IMPORTANT | | | ‘Crucial 24 Hours’ | Fighting, Threats Rage On as Talks Approach Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the next 24 hours will be “crucial” in deciding the future of his country. This after another night of heavy fighting saw Russia make little ground, and news emerged that President Vladimir Putin has placed Russia’s nuclear defense system on high alert. On day five of the conflict, Putin cast an increasingly isolated figure as both his troops and his economy met with stauncher resistance than expected. Zelenskyy wasn’t holding his breath about the Russia-Ukraine talks that kick off today: “I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try.” (Sources: NYT, BBC, NDTV) |
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| | | | | War on Waste | Unprecedented Global Meeting Will Discuss Combating Plastic Waste World leaders will meet this week to hammer out what could be the first global treaty to combat the 7 billion tons of plastic waste produced since the 1950s. Delegates will choose between a resolution from Rwanda and Peru, which has the backing of 70 countries and addresses the full life cycle of plastics, or a weaker resolution from Japan that focuses on marine litter. Interestingly, 90 CEOs from companies as mighty as Coca-Cola and Unilever have called for a legally binding agreement. “The public has had enough,” said Inger Andersen, director of the UN Environment Program. (Source: The Guardian) |
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| | | Target: Market | Coronavirus Comes From a Market, Not a Lab A pair of studies released on Saturday finger a Wuhan food and live animal market — and not a nearby lab — as the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence paints “an extraordinarily clear picture that the pandemic started at the Huanan market,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of both studies. Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, was less sure: “What they’re arguing could be true. But I don’t think the quality of the data is sufficient to say that any of these scenarios are true with confidence.” (Source: NYT) |
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| | | Ruble Rumbled | Russia Doubles Interest Rate After Ruble Slumps Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% after the ruble slumped 30% against the U.S dollar in Asian trade. The Russian currency hit a new record low on news that many of the country’s banks will be excluded from the Swift international payment system. The central bank also banned foreign entities or individuals from selling Russian investments. “The military conflict will last longer than Putin expected and the reaction of the West and the global community might be more harmful than he expected too,” said Alexandre Moutin, head of investments at SMBC Private Wealth. (Source: BBC) |
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| | | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Head butt. Scientists in Argentina have unearthed the remains of a previously undiscovered carnivorous dinosaur with puny arms and a powerful head that may have been used to ram its prey. (Source: The Guardian) Top of the pops. Members of South Korean pop group BTS have been named the world’s best-selling artists for the second year running. Taylor Swift and Adele completed the Top 3. (Source: BBC) Wheels of justice. Prosecutors in El Salvador have charged former President Alfredo Cristiani and a dozen other people in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests. A postwar amnesty agreement from 1993 barring prosecution was declared unconstitutional in 2016. (Source: NBC News) |
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| INTRIGUING | | | | | The Whales Are Not Alright | South Africa’s Southern Right Whales Are Skinnier Than Ever Must be something in the water. Recent research has shown that southern right whales that come to South Africa to calve are 24% thinner than they should be. They’re also calving less frequently and leaving their breeding grounds earlier, said Dr. Els Vermeulen of the University of Pretoria’s Whale Unit. The recovery of South Africa’s whale population after the worldwide commercial whaling ban in 1986 was seen as a great conservation success story. Sadly, says Vermeulen, “The science is telling us these marine mammals are coming under renewed pressure from a more modern problem likely linked to climate change.” (Source: Times Live) |
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| | | Paper Pirates | Download Figures for Sci-Hub Make for Interesting Reading Download data for Sci-Hub, the love-it-or-hate-it website that hosts pirated copies of millions of scientific papers, shows that usage in China exceeds the rest of the top 10 countries combined. The U.S was second, debunking the notion that the service has little use in countries where colleges can afford subscriptions. Nations with fewer scientific resources, including Brazil, Indonesia and Iran, are also making heavy use of the site. “Sci-Hub has highlighted how a very passionate community … exploits alternative mechanisms to access scientific literature,” said Juan Carlos Correa, a data scientist at the Prague University of Economics and Business. (Source: Nature) |
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| | | The Three Not-So-Little Bears | Tahoe’s ‘Hank the Tank’ Is Actually Three Different Bears Bear with us. DNA evidence shows that “Hank the Tank” — the 500-pound “severely food habituated” black bear that’s damaged more than 30 properties in South Lake Tahoe, California — is, in fact, at least three different bears. With over 150 incident reports in the region straddling Northern California and Nevada in recent months it makes sense that there would be accomplices. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will begin trapping bears to tag the animals and collect evidence for genetic analysis. They will be released in a “suitable habitat” and no trapped animals will be euthanized. (Source: AP) |
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| | | Nest Eggs | At Last! Bald Eagles in D.C. Arboretum Are Expecting The bald eagles known as “Lady of the U.S.” and “Mr. President” (Lotus and Mr. P. for short) had birders aflutter when Lotus laid two eggs in their nest in Washington’s National Arboretum. While it’s the first time in three years that a bald eagle has laid eggs in the park, the species has enjoyed such a remarkable resurgence it’s been removed from the national endangered and threatened list. “This nest kind of mirrors the recovery of bald eagles,” said Dan Rauch, a wildlife biologist with the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment. “Every single green light is go.” (Source: Reuters) |
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| | | Whose Club is it Anyway? | Chelsea’s Controversy Over Russian Owner Compounded by Final Loss Chelsea’s got the blues. Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire who’s known Vladimir Putin for decades, announced Saturday he was handing “stewardship and care” of the club he owns to Chelsea’s charitable foundation. The statement, which made no mention of the war in Ukraine, came less than 24 hours before the Blues were due to compete against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. Chelsea lost the match 11-10 on penalties when substitute goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga failed to make a single save before sending his own effort over the bar. Worse still, player-turned-pundit Gary Neville said “no one has bought” Abramovich’s announcement. (Sources: Sky Sports, Liverpool Echo) |
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