For weeks on end, parts of the Indonesian island of Borneo looked like a scene of total devastation, with residents wearing masks wandering around in thick, foul-smelling, reddish-brown fog, and fires consuming peatlands next to homes and farms.
Agence France-Presse reported that peatland fires, which often burn slowly underground and may last for months on end, are responsible for a large portion of the dry season haze that this year polluted the air of regions as far away as Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Peatlands consist of organic matter that does not decompose completely in stagnant water conditions, and has accumulated over thousands of years to transform into a layered, soil-like material.
The intact peatlands are home to diverse plants and trees, such as nutmeg and durian, and fauna including the endangered orangutan, cloud leopard, Sumatran tiger, sun bear and tapir. They are porous and highly absorbent lands, making them vitally important in containing floods.
Although they cover only about 3 percent of the world's land area, peatlands store about a third of the carbon in the Earth's soil, twice as much as forests.
Indonesia has the largest share of tropical peatlands in the world, amounting to about a third of the global total.
Of the total estimated area of Indonesian peatlands, which amounts to 24.2 million hectares, 16.4 million hectares have been degraded and become vulnerable to fires, according to what the non-governmental organization “Bantau Gambot” reveals.
The main culprit is the large industrial plantations devoted to timber and pulp, rice plantations, and oil palm, of which Indonesia is, by far, the largest producer in the world.
To reclaim these lands, their water is drained through networks of canals whose total length in Indonesia is about 285,000 kilometers (177,000 miles), according to research by the Bantao Gambot organization, which is equivalent to 7 times the Earth’s circumference.
This water flows into rivers or the sea, leaving dry peatlands vulnerable to fire, especially in years of strong El Nino events that can bring severe drought to Indonesia.
Peatland fires are often imperceptible except through the foul smoke they emit and the heat they radiate from underground.
Dense layers of carbon can continue to burn in what are known as “zombie fires” for weeks on end, and are difficult to extinguish.
German police have opened an investigation into two teenagers suspected of controlling a robot that harassed a 16-year-old girl.
Police in the city of Cologne confiscated a red and gold robot, which allegedly grabbed the girl's buttocks and made suggestive movements towards her, before she screamed and moved away from him, according to what the BBC reported.
The North Rhine-Westphalia state police said that the owner of the robot, who is 16 years old, and his companion, who is 19 years old, are suspected of broadcasting the incident live on social media and commenting on it.
According to a statement published by the police on Facebook, the robot, which is 120 centimeters (3.9 feet) tall, approached the girl from behind, while she was with her friends, just before midnight local time (11 p.m. GMT), on Saturday.
The police explained that the incident occurred in front of a fast food restaurant near the city center.
Emergency services were notified of the incident, and the teenager and the man under investigation were found a short time later, one block away. The robot was also found in the back of a car, after the teenager had placed it there, according to police.
A photo published by the police showed the robot wearing a black mustache, a gold chain, and a white jacket.
In addition to the robot, police confiscated two mobile phones belonging to the suspects. Police are trying to determine whether someone intentionally controlled the robot's movements at the time of the accident.
In a subsequent post on Facebook, police warned that some comments on the case on social media “may cross the line and, at worst, may constitute a criminal offence.”
A report from an Egyptian citizen about a stone block bearing inscriptions found on a plot of land he owns in front of his house in the village of Bahbit Al-Hajara in Gharbia Governorate led to a prominent archaeological discovery in the governorate located in the Nile Delta.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the citizen’s report - whose identity was not revealed - revealed the remains of two huge royal statues, one of which belongs to King Ramesses II, while the other likely belongs to the king himself, along with a block of pink granite bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions containing royal titles.
The citizen took the initiative to inform the concerned authorities immediately after finding the block while doing his work on his land, so the officials moved to the site and conducted an initial inspection that confirmed its antiquity. After taking the necessary legal measures and forming an archaeological committee and a specialized team from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, rescue excavations resulted in the discovery of the remains of the two statues and the granite block.
The archaeological inspection of the Supreme Council of Antiquities moved to the site, and the mission took the necessary legal measures, and prepared reports proving the incident. An archaeological committee and a specialized work team were also formed to begin rescue excavations, which resulted in uncovering the remains of the two statues and the granite block.
The Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathi, expressed his appreciation for this archaeological discovery, stressing that it represents an important addition to the archaeological discoveries taking place in Egypt, and contributes to shedding more light on the history of the Bahbit al-Hajara region and its archaeological and cultural importance. He pointed out the Ministry's keenness to continue archaeological research and excavation work in various sites across the Republic, in parallel with efforts to protect and preserve the archaeological heritage, praising the awareness of the citizen who took the initiative to report the stone block immediately after it was found, which reflects the importance of society's role in protecting the Egyptian cultural heritage and preserving it for future generations.
Colossal head of Ramesses II
For his part, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Hisham Al-Laithi, explained that the first discovery represents a huge head of the statue of King Ramses II, about 1.60 meters high, and shows the king wearing the double crown, which symbolizes the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The remains of the upper part of the statue’s back column were also found, which bears an inscription with the Hurrian title of the king, “Harka Nakht Meri Maat.” He added that the size of the discovered head indicates that the original height of the statue, including its base, may have reached about 8.5 meters, which reflects the size of the statue and its artistic importance.
As for the second discovery, it is represented by the largest part of a royal statue, about 2.40 meters long. It is likely that it also belongs to King Ramesses II, and is missing its legs and base. The king appears wearing the royal headdress known as the “mongoose,” with part of the top missing. The head of the statue was also revealed, and its facial features are still clear and in a good state of preservation, and are similar to the features of the first statue.
As for the block, it is made of pink granite, is about 1.30 meters long, and is located approximately one meter to the north of the second statue. It bears the remains of hieroglyphic inscriptions that include two titles for King Ramesses II, namely “Nusu Beti” (King of Upper and Lower Egypt) and “Sa Ra” (Son of Ra).
The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities confirmed that excavations and archaeological studies at the site are continuing, with the aim of uncovering more archaeological elements, and studying the nature of the discovered pieces and their relationship to each other and to the site, which contributes to forming a clearer picture of the two statues, the history of the region, and its architectural development during ancient Egyptian times.
It should be noted that the Bahbit Al-Hajara area in Gharbia Governorate is considered one of the important archaeological sites in the Egyptian Delta, and is famous for the remains of a huge temple that was dedicated to the worship of “the goddess Isis,” in addition to the granite blocks and architectural elements it contains, which reflect the religious and architectural importance that the region had in ancient Egypt.
