Citizen Journalist: #Europe

Showing posts with label #Europe. Show all posts

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Global carbon emission of China is lower to that of the United States

A study released by the Global Carbon Project at the COP27 conference underway in Egypt reveals a new picture. Until now, the concept was that U.S. emissions had been steadily dropping while Chinese emissions had been rising. It is not so. The study reveals that in China, fossil fuel pollution in China was down 0.9 percent this year compared with 2021, while in the United States it was 1.5 percent higher. It is a fact that the burning of fossil fuel this year has put 1 percent more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air compared to last year. Scientists who track emissions say this is a piece of bad news for the fight against climate change. However, China appears to have succeeded in reigning in the emission. Global carbon pollution continues to increase but not at a rate of 10 or 15 years ago. Obviously, the world has become cautious. The fact remains that much more needs to be done because it is pushing the Earth closer to hitting and then passing the globally adopted threshold of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. Carbon emissions from fossil fuels rise globally, including U.S., but drop in China. As a climate scientist of Princeton University says - “It means we better get ready to blow past the target and enter a world that humans have never experienced.’’

The study team, along with other scientific reports, calculate that the Earth can put only 419 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air before warming reaches the 1.5-degree mark. That would work out to about nine to 10 years’ worth of emissions. In other words, that point will come at around 2031 or 2032. Obviously, the time for 1.5 is running out. According to the study, in 2022, the world will put 40.3 billion U.S. tons of carbon dioxide into the air from energy and cement use. That will work out to the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza in carbon dioxide spewed every 75 minutes. The emissions are on the rise in the United States, India witnessed a 6 percent increase in 2022, while Europe had a 0.8 percent drop. The rest of the world averaged a 1.7 percent rise.

Friday, September 9, 2022

The Royal family and the world paid tributes to Queen Elizabeth II who passed away peacefully at the age of 96

Queen Elizabeth II was in Balmoral, her Scottish retreat, where she passed away peacefully. Her grandson, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, shared a stately tribute to her on Archewell. It is the website for their foundation. They changed the front page of the website. It changed to a simple black background with white text. It read - "In loving memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022." At the time of her death, Harry joined other members of the Royal family. She was at the time under medical supervision and ultimately passed away. Incidentally, Harry was in Europe at the time with his wife Meghan. They had come to attend to a number of events related to charity work. The couple had taken a decision to step back as working royals and shift base to the United States in 2020. However, Harry's grandparents played an important role in his life. His grandfather Prince Philip passed away in April 2021. Harry and Meghan also paid homage to his grandmother the Queen when they named their daughter Lilibet or Lili. It happened to be the nickname for the Queen within the royal family. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Paid Tribute to Queen Elizabeth.

Ever since stepping down, Harry and his wife visited the Queen on several occasions. In 2022, they had tea with Her Majesty in Windsor in April. That was when they traveled to the Hague for the Invictus Games. Subsequently, they met in June when the couple came to Britain for the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen. Official details of the funeral of Her Majesty are yet to be announced. Harry will most possibly be present for the event, as he was for the funeral of his grandfather Prince Philip. At that time, Meghan was unable to attend because of her advanced pregnancy with baby Lili.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Liz Truss, the current foreign minister, will become the next prime minister of Britain

Britain will get a new prime minister after the resignation of Boris Johnson. Liz Truss won the leadership race for the governing Conservative Party 81,326 votes to 60,399. She beat former finance minister Rishi Sunak to become the third woman after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to become the PM. Liz Truss has vowed to press ahead with promised tax cuts. Her eyes are also on issues like tackling a deepening energy and cost of living crisis. Other points ahead of her are household finances, industrial unrest, a recession and war in Europe. Britain has stood beside Ukraine. She does not foresee another national election before 2024. At that juncture, she would like to deliver a great victory for her party. Observers notice signs of divisions in her party. This is because of her narrow winning margin. Her opponent Rishi Sunak went to a social media platform and said - "It's right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times." Liz Truss vows tax cuts after winning vote to be next British prime minister. Boris Johnson, the outgoing incumbent will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth and officially tender his resignation. Liz Truss will follow him and the monarch is expected to ask her to form a government.

Truss (47) will now become the Conservatives' fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. Since then Britain has found the going tough and now faces a long recession and inflation which has already reached double digits. Business leaders from different sectors want her to evolve strategies in order to arrest the soaring cost of energy. They also want her to tighten labor markets to ensure survival of business. The PM-in waiting has promised to act quickly.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

A dry spell in Wales reveals a 19th century village submerged underwater

We have heard about the lost city of Atlantis. A dry spell in Powys, Wales has now revealed a 19th century village that was submerged underwater. It was in ruins. The water in Lake Vyrnwy, a reservoir, had evaporated and exposed the remains of the village Llanwddyn. Local media says the remnants of the village had come to light during the drought of 1976. The long duration of scorching and record-breaking high temperatures across the UK, has led to such a state. A reservoir like Lake Vyrnwy has been left high and dry. The UK Met Office says Wales had been experiencing record temperatures. On July 18, it reached 37.1 degrees C in the northeastern county of Flintshire. This works out to 98.8 degrees F about 45 miles from Lake Vyrnwy. Drought reveals Welsh village submerged by reservoir in 19th century. A photographer revealed to a section of the media that portions of the village became visible a week ago. He happens to have lived in central Wales for many years and has visited the lake on multiple occasion in the past.

It seems there is a bridge on the road and it went over the stream in the village. Back in the 1800s, it used to be flooded. Now, because of the dry spell, it is visible after 140 years. The stumps of trees that lined the road stand as proof. So are the gateposts and remnants of the houses and village walls. Lake Vyrnwy used to be the largest artificial reservoir in Europe. It took 10 years to build and was completed in 1891. Its purpose was to supply fresh water to the north England city of Liverpool. A company that manages the water and waste says the village had a Parish church, a couple of chapels, three inns, 10 farmhouses and 37 houses. Some of the ruins have now surfaced. This has sparked a lot of interest in the lake.

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Russia could vacate International Space Station by 2024

The International Space Station launched in 1998 has been in operation since 2000. Scientists and astronauts from different countries have worked in this sky lab located 250 miles above Earth. In spite of difference in policies and ideologies, this space lab is a venture where the USA and Russia joined hands with a common objective to promote space research. They have carried out studies on various aspects of working in space in order to evaluate the effects of alien environments on humans. They worked on animals, plants, other living organism, and as many as nine countries worked on the ISS. Over the past more than two decades, they have conducted space walks, repaired portions of the space station from the outside and have participated in festivals like Christmas.

It seems Russia has taken a decision to dissociate itself from the International Space Station after 2024. It wants to focus on creating its own orbital outpost. This has been reported in the media. Russia to quit International Space Station ‘after 2024.’ Obviously, the cooperative program between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and Japan would no longer exist. In the course of an ISS conference for NASA in Washington, an official said they did not want the US-Russia space relationship to end. Space agencies all over the world are trying to break new frontiers in space. They have the Moon and Mars on their radars. With a combination of robotics and artificial intelligence at their command, they want to explore unknown territories – they are in search of natural resources available on other planets.

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Street foods for breakfast in Kolkata

Street foods are popular even in Singapore

Street foods have become a common feature even in Hong Kong

Street food in Kolkata during lunch hour.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Calcutta remains out of the radar of international flights

Jet Airways has plans to connect three metros directly to Europe but Calcutta is not one of these. According to the aviation industry, little had changed in terms of Bengal's economic potential for airlines to consider starting direct flights between Calcutta and Europe.
There is no doubt that Calcutta has recorded an increase in the number of passengers flying to Europe. They are mostly tourists, students and people who are visiting friends and relatives. Airlines need passengers for corporate travel because that is what makes a route viable.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 24 June 2017.

The new routes announced by Jet Airways are a direct flight from Chennai to Paris and one from Bangalore to Amsterdam. The inaugural flights on these routes are scheduled for October 29. There are already direct service to Amsterdam from Delhi and Mumbai and the airline also has a direct flight between Mumbai and Paris. It is also exploring possibilities of starting one more daily flight between Mumbai and London from the same month.
Calcutta, unfortunately, is not on the radar because there are direct flights to Europe from other cities and Calcutta is connected to these cities by a network of its own domestic flights.
Air India had plans to reintroduce a direct flight from Calcutta to London but, has postponed the plan now. According to sources in the aviation sector, there has been no improvement in the viability of passenger load, especially of corporate travellers.

Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

East Coast Railway to run 186 special trains during Rath Yatra

Tax on the 326-year-old Jagannathpur Mela waived

Pollution in Subarnarekha river a matter of concern

He loved model planes and aero modeling

He practices homeopathy with a smile

My friends who used to sell saris

The Big Sick is Anupam Kher’s 500th film

Suicide Squad 2 - the sequel - to start shooting in 2018

Shooting started in Paris for Tom Cruise starrer 'Mission Impossible 6'

900 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya by coast guards

Death toll in the London Tower fire rises to 30, could go up to 100

ISIS carries out its first attack on Iran - at least 12 dead

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Olaf Iversen is back in Kolkata after 37 years – feels Kolkata should have direct flights to Europe

Olaf Iversen is the new consul-general of the Federal Republic of Germany and he is back in Calcutta 37 years after his first posting. In his opinion, direct flights from the city to European destinations is necessary for prosperity. Germany is working to increase investment in India but, Kolkata is on the east side of the country and Europeans normally first look at the western part of India.
However, the time has come to make people in Germany aware that it is worthwhile to look further east.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 3 October 2015.

On the subject of Lufthansa, he has clarified that it used to be a government-owned enterprise but now it is private one and they have to make the decisions themselves on commercial grounds.
Of course, Lufthansa has been told about the brand new terminal here and also that there are practically no direct flights from Kolkata to Europe. This could be suitable exploited - a good idea would be to have a direct flight to Frankfurt and from there people can move on to many other places.
It seems Lufthansa is contemplating on these lines – it was in Kolkata earlier and maybe they will return.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

Some more interesting 'must reads'-

Worsening quality of air forces shutdown of Singapore schools

Giant laddoo weighing 11,111Kg offered to Goddess Ambaji at Ambaji temple

Israeli armed Heron drones to be inducted into the Indian arsenal

Bay City Rollers, the Scottish band, to hold a reunion gig in Glasgow

Richa Chadha opens her mind – says, she wants to do ‘candy-floss’ roles

Chris Brown, the American singer, may be denied entry into Australia

Gunmen abduct foreigners from a Philippine island resort, an American and a Japanese jump to safety

Huge rat-size spiders invade Cheshire – residents in panic

Ukraine imposes sanctions on Moscow - bans Aeroflot and Transaero flights into the country

36-days for Durga Puja and the dhakis get ready

Durga Puja is the busiest time of the year for Kumortuli

Bengalis and the hawkers’ corners in Kolkata

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Journey to freedom – 5800 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean

#illegalimmigrants #Europe #Lampedusa #Mediterranean The exodus from Mid-East countries continues unabated as people try to flee from the violence and death and make a bid for freedom in Europe. The Italian authorities have rescued another nearly 5,800 migrants desperate to reach Europe. They were rescued over the weekend as they tried to cross the Mediterranean on rickety boats and a majority of them were rescued on Sunday.
This has been reported by the Italian coastguard and indicated in zeenews.india.com dated 4 May 2015.

It seems the number of migrants rescued this weekend was one of the highest recorded in recent years. Obviously, the exodus of people who are risking their lives to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East has not been affected by recent disasters.
On April 12 and 13 alone, more than 6,000 people were rescued and all of them are not lucky to make it to Europe. Rescuers have recovered some dead bodies on board the vessels. How they died is not clear but these people face many dangers and extreme conditions while fleeing on board overcrowded, flimsy vessels that set sail from Libya to Italy.
Most of the migrants head for the Italian island of Lampedusa which is the closest option to the shores of North Africa.
In the latest rescue operations in the Mediterranean four Italian coastguard vessels, two Italian navy ships and two customs boats, as well as four cargo ships and tugs were involved.
Incidentally, the figures for the number of migrants who have entered illegally into the EU in 2014 almost tripled to 276,000. And, a majority of them (nearly 220,000 as per Frontex) have arrived via the Mediterranean.

A few more must reads -

Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub

Durga Puja - priest dancing with devotee (YouTube video)

EU realizes the curse of plastic carry bags – to banish the bags

100 cities in India would turn into Smart Cities

Pet Pomeranians of Surat married off, 500 wedding guests enjoy the feast

Woman kills her husband because of his dark complexion

Baltimore on fire as protest over death of a black youth in police custody spirals out of control

‘Papri’ and ‘Barood’ - collection of Bengali short stories published from Nashik

British Army wants computer whizzkids to counter the growing menace of ISIS propaganda