BANGKOK/BHUBANESWAR, India: On a hot, humid afternoon on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in eastern India, construction worker Sabitri Mahanand frets about increasingly “dangerous” summers. Carrying over a dozen bricks on her head, she fears getting sunstroke while at work, but home offers no respite either.
“When the day’s work is over, I’m so exhausted that I often don’t want to cook food but I have no choice,” said Mahanand, 35, wiping the sweat from her face with a cloth wrapped around her waist. “I have to feed myself, my husband and my son.”
The ancient city of Bhubaneswar is the capital of Odisha state — one of the few parts of South Asia that has a heat emergency plan.
Odisha’s government departments have been asked to put in place measures in anticipation of heat waves this summer.
The world has already experienced three record-breaking hot years in a row, and the rising global temperature could have profound effects for health, work and staple food supplies for hundreds of millions of people, climate scientists told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The poor in urban slums in developing nations are particularly at risk, they said, while solutions to cool homes and bodies that do not hike climate-changing emissions remain elusive.
Even if the world is able to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a goal set by governments in Paris in 2015 — by 2050, around 350 million people in megacities such as Lagos in Nigeria and Shanghai in China could still be exposed to deadly heat each year, according to a recent study by British researchers.
Estimates from the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International (ISET-International) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), both based in Colorado, are even higher. By mid-century, some 300 million Indians and Bangladeshis in the lower Ganges Valley alone will lack sufficient power to run electric fans or air conditioning to combat rising temperatures, they predict.
Fawad Khan, senior economist with ISET-International — which has conducted studies on heat stress, when the body absorbs more heat than is tolerable — describes heat as a “silent killer” and the world’s “biggest impending climate-related hazard.”
“First, your quality of life is going to deteriorate. You don’t feel well, your children don’t perform well at school, your physical and mental ability is affected,” he said.
“The husbands work all day and come back tired and cannot sleep, children cry because it’s too hot, and women say they have more domestic quarrels. These things take a huge toll, and they’re immeasurable,” he said.
Heat index
Contrary to popular perception, temperature alone is not the best indicator of heat stress, and the heat index — a measure that combines temperature and humidity — is more useful, scientists said.
Humidity should be taken into account because it limits the body’s ability to cool via sweating, said Tom Matthews, a climatologist at Liverpool John Moores University in England who contributed to the UK research paper.
A 2014 study conducted by ISET-Pakistan looked at two of the largest hospitals in two Pakistani cities, and found heat stroke was occurring not in the hottest month but when the heat index was highest.
Heat stroke occurs when the body overheats and can be life-threatening.
Extreme heat can also lead to heat exhaustion and severe dehydration, and can aggravate cardiac conditions, kidney disorders and psychiatric illness, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Southeast Asia director at the World Health Organization.
Most warnings about heat stress focus on peak temperatures during the day, but rising night-time temperatures are adding to the indirect effects, said NCAR scientist Caspar Ammann.
A report by Australia’s Climate Council estimated that in 2015, nearly 3,500 people died in India and Pakistan from heat waves — defined as three exceptionally hot days in a row.
Recent fatal heat waves were a result of a 0.8 degree Celsius rise in temperatures from pre-industrial levels, the UK study said. Heat waves caused by a further increase of 0.7 degrees — if the world sticks to its 1.5 degree Celsius limit — could be even more severe, it warned.
Vimal Mishra, assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Gandhinagar, said heat stress and heat waves could lead to loss of productivity and earnings, livestock deaths, higher food prices and water shortages.
Raising awareness among the general population and setting up region-wide warning systems will be key, he said.
“We are not acting as fast as we are seeing — every year we see a new anomaly,” added Mishra, whose 2015 research found a significant increase in the number of heat waves between 1973 and 2012, while the frequency of cold waves declined.
Recycled roofs
Scientists say the threat is especially high for the urban poor who live in houses with concrete or tin roofs that absorb heat, and there are few low-energy technologies to counter this.
Roofs made of concrete, the most common material in Pakistan, elevate night-time temperatures indoors by approximately 3 degrees Celsius, ISET-Pakistan found.
In South and Southeast Asia, the heat comes before and with the monsoon, NCAR’s Ammann said. The moisture in the air boosts humidity, which shade can combat only so far.
“High humidity limits the radiative cooling at night,” he said.
Solutions used in other parts of the world, such as basements dug into the cooler ground, tend to flood in Asia unless they have concrete foundations, which many cannot afford, Ammann added.
One inexpensive measure is to paint roofs white so they reflect the sun more effectively, suggested P.K. Mohapatra, special relief commissioner for Odisha.
Meanwhile, a new modular roofing system made with recycled agricultural and packaging waste, called ModRoof, may offer an option for cooling homes without using electricity.
Produced by ReMaterials, a company based in Gujarat, India, the roofs can lower the temperature inside by 6 to 10 degrees Celsius compared with metal and cement roofing, founder Hasit Ganatra told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
So far 75 roofs have been installed in Ahmedabad’s slums, but they aren’t cheap, with an average cost of $772 per family.
Ganatra said the company’s all-women sales team is working with micro-finance firms to make the product more affordable for the poor.
Hundreds of millions of poor menaced by ‘silent killer’: heat
Hundreds of millions of poor menaced by ‘silent killer’: heat
British woman claims record run across Australia
SYDNEY: British former footballer Fran Hurndall completed a 3,800-kilometer (2,360-mile) charity run across Australia on Sunday, claiming the fastest time on record for a woman.
Raising money for victims of domestic violence, Hurndall ran the distance from Perth to Sydney in 60 days, her team said, despite suffering from an Achilles tendon injury and infected blisters.
“The run has been a wild ride and the physical and mental struggle has been unbelievable,” the 33-year-old said in a statement.
“What I have had to go through is absolutely nothing compared to the struggle of those women who live with the threat of domestic violence every single day.”
Hurndall finished 17 days quicker than the previous claimed women’s record in 2023, a team spokeswoman said, adding that she planned to lodge her accomplishment with Guinness World Records.
Nigerian Dambe boxing goes global — amulets and charms included
- The Dambe World Series kicked off in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Saturday in the latest evolution of a sport that traces its roots back centuries among west Africa’s Hausa speakers
ABUJA: The first strikes in Dambe are thrown before the boxers even leave their house.
Fighters don charms and amulets, dye their fist or even score their arm with a razor, inserting traditional medicine before it scars over — all guaranteed to protect them in the ring or deliver a knock-out punch.
Combined with prayers from “mallams,” or spiritual guides, they are unstoppable — not just in Nigeria, but increasingly around the world.
The Dambe World Series kicked off in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Saturday in the latest evolution of a sport that traces its roots back centuries among west Africa’s Hausa speakers.
“Instead of trying to Westernize it, or instead of trying to make it something else, for us the goal is to professionalize it,” said Maxwell Kalu, founder of the West African Fighting Championship, the group organizing the tournament.
At the same time, a key goal is also “opening the door in terms of inviting people to compete in Nigeria.”
Held on the ground of the national stadium and broadcast by DAZN, a British sports streaming service, the tournament is a far cry from the social tradition said to have been organized by 10th-century Hausa butchers.
“This one is big, I’m very happy,” said Abdullahi “Coronavirus” Ali, a 20-year-old who has been fighting since he was a child. “The audience is growing every day.”
As Coronavirus — nicknamed for his ferocious punches — spoke to AFP, two amateur fighters worked the ring behind him, in a pre-tournament exhibition match in Dei Dei, a working-class Abuja exurb.
Chickens pecked under the rickety wooden stands while cigarette smoke wafted above the crowd.
In Dambe, in lieu of a glove, the fighters each have one fist tightly bound in rope — their striking arm. The other hand reaches out, feeling the space between the opponents and looking for something to grab or parry before the fighting arm whips forward as if from a loaded spring.
Amid the blows, one fighter lost his balance and fell — a “kill.” The round was over.
Dambe might have once seemed destined to be confined to the margins in places like Dei Dei as Abuja’s elite paved over anything standing in the way of modern skyscrapers and highways.
But slowly, the government has taken more interest in preserving and promoting the sport, as have private groups like the WAFC.
With the advent of YouTube and Instagram, Dambe now attracts fans across the world, with one promoter telling BBC in 2017 that 60 percent of his viewers were outside Nigeria.
The sport has also grown at home.
In 2018, a Dambe match in the southern city of Lagos drew spectators curious about their northern countrymen’s pastime — and excited to see it in a proper stadium.
Earlier this month, athletes from across the continent descended on the megacity for the African Knockout Championship, a Western-style mixed martial arts tournament.
But Kalu envisions the opposite: foreigners making their way to witness a distinctively Nigerian way of fighting.
Professionalization also brings the opportunity to bring in safety protocols and stable salaries to the otherwise unregulated sport.
“If I get married, I won’t allow my children to do it,” said Usman Abubakar, 20, his fist dyed a dark henna color and arm replete with charmed scars, recalling an injury to the chest that saw him sit out for two years.
Saturday’s fighters were competing to represent Nigeria in what is envisioned as a multi-stage, international series.
Boxers took to a sand-filled ring under stadium lights, with matches interspersed with musical acts and commercial breaks.
“Coronavirus” and his opponent danced around each other, sweat glistening, looking for an opening. He landed a blow, sending a tensed crowd into cheers as spectators overcame their urge to wince in shared pain.
“It’s somehow scary, but I do enjoy it,” said Joy Beatrice, a 30-year-old forestry officer in the stands.
Last year, supported by the WAFC, British national Luke Leyland traveled from Liverpool to compete in a Dambe match — reportedly the first white fighter to ever do so.
He was “destroyed,” according to one local media report, though he wrote positively of the experience.
Nigerian fighters remain cool on the idea of sharing the spoils of victory.
Asked what would happen if non-Nigerians started competing, “Coronavirus,” Abubakar and a third fighter, Anas Hamisu, were all excited at the prospect of more people embracing their sport.
But they also all shared the same prediction: the Nigerians would win.
Roosters banned in north Lebanese village over loud squawking
- Municipal chief tells Arab News keeping the birds as pets where they may cause a nuisance is now illegal
- Decision was made after many villagers also complained of mess, bad odors
BEIRUT: Keeping pet roosters between houses in the northern Lebanese village of Bednayel has been banned after a municipal decision.
Earlier this week, Salaheddine Al-Ayoubi, the municipality chief of Bednayel, in Al-Koura region, issued the decision banning villagers from keeping roosters to maintain public order and prevent loud noises during the daytime.
“It is illegal to (keep) pet roosters between village houses because they squawk loudly and cause mess and awful smell … not only roosters, but also chicken or any other animal that causes public disorder. Tens of residents complained of roosters’ crowing during daytime and due to that I issued the decision,” Al-Ayoubi told Arab News on Saturday.
The decision caused a social media frenzy and triggered uproar amongst internet users, most of whom criticized Al-Ayoubi.
In his decision, which granted villagers a 10-day deadline to get rid of roosters or any other animal that causes noisiness or disorder, Al-Ayoubi said that it was taken in the best interests of Bednayel’s residents, and was meant to maintain public order.
Elaborating further, the municipality chief explained: “Unfortunately, many villagers misinterpreted the decision. Some questioned how their chicken could lay eggs without roosters. Well, chickens do lay eggs without the need of roosters.”
He added the decision did not single out the issue of owning roosters, but it also discussed several other factors which have been causing public nuisance.
“I did not prevent them from owning roosters … whoever wants to keep a rooster, could do so but not between the houses. Tens of residents have complained of the loud crowing at any time during the day. That is not acceptable … so they are free to have roosters away from the houses and not between them,” he told Arab News.
Al-Ayoubi pointed out that anyone who owns a pet must take all necessary measures to prevent any disturbance to residents, such as maintaining cleanliness, limiting noise, and not allowing animals to roam without supervision.
The decision also prohibits driving motorcycles with loud or modified noises and any motorcycle that violates the regulations will be impounded and its driver fined.
“The municipality will take the appropriate legal action against violators,” he added.
Fans bid teary farewell to four giant pandas at a zoo in Japan before their return to China
- Around 3,000 visitors flocked to the Adventure World theme park to get a last glimpse of the beloved animals
- Many rushed straight to the panda exhibit zone, calling out the names of their favorites
SHIRAHAMA, Japan: Thousands of fans bid a teary farewell Friday to a family of four giant pandas at a zoo in Japan’s coastal town of Shirahama as the animals made their last public appearance before their return to China.
Around 3,000 visitors flocked to the Adventure World theme park to get a last glimpse of the beloved animals. Many rushed straight to the panda exhibit zone, calling out the names of their favorites.
Although the 24-year-old mother Rauhin and her three daughters — Yuihin, Saihin and Fuhin — were all born and raised at the park, they remain on loan from China and must now be returned.
Once they return to China, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo will be the only pandas left in Japan.
More than 1,000 people, many wearing panda-themed attire, queued outside the entrance of the theme park hours before it opened while some camped outside the night before.
Junko Ikeda, who came from the neighboring prefecture of Nara, slept in her camper van Thursday night to secure a parking spot for the pandas’ send-off.
“I still can’t believe they are all leaving,” Ikeda said.
Giant pandas are native to southwestern China and serve as an unofficial national mascot. Beijing lends them to other countries as a sign of goodwill but maintains ownership over them and any cubs they produce.
Born in 2000, Rauhin had seven other cubs with Eimei, a male panda sent from China in 1994. Eimei returned home two years ago.
Despite strained political ties between Japan and China, giant pandas are hugely popular in Japan.
“We feel comforted just by looking at pandas,” said zoo director Koji Imazu.
Imazu said the departure of the four pandas marks the end of the zoo’s 30-year joint project with China. He thanked Chinese specialists for sharing their expertise with the Japanese staff and said the zoo will be ready for a new arrival at any time.
“Of course we all miss them, but I hope you could wish them good health when they go to China,” Imazu said.
In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said giant pandas are “friendly ambassadors” conveying the goodwill of the Chinese people.
Guo said that China and Japan have collaborated on panda conservation and research since 2000, and that China is ready to further strengthen international cooperation, including with Japan.
Rauhin and her daughters will be flown to China on Saturday where they will join other pandas at a facility in Sichuan province near their original habitat. There, the three young ones will find partners.
These Canadian rocks may be the oldest on Earth
NEW YORK: Scientists have identified what could be the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in Canada.
The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has long been known for its ancient rocks — plains of streaked gray stone on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec. But researchers disagree on exactly how old they are.
Work from two decades ago suggested the rocks could be 4.3 billion years old, placing them in the earliest period of Earth’s history. But other scientists using a different dating method contested the finding, arguing that long-ago contaminants were skewing the rocks’ age and that they were actually slightly younger at 3.8 billion years old.
In the new study, researchers sampled a different section of rock from the belt and estimated its age using the previous two dating techniques — measuring how one radioactive element decays into another over time. The result: The rocks were about 4.16 billion years old.
The different methods “gave exactly the same age,” said study author Jonathan O’Neil with the University of Ottawa.
The new research was published Thursday in the journal Science.
Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a collapsing cloud of dust and gas soon after the solar system existed. Primordial rocks often get melted and recycled by Earth’s moving tectonic plates, making them extremely rare on the surface today. Scientists have uncovered 4 billion-year-old rocks from another formation in Canada called the Acasta Gneiss Complex, but the Nuvvuagittuq rocks could be even older.
Studying rocks from Earth’s earliest history could give a glimpse into how the planet may have looked — how its roiling magma oceans gave way to tectonic plates — and even how life got started.
“To have a sample of what was going on on Earth way back then is really valuable,” said Mark Reagan with the University of Iowa, who studies volcanic rocks and lava and was not involved with the new study.
The rock formation is on tribal Inukjuak lands and the local Inuit community has temporarily restricted scientists from taking samples from the site due to damage from previous visits.
After some geologists visited the site, large chunks of rock were missing and the community noticed pieces for sale online, said Tommy Pallizer, who manages the land with the Pituvik Landholding Corp. The Inuit community wants to work with scientists to set up a provincial park that would protect the land while allowing researchers to study it.
“There’s a lot of interest for these rocks, which we understand,” said Pallizer, a member of the community. “We just don’t want any more damage.”
