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News Making International Headlines: 28 October 2021

Mass Protests in Ecuador


PHOTO: RIOT POLICE CLASHING WITH PROTESTERS IN QUITO, PROTESTERS BLOCKING ROADS, SOUNDBITES FROM PROTESTERS

INTERNATIONAL: Dozens of indigenous people have been arrested after mass protests in Ecuador. Demonstrators are unhappy at the economic policies of the country’s conservative president Guillermo Lasso, days after he raised gasoline prices. Five police officers were injured and two members of the armed forces were being held by a community in northern Quito, but were unharmed. 37 people were detained for blocking roads. The Ecuador Confederation of Indigenous Nations has confirmed that demonstrators had been injured but did not give a figure. Police used teargas in the capital amid clashes with protesters, while officers on horseback blocked the entrance to the plaza that had been the marchers' destination. Elsewhere, indigenous groups blocked the road that connects Quito to the country's north and others in various Andean provinces were closed. Lasso, an ex-banker who took office in May, scrapped planned incremental rises in gasoline charges, meant to eventually align with international costs, following pressure by indigenous and other organizations, but unions and other groups want Lasso to freeze prices at lower rates and exempt sectors hit hard by the pandemic. Gasoline costs have risen significantly since Lasso's predecessor, Lenin Moreno, began monthly increases in May 2020.

Swiss Glaciers Melting Rapidly


PHOTO: DRONE SHOTS OF THE RHONE GLACIER, THE SOURCE OF THE RHONE RIVER IN OBERGOMS AND WINDMILLS NEAR THE NUFENEN PASS IN GRIES IN SWITZERLAND

Where mighty glaciers once spilled into Swiss valleys like frozen rivers of ice, a residue of gray scree and boulders remains, spliced through with raging streams. The New Swiss Glacier Inventory reports that glaciers in Switzerland are shrinking rapidly due to climate change. More than 500 Swiss glaciers have already vanished. The government said back in 2019 that 90% of the remaining 1,500 will go by the end of the century if nothing is done to cut carbon emissions. The Rhone glacier, one of the 50 biggest and dominant glaciers in the European Alps, covering a significant part of Switzerland, has lost more than 1.5 kilometres since the mid-19th century, leaving only 7.8 kilometres of the frozen river remaining. What’s left is melting dramatically. Experts believe climate change could disturb water cycles throughout Europe, and will have an indirect consequence on wildlife and plants. The retreat of the Rhone Glacier is expected to have a major impact on water levels - possibly raising them initially as the ice melts but depleting them long term. With regard to adaptation and transition to cleaner energy, Switzerland is slowly embracing wind power as an alternative. Europe's highest wind farm with three turbines, at more than 2,200m above sea level, was opened in 2016. It provides power to nearly 3,000 households.

Future of Urban Transport is Here


PHOTO: HOVERBIKE XTURISMO LIMITED EDITION FLYING DURING DEMONSTRATION, SOUNDBITES FROM CEO OF JAPANESE STARTUP A.L.I. TECHNOLOGIES, HOVERBIKE ON DISPLAY

And…as technology soars, a Japanese start-up hopes to persuade wealthy consumers to swap their supercar for a $680,000 hoverbike which went on sale on Tuesday. The "XTurismo Limited Edition" from Tokyo-based drone start-up A.L.I. Technologies, is equipped with a conventional engine and four battery-powered motors. It can fly for 40 minutes at up to 100 kph. The start-up, whose backers include industrial heavyweights Mitsubishi Electric and Kyocera, demonstrated the bike with a short flight at a racetrack near Mount Fuji. The bike could be used by rescue teams to reach difficult locations. Commercial success for A.L.I. Technologies, whose suppliers include engine maker Kawasaki Heavy, would help reinforce Japan's industrial edge amid a generational shift towards new technology such as autonomous and electric vehicles.

Meanwhile in Italy, a prototype of German aviation startup Volocopter's electrical air taxi went on display at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Wednesday, as the airport looks ahead to 2024 when they hope the public will be able to travel on the battery-powered passenger aircraft. The flying taxi, which looks like a tiny helicopter, has an electrical vertical take-off and landing in so-called 'vertiports'. It has a luggage compartment and a capacity of two, giving travellers an emission-free way to beat traffic. It runs on 18 motors that are powered by nine rechargeable batteries. Volocopter says it is four times quieter than an actual helicopter. It will be operational in three years and able to take passengers from the airport to the centre of the Eternal City in around 15 minutes - a journey that currently takes around 45 minutes by taxi.


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