the former actor used his talent to mask the strain. He smiled at a compliment to his wife.

And then, instantly, he seemed pulled beneath a depth no one can know. We don't know what he was thinking, it looked like empathy for the lost and for those who might be saved.

Our time with Zelenskyy began in silence--a remembrance of the fallen during a ceremony to award medals of valor. Ukrainian officials tell us Ukraine and Russia have lost their professional armies. Now the forces are made up of volunteers, draftees, and, in Russia's case, prison inmates. Zelenskyy counts his dead in casualty reports each morning.

Pelley: You are the President, but it must be humbling to meet those men. I wonder what they mean to you?

Zelenskyy (translated): First of all, it is a great honor for me. I look into their eyes and it makes me proud that we have such strong people because this is a big risk, a big risk, you can definitely lose your life… for the sake of [saving] other lives. [And] when I say, "other lives", I don't speak in general, I mean my own life, [the] lives of my children and I understand completely what risks are involved.

That empathy for life has Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaching out, again, to the United Nations and the United States hoping to convince the allies that the world can be safe only when Ukraine is whole.

Pelley: Can you give up any part of Ukraine for peace?

Zelenskyy (translated): No. This is our territory.

Pelley: You must have it all? Including Crimea?

Zelenskyy (translated): Today you and I… you said it to me… you saw me awarding people [medals]. [Well] today is a day like that. A week ago, I gave awards to parents [of soldiers who have been killed]. There were 24 families of the dead. There was a woman. She was with three children. There were parents, very old. They could barely walk and they had had only one son. One of the women was pregnant. She arrived holding a baby in her arms. And she was pregnant. And that baby will never see… what should I tell them? That all of them died so that we could say, "It's okay, [Russia] you can take it all." It's a difficult job. You understand me, right? Giving awards to people whose faces show their whole world has collapsed. And all I can give them, all I can give them – is victory.

Produced by Maria Gavrilovic. Associate producer, Alex Ortiz. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by Peter M. Berman.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/UOMle

original interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8qC2tVkGeU
https://piped.video/watch?v=Z8qC2tVkGeU

Search for F-35B Lightning II fighter jet focused on two lakes after Marine Corps pilot ejected over North Charleston for unknown reason

US military officials have appealed to the public for help to find a fighter jet after losing track of it somewhere over South Carolina when the pilot ejected.

A Marine Corps pilot safely escaped the F-35B Lightning II jet over North Charleston on Sunday afternoon after a “mishap”, military officials said, and the search for his missing aircraft was now focused on two lakes north of North Charleston.

The pilot parachuted safely into North Charleston at about 2pm and was taken to a local hospital, where he was in stable condition, said Maj Melanie Salinas. The pilot’s name has not been released.

Based on the missing plane’s location and trajectory, the search for the F-35 Lightning II jet was focused on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, said Senior Master Sergeant Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston. Both lakes are north of North Charleston.

Local congresswoman Nancy Mace said: “How in the hell do you lose an F-35? How is there not a tracking device and we’re asking the public to what, find a jet and turn it in?”

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division helicopter joined the search for the F-35 after some bad weather cleared in the area, Stanton said.

Officials are still investigating why the pilot ejected, authorities said.

The pilot of a second F-35 returned safely to Joint Base Charleston, Salinas said.

The planes and pilots were with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 based in Beaufort, not far from South Carolina’s Atlantic coast.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/vNlJ2

There’s a warning about a dangerous bacteria that might have infected a local woman who’s still recovering after nearly two months in the hospital. An online fundraising effort says she contracted the bacterial infection after eating fish and is now a quadruple amputee.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a warning about a bacterial infection that people can get by eating raw or undercooked fish or by exposing an open wound to coastal waters. A friend tells us this San Jose woman likely got this specific infection after eating undercooked tilapia.

A San Jose mother’s life is changed forever. Laura Barajas, 40, has had her limbs amputated while battling a bacterial infection.

“It’s just been really heavy on all of us. It’s terrible. This could’ve happened to any of us,” said Barajas’ friend Anna Messina.

Messina says back in late July Barajas had bought tilapia from a local market for dinner. She cooked it and ate it alone. Within days, she got very ill and was then hospitalized.

“She almost lost her life. She was on a respirator,” Messina said. “They put her into a medically induced coma. Her fingers were black, her feet were black her bottom lip was black. She had complete sepsis and her kidneys were failing.”

Now, a month and a half later, Barajas is without her arms and legs.

Messina believes the infection was caused by Vibrio vulnificus — a bacterial infection the CDC has been warning about.

“The ways you can get infected with this bacteria are one-you can eat something that’s contaminated with it the other way is by having a cut or tattoo exposed to water in which this bug lives,” said UCSF Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Natasha Spottiswoode.

Spottiswoode says the bacteria is especially concerning for people who are immunocompromised.

The CDC says about 150-200 cases of the infections are reported each year and about one in five people with the infection die — sometimes within one to two days of becoming ill.

“People should take sensible precautions like if you have a cut avoid getting immersed in water until it’s well healed,” Spottiswoode said. “If you are someone immunocompromised keeping an eye on these things and avoiding those high-risk activities and foods.”

Messina says she and Barajas’ family are still waiting to learn more about what happened. She hopes people realize how precious life can be.

“Be thankful for what we have right now because it can be taken away so quickly so easily,” Messina said.

Messina has set up a GoFundMe to help with her friend’s medical expenses. So far, it has raised more than $20,000.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/iVz5y

Ukrainian presidential adviser says deaths of civilians ‘the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego’

A senior Ukrainian official has accused Elon Musk of “committing evil” after a new biography revealed details about how the business magnate ordered his Starlink satellite communications network to be turned off near the Crimean coast last year to hobble a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian warships.

In a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which Musk owns, the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote that Musk’s interference led to the deaths of civilians, calling them “the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego”.

“By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian fleet via Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, and children are being killed,” Podolyak wrote.

“Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realise that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?”

Musk defended his decision, saying he did not want his SpaceX company to be “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation”.

CNN on Thursday quoted an excerpt from the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which described how armed submarine drones were approaching a Russian fleet near the Crimean coast when they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly”.

The biography, due out on Tuesday, alleges Musk ordered Starlink engineers to turn off the service in the area of the attack because of his concern that Vladimir Putin would respond with nuclear weapons to a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea.

Musk, who is also the CEO of the Tesla electric car company and SpaceX rocket and spacecraft manufacturer, initially agreed to supply Starlink hardware to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion disrupted Ukrainian communications. But he reportedly had second thoughts after Kyiv succeeded in repelling the initial Russian assault and began to counterattack.

Musk has previously been embroiled in a social media spat with Ukrainian officials including the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, over his ideas for ending Russia’s invasion.

In October last year, Musk proposed a peace deal involving re-running under UN supervision annexation referendums in Moscow-occupied Ukrainian regions, acknowledging Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula and giving Ukraine a neutral status.

“Preliminary analysis suggests that the reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023, driven in particular by the dismantling of Twitter’s safety standards.

The EU has also accused Musk’s X of allowing Russian propaganda about Ukraine to spread on its website.

A study released last week by the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union, found that “the reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023.”

The study said that the increased reach of Russian propaganda online was “largely driven by Twitter, where engagement grew by 36% after CEO Elon Musk decided to lift mitigation measures on Kremlin-backed accounts”.

Musk on Friday attempted to refute the EU study, writing on his social media platform: “Where is all this pro-Russian propaganda? We don’t see it.”

archive: https://archive.ph/wip/ENe3P

Study finds ‘direct evidence’ of polar amplification on continent as scientists warn of implications of ice loss

Antarctica is likely warming at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world and faster than climate change models are predicting, with potentially far-reaching implications for global sea level rise, according to a scientific study.

Scientists analysed 78 Antarctic ice cores to recreate temperatures going back 1,000 years and found the warming across the continent was outside what could be expected from natural swings.

In West Antarctica, a region considered particularly vulnerable to warming with an ice sheet that could push up global sea levels by several metres if it collapsed, the study found warming at twice the rate suggested by climate models.

Climate scientists have long expected that polar regions would warm faster than the rest of the planet – a phenomenon known as polar amplification – and this has been seen in the Arctic.

Dr Mathieu Casado, of the Laboratoire des Science du Climat et de l’Environnement in France and lead author of the study, said they had found “direct evidence” that Antarctica was also now undergoing polar amplification.

“It is extremely concerning to see such significant warming in Antarctica, beyond natural variability,” he said.

Antarctica is the size of the continental US and Mexico combined, but has only 23 permanent weather stations and only three of these are away from the coast.

Casado and colleagues examined 78 Antarctic ice cores that hold a record of temperature and then compared those temperatures to climate models and observations.

The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found Antarctica was warming at a rate of between 0.22C and 0.32C per decade, compared to 0.18C per decade predicted by climate models.

Part of the warming in Antarctica is likely being masked by a change in a pattern of winds – also thought to be linked to global heating and the loss of ozone over the continent – that has tended to reduce temperatures.

Dr Sarah Jackson, an ice core expert at the Australian National University, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were “deeply concerning”.

“All our projections for future sea level rise use these low rates of warming. Our models might be underestimating the loss of ice that we might get,” she said.

Dr Danielle Udy, a climate scientist and ice core expert at the University of Tasmania, who was not involved in the paper, said the research was timely “given the extreme events we have been seeing in Antarctica”.

Scientists are scrambling to understand why Antarctic sea ice has been at record low levels over the last two years, with some suggesting global heating could now be affecting the region.

Thousands of emperor penguin chicks likely died in late 2022 after the usually stable sea ice supporting colonies in West Antarctica melted.

Dr Kyle Clem, a scientist at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, has studied recent record high temperatures at one weather station at the south pole.

Clem said Antarctica’s climate was subject to large natural swings, but Casado’s study had shown “a detectable change in Antarctic climate and an emergence of anthropogenic polar amplification”.

He said the results would be crucial for understanding the future of the continent “as greenhouse gases continue to increase”.

“The implications of this study are of particular importance for considering future changes in Antarctic sea ice, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and potentially even sea level rise,” Clem said.

“If anthropogenic polar amplification is already occurring in the Antarctic that exceeds that simulated by climate models, then future warming will likely be greater than that currently projected by climate models.”

A warming Antarctic, he said, would also likely lead to further losses of sea ice that would have implications for “ocean warming, global ocean circulation, and marine ecosystems”.

“As far as sea level rise, ocean warming is already melting protective ice shelves in West Antarctica and causing the West Antarctic ice sheet to retreat.”

Greater warming could also lead to more melting of coastal ice shelves that protect glaciers.

“This has already been seen on the Antarctic peninsula in recent decades, and it could become a more widespread occurrence around Antarctica sooner than anticipated in a more strongly warming Antarctic climate,” he said.

archive: https://archive.ph/E2yPg

North Korea has launched its first operational "tactical nuclear attack submarine" and assigned it to the fleet that patrols the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan, state media said on Friday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who attended the launch ceremony on Wednesday, said arming the navy with nuclear weapons was an urgent task and promised to transfer more underwater and surface vessels equipped with tactical nuclear weapons to the naval forces, news agency KCNA reported.

"The submarine-launching ceremony heralded the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK," KCNA said, using the initials of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Submarine No. 841 -- named Hero Kim Kun Ok after a North Korean historical figure -- will perform its combat mission as "one of core underwater offensive means of the naval force" of North Korea, Kim said.

North Korea plans to turn its existing submarines into nuclear weapons-armed attack submarines, and accelerate its push to build nuclear-powered submarines, Kim said.

"Achieving a rapid development of our naval forces ... is a priority that cannot be delayed given ... the enemies' recent aggressive moves and military acts," the North Korean leader said in a speech, apparently referring to the United States and South Korea.

Analysts first spotted signs that at least one new submarine was being built in 2016, and in 2019 state media showed Kim inspecting a previously unreported submarine that was built under "his special attention" and that would be operational in the waters off the east coast.

State media at the time did not describe the submarine's weapons systems or say where and when the inspection took place, but analysts said the apparent size of the new vessel indicated it was designed to carry missiles.

It was not immediately clear what missiles the new submarine would be armed with. North Korea has test-fired a number of submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and cruise missiles that can be fired from submarines.

It is also unclear whether North Korea has fully developed the miniaturised nuclear warheads needed to fit on such missiles. Analysts say that perfecting smaller warheads would most likely be a key goal if the North resumes nuclear testing.

North Korea has a large submarine fleet but only the experimental ballistic missile submarine 8.24 Yongung (August 24th Hero) is known to have launched a missile.

"This is likely intended to field the navalized version of the KN23, which they've acknowledged as a delivery system for their compact nuclear warhead," said Ankit Panda of the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, citing the short-range SLBM that the North has test-fired.

Tal Inbar, a senior research fellow at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the submarine's huge sail appeared to have room for both ballistic and cruise missiles.

"It won't be long before we will see it launch missiles," he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The launching ceremony comes as North Korea is set to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding day on Saturday and follows reports that Kim plans to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin to discuss weapons supplies to Moscow.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Jakarta, and asked Beijing to do more as a U.N. Security Council member to address North Korea's nuclear threat.

archive: https://archive.ph/23A1X

‘Season of simmering’ in planet’s warmest June to August period since documentation began in 1940

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The world has experienced its hottest season on record, the EU earth observation agency reported, as heat records in the 2023 northern hemisphere summer were “not just broken but smashed”, scientists said.

The June to August period was the planet’s warmest since records began in 1940, according to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

UN secretary-general António Guterres said the planet had “just endured a season of simmering” and called on global leaders to take urgent action.

“Climate breakdown has begun,” he warned. “Our climate is imploding faster than we can cope with extreme weather events hitting every corner of the planet.”

The global average temperature was 16.77C, or 0.66C higher than the 1990- 2020 average. This beat the previous record set in 2019 by 0.3C, with an average temperature of 16.48C. Every fraction of a degree of warming of the planet has an exponential effect.

Extreme weather patterns have concerned experts who fear it indicates an acceleration of global warming. 

“Global temperature records continue to tumble in 2023, with the warmest August following on from the warmest July and June leading to the warmest boreal summer in our data record going back to 1940,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus.

“The scientific evidence is overwhelming — we will continue to see more climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop emitting greenhouse gases.”

This year could yet be the hottest on record, with the first eight months of the year ranking as the second-warmest, just .01C below 2016 as the warmest year so far, according to Copernicus.

In Europe the temperature was 0.83C above average making it the fifth warmest summer season, although it has suffered among the most fatalities and losses with Greece and Spain suffering deadly wildfires and floods.

Mark Maslin, professor of climatology at University College London, said: “2023 is the year that climate records were not just broken but smashed.”

“With record heatwaves in Europe, America and China, record ocean temperature and extreme melting of Antarctic sea ice we are now feeling the full impacts of climate change.”

Copernicus said there was above-average rainfall also over most of western Europe and Turkey, as well as in western and north-eastern North America, parts of Asia, Chile and Brazil, and north-western Australia, which in some cases led to flooding.

However, Iceland, northern Scandinavia, central Europe, large parts of Asia, Canada, southern North America and most of South America experienced drier-than-average conditions, it said, with these dry conditions leading to significant wildfires in some regions where it was unusual.

Following the same trend as in June and July, the month August was estimated to have been about 1.5C warmer than the preindustrial average for 1850-1900.

A temporary rise of 1.5C in the average global temperature is distinct from the Paris Agreement goal of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5C by 2100. On that long-term basis, temperatures have risen at least 1.1C, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said.

During August, Antarctic sea ice extent was at a record low level for the time of year.

Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, said: “Breaking heat records has become the norm in 2023. Global warming continues because we have not stopped burning fossil fuels.”

archive: https://archive.ph/XJT7Y

Photocatalytic process enables water to be activated.

Hydrogen is often touted as a future energy solution, especially when generated through environmentally friendly methods. Beyond its energy potential, hydrogen plays a crucial role in producing active ingredients and various essential compounds. To generate hydrogen, water (H2O) can be transformed into hydrogen gas (H2) through a sequence of chemical reactions.

However, as water molecules are very stable, splitting them into hydrogen and oxygen presents a big challenge to chemists. For it to succeed at all, the water first has to be activated using a catalyst – then it reacts more easily.

A team of researchers led by Prof. Armido Studer at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Münster University (Germany) has developed a photocatalytic process in which water, under mild reaction conditions, is activated through triaryl phosphines and not, as in most other processes, through transition metal complexes.

This strategy, which was recently published in the journal Nature, will open a new door in the highly active field of research relating to radical chemistry, says the team. Radicals are, as a rule, highly reactive intermediates. The team uses a special intermediate – a phosphine-water radical cation – as activated water, from which hydrogen atoms from H2O can be easily split off and transferred to a further substrate.

The reaction is driven by light energy. “Our system,” says Armido Studer, “offers an ideal platform for investigating unresearched chemical processes that use the hydrogen atom as a reagent in synthesis.”

Dr. Christian Mück-Lichtenfeld, who analyzed the activated water complexes using theoretical methods, says, “The hydrogen-oxygen bond in this intermediate is extraordinarily weak, making it possible to transfer a hydrogen atom to various compounds.” Dr. Jingjing Zhang, who carried out the experimental work, adds: “The hydrogen atoms of the activated water can be transferred to alkenes and arenes under very mild conditions, in so-called hydrogenation reactions.”

Hydrogenation reactions are enormously important in pharmaceutical research, in the agrochemical industry, and in materials sciences.

Reference: “Photocatalytic phosphine-mediated water activation for radical hydrogenation” by Jingjing Zhang, Christian Mück-Lichtenfeld and Armido Studer, 28 June 2023, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06141-1

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Wolves on an Alaskan island are showing a remarkable adaptation.

Pleasant Island in Alaska is not exactly befitting of its name. The frigid, 20-square-mile island is uninhabited by humans, but it hosts a remarkably large and rich ecosystem that features deer, otters, red squirrels, and even brown bears. But in 2013, the island got a new addition: wolves.

When wolves colonized the island in 2013, it set up a natural experiment.

"This provided a great opportunity to study predator-prey dynamics of wolves and deer," says Roffler Gretchen. "We were interested in seeing how the newly colonizing wolf population would impact the deer population and predicted that the wolves might eat all the deer, and then leave the island as it is only separated from the mainland by 1.5 km."

The first part of the prediction came true. The deer population of around 120-200 deer plummeted. But instead of moving to greener pastures, the wolves remained on an island and shifted their diet to unexpected prey: sea otters.

Sea otters are themselves a top predator in the near-shore ecosystem, while wolves are an apex predator in the terrestrial area. -- so it's pretty surprising that you end up with a dynamic where one eats the other, says Taal Levi, an associate professor at Oregon State. "You have top predators feeding on a top predator," Levi says.

Gretchen, Levi, and colleagues were studying the wolf diets throughout southeast Alaska, as these wolves are petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act -- so knowing more about their feeding ecology was important.

They tracked some of the wolves with GPS collars and analyzed their scat. They found that in 2015, deer were the primary food of wolves, representing 75% of their diet. By 2017, wolves transitioned to eating primarily sea otters (57% of their diet), while deer only made up 7% of their diet. The pattern held through to 2020, when the study ended.

Otters themselves have had a rough history in the area. During the 19th and 20th centuries, sea otters in the region were hunted by fur traders and basically wiped out from the region. Local wolves were not hunted to extinction, unlike wolves in other parts of the US. But it was only in recent decades, thanks to the legal protection granted to sea otters, that the two populations overlapped.

But researchers weren't expecting wolves, a terrestrial species, to become so proficient at eating sea otters -- which, as the name implies, spend most of their time at sea.

"They are both scavenging otters and hunting them when the sea otters haul on land. Sea otters are very unlikely to be vulnerable to wolves in the ocean," notes Levi.

Wolves were often seen patrolling the shoreline of Pleasant Island and investigating rocky outcrops. The GPS data confirmed that they spent a lot of time in the intertidal zone as if looking for something -- and indeed they were: they were looking for otters to ambush.

Sea otters haul out on rocks to conserve energy, says Roffler. But this makes them more vulnerable to predation as they are slow and awkward on land -- and wolves are quick to take their chance. "We have collected evidence of wolves killing sea otters by ambush when they haul out on land or are in shallow water," Gretchen adds.

This new twist to the ecosystem makes for a very interesting case study, Gretchen continues.

"Previously there have been investigations into the effects of marine predators on sea otter populations, but until now very little attention has been paid to the impact of terrestrial predators on sea otters, or how sea otters may be an abundant marine prey to terrestrial predators. This interaction was unexpected, but has had profound effects, at least on Pleasant Island."

For now, it's not clear how the otters are adapting to this (or if they are adapting at all). The biggest effect might be a behavioral change that forces them to spend more time at sea, even when it would be beneficial to them to conserve energy on land -- the effects of this could be stressful in the long term, but this is something that warrants future research, Levi says.

But overall, the researchers don't expect that wolves will have a big effect on the sea otter population. The more important ecosystem implication is that wolf population dynamics can be decoupled from the large mammals that make up their typical prey.

"This allows wolves to remain abundant even as they cause large herbivore populations to decline. That is, sea otters may allow wolves to maintain large herbivores at lower densities, which has implications for vegetation and the animals that depend on it (bees, birds, bears for floral and berry resources, for example), across a huge coastline that will be eventually occupied by sea otters as their recovery continues," Levi adds.

This surprising finding of wolf diets definitely warrants more studies to better understand the interactions in this ecosystem -- and Levi says they're working exactly on that.

"We are now increasingly following up on the wolf-sea otter story with additional field studies, including one by PhD student Ellen Dymit, comparing mainland study areas with and without sea otters along the colonizing front of sea otter population expansion."

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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