Latest news with #Ages
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
The Irish Independent's View: Collective inaction on Gaza is a dark stain on humanity
The totally preventable tragedies of Gaza are a black mark on our age. But where is the global pressure to insist that the cruelty must end? One wonders if 21st-century life has really become so transactional as to be impervious to the traumas of defenceless children. If such is the case, we are in a very dark place. Surely the unwarranted cruelty witnessed daily in Gaza is intolerable to a rules-based order. Yet it appears that, even after 22 months, there are no depths of agony from which the people of the enclave can hope to be spared. The starvation in Gaza is of a magnitude that medics sent in to help are collapsing from hunger And so US secretary of state Marco Rubio thought it fitting to lash out at France for becoming the first G7 nation to recognise Palestine as a state. It was, he said, a 'slap in the face' to the families of the victims murdered by Hamas. Can he be unaware that since then, 60,000 Palestinians have been killed? Concerns for them and their remaining loved ones and the worsening death toll seems non-existent. All death is deplorable. To be casual about the mass taking of life is to risk being trapped in an inescapable moral vacuum. The starvation in Gaza is of a magnitude that even the medics sent in to help are collapsing from hunger. At the same time, the killing of desperate people – many of them children taking on the responsibility of fending for the families – continues. The lines of the skeletal and the destitute queuing for whatever scraps they might be offered belong in the Dark Ages. As daily bombardments continue, Israeli troops fire near where the aid is handed out. Recently returned from Gaza, Dr Nick Maynard told RTÉ he had seen young boys who were shot in the testicles. He believed they had been used as target practice as their wounds were all of a similar nature. But even as the deaths from starvation mount, Israeli heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu went on radio to claim: 'There's no hunger in Gaza.' Israel 'is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out', he said, calling Palestinians 'indoctrinated Nazis'. 'Thank God we are wiping out this evil,' he added. I can't imagine I'm going to die of starvation after 21 months of bombing One female doctor is quoted in the Washington Post as saying: 'I can't imagine I'm going to die of starvation after 21 months of bombing. We are all walking towards death.' Atrocities are no less atrocious because they are carried out by elected politicians and facilitated by democratic governments. Yet in this darkest hour, Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appear to be abandoning peace talks. Mr Netanyahu said it was clear that Hamas did not want a deal, and Mr Trump said they would have to now be 'hunted down'. That Hamas needs to be brought to account is not in question. But this 'forever war' in which civilians and children are deemed worthless and expendable is unjust and indefensible and must be stopped.
New York Post
22-07-2025
- Health
- New York Post
The surprising medical remedies of the Middle Ages, from lizard oil to a sweet migraine hack
Turns out, the Dark Ages weren't so dim when it came to wellness. Researchers have unearthed a trove of medical remedies dating back over a thousand years, revealing that early medieval Europeans were far more health-savvy than historians once believed. 'People in the early Middle Ages were quite into science, into observation, into figuring out the utility of different natural substances, and trying to identify patterns and make predictions,' Dr. Meg Leja, an associate professor of history at Binghamton University who helped led the effort, told Science Daily. Advertisement 3 New research suggests that ancient healers developed treatments rooted in natural remedies, keen observation and practical know-how. DM7 – Turns out, they might have been onto something — and today's wellness gurus are just catching up. 'A lot of things that you see in these manuscripts are actually being promoted online currently as alternative medicine, but they have been around for thousands of years,' Leja explained. Advertisement Got a headache? Forget Ibuprofen. A thousand years ago, the go-to remedy was a mixture of crushed peach pit and rose oil slathered on the forehead. While it might sound more witchcraft than wellness, modern science suggests they weren't entirely off-base: A 2017 study found rose oil may offer short-term relief from migraine pain — though the crushed peach pit is a bit more questionable. Another 9th-century manuscript's advice for improving hair health begins with a practical step: Cleanse the scalp using herbal-infused salt and vinegar to ward off parasites. Even today, vinegar rinses — especially with apple cider vinegar — are used as a home remedy for scalp issues like dandruff and eczema. Though vinegar definitely has antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties, the scientific evidence that it can combat a flaking scalp is thin. Advertisement 3 Many ancient remedies drew on plants and animals to treat human ailments. Esther Hildebrandt – Sea salt scalp scrubs, meanwhile, are on the shelves of stores like Sephora and Ulta. But for truly luscious locks, medieval healers didn't stop there — they recommended topping it off with a a salve of oils blended with the 'ashes of a burnt green lizard' to unlock the full benefits. Advertisement While the internet isn't shy about embracing DIY beauty trends, the jury is still out on whether scorched reptile will become the next viral hair mask. From detox potions to botanical balms, many of the era's health hacks wouldn't feel out of place on TikTok's For You Page. But not all would hold up by today's standards. Case in point: One labor and delivery remedy advised pregnant women to tie vulture feathers to their left leg to ensure a smoother birth. Even Goop hasn't gone that far — yet. 3 Some early healing methods share striking similarities with practices in modern alternative medicine. AFP via Getty Images The surprising insights come from the Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine, a digital collection compiled over the course of more than two years by Leja and her colleagues. This project has nearly doubled the number of known health manuscripts from before the 11th century. Many were found scribbled in the margins of unrelated books on topics like grammar, theology and poetry. 'It's true that we do lack a lot of sources for the period. In that sense, it is 'dark.' But not in terms of any kind of 'anti-science' attitudes,' Leja said. 'They were concerned about cures, they wanted to observe the natural world and jot down bits of information wherever they could in this period known as the 'Dark Ages,'' she added. Advertisement The collection continues to grow with new discoveries and translations added regularly. So, if you're curious to explore medieval wellness firsthand, the full catalogue is available online here. Bonus points if you can track down the 9th-century remedy for shrinking testicles.
Daily Maverick
16-07-2025
- Climate
- Daily Maverick
Joburg power crisis — almost 100,000 reported outages in 9 months, 5,126 very serious
Africa's powerhouse city is going back to the Dark Ages after decades of post-apartheid electrification gains. A Johannesburg power data investigation by Daily Maverick has found a total of 97,715 reported power outages in nine months – with more than 5,126 serious enough to take out entire suburbs at once. This is the first independent attempt to put a number on the scale of Johannesburg's power crisis placing South Africa's economic powerhouse at risk. We began tabulating quarterly reports from City Power from July 2024 to the end of March 2025. The key finding: serious high-voltage and medium-voltage outages are getting worse as the grid reaches its end of life. As we reported the impact of outages on people's lives, a few trends became clear: citizens and residents are turning to old forms of energy such as paraffin and petrol because solar is still too expensive for most. Business margins of the vital small and medium-sized hustle businesses so important to national growth are seeing their margins chopped because they must buy expensive inverters and generators to keep going. Many are shutting shop, laying off people or not expanding because they can't afford to hire more staff even where there is demand. Kabelo, a resident and a student at The Finishing College in Braamfontein who runs a business in Vlakfontein, said: 'The power outages are very bad, hey, because literally every time it starts raining, or it rains, or it gets a little windy, the lights go. They're gone for days. It's not a few hours – it's four to six days at a time. Food rots and there's no water to bathe. It's stressful for everybody. Most houses here have gas stoves, or primer stoves that use paraffin, and others light a fire to boil water to bathe or to cook. It's really hard. Imagine getting up in the morning to go and look for wood for a fire. As a student, it's bad, because you have to do schoolwork. 'Without WiFi the (mobile phone) towers go down and the network is bad. I can't complete my assignments, so I have to do everything there in Braamfontein, and catch late transport back home again.' This city-level energy crisis emerges as Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa finally gets a grip on national load shedding. The impact of the city's outages is significant because Johannesburg is still responsible for 16% of national GDP. The chart shows that from July 2024 to the end of March 2025 there were 97,715 reported outages – the absolute total may be lower because some might be reported more than once. Even half that number would be cripplingly high. Daily Maverick added a second level of data extraction from municipal distributor City Power's social media posts and found that from December 2024 to the end of February 2025 there were 5,126 outages serious enough for the utility to report publicly. It can't report all outages because there are too many. The mass of outages are so-called low-voltage outages and affect individual homes or a single street or a few properties. The medium-voltage outages are increasing: these affect an entire suburb or even many suburbs at once. These are caused by faults in larger powerlines or mini substations, distributors or transformer substations that supply 20 to 30 households or more. These are now an everyday standard across Johannesburg and are disempowering residents from the north to the south and east to west of the city. The age of the grid and the general decline are clear when you look at how outages are spread fairly evenly across the different distributing centres: Alexandra, Hursthill, Inner City, Lenasia, Midrand, Randburg, Reuven and Roodepoort. Soweto and other smaller parts of Johannesburg are serviced by Eskom and experience as many outages. As the utility – which is R15-billion in overdraft carried by the City, with many more billions in debt – runs out of cash, it can't hold stock and must buy on demand. This means outages last longer. South Africa's leading energy expert, Chris Yelland of EE Publishers, said municipal outages are getting longer. '(The outages) are exceptionally high by global standards,' he said. As we hit the city to report, many people said that multi-day or full-day outages are common now. 'City Power is particularly hard hit because it's in a dire financial state. If you don't have money, you can't carry spares.' Yelland said suppliers hesitated to do business with Johannesburg's electricity utility because it didn't pay efficiently. He said City Power was extending terms to 30, 60, 90 or even 120 days' credit and now suppliers wanted bank guarantees first. All of this extended outage times. 'We're talking about mini-transformers, cables, switch-gear, mini substations, electricity metering equipment…' The small and medium-sized suppliers couldn't fund supplies on 120-day credit lines. 'It's on the verge of a tipping point,' said Yelland who explained that because municipalities make up 50% of Eskom's sales, their non-payments were existential. Because people can't afford their bills, debt owed by municipalities to Eskom is growing at R3-billion a month and has now overshot a total of R100-billion. This in turn threatens Eskom's viability, Ramokgopa said when he announced a deal for City Power to pay off old debt owed to Eskom over four years. City Power also owes Eskom R3.2-billion, according to a recent settlement mediated by the minister, which will be paid off over four years. City Power: Soaring outages are not a crisis – yet Question: The Q3 report from City Power shows that in three months there were 29,084 low-voltage outages, 1,335 medium-voltage outages and 86 high-voltage outages between January and March 2025. This builds on a picture of massive outages across the city that are largely unrecognised in the public discourse. Would you classify this as a crisis? If not, could you explain why not? Answer: The figures reflect significant pressure on the electricity network. However, City Power does not classify the situation as a crisis. This is because a single outage may affect multiple customers who each log the fault separately, and sometimes repeatedly. In line with Nersa regulations, each logged call must be reported individually, even if it relates to the same high number of outage calls results from a range of factors, including consumer-related faults, equipment failures, overloads and incidents caused by third parties. Ageing infrastructure – especially in areas like Roodepoort, Randburg, Hursthill, the Inner City and Reuven – also contributes to system failures. While City Power prioritises replacing old infrastructure with advanced technology during repairs, progress is constrained by a R40-billion infrastructure backlog and limited funding (for example, only R1.2-billion allocated last year).Severe weather at the start of the year compounded the problem. Heavy rain, flooding and uprooted trees caused widespread damage, especially to underground cables. Moisture intrusion led to insulation failures and hampered testing and repair efforts. Vandalism of mini substations made things worse under these conditions. For example, in Roodepoort, a mini substation exploded after water damage and had to be replaced. Q: Has City Power undertaken impact studies on how this affects residents and businesses? A: Yes. City Power conducts regular service-level impact assessments aligned with the Joburg IDP. These inform initiatives like Energy Relief Packages and the Just Energy Transition Plan. Our 2025 Customer Satisfaction Baseline Survey confirmed a link between outages and increased household spending on alternative energy. We also track plant outages and infrastructure performance daily and conduct impact assessments to guide future investment. Q: Our reporting shows that communities across geographic and economic lines are turning to costly and risky alternatives like paraffin and generators. What's your view? A: We recognise the safety and cost concerns associated with these alternatives. They are neither ideal nor sustainable. City Power is working to reduce this dependence by expanding embedded generation, managing demand and rolling out smart meters under our Just Energy Transition Strategy. Q: Given the city's high consultancy spend (as reported in News24), what does the medium-term picture look like? A: The consultancy spend supports the need for specialised skills to modernise Johannesburg's energy system. The medium-term outlook includes stabilising the grid through capital investment, digitalisation of asset management and integrating independent power producers. These efforts are essential, not superficial. Q: Is City Power struggling to access spare parts due to high levels of debt? A: Nonpayment for electricity impacts our ability to fund infrastructure and maintain stock of spares. While we've experienced procurement delays, improved supply chain controls and vendor payment acceleration have helped. We're also seeing positive results from better meter reading and audit systems. Q: A Daily Maverick count based on City Power's social media suggests far fewer outages than in your reports. Why the discrepancy? A: Our social media only reports major high-voltage and medium-voltage outages for public awareness. Most outages (low voltage) are recorded internally via our Outage Management System, SCADA, and call centre logs. Daily internal reports track all MV outages across our Service Delivery Centres. Real-time updates are also shared via WhatsApp groups, ward councillors and social media, but these represent only a portion of total outages. DM This investigation was produced with the support of the SA | AJP, an initiative of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation funded by the European Union. This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Union culture min directs ASI to refill Deeg excavation trenches after TOI report
Jaipur: Union minister for culture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat , has directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Jaipur Circle to immediately begin refilling the exposed excavation trenches at the archaeological site in Bahaj village, Deeg district, to prevent further monsoon-related damage. Shekhawat's directions follows TOI's July 10 report titled "Bureaucratic Limbo: Monsoon Threatens Deeg Archaeological Site", which highlighted the absence of protective measures at the site, where over 4,500 artefacts—dating back to the Paleolithic, Copper, and Iron Ages—were uncovered during a significant excavation. The site suffered its first spell of damage on June 22, when rainwater filled trenches up to two metres deep, putting the area in acute danger and raising concerns over the preservation of unearthed artefacts. Responding to TOI, Shekhawat acknowledged the archaeological significance of the site and confirmed that preventive measures are now underway. He said, the ASI's Jaipur Circle briefed the Director General, ASI, and that the backfilling of trenches is already in progress, with completion expected in two to four days. "Some trenches were intentionally left open for collecting soil and charcoal samples for scientific analysis. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Why seniors are rushing to get this Internet box – here's why! Techno Mag Learn More Undo All trenches are now being systematically refilled," he told TOI. Shekhawat also noted the challenges of long-term preservation. He said, "The site at Bahaj is archaeologically important but lies amid residential houses in the village. Therefore, permanent protection and preservation are not feasible without the rehabilitation or relocation of the settlement." He added that the antiquarian material recovered can be properly showcased either at the Deeg Palace or in a future museum, once the excavation report is completed. The ASI was excavating the site for nearly a year, with work concluding only recently. However, the area has not been notified as a protected site under ASI, leaving it exposed to weather, encroachment, and human interference. When the matter was referred to the Rajasthan Department of Archaeology and Museums, the response was equally non-committal, as the site is not listed under state-protected monuments either.
Asahi Shimbun
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: Trump's crude law of might remark takes my breath away
The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima's Naka Ward. Photo taken on Oct. 12, 2024 (Asahi Shimbun file photo) Fleet Adm. William Leahy (1875-1959) served as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's chief of staff during World War II. In his postwar memoirs published in 1950, he condemned the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, noting that 'the use of this barbarous weapon was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.' Many Americans believe the bombings hastened the end of the war and saved countless lives. But Leahy obviously had other thoughts. The interpretation of historical facts is never simple. Leahy pointed out, 'The Japanese were already defeated (by a naval blockade and conventional bombs) and ready to surrender.' Now, how about this comment by U.S. President Donald Trump? Gloating over the recent bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, he declared, 'I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki. But that was essentially the same thing. That ended the war.' I took this to understand that Trump justifies the use of those heinous weapons. The sheer crudeness of his 'law of might,' which is without even the slightest trace of sensitivity to history, takes my breath away. The Japanese government has responded with the chief Cabinet secretary's comment to the effect, 'We are aware of (Trump's) remark.' Tokyo's surreal 'consideration' for Washington is beyond ridiculous. The U.S. attack against Iran was in clear violation of international law. It went ahead without a shred of evidence of an imminent threat posed by Iran's nuclear development, not to mention that the matter was never referred to the United Nations. The rule of law is fundamental to peace. When that collapses, the very foundations of our society suffer massive damage. Referring to the huge civilian toll in the atomic bombings, Leahy observed, 'In being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages.' Who are the barbarians of our present era? --The Asahi Shimbun, June 28 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
