World

Blue whales consume up to 10 million pieces of microplastic every day, research estimated Tuesday, suggesting that the omnipresent pollution poses a bigger danger to the world’s largest animal than previously thought.

The tiny fragments of plastic have been found everywhere from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains, and even inside human organs and blood.

Now a modelling study published in the journal Nature Communications has estimated how much is being ingested by whales. 

A US-led research team put tags on 191 blue, fin and humpback whales that live off the coast of California to observe their movements.

“It’s basically like an Apple Watch, just on the back of a whale,” said Shirel Kahane-Rapport, a researcher at California State University, Fullerton and the study’s first author.

The whales mostly fed at depths of between 50 to 250 metres (165-820 feet), which is home to the “greatest concentration of microplastics in the water column,” Kahane-Rapport told AFP.

The researchers then estimated the size and number of mouthfuls the whales had daily and what was filtered out, modelling three different scenarios.

Under the most likely scenario, the blue whales ate up to 10 million microplastic pieces a day.

Over the 90-120 day annual feeding season, that represents more than a billion pieces a year.

The largest animal ever to live on Earth is also likely the biggest microplastic consumer, eating up to 43.6 kilogrammes a day, the study said.

“Imagine carrying around an extra 45 kilogrammes — yes, you’re a very big whale, but that will take up space,” Kahane-Rapport said.

Humpback whales were estimated to eat around four million pieces a day.

While it is easy to imagine whales sucking in vast amounts of microplastics as they gulp their way through the ocean, the researchers found that was not the case.

Instead, 99 percent of the microplastics entered the whales because they were already inside their prey.

“That’s concerning for us,” Kahane-Rapport said, because humans eat that prey.

“We also eat anchovies and sardines,” she said, adding that “krill is the basis of the food web”.

Previous research has shown that if krill are in a tank with microplastic, “they will eat it,” Kahane-Rapport said.

Now that the researchers know how much microplastic is being consumed by whales, next they aim to determine how much harm it could be doing.

“The dose defines the poison,” Kahane-Rapport said.

Two police officers were killed, two more wounded and prison guards taken hostage Tuesday in the latest wave of attacks in a deadly gang war consuming Ecuador, authorities said.

Officials said “organized crime” groups responded to the transfer of detainees from the Guayas 1 prison with nine attacks using explosives and firearms.

The prison, in the southwestern port city of Guayaquil, is one of the main scenes of a series of bloody prison massacres that have left about 400 inmates dead since February 2021.

“We have had reactions” of “organized crime” in Guayaquil and in the northwestern oil port of Esmeraldas, Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters in the capital, Quito.

These included car bomb attacks.

In the early morning hours, two police officers died when their patrol car was attacked by people with firearms in Guayaquil, according to police.

A separate attack on a police station in Guayaquil left two officers injured. 

In Esmeraldas — the same city where two beheaded bodies were found hanging from a pedestrian bridge on Monday — inmates took eight guards hostage, according to the SNAI prison authority.

A video circulated on Twitter appears to show two guards with explosives tied to their bodies and a man claiming to be an inmate denouncing prison “corruption.” AFP could not independently verify the video.

“If war is what they want, war is what they’ll get,” says the man, his face obscured, adding: “We will use these guards.”

– ‘Find the perpetrators’ –

Police commander General Fausto Salinas said at the press conference in Quito that four of the guards were since released.

The SNAI had earlier announced on Twitter that it was moving about 200 inmates from the Guayas 1 prison in Guayaquil.

It said the transfers were necessitated by required maintenance to cell blocks.

But according to the purported hostage video, the move was the reason for the events at Esmeraldas.

“Given the events in Esmeraldas and GYE (Guayaquil), we activated our tactical and investigative units to maintain order and find the perpetrators,” the police said on Twitter. 

Once a relatively peaceful neighbor of major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen a wave of violent crime that authorities blame on turf battles between rival drug gangs believed to have ties to Mexican cartels.

Hundreds of inmates have been killed — many beheaded or incinerated — as the fighting spilled into prisons. Civilians have increasingly been caught up in the violence, which has included a spate of car bombs.

The violence has claimed 61 police lives since last year.

Ecuador has gone from being a drug transit route in recent years to an important distribution center in its own right, with the United States and Europe the main destinations.

The murder rate in Ecuador nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants, and reached 18 per 100,000 between January and October this year.

In 2021, law enforcement seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. 

So far this year’s seizures total 160 tons.

A British counter-terrorism unit has taken over an investigation into the firebombing of a migrant processing centre, police said on Tuesday.

Homemade incendiary devices were thrown at the Western Jet Foil Border Force centre in Dover on Sunday, leaving two staff with minor injuries.

The facility in the busy port town in southeast England processes migrants who have crossed the Channel from northern Europe in small boats.

Interior minister Suella Braverman on Monday said the attack, carried out by a 66-year-old man from High Wycombe, northwest of London, who was later found dead, was not being treated as terror-related.

But Kent Police on Tuesday said officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) had assumed the lead in the investigation.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of CTPSE, said there was “nothing to suggest any ongoing wider threat” in Dover or elsewhere.

“What appears clear is that this despicable offence was targeted and likely to be driven by some form of hate-filled grievance, though this may not necessarily meet the threshold of terrorism,” he added. 

“At this point, the incident itself has not been declared a terrorist incident, but this is being kept under review as the investigation progresses.”

Officers executed a search warrant at a property in the High Wycombe area on Monday and recovered what they said were a “number of items of interest”, which would be examined to try to determine motive.

“There is currently nothing to suggest the man involved was working alongside anyone else,” said Wright.

The attack came as Braverman — reappointed as home secretary despite being sacked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s short-lived predecessor Liz Truss — is pushing a hard line on migrants.

Her description on Monday of record numbers of migrants seeking asylum in Britain as an “invasion” sparked outrage and accusations of inflammatory language.

But she retains Sunak’s backing, his official spokesman told reporters on Tuesday, assessing that Braverman’s choice of words reflected “the sheer scale of the challenge” facing the government.

Some 40,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, with predictions numbers could hit 50,000 or even 60,000 by the year-end.

That has caused a logjam in asylum claims and increased accommodation costs estimated by the government at £6.8 million ($7.8 million) a day.

Braverman, who has previously spoken of her “dream” of sending failed asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Rwanda, has been accused of deliberately refusing to procure more hotel space for migrants housed at a temporary holding centre near Dover.

But she denies blocking the use of hotels.

Danes voted Tuesday in a knife-edge election with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen fighting for political survival against the right and far-right in polls that could turn a moderate ex-premier into a kingmaker.

The election was triggered by the “mink crisis” that has embroiled Denmark since the government decided in November 2020 to cull the country’s roughly 15 million minks over fears of a mutated strain of the novel coronavirus.

The decision turned out to be illegal, however, and a party propping up Frederiksen’s minority Social Democrats government threatened to topple it unless she called elections to regain the confidence of voters.

After a campaign dominated by climate concerns, inflation and healthcare, almost a quarter of voters were still undecided heading into election day, according to polls.

Grey skies covered the capital as voting took place with polling stations scheduled to close at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) and the first results expected around 9:30 pm.

By around 2:00 pm, about 40 percent of voters had cast their ballots in the country of 5.9 million people, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.

“Climate issues and psychiatry (mental health issues), but mostly climate, are the reasons behind my vote,” 46-year-old Lone Kiitgaard told AFP after casting her ballot in central Copenhagen, without disclosing who she voted for.

The latest poll by Voxmeter gave the left-wing “red bloc”, led by Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, 49.1 percent against 42.4 percent for the “blues”, an informal liberal and conservative alliance, supported by three populist parties.

“This election could be really close and there is a risk that there will be a blue government after today,” Frederiksen admitted, but stressed she was “very optimistic” after voting at a badminton centre turned polling station northwest of Copenhagen.

Nikolaj Sommer, editor of Danish business daily Borsen, told AFP he made his choice after studying the parties’ economic programmes. 

“That we are not actually stimulating inflation in Denmark, I think that’s a very important thing for me. And of course the Danish welfare system and how we’re going to run it in the long run,” the 47-year-old journalist said.

– ‘Better to be a joker’ –

With neither bloc set to win an outright majority, governing will likely depend on support from the Moderates, a centrist party founded only this year by two-time prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

“That’s the most interesting part. If there is no majority, as seems to be the case, the Moderates are required to form a government,” Rune Stubager, a political science professor at Aarhus University, told AFP.

Both the left and the right have made repeated appeals to Lokke Rasmussen, who has campaigned on reforming the healthcare system.

Frederiksen has floated the idea of a coalition government, led by herself, and has said she is willing to discuss healthcare reforms.

Liberal Party leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, her main challenger on the right, has called for Lokke Rasmussen to align with his former colleagues on the right.

“We will… do our outmost to be the bridge, that’s the whole idea behind this,” Lokke Rasmussen told AFP after casting his ballot in central Copenhagen.

Only two months ago, the party polled at around two percent but has now soared to between 9.3 to 10 percent support.

Lokke Rasmussen, who said “it’s better to be a joker than a joke”, does not envision becoming prime minister a third time, despite being a potential kingmaker.

“That’s not in my mind,” he said.

Protective of the prosperity and social cohesion of the Nordic welfare state, Denmark championed ever stricter migration policies for over 20 years.

– Climate concerns –

Advocating a “zero refugee” policy, the Social Democrats government is working on setting up a centre to house asylum seekers in Rwanda while their applications are processed.

As most parties back the restrictive policies the issue is rarely up for debate.

Climate, on the other hand, is of great concern to Danes.

On Sunday, some 50,000 people, including the prime minister, gathered for the “People’s Climate March” in Copenhagen.

But while there is widespread agreement on some issues, Denmark’s political landscape is splintered with a total of 14 parties vying for the 179 seats in parliament.

Four seats are reserved for the overseas autonomous territories: Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Voter turnout is traditionally high in Denmark. In the 2019 election, 84.6 percent of some 4.2 million eligible voters cast a ballot.

Israelis cast ballots Tuesday in their fifth election in less than four years, turning out for their strongest showing in two decades with ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu seeking a comeback.

The election follows the collapse of a coalition that united eight disparate parties who succeeded in ousting Netanyahu last year after a record run as prime minister, but ultimately failed to achieve political stability.

Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption and breach of trust, said he hoped to “finish the day with a smile” and was criss-crossing the country trying to rally late afternoon votes, including a stop in the Likud stronghold of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, whose centrist Yesh Atid party has polled second behind Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, urged people to vote “for the future of our country”.

In a political system where a shift in just one of the 120 Knesset seats up for grabs could cement a ruling coalition — or lead to further deadlock and possible new elections — the outcome remains uncertain once more.

Concerns about voter fatigue were widespread, but as of 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) turnout figures were the highest since 1999 at 38.9 percent, a rise of 4.3 percentage points compared with the last election in March 2021, according to the Central Elections Committee.

At a polling station in Tel Aviv, voter Amy Segal, 26, aired her frustration.

“Each year there’s a new election, there’s no political stability,” she told AFP.

“I feel like it doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing will change.”

Polls close at 10:00 pm (2000 GMT), when Israeli networks will give their first results projections.

– ‘Coalition of extremists’ –

Whoever is tapped to form a government will need support from multiple smaller parties to clinch a 61-seat majority.

Extreme-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir may be key to helping Netanyahu return to power, as his Religious Zionism bloc has gained momentum in recent weeks and could come third in the election.

Ben-Gvir, who wants Israel to annex the entire West Bank, promised a “full right-wing government” led by Netanyahu, after voting near his settlement home.

Justice Minister Gideon Saar, a former Likud heavyweight who broke with Netanyahu and now leads his own party, warned Israel risked electing a “coalition of extremists”.

The vote is being held against a backdrop of soaring violence across Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

At least 29 Palestinians and three Israelis were killed across the two territories in October, according to an AFP tally.

The Israeli military shut checkpoints leading to the West Bank and closed the crossing with the blockaded Gaza Strip throughout election day.

While many candidates have cited security as a concern, none have pledged to revive moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.

– ‘No change’ –

The cost of living has been a hot issue this election as Israelis, having long endured high prices, are feeling the pinch even more amid global economic turmoil linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lapid was the architect of the last coalition, which for the first time brought an independent Arab party into the fold and included others from the right and left.

In Tel Aviv, voter Gidi Bar Ilan, 30, said the short-lived coalition “demonstrates that we can sit together”.

The unlikely alliance of the last government was made possible after Mansour Abbas pulled his Raam party from a united slate with other Arab-led parties, paving the way for him to join the coalition.

But Raam’s pioneering support for a coalition is not viewed positively across Arab society, which makes up around 20 percent of Israel’s population.

“He tried, but he didn’t bring anything. No change, no money,” said voter Faris Mansour from the central Arab town of Tirah.

The 54-year-old told AFP he had voted for the Balad party which rejects participation in Israeli governance.

Recent months have seen further divisions within the Arab bloc, which is running on three separate lists in a move expected to weaken the minority’s representation in parliament.

Abbas remained optimistic Tuesday that “this process of cooperation” would continue, yielding “results for the Arab society, and for the Israeli society in general”.

bur-bs/ami/dv

The world needs to set aside an area bigger than the United States for tree planting and other measures to meet climate pledges, according to research published Tuesday that warned against “unrealistic” carbon-cutting plans.

Almost 200 nations will begin high-stakes UN climate talks in Egypt from November 6, as increasing damage from floods, heat waves and droughts are being felt across the world.

Recent UN assessments conclude that current policies and plans are not nearly enough to limit global warming and avoid catastrophic climate impacts.

They may also be unattainable, new research showed Tuesday on the planned use of land-based schemes such as tree planting to offset fossil fuel pollution.

An assessment of plans from 166 countries and the European Union, released by the University of Melbourne, estimated that the total area implied was almost 1.2 billion hectares (2.9 billion acres) — bigger than the United States, or four times the size of India.

“Servicing all of the land-based carbon removal pledges is unrealistic because it would require a land mass half the size of current global cropland, putting potential pressure on ecosystems, food security and indigenous peoples’ rights,” the report said.

The research looked at countries’ targets, particularly longer-term commitments, and if the land needed was not explicitly stated, they calculated using information about the types of activity as well as carbon removal data from UN climate experts.

They found that while over 550 hectares were earmarked for restoring degraded land and protecting primary forests, some 630 million hectares were estimated for carbon capture schemes, like tree planting.

“Land-based carbon removals have to be considered together with deep cuts in fossil fuel emissions, not as a replacement,” said Anne Larson, of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry, who was a co-author of the report.

– ‘Dangerous overreliance’ –

Larson said governments might see tree planting as “easy, compared to other options”, but cautioned that these projects can cause their own problems. 

If there is no long-term management plan or if the species are not native, the trees can simply wither.

Tree plantations imposed on communities risk being “neglected, burned, cut down”, she said. 

Such expansion is also seen as incompatible with the rights of many indigenous peoples, who are increasingly being recognised as crucial custodians of nature, as the world faces a human-caused extinction crisis as well as climate change.

The Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, representing 35 million people living in forest territories in Asia, Africa and Latin America, on Tuesday said: “dangerous overreliance on land-based methods to capture carbon would gobble up much of our ancestral lands, which we desperately need for food production and nature protection”.

“Simply put, we cannot plant trees to escape climate disaster, there is not enough land. Instead, we need to protect and restore existing forests and you can only do that with us,” the alliance said.

UN climate scientists have said the world needs to slash carbon emissions 45 percent by 2030 in order to limit global heating to the more ambitious Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Melbourne University report said any tree planting schemes would be simply unable to meet the urgent challenge of reducing greenhouse gas pollution.

“Countries need to reduce their expected reliance on land-based carbon removal in favour of stepping up emissions reductions from all sectors and prioritising ecosystem-based approaches,” the report said.