Foreign News
New study suggests ocean of water lies beneath Mars’s surface
New research suggests there may be enough water hiding in the cracks of underground rocks beneath the surface of Mars to form an ocean.
The findings are based on seismic measurements from NASA’s Mars InSight lander, which detected more than 1,300 marsquakes before it shut down two years ago.
The researchers combined computer models with InSight data, including the quakes’ velocity, to determine underground water was the most likely explanation for the seismic readings. The results were published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The water – in fractures 11.5km (7.15 miles) to 20km beneath the surface – was most likely to have collected there billions of years ago when Mars harboured rivers, lakes and possibly oceans, according to the lead scientist, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“On Earth, what we know is where it is wet enough and there are enough sources of energy, there is microbial life very deep in Earth’s subsurface,” Wright said. “The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface, if these interpretations are correct.”
Matthias Morzfeld of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley also authored the paper.
InSight Lander – the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport – was the US space agency’s first craft dedicated to looking beneath Mars’s surface and study its interior.
If InSight’s location at Elysium Planitia near Mars’s equator is representative of the rest of the red planet, the underground water would be enough to fill a global ocean 1-2km deep, Wright added.
It would take drills and other equipment to confirm the presence of water and seek out any potential signs of microbial life.
Scientists have been analysing the data collected by the lander in search of more information about Mars’s interior.
(Aljazeera)
A cat has made three flights between New Zealand and Australia in just 24 hours after being forgotten on a plane.
Mittens, an eight-year-old Maine Coon, was booked to travel from Christchurch to Melbourne on 12 January – but her cage was left in the Air New Zealand aircraft’s cargo hold.
After waiting for three hours for Mittens at Melbourne airport, owner Margo Neas was told by ground staff the plane had already returned to New Zealand with her pet.
During that flight the heating was turned on to keep the cat comfortable, Ms Neas said. The pet – who had lost weight but was otherwise unharmed – was later flown again to Melbourne to reunite with her owner.
Speaking to NBC on Wednesday, Ms Neas said she and her son had been informed about the mishap by airport ground staff in Melbourne.
“They said: ‘Look, we have located your cat – but it’s actually on the return flight to Christchurch…’
“And I said: ‘When did you discover that the cat wasn’t taken off the plane?’ And they said: ‘We’ve only just discovered now.’ And I said: ‘How can this happen?'”
Ms Neas said she was told that the pilot had already been alerted to turn the heating on in the cargo hold where the temperature could be as low as 7C.
Air New Zealand is still looking into how Mittens was forgotten, but reports say a stowed wheelchair may have obscured a baggage handler’s view of her cage.
The airline has apologised for the distress caused and promised to reimburse all travel costs.
The company does not accept direct animal bookings from the public for international flights, so passengers must book via approved pet carrier firms.
Ms Neas said she had been relieved to be finally reunited with Mittens.
“She basically just ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here and just did the biggest cuddles of all time,” she was quoted as saying by the AP news agency on Wednesday. “It was just such a relief.”
Ms Neas, who had earlier decided to relocate to Australia, added: “It was not a great start to our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have the family, we weren’t complete.”
The one-way flight time between Christchurch and Melbourne usually takes less than four hours.
[BBC]
At least 76 people have been killed in a fire that engulfed a popular Turkish ski resort hotel, leaving some to jump out of windows.
The fire broke out at the wooden-clad 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel in Bolu at 03:27 local time (00:27 GMT) during a busy holiday period when 234 people were staying there.
An initial toll of 10 dead was raised significantly in the hours after the fire by Turkey’s interior ministry. At least two people died after trying to jump to safety.
It took 12 hours for the fire to be put out. Nine people have been arrested, including the owner, the justice minister says.
The identities of all 76 are yet to be confirmed, but among those released so far are Vedia Nil Apak, a 10-year-old swimmer with Fenerbahce Sports Club in Istanbul, and her mother Ferda. The club said it had learned of the news with “deep sorrow” in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
Eslem Uyanik, a young chef at the hotel, died along with Ceren Yaman Dogan, the daughter of a well-known local businessman, and her 17-year-old daughter Lalin.
Nedim Turkmen, a writer for Sozcu newspaper, his wife Ayse Neva, and their two children aged 18 and 22 were also named, along with Prof Atakan Yalcin, who was dean of Ozyegin University Business School.
Dilara Ermanoglu, 24, was among the victims, and her father who had gone to Bolu to look for her was treated by health workers for a heart attack.
Health minister Kemal Memisoglu said that of the 51 injured people, one was receiving treatment in intensive care, and 17 people had been discharged.
Footage circulating in Turkey showed linen hanging from windows which was used by those trying to escape the burning building.
Ski instructor Necmi Kepcetutan told the BBC he was on the second floor of the hotel when the fire broke out and managed to get out via the ski room. He then helped with relief efforts.
Eyewitnesses said the family that owned the hotel had been there at the time of the fire and Mr Kepcetutan said he saw some of the family outside.
The cause of the fire has not yet been found, but Bolu governor Abdulaziz Aydin said initial reports suggested it had broken out in the restaurant section of the hotel’s fourth floor and spread to the floors above.
Aydin said the distance between the hotel, in Kartalkaya, and the centre of Bolu, paired with the freezing weather conditions, meant it took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive. Emergency services sent 267 workers to the site.
The hotel was investigating whether guests, including children, were trapped in their rooms as the fire spread.
The hotel had two fire escapes, according to the interior minister, and one hotel worker said they had managed to rescue 30-35 people.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.
The hotel was last inspected in 2024, and the tourism minister said there had been no concerns regarding the hotel’s fire safety prior to Tuesday’s disaster.
However, the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) said that according to regulations, an automatic fire extinguisher system is needed.
“In the photos on the hotel’s website, it is seen that the automatic sprinkler system, which was supposed to be installed in 2008, was not installed,” the union said in a statement.
It added that it was unclear if other regulations had been complied with, but based on the statements of survivors, “it is understood that the detection and warning systems did not work and the escape routes could not be determined”.
The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said those responsible for negligence leading to the fire “will be held accountable”.
A day of national mourning has been declared and the Turkish flag will be flown at half-mast until sunset on Wednesday, he added in a statement on X.
The Bolu mountains are popular with skiers from Istanbul and Turkey’s capital Ankara, which is roughly 170km (105 miles) away, and the hotel was operating at high occupancy at the start of two-week school holidays.
Former UK ambassador to Turkey Sir Peter Westmacott told the BBC he had stayed in the area in the past, and that the fire “feels very personal”.
“The fact that so many people have lost their lives is just devastating news for those of us who care about Turkey,” he said.
[BBC]
Donald Trump took an ordinary presidential act – rescinding orders from a previous administration of different party – and turned it into a spectacle.
After giving another winding speech – his third of the day – Trump moved to a small desk on the stage at the downtown sport arena where his indoor inaugural parade had just concluded. Then he went to work freezing new federal regulations and hiring, reversing Biden administration directives, mandating federal workers work in-office full-time and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords.
“Can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?” he asked after signing the regulation freeze – but that could have applied to visuals of the moment as much as to the content of the orders.
He also signed more symbolic orders to end the “weaponisation of government” and instruct his administration to address the higher cost of living.
It’s just the start of what promises to be a record number of first-day executive actions, including a promised pardon of many of some who participated in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.
After the arena ceremony, Trump tossed the pens he used into the crowd – another Trumping flourish.
This is the list of executive orders signed by President Trump in front of his supporters inside the arena in Washington DC [as it was described to the arena]
- The rescission of 78 Biden-era executive actions
- A regulatory freeze preventing bureaucrats from issuing any more regulations until the administration has full control of the government
- A freeze on all federal hiring, excepting the military and a number of other excluded categories until full control of the government is achieved
- A requirement for federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately
- A directive to every department and agency in the federal government to address the cost-of-living
- Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement
- A directive to the federal government ordering the restoration of freedom of speech and preventing government censorship of free speech
- A directive to the federal government ending the “weaponisation” of government against the “political adversaries” of the previous administration
[BBC]
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