AFP UK

The then Prince Charles at a sponsored bike ride in June 2021

King Charles III will not travel to next month’s United Nations climate summit in Egypt, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Sunday, after UK Prime Minister Liz Truss reportedly “objected” to the keen environmentalist attending.

Britain’s new monarch, who took the throne when his mother Queen Elizabeth II died last month, had intended to deliver a speech to world leaders gathering at the COP27 summit on November 6-18, the Sunday Times reported.

But the plan has been axed after Truss — who was appointed prime minister by the late queen just two days before the latter died — opposed it during a personal audience with Charles at the palace last month, the newspaper said.

Queen Elizabeth addressed the last UN climate summit in November 2021, with the blessing of the Tory government led by Truss’s predecessor Boris Johnson.

Charles III’s office appeared to distance itself from the incendiary newspaper report, insisting the king had sought Truss’s advice.

“With mutual friendship and respect there was agreement that the king would not attend,” it told the BBC.

The Sunday Times story comes amid speculation Britain’s new leader — already under fire over her economic plans which have sparked market turmoil — could controversially scale back the country’s legally binding climate commitments.

Her newly assembled cabinet contains a number of ministers who have expressed scepticism about the so-called 2050 net zero goals, while Truss herself is seen as less enthusiastic about the policy than predecessor Johnson.

The newspaper said she is unlikely to attend COP27 — the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Britain hosted the last summit, COP26, in the Scottish city Glasgow. In addition to the late queen, Charles and his son William both addressed the event.

– ‘Benching soft power’ –

Downing Street declined to comment on the report.

Cabinet minister Simon Clarke dismissed it as “simply not true”, telling Sky News the decision had been made “consensually” and “amicably”.

Meanwhile, Conservative party chairman Jake Berry told the broadcaster the government was “committed to the net zero target by 2050”.

However, Tory MP Tobias Ellwood urged a rethink over the monarch’s non-participation in Egypt, tweeting he hoped “common sense will prevail”. 

“King Charles is a globally respected voice on the environment and climate change,” Ellwood added. 

“His attendance would add serious authority to the British delegation. Can we really go from hosting COP26 to benching soft power at COP27?”

The Sunday Times said the episode was “likely to fuel tensions” between Charles and Truss, but cited a government source who claimed the audience had been “cordial” and there had “not been a row”.

Meanwhile, a royal source told the paper: “It is no mystery that the king was invited to go there. 

“He had to think very carefully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour, and he is not going to be attending COP(27).”

Under convention in Britain, all overseas official visits by members of the royal family are undertaken in accordance with advice from the government.

However, despite not attending in person, reports said the king still hopes to be able to contribute in some form to the conference.

Charles III is a committed environmentalist, with a long history of campaigning for better conservation, organic farming and tackling climate change.

In the search for alternative energy sources, the German government has splashed billions on five projects like the one in Wilhelmshaven.

Germany’s most strategically important building site is at the end of a windswept pier on the North Sea coast, where workers are assembling the country’s first terminal for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Starting this winter, the rig, close to the port of Wilhelmshaven, will be able to supply the equivalent of 20 percent of the gas that was until recently imported from Russia.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has throttled gas supplies to Germany, while the Nord Stream pipelines which carried huge volumes under the Baltic Sea to Europe were damaged last week in what a Danish-Swedish report called “a deliberate act.”

In the search for alternative sources, the German government has splashed billions on five projects like the one in Wilhelmshaven.

Altogether the new fleet should be able to handle around 25 billion cubic metres of gas per year, roughly equivalent to half the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

– New platform –

At the site in Wilhelmshaven, the half-finished concrete platform emerging from the sea sprays workers in fluorescent yellow vests with a fine mist.

Back on solid land, a constant stream of lorries delivers sections of grey pipe, which should relay the terminal to the gas network.

LNG terminals allow for the import by sea of natural gas which has been chilled and turned into a liquid to make it easier to transport.

A specialist vessel, known as an FSRU, which can stock the fuel and turn LNG back into a ready-to-use gas, is also hooked up to the platform to complete the installation.

Unlike other countries in Europe, Germany until now did not have an LNG terminal, instead relying on relatively cheap pipeline supplies from Russia.

But since the invasion of Ukraine, Germany has set about weaning itself off Moscow’s gas exports, which previously represented 55 percent of its supplies.

To diversify its sources, secure enough supplies of the fuel and keep its factories working, Berlin has bet massively on LNG to fill the gap left by Russian imports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates for the supply of LNG, while touring Gulf states in search of new sources.

Renting five FSRU ships to plug into the new terminals has also set Berlin back three billion euros ($2.9 billion).

– Environment –

Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Germany passed a law to drastically speed up the approval process for LNG terminals.

In Wilhelmshaven, the work is coming along rapidly. The terminal should be finished “this winter”, says Holger Kreetz, who heads the project for German energy company Uniper.

The strategic importance of the terminal has seen building work advance surprisingly quickly. “Normally, a project like this takes us five to six years,” Kreetz tells AFP.

The arrival of the new terminal has been welcomed by many residents in Wilhelmshaven, where deindustrialisation has pushed the unemployment rate up to 10 percent, almost twice the national average.

“It’s good that it’s in Wilhelmshaven… it’ll bring jobs,” Ingrid Schon, 55, tells AFP. 

Opposition comes from groups who fear the accelerated timescales for approval and construction could come at a cost to the environment.

Young activists from the group “Ende Gelaende” managed to block the site in Wilhelmshaven for a day in August.

The German environmental organisation DUH said the works would “irreversibly destroy sensitive ecosystems as well as endanger the living space of threatened porpoises”.

The source of the fuel has also been a sore point, with concerns raised that natural gas produced from fracking in the United States could be imported via the new terminal.

Criticism of the project has been dismissed by Economy Minister Robert Habeck, a Green party politician, who has emphasised the importance of “energy security”.

By 2030, the site is set to be converted for the importation of green hydrogen, produced with renewables, which Berlin has backed as part of its energy transition.

A man walks pass debris scattered on Pine Island Road in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Florida on October 1, 2022

The death toll from Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, soared above 40 Saturday, as President Joe Biden heads to Florida later in the week to survey the devastation.

Shocked Florida communities were only just beginning to face the full scale of the destruction, with rescuers still searching for survivors in submerged neighborhoods and along the state’s southwest coast.

Homes, restaurants and businesses were ripped apart when Ian roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday.

The confirmed number of storm-related deaths rose to 44 statewide, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission said late Saturday, but reports of additional fatalities were still emerging county by county -– pointing to a far higher final toll.

Hard-hit Lee County alone recorded 35 deaths, according to its sheriff, while US media including NBC and CBS tallied more than 70 deaths either directly or indirectly related to the storm.

In the coastal state of North Carolina, the governor’s office confirmed four deaths related to Ian there.

Biden and his wife, Jill, will visit Florida on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted, but the couple will first head to Puerto Rico on Monday to survey the destruction from a different storm, Hurricane Fiona, which struck the US territory last month.

In Florida’s Lee County on Saturday, rescuers and ordinary citizens in boats were still saving the last trapped inhabitants of the small island of Matlacha. Debris, abandoned vehicles and downed trees littered the pummeled hamlet’s main street and surroundings that are dotted by colorful wooden houses with corrugated roofs.

The community, home to about 800 people, was cut off from the mainland following damage to two bridges, and those who fled early were only just beginning to return home to survey the destruction.

Sitting in the shadow of a deserted Matlacha house, Chip Farrar told AFP that “nobody’s telling us what to do, nobody’s telling us where to go.”

“The evacuation orders came in very late,” the 43-year-old said. “But most people that are still here wouldn’t have left anyway. It’s a very blue-collar place. And most people don’t have anywhere to go, which is the biggest issue.”

Sixteen migrants were missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane, according to the US Coast Guard. Two people were found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

More than 900,000 customers remained without power in Florida Saturday night, hampering efforts by those who evacuated to return to their homes to take stock of what they lost. 

In Fort Myers Beach, a town on the Gulf of Mexico coast which took the brunt of the storm, Pete Belinda said his home was “just flipped upside down, soaking wet, full of mud.”

Ian barreled over Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean before making US landfall again, this time on the South Carolina coast Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and it was dissipating over Virginia late Saturday.

More than 45,000 people remained without power across North Carolina and Virginia, tracking website poweroutage.us said Saturday.

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion, while flooding losses could reach $15 billion.

“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992,” CoreLogic’s Tom Larsen said.

– Rescues continue – 

As of Saturday morning, Governor Ron DeSantis’s office said more than 1,100 rescues had been made across Florida.

DeSantis reported that hundreds of rescue personnel were going door-to-door “up and down the coastline.”

Many Floridians evacuated ahead of the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and ride it out.

Two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers — Pine Island and Sanibel Island — were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

Aerial photos and video show breathtaking destruction in Sanibel and elsewhere.

A handful of restaurants and bars reopened in Fort Myers, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Before pummeling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island’s power network.

Electricity was gradually returning, mainly in Havana, but many homes remain without power.

A new storm in the Pacific, Hurricane Orlene, intensified to Category 2 strength off the Mexican coast, where it was forecast to make landfall in the coming days.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say.

A man walks pass debris scattered on Pine Island Road in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Florida on October 1, 2022

Shocked Florida communities on Saturday faced the full scale of the devastation brought by Hurricane Ian, as the death toll from one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States climbed steadily into the dozens.

Rescuers were still searching for survivors in submerged neighborhoods and along the state’s southwest coast, where homes, restaurants and businesses were ripped apart when Ian roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday.

The confirmed number of storm-related deaths stood at 25 statewide, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, but reports of additional deaths were still emerging county by county -– pointing to a far higher final toll.

Hard-hit Lee County alone recorded 35 fatalities, according to its sheriff, while US media including NBC and CBS tallied more than 70 deaths either directly or indirectly related to the storm.

In the coastal state of North Carolina the governor’s office confirmed four deaths related to the storm there, in a sign of the stunning scope of monster Ian.

On Saturday in Florida’s Lee County, rescuers and ordinary citizens in boats were still saving the last trapped inhabitants of the small island of Matlacha — where debris, abandoned vehicles and downed trees littered the pummelled hamlet’s main street and surroundings that are dotted by colorful wooden houses with corrugated roofs.

The community, home to some 800 people, was cut off from the mainland following damage to two bridges, and those who fled early were only just beginning to return home to survey the destruction.

Sitting in the shadow of a deserted Matlacha house, Chip Farrar told AFP that “nobody’s telling us what to do, nobody’s telling us where to go.”

“The evacuation orders came in very late,” the 43-year-old said. “But most people that are still here wouldn’t have left anyway. It’s a very blue-collar place. And most people don’t have anywhere to go, which is the biggest issue.”

Sixteen migrants also remain missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane, according to the US Coast Guard. Two people were found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

More than one million customers remained without power in Florida Saturday evening, hampering efforts by those who evacuated to return to their homes to take stock of what they lost. 

In Fort Myers Beach, a town on the Gulf of Mexico coast which took the brunt of the storm, Pete Belinda said the home he and his wife share on the lower floor of their daughter’s house was “just flipped upside down, soaking wet, full of mud.”

Ian barrelled over Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean before making US landfall again, this time on the South Carolina coast Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and it was dissipating over Virginia late Saturday.

More than 55,000 people remained without power across North Carolina and Virginia, tracking website poweroutage.us said Saturday.

“We’re just beginning to see the scale of the destruction” in Florida, US President Joe Biden said Friday.

“It’s likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history,” he said of Ian.

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion, while flooding losses could reach $15 billion.

“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992,” CoreLogic’s Tom Larsen said.

– Rescues continue – 

As of Saturday morning, Governor Ron DeSantis’s office said more than 1,100 rescues had been made across Florida.

DeSantis reported that hundreds of other rescue personnel were going door-to-door “up and down the coastline.”

Many Floridians evacuated ahead of the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and ride it out.

Two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers — Pine Island and Sanibel Island — were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

Aerial photo and video show breathtaking destruction in Sanibel and elsewhere.

A handful of restaurants and bars reopened in Fort Myers, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Before pummelling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island’s power network.

Electricity was gradually returning, especially in Havana, but many homes remain without power.

Meanwhile a new storm in the Pacific, Hurricane Orlene, intensified to Category 2 strength off the Mexican coast, where it was forecast to make landfall in the coming days.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say.

A woman carries her belongings down a flooded street in the Orlovista neighborhood following Hurricane Ian on October 1, 2022 in Orlando, Florida

Shocked Florida communities counted their dead Saturday as the full scale of the devastation came into focus, two days after Hurricane Ian tore into the coastline as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States.

Rescuers were still searching for survivors in flooded neighborhoods and along the state’s southwest coast, where homes, restaurants and businesses were ripped apart as Ian roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 24 on Saturday, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, with some US media reporting it could be three times that. 

Sixteen migrants also remain missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane on Wednesday, according to the US Coast Guard. Two people were found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

More than 1.2 million customers remained without power in Florida Saturday, hampering efforts by those who evacuated to return to their homes to take stock of what they lost. 

“It’s just flipped upside down, soaking wet, full of mud,” resident Pete Belinda said of the home he and his wife share on the lower floor of their daughter’s house in Fort Myers Beach, a town on the Gulf of Mexico coast which took the brunt of the storm.

Ian passed over Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean before making US landfall again, this time on the South Carolina coast on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and is set to dissipate over Virginia later Saturday.

More than 320,000 people remained without power across North and South Carolina and Virginia, the tracking website poweroutage.us said Saturday.

“We’re just beginning to see the scale of the destruction” in Florida, US President Joe Biden said Friday.

“It’s likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history,” he said of Ian.

With damage estimates running into the tens of billions of dollars, Biden said it’s “going to take months, years to rebuild.”

“It’s not just a crisis for Florida,” he said. “This is an American crisis.”

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion, while flooding losses could reach $15 billion.

“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992,” CoreLogic’s Tom Larsen said.

– Rescues continue – 

On Friday, the Coast Guard said it had made 117 rescues using boats and helicopters of people trapped in flooded homes.

Governor Ron DeSantis said hundreds of other rescue personnel were going door-to-door “up and down the coastline.”

Many Floridians evacuated ahead of the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and ride it out.

Two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers — Pine Island and Sanibel Island — were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

Aerial photo and video show breathtaking destruction in Sanibel and elsewhere.

In Fort Myers Beach, a recreational boat called Crackerjack sat atop a pile of debris like an abandoned toy. A trailer park was blasted away to almost nothing.

A handful of restaurants and bars reopened in Fort Myers, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Before pummeling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island’s power network.

Electricity was gradually returning, but many homes remain without power.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say — including with Ian.

According to a rapid and preliminary analysis, human-caused climate change increased the extreme rain that Ian unleashed by over 10 percent, US scientists said.

An aerial picture taken on September 30, 2022 shows destroyed houses in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida

Deadly Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, was still dumping rain on parts of the country early Saturday, but was beginning to wind down after walloping Florida.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Ian made landfall on Friday afternoon near Georgetown, South Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and by 5 am Saturday (0900 GMT) its sustained windspeeds had decreased to near 35 miles per hour as it passed through North Carolina, according to the NHC.

Though the NHC said heavy rains continued and “limited” flooding was still possible across the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic as Ian moved north, the storm was expected to continue weakening and was “forecast to dissipate over south-central Virginia” by Saturday night.

As for storm-ravaged Florida, President Joe Biden said Friday: “We’re just beginning to see the scale of the destruction.

“It’s likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history,” he said of Ian, which barreled into Florida’s southwest coast on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, a tick shy of the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

The death toll from the storm stood at 23, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Friday evening.

News outlets quoting county officials have given even higher tolls, with CNN saying 45 fatalities have been blamed on Ian.

Seventeen migrants also remain missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane on Wednesday, according to the Coast Guard. One person was found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

With damage estimates running into the tens of billions of dollars, Biden said it’s “going to take months, years to rebuild.”

“It’s not just a crisis for Florida,” he said. “This is an American crisis.”

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion while flooding losses could go as high as $15 billion.

“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992,” CoreLogic’s Tom Larsen said.

– ‘We made it through’ – 

Rescue teams were assisting survivors Friday in devastated Florida communities and the US Coast Guard said it had made 117 rescues using boats and helicopters of people trapped in flooded homes.

Governor Ron DeSantis said hundreds of other rescue personnel were going door-to-door “up and down the coastline.”

DeSantis said the coastal town of Fort Myers, where the hurricane first made landfall, was “ground zero” but “this was such a big storm that there are effects far inland,” including serious flooding in the city of Orlando.

Many Floridians evacuated ahead of the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and ride it out.

More than 1.4 million Florida residents were still without electricity on Friday and two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers — Pine Island and Sanibel Island — were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

Aerial photo and video show breathtaking destruction in Sanibel and elsewhere.

In Fort Myers Beach, a recreational boat called Crackerjack sat atop a pile of debris like an abandoned toy. A trailer park was blasted away to almost nothing.

Meanwhile in North and South Carolina, nearly half a million customers were without power, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.

In Fort Myers, a handful of restaurants and bars reopened, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Dozens of people sat out on terraces under a bright sun, drinking beer and eating.

Dylan Gamber, 23, said he had been waiting for two hours at a pizzeria to get food to bring home.

“It was kind of bad, but we made it through,” Gamber said. “The roof of our house came off, a big tree collapsed across our vehicles, our yard was flooded, but other than that we were pretty good.

“As a community, we seem to be coming together and helping each other out.”

– ‘All submerged’ –

In nearby Bonita Springs, Jason Crosser was inspecting the damage to his store.

“The water went over the whole building,” said Crosser, 37. “It was all submerged. It’s all saltwater and water damage.”

Before pummelling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island’s power network.

Electricity was gradually returning, but many homes remain without power.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say — including with Ian.

According to a rapid and preliminary analysis, human-caused climate change increased the extreme rain that Ian unleashed by over 10 percent, US scientists said.

Hurricane Ian left parts of Fort Myers Beach, Florida utterly leveled

As Pete Belinda and his wife slowly walked down a road outside Fort Myers Beach on the southwestern coast of Florida, they each dragged a large suitcase behind them. 

“This is all we have left,” Belinda said, shaken and visibly tired.

The town, a quiet place on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, became the epicenter of destruction as Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm.

The couple lived on the lower floor of their daughter’s house, where they moved six months ago, but the storm has left them without a home.

“It’s just flipped upside down, soaking wet, full of mud,” Belinda said. 

“We don’t really know what we will do now. We’re reaching out to some friends and family for somewhere to live for a while because we don’t have anywhere to go.”

Fort Myers Beach is practically deserted now, traversed solely by emergency services vehicles and the handful of people who returned to their homes take stock of what they lost.

The part of town hit hardest by Ian, the area closest to the sea on Estero Island, was reduced to a field of ruins.

Police have restricted access for those who do not live in the neighborhood, but photos taken from a helicopter flight showed the magnitude of the damage.

Strong winds razed the wooden houses in the area — in some spots there wasn’t even rubble, just empty plots where homes once stood.

Rich Gibboni is one of those who lost his home.

“The second floor caved in from the wind, and the first floor was flooded all the way up to the second floor,” he said, sounding resigned.

The 50-year-old had come to another neighborhood in Fort Myers Beach to look for provisions before heading back to Estero Island, where he was taking shelter in a hotel with about 20 other people.

Nearby, 72-year-old holidaymaker Chris Bills pulled her hat down on her head as she waited for a bus to pick up her and her husband. 

Earlier in the day, an emergency services patrol had given them two hours to gather their belongings and vacate the apartment they had rented near the sea.

The couple traveled to Florida from England to enjoy warmer weather, and had not been worried about hurricane warnings.

“We didn’t think that it would be so severe,” Bills said.

“I was extremely scared. We’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

In the neighborhood they were leaving behind, the force of the hurricane had left dozens of boats grounded in the streets — some still moored to pieces of a pier — and dragged cars out into a nearby bay where they remained floating.

But Gibboni said he hadn’t given up hope after the destruction wrought by Ian.

“We got to survive. This is the only way to do it,” he said.

“We have got to restart. It’s gonna take a long time, so we just got to get back on our feet.”

Nearly 145 million people globally had at least one long Covid symptom in 2020-21

Millions of people around the world are believed to suffer from long Covid yet little remains known about the condition — though research has recently proposed several theories for its cause. 

Between 10 to 20 percent of people who contract coronavirus are estimated to have long Covid symptoms — most commonly fatigue, breathlessness and a lack of mental clarity dubbed brain fog — months after recovering from the disease.

The US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that nearly 145 million people worldwide had at least one of those symptoms in 2020 and 2021.

In Europe alone, 17 million people had a long Covid symptom at least three months after infection during that time, according to IHME modelling for the World Health Organization (WHO) published earlier this month.

These millions “cannot continue to suffer in silence”, WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said, calling for the world to act quickly to learn more about the condition.

Researchers have been racing to catch up but the vast array — and inconsistency — of symptoms has complicated matters. 

More than 200 different symptoms have been ascribed to long Covid so far, according to a University College London study.

– ‘Fatigue in the background’ –

“There are no symptoms that are truly specific to long Covid but it does have certain characteristics that fluctuate,” said Olivier Robineau, the long Covid coordinator at France’s Emerging Infectious Diseases research agency.

“Fatigue remains in the background,” he told AFP, while the symptoms “seem to be exacerbated after intellectual or physical effort — and they become less frequent over time”.

One thing we do know is that people who had more severe initial cases, including needing to be hospitalised, are more likely to get long Covid, according to the IHME.

Researchers have been pursuing several leads into exactly what could be behind the condition.

A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in September found that Covid’s infamous spike protein — the key that lets the virus into the body’s cells — was still present in patients a full year after infection.

This suggests that viral reservoirs may persist in some people, potentially causing inflammation that could lead to long Covid-like symptoms, the researchers said.

If they are right, a test could be developed to identify the spike, potentially leading to one of the great and elusive goals of long Covid research — a clear way to diagnose the condition.

However, their findings have not been confirmed by other research, and several other causes have been proposed.

– ‘Data not very solid yet’ –

One leading theory is that tissue damage from severe Covid cases triggers lasting disruption to the immune system.

Another suggests that the initial infection causes tiny blood clots, which could be related to long Covid symptoms.

However “for each of these hypotheses, the data is not very solid yet”, Robineau said.

It is most likely that “we are not going to find a single cause to explain long Covid”, he added.

“The causes may not be exclusive. They could be linked or even succeed each other in the same individual, or be different in different individuals.”

A way to treat the condition also remains elusive.

For the last year, the Hotel-Dieu hospital in Paris has been offering long Covid patients a half-day treatment course.

“They meet an infectious disease specialist, a psychiatrist, then a doctor specialising in sports rehabilitation,” said Brigitte Ranque, who runs the protocol dubbed CASPER.

“In the team’s experience, a majority of the symptoms can be attributed to functional somatic syndromes,” she said. These are a group of chronic disorders such as chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia that have no known cause.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, a psychological approach often used for those syndromes, is used to treat long Covid alongside supervised physical activity, Ranque said.

“The patients are brought back in three months later. The majority of them are better. More than half say they are cured,” she told AFP.

“But about 15 percent did not improve at all.”

A short range Iskander ballistic missile would be the likely delivery mode if Russia wanted to use a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine, military experts say

The United States would almost certainly discover ahead of time if Russia was preparing a nuclear strike on Ukraine, and Moscow might very well want it known, nuclear weapons experts say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons if Russia’s “territorial integrity” or existence is threatened.

Moscow’s declaration Friday that it was annexing four partly-occupied regions of Ukraine potentially meant Russia could consider responding to attacks on the claimed territory with a nuclear strike.

Should such an escalation materialize, it would probably be in the form of a smaller tactical nuclear weapon, likely launched on a short-range Iskander ballistic missile, according to experts.

While military analysts downplay Moscow’s threats for now and US officials say they have seen no activity indicating such plans, Western defense and intelligence are closely watching to see if real atomic threats emerge.

– Where are the bombs? –

Preparations for an attack would be evident, Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva, told AFP.

A 2017 report by the institute maps out 47 nuclear storage sites across Russia — 12 national-level facilities and 35 base facilities.

These are monitored constantly by intelligence and military surveillance satellites of the United States and other countries.

They can even be watched closely by commercial satellites, as shown by the widespread, regularly updated imagery of activities at North Korean nuclear facilities.

Podvig says Russia has deployed its strategic or long-range nuclear warheads in the field, on missiles, bombers and submarines.

But its non-strategic or tactical nuclear weapons, which number as many as 2,000, are stored and not installed on delivery vehicles like the Iskander, according to Podvig.

“There are no Iskanders roaming around with nuclear-armed warheads. These weapons are in storage,” he said.

– How would we know? –

“I’m confident the United States would see any Russian preparations for using nuclear weapons,” said Mark Cancian, a former official in the US defense and energy departments who worked on nuclear weapons issues.

“The weapons need to come out of storage, the units involved need to be alerted, and the Russians might also alert their strategic nuclear forces,” Cancian, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told AFP.

He said evidence would also come from likely visible preparations for Russia’s ground forces, issuing them protective equipment and instructions on how to act in a nuclear environment.

“All of this would be visible,” he noted.

Podvig said Moscow, like Washington, has for decades embraced the need for disciplined management of its nuclear warheads, and that system is fairly strong and visible.

“We can be quite certain that there are no hidden facilities,” he said.

“Nuclear weapons need a certain structure, people who are trained, and the maintenance. You cannot do that in a random place.”

“Technically you could probably smuggle a couple of bombs out of a storage sight undetected,” he said.

But doing so has risks, including provoking a preemptive attack from the West.

“The Russians will never be certain that it is undetected. That would be a gamble,” said Podvig.

Moreover, he added, it is more likely that Russia would want the West to see its preparations as a warning.

“It would be the kind of escalatory step (and) Russia would want that to be visible,” Podvig said.

– Warning the world –

The United States warned for weeks before the February 24 invasion that Russia intended to attack Ukraine, seeking to prepare Kyiv and allies — and possibly deter Moscow from acting.

Would Washington warn the world openly if it detected Russia planning a nuclear assault? Doing so could spark unprecedented panic, not only in Ukraine but other areas that could be affected by radioactive fallout.

Such alarm could go global if people expected an escalation to transcontinental nuclear war.

The United States would almost certainly warn allies and other powers, including crucially China and India, hoping they would pressure Moscow to pull back or face international isolation.

But Washington would likely see issuing public warnings as useful in adding to pressure on Russia, according to Podvig.

“The strategy has to be based on isolation. The unacceptability of this has to be reinforced, that it is criminal,” he said. 

“That message might have deterrence value.”

An aerial picture taken on September 30, 2022 shows destroyed houses in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida

Deadly Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, roared into South Carolina on Friday, delivering a powerful second punch after walloping Florida.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Ian made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone but the NHC said Friday evening that Ian is bringing heavy rain, flash flooding and high winds to both South Carolina and North Carolina. Some areas can expect up to eight inches of rain.

As for storm-ravaged Florida, President Joe Biden said: “We’re just beginning to see the scale of the destruction.

“It’s likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history,” he said of Ian, which barreled into Florida’s southwest coast on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, a tick shy of the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

The death toll from the storm stands at 23, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Friday evening.

News outlets quoting county officials have given even higher tolls, with CNN saying 45 fatalities have been blamed on Ian.

Seventeen migrants also remain missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane on Wednesday, according to the Coast Guard. One person was found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

With damage estimates running into the tens of billions of dollars, Biden said it’s “going to take months, years to rebuild.”

“It’s not just a crisis for Florida,” he said. “This is an American crisis.”

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion while flooding losses could go as high as $15 billion.

“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992,” CoreLogic’s Tom Larsen said.

– ‘We made it through’ – 

Rescue teams were assisting survivors Friday in devastated Florida communities and the US Coast Guard said it had made 117 rescues using boats and helicopters of people trapped in flooded homes.

Governor Ron DeSantis said hundreds of other rescue personnel were going door-to-door “up and down the coastline.”

DeSantis said the coastal town of Fort Myers where the hurricane made landfall, was “ground zero” but “this was such a big storm that there are effects far inland,” including serious flooding in the city of Orlando.

Many Floridians evacuated ahead of the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and ride it out.

More than 1.4 million Florida residents were still without electricity on Friday and two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers — Pine Island and Sanibel Island — were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

Aerial photo and video show breath-taking destruction in Sanibel and elsewhere.

The causeway is seen broken and washed out, with one section covered by calm waters lit up with reflections of the sun.

In Fort Myers Beach, a recreational boat called Crackerjack sits atop a pile of debris like an abandoned toy. A trailer park was blasted away to almost nothing recognizable.

Meanwhile in North and South Carolina, nearly half a million customers were without power, according to tracking website poweroutage.us, as a weakened Ian nevertheless lashed the states.

In Fort Myers, a handful of restaurants and bars reopened, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Dozens of people sat out on terraces under a bright sun, drinking beer and eating.

Dylan Gamber, 23, said he had been waiting for two hours at a pizzeria to get food to bring home.

“It was kind of bad, but we made it through,” Gamber said. “The roof of our house came off, a big tree collapsed across our vehicles, our yard was flooded, but other than that we were pretty good.

“As a community, we seem to be coming together and helping each other out.”

– ‘All submerged’ –

In nearby Bonita Springs, Jason Crosser was inspecting the damage to his store.

“The water went over the whole building,” said Crosser, 37. “It was all submerged. It’s all saltwater and water damage.”

After making landfall in South Carolina, Ian is expected to weaken fast and dissipate by Saturday night.

Before pummelling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island’s power network.

Electricity was gradually returning, but many homes remain without power.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say — including with Ian.

According to a rapid and preliminary analysis, human-caused climate change increased the extreme rain that Ian unleashed by over 10 percent, US scientists said.