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UN highlights key role of weather balloons in climate monitoring
Weather balloons play an important part in a vast, intricate global observation system, providing vital information for climate monitoring and forecasters, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Friday.
On the heels of recent news reports about Canada and the US shooting down several flying objects, including an alleged Chinese "spy balloon," inside their borders, the UN agency said weather balloons provide just a tiny fraction of the millions of observations gathered worldwide daily.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden made public remarks after days of speculation over three unmanned aerial objects shot down last weekend by the US military, saying that they were "most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions."
More than 50 satellites collect information from space, and about 400 aircraft operated by some 40 commercial companies gather input from the skies, the WMO said.
From the seas, about 400 moored buoys, 1,250 drifting buoys, and 7,300 ships provide help in addition to 10,000 automated and land-based observing stations across the planet.
Every day, free-rising latex balloons are released simultaneously from almost 900 locations worldwide. Nearly 1,000 balloons gather daily observations that provide input in real-time.
The valuable information gathered contributes to computer forecast models, local data for meteorologists to make forecasts and predict storms, climate monitoring and data for research to better understand weather and climate processes.
Computer forecast models that use weather balloon data are used by all forecasters worldwide, the WMO said.
Equipped with battery-operated radiosondes that capture observations, the floating information collectors are airborne for around two hours.
They measure pressure, wind velocity, temperature and humidity from just above the ground, to heights of up to 35 kilometres, sustaining temperatures as cold as -95°C (-139°F), before bursting and falling back to the Earth under a parachute.
Playing a key role as part of the world's global observing network for decades, they are the primary source of above-ground data.
Their valuable input feeds the Global Observing System, among the most ambitious and successful instances of international collaboration of the last 60 years, the UN agency said.
The system consists of individual surface and space-based observing systems owned and operated by a plethora of national and international agencies.
Read more: Why balloons are now in public eye — and military crosshairs
Aid convoys to keep crossing into Syria for as long as needs are there: UN
A steady flow of UN aid trucks filled with vital humanitarian relief, continues to cross the border from southern Türkiye into northwest Syria to help communities enduring terrible trauma caused by the February 6 earthquake and will continue every day, UN aid teams said Friday.
Since February 9, 143 trucks have passed through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “The movements continue today, they continue over the weekend and will continue every day for as long as the needs are there,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists in Geneva.
Asked about earthquake damage to roads leading to the aid corridors, the OCHA spokesperson referred to information that “all the roads through all the crossing points are passable and you can drive there…I was myself at Bab al-Hawa a few days ago and the trucks were indeed rolling across.”
Amid massive devastation in both Türkiye and Syria after the double quake strike, relief workers continue to stress that the full extent of the disaster is still unfolding.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Thursday said earthquake damage in Syria threatens “immediate and longer-term food security” in the country.
In Türkiye, it’s estimated that more than 15 million people have been affected, while in Syria, 8.8 million have been impacted. Humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, as relief teams have seen first-hand in Aleppo, particularly after more than a decade of war.
“I was quite overwhelmed by not only the magnitude of the destruction but the loss that was inflicted on families, you know, during only 60 seconds,” said Fabrizio Carboni, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Director for the Near and Middle East.
“For the first time, I saw that there was not only a crack, and cracks in the buildings, but for the first time I really saw that our colleagues, the people you talked to in Syria, they were really wounded, and something is broken.”
As part of the UN-wide response, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported Thursday that it stepped up its emergency response to nearly half a million quake-affected people in Türkiye and Syria, providing hot meals, emergency ready-to-eat food packages and family food rations.
“Families tell me they left everything behind when the earthquake hit, running for their lives. WFP’s food is a lifeline for them; while they think about their next steps in the destruction left by the earthquake, their children can eat,” said Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and East Europe.
She added: “We have scaled up rapidly and requests for more food are coming every day from municipalities and communities. We are there for them, but WFP can’t do it alone. We urgently appeal for funding to help us reach those in need.”
Needs remain massive but the international response is gaining momentum, both in Türkiye and Syria, confirmed Caroline Holt, global director for operations at The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): “In Türkiye, we’re very much supporting the Turkish Red Crescent on the ground to support shelter needs, with food, with wash, with health and also with cash.”
In Syria, the IFRC is working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to support people with basic needs and household items, including health, psychosocial support and clean water. With cholera already present in Syria, access to safe water “is absolutely critical to avoid that second potential disaster, that second health disaster unfolding”, Holt said.
UN-led flash appeals for both countries were issued this week – a $1 billion request for Türkiye to help 5.2 million people for three months and a $397 million humanitarian appeal for nearly five million people in Syria – jump-started by a $50 million funding injection from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund.
Highlighting the need for sustained assistance in the region, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said more help was needed for farming communities impacted by the crisis.
They are still reeling from the disaster, not least those who have opened their homes to survivors from nearby towns and cities.
Urgent needs include assessing the extent of damage to agriculture and food supply chains, including irrigation systems, roads, markets and storage capacity.
Read more: Syria's Assad could reap rewards from aid crossing deal
Why balloons are now in public eye — and military crosshairs
Wafting across the United States and into the attention of an alarmed national and global public, a giant Chinese balloon has changed Americans' awareness of all the stuff floating in the air and how defense officials watch for it and respond.
President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. is updating its guidelines for monitoring and reacting to unknown aerial objects. That's after the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting the country triggered high-stakes drama, including the U.S. shootdowns of that balloon, and three smaller ones days later.
Biden said Thursday that officials suspect the three subsequent balloons were ordinary ones. That could mean ones used for research, weather, recreational or commercial purposes. Officials have been unable to recover any of the remains of those three balloons, and late Friday the U.S. military announced it had ended the search for the objects that were shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska, and over Lake Huron on Feb. 10 and 12.
In all, the episodes opened the eyes of the public to two realities.
One: China is operating a military-linked aerial surveillance program that has targeted more than 40 countries, according to the Biden administration. China denies it.
Two: There’s a whole lot of other junk floating up there, too.
A look at why there are so many balloons up there — launched for purposes of war, weather, science, business or just goofing around; why they're getting attention now; and how the U.S. is likely to watch for and respond to slow-moving flying objects going forward.
WHAT ARE ALL THOSE BALLOONS DOING UP THERE?
Some are up there for spying or fighting. Humans have hooked bombs to balloons since at least the 1840s, when winds blew some of the balloon-borne bombs launched against Venice back on the Austrian launchers. In the U.S. Civil War, Union and Confederate soldiers floated up over front lines in balloons to assess enemy positions and direct fire.
And when it comes to peacetime uses, the cheapness of balloons makes them a favorite aerial platform for all kinds of uses, serious and idle. That includes everything down to "college fraternities with nothing better to do and $10,000,” joked Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Himes' role on the committee involved him in a congressionally mandated intelligence and military review of the most credible of sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs. That review also drove home to him and other lawmakers ”how much stuff there is floating around, in particular balloons," Himes said.
For the National Weather Service, balloons are the main means of above-ground forecasting. Forecasters launch balloons twice daily from nearly 900 locations around the world, including nearly 100 in the United States.
High-altitude balloons also help scientists peer out into space from near the edges of the Earth's atmosphere. NASA runs a national balloon program office, helping coordinate launches from east Texas and other sites for universities, foreign groups and other research programs. School science classes launch balloons, wildlife watchers launch balloons.
Commercial interests also send balloons up — such as Google's effort to provide internet service via giant balloons.
And $12 gets hobby balloonists — who use balloons for ham radio or just for the pleasure of launching and tracking — balloons capable of getting up to 40,000 feet and higher.
That's roughly around the altitude that the U.S. military says the three smaller balloons were at when U.S. missiles ended their flights.
Most pilots probably wouldn't even be aware of a collision with such a balloon, said Ron Meadows, who produces balloons — with transmitters the size of a popsicle stick — for middle schools and universities to use for science education.
All it “does is report its location and speed,” Meadows said. “It's not a threat to anyone.”
Among hobby balloonists, there are suspicions that a balloon declared missing by the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Brigade was one of the ones shot down, as the publication Aviation Week Network first reported. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday the administration was not able to confirm those reports
And it's not just the United States' Mylar, foil and plastic overhead. Wind patterns known as the Westerlies sweep airborne things ranging from Beijing's tailpipe soot and the charred chunks of Siberian forest fires swinging over the Arctic and into the United States. China says its big balloon was a meteorological and research one that got picked up by the Westerlies. The U.S. says the balloon was at least partly maneuverable.
WHY ARE WE JUST NOW SPOTTING ALL THESE BALLOONS?
Short answer: Because we are just now looking for them.
Balloons' rise to global prominence got a lift starting in the past few years. Congress directed the Director of National Intelligence to pull together everything the government has learned about unidentified aerial phenomena. That included creating a Defense Department UAP task force.
Last year, in the first congressional hearing on unidentified airborne objects in a half-century, Scott W. Bray, the deputy director of Naval intelligence, told lawmakers that improved sensors, an increase in drones and other non-military unmanned aerial systems, and yes, “aerial clutter” including random balloons were leading to people noticing more unidentified airborne objects.
That awareness kicked into overdrive this month, after the U.S. military and then the U.S. public spotted the Chinese balloon floating down from the High North. While the U.S. says previous Chinese balloons have entered U.S. territory, this was the first one of them to slowly cross the United States in plain view of the public.
That balloon, and what had been growing official awareness of a Chinese military-linked balloon surveillance campaign that had targeted dozens of countries, led U.S. officials to change radar and other sensor settings, screening more closely for slow-moving objects in the air as well as fast ones.
SIDEWINDER MISSILES: A LONG-TERM BALLOON STRATEGY?
Post big Chinese balloon, U.S. defense officials are expected to keep up broader monitoring so that balloons remain on the radar, but fine-tune the response.
Biden's order to the Air Force to shoot down the three smaller airborne objects with Sidewinder missiles left him fending off Republican accusations he was too trigger-happy. Biden says all four shootdowns were warranted since the balloons could have posed dangers to civilian aircraft. Hobby balloons with payloads of only a few pounds are not covered by many FAA airspace rules.
Biden says the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects.
He directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an interagency team to review the procedures.
78m children don’t go to school at all: UN chief
A staggering 78 million girls and boys around the world today “don’t go to school at all” because of conflict, climate disasters and displacement – while tens of millions more receive only sporadic teaching – UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday.
Calling for more funding for education in emergencies spearheaded by the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN chief in a video message said no one should be denied their chance to learn.
A full 222 million children today experience blighted education, Guterres said. “To help them, 18 countries and private partners have pledged $826 million for UN global fund ECW, on the opening day of the landmark conference.”
“No matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what barriers stand in your way, you have a right to a quality education,” he said, in an appeal for greater international efforts to ensure that more vulnerable children and youngsters get their chance to succeed.
Read more: Govt to launch countrywide school feeding programme from June: State Minister
Delivering his comments at the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference in Geneva, the Secretary-General welcomed the fact that since it was founded in 2017, the fund had trained 87,000 teachers and given seven million children in crisis “the education they deserve”.
As pledges from 18 countries and the private sector topped $826 million on the first day of the conference, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of ECW High-Level Steering Group Gordon Brown said: “We are talking about the most isolated, the most desolate, the most neglected children of the world. We’re talking about girls who find themselves trafficked or forced into child labour or child marriage unless we can help them.”
UN appeals for $5.6 billion for millions affected by Russia-Ukraine war
Almost a year since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UN has appealed for $5.6 billion to help millions of people affected inside the war-torn country and beyond.
The situation for many in Ukraine remains desperate, amid “relentless” shelling of civilian targets and infrastructure, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, told the media Wednesday in Geneva.
Humanitarian funding is needed to continue supporting lifesaving aid convoy deliveries to communities on the front line, “into areas of great danger and difficulty and priority needs,” said Griffiths, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
To continue doing the lifesaving work, the OCHA chief appealed for $3.9 billion to help 11.1 million of the 18 million people who need humanitarian assistance inside Ukraine. Officially called the Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine, it brings together more than 650 partners, the majority of them Ukrainian organisations.
In parallel with the OCHA appeal, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is also seeking $1.7 billion to help Ukrainian refugees in 10 host countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said: “I think we’re becoming a little bit used to this; we shouldn’t, because it’s quite appalling what the Russian invasion is doing to the country,” he said.
“Refugees from the conflict have every intention of returning to Ukraine at some point. But until that happens, Tuesday’s Refugee Response Plan appeal will continue to help millions of refugees and hundreds of UN partners on the ground.”
In particular, funding will support health and nutrition services, education, livelihoods and temporary protection, the high commissioner said.
Read more: War's longest battle exacts high price in 'heart of Ukraine'
“The Ukraine refugee crisis – displacement crisis – remains the largest in the world, clearly,” he added. “Almost six million estimated internally displaced people. Plus, you know, the refugees in Europe who have registered for temporary protection are close to five million now, 4.8 million. But we know that there's many more that have not.”
Amid reports that violence is escalating in the east, the latest UN estimates indicated that more than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine in the last year, with 12,000 injured. “This is almost certainly a low estimate,” Griffiths said.
Asked about UN-led efforts to secure an extension of a deal to delivery of fertilisers and foodstuffs from Ukraine and Russia to the many countries that need them all over the world, the aid official said: “The Global South and international food security needs that operation to continue.”
More than 21.3 million tonnes of corn, wheat, oil and other comestibles have been shipped across the Black Sea, as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which should be allowed to continue, the UN emergency relief coordinator added. “We don’t need it stopped in the middle of March and I hope – I hope and believe, actually – that it will be extended. And that is because it is an obvious case for international humanitarian security.”
Inside Ukraine, the UN migration agency, IOM, said the scale of destruction in the south and east has been massive – so much so, that one senior UN humanitarian worker with the agency told UN News that some towns “don’t even exist anymore.”
“We see heavy fighting on both sides (of the contact line),” said IOM Area Manager Johannes Fromholt, who described how some locations were “filled with military personnel, military equipment.”
Amid an uptick in violence in the east, Fromholt said some civilians have managed to flee from Donetsk oblast to the more central town of Znamyanka, where IOM is helping to repair collective shelters for new arrivals.
Read more: Impact of Russia-Ukraine War on Asia’s climate goals
For those unable to leave, the situation remains dire.
“In frontline locations (the conflict is) actually getting worse, with increased fighting on a day-to-day basis,” the IOM worker said. “So, people simply have to stay down in the basements into shelters where of course, it’s cold. There’s no electricity in these frontline locations.”
World Bank to get new president in 2023 as Malpass announces early departure
The World Bank is poised to get a new president in 2023, as David Malpass announced his departure Wednesday.
David Malpass, a former senior United States Treasury official nominated by then President Donald Trump, served as chief of the World Bank Group (WBG) since 2019.
In a post on the social media platform LinkedIn, Malpass said he intends to step down by June, one year before the end of his four-year appointment.
“I’m proud of what we have achieved during my term,” Malpass wrote, who previously was chief economist at the now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns.
“We’ve worked hard together to reduce poverty, increase economic growth, reduce government debt burdens, and improve living standards across the full range of human development, including education, health, social protection and jobs, gender, and access to clean water and electricity.”
Under Malpass' leadership, the Bank Group more than doubled its climate finance to developing countries, reaching a record $32 billion in 2022.
Malpass also led efforts to enable and increase private sector investment and trade. During his tenure, the World Bank has also enhanced its support for inclusive and sustainable growth, launching a pandemic fund, and developing a climate change action plan.
Highlighting other achievements, Malpass pointed to the Group’s $150 billion in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and $170 billion response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its spillover effects.
“By the end of the fiscal year, we will be well-positioned to feature sustainability more clearly in the mission of the World Bank Group, align the mission with resources, and set in motion an effective evolution to increase the institution’s impact on people in the developing world,” he wrote.
“I am eagerly looking forward to working on the multiple challenges facing economics, business, development, and global finance,” he continued. “As I have done throughout my public sector career, I will be looking for ways to improve people’s lives and living standards. This is an important and constructive opportunity for the World Bank Group to set its course.”
Established in 1944, the World Bank provides low-interest loans, zero to low-interest credits, and grants to developing countries to support investments in such areas as education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.
UN appeals for $1 billion to help Türkiye earthquake survivors
The United Nations launched a $1 billion appeal Thursday to help 5.2 million survivors of the most devastating earthquake in Türkiye’s modern history, two days after starting a $397 million appeal to help nearly 5 million Syrians across the border.
The funding, which covers three months, will allow aid organisations to swiftly ramp up their operations to support government-led response efforts in areas that include food security, protection, education, water and shelter.
Both appeals will be followed by fresh appeals for longer-term help.
“Türkiye is home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown enormous generosity to its Syrian neighbours for years,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
“Now is the time for the world to support the people of Türkiye – just as they have stood in solidarity with others seeking assistance.”
UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said: “The people of Türkiye have experienced unspeakable heartache. I met families who shared their stories of shock and devastation. We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the support they need.”
The UN and partners have been rushing to support Türkiye and neighbouring Syria in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that struck on February 6.
More than nine million people in Türkiye alone have been directly impacted by the once-in-a-generation disaster, which has left 35,000 people dead in the country, according to the latest figures from the government.
Read more: Turkey probes contractors as earthquake deaths pass 33,000
The earthquakes struck at the peak of winter, leaving hundreds of thousands of people – including small children and elderly people – without access to shelter, food, water, heaters and medical care in freezing temperatures.
Some 47,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged, including schools, hospitals and other essential services.
Thousands of people have sought refuge in temporary shelters across the country. Many families have been separated, and hundreds of children are now orphaned or unable to be reunited with their parents.
Around 3.6 million Syrians have found a safe haven in Türkiye, along with nearly 320,000 people of other nationalities, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
More than 1.74 million refugees live in the 11 provinces impacted by the earthquakes.
The UN is coordinating the operations of thousands of search-and-rescue personnel in five provinces – Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya – and humanitarian organisations have begun relief operations in the hardest-hit areas, in support of the government-led response.
This week also saw the launch of a nearly $400 million appeal for Syria, where aid delivery from across the border with Türkiye is continuing.
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said shelter needs are the top priority among displaced people there, where many homes have collapsed in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
Read more: UN appeals for $1 billion to help Türkiye earthquake survivors
More than 8,900 buildings are completely or partially destroyed, leaving 11,000 people homeless. Other priorities include food, cash assistance and supplies to cope with the harsh winter weather.
Scottish leader Sturgeon quits with independence goal unmet
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday that she plans to step down after more than eight years in office, amid criticism of her drive to expand transgender rights and her strategy for achieving independence from the United Kingdom.
Sturgeon made the surprise announcement during a news conference at her official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, saying the decision wasn’t a response to the “latest period of pressure.” But she added that part of serving well was knowing when to make way for someone else.
“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she said. “That it’s right for me, for my party and my country.”
Sturgeon, 52, has led Scotland since 2014, when Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. While the referendum was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision on independence, Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party have pushed for a new vote, arguing that Britain’s departure from the European Union had changed the ground rules.
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The U.K. government has refused to allow a second referendum.
The first female leader of Scotland’s devolved government, Sturgeon won praise for her calm, measured public communications during the pandemic — a contrast to the erratic messaging of then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
She led her party to dominance in Scottish politics but leaves office with the goal of her political life — independence — unfulfilled.
Sturgeon said she planned to remain in office until the SNP elects a new leader. Scotland is part of the U.K. but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care.
Sturgeon’s announcement caught political observers by surprise amid her staunch support for both independence and legislation that would make it easier for people in Scotland to legally change genders. Just two weeks ago she scoffed at resignation rumors, saying she still had “plenty in the tank.”
“This is as sudden as Jacinda Ardern … Geez,” tweeted SNP lawmaker Angus MacNeil, referring to the resignation last month of New Zealand’s prime minister.
Sturgeon came under pressure in recent weeks after she pushed the gender recognition bill through the Scottish parliament over the objections of some members of her own party. That raised concerns that Sturgeon’s position on transgender rights could undermine support for independence, the SNP’s overarching goal.
Joanna Cherry, an SNP member of Parliament who opposes the new gender law, said the resignation provided an opportunity for the party.
“We must restore the SNP’s tradition of internal party democracy, open respectful debate and intellectual rigour and we must also put the welfare of everyone living in Scotland back at the heart of our endeavours,” Cherry said on Twitter.
Sturgeon said she had been “wrestling” with whether it was time step down for weeks. She said she wasn’t resigning because of recent criticism, though she acknowledged that the “physical and mental impact” of the job had taken their toll.
Sturgeon led Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic and guided her party during three U.K.-wide elections and two Scottish elections.
“If the question is, can I battle on for another few months, then the answer is yes, of course I can,” she said. “But if the question is, can I give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year, let alone for the remainder of this parliamentary term, give it every ounce of energy that it needs in the way that I have strived to do every day for the last eight years, the answer honestly is different.”
Sturgeon weathered a period of scandal after her predecessor and former mentor Alex Salmond was tried and acquitted in 2020 on charges of sexual assault and attempted rape. A parliamentary investigation found that Sturgeon had misled lawmakers about what she knew, though she was cleared of major wrongdoing. In 2021 Salmond opened a rift in the independence movement by quitting the SNP to form a rival party, Alba.
For the past few months, much of Sturgeon’s energy has been focused on a renewed drive for independence and the gender recognition bill, which would allow people aged 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designations on identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Hailed as a landmark by transgender rights activists, the legislation faced opposition from some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.
Criticism of the bill increased after reports that a convicted rapist was being held in a women’s prison in Scotland while transitioning. The inmate was transferred to a men’s prison after being assessed by prison authorities.
While the Scottish parliament approved the legislation, it has been blocked by the British government because it would present problems for authorities in other parts of the U.K., where a medical diagnosis is needed before individuals can transition for legal purposes.
Sturgeon had vowed to take the British government to court, arguing that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s administration had made a “profound mistake” by vetoing the legislation.
Sturgeon also came under fire for saying she would make the next Scottish parliament election a de facto referendum on independence after the government in Westminster refused to sanction a new vote on Scotland’s links to the U.K.
The party is set to hold a conference on the strategy next month, with some members saying it won’t work and others criticizing Sturgeon for waiting too long to press ahead with independence.
Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank, said Sturgeon had made her mark, being both influential and divisive. But she failed to secure the ultimate prize.
“She’s been more successful in one way of being a figurehead, leading her party and leading the Scottish government, but she has failed to do the one thing she really set out to do, which is to secure independence,″ Maddox said.
At least 39 migrants dead in bus crash in Panama
At least 39 migrants were killed and about 20 were injured early Wednesday when the bus they were riding in western Panama tumbled off a cliff, authorities said.
Officials did not immediately report nationalities, but the migrants had crossed the treacherous Darien Gap from Colombia.
The Panamanian government typically moves migrants who have crossed the Darien to a camp near the Costa Rica border on the other side of Panama. The migrants pay for the bus tickets, but the buses are only for migrants. There are usually two drivers, as well as personnel from the National Immigration Service.
Samira Gozaine, director of Panama’s National Immigration Service, said it appeared the bus driver had passed the entrance to a shelter in Gualaca and when he tried to turn around to get back on the highway, the bus collided with another bus and went off the cliff.
Images from the scene showed a broken guardrail on a curve in a forested area just a couple hundred yards beyond the shelter. The bus was carrying 66 migrants to the Los Planes shelter.
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Ambulances carried the injured to the nearest hospital in David.
“This news is regrettable for Panama and for the region,” President Laurentino Cortizo said via Twitter.
It was the worst accident involving migrants in Panama in at least a decade. The flow of migrants through Panama surged in recent years as more risked the dangerous crossing as they tried to make their way north to the United States.
Last year, nearly 250,000 migrants crossed the Darien jungle – the majority Venezuelans – a record number that nearly doubled the total from the previous year. In January, more than 24,000 migrants crossed Darien, mostly Haitians and Ecuadoreans, according to Panamanian authorities.
Rare video of 1986 dive in Titanic wreckage to be released
Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Titanic is being released Wednesday by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The more than 80 minutes of footage on the WHOI's YouTube channel chronicles some of the remarkable achievements of the dive led by Robert Ballard that marked the first time human eyes had seen the giant ocean liner since it struck an iceberg and sank in the frigid North Atlantic in April 1912. About 1,500 people died during the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.
A team from Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in partnership with the French oceanographic exploration organization Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, discovered the final resting place of the ship in 12,400 feet (3,780 meters) of water on Sept. 1, 1985 using a towed underwater camera.
Nine months later, a WHOI team returned to the site in the famous three-person research submersible Alvin and the remotely-operated underwater exploration vehicle Jason Jr., which took iconic images of the ship’s interior.
The release of the footage is in conjunction with the 25th anniversary release on Feb. 10 of the remastered version of the Academy Award-winning movie, “Titanic.”
“More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,” ocean explorer and filmmaker James Cameron said in a statement. “Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr. ventured down to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.”