Logistics businesses are faced not just with the consequences of Brexit but now coronavirus. Steve Purvis, operations director, Bis Henderson Space, has some answers

Northampton, UK: As manufacturers and retailers run down their pre-Brexit stockpiles, pressure on warehouse space in the UK may appear to be tempered for the moment although there can be little doubt that there will be another cliff-edge event at the end of the year as the EU-UK trade talks approach Boris deadline.

Meanwhile, however, there is a new and very real risk to supply chains from the growing threat of the Coronavirus.

With the virus having become an epidemic during, and perhaps partly because of, the Chinese New Year break, it is too early to quantify likely impacts on production, but not good seems a reasonable assessment. The automotive industry, with its tight Just-In-Time operations, is naturally the bell-weather: Hyundai temporarily closed South Korean plants because of a shortage of wiring harnesses, Fiat Chrysler reported that one European plant is two weeks from closure because of shutdowns at one critical supplier (and potentially three others), while Ford was airlifting parts out of China while it still can. Regarding UK manufacturers, there are similar reports related to Jaguar Land Rover (parts couriered out in suitcases!) and JCB too.

Other sectors feeling an early impact include pharmaceuticals, where China supplies many drug precursors, fashion, where production for the Autumn season should be ramping up right now, and almost any industry dependent upon electronic components. There are already concerns over goods for the Christmas 2020 market. While some firms had coincidentally built up stocks against the usual Chinese New Year shut-down, this can only be a short-term relief.

Production isnt the only issue shipping will also be affected. There are reports of backlogs building on the Yangtze River, airfreight out of China is well down, and ship operators may be unwilling to visit Chinese ports the prospect of a viral outbreak on a large but minimally manned container vessel on the high seas is not a happy one. If vessels are avoiding China that also reduces service to intermediate ports such as Singapore. Meanwhile empty containers are stranded in the wrong locations.

Industry will be doing what it can to mitigate the risks of disruption. Obviously it is too late to start stockpiling Chinese goods but businesses will be loading orders on to alternative suppliers particularly where these suppliers are in other Far Eastern countries that could be at risk from the virus, although with the disease now established in Northern Italy, even sources closer to home cannot be considered secure. Companies may also be bringing forward orders, even from suppliers in currently unaffected areas, before global prices rise. Conversely, buyers of goods whose price is largely determined by metal and other markets may see opportunities to exploit depressed commodity prices.

This will undoubtedly lead to stockpiling but there are other effects that will increase demand for warehouse space in the UK. A manufacturer whose production is slowed or halted by the absence of perhaps just a single component still has all the other parts coming in indeed, many of these may already be on the high seas. The supply tap cant be turned off instantly and these materials will have to be stored, either as they are or as semi-finished goods for completion when normal service is resumed. Component and finished goods suppliers in this country also will prefer to maintain some level of production rather than shut down, even if their customers here or abroad cant or wont take delivery. These goods too will need to be stored and, for parts in shortage or for high-end finished goods, security of storage will also be an issue.

The course of these events is impossible to predict. But for many businesses there is a real likelihood that stocks will build up at some point in their supply chains, and it is only sensible to start scoping out contingency arrangements.

At Bis Henderson Space, we are already helping clients with their strategies to meet different challenges. One retailer, besides actively looking to domestic manufacturers for alternative sources of supply, is also reviewing its sales promotion cycle. It is likely that this will mean fewer and smaller-scale promotions to protect revenue. This in turn means that requirement stock peaks will be higher, and last longer, than in previous years, with implications for stockholding space requirements.

Another of our retail clients reports that only 5% of their Chinese production capacity is operative, and even stock that exists at production sites cannot be transported due to movement restrictions. They too are looking for additional domestic supply and expecting slower unit sales, which they believe will require an increased forecasted stock holding of 35,000 pallets. An end to the epidemic would not be the end of the problem: a return to normality later in the year would see a surge of container movements creating a requirement for additional de-stuffing capacity.

Both these retailers have their own networks and, in the second case, 3PL support, but have previous experience of Bis Henderson Spaces capabilities in securing additional and seasonal capacity and have turned to us for planning assistance and support. We have extensive experience, and unrivalled network of UK wide suppliers, partners and providers to source the best possible space solution for your individual requirements. We can offer short term temporary space solutions as well as supporting you with your over-arching long term supply chain strategy. For guidance on finding flexible warehousing arrangements that are available at competitive rates, contact us today.

Steve Purvis is operations director at Bis Henderson Space.

View post:

From Brexit to coronavirus: warehousing threats - Tina Massey

Our planet is always changing, but a scientific study claims that the Earth was once a waterworld that had no continents. Wait. Does that mean that Waterworld was a documentary? The study said that the Earth was covered in vast oceans 3.2 billion years ago. Wait. Does that mean that Waterworld a time-travel movie?

A new study titled Limited Archaean continental emergence reflected in an early Archaean 18O-enriched ocean published Monday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Geoscience brought evidence pointing out that ancient Earth was a waterworld. Dont tell Kevin Costner, he is still probably having nightmares from 1995.

Two researchers from the University of Colorado-Boulder and Iowa State University noted an ancient piece of marine sediment in the arid inland of the Western Australian outback. Not exactly the place you would expect to find marine sediment.

RELATED: Scientists Found Breathable Oxygen In Another Galaxy For The First Time Ever

The Aussie area where the remnants of the ancient ocean were found is called Panorama. In the outback, geologists discovered leftovers in the oceanic crust from a time when the entire planet was covered in water.

Scientists examined 100 sediment samples from the Panorama, and it looked a lot like the oceans from billions of years ago. Researchers believe that 3.2 billion years ago that the composition of the oceans contained more oxygen-18 than oxygen-16, the latter of which is more common in the modern ocean and is a slightly lighter isotope. Oxygen-16 is a lighter isotope than the heavier Oxygen-18.

Though these mass differences seem small, they are super sensitive, said Boswell Wing, study co-author and an associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Theres nothing in what weve done that says you cant have teeny, micro-continents sticking out of the oceans.

We just dont think that there were global-scale formation of continental soils like we have today, Wing added.

The belief is that there were no continents 3.2 billion years ago, and that the formation of continents absorbed the oxygen-18 isotopes from the oceans. Scientists believe that there were some land masses, but only small-sized islands on Earth, which likely formed 4.5 billion years ago.

RELATED: Listen To The Crazy Laser Gun Noise That Happens When You Drop Ice Down A Super Deep Hole In Antarctica

Our work doesnt mean there was zero dry land, just that it must have been much, much smaller in extent than today, with only small island chains emergent above the ocean, said Benjamin W. Johnson, an assistant professor of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State. This value is different than the modern ocean in a way that can be explained most easily by a lack of emergent continental crust.

There are no samples of really ancient ocean water lying around, but we do have rocks that interacted with that seawater and remembered that interaction, said Johnson, who is the studys other co-author.

The study gives scientists hope that other planets could evolve into water worlds that could sustain life.

If the Earth was a water world for the first quarter or so of its history, then perhaps other Earth-like planets elsewhere in the galaxy would undergo a similar evolution, Johnson said.

via GIPHY

The study alleges that tectonic plates pushed the massive land masses up to create continents.

Lets hope that the Earth doesnt become a waterworld again, fighting for five limes on the high seas doesnt look fun.

RELATED: Earth Is Getting A New Moon But We Cant Land On It

[LiveScience]

Read the original:

Ancient Earth Was A Waterworld Covered In Oceans That Had No Continents According To A New Study - BroBible

Rear-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie and his career on the high seas will be honoured in the Comox Valley this Saturday.

The Cumberland native will be the latest person to receive a star on the Comox Valley Walk of Achievement. The Walk celebrates individuals from the area who have excelled in their chosen field. It is also to inspire young people and instill a sense of civic pride.

Once we get all the logistics done, we set up the day, says committee member Erik Eriksson. We do the ceremony and unveil the plaque on 5th Street.

The event is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at the Sid Williams Theatre, before moving over to 5th Street for the unveiling.

Auchterlonies family has strong ties to the Comox Valley, and the family bakery was a fixture in Cumberland for decades. He attended Cumberland Elementary, Cumberland Junior and George P. Vanier Secondary. He later graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1991 with a BA in economics. He also served as captain of the varsity hockey team.

Auchterlonie has had an esteemed career in the military, commanding ships and formations at every senior rank. He was commander of the HMCS Fredericton from 2007 to 2009, captain at CFB Esquimalt from 2012 to 2103, commodore of the Canadian Pacific Fleet from 2013 to 2015 and rear admiral of the Maritime Pacific Forces / Joint Task Force Pacific starting in 2018.

RELATED STORY: B.C. man (pick up truck, Lucky Beer poster, and all) revels in return to Esquimalt

RELATED STORY: Cumberlands second-in-command son

He has also served four tours at the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. His educational background includes being a graduate of Canadian Forces Command and Staff College, the Naval Command College at the U.S. Naval War College, a masters degree in defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, a graduate of the Senior Executives in National and International Security program at Harvard and a fellow of the U.S. GOFO Capstone and Pinnacle programs.

When he got appointed admiral and then when he became head of the Pacific fleet, it just rang huge bells for us, says Eriksson. We checked him and we found out his history and where hes from and what hes done, and it all came together and we figured this is totally the kind of person that should be honoured on the Walk of Achievement.

The Walk of Achievement started in 2006. Over the years, it had added a number of esteemed people from the Comox Valley community.

We got the support from all the municipalities, and in its been going really well ever since, says Eriksson.

RELATED STORY: Local musicians inducted into Comox Valley Walk of Achievement

The list on honourees includes Red Robinson, Dr. Fred Leung, Stan Hagen, Jack Hodgins, Kim Cattrall, Iona Campagnolo, Stocky Edwards and Jock Finlayson. For more information, see walkofachievement.com

mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Courtenay

Link:

Rear admiral added to Comox Valley Walk of Achievement - Comox Valley Record

Maneater is John Wick if Keanu Reeves had gotten whacked and his dog had to embark on a bloody campaign of retribution instead. You play as an ever-evolving bull shark pup with an axe to grind against a local celebrity big game hunter who goes by Scaly Pete. Pete, that surly cajun SOB, caught and gutted your mother while you were being born, killing her, disfiguring you, and thereby earning him a righteous chomping. Of course, Pete has his own qualms about the situation, primarily the fact that you tore off his hand on your way out of the womb and then promptly ate it as you escaped. Whatever, that dude's a jerk.

From the moment the prologue ends, your eventual showdown with Scaly Pete is set. But how well-prepared you arrive at your inevitable loggerhead is an entirely different matter. Maneater mixes the open world environments of GTA with light action RPG elements from Far Cry.

Players start as a newly-born bull shark who must survive the brackish waters of seven explorable Southeastern American delta regions. The initial stages of the game are rather sedate, with a focus on generally snacking on anything smaller than yourself. By predating on smaller animals like catfish and turtles, the player can quickly build up their shark's strength, collect valuable resources for levelling, and gain necessary XP.

Once you bulk up, level up, and evolve sufficiently, you'll be able to expand your hunting range further, eventually overlapping your territory with competing predators like muskogee, alligators -- even orcas. And then eating them.

Once your shark reaches adolescence you'll be able to accept various missions -- fighting off other apex predators, for example, or hunting a specific number of prey species to keep their population in check (yes that especially includes humans) -- in order to accelerate your XP gains.

If the prescribed missions aren't your thing, you can also just tool around looking for trouble. The game offers a number of optional tasks, goals, discoverable checkpoints, hidden resource boxes, and other secrets for players to find. And as soon as your shark hits its adolescent stage, the entire game map opens for exploration.

Your shark will also gain new powers as it eats its way through the seas, including developing a Thresher Shark-like tail whip; a sturdy casing of protective bone armor, or increasingly sensitive sonar skills. Hell yes your shark does sonar.

During my playthrough at a hands-on event in San Francisco last week, my shark's feeding frenzies eventually attracted unwanted attention from the local human population who invariably called out multiple waves of shark hunters (and eventually Coast Guard units) in an effort to end my reign of terror. It was not unlike the police response to earning infamy stars in GTA.

The difference being that, unlike GTA, Maneter has a set number of enemy waves to survive and if players can actually chomp, ram, tail-whip and thrash their way through those opponents, they'll afford themselves the opportunity to face off against one of ten local shark hunter bosses. Ingest all of those fishermen and you'll get a shot at Scaly Pete himself.

The game itself is fairly short -- around 8 - 10 hours for the primary quest alone and about 16 hours if you complete all of the optional missions, according to the developers. Maneater will be available for PS4, XBox One, and at the Epic Game Store for $39.99 on May 22nd, with a version for the Switch arriving at an undisclosed later date.

More here:

Hunt the high seas as a hyper-evolved super shark in 'Maneater' - Engadget

By Natalie Parletta

At least a quarter of the Earths oceans need urgent conservation measures to preserve marine biodiversity, according to an international study, and more than eight million square kilometres need new conservation initiatives.

Given only 7.9% of the ocean is currently protected, this represents a pretty large increase, says Kendall Jones from the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, US, but bold steps like this are necessary if were going to secure the health of our oceans.

Recent decades have seen encouraging growth in marine conservation efforts, but its still not enough, he says.

Were in the middle of an extinction crisis, and one-third of marine species have less than one-tenth of their habitat under strict protection.

Scientists have known for decades that existing conservation efforts are totally insufficient to save most biodiversity; this is obvious given the massive population declines and extinctions we see every year.

But the scale of action needed has been difficult to quantify, so the team, including researchers from Europe and Australia, sought to identify a baseline target for prioritising global conservation efforts.

NOAA

As described in the journal One Earth, they first identified how well each marine species currently is protected.

This was done by overlaying maps where more than 22,000 species inhabit the ocean with marine protected areas (such as no fishing zones), regions of international importance for biodiversity, and marine wildernesses with low human impacts.

They then used a mathematical algorithm to identify other areas where conservation efforts are needed to preserve at least 10% of all species habitats. This minimal amount was chosen to balance conservation with other ocean uses.

To inform actions needed to conserve species within unprotected areas, they mapped the 15 most destructive human activities impacting them.

New priority areas were found in more than half of the worlds coastal nations, especially the East China Sea and the North Sea off the Norwegian Coast, currently affected by intense industrial fishing.

Areas impacted by intensive agriculture and livestock grazing as well as ocean-based activity include the Gulf of Mexico, the South China Sea and the Indus river in Pakistan.

High priority areas include the Northern Pacific Ocean near China and Japan and the Atlantic Ocean between West Africa and the Americas.

Notably, around 40% of the regions they identified as requiring conservation efforts have no jurisdiction by any single country.

Protecting these areas will almost certain require an avenue to regulate use of the high seas, Jones says, something that is currently being debated by the UN.

The worlds governments will be convening in China this year to sign a high seas conservation treaty aimed at protecting areas that currently escape jurisdiction and are exploited by activities such as overfishing and deep-sea mining.

This agreement has the potential to be a watershed moment for biodiversity conservation; just as the Paris Agreement was for climate change, Jones says.

The researchers envisage that their study will help inform the treaty and demonstrate the scale of collaborative, targeted action that is needed.

Given the connected nature of the ocean, a piecemeal approach is doomed to fail, says Jones, emphasising the importance of collective action.

A wide-ranging approach is crucial, says senior author James Watson.

This isnt just about strict marine protected areas.

We need to use a broad range of strategies such as no-fishing zones, community marine reserves and broad-scale policies to put an end to illegal and unsustainable commercial fishing operations.

Jones stresses the need to lobby governments to take marine conservation seriously, and set bold targets in a post-2020 conservation agreement.

This is crucial, not only for biodiversity, but for the millions of people around the world who depend on the ocean as a source of food and income.

See the original post:

We need to intensify marine conservation efforts - Cosmos

After recently meeting its funding goal on Kickstarter, the future is looking bright forSeablip. Described as a real-time tactical RPG with a story-driven narrative, players will find themselves putting together a ragtag crew and hitting the high seas. Seablip's creator is heavily influenced by Stardew Valley and it shows in most aspects of the game's design. There's still a ways to go until its targeted late 2021 release date, but thanks to its Kickstarter campaign we already know a lot about what to expect when it eventually releases.

One of the most compelling features of Seablip is the unique campaign it's hoping to create. Players will become involved in the war between the Redcoats and Bluecoats, a conflict that has raged on for over 100 years. Seablip's creator says that the narrative will offer gamers plenty of choices related to this struggle will you pick one side to fight for, or will you go rogue and cause as much chaos as possible?

The second portion of the campaign revolves around a "mystic sound coming from the north." Melted icebergs from the northern portion of the map have been drifting further south than they have in the past, creating a hostile environment for sailors. Based on it's Kickstarter campaign, it seems that thereis a threat lurking below the ice, and it's up to the players to solve the problem.

Seablip is the named of the small island outpost used by the main character as a home base. Players' actions have a direct impact on how the island develops you can help restore the island to its former glory, or you can side with the hostile "Octopus Trading Company"and create a monopoly. This interaction draws heavily from Joja -Mart in Stardew Valley, a comparison that the creator doesn't shy away from.

None of the above content matters if the gameplay isn't entertaining. But with a massive world full of treasures, secrets, and upgrades, Seablip is hoping to offer a little bit of everything. Players can choose where to travel on a massive overworld map using a system similar toFTL engage in sea battles with pirates, and explore islands in retro 2D fashion.

RELATED: Seablip, The Stardew Valley-Inspired Pirate Adventure, Hits Its Kickstarter Goal

When not out on the high seas exploring, Seabliplets playersform a crew and level up their abilities. The type of crew members for hire is extensive, with over 11 different archetypes available.

As a game in early development, there is still a lot we don't know. The official Seablip website says the title is scheduled for an "estimated release" in the fourth quarter of 2021 meaning it's likely to change. PC users will see the game first, but if the launch goes well it could be ported to other systems such as PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, or mobile devices. The creator says they "believe the game will cost 17 dollars" in other words, a price has not yet been determined.

Seablip is hoping to combine the best aspectsof many successful indie games. Stardew Valley, FTL, and Terraria are titles that Seablip draws inspiration from. While the Kickstarter campaign might be coming to a close, the long journey ahead is only just beginning. Stay up to date with all things Seablip by signing up for the game's official newsletter.

Source: Seablip Kickstarter

READ NEXT: Pokmon Fan Reimagines The Entire First Gen As Charizard

The 8 Different Witcher Schools, Explained

Jon Bitner is an Associate Editor for TheGamer. His passion for gaming started with his first console (Sega Genesis) and he hasn't stopped playing since. His favorite titles include The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Team Fortress 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Pokmon Sword & Shield, Old School Runescape, Skyrim, and Breath of the Wild. He can usually be found playing the latest RPG, FPS, or some obscure mobile game. Before working as Associate News Editor, Jon earned a Biology degree and worked in the Biotechnology sector experiences that taught him how to put words together and make sentences. When not playing or writing about the gaming industry, he enjoys sleeping, eating, and staring at birds.

Visit link:

Seablip: Everything We Know About The Stardew Valley-Inspired RPG (So Far) - TheGamer

Back in 2017, the Vans Warped Tour reinvented their event on a cruise ship, calling itself Warped Rewind At Sea. Everything you loved about good ol landlubber Warpedfrom the awesome bands to the eternal camaraderie to the relentless sunshinewas in play in the middle of an ocean.

Now it looks like tour founder Kevin Lyman and his team may be planning a return to the high seas. And they want your input. The Warped brain trust recently put up a survey soliciting ideas on how to make a second voyage of Warped Rewind At Sea a reality.

Warped Tour stans taking the survey are asked a number of questions, both crucial and logistical. Warped is looking for suggestions on what other kind of entertainment and activities would make the trip sweeter. No idea seems far-fetched, from karaoke nights to tattoo parlors. (At least one AltPress editor suggested an oceanic record store.) There are logistical questions regarding potential sea-punks needs, from price points to the number of ride-or-dies they would bring. And naturally, what bands they want to see.

If the thought of being out in the ocean as part of the only tour that mattered piques your interest, head over here to take the survey. Tell your buds about it as well, because a life without loud guitars in the summer is a huge drag.

Warped Rewind At Seas maiden voyage commenced Oct 28, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Cozumel, Mexico. The four-day event featured the participation of 3OH!3, Bowling For Soup, Cartel, Good Charlotte, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Simple Plan and the Starting Line, as well as the Emo Nite cabal. For all intents and purposes (dude, the photos), a real cool time was positively inevitable.

You can see a recap of 2017s run below.

Warped Rewind At Sea

WARPED REWIND AT SEA :: There are no words, but so many feels! Warped Rewind At Sea as an experience beyond our wildest dreams thanks to our incredible community of fans, bands, and sponsors.We know many of you are wondering Will there be another Warped Rewind at Sea? As you know, we are hard at work preparing for the final cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour in 2018; this means there will not be a Warped Rewind cruise this year, but we are continuing to explore possibilities for the future! PS were sure there will be many Warped Rewind run-ins and reunions this summer #foreverwarped #vanswarpedtour #warpedrewind

Posted by Vans Warped Tour on Thursday, January 25, 2018

Would you board a Warped Rewind At Sea return? let us know in the comments below.

The Pop Disaster Tour 2002 (blink-182, Green Day)

See original here:

Kevin Lyman seeks fan input on possible Warped Rewind At Sea 2.0 - Alternative Press

TheSea of ThievesupdateCrews of Rage has arrived!

Check out the newly released Crews of Rage: Official Sea of Thieves Content Update trailer to get a feel for the new goodies on the way:

This brand-new update to Rare's adventure on the high seas adds a particularly fiery proposition for players to explore. A "hot-headed" Skeleton Lord has made his return, and it's quite literally setting the world on fire.

Now, this new batch of content gives players more cool stuff to unlock, new enemies to fight, and a brand new hotspot to wage war in!

Several new additions are making their way into the game. Here's a quick breakdown of what's been listed on the game's official website.

Duke has some new Bounty Voyages available! These will send you to The Devil's Roar to acquire brand-new Chests of Rage.

The Molten Sands Fortress has come to life with the return of Captain Flameheart. The other Forts have gone cold (literally!) as the skeletons all head to this brand new hotspot. Players can look forward to getting Chests of Rage and Commendations for fighting and winning here.

Bibliophiles get to enjoy a new series of infernal texts. Taking these books to Duke will let you unlock new cosmetics!

This new kind of Cursed Chest can be uncovered in Bounty Voyages and the Molten Sands Fortress. Players now have the option to take these chests to The Reaper's Hideout instead, doubling their payday while losing any reputation boost.

This new class of skeleton has a resistance to burn damage, which kind of makes sense on account of the whole "fire" thing this update has going on.

New items have been added to the Pirate's Emporium and the Black Market.

You can see pictures of the shiny new items on the official website for theSea of ThievesCrews of Rage update. If you don't yet already own the game, you can pick it up for PC and Xbox One at the price of$49.99 or your regional equivalent at the Microsoft Store. Alternatively, you can getSea of Thievesas part of Xbox Game Pass.

What do you think of theSea of ThievesCrews of Rage Update? Have you been happy with the pace of new content thus far? Let us know in the comments below!

See original here:

Sea of Thieves Update Crews of Rage Out Now - TechRaptor

Control of offshore gas and oil provokes conflicts in eastern Mediterranean By Jean Shaoul 24 February 2020

The dispatch of Turkish troops to Libya, the bitter dispute between France and Italy over military policy at Decembers NATO summit in London, and the formation of a French-Greek military alliance against Turkey indicate the extent to which oil and gas have become the source of ever widening conflicts.

While it was popularly understood that the US/UK-led invasion of Iraq was a war for oil, this is less well understood in the case of Libya, which contains the largest deposits of oil in Africa and in 2010 was one of the 10 largest oil producers in the world. The struggle for Libya and its oil has now, moreover, become embroiled in the escalating conflict over the newly discovered gas fields in the Levantine Basin.

A new scramble for Africa is being tied into a new scramble for the eastern Mediterranean, as Turkey, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, Lebanon and the European powers compete over gas exploration, production licenses and pipelines.

According to a US Geological Survey report published in 2010, the Levantine Basin, which straddles the maritime borders of Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. It estimates that eventually there will be enough gas to meet regional and European power demand for decades.

In 2009 and 2010, Israel discovered gas reserves of 11 trillion cubic feet in the Tamar field, and 22 tcf in the Leviathan field, ensuring sufficient capacity for both its domestic needs and exports, although some of these fields lie in waters claimed by Lebanon and Gaza.

In 2011, Cyprus discovered an estimated 8 tcf of gas reserves in the Aphrodite field. With Turkey claiming ownership of the natural resources around Cyprus, divided between Turkish and Greek zones since the 1974 war, this heightened tensions in the region, leading to violent ship collisions and even the suspension of drilling in 2016.

By far the largest field in the region is Egypts Zohr field, discovered in 2015, with an estimated 30 tcf. Located north of the Suez Canal, it is owned jointly by Italys Eni (50 percent), Russias Rosneft (30 percent), the Anglo-American BP (10 percent) and Egypts Mubadala Petroleum (10 percent). Last week, Egypt signed a $43 million oil and gas exploration deal with the German company Wintershall DEA to explore oil and gas in the East Damanhour Bloc in the Nile Delta.

In 2019, Egypt produced a record 2.52 tcf of gasup by more than 30 percent since 2016making it one of the biggest producers in North Africa and the Middle East. It exported 172.8 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas.

Egypt is seeking to become a vital link for energy trading between the Mideast, Africa and Europe. It has two large-scale gas export terminals at Iduku and Damietta, the only ones in the eastern Mediterranean, which cool gas into liquids for export by tankers. Owners Royal Dutch Shell intend to use them to re-export gas produced by neighboring countries that do not have such terminals, strengthening Egypts economic ties with Israel and Jordan as it becomes a crucial partner to Europe.

Last month, Israel, which has no liquefaction terminals, began exporting gas to Egypt. The smaller Karish field will go online next year with its own pipeline to Egypt. While some of the gas will be sent back to fuel Israels power and manufacturing plants, most will be exported.

Israel had previously imported up to 40 percent of its gas from Egypt. The new arrangements followed the signing in 2018 of a deal to pipe $19.5 billion of offshore gas to the Egyptian export terminals by Israeli oil company Delek Drilling and Noble Energy of Houston, which together own Israels Leviathan and Tamar gas fields.

The terms of the deal, beneficial to Israel and brokered by the US, enabled Egypt to reduce the cost by $1.3 billion of the $1.76 billion it was legally required to pay Israel in compensation following the disruption to its contracted gas delivery after multiple insurgent attacks on its pipelines in 2011-12 by militant Islamists in the Sinai Peninsula. The deal involves a raft of shadow companies, registered in tax havens and linked to Egypts military.

Last year, Egypt signed a deal with Jordan to provide half its gas needs via the 1,200-kilometre-long Arab Gas Pipeline. Built in 2003, the overland pipeline has been extended to Israel via a 100-kilometre-long subsea section connecting Arish in Egypt to Ashkelon in Israel.

There are also small gas reserves off Gazas territorial waters. But it became impossible to carry out any exploration after Israels blockade of Gaza following Hamas success in the 2006 elections and its standoff with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Administration in the West Bank. In 2015, the license holders, which included BP and Shell, transferred their stakes to Palestinian state companies.

Lebanon is believed to hold gas reserves of 96 tcf and oil reserves of 865 million barrels, but has been slow to explore its offshore resources, in part because of the great depth of its waters, the high cost, unresolved maritime border disputes with Israel, Syria and Cyprus and the countrys political instability. However, a consortium made up of Frances Total, Italys Eni and Russias Novatek is expected to start drilling in the Block 9 concession by the middle of this year, with next January set as the closing date for five more offshore blocks.

Syria is thought to have substantial energy resources in the Levantine basin, but it suspended exploration after the outbreak of the US-orchestrated proxy war for regime change in 2011. Russia, in the absence of any other bidders, took all the oil and gas contracts as its quid pro quo for supporting the Syrian regime, signing long-term agreements in return for 25 percent of total production. With the upgrading of its air and naval bases at Khmeimim and Tartus on Syrias coast, Russias entry into the Levantine Basin adds another player into a region of competition and conflict.

Gas pipelines, owned by two competing geostrategic alliances, have caused tensions to rise markedly. Each seeks to secure a dominant position in European energy markets that are trying to eliminate their dependence on coal and oil by turning to gas.

The first is a new Russian-Turkish pipeline aimed at increasing Russias natural gas exports and raising Turkeys status as an energy transit hub to Europe. Last month saw the inauguration of the first leg of TurkStream, an undersea pipeline running 930 kilometres (578 miles) from the Russian Black Sea coast to Kiyikoy, northwest of Istanbul, that will carry 15.75 billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year to Turkey for domestic consumption.

Another proposed pipeline, announced last July, will carry a similar amount via Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, not through Greece as originally planned, further cementing Europes dependence on Russian gas. Together with the nearly completed Nord Stream 2, which carries gas via the Baltic Sea to Germany, they enable Russias Gazprom to send gas to Europe, bypassing Ukraine.

The second pipeline is one linking Israel and Cyprus gas fields to Greece that would transport the eastern Mediterraneans rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union (EU) and is backed by the US.

On January 3, Greece, Israel and Cyprus agreed to build a 1,900-kilometer (1,200 mile) EastMed pipeline through deep waters, at a cost of around 6-7 billion, to transport gas to Europe via Greece and Italy. The pipeline will run from Israels Leviathan gas field via Cyprus, Crete and the Greek mainland and is due for completion in the mid-2020s. Conceived in 2015, it is aimed at limiting Turkeys influence in the region.

The three countries, part of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, established by Cairo last July that includes Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Italy, are seeking to establish a regional gas market and an exporting hub to Europe. This would cut across Egypts ambitions to establish itself as an export hub, with an agreement in 2018 to construct a pipeline to Cyprus Aphrodite field.

In addition, DEFSA, Greeces gas transmission system operator, having completed the expansion of its LNG terminal, the only one in southeast Europe, is now building compressors that will enable it to pump gas north into Bulgaria via the Trans-Balkan Pipeline and export US LNG to the Balkans. Exports are set to expand when the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) project starts next year, in competition with TurkStream 2. It will avoid dependency on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will start sending natural gas from Azerbaijan to Italy via Turkey and Greece.

These plans also clash with Turkeys plans to extend its control over energy resources in the region through its drilling for gas off the far west coast of Cyprus toward the southeast of the Greek island of Crete, Israel and Libyas offshore waters. Ankaras drilling operations are expected to be accompanied by a naval task force comprised of at least one frigate, two or three gunboats, and a submarine, as it seeks to acquire another drilling ship.

Russia, with its large oil and gas reserves, is Europes main energy provider, supplying 41 percent of its overall consumption. Hence its concern over gas exports from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, because of the potential impact on its market share and energy prices. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to oppose such a project unless Russia is involved.

The EU, for its part, lacking its own energy resources and anxious to avoid dependency on Russia, has fast tracked its approval process for the pipeline.

The agreement to build the EastMed pipeline came just weeks after Turkey signed two agreements in November with Fayez al-Sarrajs Government of National Accord (GNA), the internationally recognized government of Libya that is backed by Turkey, Qatar and Italy.

The GNA has little popular support and controls the capital Tripoli that has been surrounded by former CIA asset and warlord General Khalifa Hiftar, whose Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Russia, controls eastern Libya and its oil fields.

Under the first Turkey/GNA agreement, Ankara pledged military support for Sarrajs beleaguered government. A second agreement in return delimited maritime zones between the two countries, vastly expanding Turkeys territorial waters, which Greece and Cyprus also claim, denying the claims of Crete, Rhodes and other islands, and blocking the route of the proposed pipeline.

Since then, Ankara has expanded its gas exploration efforts and sent forces to Tripoli, including Islamist militiamen from Idlib province in Syria, where they were deployed as part of the NATO proxy war but are now surrounded by Syrian and Russian troops.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters, Turkey and Libya will be working jointly at present, but we could take a third, a fourth and perhaps a fifth partner on board. We are in agreement with Sarraj on this.

He indicated that Somalia had offered Turkey joint oil exploration in its waters. Erdogan has also sought to enlist support from Tunisia and Algeria, as part of his declaration that 2020 is Africa year, offering help with offshore gas exploration as bait.

At the end of last month, Turkeys Defence Ministry reported that two of its frigates off Tripoli had rescued 30 migrants from a dinghy in high seas and handed them over to the Libyan coast guard during NATOs Operation Sea Guardian in the region. This was a message to European countries, particularly Germany, that the GNA and Turkeywith their supportwould be an effective means of curbing the flow of migrants from Libya to Europe. It may indicate Ankaras willingness to mend its relations with Europe in the wake of its rift with Moscow over Syrias defeat of Turkey-backed Islamists in Idlib province.

These developments have largely taken place outside the control of Washington. The US views with mounting concern Russias expanding influence in a region it once controlled, especially following its disastrous wars of aggression in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and with Turkeys closer relations with Russia and Iran, to the extent that it supported the 2016 coup against Erdogan. Embroiled in economic and trade disputes with the EU, it is trying to push the sale of its own LNG to Europe as an alternative to Russia.

The Trump administration is working through its local attack dogs and proxies, particularly Israel and latterly Greece. It is actively supporting its allies access to the regions gas and Israels key role in exporting gas to its local clients Jordan and Egyptacting as the chief broker in Israels gas agreements.

US corporations are engaged in some of the consortia directly involved in exploration, production and transportation and insuring the contracts. The Trump administration helped broker the original agreement to sell gas to Jordan and agreed to compensate Jordan through US aid money should popular opposition disrupt the deal.

In December, President Donald Trump approved the East Med Security and Energy Partnership Act that allows the US to support the Israel-Greece-Cyprus partnership through defence initiatives and lift the longstanding arms embargo on Cyprus, antagonizing Turkey, a key NATO-ally.

Energy minister Yuval Steinitz explained in welcoming Israels export of gas to Egypt, Egypt is just the beginning. The plan is that much of the gas will be exported via Egypt to Europe, too.

The EastMed pipeline serves to wean Europe off its dependency on Russia for its energy needs, as well as limiting Greece and Cyprus trade and investment deals with Moscow. In December, Trump signed into law a defence bill that includes sanctions, imposed by the US Congress, on the construction of both the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines. These are part of a raft of measures aimed at choking Russias economy which is largely dependent upon the sale of arms and energy. As a result, construction on the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 has come to a halt, infuriating Germany and exacerbating tensions between Washington and Berlin visibly on show at the NATO Security Conference in Munich.

Greece violently objected to the Turkish-Libyan deal signed last year, expelling the Libyan ambassador to Greece in protest. Kathimerini wrote that the Greek and Greek Cypriot governments hurried to finalize the EastMed deal in order to counter any attempt by the Turkish neighbour to stop the project.

According to Greek reports, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of violations of its airspace by Turkish fighter jets. Turkish hackers paralysed the websites of the Greek Foreign Ministry and secret service, prompting Greek retaliation.

Such are the tensions between the two NATO members, which were on the verge of war in the 1990s, that the White House called on Greece and Turkey to resolve their differences. Despite this show of impartiality, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed deals last October to build major new US military bases in Greece, saying Washington needs them to help secure the eastern Mediterranean.

It was the fear that Russia and Turkey would gain influence in Libya that led Germany to assemble the European powers in a conference in Berlin last month, ostensibly aimed at bringing peace to the civil-war torn country. The Berlin conference agreed to extend the ceasefire, established earlier through the mediation of Russia and Turkey, permanently and to the demobilization and disarming of the militias and monitoring of an arms embargo violated by everyone.

This cynical gathering can only be the prelude to a military occupation of the country to assert the European powers predatory interests. EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell, declared a priori, If there is a cease-fire in Libya, then the EU must be prepared to help implement and monitor this cease-firepossibly also with soldiers, for example as part of an EU mission.

We Europeans, since we dont want to participate in a military solution, we barricade ourselves in the belief there is no military solution, he told the European Parliament. Nobody will be very happy if, on the Libyan coast, there is a ring of military bases from the Russian and Turkish navies in front of the Italian coast.

Days later, France stepped in to assert its interests, dispatching French warships to the Aegean Sea and announcing the formation of a French-Greek military alliance.

It too has supported Hiftar and his LNA in eastern Libya against the Tripoli-based GNA, where the French oil giant Total has important oil interests, bringing it into conflict with Italy, whose oil company Eni is the largest oil and gas producer in Libya. France, which is dependent upon Hiftars support for its colonial wars in the Sahel, denounced Turkish policy in Libya, threatening to support Greece in a war with Turkey.

President Emmanuel Macron accused the Turkish president of not respecting his promises in Berlin, saying that at this very moment Turkish ships are taking Syrian Islamist mercenaries to Libya in violation of explicit engagements taken by President Erdogan at the Berlin conference. He added, This threatens the security of all residents of Europe and the Sahel.

After discussion with Macron, Egypt, which supports Hiftar, denounced the Turkey-GNA accords as illegal foreign intervention in Libya. On Monday, just weeks after the Berlin conference, the EU agreed to launch a new naval and air mission in the eastern Mediterranean, in international not Libyan waters, to stop arms reaching both factions in the Libya, re-establishing the arms embargo first imposed in 2011.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, whose government opposes any immigration from Libya to Europe, insisted that the mission would not support or help migrants seeking to enter Europe. He said, There is a basic consensus that we now want a military operation and not a humanitarian mission.

The eastern Mediterranean, including North Africa, has become the focus of ever widening conflicts, with all the imperialist and regional powers determined to pursue their own rapacious demands for control over the regions wealth and resources.

As US Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned at the Munich Security Conference, We are now in an era of Great Power Competition, meaning that we must move away from low intensity conflict and prepare once again for high-intensity warfare.

The stage is being set for explosive conflicts, potentially encompassing three continents, over the domination of North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. But the eastern Mediterranean is only one of a number of potential flashpointsthe Horn of Africa, South China Sea or the Arctic to name but a fewwhere these competing strategic interests could lead to an all-out confrontation between major military powers, including nuclear-armed imperialist states. As far as the major powers are concerned, the entire world is in play, with devastating consequences for humanity.

2019 has been a year of mass social upheaval. We need you to help the WSWS and ICFI make 2020 the year of international socialist revival. We must expand our work and our influence in the international working class. If you agree, donate today. Thank you.

Read the rest here:

Control of offshore gas and oil provokes conflicts in eastern Mediterranean - World Socialist Web Site

%MINIFYHTML24730170225d06f724869992d5e0fbf111%%MINIFYHTML24730170225d06f724869992d5e0fbf112%

When, in 2010, the US energy company Anadarko found significant gas reserves off the coast of the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique, many hoped that the discovery would bring prosperity to the impoverished region. The following year, the ENI of Italy also found a massive gas field in the area.

Since then, Mozambique has seen an influx of foreign energy companies seeking lucrative contracts: Anadarko, Total, which in 2019 bought Anadarko's assets in Mozambique: ENI, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and others .

%MINIFYHTML24730170225d06f724869992d5e0fbf113%%MINIFYHTML24730170225d06f724869992d5e0fbf114%

Cabo Delgado now houses the three largest liquid natural gas (LNG) projects in Africa: the Mozambique LNG Project (Total, formerly Anadarko) worth $ 20 billion, the Coral FLNG Project (ENI and ExxonMobil) for worth $ 4.7 billion and the Rovuma LNG Project (ExxonMobil, ENI and CNPC) worth $ 30 billion.

%MINIFYHTML24730170225d06f724869992d5e0fbf115%%MINIFYHTML24730170225d06f724869992d5e0fbf116%

But, despite the billions in investments that these contracts have brought, the people of Cabo Delgado have not yet seen any benefit from them. In fact, some have already suffered greatly from the arrival of the gas industry.

Shortly after the discovery of gas in Cabo Delgado, it became clear that, although exploration and extraction will take place on the high seas, several communities will have to be evicted to make way for the ground support facilities that Anadarko / Total and ENI will use. projects According to a 2016 Anadarko report, more than 550 families would have to be physically relocated and 952 would lose access to their cultivated land to make way for the facilities of the Mozambique LNG Project. In addition, more than 3,000 people would lose access to their fishing grounds as a result of project operations.

Some of these families have already had to move. Although foreign companies promised to carry out the resettlement and provide compensation after a thorough consultation process with the affected communities, the villagers and my colleagues from the environmental NGO Justica Ambiental have told us that their concerns and objections have fallen on deaf ears. .

Many of them complained that the compensation has been inadequate. In some cases, the farmland assigned to them invades the farmland of another community, which causes conflicts; in others, the new plots they were given were too far from their homes.

Families that used to live only a few hundred meters from the sea and depended on fishing for their livelihoods will be resettled more than 10 km from the shore. Fishermen have already reported that initial gas development and drilling operations are affecting fishing populations.

At the same time, the promised jobs in the gas industry have not materialized, leaving communities facing displacements anxious for their ability to stay in the future.

Some of the villagers have told us that they are afraid to speak because they may not receive any compensation or because they have been threatened by local authorities. In the past two years, several journalists who have tried to report on the situation in Cabo Delgado have been arrested.

Meanwhile, apart from forced displacement and loss of livelihoods, local communities have faced increasing violence from a local armed insurgency.

Since 2017, men armed with guns and machetes have attacked communities throughout Cabo Delgado, killing some 700 people and injuring many. Decapitations, mass kidnappings and destruction of entire villages have sent some 100,000 people to flee the province, according to the UN.

Several groups, including ISIL (ISIS) and Al Shabab, which are not affiliated with the Somali group by the same name, have allegedly claimed responsibility for some attacks, but for many, there has been no clear author.

Some have blamed impoverishment and local crime networks as the driving forces of the insurgency and have dismissed theories about links with transnational terrorist organizations. But the anger over the way foreign companies have dealt with local communities and the lack of transparency about their operations have also fueled rumors that there is a link between the gas industry and the attacks.

The villagers with whom we have spoken have pointed out that while the facilities of the gas companies have rarely been attacked, the communities that have refused to move have been repeatedly assaulted by armed groups.

Regardless of who is behind these attacks, they have alarmed the Mozambican government and forced him to deploy the army in Cabo Delgado. Earlier this month, Total and ExxonMobil asked local authorities to send more troops to the region for protection.

Foreign mercenaries also headed to Cabo Delgado. Last year, Russian private military company Wagner won a contract in Mozambique to provide security in the province and help combat the uprising. About 200 of its fighters were deployed and some of them have already been killed.

None of these measures have made local communities safer. The locals tell us that they fear going to their fields. Those who have been displaced and are far from their assigned plots face the possibility of starving.

Residents are also concerned that the pressure to protect foreign investment in the gas industry will further militarize Cabo Delgado and will be the most affected by the fighting between the Mozambican army and the insurgents.

In addition to displacement and insurgency, Cabo Delgado residents face the danger of an environmental disaster due to gas drilling. According to Anadarko's 2014 environmental impact study, the project will produce a large amount of greenhouse gases and sulfur dioxide, introduce new species into the sea and cause soil erosion.

There is a growing fear that gas drilling will affect biodiversity in the area, especially the Quirimbas Archipelago, a UNESCO biosphere that is only 8 km from one of the gas fields on the coast of Cabo Delgado. The archipelago is home to 3,000 floral species, 447 species of birds, eight species of marine mammals, as well as lions, elephants, buffaloes and leopards.

Dredging, waste disposal and physical construction of facilities on land and offshore will significantly diminish much of this ecosystem. Many species will flee the area due to noise and habitat degradation, while the impact of a possible gas leak or spill will be disastrous.

After the first seismic survey conducted by Anadarko in 2008, reports of massive deaths of marine animals emerged.

Unfortunately, it seems that Cabo Delgado is heading down the disastrous road in the province of Tete, where the government handed over 60 percent of local land in concessions to the coal industry. Exploration and mining in the province have caused the forced displacement of more than 1,300 families and have caused a great loss of livelihoods for local communities and great pollution. The locals have reported deaths of people and animals due to contaminated water.

Mozambique already suffers the devastating effects of climate change and its coal and LNG projects, which are more carbon intensive than the extraction and regular processing of natural gas, will only contribute even more to global warming. Both industries are export oriented and there seems to be no comprehensive plan to use these energy resources in the development of the Mozambican economy. And both have left devastated communities behind.

If the Mozambican government does not correct this exploitation relationship with foreign corporations and focuses its efforts on improving the lives of its own people and making local communities weather resistant, the country is heading for a disaster.

President Filipe Nyusi himself admitted that "poverty and unemployment,quot; are driving the insurgency in Cabo Delgado. In the midst of climate devastation, pollution and socioeconomic marginalization due to the operations of foreign energy corporations, it is difficult to see how public anger and violence will not intensify further.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.

More:

Mozambique, rich in gas, could be going towards a disaster | Mozambique - Up News Info

BATASAN, Philippines When the floods invade her home at night and they always do, a little higher each year Pelagia Villarmia curls up on her bed and waits.

Someday soon, she knows, the water will creep past the bamboo slats of her bed. It will keep rising, salty and dark and surprisingly cold.

The seawater has covered the walls of Ms. Villarmias home with murals of mildew. It has gnawed at the legs of furniture and frozen a DVD player with its tray ajar. A corroded picture of Ms. Villarmia and her husband, now dead, hangs on the wall, from back when they were young, hopeful and unaware of the seas hunger.

What is happening to Ms. Villarmia and her neighbors on Batasan, an island in the Philippines, is a harbinger of what residents of low-lying islands and coastal regions around the world will face as the seas rise higher.

In 2013, Batasan was convulsed by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Thousands of aftershocks followed, and the local topography was thrown off-kilter. Batasan and three neighboring islands collapsed downward, making them more vulnerable to the surrounding water.

Now climate change, with its rising sea levels, appears to be dooming a place that has no elevation to spare. The highest point on the islands is less than 6.5 feet above sea level.

When the floods are bad, Ms. Villarmia has learned to subsist on cold rice and coffee. She has grown skilled at tying up her valuables so they dont float away.

She is 80, and she knows the logic of actuarial tables.

I will be gone before Batasan is gone, she said. But Batasan will also disappear.

Around the time of every new and full moon, the sea rushes soundlessly past the trash-strewn shores, up over the single road running along the spine of Batasan, population 1,400, and into peoples homes. The island, part of the Tubigon chain in the central Philippines, is waterlogged at least one-third of the year.

The highest floods are taller than any man here, and they inundate the basketball court. They drown a painting of sea life at the primary school, adding verisimilitude to the cartoonish renderings of grinning sharks and manta rays.

When the tides come, Batasan, densely packed with houses and shacks, smells not of clean sea air but of a deeper rot sodden sofas, drowned documents and saturated sewers that expel human waste into the brine washing through houses.

Only a few of Batasans coconut palms have survived. The rest have been choked by seawater.

People say this is because of the Arctic melting, said Dennis Sucanto, a local resident whose job is to measure the water levels in Batasan each year. I dont understand but thats what they say.

A year after the 2013 earthquake, the local government proposed moving the islanders to new homes an hours boat ride away. Few took the offer.

They wanted us to go to a hilly farming place, said Rodrigo Cosicol, 66, shaking his head at the affront. We are fishermen. We need fish.

We dont fear the water anymore, Mr. Cosicol added. This is our way of living.

This unwillingness of people on Batasan to abandon their homes instead choosing to respond, inch by inch, to a new reality may hold valuable lessons for residents of other vulnerable island states. Rather than uprooting an entire population, with the enormous trauma and cost that entails, the more workable solution might be local adaptations.

The climate refugee message is more sensational but the more realistic narrative from the islanders themselves is adaptation rather than mass migration, said Laurice Jamero, who has researched the Tubigon islands for five years and runs the climate and disaster risk assessment efforts at the Manila Observatory, a research institute.

And Batasans residents have adjusted. They have rolled up their hems. They have placed their houses on blocks of coral stone. They have tethered their goats to sheds on stilts. They have moved most plant life from floodable patches of land to portable pots.

There are other concessions. The Roman Catholic priest at the local church declared that parishioners no longer have to kneel for prayer when the tides are high.

We will find a way to do things because this is our home, said Annie Casquejo, a local health committee member who once worked off the island but has, like many others, returned to Batasan.

Natures constant threat has imprinted resilience on the Philippine DNA.

The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries on earth, victim to typhoons, earthquakes, floods, landslides and tsunamis, among other calamities. Early this year, Taal Volcano sent plumes of ash into the sky, threatening Manila.

Practically speaking, the entire Philippines is a hazardous landscape so people cannot just move somewhere else and be totally safe, said Dakila Kim P. Yee, a sociologist at the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College. We have developed this culture of adaptation and recovery.

More than 23,000 people in the Philippines died from natural hazards from 1997 to 2016, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Its a way of life to deal with environmental challenges like typhoons or tsunamis, said Ms. Jamero, of the Manila Observatory, referring to Tubigon islanders in particular and Filipinos in general. Climate change has a severe impact but this is not totally alien to them so they have the capacity.

On Ubay, an island of 160 residents that is 20 minutes by boat from Batasan, raised walkways connect a warren of shacks. At the primary school, the floor has been lifted higher than many adults, leaving the classrooms jammed in the rafters with less than five feet of space.

Our teachers have to be very short, said John Alipoyo, a local councilor in Ubay. The students already are.

Before the renovation, children would sit in class and slosh their feet in the tides as they studied. Their attention drifted, parents said.

Even as such adaptations help people deal with the effects of the flooding, life on these tiny and hot islands, spread across the Cebu Strait, remains challenging.

Most days, the tropical sun bounces off the coral and sand, refracting into a hard light that gives many islanders a permanent squint. In 2016, it didnt rain for four months. Dynamite fishing and coral bleaching from climate change have robbed the sea of some of its life.

There is no source of fresh water, so residents depend on rainwater or drinking water brought in from elsewhere. People can grow a few herbs and vegetables, but theres no proper farming. Protein comes from the sea sleek anchovies, juicy mussels, fat shrimp and cheap cans of fatty corned beef.

Children on Batasan who are lucky enough to own bikes have one option up and down the main road, the only road.

The concrete strip runs for less than two-thirds of a mile, then peters out in a mangrove swamp near the home of Alma Rebucas, where thigh-high waters regularly infiltrate. She secures the familys utensils lest they float away. Her dog and goats are swimmers. So is the cat.

Ms. Rebucas said she has no plans to move away. The local government is constructing new buildings nearby, a vote of confidence even if its one that rests on raised cinder blocks.

She oversees a fishing business, plucking sea cucumbers, crabs and grouper from the shimmering sea. Life here is like a magic trick, Ms. Rebucas said, making something from nothing.

We dont need much land, she said. We have the whole sea.

See the article here:

Adapting to Rising Seas, Schools Move to the Rafters and Cats Swim - The New York Times

Preparations are continuing over the weekend to use a helicopter to airlift off barrels of oil from a ghost ship stranded on rocks near Ballycotton in east Cork, according to Cork County Council.

According to Cork County Council which is co-ordinating efforts to prevent any pollution from the MV Alta, a marine contractor is continuing with preparations to airlift off barrels of machine oil.

The MV Alta was washed on to rocks at Ballyandreen some 4km west of Ballycotton by Storm Dennis which battered the south and west coasts of Ireland with high seas and strong winds.

Cork County Council hired a marine surveyor to examine the vessel and over the past week, the ship has been inspected to see if there was any risk of fuel or bunker oil spilling and polluting the sea.

The marine surveyor found there was very little diesel left in the fuel tanks but they did find barrels of machine oil and diesel stored in various parts of the 77m long cargo freighter.

Over the past few days, the marine contractor has been bringing those barrels on to the deck of the freighter as well as bringing other barrels aboard to safely store other materials for removal.

According to Cork County Council County Engineer, Kevin Morey, it is hoped to airlift all the barrels from the ship starting on Tuesday providing the weather remains favourable.

Cork County Councils marine contractor is progressing well with preparations for the removal of the oil and other materials identified which could pose a pollution risk in the event of their spillage.

This work will continue throughout the weekend in order to ensure all these materials are ready for their safe removal by helicopter on Tuesday, should weather conditions be suitable, he said.

Mr Morey said the council is again asking members of the public to stay away from the wreck as it is located on a dangerous and inaccessible stretch of coastline and is in an unstable condition.

And he said that as part of the operation, Cork County Council is restricting access to a local cul-de-sac road with access only being permitted for local residents living near Ballyandreen.

The Council also wishes to advise that the lands along this stretch of shoreline are in private ownership and are not open to the public, said Cork County Council in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Revenue Commissioners, who are acting as Receiver of Wreck for the MV Alta, are continuing with efforts to try and trace ownership of the 44 year old abandoned freighter.

The freighter was abandoned in October 2018 when it ran into difficulty while sailing from Greece to Haiti after its main engine broke down over 1,600km off Bermuda and the crew asked for help.

According to Insurance Marine News, the US Coast Guard rescued the crew of ten from Panama, Honduras and Greece when the ship was some 2,000km south east of Bermuda.

The MV Alta at that stage was registered in Tanzania and was owned by Alta Shipping of Miami, Florida and salvage attempts by the owners were made, according to Insurance Marine News.

However the MV Alta began drifting eastwards and the Royal Navy ice patrol ship, HMS Protector came across the abandoned MV Alta off Africa on August 30th, 2019.

The HMS Protector, which was on its way to the Bahamas to assist with hurricane relief, attempted to make contact with the MV Alta but received no response and it continued drifting eastwards.

According to the Marine Traffic website, the MV Alta was by then registered in Norway where having been registered there on May 26th, 2019, having been first registered in Panama on April 1st, 2019.

It appears that both these most recent registration of ownership took place while the ship was abandoned at sea adding to the mystery surrounding the ownership of the ghost ship.

Originally posted here:

Efforts ongoing to prevent pollution from MV Alta wreck - The Irish Times

It may not rival the legendary Flying Dutchman, but the MV Alta is a ghost ship all the same.

The 77-metre "ghost" cargo ship made headlines around the world when it ran aground on rocks off Irelands south coast last weekend after drifting around the Atlantic for more than a year without crew or passengers on board.

The cargo vessels bizarre odyssey came to an end during high seas caused by Storm Dennis when it ran aground near Ballycotton, a fishing village in County Cork, overlooking the Celtic Sea.

Unlike the mythical ghost ships of ocean lore, there is no real mystery around why the Alta, built in 1976, was abandoned. The story began in September 2018 when it became disabled in the mid-Atlantic en route from Greece to Haiti.

The 10 crew members spent 20 days on board as it floated 2,220 kilometres southeast of Bermuda, before they were taken off by the crew of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. The coast guard said at the time it was working with the ships owner to arrange a tug back to shore but the ships subsequent movements are unknown.

It is believed the Alta was hijacked twice in the process of being salvaged and came on the radar again in August 2019 when a British Royal Navy ice-patrol ship found it drifting in the mid-Atlantic.

While definitely newsworthy, the abandoned ships voyage to Ireland is not entirely without precedent as we see from todays spooky list of Five Real Life Ghost Ships...

Read the full story at the Free Press, including accounts of the five greatest mysteries, from the Marie Celeste to the Jiang Seng, which was discovered drifting off the Queensland coast in 2006.

See original here:

Ghost ships that drifted the oceans - My Sailing

THE MV ALTA DISCOVERED BY A JOGGER NEAR BALLYCOTTON LAST WEEK WASHED UP IN CORK AFTER A 17-MONTH CREWLESS ATLANTIC VOYAGE

A winter afternoon run along a desolate cliff top pathway is as good a time as any to see a ghost. Last Sunday, Barry McDonald could feel the gale at his back. He regularly jogs this rugged strip of Co Cork coastline between Ballyandreen and Ballycotton but the previous day it had been under siege by storm and blustering winds.

About 200 yards out along the cliff path his eye caught something over his right shoulder. As he turned he saw a hulk of white rusted metal pitched along the crags of a half-mile-wide cove.

It just came into view as I ran along the cliff, he says of the MV Alta, the so-called ghost ship whose prolonged disappearance on the high seas came to an end at that moment. I could see it was up on the rocks but I couldnt understand how it was there.

McDonald was astonished by its sudden appearance, at a spot between the locally known Skur and Ceann Capaill rock. I was thinking, had it happened during the week and nobody told me about it? Was I not around?

It was all the more unusual for McDonald, an RNLI volunteer whose network of contacts would surely have heard about such a major nautical event on their doorstep. They hadnt. McDonald ran on from the cliff walk and quickly rang the Coast Guard.

In the week since, the story of the mysterious arrival of the abandoned 77-metre (250ft) cargo ship has been recounted around the world. Those claiming to own the vessel have made contact with the authorities and the long process of resolving its ultimate fate is now under way.

Its emergence on the rocky Cork shore concludes a lonely trans-Atlantic journey of about 17 months. The unmanned voyage of the Tanzanian flagged Alta began in October, 2018. Its 10-strong crew had been adrift in the wild Atlantic for three weeks, unable to make repairs and running out of food, and had to be rescued by the US Coast Guards Cutter Confidence about 1,380 nautical miles southeast of Bermuda.

Little has been reported about the ships activities at this time. One marine source, however, remarks that its ambitious voyage from Greece to Haiti a distance of almost 5,000 nautical miles was not in keeping with its size and design. This class of boat is more likely to be engaged in near continental trade, a term that refers to boats hugging coastlines in specific areas such as the Mediterranean or Persian Gulf.

The following July, long after its crew had been plucked to safety, an unverified report emerged in the Maritime Bulletin suggesting the ship may have been towed toward Guyana in South America before being hijacked and abandoned for a second time.

That is uncertain, but what is definite is that its next confirmed sighting was by the icebreaker HMS Protector, the Royal Navys scientific research ship, in August or September 2019. It never released an exact location. The Protector attempted to make contact with a crew that was no longer there and eventually sailed away.

Its rare that something of this size would be wandering around for a long time but it does happen, and this wont be the last, explains Cormac Gebruers, head of college at the National Maritime College of Ireland in Cork.

The idea of a large steel ship floating around unnoticed for months on end is a difficult one for many to take in. But, as Gebruers explains, the vastness of the oceans is not always easy to process.

Something even the size of a 77-metre steel vessel when you drop it into the centre of the Atlantic Ocean, its a very large area. Its not unusual, if it dropped out of regularly travelled shipping lanes, that it wouldnt be sighted for many months.

Even in shipping lanes, a typical distance between large vessels is often in the order of 50-100 miles. They dont see each other.

As a former navigator on super tankers sailing between the Persian Gulf and the US, Gebruers would often travel the leg between Capetown, South Africa and the Caribbean via the south Atlantic. Over the course of three weeks they might spot two other ships. The oceans are vast.

The most likely scenario for the Alta after its abandonment in the Atlantic was that it got snagged in the Gulf Stream, and was pushed up along the northeast coast of the US and Canada and then northeast across the Atlantic towards the Irish coast.

In August 2019, an article in the trade Merco Press reported the HMS Protector was in Middlesbrough for maintenance work. The following month she was due to sail for the Bahamas for disaster relief efforts.

The Protectors precise whereabouts when it sighted the Alta are unknown, but Gebruers says a reasonable hypothesis is that she was sailing southwest when she encountered the Alta in the mid-Atlantic.

She would probably have passed through the Azores, so theres a good chance she would have run into the Alta somewhere about 700 miles southwest of Ireland, he says. That position is about 500 miles northwest of the Azores which is kind of about where you would expect something floating from the Gulf Stream and into the North Atlantic Drift to be.

Based on those assumptions, Gebruers reckons the Alta would have drifted about four nautical miles a day at an approximate speed of 0.2 knots.

The romantic notion of a ghost ship lurching aimlessly, endlessly on the ocean swells quickly disappears when it runs aground. At sea, the Alta would have been a silent, foreboding monster. In the cold daylight of the southern Irish coast, however, she is quickly reduced to the reality of a rusting hull of peeling paint, with a lingering smell of diesel.

This week, in keeping with procedure on washed-up ships, an officer of the Revenue Commissioners was appointed Receiver of Wrecks by the Minister of Transport essentially custodian of the whole mess.

This function, under the Merchant Shipping (Salvage & Wreck) Act, 1993, is designed to apply legal process to managing the ships carcass, and the costs associated with doing so. It is with this office the Altas apparent owners would have made contact, and their bona fides are currently under review.

Several owners have been registered for the vessel; the last change of hands appears to have occurred in 2017. With the complexities of maritime law, actual ship owners can be difficult to ascertain amid a complex weave of registered, often international companies.

Those claiming to own the Alta have not been identified by Irish authorities. Why they have come forward to claim the ship now is unclear. Nobody can know for certain although, according to Darren Lehane, a barrister specialising in maritime law, there is no legal responsibility on anyone to deal with an empty vessel in the middle of nowhere.

[For] ships on the high seas, if they are stateless or abandoned it only becomes an issue for a [specific] country if it comes into our waters. The high seas are kind of stateless, he explains.

There are a lot more vessels out there than people think. A lot of small boats dont have to be registered.

All kinds are left on the ebb and flow of the worlds oceans, he says official counts put the number anywhere between 6,000 and 9,000 every year.

Sometimes they are set adrift because of shady activity (drug trafficking); sometimes because their owners simply no longer want them or cant afford them. Sometimes they simply break down and are not worth fixing. Few, however, are the size of the Alta.

Ian Urbina, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author of The Outlaw Ocean, a detailed examination of illegal practices at sea, says the Alta case first and foremost raises questions about its former crew.

What were the conditions that led them to stay on a ship that was broken down for three weeks? he wonders. And also, what fate has befallen them since they were rescued?

Urbina points out that apart from some troubled waters in certain parts of the world, comparable cases of large empty vessels floating aimlessly are not common.

In Ireland, Lehane says the number of such cases in which a Receiver of Wrecks is appointed is probably relatively few. Those that do occur are usually linked to storms.

The Department of Transport says instances in recent years arise infrequently and many of these are low-value, small abandoned boats or parts thereof washed ashore, with no pollution risks. No financial information regarding costs is available.

In such cases, where wrecks are spotted they must be reported to the Receiver (in reality, this means the authorities). If a treasure chest washes up ashore, you cant just take it, explains Lehane.

As an extension of centuries old maritime logic, the notion of those who rescue boats before they come to harm being rewarded for their efforts has continued in modern law.

As for the Alta, while it may consist of relatively worthless scrap metal and a bit of diesel, no third party has a claim because she washed up on the rocks. Her case falls under the law of derelict ships.

In these circumstances owners are encouraged to provide financial security for costs and their proof of ownership quickly in order to keep costs down. They are entitled to the return of their property only when they have settled any outstanding fees and expenses, in this case to the State.

Time is ticking. Earlier this week, a marine salvage expert warned that while an operation to remove the ship was a relatively easy task for now, it would become more difficult and more expensive. There are also environmental concerns and no matter how downplayed they may be, pressure will build for as long as the hull is allowed to fester.

On Tuesday morning the boots of Cork County Council contractors stomped through the empty decks to begin inspecting conditions onboard, probably the first human activity in many months. Plans are being drawn up, the owners are engaged; the 2,300 tonnes of steel will one day leave this small Cork inlet one way or another.

In the meantime, as Barry McDonald jogs near the ongoing salvage operation in the weeks ahead, he will be thinking about his small role at the centre of a story that this region has seen play out before. History is repeating itself.

Almost exactly 125 years ago, about two miles west of the site of the Alta, another ghost ship came to haunt the east Cork shoreline. In February, 1895 the remains of the Swedish brig Saga were discovered at Kellys Cove. Derelict and rudderless, not a single person was found aboard.

Go here to read the rest:

MV Alta: The unmanned voyage of the Ballycotton ghost ship - The Irish Times

TUNIS - The sight of some 3,000 camels being evacuated from Tripoli port and herded along the main road towards Zawia, 40km away, was unusual, even in an overcrowded city that has become used to the unusual while under siege for the past 10 months.

Traffic was halted February 20 as police blocked roads to ensure the safe and steady progress of the camels. Camels used to be a common enough sight in and around Tripoli but that was long ago and even then not 3,000 at one go.

The camels arrived in Tripoli port February 17, the ninth anniversary of the Libyan revolution and the day before the Libyan National Army (LNA) attacked the port.

The LNA said it hit a Turkish vessel carrying weapons to the Government of National Accord (GNA). After port officials said that no vessel had been hit but that a warehouse had, the LNA said that it had carried out a defensive operation, targeting a building used to store arms and equipment that had recently arrived on a Turkish ship.

Turkish officials were quoted as saying the LNA targeted a Turkish vessel but missed.

Turkish ships have continued to deliver arms and equipment to Tripoli the past five weeks despite promises January 19 at the Berlin Conference on Libya by Turkey and other countries not to do so.

That resulted in the scathing comment from UN Deputy Special Representative Stephanie Williams at a Berlin follow-up meeting February 16 in Munich that the arms embargo has become a joke.

Like Berlin, the Munich meeting was little more than a talking shop even though German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told his counterparts from 11 countries that words agreed in Berlin now must be followed by deeds and that violations of the arms embargo had to stop. There were no hard-hitting deeds, just more words.

There was an unwillingness on Maass part and that of most others to condemn Turkey and the other violators or take measures against them. The sanctions busters were not brought to heel. On the contrary, Maas said Turkey would be an important partner in turning the truce into a permanent and effective ceasefire.

The sanctions busters were given the unmistakable message that nothing meaningful would be done to stop them from flooding Libya with weapons.

It was left to EU foreign ministers meeting February 17 to come up with plans to monitor possible arms shipments to Libya. To satisfy Austria, which threatened to veto the idea because migrants would head straight towards European navy vessels so as to be rescued and taken to Europes shores, it was decided to mount the new operation at arms length. Monitoring is to be done at least 100km from the Libyan coast, which raises the likelihood it would be ineffective because sanctions busters may be able to sail around monitoring vessels.

Questions were also asked whether the European Union would challenge and board ships suspected of taking arms to Libya, especially if those vessels are Turkish.

Italian authorities halted a cargo ship in Genoa at the beginning of February following allegations by a crew member that the vessel had been used to smuggle tanks and military vehicles from Turkey to Libya but the ship was already in an Italian port and its current ownership is Lebanese. Detaining a ship on the high seas would be a very different matter.

Unlike the Munich talks, the Tripoli port attack has changed a great deal. Not only did it expose the truce as a sham, it threatened to unravel the international communitys diplomatic efforts to end the Libyan conflict.

The GNA responded by pulling out of the second round of 5+5 military talks, which had begun in Geneva the same day as the attack. There were also threats that members of the Tripoli-based High Council of State would pull out of UN-mentored political talks starting February 26 in Geneva.

After what was believed to have been outside significant pressure on Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, the GNA recommitted to dialogue. However, the disconnect between international efforts for peace and what the two sides and their respective backers do on the ground in Libya has become wider.

Responding to the announcement of the EU arms monitoring plans, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the European Union of interfering in the region. It did not have the right to make any decision concerning Libya, he insisted.

Erdogan also said Turkey would continue to back Sarraj and the GNA until it gained full control of all Libya. That is significant. Previously the Turkish promise was to ensure full GNA control of the greater Tripoli area.

The stage appears set for more bitter conflict. Sarraj was in Istanbul February 20 to coordinate with Erdogan, just hours after Libyan National Army Field-Marshal Khalifa Haftar was in Moscow to coordinate with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoygu.

The Russians said Shoigu and Haftar stressed the importance of the talks in January, mentored by the Russians and Turks, which had established the now vanishing Tripoli truce, suggesting there needed to be more of the same.

In an interview in Russias Sputnik News, while he was in Moscow, Haftar said he was losing patience with the GNA and that it was using the truce as cover to transfer Syrian mercenaries, Turkish soldiers as well as terrorists and weapons to Tripoli. In doing so, the GNA was violating the ceasefire, he claimed, not the LNA in hitting out at the violations.

The Russians indicated that they may try for another attempt to bring the two sides together.

The same day as the Tripoli port attack, Russian and Italian foreign and defence officials were in Rome talking about Libya. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the two countries would have further special consultations on a possible solution to the Libyan crisis.

Read more from the original source:

Despite talks, more fighting likely in Libya | Michel Cousins - The Arab Weekly

Disaster is looming for the Parsifal III crew if they dont start communicating better. Pic credit: Bravo

Sign up now for our Entertainment newsletter!

The Below Deck: Sailing Yacht sneak peek shows the Parsifal III getting ready to hit the dock as the deck crew struggles to avoid an accident.

There is drama on the high seas in the latest episode of the Bravo show.

If the preview clip is any indication of what viewers are in store for, it going to be a really good episode of Below Deck: Sailing Yacht. Nothing rattles a crew or charter guests quicker than a possible collision with a dock.

The video shows Captain Glenn Shephard letting his first mate, Paget Berry, as well as deckhands Ciara Duggan and Parker McCown, know to get the yacht ready for docking.

There are choppy waters near the dock, which Paget observes, but he still begins to lower the sails per the captains request.

Paget lets Ciara and Parker both know the weather is not ideal, so they need to be on top of their game. They all three agree communication is going to be vital to getting the Parsifal III docked safely.

The first mate then tells the confessional that the winds are tricky. However, the crew must be careful because if the yacht is not docked correctly, it could do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the sailboat.

It is easy to see in the footage that the water is extremely choppy, and the wind is powerful.

Parker is inexperienced when it comes to being a deckhand. He even tells Paget in the first part of the clip to just let him know precisely what to do.

Well, as Captain Glenn is trying to dock the yacht, both Parker and Ciara throw lines incorrectly to the men waiting on the dock.

The footage cuts out after a dramatic glimpse of the charter guests overhearing the deck crew arguing and Captain Glenn asking for guidance.

Where the captain is on the yacht, he has no view of what is going on with his crew or how close the sailboat is to crashing into the dock.

Of course, fans will have to tune in to find out if the crew of the Parsifal III manages to get the boat docked safety or if it collides. One thing is for sure, whatever the outcome is, Captain Glenn and Paget are not going to be happy.

Even if there is no accident and lets be honest, there probably isnt, having guests witness the drama with the crew and an almost crash is not good.

Captain Glenn is going to have words with the deck crew for various reasons after the incident.

Below Deck: Sailing Yacht airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.

Continued here:

Parsifal III looks like its going to hit the dock in Below Deck: Sailing Yacht sneak peek - Monsters and Critics

Birgit Rhode, Landcare Research

This 2mm beetle species evolved here 40 million years ago and survived the Oligocene mass extinction 23m years ago.

New Zealand science has exactly one specimen of a beetle that evolved here 40 million years ago.

Called Tatakiteana marskeae, it is known only from one mountainsidein Oparara, north of Karamea on the West Coast. It's of "very high conservation concern", says Dr Thomas Buckley of Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research.

It probably lived mostly in leaf litter or deadwood and the specimen is slightly longer than 2 millimetres.

It's not a fossil. It was collected in 2007 anddescribed and named in 2018.

READ MORE:* Subantarctic beetles: Did they originate in Gondwana?* Stuff to publish New Zealand's daily carbon count in print and online* Newly-discovered pigeon species related to the dodo lived in NZ millions of years ago

Buckley and colleagues recently studied this beetle and 764 other individual beetles using sophisticated DNA analysistechniques. They identified 15-20 lineages of zopherid beetles that were living on Zealandia about 23 million years ago.

Between three and 11 of these lineages probably date back to when the continent of Zealandia separated from Gondwana about 82myears ago.

Buckley was mostly interested in which beetle lineages were alive 23myears ago because that's the peak of the Oligocene Drowning.

The drowning was caused by the sinking of the New Zealand landmass and some geologists have proposed that all of Zealandia was underwater for probablysome millionsof years.

If that happened, then no Gondwanaspecies survived on land and every living thing on these islands are more recent arrivals.

But since the drowning proposal was made more than 25 years ago, DNA sequencing was developed and biologists have shown that many species on New Zealand today probably had ancestors that survived the Oligocene Drowning and a smaller group whose ancestors were alive on Gondwana.

These include various types of tuatara, frogs, wrens, crayfish, centipedes, weta, dragonflies, velvet worms, freshwater mussels and other shellfish, as well as 10 lineages of spider-like mite harvestmen.

Some trees mountain rimu and cypress as well as the native shrub griselinia and liverwort have also been traced back to Gondwana.

Today, it's thought that the land area of New Zealand was reduced to about 18 per cent of its current size by the Oligocene Drowning more than enough land for some species to survive but also causing the extinction of many others.

All of these ancient lineages must have beenrobust because they survived highglobal temperatures and high seas, as well as existingthrough many ice ages and numerous volcanic periods. They also survived the events 65myears ago that wiped out the dinosaurs.

"We find no evidence of an Oligocene mass extinction event" for these beetles, the authors concluded.

Zopherid beetles in New Zealand are notably diverse compared to overseas cousins and that adds to their interest for biologists, Buckley said.

About 190 NZ species have been described and there are probably many more undiscovered.

Some species don't have hindwings, meaning they can't fly. If their ancestors couldn't fly, then surviving the numerous environmental changes would have been more difficult and making their survival more remarkable.

Dating a species back millions of years depends on DNA sequencing, fossil and other calibrations, as well as statistical analysis.

The techniques left Buckley and colleagues with some uncertainty. Only one of the two calibration models showed lineages dating back to Gondwana for example. And the broad range of speciesidentified as that old (three to 11) illustrates the current limits of the science.

These uncertainties have been used by other scientiststo argue that a total drowning occurred during theOligocene.

Read this article:

Hardy beetles survived all that Zealandia threw at them for 40 million years - Stuff.co.nz

whats-on, music-theatre-arts,

The Call of the Wild (PG) 2 stars By the look of the bio of the American author, Jack London, there was a time when he answered the call of the wild himself. After many adventures on the road and the high seas, he decided to settle for earning his living as a writer. It was only after he had done a lot of living. A high school dropout at 14, he worked as a sailor in San Francisco Bay, then travelled to Japan. On his return to the US, he rode freight trains across the country with the down-and-out, educating himself at public libraries, and became a socialist along the way. At 19 years of age he entered university after a cram course but quit his studies again to make his fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush. It was his muscular adventure stories set in the Yukon, like The Call of the Wild (1903) and its reverse narrative companion piece, White Fang (1906), in which a wild dog is domesticated, that first made him popular with the reading public. One wonders what London would have made of the latest movie version of The Call of the Wild, in particular what they've done to the dog Buck. The film written for the screen by Michael Green (who co-wrote Blade Runner 2049) and directed by Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch) sticks to the original story. There are some changes to the ethnicity of several key characters that will make it acceptable to 21st century filmgoers. Nothing about the main character, Buck, a Saint Bernard-Scotch Collie cross, needed changing. He was the best of loved pets and had the perfect life with kind and caring owners on a farm in California until he was stolen by one of their staff who was short of cash. Buck changes owners a couple of times, is taken north and ends up on a team of sled dogs, delivering the US Mail in the Yukon. As luck would have it, his newest owner is a good and kind man. Omar Sy (such a likeable presence in The Intouchables), a French actor of African descent , plays Perrault, the dog sled master. His companion Mercedes is played Canadian first nations actor, Cara Gee. They make a far more attractive, winning couple than the pair who drove the sled in the novel. Buck has adjustments to make in his new life. He has to learn to be part of a pack dog and resist haring off after the first rabbit he sees, and he has to toughen up, and overcome his 'Californian' paws, and get used to running on snow and ice. Buck, a massive 140-pound pooch who is all heart and courage, should be totally endearing. The problem is he is totally CGI and looks real enough, but has been given a range of cute facial expressions from concerned to kind to quizzical to forlorn to crestfallen that are nothing more than CGI visual effects. It looks so fake. Since London's novel was first adapted for the screen in 1923 there have been a number of film and TV versions. A recent film was in the 1970s with the late Charlton Heston, the embodiment of rugged frontiersman, who became a high-profile proponent in the US for the right to bear arms. As you might expect, Buck, was then played by a dog with four-legs. Here Buck has been played by Trevor Notary, an actor with a gymnastics background who is known for his motion capture performances as creatures in Avatar, Planet of the Apes, and The Hobbit. Perhaps the kids won't notice or mind that this doggy protagonist has been anthropomorphised so much you can hardly recognise him. It's good, though, to see Harrison Ford again, looking hirsute and homespun here, as John Thornton, the man who forms a close bond with Buck and takes him on the last leg of his journey into the wild. Ford also provides the voiceover with lines that help reinforce the moral points that this family-friendly film wishes to make for children. Something like "we come and go, but nature's wilderness is always here". Fair enough. If this is a journey to find Buck's inner wolf, why make him so fake?

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/9gmjQxX8MpSQh6J68NHMnY/913da233-776b-4809-bfe0-b435ad31698f.jpg/r264_0_1783_858_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

REVIEW

February 23 2020 - 12:00AM

The Call of the Wild (PG)

By the look of the bio of the American author, Jack London, there was a time when he answered the call of the wild himself.

After many adventures on the road and the high seas, he decided to settle for earning his living as a writer. It was only after he had done a lot of living.

A high school dropout at 14, he worked as a sailor in San Francisco Bay, then travelled to Japan. On his return to the US, he rode freight trains across the country with the down-and-out, educating himself at public libraries, and became a socialist along the way.

At 19 years of age he entered university after a cram course but quit his studies again to make his fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush.

Harrison Ford and CGI dog Buck. Picture: Supplied

It was his muscular adventure stories set in the Yukon, like The Call of the Wild (1903) and its reverse narrative companion piece, White Fang (1906), in which a wild dog is domesticated, that first made him popular with the reading public.

One wonders what London would have made of the latest movie version of The Call of the Wild, in particular what they've done to the dog Buck.

The film written for the screen by Michael Green (who co-wrote Blade Runner 2049) and directed by Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch) sticks to the original story. There are some changes to the ethnicity of several key characters that will make it acceptable to 21st century filmgoers.

Nothing about the main character, Buck, a Saint Bernard-Scotch Collie cross, needed changing. He was the best of loved pets and had the perfect life with kind and caring owners on a farm in California until he was stolen by one of their staff who was short of cash.

Buck changes owners a couple of times, is taken north and ends up on a team of sled dogs, delivering the US Mail in the Yukon.

As luck would have it, his newest owner is a good and kind man. Omar Sy (such a likeable presence in The Intouchables), a French actor of African descent , plays Perrault, the dog sled master.

His companion Mercedes is played Canadian first nations actor, Cara Gee. They make a far more attractive, winning couple than the pair who drove the sled in the novel.

Buck has adjustments to make in his new life. He has to learn to be part of a pack dog and resist haring off after the first rabbit he sees, and he has to toughen up, and overcome his 'Californian' paws, and get used to running on snow and ice.

Buck, a massive 140-pound pooch who is all heart and courage, should be totally endearing. The problem is he is totally CGI and looks real enough, but has been given a range of cute facial expressions from concerned to kind to quizzical to forlorn to crestfallen that are nothing more than CGI visual effects.

Since London's novel was first adapted for the screen in 1923 there have been a number of film and TV versions. A recent film was in the 1970s with the late Charlton Heston, the embodiment of rugged frontiersman, who became a high-profile proponent in the US for the right to bear arms.

As you might expect, Buck, was then played by a dog with four-legs.

Here Buck has been played by Trevor Notary, an actor with a gymnastics background who is known for his motion capture performances as creatures in Avatar, Planet of the Apes, and The Hobbit.

Perhaps the kids won't notice or mind that this doggy protagonist has been anthropomorphised so much you can hardly recognise him.

It's good, though, to see Harrison Ford again, looking hirsute and homespun here, as John Thornton, the man who forms a close bond with Buck and takes him on the last leg of his journey into the wild.

Ford also provides the voiceover with lines that help reinforce the moral points that this family-friendly film wishes to make for children.

Something like "we come and go, but nature's wilderness is always here". Fair enough.

If this is a journey to find Buck's inner wolf, why make him so fake?

Read more:

The Call of the Wild is a picturesque cinematic journey that is ruined by the use of a CGI dog - The Canberra Times

Snow in the West Wicklow hills on February 11, 2020.RollingNews.ie

Storm Dennis is set to hit Ireland from February 15 to February 17

As Storm Dennis nears Ireland, Met ireann has issued weather warnings for several counties across the country.

Read More: More weather warnings for Ireland in the wake of Storm Ciara

On Tuesday, Met ireann, Irelands meteorological service, issued a Status Yellow warning for several counties:

Status Yellow - Snow/Ice warning for Connacht, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Dublin, Louth, and Wicklow

Icy in parts tonight with wintry outbreaks. Some snow accumulations possible before morning, mainly across the north and on higher ground elsewhere.

Valid: 8 pm Wednesday, February 12 to 10 am Thursday, February 13

Issued: 8 pm Tuesday, February 11; Updated: 12:29 pm Wednesday, February 12.

Additionally, Met ireann issued two marine warnings:

Status Yellow - Gale Warning

Cyclonic variable winds will reach gale or strong gale force 9 tonight on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea.

Status Yellow - Small Craft Warning

Westerly veering southwesterly will reach force 6 at times today on all Irish coastal waters.

Read More: Met ireann issues weather warnings ahead of Storm Ciara

The warnings come as Storm Dennis is set to descend upon Ireland from Saturday, February 15 through Monday, February 17.

Met ireann shared this visual of Storm Dennis' predicted path:

Our Atlantic chart shows precipitation and pressure forecast in 6 hour intervals for the next 7 days.https://t.co/9Giuj4CR5mThe national forecast and the national outlook for the coming days can be found here.https://t.co/9gKN6SVok4 pic.twitter.com/Mi9ayqXON4

Met ireann's meteorologists said: Storm Dennis is forecast to track to the north of Ireland and the UK over the weekend. It will likely bring periods of very wet and windy weather, with some stormy conditions possible, particularly later Sunday into Monday.

The Meteorological Situation: Cold air is forecast to exit Canada and enter the North Atlantic Ocean over the next few days, creating a sharp temperature gradient in the atmosphere. This will result in an intensification of the jet stream, shown in the graphics below, which will direct low-pressure systems towards Ireland.

Gales are likely in coastal areas on Saturday with fresh to strong winds inland. Winds could increase further on Sunday, possibly becoming stormy, particularly along western coasts. It will be very gusty too over the weekend, with some damaging gusts possible.

Flooding issues: We are entering into a period of transition between Spring (High) Tides and Neap (Low) Tides. This means there will not be a large variation between high and low tides. The combination of high seas and strong winds or perhaps stormy conditions, may increase the possibility of coastal flooding, especially along western and southern coasts due to wave transformation.

Storm Dennis may also bring very wet conditions with localized flooding possible. River levels are elevated across much of the midlands so any heavy rainfall would cause issues here.

Storm Naming: Storm Dennis is the fourth named storm of the season. The naming convention now also includes the Dutch meteorological service, KNMI as well as our existing partner UKMO. Storms are named to aid the communication of approaching severe weather, helping the public to be better placed to keep themselves, their property and businesses safe.

Read More: It snowed in Ireland, which means this Irish word started trending on Twitter

Snow in the West Wicklow hills on February 11, 2020.RollingNews.ie

Here is the original post:

Weather warnings in place in parts of Ireland ahead of Storm Dennis - IrishCentral

OLDE SCHOOL: RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

Say huzzah to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival, back for the first of seven weekends of time travel. Join kings queens, jugglers, mimes and madrigals for archery contests, jousts and a human chess match in the acreage next to the Museum of Science and Industry. Ren Fest fans are known to dress up in costume, grab a turkey leg and wander the grounds. The festival has themes, starting with this weekends Wine, Romance and Song featuring a chocolate festival with free samples, Cupcake Crusades and a banner and mural competition. Other themed weekends are Highland Fling (Feb. 22-23), Pirates and Pups (Feb. 29-March 1), Barbarian Brew Fest (March 7-8), Shamrocks and Shenanigans (March 14-15), High Seas Adventure (March 21-22) and Wonders of the World (March 28-29). $22.95, $18.95 seniors, $14.95 ages 5-12, 4 and younger free. 11315 N 46th St., Tampa. (813) 983-0111. bayarearenfest.com.

The indoor dirt bike racing championship series known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross roars in. Dirt will be hauled in to create a series of obstacles and jumps for the motocross riders to master. The series is composed of 17 races inside stadiums all over North America, and the Tampa stop is about halfway through the season. Every week, the athletes seek to outperform each other on custom-designed tracks that feature a combination of obstacles such as whoop sections (where riders skim along the tops of multiple bumps), rhythm sections (irregular series of jumps with a variety of combination options) and triple jumps (three jumps in a row cleared in a single leap of 70 feet or more). $15-$95. 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Raymond James Stadium, 4201 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. supercrosslive.com.

Valentines Day weekend might be a good time to take a date to comedian Mark Cordes show, The Spouse Whisperer. The critically acclaimed one-man show is described as a comedic journey of the funny stuff that happens between love at first sight and till death do us part. $34.50. 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. (813) 229-7827. strazcenter.org.

Before indulging in tempting eats like the Cheesy Tater Corn Dog at the Florida State Fair, grab some exercise. The inaugural Deep-Fried Dash 5K & Fun Run takes you on a tour through the 116th annual events main attractions through the midway, the assembly of outdoor vendors preparing dreamy fair foods, the agriculture starting and ending at one of the entertainment stages. Fair admission is included with participation. Benefits the Florida State Fair Foundation. $30 and up at bit.ly/deepfrieddash. The fair continues through Monday with the countrys largest midway, animal exhibits and live music. $11-$14, $9 seniors, $6-$8 children; $20-$30 armbands. 9 a.m. daily. Florida State Fairgrounds, 4800 U.S. 301, Tampa.

Here is the original post:

Top things to do in Tampa Bay this weekend: Feb. 14-16 - Tampa Bay Times