The area includes 13 villages in Wayanad and around 10,000 sq km in the state of Kerala. The other states to be impacted by the order would be Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Gujarat.
The new parliament building | X
Clearly shocked at the scale of the Wayanad tragedy, the Centre has issued a draft notification to declare around 57,000 sq km of Western Ghats as an ‘ecologically-sensitive area’. The area includes 13 villages in Wayanad and around 10,000 sq km in the state of Kerala. The other states to be impacted by the order would be Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Gujarat.
Incidentally, this is the fifth draft notification of its kind; the last draft was issued in July 2022 and a committee was also constituted to finalise the notification in consultation with the state governments. Suggestions and objections have been invited from citizens within 60 days, following which the final notification will be published.
About The Draft Notification
In effect, the notification has earmarked 36% of Western Ghats as eco-sensitive, which will result in a host of restrictions on commercial activity. The designated area would include 449 sq km in Gujarat, 17,340 sq km in Maharashtra, 1,461 sq km in Goa, 20,668 sq km in Karnataka, 6,914 sq km in Tamil Nadu, and 9,993.7 sq km in Kerala; The draft notification suggests a complete ban on mining, quarrying, and sand mining, with existing mines to be phased out within five years “from the date of issue of the final notification or on the expiry of the existing mining lease, whichever is earlier”. It also prohibits new thermal power projects; the existing projects can continue to operate but no expansion will be allowed. Large-scale construction projects and townships are also proposed to be prohibited, with exceptions for the repair and renovation of existing buildings.
“We know that there are simple, efficient, dignified ways of testing sex,” says Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls.
Imane Khelif (in red) overpowered opponent Angela Carini. Pic: AP
Olympic chiefs should reintroduce gender testing for female athletes to protect them from injuries amid concerns about eligibility, a United Nations adviser told Sky News.
The intervention from Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, comes as the Paris Games is embroiled in a debate about dangers from testosterone advantage in women’s events.
Ms Alsalem has expressed concern that Italian boxer Angela Carini was exposed to violence based on her sex during a women’s bout against Imane Khelif, who it has been claimed failed a gender eligibility test.
The issue is set to feature in a report now being prepared by Ms Alsalem to deliver to the UN General Assembly in October that will have a focus on violence faced by women in sport.
“It’s really important to make sure that the physical safety of any player is upheld,” Ms Alsalem said in an interview.
“We know that there are simple, efficient, dignified ways of testing sex… that are not invasive, that are cheap and that are reliable.
“So I think that will be one of the first things really to come back on is, why is that such a problem?
“If it can particularly resolve an issue and if it can allay fears, and concerns which are very valid.
“So that would be my question really to the IOC and… I have, in fact, discussed with the IOC in preparation for my report – the inclusivity and diversity guidelines.”
The International Olympic Committee introduced “certificates of femininity” at the 1968 Mexico Games. But those chromosome-based tests were deemed unscientific and unethical and dropped ahead of Sydney 2000.
And IOC spokesman Mark Adams cautioned this week: “To go back to the bad old days of ‘sex testing’ … would be a bad idea.”
That came after scrutiny over the participation of two fighters in the Paris women’s event – Algeria’s Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting.
Russian dissidents Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Andrei Pivovarov hold a press conference after being freed in a multi-country prisoner swap in Bonn, Germany, August 2, 2024. REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler Purchase Licensing Rights
Ilya Yashin, a Russian opposition activist freed from jail in Thursday’s prisoner swap, pledged to carry on his political fight against President Vladimir Putin from abroad, but expressed fury at having been deported against his will.
The prisoner swap, the largest since the Cold War, saw eight Russians, including a convicted murderer, exchanged for 16 prisoners in Russian and Belarusian jails, many of them dissidents. It was hailed as a win by Western leaders who feared for the dissidents’ lives after the death in jail last year of politician Alexei Navalny.
But Yashin, imprisoned in 2022 for criticising Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said he had not given his consent to deportation and that others in more urgent need of medical care should have gone instead of him.
“From my first day behind bars I said I was not willing to be a part of any exchanges,” he said in an emotional news conference in Bonn on Friday during which he occasionally removed his glasses to blink back tears.
He directed his ire not at the Western governments that had secured his release, who he said had faced a difficult moral dilemma, but at the Kremlin for expelling a political rival against his will.
“What happened on Aug. 1 I don’t view as a prisoner swap … but as my illegal expulsion from Russia against my will, and I say sincerely, more than anything I want now to go back home,” he added.
He was speaking alongside activists Vladimir Kara-Murza and Andrei Pivovarov at the freed prisoners’ first public appearance since arriving in Germany.
On their second day out of prison, where they had had limited contact with the outside world, Kara-Murza and Yashin especially seemed fired with resolve, and to have kept abreast of world events. All expressed scorn for the government of Putin whom Kara-Murza described as an illegitimate usurper.
Yashin pledged to continue his work “for Russia” from abroad. “Though I don’t yet know how,” he added.
Pivovarov agreed: “We will do everything to make our country free and democratic, and get all political prisoners released.”
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, commenting on the prisoner exchange on Thursday, said that what he called traitors to his country should rot and die in prison, but that it was more useful for Moscow to get its own people home.
Five people were killed and around 50 went missing following multiple incidents of cloudburst in Himachal, with the heavy rain-induced flooding also resulting in a breach at Malana hydel project.
Houses after some part washed away in the river following a flood caused by a cloudburst, at the Baladhi village in Kullu on Thursday.Five people were killed and around 50 went missing following multiple incidents of cloudburst in Himachal, with the heavy rain-induced flooding also resulting in a breach at Malana hydel project. (ANI)
Five people were killed and around 50 went missing following multiple incidents of cloudburst in Himachal, with the heavy rain-induced flooding also resulting in a breach at Malana hydel project.
A barrage of the Malana 1 project in the Kullu district was breached after heavy volumes of water hit the dam in the aftermath of a cloudburst.
Kullu deputy commissioner (DC) Torul S Raveesh confirmed the breach in a statement, adding that the water has since receded and that the situation was under control.
Notably, the Himachal government had, ahead of the monsoon, said most preparations needed to tackle monsoon-triggered disasters had been undertaken in the aftermath of last year’s devastation but the work to install early warning systems at dams across the state was yet to be completed.
The resulting overflowing of the dam, however, resulted in the water gushing downstream, causing devastation in the valley.
Earlier, people were reported stuck in underground buildings of the Malana I project. The DC said those stuck were safe and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and home guard teams were making efforts to rescue them.
around 20 people stranded in Jari, a village located downstream from Malana, after a prolonged rescue operation.
Siddharth Thakur, a resident of Manikaran who was travelling on the route, said, “The water was gushing downstream, and you could see the river basin widening. Water reached and entered houses located near the riverbanks in Baladhi village as well, while homestays have been damaged in the Parvati Valley as well.”
Nirmand, Rampur among worst-hit
The state emergency operation centre said the cloudbursts also took place in Nirmand, and Sainj areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts. Multiple homes, bridges and roads, meanwhile, have been washed away at the locations.
Nirmand, a hamlet located on the border of the Kullu and Shimla districts, was among the worst hit, with an old and a new PWD bridge in the region and seven to eight homes being washed away. Seven people were reported missing, according to the DC’s statement.
Right across from Nirmand in Rampur subdivision of Shimla district, a cloudburst at the Samej Khud (nallah) resulted in heavy flooding.
Two people have lost their lives while around 30 remain missing, Shimla superintendent of police (SP) Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said, adding that two people have been rescued from the spot.
A resident of Sarpara village said around a dozen members of his family had gone missing after the cloudburst triggered flash floods on Wednesday night, adding, “We were woken up by the cloudburst around 1 am in the night. There was panic everywhere as there was no clarity on what had happened.”
Shimla DC Anupam Kashyap, meanwhile, said, “Rescue operation is challenging as roads have been washed away,”
The Shimla DC and SP, who were on the spot, said teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo Tibetan Border Police, police and home guards have started rescue operations and help of drones is being taken to locate the missing persons.
“There has been a significant impact as the road has been completely damaged. There was flooding in the nearby nallah. Around 10 cars, some of which were swept away, have also been damaged. The officials concerned have been directed to carry out restoration work, In a respite, no loss of life was reported,” Chamba SDM Arun Kumar told media after assessing the ground situation.
3 dead in Mandi’s Padhar
Another cloudburst in the Rajban village near Terang in the Padhar subdivision of the Mandi district late on Wednesday night, left three persons dead and nine missing.
The deceased have been identified as Chandi Devi, 75, Chaitri Devi, 90, and Baijru Ram, 80.
Mandi police in a statement said a couple of houses had also been washed away, adding, “District police reached the spot and are working tirelessly. One injured person has been rescued by the police with the help of local administration. Further searches and rescue operation is in progress.”
Angela Carini said she “preferred to stop for my health” after receiving a heavy blow to the face from a competitor who was banned from last year’s world championships.
An Italian boxer has said she “never felt a punch like this” after her fight against an opponent who previously failed a gender eligibility test was abandoned early in the first round.
Angela Carini quit the 66kg category bout against Imane Khelif and ended her Olympics dream after signalling she was unable to carry on due to pain in her nose.
The clash lasted just 46 seconds, and the match build-up was marred by controversy following the inclusion of Khelif.
The Algerian was one of two athletes cleared to compete in the women’s boxing in Paris despite being disqualified from last year’s world championships due to failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
Angela Carini (L) did not shake hands with Imane Khelif after the match. Pic: APPic: AP
Khelif landed a few shots in Thursday’s fight, including a huge punch to Carini’s face, before the Italian fighter went to her corner and then pulled out of the bout.
Carini did not shake hands with Khelif and was pictured in floods of tears afterwards.
The Italian later said she quit because her nose “hurt so much” and insisted she was not making a political statement and refusing to fight Khelif.
She added: “I am not here to judge or pass judgement. If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide.”
Carini also said after the fight: “I am heartbroken. I went to the ring to honour my father.
“I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this.
“After the second blow, and after years of experience in the ring and a lifetime of fighting, I felt extreme pain in my nose.
“I said ‘enough’ because I didn’t want to… I couldn’t carry on in the match. I thought maybe it was better that I brought an end to the match.”
She added: “I went to my corner and raised my hand and said I’d had enough because my nose hurt so much.”
Khelif’s victory means she progresses to the quarter-finals.
The Algerian boxer was disqualified from the world championships in Delhi last year alongside Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting after the International Boxing Association (IBA) said a test found “both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria”.
The IBA said the fighters “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential”.
It comes after the IBA was stripped of its status as the global governing body for boxing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in June last year because it failed to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues.
The IBA, which is not involved in the organisation of the Olympics, has questioned why Khelif and Lin have been allowed to compete in Paris.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams had defended the decision earlier this week, saying: “I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules.
“They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case.”
He added: “They have competed and they continue to compete in the women’s competition. They have lost and they have won against other women over the years.”
However, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Carini’s bout against Khelif was not a fight among equals.
“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions,” Ms Meloni said.
“And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.”
In the biggest such exchange since the Cold War, a number of high-profile individuals have been freed including dual UK-Russian citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza and US reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Marc Fogel’s family protested outside the White House in July 2023. Pic: AP
The family of a teacher not included in a landmark prisoner swap between Russia and the West have demanded “immediate action” from US President Joe Biden.
Some two dozen people from countries including Russia, the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus were involved in the biggest exchange between the West and Moscow since the Cold War.
British citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza and US reporter Evan Gershkovich were among those freed from Russia under the deal, hailed by Mr Biden as a “feat of diplomacy”.
Not included in the agreement was Marc Fogel, an American teacher serving a 14-year jail sentence in Russia for possession of 17 grams of medical cannabis.
The drug had been prescribed to him in the US, but was illegal in Russia. He was jailed in August 2021.
Mr Fogel’s family said it was “incomprehensible” he was not included in the prisoner swap and suggested he was forgotten by the Biden administration because he is “not rich, a celebrity, or connected to powerful patrons”.
They said it was a “glaring injustice” that US and Western partners managed to win the release of prisoners detained after Mr Fogel, calling it “wrong, unfair, and not the America we know and love”.
“All [Mark] has is his family, led by his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, who is fighting for her son’s rights,” they said.
“This fight has been met not with support and understanding, but with stonewalling, double standards, and – today -abandoning Marc to die in prison for less than an ounce of medical marijuana prescribed to manage his severe decades-long spinal disease.
“We refuse to remain silent and will continue to fight for Marc. We demand immediate action to secure Marc’s release.”
A White House official said the Biden administration had been working on Mr Fogel’s release for years.
“We absolutely wanted Mark to be included,” the official said. “But it just wasn’t going to happen. You do the best you can and you get what you can.”
Mr Biden was joined by relatives of the freed Americans as he made a statement in the White House, with presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris saying the news gave her “great comfort”.
The complex trade was negotiated with Russia and several other countries in secret for more than a year and represents a major accomplishment that will be presented by the Biden administration as a marquee foreign policy success in an election year.
Heavy rainfall brought the national capital to a screeching halt on Wednesday evening amid a ‘red’ weather warning, inundating large parts of the city, choking key stretches with unending traffic, and leaving people stranded as roads resembled rivers.
Delhi rain fury
New Delhi: Continuous heavy rainfall in Delhi-NCR brought life to a standstill, causing severe waterlogging and traffic snarls on Wednesday. Many residents were stranded as roads turned into rivers, disrupting daily activities. The torrential downpour prompted the weather office to include Delhi in its list of “areas of concern” in the National Flash Flood Guidance Bulletin. The department advised people to remain indoors, secure windows and doors, and refrain from unnecessary travel.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported 79.2 mm of rainfall at Safdarjung between 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Other significant recordings included 119 mm at Mayur Vihar, 77.5 mm at Delhi University, 66.5 mm at Pusa, and 43.7 mm at Palam.
Initially, the IMD’s Automatic Weather Station (AWS) at Pragati Maidan reported 112.5 mm of rainfall in one hour, suggesting a possible cloud burst. However, the weather office later clarified that the data was incorrect. Despite this, the IMD issued a ‘red’ warning, advising residents
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received complaints of waterlogging and fallen trees, while traffic police issued advisories to avoid certain roads. Visuals from the Qutub Minar area showed vehicles navigating through waterlogged streets.
Schools Closure
Delhi Education Minister Atishi announced that all schools in the national capital, both government and private, will remain closed on Thursday in view of heavy rainfall. Taking to her official handle on microblogging site X, Atishi posted on Wednesday, “In light of the very heavy rainfall today evening and the forecast of heavy rainfall tomorrow, all schools—government and private—will remain closed tomorrow.”
Aftermath of Heavy Rains
Heavy rainfall unleashed chaos in the national capital on Wednesday evening, inundating large parts of the city with a 22-year-old woman and her toddler drowning in Ghazipur, while key stretches were choked with unending traffic and people left stranded as roads resembled rivers. According to police in Ghazipur, Tanuja and her three-year-old son Priyansh, were out to buy household items from a weekly market when they slipped into a drain due to waterlogging and drowned. The incident occurred near the Khoda Colony area, where the roadside drain was under construction.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.
The Palestinian Islamist militant group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s death. The Guards said it took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president.
Although the strike on Haniyeh was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the killing.
Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him “directly” in a state guesthouse where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told a news conference in Tehran, quoting witnesses who were with Haniyeh.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu made no mention of Haniyeh’s killing in a televised statement on Wednesday evening but said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies of late, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and would respond forcefully to any attack.
“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena,” he said.
The latest events appear to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas.
Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”. Vowing to retaliate, Iran declared three days of national mourning and said the U.S. bore responsibility because of its support for Israel.
In Turkey, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through the streets of central Istanbul late on Wednesday to protest Haniyeh’s killing.
Protesters in Istanbul’s Fatih district held posters with Haniyeh’s photo, chanted “murderer Israel, get out of Palestine” and waved Turkish and Palestinian flags.
Washington expressed concern about the potential for escalation. But White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. did not see that as imminent or inevitable and was working to prevent it from happening.
The risks “are certainly up right now. They don’t make the task of de-escalation, deterrence and dissuasion – which is the goal – any less complicated,” he told reporters.
The U.S. advised citizens not to travel to Lebanon, and two U.S. airlines, United and Delta, paused flights to Tel Aviv.
Palestinian group Hamas’ top leader, Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The assassination occurred less than 24 hours after Israel said it had killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in retaliation for a deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Hezbollah confirmed that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed by an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb.
Seven people were killed and 78 wounded in the Beirut strike, Lebanese network Tele Liban reported on Wednesday, citing the civil defence authority. Iranian state media said an Iranian military adviser was among the dead.
ISRAEL INVITES ‘HARSH PUNISHMENT’, KHAMENEI SAYS
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment for itself” and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge Haniyeh’s death. Iranian forces have already made strikes directly on Israel earlier in the Gaza war.
Haniyeh’s most likely successor is Khaled Meshaal, his deputy-in-exile who lives in Qatar, analysts and Hamas officials said.
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told journalists that Israel was committed to Gaza ceasefire negotiations and securing the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Singapore, sidestepped a question on Haniyeh’s killing, saying a ceasefire deal in Gaza was key to avoiding wider regional escalation. He told Channel News Asia that the U.S. had neither been aware of nor involved in the killing.
Qatar, which along with Egypt has been brokering talks aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza, condemned Haniyeh’s killing.
“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on X.
A man walks next to an office building of FSD (Fondation Suisse de Déminage), a non-governmental humanitarian organisation, damaged during a Russian missile attack, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine July 24, 2024. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
In early April, some residents of Kharkiv received a series of chilling text messages from government officials telling them to flee the city before Russian forces surrounded it.
“Due to the threat of enemy encirclement, we urge the civilian population of Kharkiv leave the city by April 22,” said one alert, which bore the logo of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine and mapped out safe escape routes on a slick infographic.
It was fake. Volodymyr Tymoshko knew immediately. He’s the police chief of Kharkiv region and would have been one of the first to find out about any official evacuation plans.
“Residents started getting these notifications en masse,” the 50-year-old told Reuters as he shared a screenshot of the alert, sent as Russian troops were massing at the border 30 km away.
“This is a psychological operation, it triggers panic. What would an average citizen think when they receive such a message?”
Disinformation and propaganda, long mainstays of war, have been digitally supercharged in the battle for Ukraine, the biggest conflict the world has seen since the advent of smartphones and social media.
Tymoshko said he received about 10 similar messages via SMS and Telegram messenger in April and early May, the weeks leading up to Russia’s offensive in northeastern Ukraine that began on May 10 and opened up a new front in the war.
A Ukrainian security official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the Russians frequently sent large numbers of text messages from devices attached to an Orlan-10 long-range reconnaissance drone which can penetrate dozens of kilometres into Ukrainian airspace.
The devices, known as Leer-3 systems, imitate cellular base stations that phones automatically connect to in search of coverage, he added.
Earth’s inner core, a solid iron sphere nestled deep within our planet, has slowed its rotation, according to new research. Scientists from the University of Southern California say their discovering challenges previous notions about the inner core’s behavior and raises intriguing questions about its influence on Earth’s dynamics.
The inner core, a mysterious realm located nearly 3,000 miles beneath our feet, has long been known to rotate independently of the Earth’s surface. Scientists have spent decades studying this phenomenon, believing it to play a crucial role in generating our planet’s magnetic field and shaping the convection patterns in the liquid outer core. Until now, it was widely accepted that the inner core was gradually spinning faster than the rest of the Earth, a process known as super-rotation. However, this latest study, published in the journal Nature, reveals a surprising twist in this narrative.
“When I first saw the seismograms that hinted at this change, I was stumped,” says John Vidale, Dean’s Professor of Earth Sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, in a statement. “But when we found two dozen more observations signaling the same pattern, the result was inescapable. The inner core had slowed down for the first time in many decades. Other scientists have recently argued for similar and different models, but our latest study provides the most convincing resolution.”
Slowing Spin, Reversing Rhythm
By analyzing seismic waves generated by repeating earthquakes in the South Sandwich Islands from 1991 to 2023, the researchers discovered that the inner core’s rotation had not only slowed down but had actually reversed direction. The team focused on a specific type of seismic wave called PKIKP, which traverses the inner core and is recorded by seismic arrays in northern North America. By comparing the waveforms of these waves from 143 pairs of repeating earthquakes, they noticed a peculiar pattern.
Many of the earthquake pairs exhibited seismic waveforms that changed over time, but remarkably, they later reverted to match their earlier counterparts. This observation suggests that the inner core, after a period of super-rotation from 2003 to 2008, had begun to sub-rotate, or spin more slowly than the Earth’s surface, essentially retracing its previous path. The researchers found that from 2008 to 2023, the inner core sub-rotated two to three times more slowly than its prior super-rotation.
The inner core began to decrease its speed around 2010, moving slower than the Earth’s surface. (Credit: USC Graphic/Edward Sotelo)
The study’s findings paint a captivating picture of the inner core’s rotational dynamics. The matching waveforms observed in numerous earthquake pairs indicate moments when the inner core returned to positions it had occupied in the past, relative to the mantle. This pattern, combined with insights from previous studies, reveals that the inner core’s rotation is far more complex than a simple, steady super-rotation.
The researchers discovered that the inner core’s super-rotation from 2003 to 2008 was faster than its subsequent sub-rotation, suggesting an asymmetry in its behavior. This difference in rotational rates implies that the interactions between the inner core, outer core, and mantle are more intricate than previously thought.
Limitations: Pieces Of The Core Puzzle
While the study offers compelling evidence for the inner core’s slowing and reversing rotation, the study of course has some limitations. The spatial coverage of the seismic data is relatively sparse, particularly in the North Atlantic, due to the presence of chert layers that hindered continuous coring. Furthermore, the Earth system model used in the study, despite its sophistication, is still a simplified representation of the complex dynamics at play.
The authors emphasize the need for additional high-resolution data from a broader range of locations to strengthen their findings. They also call for ongoing refinement of Earth system models to better capture the intricacies of the inner core’s behavior and its interactions with the outer core and mantle.
Clean water is essential for the survival of all people on Earth. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to clean water, and many more don’t even have access to any water at all. Now, a new study is warning that this crisis could soon get much worse.
Researchers at Utrecht University note that roughly 55 percent of the global population currently lives in regions that lack clean water for at least one month per year. Their projections find that this number will soon rise to 66 percent by the year 2100. Simply put, as conditions worsen around the globe, two in three people won’t have a dependable source of water all year long.
What’s driving these life-threatening changes? According to the study published in Nature Climate Change, socioeconomic and current climate trends will continue to make life harder for people, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Climate change and socioeconomic developments have multi-faceted impacts on the availability and quality of, and demands for, water resources in the future,” says lead author Dr. Edward Jones in a media release. “Changes in these three aspects are crucial for evaluating future water scarcity.”
The team’s state-of-the-art water quantity and quality model projects that global water scarcity will continue to increase throughout the 21st century. However, these changes won’t occur evenly throughout the world. In Western Europe and North America, water scarcity will likely make things harder for people a few months per year. In developing countries, however, the problem will likely affect more people over a longer period of time each year, according to the team’s projections.
“Increases in future exposure are largest in the Global South. These are typically driven by a combination of rapid population and economic growth, climate change and deteriorating water quality,” Jones explains.
Researchers at Utrecht University note that roughly 55 percent of the global population currently lives in regions that lack clean water for at least one month per year. (pexels.com)
Although it may sound strange, quality has become a forgotten factor in recent fears about water availability. Dr. Jones explains that many studies on water scarcity only focus on the amount of drinking water people have available to them — not the actual quality of that water.
“Previous assessments still predominantly focus on water quantity aspects only,” Jones notes. “Yet, the safe use of water also depends on the quality.”
Here are just a few of the dangerous consequences of drinking dirty water:
Waterborne Diseases: Dirty water can contain pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, leading to diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, and giardiasis.
Diarrheal Diseases: Contaminated water is a leading cause of diarrhea, which can be particularly dangerous for children and the elderly, leading to severe dehydration and even death.
Hepatitis A: This liver infection is caused by a virus that can be transmitted through contaminated water.
Intestinal Parasites: Water that has not been properly treated can host parasites, such as hookworms and roundworms, which can cause a range of gastrointestinal problems.
Chemical Poisoning: Dirty water may also contain toxic chemicals from industrial waste, agricultural runoff, or natural sources, leading to acute poisoning or long-term health issues like cancer and organ damage.
Delhi rain fury
