When the Indian Ocean’s ancient climate patterns returnFormations like the El Niño of the Pacific Ocean could emerge28/06/2020

Global warming: If current trends continue, the new Indian Ocean El Niño could emerge as early as 2050, the study says.scanned in chennai

About 19,000-21,000 years ago, ice-sheets covered North America and Eurasia, and sea-levels were much lower. This period, the peak of ice age conditions, is called the Last Glacial Maximum. Researchers analysed simulations of this past climate and predicted that the ongoing climate change could reawaken an ancient climate pattern of the Indian Ocean.

They find that this could be similar to the El Niño phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean bringing more frequent and devastating floods and drought to several densely-populated countries around the Indian Ocean region. If current warming trends continue, this new Indian Ocean El Niño could emerge as early as 2050. The results were published in Science Advances.

Study on shells

By studying microscopic zooplankton called foraminifera, the team had published a paper in 2019 which first found evidence from the past of an Indian Ocean El Niño. Foraminifera build a calcium carbonate shell, and studying these can tell us about the properties of the water. The team measured multiple individual shells of foraminifera from ocean sediment cores and reconstructed the sea surface temperature conditions of the past.

“In the previous paper, we argued for the existence of an ‘Indian Ocean El Niño’ during the Last Glacial Maximum. We suggest that the Indian Ocean has the capacity to harbour much larger climate variability than observed during the last few decades or a century,” writes co-author Kaustubh Thirumalai, from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona in an email to The Hindu. “In this paper, we argue that this climate variability in the Indian Ocean can arise under increased greenhouse gas forcing of global climate change.”

Lessons to learn

He explains that there are many lessons to be learnt from this cooler period about our warmer future, “even though the Last Glacial Maximum consisted of vastly different conditions compared to where the world is headed.”

Prof. Thirumalai adds: “As it is, under present-day conditions, changes in the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation strongly affect Indian Monsoon variability from year to year. If the hypothesised ‘equatorial mode’ emerges in the near future, it will pose another source of uncertainty in rainfall prediction and will likely amplify swings in monsoon rainfall.”

The paper adds that it could bring more frequent droughts to East Africa and southern India and increased rainfall over Indonesia. The team warns that further work is needed to accurately assess this new mode, particularly under lower-emission scenarios and taking into account past climatic states other than the Last Glacial Maximum.

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Novel coronavirus infection might trigger type-1 diabetesIn type-1 diabetes, the body’s immune system destroys the beta cells that produce insulin28/06/2020

Growing evidence: The novel coronavirus might actually be triggering diabetes in some people who have so far remained free of it. Getty Imagescelsopupo

Diabetes poses one of the key risk factors for developing severe COVID-19, and chances of dying are elevated in people with diabetes. Now, there is growing evidence that novel coronavirus might actually be triggering diabetes in some people who have so far remained free of it. These patients typically develop type-1 diabetes. The virus seems to be causing diabetes spontaneously in people.

These patients typically develop type-1 diabetes, which is caused when the body’s immune system plays rogue and begins to attack and destroy the beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin in the pancreas. With the destruction of beta cells, the amount of insulin produced is reduced, and hence, the ability of the body to control blood sugar is compromised leading to type-1 diabetes.

The 2002 SARS coronavirus, too, caused acute-onset diabetes in patients. Like the 2002 SARS coronavirus, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, too, binds to ACE2 receptors that are found on many organs involved in controlling blood sugar, including the liver and pancreatic beta cells, and subsequently infects the cells in the organs.

Two-way relationship

In a letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers write: “There is a bidirectional relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes. On the one hand, diabetes is associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19. On the other hand, new-onset diabetes and severe metabolic complications of preexisting diabetes… have been observed in patients with COVID-19.”

Permanent or transient

However, more evidence is needed to conclusively prove that COVID-19 indeed causes type-1 diabetes. It is also not clear if the acute-onset diabetes in COVID-19 patients will be permanent or transient. The is no clarity whether people who are borderline type-2 develop the disease.

The COVID-19 patients who develop diabetes have extremely high levels of blood sugar and ketones. When there is insufficient insulin produced, breaking down the sugar present in the blood is compromised leading to high levels of sugar. At the same time, the body begins to turn to alternative sources of fuel, which in this case are ketones. A study found 42 of 658 patients presented with ketosis on admission. Patients with ketosis were younger (median age 47). Ketosis increased the length of hospital stay and mortality, the researchers found.

Using human pluripotent stem cells, researchers grew miniature liver and pancreas and found that both the organs were permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In particular, they found the pancreatic beta cells were infected by coronavirus. ACE2 is expressed in human adult alpha and beta cells. While the beta cells produce insulin which reduces the sugar level in the blood, the alpha cells produce glucagon, which increases the blood sugar. A fine balance between the two helps maintain the blood sugar level.

Tested in mice

The researchers transplanted the miniature pancreatic endocrine cells produced using human stem cells into mice. Two months later, they examined the xenografted pancreas and found ACE2 receptors on beta and alpha cells. When the mice were infected with coronavirus, they found the beta cells were infected by the virus. Thus the virus is capable of damaging the cells that control blood sugar thus triggering acute-onset of type-1 diabetes.

According to Nature News, a global database to collect information on people with COVID-19 and high blood-sugar levels who previously do not have a history of elevated blood sugar levels has been initiated. “The researchers hope to use the cases to understand whether SARS-CoV-2 can induce type 1 diabetes or a new form of the disease,” Nature News says. Researchers want to use the database to understand if the acute-onset diabetes is permanent and people who are borderline type-2 develop the disease.

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treaty: ASEANBloc strengthens assertions vis-a-vis China’s claims28/06/2020

S. China Sea rights should be rooted in UN 

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaking at the summit on Friday.APHau Dinh

Southeast Asian leaders said a 1982 UN oceans treaty should be the basis of sovereign rights and entitlements in the South China Sea, in one of their strongest remarks opposing China’s claim to virtually the entire disputed waters on historical grounds.

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations took the position in a statement issued by Vietnam on Saturday on behalf of the 10-nation bloc. ASEAN leaders held their annual summit by video on Friday, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-raging territorial disputes high on the agenda. “We reaffirmed that the 1982 UNCLOS is the basis for determining maritime entitlements, sovereign rights, jurisdiction and legitimate interests over maritime zones,” the ASEAN statement said.

The leaders were referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a 1982 international agreement that defines the rights of nations to the world’s oceans.

Three Southeast Asian diplomats told that it marked a significant strengthening of the regional bloc’s assertion of the rule of law in a disputed region that has long been regarded as an Asian flashpoint. While it has criticised aggressive behaviour in the disputed waters, ASEAN has never castigated China by name in its post-summit communiques.

As ASEAN’s leader this year, Vietnam oversaw the drafting of the “chairman’s statement”. Vietnam has been one of the most vocal critics of China’s actions in the disputed waters.

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Russia secretly helped Afghan militants kill coalition troops’U.S. intel agencies say a Russian spy unit offered bounties to Islamist militants28/06/2020

Shrinking footprint: American troops at Camp Shorabak in Helmand province, Afghanistan, last year.NYTJIM HUYLEBROEK

American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The U.S. concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilise the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion.

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Donald Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an inter-agency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorise any step, the officials said.

An operation to incentivise the killing of American and other NATO troops would be a significant and provocative escalation of what American and Afghan officials have said is Russian support for the Taliban, and it would be the first time the Russian spy unit was known to have orchestrated attacks on Western troops.

Hybrid war

Any involvement with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of American troops would also be a huge escalation of Russia’s so-called hybrid war against the U.S., a strategy of destabilising adversaries through a combination of such tactics as cyberattacks, the spread of fake news, and covert and deniable military operations.

The Kremlin had not been made aware of the accusations, said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for President Vladimir Putin of Russia. “If someone makes them, we’ll respond,” Mr. Peskov said. A Taliban spokesman did not respond to messages seeking comment. Spokespeople at the National Security Council, the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA declined to comment.

The officials familiar with the intelligence did not explain the White House delay in deciding how to respond to the intelligence about Russia. While some of his closest advisers, like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have counselled more hawkish policies toward Russia, Mr. Trump has adopted an accommodating stance toward Moscow.

At a summit in Helsinki in 2018, Mr. Trump strongly suggested that he believed Mr. Putin’s denial that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 presidential election, despite broad agreement within the U.S. intelligence establishment that it did. Mr. Trump criticised a bill imposing sanctions on Russia when he signed it into law after Congress passed it by veto-proof majorities. And he has repeatedly made statements that undermined the NATO alliance as a bulwark against Russian aggression in Europe.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the delicate intelligence and internal deliberations. They said the intelligence has been treated as a closely held secret, but the administration expanded briefings about it this week — including sharing information about it with the British government, whose forces are among those said to have been targeted.

The intelligence assessment is said to be based at least in part on interrogations of captured Afghan militants and criminals. The officials did not describe the mechanics of the Russian operation, such as how targets were picked or how money changed hands.

It is also not clear whether Russian operatives had deployed inside Afghanistan or met with their Taliban counterparts elsewhere. The revelations came into focus inside the Trump administration at a delicate time. Although officials collected the intelligence earlier in the year, the inter-agency meeting at the White House took place as the COVID-19 pandemic was becoming a crisis and parts of the country were shutting down. Moreover, as Mr. Trump seeks reelection in November, he wants to strike a peace deal with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan war. NY Times

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26.9 crore people used drugs in 2018: UN reportOpioid use jumps fivefold; youth account for major share28/06/2020

An awareness march held in Bikaner on FridayPTI

About 26.9 crore people used drugs in 2018, which was 30% more than the 2009 figure, with adolescents and young adults accounting for the largest share of users, according to the latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report.

Compared with earlier estimates from a survey done in 2004, overall opioid use in India is estimated to have increased fivefold.

Seizures of amphetamines across the world quadrupled between 2009 and 2018. The stimulant scene is dominated by cocaine and methamphetamine, and use of both the substances is rising in their main markets. Production of heroin and cocaine remains among the highest levels recorded in modern times.

While about 19 million people used cocaine in 2018, fuelled by the drug’s popularity in North America and Western Europe, close to 27 million people used amphetamines the same year, the latter being the most used amphetamine-type stimulants in Southeast Asia, it said. “Use of methamphetamine in these two subregions has been expanding for two decades, according to most available indicators. Cocaine and methamphetamine can coexist in some markets by acting as substitutes for each other, so that use of one drug rises when the other goes down.”

Expanding markets

A number of indicators suggest that the global market of ATS, particularly meth, is expanding. “Quantities of seized methamphetamine... reached a new record high, at 228 tonne-equivalents, in 2018,” says the report.

Observing that rapid market changes were being noticed, the report said synthetics were replacing opiates in Central Asia and the Russian Federation.

Crystalline meth market has grown in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, meth seizures have steadily risen since 2014. The amount seized in the first six months of 2019 — 657 kg — signalled a huge leap over the previous year.

The study found that traffickers and manufacturers were using “designer chemicals” as an alternative to synthesise amphetamine, meth and ecstasy.

The report expressed concern about fewer countries taking part in joint drug operations, apparently due to budgetary problems.

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In debt crisis, Sri Lanka turns to ChinaBeijing nod for $500 million loan as pandemic hits tourism revenue28/06/2020

Mahinda Rajapaksa sought India’s help this February.

The Sri Lankan government is likely to once again turn to China for help with debt repayment, as it did in 2014, even as its request to India for a postponement of its debt repayment has been hanging fire for the last four months. After a conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Rajapaksa on May 13, Beijing has already approved an additional $500 million loan from its development bank to help counter the impact of the pandemic.

Even prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had asked India for a debt deferment during a visit to Delhi in February, as he had confirmed in an interview to The Hindu. In April, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka sought a $400 million currency swap with the RBI under the SAARC facility and again in May, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sought a “special” $1.1 billion currency swap facility from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had called him to discuss the responses to the pandemic and bilateral cooperation.

The situation could get more difficult for Colombo, as Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has put on hold funding for a proposed light rail transit system, local media reported, because of concerns over the island nation’s rising debt. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt is approximately $55 billion, which accounts for nearly 80% of its GDP, according to last year’s official figures. Of that, China and the Asian Development bank each hold about 14%, Japan accounts for 12%, the World Bank holds 11%, while India holds about 2%.

When asked about talks on the moratorium, Chinese Embassy officials in Colombo confirmed that the two countries are working together on the financial cooperation “via different channels and mechanisms”.

“More practical progress will be drawn in coming weeks,” spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy Luo Chong told The Hindu.

Regional distress

Other countries in the region are also now seeking debt repayments. On Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke to President Rajapaksa about joining a ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief” to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic, a press release from the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo said.

In the Maldives, President Solih’s government is talking to all its bilateral partners and international agencies. “ We would also be seeking help from India, one of our closest friends,” Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Hood told The Hindu.

According to government sources, Maldives has very “small loans” from India, which prefers a more project-driven, development aid programme. In comparison the Maldives owes China a sum of nearly $1.5 billion, including $600 million from government-to-government, which could necessitate a shift from the Solih government’s earlier tough stand on what it called the Chinese “debt trap” due to the Belt and Road Initiative projects. Reports suggest that China has now agreed to a partial repayment, to reduce the dues this year from $100 million to $75 million, a development New Delhi will watch closely.

Colombo’s request to India for freeze on debt hangs fireNo decision despite a personal request to Modi

28/06/2020 

Sri Lanka’s request to India for a postponement of its debt repayment amid the current economic crisis is “under consideration”, say officials, though no decision has been taken, more than four months after the request was made personally by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Saturday, Mr. Rajapaksa “renewed calls for international monetary organisations to provide debt relief for developing countries” during an interaction with United Nations officials, the Prime Minister’s office said, repeating earlier appeals to all its debt partners, including India. According to officials in Delhi and Colombo, the two sides have been discussing holding the loan repayment on the total $960 million that Sri Lanka owes India, as well as two separate Sri Lankan requests for a currency swap facility.

Meet proposed

Ministry of External Affairs officials say they have now proposed a virtual meeting between Delhi and Colombo on the issue, to take talks further, but did not explain why the request has not been cleared thus far.

“The Sri Lankan side hasn’t yet responded on when to do the talks,” an Indian official told The Hindu.

Last week, President Gothabaya Rajapaksa told a group of European Union ambassadors that the country needs “new investments instead of further debt” and asked for a deferment on loans. In March and April as the coronavirus pandemic spread, he had called on international donor agencies to do the same.

Sri Lanka's foreign reserves, already in peril due to economic troubles and last year’s Easter Sunday terror attacks, are being further drained after the pandemic, as its main earners — exports (tea and garments), labour remittances and tourism sectors — are all badly hit. Sri Lanka is scheduled to repay $2.9 billion of its total external debt this year.

Even prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had asked India for a debt deferment during a visit to Delhi in February. In April, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka sought a $400 million currency swap with the RBI under the SAARC facility and again in May, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sought a “special” $1.1 billion currency swap facility from Prime Minister Modi, who had called him to discuss the responses to the pandemic and bilateral cooperation.

BJP Versus Congress on Cina relation

BJP steps up attack on Cong. over China fundsThe Gandhi family should answer for their sins, says Nadda

28/06/2020 

J.P. Nadda

The BJP on Saturday continued its attack on the Congress and the Gandhi family over the alleged links between the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and China, with party president J.P. Nadda saying they had sacrificed the national interest by accepting donations from the foreign power.

At a press conference here, Mr. Nadda posed 10 questions to Congress president Sonia Gandhi about the foundation’s working. “The Gandhi family should answer for their sins,” he said.

Mr. Nadda had this week raised the issue of the RGF accepting donations from the Chinese Embassy, to which former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram responded by asking would Prime Minister Narendra Modi assure the country that China would vacate Indian territory if the RGF returned the ₹20-lakh donation.

Mr. Nadda said China had donated to the foundation every year from 2005 to 2009 and donations from the “tax haven” of Luxembourg were made from 2006 to 2009.

“Why did the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, headed by Sonia Gandhi, accept money from the Chinese government and Chinese Embassy? Isn’t it a shame, sacrificing national interest by accepting money from foreign powers for personal trusts,” he asked. He raised concern over the UPA government’s “haste” with regard to the East Asia Free Trade Agreement. “India’s trade deficit with China was allowed to increase from an almost negligible $1.1 billion in 2003-04 to as much as $36.2 billion in 2013-14. Why did the Congress weaken the economic position?”

He alleged that funds had been ‘diverted’ from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the RGF from 2005 to 2008, and the company founded by Congress leader Rameshwar Thakur had been appointed the auditor of the PMNRF. Mr. Nadda also hit out at former PM Manmohan Singh, saying he had allocated ₹100 crore to the private charitable trust when he was Finance Minister in 1991. “Since then, it has regularly received donations from the government of India Ministries. Yet, the RGF refuses to be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General or even come under the Right to Information Act. Why,” he asked.

Cong. releases travel list of BJP leadersParty says many ruling party leaders had been to China on invitation

28/06/2020 

The Congress on Saturday said the BJP president has made making sensational claims his favourite pastime after J.P. Nadda launched a fresh offensive against the Congress and the Gandhi family.

In a statement, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala gave a detailed account of the visit of BJP leaders to China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when the BJP was in the opposition.

“Why did the then BJP president Nitin Gadkari go to China on a five-day visit on January 19, 2011, at the invitation of the CCP? Why did former BJP president Amit Shah send a delegation of MPs/MLAs in November 2014 to China for a week-long study in the Party School of the CCP? Why did Narendra Modi visit China on four occasions as Gujarat Chief Minister and on five occasions as Prime Minister, besides hosting the Chinese Premier on three occasions in India? Isn’t he the only Prime Minister to have had 18 meetings with the Chinese Premier in six years,” Mr. Surjewala asked.

He also dared the RSS and the Vivekananda Foundation to make public the list of all their donors, including foreign sources. “Will the BJP disclose the source of funding, amounts received, the names of donors (including of Chinese origin) for Overseas Friends of BJP (OF-BJP)? How much amount has been received by OF-BJP from Overseas Friends of BJP-China and Hong Kong and when? What is the connection of Shri Rajkumar Naraindas Sabnani alias Raju Sabnani to OF-BJP,” he asked.

Earlier in the day, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram accused Mr. Nadda of “specialising” in speaking half-truths regarding the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) receiving money from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for tsunami relief work.

On Friday, Mr. Nadda targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the head of the RGF and called the PMNRF’s grant to a “family-run foundation” as fraud.

“BJP President Mr. Nadda specialises in speaking half-truths. My colleague Randeep Surjewala exposed his half truths yesterday. Why is the BJP hiding the fact that the Rs. 20 lakh received by RGF from PM National Relief Fund in 2005 was for tsunami relief work in Andaman & Nicobar? And that every rupee was spent for the purpose and accounted for?” Mr. Chidambaram wrote on Twitter.

“Suppose RGF returns the Rs. 20 lakh, will PM Modi assure the country that China will vacate its transgression and restore status quo ante? Mr Nadda, come to terms with reality, don’t live in the past that is distorted by your half-truths,” he said.

‘Diplomatic failure’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi should publicly condemn China for brazen intrusions into Indian territory and his government should take “strong and quick action” to resolve the LAC issue, the Congress said on Saturday.

At a virtual press conference, former Law Minister Kapil Sibal said the last six years of the Modi government had seen the biggest diplomatic failure and no major global power was standing with India now.