Scientist found More than 200 new species

 Scientists located greater than 200 new species throughout the greater Mekong vicinity in 2020, in keeping with a WWF file, in spite of the threats posed by using climate exchange and human sports along with logging.

The finds consist of a brand new primate, a colourless cavefish and an iridescent snake with an unusual non-overlapping pattern of scales.

In all, 224 new species of plant life and vertebrate animals were discovered within the vicinity -- which incorporates Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam -- WWF said in its "New Species Discoveries" record.

photos of the Popa langur monkey, which takes its call from the extinct volcano Mount Popa in critical Myanmar, have been caught by using digital camera traps.

The mountain remains domestic to the biggest population of the reclusive simian, around 100 individuals, WWF said.

handiest round 200 to 250 of the monkeys -- that are threatened by way of searching, logging and lack of habitat -- are thought to continue to exist in total.

In Vietnam, researchers located the brilliant-colored Mount Ky Quan San horned frog at an altitude of extra than 2,000 metres on the height which gives it its name.

The more Mekong area, with landscapes ranging from jungles to mountains and karst formations, is a extremely crucial biodiversity hotspot.

it is home to some of the world's most magnificent -- and most endangered -- species together with the tiger, the Asian elephant and the Mekong massive catfish.

WWF have stated the fee of discovery of new species -- greater than three,000 when you consider that 1997 -- suggests the significance of retaining the area's fragile ecosystems.

North Korea has tested longest-range missile since 2017

 Nuclear-armed North Korea conducted what would be its largest missile test considering the fact that 2017 on Sunday, sending a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile soaring into area and sparking condemnation from the usa and its allies.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of body of workers suggested that a projectile believed to be a single ballistic missile changed into released approximately 7.52am local time from North Korea's Jagang Province closer to the sea off its east coast.

South Korea's country wide protection Council (NSC), which convened a unprecedented emergency assembly presided over by way of President Moon Jae-in, stated the test concerned an intermediate-variety ballistic missile (IRBM), which North Korea has now not examined considering the fact that 2017.

Moon stated that with the release, North Korea became taking a step towards absolutely scrapping a self-imposed moratorium on checking out its longest-variety intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

He referred to that this month's flurry of missile exams changed into reminiscent of the heightened tensions in 2017, while North Korea conducted a couple of nuclear assessments and launched its largest missiles, inclusive of a few that flew over Japan.

North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has stated he's no longer certain by that moratorium, which protected a prevent to nuclear weapons checks and changed into announced in 2018 amid a flurry of international relations and summits with then-US President Donald Trump.

North Korea's rulers counseled this month they could restart the ones testing activities due to the fact the usa and its allies had shown no signal of dropping their "adverse rules."

"the usa condemns these actions and calls on North Korea to refrain from in addition destabilizing acts," the usa navy's Indo-Pacific Command stated in a statement after Sunday's release.

larger missiles

it's far uncertain if IRBMs have been covered in Kim's moratorium, however those, too, have no longer been tested due to the fact that 2017. South Korea's JCS and jap chief cupboard Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno one at a time stated the missile is expected to have reached an altitude of two,000km and flown for 30 minutes to a distance of 800km. IRBMs usually have stages of 600 to a few,500 miles, while ICBMs have levels exceeding 3,500 miles.

Missile professionals said the records could indicate a test of an IRBM such as the Hwasong-12, which became closing examined in 2017, or a new kind.

"no matter whether or not it’s an IRBM or ICBM, that is a strategic missile of a few sort and clearly now not similar to the earlier tests inside the January 2022 test series thus far," stated George William Herbert, an adjunct professor on the middle for Nonproliferation research and a missile representative, on Twitter.

Indonesia has banned all foreign tourists in airport

 Indonesia has briefly banned foreign vacationers coming into the u . s . a . through Jakarta's airport, the delivery ministry said, in a bid to gradual a spike in coronavirus infections driven with the aid of the Omicron version.

The Southeast Asian united states has seen a jump in instances, with extra than 36,000 infections recorded on Sunday and the bed occupancy price at hospitals in the capital attaining 63%.

The flow to bar travelers flying to Jakarta comes simply days after Bali welcomed the primary worldwide flight in almost years sporting foreign site visitors.

the brand new policies observe to foreign tourists and Indonesians who've travelled overseas for holidays, the ministry stated in a announcement launched overdue on Sunday.

The decision to "quickly limit traveler arrivals" turned into supposed to gradual the spread of the coronavirus, stated Novie Riyanto, director fashionable for civil aviation on the ministry.

vacationers flying from abroad will nonetheless be capable of arrive at Bali airport, as well as at Batam and Tanjung Pinang in the Riau Islands close to Singapore.

Police have also carried out a curfew in downtown Jakarta from middle of the night to 4 a.m. as infections have kept hiking.

Indonesian officers have warned that the surge in instances pushed via the Omicron version may not peak till late February.

regardless of these concerns, the inn island of Bali welcomed a flight from Tokyo final Thursday sporting six foreigners, commonly journey marketers who were on board to display the island's readiness to obtain overseas vacationers.

Bali formally opened to overseas visitors from 19 countries remaining October, however and not using a non-cargo flights until ultimate week overseas travelers were limited.

North Korea has released space photos which was taken from missile

 North Korea on Monday released pictures which it stated had been taken from its most powerful missile launch in five years.

The unusual pictures taken from space show elements of the Korean peninsula and surrounding regions.

Pyongyang confirmed on Monday that it had examined what’s thought to be its most powerful nuclear-succesful missile due to the fact that 2017.

it's a pass that both america and South Korea have warned ought to cause resumed testing of lengthy-range weapons and nuclear bombs.

country media KCNA released these area-primarily based photos of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile in a test it said was carried out bearing in thoughts the safety of neighbouring nations.

South Korea and Japan however condemned it as a danger to nearby protection on Sunday.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in said the contemporary release brings Pyongyang a step towards absolutely scrapping a self-imposed moratorium on its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles which Pyongyang had announced in 2018.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un however says he's no longer sure by means of it.

Washington shared Seoul's concerns on Sunday as one senior US legit stated these today's moves have been a way to quote "increase stress."

this is as Washington has urged Pyongyang to join direct talks with out a preconditions.

North Korea first released the Hwasong-12 IRBM in April 2017, in a take a look at that “pinwheeled” out of manipulate and was taken into consideration a failure by using US and South Korean officials.

more check flights that month also ended in apparent failure, with the missiles exploding seconds after launch or breaking up in flight.

the primary successful flight changed into in can also 2017, and North Korea went directly to release two more Hwasong-12s that yr, flying them over the northern japanese island of Hokkaido.

In Sunday's test, North Korea said it fired the missile on an improved trajectory "in consideration of the safety of neighbouring nations."

The take a look at "confirmed the accuracy, protection, and operational effectiveness of the produced Hwasong-12 type weapon system," KCNA said. South Korea pronounced the missile reached an altitude of about 2,000 km and flew to a distance of 800 km.

The Hwasong-12 has an predicted variety of 4,500 km, which might placed america territory of Guam and the far western tip of Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain inside attain, in keeping with the Washington-primarily based center for Strategic and worldwide research.

it may carry a "massive-size heavy nuclear warhead," in keeping with state media, and in 2017 North Korea threatened to use it to goal Guam with "enveloping hearth."

If Russia cuts gas export from where could Europe’s gas come?

Russia furnishes over 40% of the natural gas Europe imports and in the event it invades Ukraine again those supplies could be at risk, throwing into question European countries' ability to keep the heat on in the dead of winter.

Europe, which imports around two-thirds of its natural gas, has alternatives to replace some of what it currently buys from Russia.

Moreover, experts judge it highly unlikely there would be a complete halt to Russian gas deliveries.

The alternatives

"There are pipelines from Norway, Algeria and Azerbaijan, but these countries don't have additional production capacity," said Thierry Bros, a specialist on the European gas market at Sciences Po university in Paris.

That means Europe will need to turn to liquefied natural gas (LNG), which can be delivered by huge sea tankers from suppliers anywhere in the world.

Washington is helping Europe find alternative supplies to cover a majority of Russian imports, and US President Joe Biden will host Qatar's ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the White House next week. 

For LNG supplies, "the three giants today are Qatar, Australia and the United States," said Vincent Demoury, head of the GIIGNL international trade association of gas import firms.

"So it's mostly these three countries which have the flexibility to produce more, or to switch to Europe volumes which traditionally go to other markets," he said.

LNG only a partial solution

"We can't replace all the Russian gas with LNG," noted Thierry Bros.

That is because the ports and regasification facilities in Europe (UK included) can only handle 19 billion cubic meters (bcm) per month.

They are currently handling about 8 bcm per month, which means they could take another 11 bcm per month.

That would be able to compensate for most of the 14 bcm per month that Europe is currently receiving from Russia.

But Demoury said it is one thing to look at capacity on an annual basis, and another to look at it in the middle of winter when the utilisation rate of LNG terminals is much higher.

If Spain and Britain LNG terminals currently have sufficient spare capacity, said Demoury, French terminals are saturated.

Unlikely Russia turns off taps

Europe's gas reserves are weak for winter and imports from Russia are at historic lows for the month of January.

Ozone pollution has caused crop losses worth $63 billion in Asia

 Fossil gas emissions aren’t just riding weather exchange and aggravating air satisfactory, they’re also hurting crop yields enough to motive a few $sixty three billion in annual losses in East Asia, scientists say.

With excessive degrees of ozone pollution, China, South Korea and Japan are seeing faded yields in wheat, rice, and maize, in step with a study published on Monday within the journal Nature meals.

China by myself is dropping a 3rd of its ability wheat production and nearly 1 / 4 of rice yields as ozone disrupts plant increase. That has stressful implications past the region, with Asia imparting most people of the world’s rice deliver.

“East Asia is considered one of the largest bread baskets and rice bowls within the global,” said lead author Zhaozhong Feng, an environmental researcher at Nanjing university of information technology & technology.

Asia is also a hotspot for ozone, formed whilst sunlight interacts with greenhouse gases consisting of nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and risky organic compounds that are released by way of the burning of fossil fuels.

in the stratosphere, a layer of ozone protects the planet from ultraviolet radiation. but in the direction of Earth’s floor, ozone can damage plant life and animals, such as humans.

Feng and his colleagues used ozone tracking statistics to estimate the crop harm as costing roughly $63 billion. preceding research on the subject has used computer simulations to evaluate the financial effect of ozone pollution on plants.

Ozone “directly damages food protection in China for all three vegetation,” Feng said.

this is a subject for China, which is already concerned about its declining land nice. The united states of america has to feed a fifth of the sector’s populace with only 7% of its farmland.

As industry, electricity and urban growth have competed for restricted land assets, China misplaced some 6% of its arable land on Thursday - or 7.5 million hectares - from 2009 to 2019, consistent with a kingdom land survey published in August ultimate year. at the same time as Beijing has since drawn a “crimson line” to protect existing agricultural land, professionals nonetheless expect the whole to fall in addition with the aid of 2030.

“In a few components of the arena, ozone pollutants is comparable to or maybe worse for crops than the alternative large stressors of warmth, drought, and pests,” stated Katrina Sharps, a spatial information analyst at the United Kingdom Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. In a 2018 look at, she and different researchers estimated global wheat yield losses from ozone pollution totalled $24.2 billion yearly between 2010 and 2012.

“It’s an underneath-identified problem,” Sharps said.

Ozone stages have declined in america and Europe over the past two decades, with the advent of stricter air nice measures. however the pollutant is increasing in Asia.

even as the gases that contribute to ozone pollutants are largely emitted from cities, the impact is worse in rural regions in which ozone forms.

Scientists said the best way to deliver down ozone degrees is to cut back using fossil fuels – the identical action had to carry down greenhouse gasoline emissions causing weather trade.

without stricter emissions controls in Asia, Sharps said, “matters are going to worsen.”

North Korea will restart test of Nuclear long-range missiles

 North Korea hinted on Thursday it could resume nuclear and lengthy-variety weapons assessments because it prepares for "confrontation" with Washington, its brand new risk after a string of sanctions-busting missile launches.

Pyongyang has no longer tested inter-continental ballistic missiles or nukes due to the fact that 2017, setting launches on hold as chief Kim Jong Un embarked on a blitz of high-level international relations, meeting then-US president Donald Trump 3 instances before talks collapsed two years later.

considering the fact that then, the nuclear-armed North has rebuffed US gives of talks whilst restarting some checking out, which includes of hypersonic missiles, as Kim pursues his avowed intention of in addition strengthening his military.

when Washington imposed clean sanctions ultimate week, Pyongyang stated it turned into a "provocation" and ramped up conventional weapons exams, vowing a "more potent and positive" reaction to efforts to rein it in.

"The adversarial coverage and army threat through the us have reached a threat line that can't be omitted anymore," a document on a assembly of the united states's Politburo in state media KCNA said on Thursday.

The North's pinnacle officials "unanimously diagnosed that we have to make extra thorough education for a protracted-time period war of words with the united states imperialists," KCNA stated.

This includes analyzing restarting all quickly-suspended sports, the file delivered.

The capacity resumption of tests of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles able to hitting the continental usa come at a delicate time inside the place, with Kim's sole primary best friend China set to host the iciness Olympics subsequent month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.

'2017 once more'

North Korea bided its time in the course of US President Joe Biden's first 12 months in office, but without a offer for top-degree talks, they have got moved on, stated Hong Min of the Korea Institute for national Unification in Seoul.

"it is nearly 2017 again," he said, regarding a 12 months in which Pyongyang examined nukes and ICBMs as "little rocket guy" Kim Jong Un exchanged barbs with "dotard" Trump.

"With the North's statement, it seems inevitable they'll conduct ICBM launches down the road," he stated.

Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for worldwide Peace agreed that while nuclear checking out became unlikely, "long-range missile checking out is lower back on the desk."

Kim Jong Un is "reiterating a message he'd delivered again in overdue-2019: that US movements give him no cause to stick to his self-imposed moratorium."

Kim had put new lengthy-variety missile launches on his military modernization agenda final January however had constantly tied a go back to such assessments to US moves, Panda said.

"The modern round of sanctions, alas, seem to have caused this step," he brought.

The wording of the today's KCNA missive, but, suggests that "Pyongyang may be leaving a few space for flexibility, depending on how the Biden administration responds," stated Rachel Minyoung Lee of the Stimson Centre.

earlier this week the united states known as on the us of a to "give up its unlawful and destabilizing sports" after it said it might are searching for new UN sanctions on North Korea.

but China's unique representative on Korean peninsula affairs poured cold water on the concept of a security council meeting to discuss clean curbs at the North's already-suffering economy.

"The #SecurityCouncil has no plan to discuss the so-known as draft resolution regarding sanctions on the #DPRK," Liu Xiaoming wrote on Twitter.

Even as it flexes its navy muscle tissues, North Korea, reeling economically from a self-imposed coronavirus blockade, has quietly restarted move-border trade with China.

A freight teach from North Korea arrived at the chinese border metropolis of Dandong for the primary time since early 2020 closing weekend.