IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Beijing sends evacuation ships to Vietnam

    Beijing sends evacuation ships to Vietnam

    {China on Sunday dispatched five ships to Vietnam to speed up the evacuation of its citizens following deadly anti-Chinese riots over Beijing’s deployment of an oil rig in waters claimed by both countries.}

    The first ship departed Sunday morning from the southern island of Hainan, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. It also said that 16 critically injured Chinese were airlifted from Vietnam early Sunday aboard a chartered medical flight.

    More than 3,000 Chinese have already been pulled out from Vietnam following the riots this past week that left two Chinese dead and injured about 100 others, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    Vietnam has protested China’s positioning of the oil rig in the South China Sea on May 1 and sent ships to confront China’s vessels, setting off a tense standoff. After allowing anti-China protests last weekend, Vietnam’s authorities quickly clamped down on further demonstrations after the public anger against China boiled over into riots, the most serious to hit Vietnam in years.

    Dozens of factories close to southern Ho Chi Minh City were trashed. In central Vietnam, a 1,000-strong mob stormed a steel mill, killing two Chinese workers and wounding hundreds more. Along with the Chinese, hundreds of Taiwanese people have fled the country by land and air.

    China’s Foreign Ministry said that officials were arranging to bring back the staff of the Chinese building contractor that was stormed by mobs in Ha Tinh province.

    AP

  • NASA Hatches Plan to Grow Food on Mars

    NASA Hatches Plan to Grow Food on Mars

    {{Is there life on Mars? Nasa has spent decades trying to figure out the answer to David Bowie’s question but a new plan suggests that they are now taking matters into their own hands with the Mars Plant Experiment.}}

    The proposal, unveiled at the recent Humans 2 Mars conference in Washington, is to send seeds to the red planet and establish a tiny Martian greenhouse – no bigger than a football – by 2021.

    If successful, the greenhouse will pave way for naturally grown food for future humans on Mars, including Nasa’s own planned manned mission sometime in the 2030s.

    {{International effort}}

    At the moment, long-term survival in space is a costly affair, with astronauts aboard the International Space Station eating prepackaged food that costs nearly £14,000 ($23,000) per kilogram to send up to space.

    The idea of Nasa’s Ames Research team, led by scientist Chris McKay, the Mars Plant Experiment would cut Nasa’s costs dramatically; with the first astronauts on Mars requiring expertise in farming as well as space exploration.

    Speaking to the Human 2 Space conference, the experiment’s deputy principal investigator Heather Smith explained that “In order to do a long-term, sustainable base on Mars, you would want to be able to establish that plants can at least grow on Mars.

    This would be the first step in that…we just send the seeds there and watch them grow.”

    Growing interest

    If approved, the experiment will be carried out via Nasa’s $1.5 billion-costing 2020 Rover mission, which, along with the experiment, will also be looking for signs of past life and collecting samples of rocks for possible future return to Earth.

    The seeds will be carried in a CubeSat box – a case used for smaller and cheaper satellites — which would be attached to the outer body of a new design of Rover which is heavily based on the current Curiosity model: the rover which landed in on Mars in August 2012 and confirmed that it had once, billions of years ago in a site called Yellowknife Bay, been capable of supporting microbial life.

    The box would hold Earth air and about 200 seeds of Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant that is widely used as a model organism in plant biology due to changes in thale cress being easily observed.

    Once the Rover touches down, however, it will not be planting the seeds in Mars’ dirt, but rather keeping the experiment self-contained and adding water to the box. This is to eliminate the chances that Earth life, especially microbes, could prosper on Mars before humans do.

    There are two reasons for this. 1) If that did happen, the result would be disastrous for scientists trying to determine what life is from Earth and what is from Mars, and 2) project leader Chris McKay is known within the scientific community as holding a biocentric position towards the ethics of terraforming, arguing that indigenous Mars life – if it exists – should be given a chance to prosper before being overwhelmed by Earth’s microbes.

    {{Green shoots}}

    Some 15 days after being watered, the scientists expect to have a small greenhouse with signs of life. If so, then how the martian garden copes with Mars’ environment will be extremely useful for Earth’s future relationship with the planet.

    Compared to Earth, the environmental conditions on Mars are extreme with a non-breathable thin, low pressure carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, extremely strong radiation from the sun, temperatures on average of -63 °C and just 38 per cent of the gravity that exists on Earth.

    It has been said before, though, that plants will find it difficult to survive due to Mars’ low air pressure.

    Molecular biologist Rob Ferl, director of Space Agriculture Biotechnology Research and Education at the University of Florida, has been experimenting for years on how plants will react on the moon or Mars, and has said that, “plants have no evolutionary preadaption to hypobaria.”

    According to Ferl, such extreme low pressure will make plants misinterpret biometric signals and act as if they’re drying out. Nasa claim, however, that after years of extensive testing, it doesn’t expect zero-gravity conditions to affect the growth of the plants.

    {{Going ahead?}}

    Either way, no one will know how successful the experiment will be if it isn’t approved. After all, there’s only so much space for so many instruments on the next Mars rover and, at present, Nasa are considering proposals for a total of 58 different instruments with only ten spare places available. It would be a shame not to try, though – especially given the overall objective.

    “We would go from this simple experiment to the greenhouses on Mars for a sustainable base,’ Heather Smith explained, “That would be the goal. It also would be the first multicellular organism to grow, live and die on another planet.”

  • Qatar ‘to Ease Foreign Worker Laws’

    Qatar ‘to Ease Foreign Worker Laws’

    {{Qatar has moved to change controversial laws on foreign workers amid mounting criticism ahead of the 2022 World Cup. }}

    The Gulf state has come under pressure to drop rules tying migrant workers to a single employer amid an influx ahead of the football tournament.

    Human rights campaigners have accused Qatar’s current sponsorship system of being akin to modern-day slavery.

    The draft law is part of a range of proposed labour reforms but there is no timeline for their implementation.

    Expatriates make up the bulk of the workforce in the country.

    More than 180 migrant workers died in Qatar last year and a significant number are believed to have suffered injuries as a result of unsafe working practices.

    There have also been complaints about the standard of accommodation many workers live in.

    {{Reform package}}

    Officials announced the proposed changes at a news conference in the capital Doha on Wednesday.

    They said they hoped to introduce “a system based on employment contracts” as part of a reform package.

    The reforms are also designed to end the longstanding requirement that foreign workers obtain their employer’s consent before leaving the country.

    This received global attention after a French-Algerian footballer was forced to stay in the country for nearly two years over a dispute with Qatari club El-Jaish over unpaid wages.

  • Manslaughter Charge Over Korea Ferry

    Manslaughter Charge Over Korea Ferry

    The captain of the sunken South Korean ferry has been charged with manslaughter, reports say.

    Lee Joon-seok, 68, is accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers to stay put, reports Yonhap news agency.

    He was among the first to be rescued by coast guards at the scene.

    The Sewol ferry disaster on 16 April killed 281 passengers, most of whom were high school students. Another 23 are still missing.

    Besides Mr Lee, three crew members – the chief engineer, the chief mate and the second mate – are also being charged with manslaughter. If convicted, they could face life imprisonment.

    “The [four people charged] escaped before the passengers, leading to grave casualties,” prosecutor Ahn Sang-don told journalists.

    Prosecutors have indicted another 11 crew members for negligence.

    Only 172 passengers survived the sinking of the ferry, including 22 of the 29 crew members.

    wirestory

  • Class Divisions in Brazil Presidential Campaign

    Class Divisions in Brazil Presidential Campaign

    {{A controversial new campaign ad has made class divisions a key theme in Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s battle for re-election in October.}}

    The combative video, released online by Rousseff’s Workers’ Party this week, suggests a deeply polarized campaign ahead in which the incumbent will try to shift attention away from Brazil’s current economic malaise and focus instead on how life improved for the poor over the last decade.

    The ad shows a rural family happily driving in a truck loaded with goods. Then they pass a dust-covered, downtrodden version of themselves from the past, walking along the side of the road and carrying heavy boxes.

    “We can’t let ghosts from the past come back and take away everything we achieved,” a narrator says.

    The ad is designed to appeal to the some 40 million Brazilians who have been lifted from poverty under 12 years of leftist Workers’ Party rule. Many acquired trucks, washing machines and other big-ticket consumer goods for the first time.

    Despite that progress, Brazil still has one of the world’s biggest gaps between rich and poor, and class divisions remain a fact of politics and daily life.

    The ad drew an immediate rebuke from Rousseff’s leading rival in the election, Senator Aecio Neves of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), who accused the ruling party of “scaring and threatening people in order to try to stay in power.”

    {reuters}

  • German Growth Puts Stagnant France & Italy in Shade

    German Growth Puts Stagnant France & Italy in Shade

    {{Germany posted strong growth in the first quarter of the year in stark contrast with France: the euro zone’s second largest economy failed to expand at all and Italy, the third largest, went into reverse.}}

    German quarterly growth of 0.8% marginally exceeded forecasts and was double the pace at the end of 2013. France was expected to pale in comparison but had still been forecast to grow by 0.2%.

    Inventory changes and public spending were the only factors which kept the French economy from contracting while Germany’s performance was driven largely by domestic demand.

    The figure for the euro zone as a whole is due at 0900 GMT and forecast to show growth of 0.4% on the quarter.

    France will now need 0.5% growth each quarter to meet a government forecast for subdued 1% growth in 2014, Natixis Asset Management chief economist Philippe Waechter said.

    “France’s public finance plan has been built on the 1% growth forecast. If we don’t achieve it France will not meet its (debt and deficit) targets for 2014 and 2015,” Waechter said.

    France is not the only euro zone member in the doldrums.

    Italian gross domestic product contracted unexpectedly by 0.1%, denting a fragile recovery begun at the end of last year when the country finally put an end to its longest recession since World War Two. Growth of 0.2% had been forecast.

  • UK MPs Want Afghan War Inquiry

    UK MPs Want Afghan War Inquiry

    {{The UK government should set up an inquiry into “lessons learned” after troops withdraw from Afghanistan at the end of this year, MPs have recommended.}}

    The Commons defence committee said ministers should plan for a “thorough” study covering the aims of the war and whether efforts had been “sufficient”.

    Defence Secretary Philip Hammond promised to “look strategically across the campaign” after the mission ends.

    More than 450 UK personnel have died in the Afghan conflict since 2001.

    An official inquiry into the Iraq war began almost five years ago and has still to publish its findings. This follows arguments between the panel, led by former civil servant Sir John Chilcot, and Whitehall officials over which documents can be disclosed.

    It said the Afghan government would need the continued support of the international community after most UK and other international troops left.

    The committee warned of an “uncertain” future and said it hoped Defence Secretary Philip Hammond’s prediction that the country would not descend into civil war would prove correct.

    It said that, while there had been gains in the rights of Afghan women and girls during the years international forces had been in the country, progress remained “fragile”.

    In contrast, the UK’s counter-narcotics strategy had failed, with opium poppy cultivation in Helmand province soaring to record levels as the troops prepared to leave.

    “We are concerned that this will continue to fund organised crime, and undermine the development of democratic government and governance,” the report said.

    BBC

  • Bieber Investigated Over Attempted Robbery Claim

    Bieber Investigated Over Attempted Robbery Claim

    {{Pop singer Justin Bieber is being investigated by police in Los Angeles over attempted robbery claims.}}

    The 20-year-old, who has not been arrested, was accused of robbery by an unnamed victim, police said.

    According to TMZ, Bieber is accused of reaching into a woman’s bag and taking her phone after she had taken pictures of him at a mini golf course in LA.

    “As of right now, no arrest has been made and detectives are currently interviewing the victim,” said police.

    The pop star has had a troubled start to 2014, after being arrested for driving under the influence in Miami. A trial is due to begin there in July.

    Police in California also searched his home after he allegedly threw eggs at a neighbour’s house.

    And, three weeks ago, he was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and questioned by customs officers, after returning from Asia.

    However, no formal action was taken and he was released after four hours.

    The incidents have dented the singer’s public image. He was booed after winning the fan’s choice prize at Canada’s Juno Awards last month.

    On Sunday, he was booed again as he took his mother to a basketball game in Los Angeles.

  • Diplomats to Draft Iran Nuclear Deal

    Diplomats to Draft Iran Nuclear Deal

    {{Talks between six world powers and Iran on the country’s controversial nuclear programme are to resume in Vienna.}}

    Negotiators are expected to begin trying to draft an agreement that will provide a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.

    Although meetings have been held since February, correspondents say nothing of substance has yet been agreed.

    Both sides hope to build on an interim deal that saw uranium enrichment curbed by Iran in return for sanctions relief.

    The accord – which was signed in Geneva in November but only took effect in January – gives them until late July to agree a comprehensive solution, although that deadline can be extended by mutual consent.

    The world powers want Iran to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities permanently to ensure that it cannot assemble a nuclear weapon.

    But Iran says its nuclear work, which it insists is peaceful, will continue – and wants an end to the sanctions that have crippled its economy.

    {{‘Transparency’}}

    The four days of talks between Iran and the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany – will begin with a working dinner at Vienna’s Palais Coburg hotel for Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

  • Columbus’s Santa Maria Wreck ‘Found’

    Columbus’s Santa Maria Wreck ‘Found’

    {{A US underwater investigator has said he believes he has found the wreck of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus’s famed expedition.}}

    Barry Clifford said evidence “strongly suggests” a ruin off Haiti’s north coast is the Santa Maria.

    Mr Clifford’s team has measured and taken photos of the wreck.

    He says he is working with the Haitian government to protect the site for a more detailed investigation.

    The Santa Maria, along with the La Nina and La Pinta, were part of Columbus’s expedition in 1492, which explored islands in the Caribbean in an attempt to find a westward passage to Asia.

    The flagship was lost during the expedition, shortly before Columbus returned to Spain.

    “All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus’s famous flagship, the Santa Maria,” said Mr Clifford.

    “I am confident that a full excavation of the wreck will yield the first-ever detailed marine archaeological evidence of Columbus’ discovery of America,” he added.

    Mr Clifford said he identified the potential location of the Santa Maria through earlier archaeological findings that pinpointed a likely location for Columbus’s fort – a building that experts always thought was erected near to where the ship ran aground.

    He also used information from the explorer’s diary, and a recent diving mission near the site further burnished Mr Clifford’s belief the wreck was the Santa Maria.