Yes, this is an image of a mangrove, but did you know it is also an image of a sink? A carbon sink. Don’t know what that is? Read below.
Did you know?
NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserves and their partners are working to make wetlands conservation and restoration profitable while lessening greenhouse gas emissions through blue carbon financial markets. These markets balance projects that feature heat-trapping emissions with contributions that take carbon out of the atmosphere. Efforts thus far have produced the first-ever U.S. guide that makes salt marsh restoration eligible for international carbon markets; research that documents carbon storage capabilities in the marsh; workshops and school curricula on the topic; and newsletters and technical assistance.
Something that has a significant effect on our daily lives and is stored within the largest system of water on our planet must be a household name, right? Not necessarily. Have you ever heard of blue carbon? Chances are the answer is no, but perhaps you know more than you realize.
More than 40 years ago, the world’s largest and most profitable oil companies began to understand the effects their products were having on our climate. Their own scientific research told them so – well before it became common knowledge.
But for the next four decades – time we could have better spent transitioning to greener forms of energy – they sought to discredit and downplay evidence of global warming and the calamities it would lead to; wildfires, rising sea levels, extreme storms and much else besides. Tiếp tục đọc “Big Oil’s Big Lies: How the industry denied global warming – 2 parts”→
Kinh tế Sài Gòn Online – Việc áp thuế chống bán phá giá đối với đường mía của Thái Lan cũng như áp thuế chống lẩn tránh biện pháp phòng vệ thương mại đối với đường mía có nguồn gốc của Thái Lan từ một số nước khu vực Đông Nam Á (ASEAN) được xem là điều kiện quan trọng để thúc đẩy phát triển ngành mía đường Việt Nam nói chung và Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long (ĐBSCL) nói riêng. Tuy nhiên, điều đó vẫn khó có thể cứu được ngành mía đường ở ĐBSCL khi “căn bệnh” của ngành sản xuất này đã lan rộng.
Hàng loạt nhà máy đường ở miền Tây phải đóng cửa hoặc hoạt động cầm chừng vì không có mía nguyên liệu. Ảnh minh hoạ: CTV
By Faine Greenwood, an expert on unmanned aerial vehicles, technology in humanitarian aid, remote sensing, spatial data, and data policy and ethics.
A Ukrainian serviceman holds up a drone carrying a mock grenade in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Feb. 9. YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Almost a year after Russian tanks first began rolling over the border into Ukraine, a war many expected would be over within a month continues to grind on. It’s grimly reminiscent of European conflicts of the 20th century—but it’s also the first war in history where both sides have made extensive use of cheap, startlingly effective small drones, the kind that can be bought at electronics stores or built with simple hobby kits.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, I knew two things for sure. First, that Ukraine was going to stun the world with what it could do with small do-it-yourself and consumer drones, a skillset that their drone hobbyists and tech experts had been tirelessly expanding ever since Russia’s earlier invasion in 2014 – efforts led by now-famous volunteer drone organizations like Aerorozvidka, whose members had become some of the world’s premier experts on building, modifying, and using small, cheap drones in warfare. Second, I knew that as an expert in both consumer and hobby drones, I was going to do my best to document what happened next.
The Microsoft Bing logo and the website’s page are shown in this photo taken in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Microsoft is fusing ChatGPT-like technology into its search engine Bing, transforming an internet service that now trails far behind Google into a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The race among tech companies to roll out generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is raising concerns about how mistakes in technology and blind spots in regulation could hasten the spread of misinformation, elevate biases in results and increase the harvesting and use of Americans’ personal data.
So far tech giants Microsoft and Google are leading the race in releasing new AI tools to the public, but smaller companies and startups are expected to make progress in the field.
A Very British Way of Torture | Featured Documentaries
Al Jazeera English – 8-12-2022
Between 1952 and 1960, Britain fought a vicious war in Kenya against the anticolonial Mau Mau movement. It was an exceptionally bloody conflict, with atrocities committed on both sides.
For decades, many of the worst abuses by British colonial forces were kept hidden.
Piecing together survivor testimonies and expert analysis from British and Kenyan historians, this film tells a complete and detailed story for the first time of how Britain was involved in systemic torture – including accounts of murders, rapes and forced castrations.
A Very British Way of Torture is a film by Ed McGown and produced by Rob Newman.
Document archive is courtesy of the UK National Archives.
TTCT – Ký sự của một người Pháp có một phần dòng máu Việt Nam về những lớp tâm tính Việt ở quốc gia láng giềng Campuchia, trong một thời đại bản sắc dần phai mờ, những biên giới dần nhạt nhòa mà quá khứ thì lúc nào cũng ám ảnh.
Trở lại Campuchia luôn mang tới cho tôi một cảm giác kỳ lạ. Ngay khi nhảy xuống chuyến xe đò từ TP.HCM hay rời chiếc máy bay ở phi trường Pochentong, tôi cảm thấy mình là một kẻ hoàn toàn xa lạ. Tiếng Khmer của tôi chỉ ở mức sơ đẳng, và tôi nhanh chóng lạc lối khi gắng giải thích với người tài xế xe tuktuk nơi mình muốn đến. Dù đã ghé thăm vài lần, Campuchia hiện đại là đất nước tôi không hề biết rõ. Trong khi đó, Campuchia của quá khứ thì tôi lại được nghe kể nhiều rồi, hay thậm chí có thể nói là một phần của tôi thuộc về đất nước ngày xưa đó.
Một gia đình Campuchia sống ven sông. Ảnh: L. Raymond
[1/4] A woman works at a yarn weaving plant in Ha Nam province, outside Hanoi, Vietnam October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Kham/File
HANOI, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Concerned Vietnam-based exporters are seeking to ensure they comply with a U.S. ban on imported products using raw materials from China’s Xinjiang as lucrative trade in goods like garments and solar panels comes under closer scrutiny in Washington.
As U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai visits Vietnam this week, executives and other people familiar with the situation said some industries in Vietnam may be importing, sometimes unwittingly, raw material from Xinjiang – or might find it hard to prove they were not doing so.
2022 ended with South Korea adopting specific Indo-Pacific terminology with the Dec. 28 release of its Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region (SFPPIP). The key takeaway: The SFPPIP, and President Yoon Suk Yeol, signal an end to South Korea’s “strategic ambiguity” under the previous president, Moon Jae-in. Seoul pivoting away from Beijing and toward Washington—delicately, but clearly. Tiếp tục đọc “South Korea’s Indo-Pacific pivot strategy”→
While war rages in Ukraine, Norway’s intelligence service is warning of the increasing importance of Russia’s nuclear “deterrent” in the Arctic waters of the far north.
“As the importance of nuclear weapons and strategic deterrent forces increases, the Northern Fleet’s defense of the military bases in Kola, the Northern Bastion and the Barents Sea is also becoming more important,” the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in its annual report.
Published: 15 February 2023 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Tobias Weiß, GPIL
On 1 July 2022, Viet Nam began issuing new non-biometric passports with a dark blue cover and a serial number beginning with ‘P’. Unlike the previous green passports, the new document no longer included the place of birth of the holder. Instead, the place of birth was hidden in a twelve-digit personal numeric code that had to be deciphered using a seven-page list of tables. Contrary to international practice, Viet Nam had not informed the German Government in advance about the new passports. On 27 July 2022, Germany became the first country to stop recognising the new passports.
‘The plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions,’ according to Moldovan leader.
Maia Sandu’s remarks come after she nominated a new prime minister on Friday to keep her country on a pro-EU trajectory | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Russia wants to stage a coup d’état in Moldova, the country’s President Maia Sandu said Monday.
Sandu called for heightened security measures in Moldova after the pro-EU government resigned last week, following months of pressure from Moscow which is waging an all-out war on neighboring Ukraine.
“The plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and taking hostages,” Sandu told reporters at a press conference Monday.
She added that citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia would be among those entering Moldova to try to spark protests in an attempt to “change the legitimate government to an illegitimate government, controlled by the Russian Federation to stop the EU integration process.”
There is currently no technique that could have helped Nepal predict when the recent earthquake would strike. AP/PA/Niranjan Shrestha
theconversation – Can earthquakes ever be predicted? This question is timely after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal recently. If authorities had more warning that the earthquake was coming, they may have been able to save more lives.
While Nepal is a documented area of previous seismic activity, at the moment there is no technique that provides predictions of sufficient clarity to allow for evacuations at short notice. So if we cannot predict these events now, are there avenues of research to provide useful predictions in the future?
The key word here is “useful”. It is possible to make long-term forecasts about future earthquake activity, partly by using the past record of earthquakes as a guide. There is no reason to believe that a region of the Earth is going to behave differently in the next few thousands of years from its pattern over the same range back in time. In the short term, seismologists can draw on data from recording stations, with records going back roughly 40 years on a global scale. Tiếp tục đọc “Why it is so hard to predict where and when earthquakes will strike”→
The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to “more than double”, according to a United Nations emergency relief coordinator.
Martin Griffiths, speaking to Sky News on Saturday, said he expected tens of thousands more deaths.
At least 24,596 people have been confirmed dead after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and north-western Syria on Monday, with multiple aftershocks.
Griffiths said: “I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble, but I’m sure it will double or more,” said Griffiths.
“That’s terrifying. This is nature striking back in a really harsh way.
“It’s deeply shocking … the idea that these mountains of rubble still hold people, some of them still alive.
“We haven’t really begun to count the number of dead.”
He said that a 72-hour period after a disaster was usually the “golden period” for rescues, which had now expired, but that survivors were still being pulled out of the rubble.
“It must be incredibly difficult to decide when to stop this rescue phase,” he said.
Griffiths said he was launching a three-month operation for Turkey and Syria to help pay for the costs of operations there.
Griffiths also told Reuters he hoped in Syria aid would go to both government and opposition-held areas, but that things with this regard were “not clear yet”.
Earlier on Saturday, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that negotiations were continuing to gain access to more areas in Syria and called for “solidarity” in the relief effort.
He said: “Our message is clear, it’s time to put all politics aside. Just focus on the men, women and children who desperately need help in Syria and in southern Turkey.
“Wherever we work, we have to work with the authorities in charge. That’s just the way that UN humanitarian aid is structured. So in the rebel-held territories, we work with the authorities there; in the government-held areas, we work with the government.”
Responding to criticism of the UN’s response to the urgent need in Syria after the earthquake, he added:
“I think if I was standing in the middle of devastation and my community had been hit, I would be unhappy and I would be critical because aid never comes quickly enough. But I can tell you that the UN stands with the people of Syria, whether they live in rebel territories, whether they live in government-held territories.”
CVD 