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Long Fatigue: The exhaustion that lingers after an infection
Catagory:Education
Author:
Posted Date:11/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Before Long Covid there was post-viral fatigue – a mysterious set of illnesses caused by other infections. Now scientists are starting to unravel their secrets. Since an acute infection with Covid-19 in the summer of 2023, Rachael Edwards has been battling a fatigue so crippling that it has left her bedridden for weeks at a time. A previously healthy 31-year-old marketing manager living in Amsterdam, she describes feeling like she is "weighted down by an anchor". "Long Covid fatigue differs from the exhaustion of parenting newborns or long days at the office in a number of ways," says Edwards. "Imagine you've completed the hardest marathon of your life with poor sleep and no fuel. Then after the adrenaline has worn off, try walking up a flight of 100 stairs. That is how my body feels. My muscles won't move. I can't even hold my hand above my head," she says. With the Covid-19 pandemic came long Covid, the lingering symptoms after an infection with the virus has cleared. Now it is long Covid which has opened a new window into the study of post-viral fatigue – a similar illness of persistent exhaustion which some people experience after recovering from other kinds of infection. Post-viral fatigue has long been poorly understood, and for many years was often dismissed as psychological. But this long-term fatigue with varying degrees of severity has been linked to infections ranging from Sars to Ebola, Epstein-Barr virus and influenza, as well as infections with tick-borne pathogens such as the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease.An enigmatic issue As a GP based in Aberdeen, Scotland, Rosalind Adam is familiar with seeing patients suffering from problematic fatigue. But over time, she has been increasingly struck by the generic nature of the term, and how we use this single phrase to encompass everything from everyday weariness to crippling energy deficits which leave people housebound and unable to work. "I don't think we should think of fatigue as a single entity and I'd like to understand whether different patterns of fatigue respond differently to different approaches," says Adam.As an academic researcher at the University of Aberdeen, Adam has launched a study of 40 people suffering from varying forms of problematic fatigue, from long Covid patients to those with heart failure or cancer. For the research, they were given digital sensors to track a variety of physical parameters from breathing rate to body temperature, sleep quality, heart activity and activity levels, along with an app to rate their physical and mental fatigue throughout the day. The aim is to use AI to identify patterns in the data which might represent what Adam calls "fatiguotypes" – distinct traits which could be used to categorise subtypes of fatigue more accurately. She hopes that the findings could ultimately lead to more tailored clinical trials for fatigue, and potentially pave the way for new medicines.A daily challenge This kind of physiological shutdown is intrinsic to PEM where patients like Edwards find themselves locked into a state in which the tiniest overexertion can result in a crash which lasts for months and sometimes even years. Putrino believes that there are at least 10 different plausible explanations for why people develop PEM, which range from sleep disruption to hormonal impairments and inflammation of the lining of blood vessels. But at the heart of many of these theories are tubular, energy-creating structures called mitochondria which can be found in every single one of our cells. When viruses invade our cells, they hijack mitochondria and leach some of the energy which is being generated for our benefit and use it to help them replicate and pump more virus through the body. "Now you have a cell that is working way over capacity to produce energy for both viral replication as well as the general functions it needs to perform," says Putrino. According to Putrino, this means that while we're trying to recover from an infection, the body is also coping with what he calls an "energy debt", having been generating twice the customary amount of energy during the infection phase. One of the theories for why Sars-CoV-2 and other viruses can lead to PEM is because small amounts of virus can persist in parts of the body. As such, returning to normal activities before the body has recovered from its energy debt can causes a crash, during which time the virus can flare up or reactivate dormant viruses and induce further mitochondrial damage. In other cases, the muscle weakness and physical impairments which many people with severe post-viral fatigue and PEM describe, are thought to be due to the initial infection inducing a state of autoimmunity, changing the behaviour of immune cells and triggering them to attack the very nerve fibres which enable muscles to contract. In Ebola disease survivors, severe autoimmunity has been shown to be connected to the symptoms of prolonged fatigue which many experience, while similar processes were also linked to the chronic fatigue and disability experienced by survivors of the Sars outbreak in the early 2000s.Viral infections may trigger long-term and persistent impairment in one's immune system," says Avik Roy, chief scientific officer at the non-profit Simmaron Research, which conducts research into the treatment of neuroimmune diseases. "Autoimmune responses due to the altered behaviour of immune cells such as T lymphocytes, natural killer cells and macrophages may cause damage in the myelin layer of peripheral nerves, resulting in muscle weakness and fatigue."A third idea which Putrino and others have been studying, is related to impaired waste clearance. Working overtime means that mitochondria generate a lot of oxidative stress, yet the body is unable to adequately clear up after itself, because the immune system is in a state of prolonged exhaustion after battling the virus. This in itself may contribute to physical symptoms such as brain fog and muscle fatigue, impacting the ability to move and function normally. One study even showed that long Covid patients have an accumulation of toxic waste products in their muscle fibres. Because of all this, an approach known as "pacing", by which patients attempt to slowly work their way back to normal levels of physical activity by progressively pushing themselves to do more and more, does not always work. In some Lyme disease, ME/CFS and long Covid patients, their underlying dysfunction means that pacing can actually make them worse. "Long Covid patients need to achieve some improvement in functional status by virtue of medication before embarking on any form of graded exercise," says David Systrom, a pulmonologist at Brigham & Women's Hospital.A possible solution Over several decades of studying people with ME/CFS, Keller has heard the phrase "mitochondrial dysfunction" cited repeatedly as a possible cause of their prolonged fatigue. However, she says the key question is what is causing the mitochondria to be impaired. In some cases of post-viral fatigue stemming from Ebola, Zika and influenza viruses, research has suggested that the cause is direct viral damage to mitochondria DNA. Studies delving into possible mechanisms have found that viral invasion can inhibit the production of phosphocreatine, a crucial chemical in the energy creation process. But there are other cases where mitochondria may simply be suffering from a lack of oxygen. Sars-CoV-2 and other viruses appear to be capable of driving the formation of micro-clots, tiny particles which move through blood vessels entrapping various proteins and impairing oxygen flow, while in other cases, viral damage can affect normal heart rate, respiratory function and blood flow. If the mitochondria can't get enough oxygen to function normally, Keller says that the body shifts to anaerobic energy production, a means of generating energy which is usually only required for short, intense bursts of activity such as sprinting at high speed. "When this shift towards anaerobic energy production occurs prematurely during low-level exertion, even simple activities of daily living will result in fatigue," says Keller.At Mount Sinai, Putrino is now leading a clinical trial looking at whether an enzyme called lumbrokinase, which breaks down fibrin, a protein which is thought to be at the core of micro-clots, can help improve mitochondrial function and energy levels in long Covid and ME/CFS patients.This is just one of an entire range of possible solutions being explored. In long Covid patients where viral persistence or reactivated viruses seem to be behind PEM, Putrino is exploring whether various repurposed HIV medications can help restore these infections to a dormant form. Simmaron Research along with the Mayo Clinic and the Center for Chronic Diseases, have launched a clinical trial of low-dose rapamycin in people with ME/CFS to see whether it can improve mitochondrial function and quality of life by stimulating a key bodily process called autophagy, encouraging cells to remove and recycle damaged components. "So far, the trial has produced very promising initial results," says Roy. This wealth of research is also identifying supplements which may help people with less severe forms of post-viral fatigue recover more quickly in the wake of an infection. Coenzyme Q10, a compound used by mitochondria to generate energy which has been found to be depleted in ME/CFS patients, is now available over the counter in the US and the UK – it's regulated as a dietary supplement – and has been shown in some studies to reduce fatigue. Keller says that this research is also helping to identify subgroups of people who seem to be more at risk of post-viral fatigue. She believes that people who already have underlying muscle or nerve tension due to lifestyle habits, chronic injuries or surgeries could be more vulnerable because these underlying factors will already be inhibiting oxygen delivery around the body."We've found that tension from frequent or prolonged sitting, or in the muscles of the neck, chest and shoulders due to excessive screen time, surfing on cell phones and low strength and endurance of the core muscles that support correct spinal alignment may be a contributing factor," she says. "Injuries or surgeries that cause scarring of the connective tissue such as C-section or breast reduction, may also contribute to this tension." Putrino says it is vital that we get better at identifying the precise factors which can cause people to end up in a state of prolonged fatigue, as this will enable the development of better diagnostics and ultimately more targeted treatments aimed at various subgroups of individuals. "There are many drivers, and it's naive to think that a single drug or a single intervention will address everything," Putrino says. "But as long as we're methodical in investigating potential target drugs, and understanding why they don't work in different people, then we stand a chance of getting more sophisticated combination drug trials within the next 12 to 24 months. That could lead to some real hope for people living with these infection-associated chronic conditions," he says.


Type:Science
👁 :
Russian gains accelerating as Biden approves new weapon use for Ukraine
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

President Biden’s decision to provide anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, and allow the use of long-range missiles on Russian territory comes as the Russian military is accelerating its gains along the front line. Data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shows that Russia has gained almost six times as much territory in 2024 as it did in 2023, and is advancing towards key Ukrainian logistical hubs in the eastern Donbas region. Meanwhile, Ukraine's surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region is faltering. Russian troops have pushed Kyiv's offensive backwards. Experts have questioned the success of the offensive, with one calling it a "strategic catastrophe" given manpower shortages faced by Ukraine. These developments come at a time of heightened uncertainty with a second Donald Trump administration looming. The US president-elect has vowed to bring the war to a close when he takes office in January, with some fearing he could cut future military aid to Ukraine. Russia advances in eastern Ukraine In the first few months of the war the front line moved quickly, with Russia gaining ground quickly before being pushed back by a Ukrainian counteroffensive. But in 2023 neither side made any major gains - with the conflict largely sliding into a stalemate. But new ISW figures suggest the story in 2024 is more favourable for Russia. The ISW bases its analysis on confirmed social media footage and reports of troop movements. The ISW data shows Moscow’s forces have seized around 2,700 sq km of Ukrainian territory so far this year, compared with just 465 sq km in the whole of 2023, a near six-fold increase. Dr Marina Miron, a defence researcher at Kings College London, suggested to the BBC that there was a possibility the Ukrainian eastern front “might actually collapse” if Russia continued to advance at pace. More than 1000 sq km was taken between 1 September and 3 November, suggesting the push accelerated in recent months. Two areas bearing the brunt of these advances are Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, and Kurakhove, a stepping stone to the key logistical hub of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.Kupiansk and areas to the east of the Oskil river were liberated in the Kharkiv offensive of 2022, but Russia has progressively retaken the latter area. In a recent intelligence update, the UK's Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were trying to breach the north-eastern outskirts of the city. Footage posted on 13 November and verified by the BBC is consistent with this analysis. The video shows a convoy of Russian armour being repelled after making it to within 4km of the key bridge at Kupiansk, the last major road crossing in the area. While these reports do not necessarily translate to control of an area, it is indicative of how stretched Ukraine’s defensive line has become. Elsewhere, since retaking the city of Vuhledar in October - an elevated position which sits above key supply lines and which Moscow spent two years fighting for - Russia has thrown resources at Kurakhove. Ukraine’s forces defending the city have so far repelled attacks to the south and east. But the front line creeps ever closer, with Russia also threatening to encircle defenders from the north and west. Col Yevgeny Sasyko, a former head of strategic communications with Ukraine’s general staff, said Russia places “powerful jaws” around the flanks of a city that slowly “grind though” defences until they collapse. Footage from the city verified by the BBC showed massive destruction, with residential buildings heavily damaged. The ISW concludes Moscow now holds a total of 110,649 sq km in Ukraine. For comparison, Ukrainian forces seized just over 1,171 sq km in the first month of its incursion into Kursk - though Russian forces have now retaken nearly half of that territory. Despite its territorial gains, Russia's advance has come at a huge cost. An analysis carried out by BBC Russian confirmed that at least 78,329 troops have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow’s losses from September to November this year more than one-and-a-half times greater than the same period in 2023. The losses are compounded by the “meat grinder” approach said to be favoured by Russian commanders - describing the waves of recruits thrown towards Ukrainian positions in a bid to exhaust troops. Despite the Russian advances, some experts have noted that the actual speed of the offensive is still slow. David Handelman, a military analyst, suggested Ukrainian troops in the east were slowly withdrawing to preserve manpower and resources, rather than suffering from a broader collapse. The Kursk gambit Ukraine launched its shock incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August. It is unclear why Russia took so long to respond to the operation, which saw Kyiv’s troops quickly gain control over a number of border communities. Dr Miron suggested that while the Kremlin would suffer a domestic political cost for as long as the incursion continued, Russia’s general staff had been keen to keep Ukraine’s forces tied down in Kursk as its forces made gains elsewhere along the front line. But Moscow is now clearly intent on reclaiming the territory lost on its own soil. Some 50,000 troops have been deployed to the region. Verified videos from the Kursk region show fierce fighting is taking place - and that Russia is suffering considerable losses in terms of manpower and equipment. But the data clearly shows Ukraine’s control of the region is shrinking. Since the start of October, Russian counter-attacks have regained some 593 sq km worth of territory in the border region, ISW figures showed.The Kursk incursion was initially a major boon for Ukraine in terms of morale at a time of serious setbacks, and the audacity of the operation was a reminder of its ability to surprise and harm its enemy. But Dr Miron said while the Kursk incursion was a moment of “tactical brilliance” it has also been a “strategic catastrophe” for Ukraine. “The whole idea was to maybe gain some political leverage in potential negotiations, but militarily to draw the Russian forces away from the Donbas in order to liberate Kursk. And what we're seeing instead is that Ukrainian units are tied down there.” Some of Kyiv’s most experienced and effective units are known to be fighting in Kursk. Mechanised units equipped with state-of-the-art Western armour are also involved in the offensive. Ukrainian leaders had hinted that they hoped the incursion would force Moscow to redirect some of its forces from eastern Ukraine, slowing the Russian advance there. Instead, experts say most reinforcements were moved to Kursk from parts in Ukraine where the fighting is not as intense. “According to Ukrainian soldiers from different parts of the front, the Russian troops reinforcing Kursk were mainly pulled from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia,” Yurri Clavilier, a land analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the BBC. “The fighting there is not as intense as it is in the East. Some Russian units attacking Kharkiv were also redirected to Kursk as Ukraine managed to stall the Russian onslaught there,” he added. The importance of territory to both sides is the strength it lends to their position in any potential negotiations. Although no peace negotiations have been discussed, US President-elect Trump has claimed he could end the war within 24 hours, without saying exactly how. ​​On Tuesday, Ukraine fired US-supplied long-range missiles into Russia for the first time - a day after Washington gave it permission to do so.​​ It is thought that the decision was made in part to help Ukraine hold on to part of the Kursk region, to use as a bargaining chip in future negotiations. But Dr Miron told the BBC that Russia’s advance has handed them a stronger negotiating position as Trump’s new foreign policy team prepare to take office. “What they're controlling right now, it does give them a certain advantage,” she said. “If it came to negotiations, I'm sure that as the Russian side has been stressing, ‘we will do it based on the battlefield configuration’. “From a Russian perspective, they have much better cards than the Ukrainians.”


Type:Social
👁 :59
Is SpaceX's Starship the loudest ever rocket?
Catagory:Education
Author:
Posted Date:11/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

SpaceX's enormous Starship rocket is the largest to ever successfully leave the launchpad. The massive thrust needed to launch it creates a lot of noise – but is it the loudest rocket ever? Watch footage of the Saturn V launches during Nasa's Apollo programme in the 1960s and 1970s, and one thing that may strike you – even more than the polyester-heavy fashions and retro haircuts – is just how far away the crowds of onlookers are from the main event. There were several good reasons for this, and noise was one of them: loud sounds can kill, and few things built by humans have been as loud as the Saturn V. When Apollo astronauts blasted off on their missions to the Moon, they did so with more than 3.2 miles (5.1km) separating them from the excited, onlooking crowds. Even at such distances, the noise was incredible. A common myth at the time was that the soundwaves from the Saturn V's engines were so powerful that they melted concrete on the launch pad and set fire to grass a mile (1.6km) away (both were false). Nasa's measurements at the time captured the launch noise at 204 decibels. Compare that to the sound of a jet airliner taking off, which is between 120 and 160 decibels and considered dangerous to hearing if endured for longer than 30 seconds. Even 1.5 miles (2.4km) away, the noise from a Saturn V launch was recorded as being 120 decibels – as loud as a rock concert, or a car horn at very close quarters."I'm always struck by the physicality of a launch," says Anthony Rue, a Florida café owner who has been watching and photographing launches since the days of Saturn V. "Back in the 1970s there was an audio device called Sensurround that was used in disaster movies like Earthquake to create a subsonic seismic 'experience' in the theatre."Launches, from up close, are a bit like Sensurround," says Rue. "You can feel a slight tremble, then a building rumble in your chest before you can hear any actual sound. The subsonic bass frequencies make your ears crackle. After a few seconds, the sound coalesces into a roar, like a massive welding torch." Last year, a team of scientists from Brigham Young University in Utah calculated just how loud Saturn V was. They came up with a remarkably similar finding to Nasa's own recordings – 203 decibels. The difference between 160 and 200-odd decibels might not sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it is."One hundred and seventy decibels would be equivalent to 10 aircraft engines. Two hundred would be 10,000 engines," said Kent Gee, leader author of the study and professor of physics at the Brigham Young University at the time. "Every 10 decibels is an order-of-magnitude increase." Was Saturn V the loudest rocket ever launched? Probably not, if you use thrust as your guide. The 35MN (meganewtons) of force produced by Saturn V at launch is less than that produced by the Soviet Union's ill-fated N1 rocket (45MN) which was supposed to have delivered cosmonauts to the lunar surface in the 1960s. The 33 engines at the base of the Super Heavy booster on SpaceX's Starship – the largest rocket to ever take off – produce more than 74MN of thrust. On paper at least, it should be louder than anything launched before it. Certainly, it is pretty loud. Gee and his colleagues set up microphones at eight sites around the SpaceX launch facility in Boca Chica during the fifth test flight in October 2024, when the Super Heavy booster also landed back on the launchpad for the first time. They found that during the launch, the rocket produced noise that reached more than 120dB more than 6.5 miles (10.5km) away. A sonic boom produced as the booster returned towards the launchpad generated almost 140dB at the same distance. The overall noise produced a Starship launch at that distance was equivalent to standing just 200ft (61m) from a large passenger aircraft such as a 747 or A380. Gee and his colleagues describe the sound produced by a rocket launch as low-frequency rumble with transitory crackles. The noise of the Starship launch set off car alarms in towns upto 10 miles (16km) away. While it is hard to know for sure how the noise produced by the Saturn V would have compared, it was certainly loud enough that there was more to consider than just the hearing of spectators. Rockets as powerful as Saturn V were capable of causing damage to themselves just from the soundwaves generated from the noise of their own launch.'m about a half mile away, I've got earplugs in and for 600 seconds, this thing is producing just more steam than you can imagine – John Blevins Making sure that damage didn't happen preoccupied Nasa's rocket engineers even before the Apollo programme, says Nasa's John Blevins, chief engineer of the Space Launch System (SLS) used for the recent Artemis programme launch. One solution: the fire trenches in the launch pad are filled with water which helps muffle some of the intense noise created when the rocket lifts off. "There's a series of ground tests that we did back in the Apollo days, we did them again for Space Launch System," says Blevins, adding that Nasa also built smaller models of both the rocket and the pads to gauge how their interactions produced noise. "The maximum noise for the rocket itself, although you might not be able to tell if you're sitting at Banana Creek [a popular site for viewing launches], is actually about 150ft (45m) off the ground; the plume is spread out, instead of going down a hole that has the water in it, that helps attenuate some of that noise."The SLS is the new rocket used in the Artemis programme – the one planned to take humanity further into the Solar System than ever before. It became one of the most powerful rockets ever launched with 15% more thrust than Saturn V. As the SLS chief engineer, Blevins has watched – and heard – its five engines being ground tested at the John C Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. The ground tests are a critical step in a rocket design's progress, says Blevins. "I'm about a half mile away, I've got earplugs in and for 600 seconds, this thing is producing just more steam than you can imagine. And when you can get that close, you see that's one engine out of four! And those produce less thrust than the two [solid rocket boosters] on the side. Blevins says the SLS is designed to be quieter than Saturn V, but that noise levels are dependent on more than just the engine's thrust. "There's a lot of nuances to what the people hear," says Blevins. "Like a low cloudy day, like if you had a 1,000ft (330m) cloud ceiling, that noise will travel all the way across the state of Florida and just bounce back and forth. It really won't be easily attenuated and so people in Tampa will hear a rocket launch if you have a little overcast day." Tampa is three hours' drive away from the Kennedy Space Center, on the other side of the Florida peninsula. A study by scientists at Brigham Young University and Rollins College in Florida studied recordings from the SLS during the Artemis 1 launch in November 2022 found it made more noise than pre-launch models had predicted. They found at 0.9 miles (1.5km) from the launchpad, the maximum noise level reached 136 decibels while at 3.2 miles (5.2km) it was 129 decibels. Whitney Coyle, a mathematician at Rollins College who studies acoustics and was one of those who examined the sound coming from the Artemis 1 launch, described the crackling sound the SLS produced as being "40 million times greater than a bowl of Rice Krispies". Noisier rockets may be on the cards though. SpaceX's Starship vehicle – intended for a proposed mission to Mars – took off on top of the company's Super Heavy booster on its brief maiden flight on 20 April 2023 amid a huge plume of flame and smoke. Super Heavy can, according to SpaceX, generate nearly 76MN of thrust, more than twice that of Saturn V. SpaceX's engineers now have to figure out why the rocket underwent a mid-air "unscheduled disassembly" shortly after take-off before the giant rocket will fly again. But if you're planning on watching its next launch, earplugs sound like a very good idea.


Type:Technology
👁 :139
Charles Babbage
Catagory:Biography
Author:
Posted Date:11/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Charles Babbage (born December 26, 1791, London, England—died October 18, 1871, London) was an English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer. In 1812 Babbage helped found the Analytical Society, whose object was to introduce developments from the European continent into English mathematics. In 1816 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was instrumental in founding the Royal Astronomical (1820) and Statistical (1834) societies. Difference EngineThe completed portion of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine, 1832. This advanced calculator was intended to produce logarithm tables used in navigation. The value of numbers was represented by the positions of the toothed wheels marked with decimal numbers.(more) The idea of mechanically calculating mathematical tables first came to Babbage in 1812 or 1813. Later he made a small calculator that could perform certain mathematical computations to eight decimals. Then in 1823 he obtained government support for the design of a projected machine, the Difference Engine, with a 20-decimal capacity. The Difference Engine was a digital device: it operated on discrete digits rather than smooth quantities, and the digits were decimal (0–9), represented by positions on toothed wheels rather than binary digits (“bits”). When one of the toothed wheels turned from nine to zero, it caused the next wheel to advance one position, carrying the digit. Like modern computers, the Difference Engine had storage—that is, a place where data could be held temporarily for later processing. Its construction required the development of mechanical engineering techniques, to which Babbage of necessity devoted himself. In the meantime (1828–39), he served as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. However, the full engine, designed to be room-sized, was never built, at least not by Babbage. All design and construction ceased in 1833, when Joseph Clement, the machinist responsible for actually building the machine, refused to continue unless he was prepaid. During the mid-1830s Babbage developed plans for the Analytical Engine, the forerunner of the modern digital computer. In that device he envisioned the capability of performing any arithmetical operation on the basis of instructions from punched cards, a memory unit in which to store numbers, sequential control, and most of the other basic elements of the present-day computer. As with the Difference Engine, the project was far more complex than anything theretofore built. The memory unit was to be large enough to hold 1,000 50-digit numbers; this was larger than the storage capacity of any computer built before 1960. The machine was to be steam-driven and run by one attendant. In 1843 Babbage’s friend mathematician Ada Lovelace translated a French paper about the Analytical Engine and, in her own annotations, published how it could perform a sequence of calculations, the first computer program. The Analytical Engine, however, was never completed. Babbage’s design was forgotten until his unpublished notebooks were discovered in 1937. In 1991 British scientists built Difference Engine No. 2—accurate to 31 digits—to Babbage’s specifications, and in 2000 the printer for the Difference Engine was also built. Babbage made notable contributions in other areas as well. He assisted in establishing the modern postal system in England and compiled the first reliable actuarial tables. He also invented a type of speedometer and the locomotive cowcatcher. Source : https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Babbage


Type:Social
👁 :
Palestinian olive harvest under threat from Israeli attacks and restrictions
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

On a Thursday afternoon towards the end of last month, a 59-year-old Palestinian woman set out to gather olives on her family’s land near the village of Faqqua, in the north of the occupied West Bank. It was something that Hanan Abu Salameh had done for decades. Within minutes, the mother of seven and grandmother of 14 lay dying in the dust of the olive grove, with a bullet wound in her chest - she’d been shot by an Israeli soldier. Even though the family had co-ordinated their intention to pick olives with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to her son Fares and husband Hossam, the soldier fired several shots as other family members fled for cover. The IDF says it’s investigating the incident, but Hanan’s grieving relatives have little hope or expectation that her killer will be brought to justice. This wasn’t an isolated incident.Harvesting olives is an age-old ritual and also an economic necessity for many Palestinians, but, according to the UN, it is increasingly precarious. Farmers across the West Bank - internationally regarded as Palestinian land occupied by Israel - face heightened risks, like organised attacks by Israeli settlers seeking to sabotage the olive harvest, along with the use of force by Israeli security forces to block roads and Palestinians' access to their lands. “Last year we couldn’t even harvest our olives, except for a very small amount,” says Omar Tanatara, a farmer from the village of Umm Safa. “At one point, the army came, threw the olives we’d already gathered on the ground, and ordered us to go home,” says Omar, who is also a member of the village council. “Some people were even shot at and olives trees were cut down with saws – that’s how we later found them,” adds Omar, as he and other villagers use small hand-held rakes to pull this year’s harvest from their remaining trees while they can.Even when Israeli and international activists accompany villagers to their olive groves, hoping to deter the threat, there’s no guarantee of safety. Zuraya Hadad instinctively winces as we watch a video of the incident in which her ribs were broken by a masked man wielding a large stick. The Israeli peace activist had been helping Palestinian farmers pick their olives when she was assaulted without provocation. Rather than arresting her attacker, Israeli soldiers, who’d accompanied settlers to the site, just told him to move on. “Even when we come to help, it doesn't guarantee that the Palestinians can harvest their olives,” Zuraya tells me as she recovers from her injuries at home. “We try to raise awareness, but in the end it's either the settlers steal the olives or cut the trees, or they remain unpicked and go to waste.” Land is at the heart of the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians - who controls it and who has access to it. For thousands of Palestinian families and villages, cultivating and harvesting olives is a big part of their economy. But many say that, in recent times, access to trees on their land has been impeded, often violently by Israeli settlers. Hundreds of trees - which can take years to reach fruit-bearing maturity - have been deliberately burned or cut down, says the UN. More than 96,000 dunums (approximately 96 sq km; 37 sq miles) of olive groves in the West Bank also went uncultivated in 2023 because of Israeli restrictions on access for Palestinian farmers.After being gathered by hand, villagers from Umm Safa take sacks full of olives to the nearby factory, where the presses have restarted this season. Olives are the most important agricultural product in the West Bank. In a good year, they're worth more than $70m (£54m) to the Palestinian economy. But income was well down last year and this year will be even worse, says factory owner Abd al-Rahman Khalifa, as even fewer farmers are able to harvest their crop owing to attacks by settlers. “Let me give you an example,” he tells me. “My brother-in-law in Lubban - next to the Israeli settlement - went to pick his own olives, but they broke his arms and they made him leave along with everyone who was with him.” “We, as Palestinians, don’t have petrol or big companies. Our main agricultural crop is olives,” he adds. “So, like the Gulf depends on oil, and the Americans on business, our economy is dependent on the olive tree.” On the hill overlooking the olive groves of Umm Safa stands an illegal settler outpost - a farm. The extremist settler who runs it, Zvi Bar Yosef, was sanctioned this year by the UK and other Western governments for repeated acts of violence against Palestinians, including twice threatening families at gunpoint. Over the last year of the war in Gaza, Jewish settlers have been emboldened by the support of far-right Israeli ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir. As national security minister, he has given out free firearms to hundreds of settlers and has encouraged them to assert their right to what - they say - is their "God-given" land. Ben-Gvir has also been accused of openly supporting the disruption of olive harvesting on Palestinian land. At the olive press, farmers wait patiently in the yard to witness the transformation of the olives they’ve been able to gather this year into "liquid gold". The olive tree has been a symbol of this land for centuries. For generations of Palestinians, it is their link to the land - a link that is under threat now more than ever.


Type:Social
👁 :
Hong Kong jails 45 pro-democracy campaigners for subversion
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

A Hong Kong court has sentenced dozens of pro-democracy leaders to years in jail for subversion, following a controversial national security trial. Benny Tai, 60, and Joshua Wong, 28, were among the so-called Hong Kong 47 group of activists and lawmakers who were involved in a plan to pick opposition candidates for local elections. Tai received 10 years while Wong received more than four years. A total of 45 people were jailed for conspiring to commit subversion. Two of the defendants were acquitted in May. This was the biggest trial under the national security law (NSL) which China imposed on the city shortly after explosive pro-democracy protests in 2019.Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in a months-long standoff against Beijing. Triggered by a proposed government treaty that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, the protests quickly grew to reflect wider demands for democratic reform. Observers say the NSL and the trial's outcome have significantly weakened the city’s pro-democracy movement and rule of law, allowing China to cement its control of the former British colony.Beijing and Hong Kong’s government deny this, arguing instead that the NSL is necessary to maintain stability. They also say these sentences serve as a warning for those trying to undermine China’s national security. "No one can engage in illegal activities in the name of democracy and attempt to escape justice," China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. It also said that it was "firmly opposed" to Western countries "undermining the rule of law in Hong Kong". 'Their families are devastated' The city's pro-democracy campaigners reacted to the sentences with disappointment and sadness. "We are very distressed and their families are devastated," Emily Lau, former chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, told the BBC's Today programme. She added that she and many others were not able to enter the courtroom because it was full. Tuesday's hearing attracted huge interest from Hongkongers, dozens of whom queued up outside days before to secure a spot in the public gallery. Many of the 45 people on trial were icons of Hong Kong's protest movement. Tai, a law professor, shot to fame as a key leader back in 2014, Wong was still a teenager when he took to activism, and Gwyneth Ho, a young former journalist, was admitted to hospital after a mob attack during the 2019 protests. Veteran former lawmakers such as Claudia Mo and Leung Kwok-hung, also known as Long Hair, spent much of their careers fighting for a freer Hong Kong, and first-time activists such as Owen Chou and Tiffany Yuen stormed the legislative council in what was a defining moment for the protests. All of them were in court in a rare public appearance as many have been in jail since their arrest in early 2021 because pre-trial detention is common under the NSL.Standing in line on Tuesday was Lee Yue-shun, one of the two defendants acquitted. He told reporters he wanted to urge Hongkongers to "raise questions" about the case, as "everyone has a chance to be affected" by its outcome. There were several activists waiting to enter court. Bobo Lam, who was once arrested under the NSL, said he was showing up to support friends who are now in jail and "let them know, that there are still many HongKongers who haven't forgotten them". Others seemed heartened by how many people had showed up, suggesting they "remember what happened". An elderly woman, Regina Fung, chanted "everybody hang in there, stand for Hong Kong" before the hearing. "It's very sad, even the weather in Hong Kong is miserable today," she said. Inside the courtroom, family members and friends waved from the public gallery to the defendants, who appeared calm as they sat in the dock. Some in the gallery had tears in their eyes as the sentences, ranging from four to 10 years, were read out. Tai, a former law professor who came up with the plan for the unofficial primary, received the longest sentence with judges saying he had "advocated for a revolution". Wong had his sentence reduced by a third after he pleaded guilty. But unlike some other defendants, he was not given further reductions as judges "did not consider him to be a person of good character". At the time of the arrests, Wong was already in jail for participating in protests. In court, Wong shouted "I love Hong Kong" before he left the dock. As Leung's wife, activist Chan Po-ying, walked out of the court at the end of the hearing, she was heard chanting a protest against his jail term.The 'illegal' primary The UK government said those sentenced had been "exercising their right to freedom of speech, of assembly and of political participation". "Today’s sentencing is a clear demonstration of the Hong Kong authorities’ use of the NSL to criminalise political dissent," a UK government statement said. The US has described the trial as “politically motivated”. Australia said it had "strong objections" to the use of the NSL and it was "gravely concerned" by the sentencing of one of its citizens, Gordon Ng. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer raised the case of Jimmy Lai, the billionaire pro-democracy activist in jail, when he met China's leader Xi Jinping at the G20 summit on Monday. The 76-year-old is on trial for treason "I certainly hope the British government, the prime minister, will stand up for the rights that they promised the Hong Kong people. All these promises, these rights and rule of law are evaporating," Ms Lau told the BBC. She asked why organising an election should warrant jail time. After the 2019 protests dwindled with the Covid pandemic, the defendants organised an unofficial primary for the Legislative Council election as a way to continue the pro-democracy movement. Their aim was to increase the opposition’s chances of blocking the pro-Beijing government’s bills. More than half a million Hongkongers turned out to vote in the primary held in July 2020.Organisers argued at the time that their actions were allowed under Hong Kong's Basic Law - a mini-constitution that allows certain freedoms. But it alarmed Beijing and Hong Kong officials, who warned that the move could breach the NSL, which came into effect days before the primary. They accused the activists of attempting to “overthrow” the government, and arrested them in early 2021. The trial judges agreed with the prosecution’s argument that the plan would have created a constitutional crisis. 'National security is the priority' "Central authorities are using the trial to re-educate the Hong Kong people," said John P Burns, emeritus professor at the University of Hong Kong. The lesson being "national security is the country’s top priority; don’t challenge us on national security’”. "The case is significant because it provides clues to the health of Hong Kong’s legal system," he told the BBC. "How can it be illegal to follow processes laid down in the Basic Law?" A Human Rights Watch spokesperson said that China and Hong Kong "have now significantly raised the costs for promoting democracy in Hong Kong". Stephan Ortmann, assistant professor of politics at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University, agreed. Tuesday's sentencing "set a precedent for the severity of punishments for political dissent under the NSL", adding that "self-censorship has become the norm". But this isn't a win for Beijing, said Sunny Cheung, an activist who ran in the 2020 primary but has since fled to the US. "They might be happy in a way because the entire opposition is being wiped out... but they don’t have the trust of the people.” Others, like Ms Lau, said the city had already lost more than a generation of pro-democracy campaigners. There has been "no permission for marches and demonstrations in the past few years - it's very, very quiet, very peaceful," she said. "But that's not Hong Kong. If you have been to Hong Kong, you know it is a city of protest. Very colourful, very vibrant, but not any more."


Type:Social
👁 :142
Lionel Messi
Catagory:Biography
Author:
Posted Date:11/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Lionel Messi (born June 24, 1987, Rosario, Argentina) is an Argentine-born football (soccer) player who received a record-setting eight Ballon d’Or awards as the world’s top male player (2009–12, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023). In 2022 he helped Argentina win the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)’s World Cup. Early life Messi started playing football as a boy and in 1995 joined the youth team of Newell’s Old Boys (a Rosario-based top-division football club). Messi’s phenomenal skills garnered the attention of prestigious clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. At age 13 Messi and his family relocated to Barcelona, and he began playing for FC Barcelona’s under-14 team. He scored 21 goals in 14 games for the junior team, and he quickly graduated through the higher-level teams until at age 16 he was given his informal debut with FC Barcelona in a friendly match. Club play In the 2004–05 season Messi, then 17, became the youngest official player and goal scorer in the Spanish La Liga (the country’s highest division of football). Though only 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 meters) tall and weighing 148 pounds (67 kg), he was strong, well-balanced, and versatile on the field. Naturally left-footed, quick, and precise in control of the ball, Messi was a keen pass distributor and could readily thread his way through packed defenses. In 2005 he was granted Spanish citizenship, an honor greeted with mixed feelings by the fiercely Catalan supporters of Barcelona. The next year Messi and Barcelona won the Champions League (the European club championship) title. Messi’s play continued to rapidly improve over the years, and by 2008 he was one of the most dominant players in the world, finishing second to Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the voting for the 2008 Ballon d’Or. In early 2009 Messi capped off a spectacular 2008–09 season by helping FC Barcelona capture the club’s first “treble” (winning three major European club titles in one season): the team won the La Liga championship, the Copa del Rey (Spain’s major domestic cup), and the Champions League title. He scored 38 goals in 51 matches during that season, and he bested Ronaldo in the balloting for both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s world player of the year by a record margin. During the 2009–10 season Messi scored 34 goals in domestic games as Barcelona repeated as La Liga champions. He earned the Golden Shoe award as Europe’s leading scorer, and he received another Ballon d’Or (the award was known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2010–15). Messi led Barcelona to La Liga and Champions League titles the following season, which helped him capture an unprecedented third consecutive world player of the year award. In March 2012 he netted his 233rd goal for Barcelona, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer in La Liga play when only 24 years old. He finished Barcelona’s 2011–12 season (which included another Copa del Rey win) with 73 goals in all competitions, breaking Gerd Müller’s 39-year-old record for single-season goals in a major European football league. His landmark season led to his being named the 2012 world player of the year, which made Messi the first player to win the honor four times. His 46 La Liga goals in 2012–13 led the league, and Barcelona captured another domestic top-division championship that season. In 2014 he set the overall Barcelona goal record when he scored his 370th goal as a member of the team. That same year he also broke the career scoring records for play in both the Champions League (with 72 goals) and La Liga (with 253 goals). Messi helped Barcelona capture another treble during the 2014–15 season, leading the team with 43 goals scored over the course of the campaign, which resulted in his fifth world player of the year honor. He scored 41 goals across all competitions for Barcelona in 2015–16, and the club won the La Liga title and the Copa del Rey during that season. Messi topped that with 53 goals for Barcelona in 2016–17, leading the team to another Copa del Rey title. In 2017–18 he scored 45 goals, and Barcelona won the La Liga–Copa del Rey double once again. Messi scored 51 goals across all domestic competitions in 2018–19 as Barcelona won another La Liga championship. In late 2019 he won his sixth career Ballon d’Or and was named FIFA’s best male player of the year. In the 2020–21 season, Barcelona claimed the Copa del Rey title, the seventh of Messi’s career. He became a free agent in 2021, and financial issues—some of which were the result of La Liga rules—largely prevented him from re-signing with Barcelona. He left the club after setting a number of records; notably, he was the leading goal scorer in the league’s history (474). Later in 2021 Messi signed with Paris St.-Germain (PSG), where he joined superstars Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, and that year he received yet another Ballon d’Or. He helped PSG win the Ligue 1 title in each of his two seasons with the team. In 2023 Messi joined Inter Miami of Major League Soccer. International career Despite his dual citizenship and professional success in Spain, Messi’s ties with his homeland remained strong, and he was a key member of various Argentine national teams from 2005. He played on Argentina’s victorious 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship squad, represented the country in the 2006 World Cup, and scored two goals in five matches as Argentina swept to the gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Messi helped Argentina reach the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals, where the team was eliminated by Germany for the second consecutive time in World Cup play. At the 2014 World Cup, Messi put on a dazzling display, scoring four goals and almost single-handedly propelling an offense-deficient Argentina team through the group stage and into the knockout rounds, where Argentina then advanced to the World Cup final for the first time in 24 years. Argentina lost that contest 1–0 to Germany, but Messi nevertheless won the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player. During the 2016 Copa América Centenario tournament, he netted his 55th international goal to break Gabriel Batistuta’s Argentine scoring record. After Argentina was defeated in the Copa final—the team’s third consecutive finals loss in a major tournament—Messi said that he was quitting the national team, but his short-lived “retirement” lasted less than two months before he announced his return to the Argentine team. At the 2018 World Cup, he helped an overmatched Argentine side reach the knockout stage, where they were eliminated by eventual champion France in their first match. After a third-place finish at the 2019 Copa América, Messi led Argentina to victory in the tournament two years later, and he received the Golden Ball award. His success continued at the 2022 World Cup. There he guided Argentina to the finals, where he scored two goals—and made a penalty kick during the shootout—to help defeat France. Messi won the World Cup’s Golden Ball, becoming the first male player to receive that award twice. In addition, his outstanding play in the tournament was instrumental in Messi winning his eighth Ballon d’Or in 2023. Other activities and legal issues Off the field, Messi was one of the biggest athletic stars in the world. In addition to earning a football salary that was frequently, with Ronaldo’s, one of the two largest athletes’ salaries in all professional sports, he was an extremely successful product pitchman, notably for the sportswear company Adidas. In 2013 Messi and his father (who handled his son’s finances) were charged with tax fraud and accused of using overseas shell companies to avoid paying €4.2 million in Spanish taxes on endorsement earnings. Despite subsequently paying €5 million to the Spanish state, the pair were nevertheless ordered to stand trial on the charges in 2016. In July of that year, Messi and his father were each given suspended 21-month prison sentences (first-time offenders in Spain are given suspended sentences if the duration is under two years) and were fined €2 million and €1.5 million, respectively. Source : https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lionel-Messi


Type:Event
👁 :3
Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with Russia
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Expanded capabilities In November, Ukraine reported its troops had engaged in combat with North Korean troops in the Kursk region of Russia. Moscow and Pyongyang have not responded to the claim that North Korean soldiers have been under fire, but US intelligence and Nato have confirmed there is evidence of North Korean troops being involved in Russia's war. The arrival of North Korean troops was cited by US officials as a reason for President Biden giving the green light for Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike inside Russia. How that decision will affect the war in the coming months is still to be seen, but Ukraine now has the potential to hit targets almost 200 miles (300km) from the Russia-Ukraine border.Ukraine sends units into Russia The appearance of North Korean troops in the Kursk region was a response to a surprise attack launched across the border by Ukrainian troops in August, advancing up to 18 miles (30km) into the Russian region. Almost 200,000 people were evacuated from areas along the border by the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin condemned the Ukrainian offensive as a "major provocation". After two weeks, Ukraine's top commander claimed to control more than 1,200 sq km of Russian territory and 93 villages. The regions of Kursk and Belgorod have both declared a state of emergency. Some of that territory has been regained by Russia but Ukraine still has troops in the Kursk region.The counter-offensive is seen partly as an attempt to force Russia to redeploy units from the east and relieve pressure on the beleaguered Ukrainian defences there, and partly as a bid to improve Ukraine's chances of a peace settlement. Russian incursion north of Kharkiv At the beginning of May 2024, Russian forces crossed the international border to the north of Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv. Several villages were seized and thousands of civilians fled. Russia's main offensive has long focused on the eastern Donetsk region, but this was one of the most significant ground assaults since the start of the war and further stretched Ukraine's front-line defences. The Russian push took place at the end of a four-month period when the US was not supplying weapons to Ukraine, due to a stalemate in the US Congress. The issue was finally resolved at the end of April, when the US passed a $61bn aid package to provide missiles, artillery and air-defence systems to the Ukrainian military. Ukrainian forces eventually held firm and even though the city of Kharkiv has come under repeated attack from glide bombs fired by Russian warplanes, it remains beyond the range of Russian artillery. Russia grinds forward in the east The incursion north of Kharkiv was some distance from the main front line in the east where Russia has continued its offensive operations and been edging forwards since October 2023. Eastern Ukraine has been contested territory since 2014, when Russian-backed fighters seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.Russia's biggest advantage is manpower and it has shown a willingness to throw soldiers at Ukrainian positions to gain a few metres at a time. According to the UK chief of defence staff Sir Tony Radakin, more than 1,500 Russian soldiers were being killed or wounded every day in October. That is the highest rate since the beginning of the war, exceeding the 1,200 being killed or wounded every day in May and June. Experts at the Institute for the Study of War believe Russian forces will likely continue to focus on seizing frontline Ukrainian towns and cities this winter with the city of Pokrovsk as one of their main targets.The Russian advance towards Pokrovsk is the most notable change in control of the front line near Donetsk for several months, but innovative tactics by Ukrainian forces, combining the use of drones and ground forces, appears to have held up a direct assault by the Russians and inflicted significant losses of troops and equipment. The recent defence of Pokrovsk follows the Ukrainian withdrawal from Avdiivka, just north of Donetsk, back in February after months of fighting. Almost all of Avdiivka's pre-war population of more than 30,000 people have left and the town itself is almost completely destroyed. To the north, areas around Bakhmut have remained a flashpoint and have endured some of the heaviest fighting of the war. Although Ukraine gained some ground around Chasiv Yar, which is situated on high ground some 10km west of Bakhmut, Russian forces have since made further advances in the area. Two and a half years of fighting Russia's invasion began with dozens of missile strikes on cities all over Ukraine before dawn on 24 February 2022. Russian ground troops moved in quickly and within a few weeks were in control of large areas of Ukraine and had advanced to the suburbs of Kyiv. Russian forces were bombarding Kharkiv, and they had taken territory in the east and south as far as Kherson, and surrounded the port city of Mariupol.But they hit very strong Ukrainian resistance almost everywhere and faced serious logistical problems with poorly motivated Russian troops suffering shortages of food, water and ammunition. Ukrainian forces were also quick to deploy Western supplied arms such as the Nlaw anti-tank system, which proved highly effective against the Russian advance. By October 2022, the picture had changed dramatically and having failed to take Kyiv, Russia withdrew completely from the north. The following month, Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city of Kherson. Since then, the battle has mostly been in the east of Ukraine with Russian forces slowly gaining ground over many months, with at least 70,000 Russian troops killed - and an estimated 500,000 being either killed or injured in total, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.


Type:Social
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