December 2022

Scientists Study Link Between Winter Storms and Global Warming

The world is getting warmer, winters included. The United States, however, has experienced severe winter storms in recent years, and experts are taking a closer look at the link between these extreme cold events and climate change. While the link between global warming and heat waves is very direct, the behavior of winter storms is governed by complex atmospheric dynamics that are more difficult to study. Even so, “there are certain aspects of winter storms … where the climate change linkages are fairly strong and robust,” Michael Mann, a climatologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP. For example, the

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US Considers Airline Wastewater Testing as COVID Surges in China

As COVID-19 infections surge in China, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering sampling wastewater taken from international aircraft to track any emerging new variants, the agency told Reuters. Such a policy would offer a better solution to tracking the virus and slowing its entry into the United States than new travel restrictions announced this week by the U.S. and other countries, which require mandatory negative COVID tests for travelers from China, three infectious disease experts told Reuters. Travel restrictions, such as mandatory testing, have so far failed to significantly curb the spread of COVID, said Dr.

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THE MINISTRY FOR PUBLIC WORKS AND PLANNING Substantial provisions from the Periti Act and regulations governing the architects’ profession enter into force

Through a series of Legal Notices published in the last few days in the Government Gazette, various parts of the 2021 Periti Act entered into force and a number of regulations were introduced. These will govern the architects’ profession.   After a consultation process between the Ministry for Public Works and Planning and the Chamber of Architects, regulations were established regarding the warrants that are issued to architects so that they are in line with the requirements of the Periti Act of 2021, which regulations are now coming into force. These new regulations provide guidelines to those who intend taking

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Italy to Screen All China Arrivals for COVID

Italy is making coronavirus tests for visitors from China mandatory following an explosion in cases in China, the health minister said Wednesday. “I have ordered mandatory COVID-19 antigenic swabs, and related virus sequencing, for all passengers coming from China and transiting through Italy,” minister Orazio Schillaci said. The measure was “essential to ensure the surveillance and identification of any variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population”, he said. Coronavirus infections have surged in China as it unwinds hardline controls that had torpedoed the economy and sparked nationwide protests. The Italian northern region of Lombardy introduced screening

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NASA Mulls SpaceX Backup Plan for Crew of Russia’s Leaky Soyuz Ship

NASA is exploring whether SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft can potentially offer an alternative ride home for some crew members of the International Space Station after a Russian capsule sprang a coolant leak while docked to the orbital lab. NASA and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, are investigating the cause of a punctured coolant line on an external radiator of Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is supposed to return its crew of two cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut to Earth early next year. But the December 14 leak, which emptied the Soyuz of a vital fluid used to regulate crew cabin temperatures,

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Press Freedom Group Calls for Release of Algerian Journalist

Reporters Without Borders has called on Algerian authorities to release journalist Ihsane El Kadi, director of the news outlets Radio M and Maghreb Emergent.   Radio M said El Kadi was taken into custody after six agents from Algeria’s Directorate General of Internal Security searched the offices of Radio M and Maghreb Emergent and seized computers and documents.   Radio M, an internet station, and Maghreb Emergent, its sister website, were seen as Algeria’s last outlets for independent news.   The news outlets said the arrest and search were part of a long-running intimidation and harassment campaign by authorities.  

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