| | | | | | | Hello. In the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the city of Lviv in western Ukraine became the setting for the greatest refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two. As the war enters its third year, Fergal Keane returns to Lviv to see how the conflict has shaped the city and its residents. And scroll to the end for a Valentine’s Day poem inspired by nature’s mutually beneficial relationships, as well as a video showing an English medieval gem restored to its former glory. |
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| | | | | | AT THE SCENE | Lviv, Ukraine | |
| | | Lviv's cemeteries are now filled with the graves of those killed in the war with Russia. Credit: Getty Images | | The war against Russia, which is about to enter a third year, is affecting the psyche of Ukrainians in many different ways. After so much suffering and loss, trauma is everywhere and expresses itself in different ways. | | | We heard the screams from far away. They came floating across the rows of the dead, over other graves still waiting to be filled, and over the rows of flags to commemorate the fallen, which flapped in the icy wind. The military cemetery of the Field of Mars in Lviv is usually a place of whispered prayers and stifled sobs. But on this winter morning the sound was a full-throated rage.
He was about 100 yards away, a middle-aged man in military camouflage, walking between the lines of graves. He stopped and raised his hands to the sky and shouted out: "Death to the enemy." He walked on and after a few steps began to scream again. No words. Just an agonised howl that gradually faded as he moved away. Nearby, a mother and daughter were settling flowers around the grave of a young man, a son, a brother. They had heard the commotion but continued with their work as if, two years and thousands of deaths into the war, it was all part of the normal order of things. |
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| Questions Answered | | Google’s methane monitoring project | | | | The new satellite will orbit 300 miles about the Earth, 15 times per day. Credit: Google |
| | Methane is a highly polluting gas and a major contributor to climate change. Finding sources of methane leaks and fixing them is key to achieving climate targets by the end of the decade, and Google is partnering with non-profit climate group Environmental Defense Fund to create a map of emission spots. | | | | Zoe Kleinman, Technology editor |
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| | What kind of methane emissions will be monitored? | | A lot of methane is produced by farming and waste disposal, but the Google project will focus on methane emissions at oil and gas plants. Firms extracting oil and gas regularly burn or vent methane. | | Where are most methane leaks located? | | Carbon Mapper, which uses data from a European Space Agency satellite, released a report in 2022 indicating that the biggest methane plumes were seen in Turkmenistan, Russia and the US - but cloud cover meant the data did not include Canada or China. Google said it hoped its project would "fill gaps between existing tools". | | What happens after a methane leak is identified? | | Google would not specifically notify the company which owned the infrastructure responsible for it. The company said that governments and regulators would be among those with access to it and it would be for them to force any changes. | | | | • | Hunger threat: While Google’s project aims to tackle a cause of climate change, others continue to reveal its effects. Researchers say that as polar bears’ habitat melts, the predators spend more time on land, risking starvation due to a lack of fatty food. | | • | Point of view: Scientists strapped cameras on the polar bears’ necks to survey their eating habits and conduct the study. Take a look at the remarkable footage. |
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| | The big picture | | Ice-pinning around | | | | A23a is currently loitering just behind the South Scotia Ridge. Credit: NASA/MODIS/BAS |
| | The world's biggest iceberg has just completed a perfect pirouette, having begun its spin at the beginning of the year. The near-trillion-tonne frozen block, A23a, is currently holding broadly the same position just north of the Antarctic Peninsula, but that’s going to change soon. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Mutual benefit | | Roses are red, violets are blue, this carnivorous plant attracts bats for their poo. | | |
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| | And finally... in England | | Scaffolding has finally been removed from the famed Salisbury Cathedral. The medieval building underwent 38 years of restoration work, costing more than £30m ($37.7m). It can now be enjoyed in its full, 14th Century splendour. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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– Sofia |
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