Science & Technology

Europe’s heatwave reaches Poland, Greece as it moves eastwards, brings wildfires

Published

2 years ago

July 22, 2022

The vast heatwave covering swathes of Europe moved steadily eastwards on Thursday, forcing countries including Italy, Poland and Slovenia to issue their highest heatwave alerts as firefighters battled wildfires across the continent, Reuters reported.

Since temperatures in southern Europe began to soar earlier this month, the heatwave has caused hundreds of deaths and sparked wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of hectares of land in countries including Spain, Portugal and France. Britain and France both saw record high temperatures on Tuesday.

According to the report the extreme heatwave is part of a global pattern of rising temperatures, widely attributed by scientists and climatologists to climate change caused by human activity. It is forecast to dump searing heat on much of China into late August.

Greece, which contained a huge wildfire that raged near Athens for two days and was fanned by high winds, urged Europe to do more to tackle climate change.

"The climate crisis is now evident across Europe, with particular intensity in the wider Mediterranean region. The cocktail of high temperatures, gusty winds and heavy drought inevitably leads to wildfires," government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said on Thursday.

"Europe must act in a coordinated and rapid manner to reverse the climate crisis," Oikonomou told reporters. "The solution cannot be given at a national level, because the problem is transnational and huge."

Greek fire fighters had tackled 390 forest fires in one week, about 50-70 blazes a day, he said. According to the meteorological station in Penteli outside Athens, where the fire broke out on Tuesday, winds reached 113 km per hour (70 mph) at one point, read the report.

Fuelled by climate change, wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity in many countries, spreading smoke that contains noxious gases, chemicals and particulate matter and that can be damaging to health.

Reuters reported that in Poland, the authorities issued heat warnings for many parts of the country, with temperatures as high as 36.7 Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) measured in the western town of Kornik. In the northern port city of Gdansk, many residents and tourists headed for local beaches to cool down.

A large wildfire fire broke out near the southern town of Brzesko, the Onet news website reported. Firefighters told Onet that more than 50 hectares (120 acres) of fields had already burned, and that the fire was moving towards a forest.

Temperatures in Poland are expected to ease on the weekend, read the report.

In Italy, blazes in Tuscany and Friuli Venezia Giulia continued to rage but did not appear to have spread, Italian news agency ANSA reported. New wildfires were spotted in the mountains near Bologna and bordering the A9 highway, north of Milan, it said.

Fourteen cities, including Rome and Milan, were placed on the country's highest heatwave alert on Thursday, with the number set to increase to 16 on Friday, the health ministry said.

ANSA also reported that a fire that began in northern Italy near Carso has spread across the border to Slovenia, damaging an area of over 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres).

On the Slovenian side, 400 people from three villages had to be evacuated because of the blaze, Slovenian news outlets said.

Wildfires continued to burn in Portugal and Spain.

Sitting in a large sports hall filled with cots and plastic chairs, Fernando Gimenez, 68, shed tears as he spoke about leaving his home in central Spain, west of Madrid.

Gimenez was one of thousands of residents evacuated from the village of El Hoyo de Pinares because of a wildfire.

"I don’t know what I will find. Burnt trees. Nothing. I can’t even think about it," Gimenez told Reuters. "I feel kind of emptiness inside," he added.

The Spanish Red Cross has organized temporary accommodation for him and hundreds of evacuees, Reuters reported.

"We work a lot with them on psychological support, because leaving their home behind without knowing what is happening, it's hard," said a Red Cross team leader, Belen Lopez.

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Science & Technology

Russia fines Google more than the world’s total GDP over YouTube bans

Published

5 days ago

October 31, 2024

Ariana News

Russia has fined Google $2.5 decillion after the US tech giant took action against pro-Kremlin TV channels on YouTube following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia imposed a daily fine four years ago - a fine that has since swelled to an unprecedented level - ($20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - a 33-digit figure).

To put this into perspective, global GDP reaches an estimated $110 thousand billion (12-digit figure), according to the IMF.

Speaking to Russia’s TASS news agency, one expert, Roman Yankovsky from the HSE Institute of Education, said Google “clearly will not pay this penalty, and the Russian Federation will not be able to recover this money from the company."

Euronews reported that a short calculation shows that he is right.

Google's holding company, Alphabet, has a market capitalisation of slightly more than $2 trillion. Even with earnings of $80.54 billion from the last quarter, the tech giant doesn’t seem to be able to afford to pay the fine.

Google first barred pro-Moscow channel Tsargrad TV, which is owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, four years ago.

At the time, Google was fined a daily penalty of 100,000 roubles and warned that amount would double every 24 hours if it went unpaid.

The original fine has been compounded by further penalties after Google eventually blocked a total of 17 Russian TV channels as a result of international sanctions, The Telegraph reported.

The tech giant now owes a staggering $2.5 decillion.

Science & Technology

Apple launches new iPad mini with AI features

Apple said it would roll out the first set of AI features in the U.S. version of the English language this month through a software update with iPadOS 18.1.

Published

3 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Ariana News

Apple on Tuesday launched its new generation of the iPad mini packed with AI features including writing tools and an improved Siri assistant, as the iPhone maker races to boost its devices with artificial-intelligence capabilities, Reuters reported.

The new iPad mini is powered by Apple's A17 Pro chip, which is used in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. With a six-core central processing unit, the A17 Pro would boost CPU performance by 30% compared to the current generation iPad minis and is central to running Apple Intelligence, Apple's AI software.

Apple said it would roll out the first set of AI features in the U.S. version of the English language this month through a software update with iPadOS 18.1.

The features will be available for iPads with A17 Pro or M1 chips and later generations, Apple said, adding it will roll out additional features including image-generation tools, Genmoji and ChatGPT-powered capabilities over the next several months, read the report.

Apple in September unveiled its long-awaited, AI-boosted iPhone 16 lineup, but with the AI features still in test mode, the company failed to excite some investors while early sales data raised some questions around demand.

Still, research firm Canalys on Monday said the iPhone 16 would help Apple's sales in the fourth quarter and drive momentum into the first half of 2025, after Apple reached a record high third-quarter shipments.

The iPad mini, starting at $499, is available for pre-orders starting on Tuesday and will begin arriving to customers and Apple store locations next week, Apple said.

Science & Technology

Iran sends satellites to Russia for rocket launch

In September, Iran carried out its second satellite launch this year using a rocket built by its Revolutionary Guards

Published

3 weeks ago

October 13, 2024

Ariana News

Iran has sent two locally made satellites to Russia to be put into orbit by a Russian space vehicle, the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported on Saturday, in the latest space cooperation between the two U.S.-sanctioned countries.

The development of Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a small communications satellite, is the first substantial effort by Iran's private space sector, the report said.

Russia sent Iranian satellites into orbit in February and in 2022, when U.S. officials voiced concern over space cooperation between Russia and Iran, fearing the satellite will not only help Russia in Ukraine but also help Iran monitor potential military targets in Israel and the wider Middle East, Reuters reported.

Kowsar could be used in agriculture, natural resource management, environmental monitoring, and disaster management, Tasnim said.

Hodhod is designed for satellite-based communications and could be used in remote areas with little access to terrestrial networks.

In September, Iran carried out its second satellite launch, this year using a rocket built by its Revolutionary Guards.

The launch came as the United States and European countries accuse Tehran of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia that could be used in its war with Ukraine. Iran has denied this.