Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Six In The Morning Wednesday 1 June 2022

 

Shanghai is finally 'reopening,' but the trauma of lockdown lives on

Updated 0937 GMT (1737 HKT) June 1, 2022


The skyscrapers lit up, roads filled with traffic, and young people drank and danced in the streets as fireworks boomed overhead.

Shanghai celebrated Wednesday with a long-awaited burst of life, as the government lifted its city-wide lockdown. But the process of reopening is likely to be slow and painful, as residents in the financial hub contend with the trauma of the past two months.
For Henry Shi, a 30-year-old photographer who ventured out of his community on Tuesday afternoon, the first thing that struck him was the ambient noise of the city.


We cannot adapt our way out of climate crisis, warns leading scientist

Katharine Hayhoe says the world is heading for dangers people have not seen in 10,000 years of civilisation


The world cannot adapt its way out of the climate crisis, and counting on adaptation to limit damage is no substitute for urgently cutting greenhouse gases, a leading climate scientist has warned.

Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy in the US and professor at Texas Tech University, said the world was heading for dangers unseen in the 10,000 years of human civilisation, and efforts to make the world more resilient were needed but by themselves could not soften the impact enough.

“People do not understand the magnitude of what is going on,” she said. “This will be greater than anything we have ever seen in the past. This will be unprecedented. Every living thing will be affected.”


Outrage in Italy as swastikas daubed on grave of boy who died in well

Alfredo Rampi’s death broke the nation’s heart, now there is anger over the desecration of his grave

Sofia Barbarani

in Rome

There is anger in Italy following the desecration of the grave of Alfredo Rampi, a six-year-old boy whose tragic death in 1981 captivated the nation.

Images of the tombstone broadcast by Italian television on Monday show a portrait of the smiling boy in a striped top against the backdrop of at least eleven swastikas, a symbol usually associated with Nazism. Police investigations are ongoing, but the offender and the motives remain unknown.

Rampi died in June 1981 after falling into a well near his family holiday home in Frascati, on the outskirts of Rome. After losing track of him, the boy’s parents found that he had plummeted into a freshly dug well – he passed away three days after the fall.


Plastic packaging might be biodegradable after all, say German scientists

Leipzig researchers have found an enzyme that rapidly breaks down PET, the most widely produced plastic in the world. It might just eat your old tote bags.

While scavenging through a compost heap at a Leipzig cemetery, Christian Sonnendecker and his research team found seven enzymes they had never seen before.

They were hunting for proteins that would eat PET plastic — the most highly produced plastic in the world. It is commonly used for bottled water and groceries like grapes.


Hundreds of Sudanese protesters demand UN chief quit


 Hundreds of Sudanese protesters on Wednesday demanded the dismissal of the United Nations mission chief, who is working to resolve a political crisis sparked by last year's military coup.

Wednesday's protests, outside the mission's headquarters in the capital Khartoum, criticised efforts by UN special representative Volker Perthes, who heads the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission Sudan (UNITAMS).

Many of the protesters were supporters of Islamist groups, and come a day after Islamist leader Mohamed Ali Al-Gizouli accused Perthes of "interfering" in Sudan's internal affairs during a seminar titled "the negative impact of the UN mission on the launch of Sudanese dialogue".

New plan for Japanese schools gives education minister control


MOMOKO JINGU/ Staff Writer

June 1, 2022 at 16:34 JST


A new system to accredit Japanese language schools would see the education minister authorizing the schools, according to a draft plan the Cultural Affairs Agency presented on May 31 to a group of experts.

Having the education minister accredit Japanese language schools will be in line with new standards on curriculum and school facilities, among others.

Another idea is to have Japanese language schools report to the education minister. The minister could then issue advice or an order for improvement at a school, if necessary.

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