As US Military Leaves Kabul, Many Americans, Afghans Remain

 

Evacuees assemble before boarding a C-17 Globemaster during an evacuation at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan (Reuters)

As the final five US military transport aircraft lifted off out of Afghanistan, they left behind up to 200 Americans and thousands of desperate Afghans who couldn’t get out and now must rely on the Taliban to allow their departure.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will continue to try to get Americans and Afghans out of the country, and will work with Afghanistan’s neighbors to secure their departure either over land or by charter flight once the Kabul airport reopens.

We have no illusion that any of this will be easy, or rapid, said Blinken, adding that the total number of Americans who are in Afghanistan and still want to leave may be closer to 100.

Speaking shortly after the Pentagon announced the completion of the US military pullout on Monday, Blinken said the US Embassy in Kabul will remain shuttered and vacant for the foreseeable future. American diplomats, he said, will be based in Doha, Qatar.

“We will continue our relentless efforts to help Americans, foreign nationals and Afghans leave Afghanistan if they choose,” Blinken said in an address from the State Department. “Our commitment to them holds no deadline.”

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, told reporters the US military was able to get as many as 1,500 Afghans out in the final hours of the American evacuation mission. But now it will be up to the State Department working with the Taliban to get any more people out.

McKenzie said there were no citizens left stranded at the airport and none were on the final few military flights out. He said the US military maintained the ability to get Americans out right up until just before the end, but none of them made it to the airport.

“There’s a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure,” said McKenzie. “We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. But I think if we’d stayed another 10 days we wouldn’t have gotten everybody out that we wanted to get out.”

McKenzie and other officials painted a vivid picture of the final hours US troops were on the ground, and the preparations they made to ensure that the Taliban and Islamic State group militants did not get functioning US military weapons systems and other equipment.

The terror threat remains a major problem in Afghanistan, with at least 2,000 hard core members of the Islamic State group who remain in the country, including many released from prisons as the Taliban swept to control.

Underscoring the ongoing security threats, the weapon systems used just hours earlier to counter IS rockets launched toward the airport were kept operational until the very last minute as the final US military aircraft flew out, officials said. One of the last things US troops did was to make the so-called C-RAMS (Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System) inoperable.

McKenzie said they demilitarized the system so it can never be used again. Officials said troops did not blow up equipment in order to ensure they left the airport workable for future flights, once those begin again. In addition, McKenzie said the US also disabled 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft so they can never be used again.

Throughout the day, as the final C-17 transport planes prepared to take off, McKenzie said the US kept overwhelming US airpower overhead to deal with potential IS threats.

Back at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, watched the final 90 minutes of the military departure in real time from an operations center in the basement.

According to a US official, they sat in hushed silence as they watched troops make last-minute runway checks, make the key defense systems inoperable and climb aboard the C-17s. The official said you could hear a pin drop as the last aircraft lifted off, and leaders around the room breathed sighs of relief.

Later, Austin phoned Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who was coordinating the evacuation. Donahue and acting US ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson were the last to board the final plane that left Kabul.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of military operations.

“Simply because we have left, that doesn’t mean the opportunities for both Americans that are in Afghanistan that want to leave and Afghans who want to leave, they will not be denied that opportunity,” said McKenzie.

The military left some equipment for the Taliban in order to run the airport, including two firetrucks, some front-end loaders and aircraft staircases.

Blinken said the US will work with Turkey and Qatar to help them get the Kabul airport up and running again.

“This would enable a small number of daily charter flights, which is a key for anyone who wants to depart from Afghanistan moving forward,” he said.

‘Police Action On Haryana Farmers Akin To 2nd Jallianwala Bagh’

 

A policeman interacts with farmers protesting outside the Circuit House, where Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma and others held a party meeting, in Jalandhar, on August 26 (PTI)

The Shiv Sena on Monday termed as the "second Jallianwala Bagh" the lathicharge on farmers by the police in Haryana and said the ML Khattar government has no right to remain in power anymore.

An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inaugurating the renovated Jallianwala Bagh complex in Amritsar, a second Jallianwala Bagh was happening in Haryana.

At least 10 people were injured on Saturday as police lathicharged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a highway in Haryana while heading towards Karnal, to protest against a Bharatiya Janata Party meeting attended by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, state BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar and other leaders.

"The seeds of cruelty being sown by the government will bear sour fruits. This is for sure. The Manohar Lal Khattar government has no right to remain in power," the Sena said.

It said the lathicharge incident might make farmers in India revolt and take revenge for each drop of blood that was shed by them.

"The farmers in Haryana were lathicharged on their heads because they raised slogans against CM Khattar. A Union Minister speaks of attacking the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and when action is taken against him legally, the state government is called intolerant. Why are the critics silent on the Khattar government's action on farmers?" the Sena asked.

Union Minister and BJP MP Narayan Rane was arrested on August 24 after his "would have slapped CM Thackeray for the latter's ignorance of the year of India's independence" remarks kicked up a huge row.

He was released on bail the same night.

"Farmers have been protesting at the Ghazipur border near Delhi for the last one year demanding repealing of the three Central farm laws, stopping privatisation of agriculture and preventing APMCs from being taken over by select corporates, MSP law. But PM Modi hasn't met them yet. The government is so stone-hearted. The government wants 'Jan Ashirwad'. Will they get the 'Ashirvad' (blessings) of people by breaking the heads of farmers," the editorial asked.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday virtually inaugurated the renovated complex of the Jallianwala Bagh memorial.

On April 13, 1919 the British forces fired indiscriminately on a large and peaceful gathering of protesters at the Jallianwala Bagh, in Amritsar (Punjab), killing over 1,000 people and wounding hundreds of them.

 

Kovind Hopes India Would Be Discrimination-Free By 2047

 

President Ram Nath Kovind awards ceretificates to the students during the convocation of Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), in Lucknow (PTI)

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said he hoped that India would be free of discrimination and become a developed nation by 2047, when it celebrates the centenary of its independence.

While speaking at the ninth convocation of the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) in Lucknow, the President asked youth to become job creators and not job seekers.

"Today half of the country's population is below 25 years of age. When in 2047, we celebrate the centenary of independence, you youths will be leading the country," he said.

"I hope by 2047, India is discrimination free and a developed country by efforts of your (present) generation. In future India, we must have imbibed justice, equality and brotherhood in our personal and social life," he added.

He asked youths to start working with "full determination" towards making India "samtamulak" (egalitarian) and strong.

Quoting Babasaheb Ambedkar, Kovind said if an educated person does not come forward for the welfare of the society, then education has no meaning.

Now "our daughters are giving more fame to the country than our sons", he said.

The President praised the BBAU for making a special contribution towards the inclusive development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes through education, in accordance with the vision of Ambedkar.

"The special provision of reservation of 50 percent seats in admissions and other facilities for students of SC and ST has given them opportunities of higher education," he said.

The President also said that changes were taking place all over the world in almost all aspects of life at a fast pace.

"In such times, students have to make their place in today's dynamic global scenario remaining alert and aware. They also have to contribute in building a better society and the country," he said.

In Babasaheb's books, articles and speeches, students would find guidance and inspiring references helpful for them in their career and nation building, Kovind said.

Stressing that India has a good start-up ecosystem today and is ranked third in the world on the basis of the total number of unicorns, the President said: Had Babasaheb been alive today, he would have been very happy to see this.

"Babasaheb was in favour of hard work and self-employment. Most unicorns are set up by youngsters and the youth power is the biggest strength of our country. Students here should take inspiration from these young entrepreneurs and instead of being a job-seeker, think about becoming a job-creator," he added.

Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were also present on the occasion, where 1,424 students were given graduation, post graduation, PhD and MPhil degrees and gold medals were awarded to six of them.

Earlier, the President laid the foundation stone of the Savitri Bai Phule hostel at the university.

 

How Dust Can Melt Mountains & Change Seas

 

Dust and sand can be seen blowing across the surface of the Kanchenjunga Glacier in Nepal. Dust from as far as the Arabian Gulf is a driving factor in the melting of Himalayan glaciers (Image: Marc Boettcher/Alamy)

Asia’s largest freshwater reserve is disappearing. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which is warming by 0.3-0.7 degrees Celsius above the global average, global heating is melting the glaciers that blanket the planet’s highest peaks. Scientists now know that this catastrophic melt is being exacerbated by dust blowing from the Middle East. Moreover, they warn that as well as affecting Asia’s largest rivers, which are born from Himalayan glaciers and bring life and livelihoods to a quarter of humanity, the effects of glacial melt will extend well beyond the Himalayas, also impacting the Arabian Gulf region in turn.

Winds that sweep across Asia link the Hindu Kush Himalayas and the Gulf in an interconnected system. Globally, around 5 billion tonnes of desert dust from arid regions is swept into the atmosphere every year. Today, scientists can “understand the origins of this dust, where it lands, and how it interacts with local environments” thanks to satellite data and computer models, according to Chandan Sarangi, an earth system scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Dust blows onto the High Mountain Asia (HMA) region from the Arabian Gulf, and as far away as North Africa and the southwest Arabian Peninsula, due to regional air currents and prevailing westerly winds.

These dust particles, Sarangi says, travel long distances at an altitude of 2-5 kilometres and reach the HMA during summer. Dust from arid regions such as the Thar desert in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia “gets lofted above the boundary layer [the lowest part of the planet’s atmosphere] of Earth by convection and gets transported to far places with wind at altitudes and deposited mainly above 3km”. The dust particles are thus deposited in the high Himalayan mountains, blanketing glaciers in a layer of particles that are darker than snow.

How dust in the Himalayas drives glacial melt

Particulate matter, black carbon and dust present a problem for Himalayan glaciers because of their low albedo.

(Albedo means how well a surface reflects the energy of the sun. White surfaces reflect solar energy and have a high albedo, whereas black surfaces absorb energy and have a low albedo. The albedo effect of the Earth’s ice caps has a significant impact on global temperatures.)

Clean glacial snow has a high albedo, which means that it absorbs very little sunlight and reflects most of the incoming rays back into space. Darker dust and soot, however, absorb much more of the incoming solar radiation, which warms and therefore melts the glaciers below. In many areas, aerosols like dust and soot significantly exacerbate the impact that atmospheric greenhouse gases have on glacial melt, producing quicker and more direct warming effects.

Black carbon from vehicle exhausts, waste burning and the combustion of biofuels in South Asia’s big cities was previously thought to be the primary aerosol driving glacial melting in the Himalayas.

However, a more recent study published in November 2020 by a team of international researchers, including Sarangi found that at altitudes above 4,000 metres, dust is a greater driver of melting than black carbon. Sarangi notes that “the majority of black carbon reaching HMA is emitted by anthropogenic activities in the Indus and Gangetic plains, which gets deposited at 0-3 km elevations. Hence, black carbon deposition is higher than dust below 3 km elevation and vice versa.​”

While dust blowing from the Middle East to the high Himalayas is not a new phenomenon, it has only recently been understood to be one of the primary causes of glacial melting. Further research is needed to better understand if the amount of dust being blown across the continent has increased over the years, or if the same amount of dust is now having a larger impact on glaciers due to higher temperatures. Such research would not only help to better determine the role of dust in accelerating melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, but could also help in the design of interventions needed to minimise its impacts.

Sea Changes

The winds that carry dust across the continent to the Himalayas also bring the consequences of glacial melting back to the Gulf region. Warming mountains mean warmer winds, which have begun to fundamentally shift monsoon patterns across Asia and the Middle East.

Monsoons are integral to the ecosystems of the Arabian Gulf. John Burt, a marine biologist and professor at New York University Abu Dhabi explains that “widespread coral bleaching in the Gulf is the result of low shamal winds [strong north-westerly winds that blow across the Middle East] during summer. Those shamal winds are generated by a pressure gradient driven by the monsoon. If the monsoon weakens, so will shamals, leading to more frequent and/or severe coral bleaching in the Gulf region.” Coral reefs in the Gulf are increasingly vulnerable, and every effort should be made to protect this ecosystem from further damage.

A study published in Nature last year linked shrinking glaciers to the decline in fisheries in the Arabian Sea, caused by the same shifting winds. Altered monsoons have created the perfect conditions for a single-celled algal organism called Noctiluca scintillans to multiply by the millions. Harmful algal blooms suck oxygen from the water, creating oxygen deficiencies and suffocating fish populations. Algal blooms exacerbate coral bleaching and replace the indigenous algae that are a source of food for fish. Scientists warn that the spread of Noctiluca driven by changes in the Himalayas poses a significant threat to local fisheries in the Gulf, creating wide-reaching implications for food security.

Burt warns that the same algal blooms that are choking fisheries also threaten the UAE’s fresh water supply. “Noctiluca is a major issue for desalination plants, where blooms will clog reverse osmosis filters and shut down operations. This happened with another algal bloom in early 2009, when a red tide resulted in closure of desalination facilities on the UAE’s east coast. The result was loss of potable water for much of the northern Emirates.”

Through intercontinental winds blowing in both directions, the crisis facing the Himalayas’ glaciers is intimately linked to the Arabian Gulf in both its causes and effects. It is clear that the fate of the two regions is intertwined and that we cannot continue to view climate change in the Himalayas as a solely regional threat. In addition to the direct ecosystem-level link between the Himalayas and the Gulf, socio-economic impacts, particularly through increased stress in South Asia, are just as pressing.

While it may be difficult to limit the dust that ends up in the Himalayas and address the associated ecosystem impacts in the Arabian Gulf, more research is needed to fully explore the links between the regions, and what can be done to mitigate climate impacts at both ends of the system. What is clear is that there needs to be more dialogue with the Gulf countries to support timely interventions, including in research, to come up with solutions before it’s too late.

TheThirdPole

PM Modi Selling India's Crown Jewels: Rahul Gandhi

 

Rahul Gandhi contended that the Congress is not opposing the privatisation process but "the entire NMP is designed to create a monopoly"

A day after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the government's four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) worth Rs 6 lakh crore, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of bringing in the process of selling the "crown jewel" assets built by his party in the last 70 years.

He also contended that the Congress is not opposing the privatisation process but "the entire NMP is designed to create a monopoly".

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters along with former Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram, Gandhi said: "The Prime Minister and the BJP said that the Congress had done nothing in last 70 years. There is a list here of all the assets that the Congress has helped build using the public money."

"Now the Prime Minister is in the process of selling the crown jewels of this country."

Listing out the sectors which are going to be privatised, Gandhi said that these are being sold and one can guess to whom it is going. "And frankly, these will go to three to four people," he said.

Announcing the measure on Monday, Sitharaman had said it is to unlock value in brownfield projects by engaging the private sector, transferring to them the rights but not the ownership in projects, and using the funds for infrastructure creation across the country.

But assailing the government, Gandhi said: "I want to tell the youths, your employment has been snatched, for farmers, three special farm laws have been made. And today I want to say what Prime Minister plans to give to his industrialist friends."

This, he claimed, comprises 26,700 km of national highways worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore, Rs 1.5 lakh crore in railways with 400 railways stations, 150 private trains, railway tracks and warehouses.

He further said that 42,300 circuit km of transmission network, 6,000 MW power generation, solar wind assets from NHPC, NTPC and NLC, and 8,000 km of national gas pipeline of GAIL are all going to be privatised.

Even the 4,000 km of petroleum pipeline, 2.8 lakh km of telecom assets of Bharat Net Fibre Network, BSNL and MTNL towers, warehouses worth Rs 29,000 crore with a storage space of 210 lakh metric tonne, 107 coal mines, 761 mineral blocks, 25 airports worth Rs 21,000 crore, ports worth Rs 13,000 crore, along with 31 projects, and two national stadium worth Rs 11,000 crore are going to be gifted to a few industrialists, he said.

Reiterating that these are going to be given to "only three to four people", Gandhi said: "This is your future. Your future is being sold to these three-four industrialists. It is reality."

He, however, said that the Congress is not against privatisation.

"We had logic behind privatisation," he said, adding that industries which were chronically loss-making and companies with minimal market share were privatised.

"And the sectors where there were risks of private sector monopoly, we decided not to sell. But this entire scheme is designed to create monopoly," he alleged.

"All the sectors that I have named are there to bring monopoly. We say do privatisation but not at the cost of loss to the country," he said, claiming that when these assets are privatised or sold to private players, then there will very few employment opportunities.

"I had warned about Covid and you all made fun of me. When this starts, your chances of getting employment will be less. The assets of India are being sold and it is an attack on your future," he said, adding that the Prime Minister is not working for India but "for three or four people".

The Congress leader also charged the government of mishandling the country's economy.

"There is an excuse they have come up with that we are leasing these... The government clearly mishandled the economy and doesn't know what to do," he said.

Accusing the government of "basically destroying what the UPA built", he said that now, as a last resort, they are selling everything that the UPA had helped create.

"To me, this is a huge tragedy," he added.

Chidambaram said: "This is a grand closing down sale. Virtually there would not be any public sector undertakings (PSUs) left after the proposed 'roads to railways' monetisation plan of BJP government."

He said that this exercise has been designed without any ex-ante criteria. "The government should have spelt out what its criteria and goals were. You don't embark upon such a big exercise without first setting out the criteria and what your goals are," he said.

"Raising funds cannot be (the) sole goal for selling assets built over 70 years. All stakeholders, including employees, workers' unions, farmers must be consulted before embarking on such large sale of assets," he added.

 

1,500 Farm Union Reps To Come Together At National Convention

FILE PHOTO: Farmers take part in a candlelit vigil, in memory of a person who died during a tractor rally on Republic Day, as protests against farm laws continue, at the Singhu Border near New Delhi

 

Over 1,500 representatives of farm unions from across the country will come together to discuss future strategies for the ongoing farmers' protest during the national convention on August 26 and 27, farmer leaders said.

The two-day convention at the Singhu border is being held to mark the completion of nine months of the farmers’ agitation against the three contentious farm laws.

"Unlike our other events, the national convention is not going to be a mass gathering or a rally. Instead, 1,500 representatives of farmer unions from across the country will come together for two days at the Singhu border to discuss strategies to sharpen and intensify our protests," farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar told PTI.

He added that the convention was aimed at bringing together farmers from across the country, so that everybody could be part of the decision making on how the protest was to be taken forward.

"We have been protesting for nine months. It is not a short span of time. We want to include everybody, and representatives of farmer organisations from east, west, south and north… everybody will be here," Kohar added.

One of the major issues that will be up for discussion at the convention will be the farmers' upcoming ''mahapanchayat'' in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar on September 5.

"Our next strategy is the Muzaffarnagar ''mahapanchayat'' on September 5, which will also be discussed at the convention. Preparations for the ''mahapanchayat'' are in full swing. I know that at least 5,000 vehicles will be travelling to Muzaffarnagar,” Kohar said.

On August 26, the farmers' protest against the three contentious laws will complete nine months. The farmers have been demanding the repeal of the three laws, which they are afraid will do away with the MSP system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.

Over 10 rounds of talks with the government that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

While the Singhu border will be the central point of the national convention, gatherings will be organised in different parts of the country simultaneously.

In Chandigarh, farmer leader Paramjit Singh said about 2,000-2,5000 people are expected to come together to discuss the "issues that have been impacting the farmers as well as the common man".

"We will gather on the ground in Sector 25 where a stage will be put up. On one of the days of the national convention, Rakesh Tikait is expected to visit our gathering and address the crowd,” he said.

"Leaders of different farm unions will also participate to discuss how the agitation should be taken forward,” Singh said.

He added that the farmers have ensured that their protests are peaceful, and do not cause any inconvenience to people.

"Farmers have been very straightforward about their demands from the beginning. It is the government that is being stubborn,” Singh said.

"We will continue to be patient because we do not want to cause any inconvenience to anyone. The government will have to give in to our demands because we will continue building pressure,” he said.

According to the farmer leaders, the visiting representatives from different states, including Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu, will be provided accommodation at the Singhu border itself.

"We have been protesting constantly over the last nine months. This convention will also be a way to recall our struggle through the last nine months," said Rachpal Singh, another farmer leader.

"The farm union leaders from across the country, who will stay at the Singhu protest site, will address the protesters there, talking about our agitation, the three black laws and the state of farmers in the country," he added. (PTI)

 

Hurriyat Factions Likely To Be Banned Under UAPA

FILE PHOTO: The separatist conglomerate broke into two factions in 2005, with the moderate group being led by the Mirwaiz Umer Farooq (1st from left) and the hardline headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani (2nd from left)

A ban under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act may be imposed on both factions of the secessionist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference, which has been spearheading the separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir for over two decades, officials said.

They said a recent probe into the granting of MBBS seats to Kashmiri students by institutions in Pakistan indicates that the money collected from aspirants by some organisations which were part of the Hurriyat Conference conglomerate was being used for funding terror organisations in the union territory.

The officials said both the factions of the Hurriyat are likely to be banned under Section 3 (1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA, under which “if the Central Government is of opinion that any association is, or has become, an unlawful association, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare such association to be unlawful.”

They said the proposal was mooted in accordance with the Centre’s policy of zero tolerance against terrorism.

The Hurriyat Conference came into existence in 1993 with 26 groups, including some pro-Pakistan and banned outfits such as the Jamaat-e-Islami, JKLF and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat. It also included the People’s Conference and the Awami Action Committee headed by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.

The separatist conglomerate broke into two factions in 2005, with the moderate group being led by the Mirwaiz and the hardline headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

So far, the Centre has banned the Jamaat-e-Islami and the JKLF under the UAPA. The ban was imposed in 2019.

The officials said a probe into funding of terror groups indicated alleged involvement of secessionist and separatist leaders, including the members and cadres of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The cadres raised funds in the country and from abroad through various illegal channels, including hawala, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The funds collected were used for causing disruption in the Kashmir Valley by way of pelting stones on security forces, systematically burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India as part of a criminal conspiracy, they claimed.

Supporting the case for banning the two factions of the Hurriyat Conference under the UAPA, the officials cited several cases related to terror funding, including the one being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in which several of the conglomerate’s cadres were arrested and jailed.

Many of the second-rung cadres of both the factions are in jail since 2017, they said.

Among those in jail are Altaf Ahmed Shah, the son-in-law of Geelani; businessman Zahoor Ahmed Watali; Geelani’s close aide Ayaz Akbar, who is also the spokesperson of the hardline separatist organisation Tehreek-e-Hurriyat; Peer Saifullah; Shahid-ul-Islam, spokesperson of the moderate Hurriyat Conference; Mehrajuddin Kalwal; Nayeem Khan; and Farooq Ahmed Dar alias ‘Bitta Karate’.

Later, JKLF chief Yaseen Malik, DeM head Asiya Andrabi and pro-Pakistan separatist Masarat Alam were also named in a supplementary chargesheet in a case of terror financing.

Another case which is likely to be cited for banning the two Hurriyat Conference factions is the one against PDP youth leader Waheed-ur-Rahman Parra, who is alleged to have paid Rs 5 crore to the son-in-law of Geelani for keeping Kashmir in turmoil after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terror commander Burhan Wani in 2016, the officials said.

The NIA has alleged that after the death of Wani, who was killed in an encounter with the Army in July 2016, Parra got in touch with Altaf Ahmad Shah, alias Altaf Fantoosh, and asked him to ensure that the Valley was kept on the boil with widespread unrest and stone pelting.

Also, the Counter Intelligence (Kashmir), a branch of CID department of Jammu and Kashmir Police, registered a case in July last year following information that several unscrupulous persons, including some Hurriyat leaders, were hand in glove with some educational consultancies and are selling Pakistan-based MBBS seats and admission in other professional courses in various colleges and universities.

At least four persons, including Mohammad Akbar Bhat alias Zaffar Bhat, self-styled chairman of the Salvation Movement, which is part of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, were arrested in this case.

It is alleged that the constituents of Hurriyat Conference were “selling” MBBS seats in Pakistan to Kashmiri students and using the money collected, at least partly, to support and fund terrorism.

During the probe, it had surfaced that individual Hurriyat leaders had their quota of seats, which were sold to people desiring to obtain MBBS and other professional degrees in one way or the other, the officials said.

The officials said evidence showed that the money was “put into channels that ended up in supporting programmes and projects pertaining to terrorism and separatism like payment for organising stone pelting.”

Citing investigation, the officials said that the average cost of an MBBS seat in Pakistan was anything between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 12 lakh. In some cases, the fee was brought down on the intervention of Hurriyat leaders. Depending upon the political heft of the Hurriyat leader who intervened, concessions were extended to aspiring students, the officials said. (PTI)

Explainer: The Disappearing Glaciers Of The Himalayas

Rising temperatures are melting glaciers and other frozen water across the Hindu Kush Himalayas. Urgent action to curb emissions is needed to secure water supplies, protect livelihoods and prevent disasters across the region (Illustration: Arati Kumar-Rao)

As the Earth warms, frozen water in its many forms is affected. In mountainous regions like the Hindu Kush Himalayas, one of the most visible signs of climate change is the impact on glaciers.

In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region – which includes the mountain ranges of the Pamirs, the Tien Shan and the Tibetan Plateau – the cryosphere is a vital source of freshwater. Approximately 2 billion people rely on the rivers that flow from these mountain ranges, with more than 240 million people living in the mountain areas. As well as providing a water supply for humans, livestock and wildlife in the region, freshwater originating in the cryosphere is essential for agriculture, hydropower, inland navigation, and spiritual and cultural uses.

While water flow is determined by a host of factors – including rainfall, groundwater and springs – the presence of the cryosphere has led to stable water flows across the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. But as the frozen water in glaciers, snow and permafrost is now melting at unprecedented rates, these flows are changing.

The Himalayan glaciers are receding

Glacier loss is difficult to project over the whole of the Hindu Kush Himalayas. Rates of glacial melt depend on a number of variables, including elevation and elevation-dependent temperature, precipitation and debris cover, among others.

On the whole, glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalayas have lost mass since the 1970s. Unfortunately, given political sensitivities in the region, much satellite photography from before 2000 remains classified, and high-altitude field-based surveys are difficult. Nevertheless, the data that has emerged in recent years allows scientists to make general predictions for the region.

In the near term, by 2030, glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region are expected to lose between 10-30% of their mass. By 2050, this figure is expected to increase to 25-35%. In the long term, by 2080-2100, glacial mass loss is predicted to reach 35% in the Karakoram, 45% in the Pamir mountains, and as high as 60-95% in the eastern Himalayas if world governments fail to implement aggressive emissions-reduction policies. All of these figures are based on a moderate emissions scenario (RCP 4.5). Given different emissions scenarios and modelling methods, there is significant variation between longer-term projections.

There are thousands of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, and there will be anomalies in terms of glacial melt. The glaciers in the eastern part of the region are at a lower elevation on the whole than those in the western part, leaving them relatively more vulnerable to melting. In the Karakoram region, which hosts a number of high-altitude glaciers, there have even been some glacial surges, leading to discussion of a “Karakoram Anomaly”.

The Himalayan region is warming faster than the global average

The Hindu Kush Himalayan region has the largest concentration of frozen water on Earth after the North Pole and South Pole, hence it is referred to as “the third pole”. Like the Arctic and part of Antarctica, the Hindu Kush Himalayan region is warming faster than the global average, and for similar reasons.

As ice cover melts, it exposes larger areas to solar radiation, thus allowing greater absorption of heat. Since ice reflects light, as the ground is increasingly exposed this leads to greater heating. The fact that many glaciers in the HKH region are covered with debris means this effect is less pronounced than in areas like the Arctic. Greater detail on exactly how and why this is happening can be found in the third chapter of the HKH Assessment conducted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Unfortunately, the glaciers of the Hindu Kush Himalayas are facing another problem: black carbon. This is essentially soot from fires in the surrounding lowlands which rises in the air and settles on glaciers. Because of its dark colour, black carbon absorbs solar radiation faster. Black carbon and other short-lived climate pollutants – such as dust and aerosols – are produced by a range of human activities, including biomass burning, brick factories, and coal-based electricity plants. Not only do they darken the glaciers, these pollutants can also lead to warming of the air mass, leading to higher temperatures around the cryosphere and melting of its ice.

What happens when glaciers melt rapidly?

It is difficult to speculate how exactly the melting of the third pole’s glaciers will impact water flow and availability across the regions that depend on Himalayan rivers. This is because multiple factors influence water flow, including the stability of monsoons that are responsible for precipitation – both rain and snow – in the region.

One effect that can be predicted is an increase in glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

While it is very difficult to predict individual GLOFs, it is clear that their frequency will go up as the climate warms. Since the 1990s, glacial lakes across the Hindu Kush Himalayan region have increased in both number and size. Given the regional disparity in elevation, the greatest increase has been in the eastern and central sections of the Hindu Kush Himalayas.

GLOFs can be devastating, as the resulting flash floods can devastate downstream habitations with little warning. Given the number of hydropower projects in the region, GLOFs can also pose a risk to long-term infrastructure such as dams.

The permafrost is melting

Not all frozen water in the Hindu Kush Himalayas is in the form of glaciers. Glaciers are often referred to as rivers of ice, as they are large frozen volumes of water that slowly flow. Where there is less flow, but the temperature remains below freezing, ice accumulates in the ground as permafrost. As a general rule of thumb, humid areas have more glaciers while arid areas have more permafrost. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, permafrost is found across around 1,000,000 square kilometres, whereas glaciers occur across around 90,000 square kilometres.

Within the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, study of the permafrost has been largely restricted to the Tibetan Plateau, beginning in the 1990s. Little research has been carried out in the rest of the region. The research on the Tibetan Plateau shows that the active layer of permafrost is thickening as the permafrost melts. This makes the ground less stable, leading to higher risk of landslides.

Policy recommendations

Three main policy recommendations emerge out of the latest, most detailed survey of the cryosphere in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region (the HKH Assessment) as part of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme conducted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). First and foremost, the world must focus on lowering carbon emissions. The challenges of managing the cryosphere will only increase if the world warms at a faster rate. Second, the HKH Assessment recommends the expansion of observation networks and data-sharing agreements across the extended HKH region. Third, improvements in research and observation should be used to anticipate disasters such as GLOFs and avalanches, and put processes in place to minimise their impacts.

(TheThirdPole)

 

New Farm Laws Need ‘Improvement’: BKS

FILE PHOTO: Farmers cheer and wave flags as more tractors arrive from Punjab to participate in the ongoing farmers' protest at Singhu border, to mark the 100th day of demonstrations against the farm laws

The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) on Thursday said the outfit will stage a nationwide agitation on September 8 to press for ''remunerative price'' to farmers for their produce to cover their production cost and called for "improvement" in the Centre's new agri laws that are facing opposition from a section of cultivators.

The farmers' body said the Central government should either bring in a new legislation or make changes in the agri-marketing laws enacted last year to add a provision for payment of minimum support price (MSP) for major farm produce.

Top BKS functionary Dinesh Kulkarni, addressing a press conference in Nagpur, said farmers should get ''remunerative price'' for their produce to cover their cost of production, which they are not getting in the existing system.

"Remunerative price is cost of production plus profit -- that is what we are demanding. Remunerative price is the right of farmers, which should be facilitated by the government," said Kulkarni, the BKS's national organising general secretary.

"The MSP announced by the government today is not a remunerative price. However, even if it is not doing that it should at least give the MSP it is announcing and make a law for the same," he said.

Kulkarni said the three new farm laws do not have any clause about ensuring MSP or remunerative price for agricultural commodities.

"The government should ensure this remunerative price in the present farm laws or make a separate legislation for the same. The government should make guidelines in respect of contract farming wherein crops are not purchased below MSP. This should be at least implemented for the 23 crops that are currently under the MSP regime," he said.

Asked about his views on the Centre's new agri-marketing laws, against which farmers are protesting for the last 10 months, Kulkarni told PTI that they need "some improvement".

"For example, there should be an agriculture court (to tackle disputes). Similarly, (private) traders coming into the farm sector should be registered and should give bank security. Thirdly, there is a huge flaw in respect to (changes) in the Essential Commodities Act as far as consumers are concerned," he said.

The government, in order to promote business, has given huge exemption to big companies, allowing them to stock some commodities as much as they want and this needs to be corrected, the BKS leader said.

The 2020 amendment to the Essential Commodities Act, which is part of the new agri laws, removes restrictions on stocking of certain essential commodities.

To a query on the BKS' view on the ongoing farmer protests, Kulkarni said the nature of the agitation changed after January 26, when the stir took a violent turn in New Delhi. After that, dialogue with the Centre stopped, he said.

The government and farmers' unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock on the new laws and end the protest.

"It (talks) would have paved the way for discussion with the system for implementing remunerative price in the right manner. However, that dialogue stopped," Kulkarni said.

The three farm laws enacted in September 2020 have been projected by the Modi government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. The Centre has repeatedly asserted that these mechanisms will remain in place. (PTI)

‘Insufficient Material Against Tharoor’: What Court Said

FILE PHOTO: There was nothing to demonstrate prima facie that the accused had subjected the deceased to physical cruelty, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel said

In the absence of specific allegations and sufficient material, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor could not be compelled to face the rigmaroles of a criminal trial, a Delhi court said while discharging him in a case related to his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death.

There was nothing to demonstrate prima facie that the accused had subjected the deceased to physical cruelty, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel said.

These observations were made by her in the detailed court order, which passed on Wednesday.

Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel on the night of January 17, 2014.

“In the present case, it cannot be said that the accused had ever intended or acted in such a manner which under normal circumstances would drive the deceased to commit suicide,” the judge said in the detailed order made available later.

The judge also noted that there was no allegation of any demand of dowry and harassment by the accused and there was also nothing, even prima facie, to show that he had subjected the deceased to physical cruelty.

She stated that even if the case of the prosecution is taken on its face value that the accused had an affair with Mehr Tarar, a Pakistani journalist, and the deceased was "distressed, agitated, upset and mentally disturbed, in the absence of anything further," it cannot be said that the same would amount to mental cruelty.

“Even for instigation, the intention to provoke, incite, urge or encourage doing of an act is an essential factor but the record does not bear out any such intention on the part of the accused,” she said.

The court rejected the argument of the prosecution that Tharoor had continued the affair with Tarar despite his assurance to the contrary and this showed willful misrepresentation and instigation by misrepresentation.

“Even as per the case of the prosecution, the accused took steps to hide his alleged affair with MT. There is nothing on record to show that the accused did some act in order to irritate or annoy the deceased until she reacted, or strongly persuaded or advised the deceased to do some act with the intention to provoke, incite, urge or encourage the latter to commit suicide,” it observed.

The court said the deceased might have felt distressed or mentally disturbed with the alleged extra marital relation of the accused but mental disturbance does not constitute the offence of abetment.

“No doubt a precious life was lost. But in the absence of specific allegations and sufficient material to make out the ingredients of the various offences, and on the basis of which the court could, at this stage presume that the accused had committed the offence, the accused cannot be compelled to face the rigmaroles of a criminal trial,” the judge said.

She said that in view of the arguments in the case, the uncontroverted allegations made, as well as the material collected during the investigation, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety, do not prima facie disclose the commission of offences punishable under Sections 498-A or 306 of IPC against the accused.

Tharoor was charged under Sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code by Delhi police, but was not arrested in the case.

“The accused Shashi Tharoor is discharged for the offences under Sections 498-A and 306 IPC,” the judge said.

While rejecting prosecution's request to frame the charge of murder (section 302 of IPC), even though it was not alleged in the chargesheet filed by the Delhi police, the judge said: “It cannot be said that suspicion, much less grave suspicion, exists in the present case to charge the accused for the offence under section 302 IPC.”

Tharoor was granted anticipatory bail in the matter by a Sessions court on July 5, 2018.

Following that order, a magisterial court converted the anticipatory bail into regular bail after he appeared before it on July 7 in pursuance to the summons issued by the Metropolitan Magistrate in the matter.

 

What Do We Know About Covid-19 Booster Shots?

 

US health officials may soon recommend COVID-19 booster shots for fully vaccinated Americans. A look at what we know about boosters and how they could help fight the coronavirus.

WHY MIGHT WE NEED BOOSTERS?

It’s common for protection from vaccines to decrease over time. A tetanus booster, for example, is recommended every 10 years.

Researchers and health officials have been monitoring the real-world performance of the COVID-19 vaccines to see how long protection lasts among vaccinated people. The vaccines authorized in the U.S. continue to offer very strong protection against severe disease and death.

But laboratory blood tests have suggested that antibodies one of the immune system’s layers of protection can wane over time. That doesn’t mean protection disappears, but it could mean protection is not as strong or that it could take longer for the body to fight back against an infection.

The delta variant has complicated the question of when to give boosters because it is so much more contagious and much of the data gathered about vaccine performance is from before the delta variant was widely circulating. Delta is taking off at the same time that vaccine immunity might also be waning for the first people vaccinated.

Israel is offering a booster to people over 50 who were vaccinated more than five months ago. France and Germany plan to offer boosters to some people in the fall. The European Medicines Agency said it too is reviewing data to see if booster shots are needed.

WHEN WOULD THEY BE GIVEN?

It depends on when you got your initial shots. One possibility is that health officials will recommend people get a booster roughly eight months after getting their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

Officials are continuing to collect information about the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized for use in the U.S. in late February, to determine when to recommend boosters.

WHO WOULD GET THEM?

The first people vaccinated in the United States would likely be first in line for boosters too. That means health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans, who were the first to be vaccinated once the shots were authorized last December.

BOOSTER? THIRD SHOT? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Transplant recipients and other people with weakened immune systems may not have gotten enough protection from vaccines to begin with. They can now receive a third dose at least 28 days after their second shot as part of the initial series of shots needed for them to be fully vaccinated. For those with normal immune systems, boosters are given much later after full vaccination not to establish protection, but to rev it up again.

WHAT QUESTIONS REMAIN?

Still unknown is whether people should get the same type of shot they got when first vaccinated. And the nation’s top health advisers will be looking for evidence about the safety of boosters and how well they protect against infection and severe disease.

Global access to vaccines is also important to stem the pandemic and prevent the emergence of new variants. Booster shots could crimp already tight global vaccine supplies.

WHAT ABOUT THE UNVACCINATED?

Dr. Melanie Swift, who has been leading the vaccination program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, says getting more shots into people who haven’t yet been vaccinated at all is our best tool, not only to prevent hospitalization and mortality from the delta variant, but to stop transmission. “Every infection,” she says, “gives the virus more chances to mutate into who knows what the next variant could be.” People who took the vaccine the first time are likely to line up and get their booster, Swift says. “But it’s not going to achieve our goals overall if all their unvaccinated neighbors are not vaccinated.” (AP)

 

Taliban Announces ‘Amnesty’, Urges Women To Join Govt

FILE PHOTO: Afghan women attend a consultative grand assembly, known as Loya Jirga, in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 29, 2019

The Taliban announced on Tuesday an amnesty across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government, trying to calm nerves across a nervous capital city that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as people tried to flee their rule. 

The comments by Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, represent the first such comments on governance from a federal level after their blitz across the country. While there were no major reports of abuses or fighting in Kabul, many residents have stayed home and remain fearful after the insurgents’ takeover saw prisons emptied and armories looted. 

Older generations remember their ultraconservative Islamic views, which included stonings, amputations and public executions during their rule, before the US-led invasion that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. 

“The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims,” Samangani said, using the militants’ term for Afghanistan. “They should be in government structure according to Shariah law.” He added, “The structure of government is not fully clear, but based on experience, there should be a fully Islamic leadership and all sides should join.” 

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO’s senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, posted a video online showing the runway empty with American troops on the tarmac. What appeared to be a military cargo plane could be seen in the distance from behind a chain-link fence in the footage. 

There were no other immediate flights seen in Afghan airspace, which has been taken over by the American military as commercial flights have been halted in the country. Across Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross said thousands had been wounded in the fighting. 

Security forces and politicians handed over their provinces and bases without a fight, likely believing the two-decade Western experiment to remake Afghanistan would not survive the resurgent Taliban. The last American troops had planned to withdraw at the end of the month. 

“The world is following events in Afghanistan with a heavy heart and deep disquiet about what lies ahead,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. A resolute US President Joe Biden on Monday said he stood squarely behind his decision to withdraw American forces and acknowledged the gut-wrenching scenes unfolding in Kabul. 

Biden said he faced a choice between honouring a previously negotiated withdrawal agreement and sending thousands more troops back to begin a third decade of war. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces,” Biden said in a televised address from the White House. 

Talks appeared to be continuing between the Taliban and several Afghan government officials, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the country’s negotiating council. 

President Ashraf Ghani earlier fled the country amid the Taliban advance and his whereabouts remain unknown. An official with direct knowledge of the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to brief journalists, said senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Muttaqi had arrived in Kabul from Qatar. Muttaqi is a former higher education minister during the Taliban’s last rule. Muttaqi had begun making contact with Afghan political leaders even before Ghani fled.

Chidambaram Asks Why Modi Is Silent On Pegasus

 

Former Home Minister and Congress Leader P Chidambaram

A day after the defence ministry stated that it did not have any transaction with the NSO Group, the company at the centre of the Pegasus row, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can answer on behalf of all ministries and departments over the issue and asked "why is he silent".

NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance software company, has been under increasing attack following allegations that its Pegasus software was used for surveillance of phones of people in several countries, including India.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, said, "Ministry of Defence has not had any transaction with NSO Group Technologies."

Reacting to the development, Chidambaram tweeted, "MoD has 'absolved' itself of any deal with the NSO Group, Israel. Assuming, MoD is correct, that takes out one Ministry/Department. What about the remaining half a dozen usual suspects?"

"Only the PM can answer on behalf of ALL ministries/departments. Why is he silent?" the former home minister said.

An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers, including that of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Prahlad Singh Patel and Ashwini Vaishnaw, businessman Anil Ambani, and at least 40 journalists, were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.

The government has been denying all opposition allegations in the matter.

Tokyo Olympics End With Message Of Hope

General view of fireworks above the stadium during the closing ceremony | REUTERS

 In between an unrelenting virus and an approaching typhoon, the extraordinary Tokyo Olympics drew to a close on Sunday, having oscillated between trials and triumphs with an unprecedented show of hope and tenacity.

With a large firework display adding a burst of sound to the dancing, singing and merry-making, the Japanese capital pulled the curtains down on one of history's most unique Games, handing over the flag to Paris with the message of moving forward while remembering those who lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the global health crisis, the one-year delay, the soaring costs and strongly divided opinions among locals, the spectacle saw the light of the day after staving off numerous challenges on the way.

In sync with the time he is living in, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, after closing the Games, said, "Athletes went faster, went higher and were stronger because they all stood together in solidarity. You inspired us with this unified symbol of sport. And it was even more remarkable because of what you faced in the pandemic."

Bach, without whom the Games wouldn't have happened, added, "For the first time since the pandemic, the world came together. People were united by emotion, sharing moments of joy and inspiration. This gives us hope, this gives us faith in the future."

"The Olympic Games of Tokyo were the Olympic Games of hope, solidarity and peace. You the Japanese people can be extremely proud of what you achieved. On behalf of all the athletes we say thank you Tokyo, thank you Japan."

The festivities began in front of the athletes, dignitaries and officials from across the world after the Japanese flag was raised at the 68,000-seater National Stadium, which was out of bounds to spectators owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The athletes entered the stadium and formed a circle around the rostrum. Unlike the opening ceremony which is a formal affair with the athletes dressed in formal attire, the closing was a time for the achievers to relax and enjoy the occasion.

A sizeable number walked in holding their mobile phones to capture the moment and some waved flags while wiping sweat on a humid Tokyo evening.

The theme of the closing ceremony was the 'Worlds We Share' and featured a whole lot of items, from lights to music shows, dazzling fireworks and stunts.

Before extinguishing the Olympic flame that has been burning in the cauldron since the opening ceremony, the closing of the Tokyo 2020 Games broke away from history and propelled hundreds of millions of viewers right into the very heart of Paris.

For the first time in a handover ceremony, the next host country's national anthem was broadcast as a film shot entirely in the future host city.

In another first, the closing ceremony featured live and spectacular celebrations from the next host city as the people of Paris and France embraced their role as host of the 33rd Olympics.

The segment took hundreds of millions of viewers on a tour of Paris and treated them to a deep dive into the City of Lights to the tune of a re-orchestrated version of La Marseillaise.

The musicians performing in six different spots in and around Paris evoked what the world has experienced over the past several months.

The message was, "We are apart, we can join forces and play together."

The Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, handed the Olympic Flag to Bach who, in turn, passed it on to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

"I would like to express my feelings of gratitude and respect to all the athletes, and to everyone else who overcame so many difficulties to so thoroughly prepare for these Games and deliver their absolute best performances," said Tokyo Olympics organising committee president Seiko Hashimoto.

Bach presented Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir with the gold medal for women's marathon event, while Eliud Kipchoge received his yellow metal for winning the men's marathon.

Lights illuminated the Tokyo sky and then formed the Olympic rings, with fireworks going off to make it spectacular.

Due to the coronavirus protocols, the ceremony was held without spectators but the organisers put up a screen inside the stadium where fan videos from across the world were projected.

With bronze-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia as its flag-bearer, the largest Indian contingent bid the Games a goodbye after finishing their campaign with the best medal tally in history.

The handover was characterised by audacity and freedom as it highlighted Paris' promise to take sport out of its traditional spaces, to open the Games to the city and its people, and to connect with new audiences in new ways.

One of the many unique aspects of this ceremony was that unlike at past Olympics, where only Games volunteers (field cast) were recognised, Tokyo 2020 recognised both the Games and City volunteers.

The volunteers to be recognised were selected with an eye towards balancing representation of genders, ages, and other factors, in order to embody the diversity of all volunteers.

Six field cast members and two city cast members (one who volunteered in Tokyo and one who volunteered in Fukushima) were recognised on behalf of all the volunteers.

In appreciation of all volunteers and their collective contribution to the Games, flower bouquets identical to those presented to the medal-winning athletes at victory ceremonies were given to a representative group of eight.

The ceremony opened with a video that looked back on the 17 days of events and competition.

Fireworks went off at the stadium to mark the beginning of the final chapter in which the organisers "expressed gratitude for the countless individuals who lent us their strength and helped us make it to the Closing Ceremony."

This was followed by Japan's Crown Prince Akishino and the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach making an appearance in the official stand.

The focus of the opening video was not records and scores but the valiant efforts of all the athletes, who competed in a strictly enforced bio-bubble, undergoing daily COVID-19 tests.

The salient message of the ceremony was that the Games will open the door to a brighter future.

India certainly could look towards that brighter future after claiming its best ever haul of seven medals, including their first gold medal in 13 years, from javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who is also going back as the country's first track-and-field medallist at the Games.

The country's haul also had two silver and four bronze medals.

The USA topped the medals tally with 113 podium finishes, including 39 gold, while China came second with 88 podiums that comprised 38 golds.

Hosts Japan finished a creditable third with a totals of 58 medals, including 27 gold.

 

 

Snow Leopard Conservation Handicapped By Lack Of Research

 

Snow leopards in the mountains of Asia face a multitude of threats, including conflict and retaliatory killing, trade in their body parts and climate change (Alamy)

More than 70% of snow leopard habitat remains understudied by conservationists, leaving conservation planning handicapped by large information gaps, according to a recent report by WWF.

Snow leopards live across the cold and rugged high mountains of Asia, from Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan, through China and Central Asia to Russia and Mongolia. In this landscape spanning approximately 1.8 million square kilometres, there are estimated to be fewer than 6,400 snow leopards. Another estimate by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) puts the global population between 2,710 and 3,386 adult snow leopards.

Healthy populations of top predators play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health, including by keeping herbivore populations in check, thereby securing local vegetation. The mountains where snow leopards live also form the headwaters of 20 major river basins, a crucial water source for the more than two billion people across 22 countries who live in the basins of these rivers.

The WWF report is based on a systematic review of snow leopard research spanning 100 years up to 2020. The idea behind the report was “to figure out whether we have adequate information on snow leopards to determine what the conservation action should be,” said Rishi Sharma, one of the authors and lead of the snow leopard programme at WWF.

The findings point to a lack of information from large portions of the snow leopard’s range. “This is worrying. This is what conservation organisations and governments should be focusing on,” said Sharma.

The report shows that Nepal and India are leading snow leopard research, followed by China. There are huge research gaps in Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Russia and Pakistan.

“We have tagged snow leopards that have gone to Afghanistan from Pakistan but because there’s no research going on [in Afghanistan], we have no idea at all how many [snow leopards] there are,” said Rab Nawaz, senior director of programmes at WWF-Pakistan.

Inaccessible Mountain Terrain A Challenge For Researchers

Nawaz said that research on snow leopards in Pakistan is “very concentrated in very few areas” like Chitral National Park in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Valleys on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border that are very likely home to snow leopards have not been studied because they are difficult to access.

The tough terrain and harsh climate of much snow leopard habitat makes research particularly demanding, a primary reason why vast sections of snow leopard habitat remain uncharted territory for researchers.

“Access to some of these areas is difficult and even if you manage [to access them], the logistical challenges of doing research come into play,” Rishi Sharma said. He compared his research experiences with tigers in central India with his work on snow leopards. “In central India, we could take a four-wheeler and cover substantial areas and install around 25-30 camera traps [in a single day]. In Spiti or Ladakh [in the north Indian Himalayas] or any other snow leopard range, even visiting three sites in a day is difficult.”

The report also points out that less than 3% of snow leopard range has robust data on snow leopard abundance, and that multi-year research is being carried out in only four research hotspots.

There is, however, space for hope. “The one positive thing I see is that there has been a huge increase in research in the last decade,” said Justine Shanti Alexander, regional ecologist at the Snow Leopard Trust and executive director of the Snow Leopard Network, who provided inputs for the WWF report.

Missing Link: Snow Leopards And Rangelands

The WWF report points to glaring gaps in the human elements of snow leopard conservation in research to date. Rangeland-related issues are highlighted as one of the least studied aspects of snow leopard conservation, despite their importance.

Lands that make good snow leopard habitat are also often those where livestock herding is the dominant human activity. Meanwhile, only 14-19% of snow leopard range overlaps with protected areas. This means that herders and snow leopards largely live alongside each other, leading to potential for conflict which endangers both livestock and snow leopards. The WWF report states that between 221 and 450 snow leopards are killed by people every year, and that 55% of these killings are driven by retaliation for snow leopard predation on livestock.

“What this means for conservation is that we should understand the human dimension of the story. What do people who live with snow leopards think? How is their life impacted by living with a predator which kills their livestock?” Rishi Sharma said. “In-depth research on the social science aspect of snow leopard conservation is lacking.”

A study published last month highlighted case studies from India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Pakistan to show how “respectful engagement and negotiation” with local communities can go a long way in addressing human-wildlife conflict. Many conservation organisations, including the Snow Leopard Trust, Nature Conservation Foundation and WWF, are working to support communities in mitigating conflict. For example, there are efforts underway to reduce livestock loss by building predator-proof corrals and holding pens in the Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh and Changthang in Ladakh.

A major caveat is scale. “These efforts are limited in terms of their geographical coverage. So, unless [the issue of conflict] finds place in government policies, we will only find success in certain areas. The hard thing to do is replicate the success across larger areas of the snow leopard range,” Rishi Sharma explained.

Commercial livestock rearing – more capital-intensive and organised than traditional pastoralism – can also cause problems for snow leopards. A 2015 study found that livestock grazing and snow leopard habitat use are “compatible up to a certain threshold of livestock density, beyond which habitat use declines”. The reason for this, the authors said, is possibly due to “depressed wild ungulate abundance and associated anthropogenic disturbance.”

Rishi Sharma points out that production of pashmina is an important economic activity on parts of the Tibetan Plateau. “The challenge is, how do you reconcile wildlife conservation goals with government policies which aim to promote pashmina and when pashmina is also an important economic activity for the people.” According to Sharma, such economic incentives have led to a situation where “there is more livestock than what these rangelands can sustain.”

The growth of mining and infrastructure like roads and dams pose challenges for both snow leopards and rangelands. “In the last 10-15 years, demand for minerals has opened up remote pastures for mining in countries like Mongolia, China, Kyrgyzstan,” said Koustubh Sharma, assistant director of conservation policy and partnerships at the Snow Leopard Trust. In some areas, like Tost Nature Reserve in Mongolia, herder communities have viewed snow leopard conservation as a means to protect pasturelands from threats like mining. “The area has been declared as a protected area for [conserving] snow leopards, ibex and argali and there’s zoning to allow grazing,” said Justine Shanti Alexander.

Climate Change Impacts On Snow Leopard Habitat

Only around 35% of current snow leopard range will remain climatically stable and suitable for viable snow leopard populations by the late 21st century, a 2016 study predicted. Despite such startling statistics, the WWF report highlights that climate change is a major unexplored theme in snow leopard research.

“We call climate change the mother of all threats because it amplifies each of the other threats that snow leopards face like retaliatory killing, poaching and extreme weather resulting in lack of prey,” said Koustubh Sharma. This makes these threats “much more severe and urgent and complex”.

Climate change is driving more frequent flash floods and dzuds (a Mongolian term for extreme winters), among other impacts. This can push people into hitherto unexplored areas, in search of better pastures for livestock or more comfortable conditions for living. “These new areas may be snow leopard habitat and [this] can lead to conflict,” said Koustubh Sharma.

The pressures of climate change can also make other conservation interventions more difficult. “It remains challenging to expect communities that are experiencing poverty and climate change-related shocks like drought to go beyond immediate mitigation of risks of carnivore depredation and take on additional broader actions related to snow leopard conservation,” said Alexander. She added that working with communities to build resilience against environmental shocks is important for long-term conservation of high mountain ecosystems.

“As of now, the immediate climate change-related threat is… how people [living with snow leopards] respond to climate change,” said Koustubh Sharma.

The Path Ahead – Landscape-level Conservation

In 2013, the governments of all 12 snow leopard range countries adopted the Bishkek Declaration with a shared goal of conserving snow leopards across their habitat. The Declaration lays out steps countries should be taking towards conserving snow leopards over the long term through the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSLEP).

“Under GSLEP, all 12 countries recognise that landscape-level conservation [rather than country-level ones] are needed,” said Koustubh Sharma.

Alexander highlighted the importance of “secured and connected” habitats for snow leopards. In China, predicted to host 50-60% of the world’s total suitable snow leopard habitat, large areas are protected as nature reserves. For instance, Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, at more than 150,000 square kilometres, is more than half the size of Kyrgyzstan. “This is vital because snow leopards have large home ranges and to protect a population you need at least several thousand square kilometres,” Alexander added.

Recognising landscape-level issues also means acknowledging that the landscape is used in multiple ways. “The best way to conserve snow leopards is to partner with local communities, minimise the losses they face and maximise the benefits they can gain from the fact that they share snow leopard habitats,” said Koustubh Sharma.

The Third Pole

Thousands More Flee Fires In Greece Amid Heatwave

 

Flames rise as wildfires burn near the village of Afidnes, north of Athens, Greece (Reuters)

Thousands of people in Greece fled to safety from a wildfire north of Athens early on Friday, as firefighters waged an overnight battle to stop the flames from reaching populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites.

On the nearby island of Evia, the Greek coast guard mounted a massive operation with patrol boats and private vessels to evacuate hundreds of residents and vacationers by sea, as dozens of fires burned across the country for a third day amid a protracted heatwave.

One of the most severe blazes tore through forest areas 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of the capital, destroying more homes. Ground crews of several hundred firefighters dug fire breaks and hosed the flames.

Traffic was halted on the country's main highway connecting Athens to northern Greece as crews tried to use the road as a firebreak before water-dropping planes resumed flights at first light. But sparks and burning pine cones carried the fire across the highway at several points.

Several firefighters and volunteers were hospitalized with burns, health officials said. Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said nine people had been taken by ambulance to hospitals in Athens from the fire north of the Greek capital, three of them suffering breathing problems, while 11 more were being treated in a health center on Evia.

"We are going through the 10th day of a major heatwave affecting our entire country, the worst heatwave in terms of intensity and duration of the last 30 years," Fire Service Brig. Gen. Aristotelis Papadopoulos said.

In the Drosopigi area north of Athens, resident Giorgos Hatzispiros went Friday morning to check on his house after being ordered to evacuate the previous afternoon. Only the charred walls of the single-story home remained, along with his two children's bicycles, somehow unscathed in a storeroom. Inside, smoke rose from a still-smoldering bookcase.

"Nothing is left," Hatzispiros said. He urged his mother, who was accompanying him, to leave, to spare her the sight of their destroyed home.

In southern Greece, nearly 60 villages and settlements were evacuated on Thursday and early Friday, with weather conditions expected to worsen as strong winds were predicted in much of the country.

Fires were raging on the island of Evia, northeast of Athens, and at multiple locations in the southern Peloponnese region, where a blaze was stopped before reaching monuments at Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.

A summer palace outside Athens once used by the former Greek royal family was also spared.

In Evia, the coast guard said its patrol boats, private vessels and tourist boats had evacuated 631 people overnight and by early Friday morning from beaches on the northeastern coast of the island. Coast guard patrols were continuing along the coast.

Fire crews, water-dropping planes, helicopters and vehicles from France, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland were arriving on Friday and through the weekend to help. Fire crews and planes from Cyprus were already in Greece, as the European Union stepped up support to fire-hit countries in southeast Europe. The heatwave also has fueled deadly fires in Turkey and across the region.

"Our priority is always the protection of human life, followed by the protection of property, the natural environment and critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, under these circumstances, achieving all these aims at the same time is simply impossible," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address on Thursday night.

The wildfires, he said, display the reality of climate change. More than 1,000 firefighters, joined by the army and teams of volunteers, as well as nearly 20 water-dropping planes and helicopters, were fighting five major fires across the country, the fire department said.

In 2018, more than 100 people died when a fast-moving forest fire engulfed a seaside settlement east of Athens. Some of the casualties drowned trying to escape by sea from the choking smoke and flames after becoming trapped on a beach.