The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 08-11-21

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Peace Conference Dedicated to G. Koilaris

According to speakers, George Koilaris did not belong to the group of journalists "under state protection", while he had to change 11 hospitals in a three-day period till he was transferred to KAT, a fact that indicates inertia in our country at senior political and military level.

News item: 15782

[02] Glaciers Detected on the Red Planet

The glaciers, the biggest known deposits of water on Mars outside of its poles, could prove useful for future manned missions to the red planet as drinking water or rocket fuel, University of Texas planetary geologist John Holt said.

"If we were to, down the road, establish a base there, you'd want to park near a big source of water because you can do anything with it," Holt said.

The glaciers, perhaps 200 million years old, also may entomb genetic fragments of past microbial life on Mars as well as air bubbles that might reveal the composition of the atmosphere as it was long ago, according to geologist James Head of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

A ground-penetrating radar instrument aboard the U.S. space agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter collected the data that confirmed the presence of the buried glaciers that extend for dozens of miles (km) from the edges of mountains or cliffs.

These closely resemble glaciers in Antarctica that similarly are covered by rocky debris, Head said.

Scientists previously determined that large deposits of ice exist at the Martian north and south polar regions, but hundreds of these buried glaciers are located at mid-latitudes on the planet.

Head said they can be about half a mile thick. One of them was three times larger than the city of Los Angeles.

The ones described by the researchers in the journal Science were in the Hellas Basin region of the Martian southern hemisphere, but many more are in the northern hemisphere.

Holt said the glaciers may be the vestiges of large ice sheets that once covered parts of Mars in a past ice age. Earth's most recent ice age ended about 12,000 years ago.

"It's dramatic evidence of major climate change on Mars, presumably linked to orbital variations. That's what causes the major glaciations on Earth," Holt said.

Source: REUTERS

News item: 15823

[03] US Concerned over Future

According to experts no other countries are projected to rise to the level of China and India which are to compete with the US in the future. Russia's rise is not so certain. It is expected, however, to see the political and economic power of other countries such as Iran, Turkey and Indonesia to increase. Transition to energy sources away from oil will have been completed by 2025. Improved technology in renewable energy sources (solar, wind) would consist the best opportunity for transition to low cost energy. Other projections include that the near future of the world will be driven by increased conflict over scarce food and water supplies caused by global warming."The international system, as constructed following the Second World War, will be almost unrecognizable by 2025 owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalizing economy, a historic transfer of relative wealth and economic power from West to East", the report says. Although the US will remain the stronger power, it will become "less dominant" in the world - no longer the unrivalled superpower even in the military sector. Strategic antagonism is likely to regard commerce, investments and technological innovations while we do not rule out return to 19th century scenario, with arms race, territorial expansion.

News item: 15817

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