A recap of international news stories by Newsendip: the image of French gastronomy during the Olympics, flights disrupted in Eastern Europe, cities sinking in China, and more.
- French cuisine during the Olympics
- GPS signal interference in the air
- The genetics of coffee
- Developing safaris at all costs?
- China’s major cities are sinking
- AI racist bias to detect theft
- Ketamine use in the United Kingdom
- Amparo law reform in Mexico
- Pakistan deporting Afghans
The challenges of making French food shine during the Olympics
Over 13 million meals will be served to spectators, athletes, and other personnel during the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris 2024. Such an endeavor presents significant logistical challenges, nutritional hurdles to satisfy elite athletes, and cultural complexities in meeting the diverse dietary preferences of a global audience.
To reduce the Olympics’ carbon footprint, 60% of the dishes sold to spectators will be meat-free, including a vegetarian hot dog for sporting events. But the ultimate aim of promoting French gastronomy and local peculiarities will not go to the point of replacing Coca-Cola with Britanny’s local version of the soda.
GPS signal interference disrupts air traffic
Finnish airline Finnair, the only carrier operating at Tartu airport, has suspended all flights to Estonia’s second-largest city until May 31. The reason? Finnair cites interference with GPS signals over the Baltic Sea region, depriving pilots of an important source of geolocation for landing.
The Estonian Foreign Minister blames Russia, which, on Thursday, had not commented on the accusations. Finnair has been reporting GPS disruptions in this area since 2022 when the war broke out in Ukraine, particularly near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea coast, but also in the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the eastern Mediterranean.
Genetics of coffee and the future of Arabica
Half of Arabica coffee’s production area is threatened by climate change and diseases. But the recent sequencing of its pangenome, the full range of the species’ genes, has revealed a lot about the world’s most widely produced variety and opened up new prospects for its protection.
Arabica, which is thought to have originated not in the Arabian Peninsula but in the forests of Ethiopia long before previous estimates, has particular genes that give it a more refined taste than Robusta. Knowledge of the genome opens the door to two options: the development of new coffee varieties improved by conventional hybridization, and the creation of genetically modified organisms.
Tanzania criticized for boosting safari tourism at all costs
The World Bank has suspended the payment of 50 million dollars to Tanzania for the expansion project of Ruaha National Park, the country’s second-largest park. The government faces allegations of murder, theft, rape, kidnapping, and forced evictions to boost safaris and tourism, the country’s main growth vector. Nevertheless, as wildlife populations remain on the rise in Tanzania, the authorities have denied any human rights abuses.
Chinese sinking cities put the future of 270 million people at risk
Scientists at Peking University are concerned about soil subsidence in 82 major Chinese cities, accelerated by urbanization, excessive construction, and groundwater extraction. Last year, more than 3,000 people were evacuated from high-buildings in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin because of massive fissures on roads. While Jakarta, New York, Houston, Amsterdam, and many other cities are experiencing a similar phenomenon, China, which builds 2,000 square kilometers of new building floors per year, is the first country to have such a wide range of cases.
Facial recognition test deemed racist in New Zealand supermarkets
In New Zealand, a woman of Māori origin was recently misidentified as a shoplifter in a supermarket testing new facial recognition technology. Far from an isolated event, this incident occurred amidst a broader trend of governments introducing new measures to combat the upsurge in shoplifting.
Ketamine use is on the rise in the United Kingdom
Doctors in the United Kingdom are warning about the growing use of ketamine by young people and the extremely harmful health effects of this narcotic, such as bladder atrophy. Over the last year, 6.6% of 16–24-year-olds in England and Wales declared they have used the drug in their lifetime, almost doubling the 2016 numbers (3.4%). However, the statistics likely underestimate reality, the Office for National Statistics reckons. A DJ from Manchester took to social networks to lament the number of people “just standing around like zombies” on British dancefloors.
Reform of Amparo law in Mexico sparks concerns of democratic regression
In many Latin American countries, the Amparo is a legal action that allows individual citizens to protect their fundamental rights and a country’s Constitution against authorities who may be ordered to change abusive laws. But the Mexican Senate, arguing for a better separation of political and judicial powers, approved a reform in mid-April to ensure that court rulings apply only to those who have complained, and not to entire communities.
The reform is criticized as opening the door to abuse of power and personal revenge by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican president who campaigned for the defense of minorities, against judges who have hindered the implementation of his major public works and legal reforms.
Pakistan deporting documented Afghans
April 15 was the deadline set by Pakistan to begin its second phase of a nationwide crackdown on Afghanis residing in the country, now even targeting those who hold valid legal documentation. The repatriation plan leaves hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals holding valid documentation to live in Pakistan vulnerable to return to Taliban rule, in addition to the 1.7 million undocumented individuals.
Relations between the Pakistani government and Taliban authorities are under strain as border tensions and terrorist activities have drastically increased since the Islamic fundamentalist group came back to power in August 2021, which prompted the Pakistani government to adopt a tougher policy with its neighbor.
