From 2017 to 2021, gas pipeline leaks averaged more than 200 a year. In most cases, leaking gas either ignites at the construction site or passes through a confined space underground and enters nearby premises before exploding. For example, one of the most deadly accidents in recent years in terms of casualties was a gas explosion… Read More Frequent gas accidents threatens safety of Chinese workers
Around the world, many countries are becoming less democratic. This backsliding on democracy and “creeping authoritarianism,” as the U.S. State Department puts it, is often supported by the same industries that are escalating climate change. In my new book, “Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis,” I lay out connections between these industries and the… Read More Big Oil, Rising Authoritarianism and worsening climate. By Eve Darian-Smith
Marina Hyde: For this NSFW government, it’s the last days of Rome How long were the last days of Rome? By some estimates, about 200 years, so I hope you’re sitting comfortably after a week in which: a female MP was baselessly branded an exhibitionist; a male MP was accused of watching porn in the Commons chamber; it… Read More The rotting carcass of English conservatism (+ the certifiable lunacy of the American variety)
Taken together, the continental and analytic meltdowns indicate that truth is either an evil authoritarian force or that it is nothing at all. That just about does it, doesn’t it? In one way or the other, then, and through the whole century, truth seemed to be in collapse, a scene of puzzlement and despair, a… Read More Crispin Sartwell: Truth is real
Global heating is causing such a drastic change to the world’s oceans that it risks a mass extinction event of marine species that rivals anything that’s happened in the Earth’s history over tens of millions of years, new research has warned. Accelerating climate change is causing a “profound” impact upon ocean ecosystems that is “driving… Read More Global warming risks most cataclysmic extinction of marine life in 250 million years
KARACHI, April 26 (Reuters) – A suspected female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers in Karachi on Tuesday, police and officials said, drawing strong condemnation from Beijing, in the first major attack this year against nationals of long-time ally China working in Pakistan. The three were among passengers on a minibus returning to Karachi university… Read More Female suicide bomber kills three Chinese teachers at Karachi university / KU attack ‘final wake-up call’ on crisis in Balochistan
More than 100 former civil servants have said that the recent instances of “hate violence against [India’s] minority communities, particularly Muslims” represent the “subordination of the fundamental principles of our constitution and of the rule of law to the forces of majoritarianism”, accusing the state of being “fully complicit” in this process. In a letter to… Read More Your Silence in the Face of Enormous Societal Threat Is Deafening: Former Civil Servants to Modi
Even while hammering out the final details of his £35bn ($44bn) purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk took some time out this weekend to tweet. He likes tweeting, does the world’s richest man, usually from what he calls his “porcelain throne” (that detail disclosed on Twitter, naturally enough). This one was a photo of Bill Gates, zeroing… Read More Elon Musk is the king of trolls in an age of troll politics / What better owner for Twitter than master of the ill-advised tweet?
The Union government’s auctions to provide pulses to the poor and armed forces, worth more than Rs 4,600 crore, were rigged to benefit a few big millers, findings from the National Productivity Council, headed by commerce minister Piyush Goyal, have revealed. The council presented its preliminary findings on October 11, 2021, to a committee overseeing… Read More Govt Agency Confirms Centre's Auctions Allowed Millers To Corner Pulses Meant For The Poor
After the truth-shower 