alanjjohnstone
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Pentagon aired fresh concerns about China’s build-up of its nuclear forces after a new report saying Beijing was building 110 more missile silos.
An American Federation of Scientists (AFS) report on Monday said satellite images showed China was building a new field of silos near Hami in the eastern part of its Xinjiang region. The report came weeks after another on the construction of about 120 missile silos in Yumen, a desert area about 380km to the southeast.
Its arsenal is dwarfed by those of the United States
A 2020 Pentagon report estimated China’s nuclear warhead stockpile in “the low 200s” and said it was projected to at least double in size. The United States has around 3,800 warheads, and according to a State Department factsheet, 1,357 of those were deployed
https://singaporenewslive.com/us-concern-over-china-nuclear-build-up-after-new-silos-report/286369/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/27/wolves-winsconsin-massacre-environment-conservation
State regulators set a quota of 119 wolves out of an estimated statewide population of 1,000, but they issued an unusually high number of permits – 1,548 of them – and allowed hound hunters to participate on the first day, rather than requiring them to wait until the far less efficient rifle hunters and trappers had taken their share.
The result was astounding. After just two and a half days, hunters were already approaching the limit. Before regulators could shut down the hunt, 216 wolves had been killed – overshooting the quota by 83%.
E-Highways – electric roads
A promising project
New diesel and petrol lorries will be banned in Britain by 2040 as part of plans to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. The weight of a battery required to power a fully laden truck over long distances has prompted trucking companies to look for alternatives. On the e-highway, lorries fitted with rigs called pantographs – similar to those used by trains and trams – would be able to tap into the overhead electricity supply lines to power electric motors. Lorries would also have a smaller battery to power them over the first and last legs of the journey off the motorway.
The last 18 months have shown, the British government’s Covid-19 strategy was never designed to manage the virus. For all the talk of “following the science”, use of scientific evidence has been adjusted to its policy preferences throughout. The twin alibis of incompetence and ignorance enabled politicians to deny responsibility for the consequences of their own inaction.
It isn’t happening, too little, too late
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/26/climate-crisis-green-light
Despite the record number of corporate climate assurances, an analysis of 9,300 listed companies in July found that they are still on course to exceed their “carbon budgets” – the total amount of emissions they can release and still keep in line with 1.5C of warming – within the next six years.
“It is easy to say that becoming net-zero is a high priority, but it is another to take action, especially immediate action.” said Remy Briand, head of environmental, social and governance at index provider MSCI. While some companies have placed climate change at the top of their agenda, he added, others have made weak pledges or failed to act at all. Many corporations’ net zero pledges decades away, and many offer few interim targets.
Gonzalo Muñoz, UN climate expert, explains “It’s what we do today, and in these next five to 10 years, that will determine whether we succeed or not.”
As was expected, American withdrawal did not mean peace nor the en to the US involvement.
“The United States has increased air strikes in the support of Afghan forces over the last several days, and we are prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks if the Taliban continue their attacks,” General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Army Central Command, told reporters in Kabul.
“The Taliban are attempting to create a sense of inevitability about their campaign. They are wrong,” he said.”Taliban victory is not inevitable.”
Tightening the screw on Gaza in further collective punishment, reducing food supply.
Israel has reduced the fishing zone off Gaza by half.
“As Palestinians in the strip face ever-worsening conditions, they are increasingly putting pressure on Hamas to provide for their needs. Hamas, however, does not have an answer to these legitimate humanitarian demands. Finding itself in this difficult position, Hamas might try to export its internal crisis to Israel through another round of hostilities.”
Given the difficult humanitarian situation in the strip, its residents are severely exhausted from warfare. The awareness of “conflict exhaustion” among Palestinians in Gaza is evident.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/7/25/the-gaza-ceasefire-is-shaky-and-another-war-may-be-coming-soonQatar sends $30m per month distributed over many economic sectors in Gaza, including the transfer of $100 at the beginning of each month to tens of thousands of Palestinian families. Israel and the US have pushed for an end to the Qatari cash grant and suggested replacing it with vouchers of the same cash value. This proposal was categorically rejected by Hamas, as it realises that many of Gaza’s residents survive on these cash handouts and that losing them will likely lead to an explosive situation in the strip.
Xie Feng, China’s vice foreign minister, said some people in the United States view China as an “imaginary enemy” and that it was the main cause of tensions between the two countries.
https://news.yahoo.com/china-says-standstill-u-china-022011423.html
I suppose that is the diplomatic language that the USA is indulging in fake news
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned China would not accept the United States taking a “superior” position in the relationship.
What struck me about this story is that it was not a giant global corporation using hi-tech genetic engineering but the perseverance of ordinary farmers that made the break-throughs.
https://news.trust.org/item/20210722014715-nthzs/
Ten years ago, Tarafdar,started cross-breeding seed varieties that used to thrive in the southwestern Shyamnagar region but are now on the edge of extinction after farmers moved onto higher-yielding varieties. His new type of rice, called Charulata, tolerates salty soil and water-logging, stays standing in high winds and grows well without fertilisers or pesticides. His seed variety can produce up to 1,680 kg (3,700 pounds) of rice per quarter hectare (0.62 acres), more than double what he was getting from conventional varieties…
…other rice farmers in Shyamnagar sub-district are also taking matters into their own hands, reviving ancestral varieties and creating new ones that can withstand increasingly frequent storms, floods and droughts.
“Farmers in this disaster-prone area have done a great job in preserving local rice seeds and inventing rice varieties,” said the agriculture officer for Shyamnagar.
Another senior scientific officer at the government’s Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), said the farmers’ work on new seed varieties was making “a significant contribution” to the development of agriculture at the local level.
“Farmers have found solutions to their own problems,” explained the regional coordinator at BARCIK, which gives technical assistance
There will be no doubt future court cases on Covid Vax-denialism as there already has been with various childhood inoculations.
Jehovah Witness parents cannot legally reject blood transfusions if required for their children.
1.1 million children are now Covid-19 orphans due to the result of high adult morbidity.
A conservative estimate is that over 4 million more children may suffer the death of parents and caregivers, through Covid-19, in the coming years.
Putin warned that its navy is ready to carry out an “unpreventable strike” on enemy targets if it was in the country’s “national interests.”
“The Russian navy today has everything it needs to guarantee the protection of our country and our national interests,” he said. “We are capable of detecting any underwater, above-water, airborne enemy and, if required, carry out an unpreventable strike against it.”
Russia said it had carried out another successful test launch of a new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile from an Admiral Groshkov frigate located in the White Sea in northern Russia and hit a land-based target close to the coast on the Barents Sea.
The Zircon missile will be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
https://www.dw.com/en/putin-warns-of-unpreventable-strikes-by-russian-navy/a-58634000
Also a reminder of the anarchists in Iran
Biden’s administration launches air attacks in Somalia.
Africom chief Gen. STEPHEN TOWNSEND authorized a single drone strike against al-Shabaab without consulting with the White House.
the UN Human Rights Council said Navi Pillay, a South African former judge, who served as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights from 2008 to 2014, would lead a three-person investigation intended to scrutinise abuses and their “root causes” in the decades-long Middle East conflict.
She will be joined by Miloon Kothari of India, the first UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, and Australian international human rights law expert Chris Sidoti.
A commission of inquiry (COI) is the highest-level investigation that can be ordered by the Human Rights Council. The COI is set to report to the Human Rights Council each year from June 2022.
