Latest news with #ThomasCOEX
eNCA
01-07-2025
- Climate
- eNCA
Europe on high alert as surprise early heatwave creeps north
PARIS - Schools were partially shut in France, iconic monuments closed to tourists, and cities across Europe put on high alert as a record-breaking early summer heatwave spread across the continent Tuesday. Withering conditions that have baked southern Europe for days crept northward where such extremes are much rarer, with Paris on "red alert" and high temperature warnings issued in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a "silent killer". Scientists said it was unusual for such heat to hit Europe this early in the season, but that human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels was making these once-rare events far more likely. Records have tumbled, with France and Portugal experiencing their highest-ever single-day temperatures in June, Spain its warmest June, and the Netherlands its hottest opening day of July. In England, the weather service said it was the hottest June since records began in 1884. AFP | Thomas COEX The Mediterranean Sea recorded a new June high of 26.01 degrees Celsius on Sunday, just the latest abnormal marine heatwave in the basin, harming sea life and turbocharging storms. The summit of the Eiffel Tower was shut for a second straight day, and was due to remain closed on Wednesday. On Tuesday in Brussels, the city's Atomium monument, famed for its giant stainless steel balls, was exceptionally shut as temperatures reached 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit). - 'Living like moles' - Under scorching skies, Paris imposed its first "red alert" in five years, empowering officials to limit or ban sporting events, festivals and school outings for children. AFP | Nicolas TUCAT The heat is expected to peak on Tuesday, with Paris facing highs of 38C, but authorities have extended the alert into Wednesday. Some parks will remain open all night, pools have extended visiting hours, and cooling centres in churches and museums are offering respite from the lack of greenery and concrete surfaces that amplify the heat. "We're living a bit like moles," Nicole, 85, told AFP in the stifling air of her apartment in a tower block in Paris. Across France, the government said it expected nearly 1,350 schools to be partially or completely shut, with teachers complaining that overheated and unventilated classrooms were making students unwell. Authorities are fanning out to check on the elderly, chronically ill and the homeless. "When it's cold, I add blankets and hats. But when it's hot like this, what can I do? Nothing, just wait for it to pass and hope I don't faint," said Jo, a 55-year-old homeless man in Bordeaux, in southwestern France. As far north as the Netherlands, some regions were placed on the second-highest alert on Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 38C. AFP | Ludovic MARIN Schools in Rotterdam and across West Brabant province adopted "tropical schedules" to ensure students started and finished earlier to avoid the worst of the day's heat. In Germany, temperatures could peak at 40C on Wednesday. In Spain and Portugal, where highs of 46C were recorded in some locations over the weekend, a level of respite was expected, though temperatures could still exceed 40C in parts. A two-year-old boy died in northeastern Spain on Tuesday after being left in the back of a car parked in the sun, police said. - 'Silent killer' - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said its teams of volunteers had mobilised across Europe to give out water and assist the most vulnerable. "Extreme heat doesn't have to be a disaster: knowledge, preparedness and early action make all the difference," said IFRC spokesman Tommaso Della Longa. AFP | Idriss BIGOU, Jaime ALEKOS, Jérome PIN "We're still seeing infrastructure challenges associated with heatwaves, pressure on national healthcare systems, and we still have excess deaths," she told AFP. A heatwave in 2022 killed an estimated 60,000 people across Europe, mostly elderly. The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that heat was a "silent killer" and the death toll from prolonged, extreme exposure was often under-reflected in official statistics. Spokeswoman Clare Nullis said every death from heat was unnecessary, and society would have to adapt to more heatwaves in future. "It's something we have to learn to live with," Nullis said. By Nick Perry With Afp Bureaus
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Man Utd and Spurs face season-defining Europa League duel
Tottenham players train at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao, on the eve of the Europa League final (Thomas COEX) Manchester United and Tottenham face off in the Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday with both clubs eyeing a golden ticket into the Champions League after historically poor seasons. The two teams have lost a combined 39 times in the Premier League, with 20-time champions United an embarrassing 16th in the table and Spurs 17th, a single spot above the relegation zone. Advertisement Yet one of them will be celebrating at the final whistle at the San Mames stadium -- not just a European trophy but a financial windfall worth potentially upwards of £100 million ($134 million). Ruben Amorim, in his first campaign at Old Trafford, knows that victory will not solve United's long-standing and deep-rooted problems, but he admits it would change the mood. "We have bigger things to deal with than that, to put this club back to the top," the 40-year-old said on the eve of the game in northern Spain. But he added: "(If we win) people will look at our team in a different way, because winning a European title is really important." Advertisement The former Sporting Lisbon boss was keen to stress that Champions League revenue is not pivotal to United's future due to the size and pulling power of the club. But football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes it is, in monetary terms, "the most important match in the club's history". The huge cash windfall from various revenue streams would be a major boost for United, who are struggling to balance the books, providing vital funds for a squad rebuild. - Postecoglou exit? - The Portuguese manager's job appears safe whatever the result, even though United are destined for their worst league finish for half a century. Advertisement But many observers believe Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou, 59, is heading for the exit door regardless of whether he ends the club's 17-year trophy drought. "I've said to the lads from day one, nothing is guaranteed in life, nothing is guaranteed in sport," said the former Australia and Celtic coach. "You've just got to try and make sure you take every opportunity before you and that's what I've done my whole career." Postecoglou, in his second season at Spurs, feels he has unfinished business in London and believes winning the Europa League could be a "turning point" for the club. Advertisement "Until you actually do it, then you're fair game for people to say, 'Well, you've always kind of fluffed it on the big stage'," he said earlier this month. Tottenham, who have not won silverware since the 2008 League Cup, have won the Europa League twice, in its former guise as the UEFA Cup, but not since 1984. The game itself -- the sixth all-English final in European football history -- is too close to call. Spurs have beaten United three times this season -- twice in the Premier League and once in the League Cup. But three-time European champions United, chasing a first European triumph since the 2016/17 Europa League, have recent trophy-winning pedigree, picking up the League Cup and the FA Cup under former manager Erik ten Hag over the past two seasons. Advertisement The only league matches either club have won since February 2 have been against sides who are heading down to the Championship, or each other. Yet they have found a way to keep winning in the Europa League. United, the only side unbeaten in continental competition this season, reached the final with a 7-1 aggregate win over Athletic Bilbao, denying the Spanish side a fairytale final in their own stadium. Tottenham waltzed past Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt 5-1 on aggregate. United boast the standout player in captain Bruno Fernandes and the trophy-winning nous of Casemiro, who won five Champions League titles with Real Madrid. Postecoglou confirmed on Tuesday that midfielder Lucas Bergvall would not be fit to face United. James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are also out. jw/gj
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Spain's Train Crisis Was A Wake-Up Call. Could Hydrail Trains Be The Answer?
People wait outside the Atocha train station in Madrid after its closure as a massive power outage ... More hits Spain on April 28, 2025. Power went out across all of Spain and Portugal today, cutting cellphone and internet networks, halting trains and trapping people in elevators, officials said. The operator, Red Electrica, said it would likely take six to 10 hours to restore power in the country and urged people not to speculate as to the cause of the outage. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images) In the middle of the day on 28 April 2025, Spain lived a modern replay of the 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. In the film, paternalistic aliens cut electricity worldwide to force humanity to reconsider its nuclear arms race. In Spain's case, there were no aliens—just an all-too-human failure in the electric grid. But the result was eerily similar: everything stopped. Like much of Europe, Spain's rail system still depends on 19th-century overhead electrification—a technology first developed in Tsarist Russia. What once marked a leap in industrial modernity has become an ageing and increasingly fragile network. A single fault in the grid, even hundreds of kilometres away, can bring entire train systems to a halt. That April day in Spain, it did exactly that. Passengers stranded in the open countryside were the lucky ones. Those caught in tunnels faced a darker, more claustrophobic ordeal. But this high-profile failure has cast new light on an alternative Spain has been quietly exploring for almost two decades: hydrail, or hydrogen-powered rail. Unlike conventional electric trains that depend on external power lines, hydrail carries its energy onboard in the form of compressed or liquid hydrogen. No wires. No dependency on the grid. Just trains that keep moving—even when everything else doesn't. Widespread adoption of hydrail would have made the April paralysis all but impossible. More than that, it would represent a significant leap in energy diversification and resilience—two things climate-stressed infrastructure now urgently needs. Spain wasn't caught entirely off guard. In fact, it was one of the first countries to seriously explore hydrogen-powered rail. In 2006, Dr Carlos Navas attended the Second International Hydrail Conference in Herning, Denmark. Two years later, he hosted the Fourth Conference in Valencia. By 2011, Spain's narrow-gauge operator FEVE had already demonstrated a hydrogen tram in the Principality of Asturias—years ahead of similar efforts in China or Germany. Today, Spain is set to lead again. A recent breakthrough positions the country to pioneer high-speed hydrail. The driver? Economics. With low population density in many regions, Spain faces some of the highest per-passenger track electrification costs in Europe: "Very roughly," says Stan Thompson, co-founder of the Mooresville Hydrail Initiative, 'in US dollars, the capital cost of new track electrification is around $15 milion per track mile.' Hydrail, by contrast, offers a cheaper and more flexible solution that sidesteps the need for costly fixed-line electrification. Spain is not alone. Germany is already running the Saltzgitter-built Coradia iLint. China has deployed hydrogen trams in Foshan. And this summer, the first U.S. hydrogen passenger line opens in California between San Bernardino and Redlands. TOPSHOT - Passengers wait along a platform to board a train at Santa Justa railway station in ... More Seville on April 29, 2025, the day after a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France. Electricity was restored to almost all of Spain and Portugal on April 29 morning, allowing a gradual return to normal life in the two countries, which were hit on April 28 by a giant blackout that lasted up to ten or even twenty hours depending on the region. The return of power has enabled rail traffic to be restored on several major routes, including Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Barcelona, according to the national company Renfe. However, traffic remains suspended on several other major routes, as the authorities have given priority to restoring suburban trains. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP) (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty Images) Thompson – the man who coined the term 'hydrail' in 2003 – sees the writing on the wall for traditional electrification. 'With the soaring cost of copper as we 'electrify everything,' the old model is becoming unsustainable,' he says. New overhead lines are not only expensive to install—they're also costly to maintain, at roughly $150,000 per mile per year. As long as the global push for electrification continues, copper is expected to remain a strategic bottleneck—and a rising cost factor in infrastructure projects like electrified rail. Copper prices are hitting record highs in 2025 due to unprecedented demand from the global energy transition, technological advancements, and infrastructure upgrades, all while supply growth is hampered by production challenges and slow mine development. Geopolitical uncertainty and trade policies are adding to the price volatility and upward pressure. In a copper-scarce world, hydrail offers unique advantages: hydrail systems use substantially less copper than traditional electrified rail because they eliminate the need for copper-intensive trackside power delivery systems. Copper use is largely limited to the train itself, making hydrail a less copper-dependent technology for rail transport. And Thompson believes that salvaging copper from existing electrified corridors may help finance the switch to hydrogen. 'When the first two or three overhead systems have gone hydrail,' Thompson predicts, 'the rest will come down like dominoes.' Slow dominoes, perhaps—but the 140-year lifespan of aging rail infrastructure is looking increasingly hard to justify. And beyond cost, overhead train power has other drawbacks. Utility engineers aren't fans—ground currents from the lines can interfere with water systems, telecoms, and other underground infrastructure. City planners, too, have long been frustrated. Despite years of effort to bury power lines and telephone cables, railway corridors remain cluttered with conspicuous poles, wires, and metalwork. People leave the Atocha train station in Madrid after its closure as a massive power outage hits ... More Spain on April 28, 2025. Power went out across all of Spain and Portugal today, cutting cellphone and internet networks, halting trains and trapping people in elevators, officials said. The operator, Red Electrica, said it would likely take six to 10 hours to restore power in the country and urged people not to speculate as to the cause of the outage. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images) Curiously, the story of hydrail's potential to ride out power grid failures begins in the United States. In the early 2000s, the U.S. Congress funded development of the first hydrail locomotive under the George W. Bush administration. Built by BNSF Railways and Vehicle Projects LLC, the train wasn't just intended for freight—it was designed as a self-propelled mobile power plant, capable of supplying emergency electricity to hospitals and other critical infrastructure after natural disasters like hurricanes. Its tractive power was successfully demonstrated on military bases in the Western U.S., but after the Bush presidency ended, so did government support. The locomotive—BNSF 1205—was scrapped for parts and now sits on display, minus its hydrogen components, at the Oklahoma Railway Museum. But in 2025, Thompson believes the transition to onboard hydrogen-sourced electric power is inevitable, beginning with lighter equipment and shorter rail lines. As copper prices rise and aging infrastructure reaches the end of its life, the economic case for gridless rail becomes increasingly compelling. A technology first imagined to keep the lights on during crises may now help avoid them altogether. But only time will tell the extent to which hydrail becomes the new norm beyond its current early use-cases in California, Germany and China. If Spain stays the course, it could be the first to show that hydrail isn't a far-off future. It's already on track.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ex-French interior minister Darmanin apologises for 2022 Champions League fiasco
Liverpool fans were left pinned against fences and many were unable to get into the 2022 Champions League final in Paris (Thomas COEX) Ex-French interior minister Gerald Darmanin on Monday apologised for the first time to Liverpool supporters for the policing operation at the 2022 Champions League final in Paris. Darmanin, now justice minister, said "we got the measures wrong" in an interview broadcast on YouTube. Advertisement The final between Liverpool and Real Madrid at the Stade de France was overshadowed by a 37-minute delay to kick-off as fans struggled to access the entrances after being funnelled into overcrowded bottlenecks as they approached the stadium. Darmanin initially blamed Liverpool fans for the disorder and claimed many had turned up without tickets. Three years on, he admitted in the interview that the authorities had got it wrong. "Yes, it was a failure," said Darmanin. "Because I hadn't checked what was happening properly, which was my mistake, and because I gave in to preconceived ideas. Advertisement "I apologise to Liverpool fans. Of course they were right to (feel angry)." Nervy police fired tear gas towards thousands of supporters locked behind metal fences on the perimeter of the stadium. Liverpool fans had to suffer a series of false claims in the aftermath of the chaos. European football's governing body UEFA initially tried to pin the blame on supporters arriving late despite thousands having been held for hours outside the stadium before kick-off. The French authorities then claimed an "industrial-scale fraud" of fake tickets was the problem. A French Senate enquiry later concluded that poorly-executed security arrangements were the cause of the mayhem. Advertisement An independent report found UEFA bore "primary responsibility" for the failures which almost led to the match becoming a "mass fatality catastrophe". The report added it was "remarkable" that no one was killed on the night of the final. Real Madrid won the final 1-0. ldf/mat/pi/gj
eNCA
29-04-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Power returns to most of Spain, Portugal after massive blackout
AFP | Thomas COEX SPAIN - Lights flickered back to life in Spain and Portugal Tuesday after a massive blackout hit the Iberian peninsula stranding passengers in trains and hundreds of elevators while millions saw phone and internet coverage die. Electricity had been restored to nearly 90 percent of mainland Spain early Tuesday, the REE power operator said. Lights came on again in Madrid and in Portugal's capital. Barely a corner of the peninsula, which has a joint population of almost 60 million people, escaped the blackout. But no firm cause for the shutdown has yet emerged, though wild rumours spread on messaging networks about cyber attacks. Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the source of the outage was "probably in Spain". Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said "all the potential causes" were being analysed and warned the public "not to speculate" because of the risk of "misinformation". Sanchez said about 15 gigawatts of electricity, more than half of the power being consumed at the time, "suddenly disappeared" in about five seconds. Sanchez was unable to say when power would be completely restored in Spain and warned that some workers would have to stay home Tuesday. Montenegro said Portugal's power would be back "within hours". AFP | MIGUEL RIOPA Power was restored overnight to around 6.2 million households in Portugal out of 6.5 million, according to the national electricity grid operator. The outage rippled briefly into southwest France while Morocco saw disruption to some internet providers and airport check-in systems. People were "stunned", according to Carlos Candori, a 19-year-old construction worker who had to exit the paralysed Madrid metro system. "This has never happened in Spain". "There's no (phone) coverage, I can't call my family, my parents, nothing: I can't even go to work," he told AFP. - Cash queues - In Madrid and cities across Spain and Portugal, panicked customers rushed to withdraw cash from banks, and streets filled with crowds floundering for a phone signal. Long lines formed for taxis and buses. With stop lights knocked out, police struggled to keep densely congested traffic moving and authorities urged motorists to stay home. AFP | Thomas COEX In Madrid alone 286 rescue operations were carried out to free people trapped in lifts, regional authorities said. Trains were halted across the country and late Monday, the transport minister said there were still 11 trains with stranded passengers who needed help. Railway stations in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville and four other major cities were to be kept open all night so that stranded passengers could sleep there. Spain's nuclear power plants automatically went offline as a safety precaution, with diesel generators maintaining them in a "safe condition", the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) said. - 'Serious disruption' - Sanchez said the blackout, which hit just after midday, caused "serious disruption" for millions and "economic losses in businesses, in companies, in industries". The European Commission said it was in contact with Spain and Portugal over the crisis. European Council President Antonio Costa said on X: "There are no indications of any cyberattack". AFP | CESAR MANSO Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered support in a call to Sanchez, noting his country had become specialised in such emergencies after three years of Russia attacking its electrical grid. "No matter what happens, we are always ready to assist and support our friends," he said on X. The huge power cut disrupted flights to and from Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon, European air traffic organisation Eurocontrol said. - France affected - AFP | JAVIER SORIANO Transport chaos also gripped Spain's second city, Barcelona, where locals and tourists alike flooded the streets in an attempt to find out what had happened. Student Laia Montserrat left school when the lights went out. AFP | Yann SCHREIBER, Hervé BOUILLY The internet activity monitoring site Netblocks told AFP the blackout caused a "loss of much of the country's digital infrastructure". It said web connections plunged to just 17 percent of normal usage. Spain's El Pais newspaper reported that hospitals used back-up generators to keep critical wards going, but some units were left without power. Massive blackouts have affected other countries around the world in recent years. AFP | James Irving-Swift In Europe, in November 2006, 10 million people were left without power for an hour in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. That was caused by a failure in Germany's grid. By Valentin Bontemps And Imran Marashli With Thomas Cabral In Lisbon
