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BANGKOK — Harsh spotlights and street lamps illuminate a vicious brawl between two furious shirtless men as the screams of a crowd echo beneath a Bangkok underpass: Fight Club Thailand is on.

In the capital city of a country renowned for its highly technical martial arts scene, amateur fighters gather regularly promising to exchange only blood and bruises in the underground club.

While the bout resembles a particularly frenzied boxing match, the setting — surrounded by shipping containers in a poor port-side neighbourhood — is a far cry from the glitzy charms of Muay Thai boxing stadiums.

“Here you don’t have to know how to fight. You just need to have heart and that’s it,” club co-founder Chana Worasart told AFP.

The 30-year-old founded the club in 2016, partly inspired by the cult Brad Pitt movie, to allow amateur fighters to test their skills — or just vent their aggression.

“I think the popularity is due to a variety of occupations and fighting styles that are different from the styles in the [professional] ring,” he said.

That’s certainly the appeal for 23-year-old contestant and grocery store owner Surathat Sakulchue.

“It’s quite different [from traditional fights],” he told AFP, expecting to dish out — and absorb — punishment using all four limbs.

Plus, he added, “fighting with containers surrounding us is just fun and exciting.”

‘Violence into friendship’

Unlike the movie’s famous line banning fighters from talking about their club to outsiders, the Bangkok-based outfit calls itself “the ring that will change violence into friendship”.

The group has become a local sensation, with a private Facebook group racking up 73,000 members as word spread of the underground matches.

Fighters are allowed to go all-out in a single three-minute round — with neither a winner or loser declared — but the bouts aren’t quite no-holds-barred.

Elbowing, grappling, throwing opponents to the ground and punching to the back of the head are strictly prohibited.

Unsurprisingly, the gatherings have not escaped the notice of the Thai police.

Authorities were alerted in 2016 to the underground matches — which allegedly violated the Boxing Act, punishable with a one-year jail sentence and fines of up to about $600 — but despite a small police presence on occasion, the fights have continued.

Meanwhile, the club insists it is not governed by the Boxing Act, meaning organisers are not holding unsanctioned fights.

Co-founder Chana says the group is approved by the Department of Provincial Administration.

“I don’t oppose the idea of turning this into legal, sanctioned fights, but at the same time, we can’t lose the underground identity, so the question is ‘where is the balance?’”

Fear, then elation

It is all a far cry from the scrappy club’s beginnings, when there were no clear rules.

Now there are fighting guidelines, screening procedures, a risk-acceptance pledge as well as protective equipment and on-scene medical care.

“We don’t ask fighters to kill each other. If you’re too tired or too injured to go on, then we’ll stop the fight,” said Chana as another bout began.

After paying his respects with folded hands and touching gloves with his opponent, amateur fighter Ilya Ostroushchenko gets to work.

Landing a kick to his opponent’s torso, Ostroushchenko bashes out a combination of punches, and a left hook to the face finally sends his opponent stumbling to the rubber mat.

The crowd enthusiastically roars “Somchai” — a traditional, masculine Thai name given to the Russian — as the bout finishes.

Seemingly cool and composed during the fight, the 22-year-old Russian told AFP it is nerve-wracking right before stepping into the informal ring.

“My hands shake. My knees shake also, but when I go out to the centre, I feel good,” he said.

CASTLEREA, Ireland — The purpose-built stables and adjoining paddock stretch almost as far as the high grey, exterior wall of Castlerea Prison in central Ireland.

For the men held at the medium-security jail in County Roscommon, the horses provide an opportunity to learn practical skills — and develop more compassion through their work.

The new equine centre — named “Horses of Hope” by the inmates themselves — is the first of its kind in Europe and was officially opened this week.

On completion of the course, the prisoners will get a nationally recognised certification in horse care — a potentially beneficial qualification in a country renowned for its love of horses.

“It could be a life-changing opportunity here so you just have to wait and see,” one prisoner, whose name was withheld by the prison authorities, told AFP.

“I am just happy that I’m getting this opportunity and I am going to be taking it with both hands,” the prisoner, who is serving a stretch of several years for a violent crime, explained.

“At the end of it, if we do well in this, there could be a job opening at a stud farm or other places around the country,” he said following his first three weeks on the course.

“It’s relaxing. You can’t just come out here and expect to go into the stable to a horse that doesn’t know you and just thinking he’s going to be alright with you. You have to gain their trust.” 

Skills

The scheme has been delivered through collaboration between the Irish Prison Service and Ireland’s horse racing industry.

Groups of inmates work with horses over a period of 12 weeks, learning horse care skills such as grooming, stable management and first aid.

Similar initiatives have been launched in Australia and the United States, where a real-life programme inspired the 2019 film “The Mustang”.

Prisoners who learn to care for horses can go on to make valuable contributions to their communities on release and in some cases gain employment in the equine industry, according to the Irish government.

Charity founder Jonathan Irwin, who has worked in horse racing for decades, provided the impetus for the initiative after he visited a US scheme 30 years ago.

But he said it had taken 26 years before the plan started to come together. “There were a lot of brick walls,” he explained. 

“I started writing to every minister of justice but most of them never replied because I think they just thought I was some kind of madman.”

Excitement

Ireland’s horse racing community has raised over 100,000 euros ($108,500) for the costs of the “Horses of Hope” initiative.

Irwin hopes it will expand over the coming years, extending the stables, which currently hold 10 boxes for retired racehorses.

Already, he said, the programme of equine care was starting to have a positive effect and there was a “sense of excitement that something is being done that’s completely different”. 

“There’s a great affinity between the horse and the prisoner, and the prisoner is much more relaxed,” he added.

“This has made such a difference already.”

Opening the facility, justice minister Helen McEntee said it was “fitting that Ireland should be a leader in this space, particularly given our leadership... when it comes to the equine industry”.

“I have no doubt that our European colleagues will be following suit and will be replicating and imitating what has been done here.

“It is so important that there is an opportunity for rehabilitation, for people to be able to admit where mistakes were made... and people can be given an opportunity to turn their lives around.”

PARIS — At least one in five reptile species are threatened with extinction, including more than half of turtles and crocodiles, according to the first major global assessment of the world’s so-called cold-blooded creatures. 

Catastrophic declines in biodiversity across the world are increasingly seen as a threat to life on Earth — and as important as the interrelated menace of climate change.

Threats to other creatures have been well documented. More than 40 per cent of amphibians, 25 per cent of mammals and 13 per cent of birds could face extinction. 

But until now, researchers did not have a comprehensive picture of the proportion of reptiles at risk. 

In a new global assessment, published in the journal Nature, researchers assessed 10,196 reptile species and evaluated them using criteria from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species.

They found that at least 1,829 — 21 per cent — were either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. 

“It’s just overwhelming the number of species that we see as being threatened,” said co-author Neil Cox, who manages the IUCN-Conservation International Biodiversity Assessment Unit and co-led the study. 

“Now we know the threats facing each reptile species, the global community can take the next step... and invest in turning around the often too under-appreciated and severe biodiversity crisis.” 

Crocodiles and turtles were found to be among the most at-risk species, with around 58 per cent and 50 per cent of those assessed found to be under threat respectively.

Cox said this was often down to “over-exploitation and persecution”. 

Crocodiles are killed for their meat and to remove them from human settlements, he said, while turtles are targeted by the pet trade and used for traditional medicine.

Another well-known species at risk is the fearsome king cobra, the world’s largest venomous snake. It can grow to around five metres long, feasting on other snakes in forests across a huge area from India to Southeast Asia. 

It has been classified as vulnerable, indicating it is “very close to extinction”, Cox said at a press briefing on the research. 

“It’s a real iconic species in Asia and it’s such a shame that even widespread species such as this are really suffering and in decline,” he said, adding that logging and deliberate attacks by humans were among the biggest threats to the snake. 

Bruce Young, chief zoologist at NatureServe, who co-led the study, said threatened reptiles were largely found concentrated in southeast Asia, western Africa, northern Madagascar, the northern Andes and the Caribbean. 

The researchers found reptiles restricted to arid habitats such as deserts, grasslands, and savannas “are significantly less threatened” than those in forest habitats, he explained.

Agriculture, logging, invasive species and urban development were found to be among the threats to reptiles, while people also target them for the pet trade or kill them for food or out of fear. 

Climate change was found to pose a direct threat to some 10 per cent of reptile species, although researchers said that was likely an underestimate because it does not take into account longer-term threats like sea level rise, or indirect climate-driven dangers from things like disease.

The researchers were surprised to find that conservation aimed at mammals, birds and amphibians had also benefitted reptiles to an extent, although they stressed that the study highlights the need for specific urgent conservation for some species. 

Young said the reptile assessment, which involved hundreds of scientists from across the world, took around 15 years to complete because of a lack of funding. 

“Reptiles, to many people, are not charismatic. And there’s just been a lot more focus on some of the more furry or feathery species of vertebrates for conservation,” he said. 

Researchers hope the new assessment will help spur international action to halt biodiversity loss. 

Almost 200 countries are currently locked in global biodiversity talks to try to safeguard nature, including a key milestone of 30 per cent of Earth’s surface protected by 2030.

“Through work like this, we advertise the importance of these creatures. They’re part of the tree of life, just like any other and equally deserving of attention,” Young said.

PARIS — Ecotourists feeding grapes to rock iguanas on remote islands in the Bahamas have given them a sweet tooth and high blood sugar, researchers recently said, warning of unknown effects on the health of the vulnerable reptiles.

Northern Bahamian rock iguanas living on the Exuma Islands are so hooked on the tasty tourist treats that they rush to the beaches when they hear boats approaching. 

“For a tour operator it was a wonderful way to ensure that you would be able to see these animals and people would have these close and personal interactions,” said Charles Knapp, of the John G Shedd Aquarium in the United States.

Conservationists had already started to become concerned that the non-native fruit, delivered to the iguanas on the end of skewers, was making the large lizards less wary of humans and potentially vulnerable to smugglers for the pet trade. 

But those closely involved with the creatures began to suspect the diets were causing even more of an upset. The clue was in their poo. 

A Northern Bahamian rock iguana which consumes the leaves and fruiting plants that nature intended has faeces that scientist Susannah French, of Utah State University, likens to a “Cuban cigar — a bunch of rolled up leaves”.

The excretions of those that had developed a taste for the tourists’ grapes are a watery mess. 

That prompted researchers to look into the impacts of these sugar-packed diets on the iguanas’ bodies. 

Their study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, first looked in the lab at the effects of a high glucose diet on common green iguanas. 

“We were able to then basically deliver glucose over time to mimic the sort of intake these iguanas in the field were getting,” French told AFP. They found that these animals struggled to regulate their blood glucose levels. 

Harmful habit?

Next researchers travelled to the Bahamas and captured a total of 48 iguanas on four islands, half from populations frequented by tourists and the other half from more sheltered and remote outcrops. 

Each iguana was fed a glucose drink and researchers then monitored their blood sugar for almost a day. 

They found that those on the islands visited by tourists had the highest glucose peaks, with some remaining high for hours, while those iguanas that never saw humans saw levels rise at a slower rate and return to normal more quickly.

While the researchers concluded that the sugary feeding regime affects iguanas physically, they do not yet know how it might impact their health. 

“In other species, this would be a pathology. We would say yes this is diabetes if it was mice or humans,” said French, who said that further research would investigate a range of potential health effects, from impacts on immunity to reproduction. 

Researchers are also looking at how losing their appetite for their normal grazing of local plants might affect the wider environment on the islands. 

The iguanas are by no means the only species affected by well-meaning tourists packing inappropriate snacks. 

In 2018 researchers found green turtles fed by tourists in the Canary Islands had markers in the blood linked to high consumption of proteins and fat.

Knapp said conservationists acknowledge the importance of tourism for the Bahamas and said tour operators had shown willingness to evolve their tactics — switching from bread to grapes — to avoid harming the iguanas. 

But there has been a recent proliferation of smaller boat operations, he said, making it harder to make sure people were acting ethically. 

“We do not want to try to mandate a complete stoppage, we’re just trying to provide the information that they can then use to help develop a plan that perhaps is more sustainable,” he added.

PARIS — An unknown, severe strain of hepatitis has been identified in nearly 170 children across 11 countries in recent weeks, with at least one child dying of the mysterious disease, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Here’s what’s known so far.

Where has it been detected?

The first five cases were flagged in Scotland on March 31 by “astute clinicians, realising they were seeing something unusual”, said Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UK Health Security Agency.

The children did not have any of the five known hepatitis viruses, A, B, C, D and E, Chand told an emergency presentation at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases on Monday.

Such cases are very rare — the Scottish doctors would normally see four to five unknown hepatitis cases in a year, she said.

The United Kingdom has since reported a total of 114 cases, the WHO said in an update on the weekend.

Spain had the next highest number of cases with 13, followed by Israel with 12 and the United States with nine, while small numbers have also been recorded in Denmark, Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy, Norway, France, Romania and Belgium.

Who has been affected?

Children aged from one month to 16 years old have had the mystery disease, but most cases have been aged under 10 — and many under five. The large majority were previously healthy.

Before the children showed signs of severe hepatitis, they had symptoms that included jaundice, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Maria Buti, a pathologist in Barcelona and chair of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, said the “main concern” is the strain’s severity.

Seventeen of the children — 10 per cent of the 169 known cases — had such severe hepatitis that they needed a liver transplant, she told AFP.

Aikaterini Mougkou, anti-microbial resistance expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said the cases were “really worrying”.

It was not clear whether even more children had mild cases because their symptoms were not traceable, she told the emergency presentation.

“As we do not know the cause, we do not know the transmission route and how to prevent and treat it,” Mougkou said.

What has been ruled out?

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver and is generally rare in healthy children.

No common exposure seems to link the patients, the experts said, and the WHO ruled out international travel as a factor.

Chand said there was no link to paracetamol, overdoses of which can cause liver failure.

Any link to COVID vaccines has also been ruled out, because most of the children were not old enough to be jabbed.

What is the 

leading theory?

Adenoviruses — common viruses that cause a range of sicknesses like colds, bronchitis and diarrhoea but mostly do not lead to severe illness — were detected in 74 of the cases, the WHO said.

Chand said adenovirus was found in 75 per cent of patients in the UK.

She said the “leading hypothesis” was a combination of a normal adenovirus along with another factor that was making it more severe.

One possibility is that young children who have spent their “formative stages” under COVID measures like lockdowns and mask-wearing over the last two years had not built up immunity to these adenoviruses.

Adenovirus rates in the UK plunged during the early stages of the pandemic but have spiked far above previous levels since measures were lifted, Chand said.

An “unexpected increase” of adenovirus cases has been recently recorded in several other countries, including Ireland and The Netherlands, the WHO said.

Other possible causes for the unknown strain could be a combination of adenovirus and COVID, or related to previous COVID infection, Chand said. 

Nineteen of the 169 recorded cases had both COVID and adenovirus, while 20 had just COVID. 

All the experts emphasised that on going investigations needed more time, but Buti said she expected results within a month.

What can you do? 

Buti said that because adenovirus is an infectious disease, COVID measures work well against it — particularly children regularly cleaning hands.

She also called on doctors to look out for signs of jaundice.

PARIS — As vaccine makers rush to stamp out new COVID-19 variants, some scientists have set their sights higher, aiming for a universal coronavirus vaccine that could tackle any future strains and possibly even stave off another pandemic.

Since the race for a first Covid jab supercharged a new generation of vaccine technology, there have been numerous efforts to develop pan-coronavirus immunisation.

Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania, who was a pioneer of the mRNA technology used in Pfizer’s Covid vaccine, is leading one such project.

He said the problem with updating current vaccines to target all existing strains — a plan announced by Pfizer earlier this month — is that “new variants are going to appear every three or six months”.

After more than two years simply trying to infect more people, he said, the virus is now starting to mutate specifically to get around the immunity gained from vaccines — much as influenza’s constant changing requires an updated shot every year.

“That makes it a little bit trickier, because now you’re fighting head-to-head with the virus,” Weissman told AFP.

So his team is working on a pan-coronavirus vaccine, which he said has tested well so far.

They are trying to find “highly conserved epitope sequences” — more integral parts of the virus that cannot mutate readily because it would die without them.

But it’s not going to be easy.

“We may have a universal vaccine in two or three years, but we’re going to have to keep working on it and changing it over time to keep ahead of the virus,” Weissman said.

Expanding ambitions

Covid was not the first coronavirus to jump from animals to humans this century: its older relative SARS killed nearly 800 people from 2002-2004, and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) followed in 2012.

When US-based biotech firm VBI Vaccines announced its pan-coronavirus project in the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, it targeted all three.

Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, VBI’s chief medical officer, explained the premise by likening each antigen of their proposed vaccine to one of the three primary colours.

The firm hopes to provide antibodies not just for these three — but also for “the various shades of orange, green, and purple found in between”.

“In other words, we are trying to teach the immune system to expand upon the variations of virus it is capable of ‘seeing’ from the start,” he told AFP.

He said VBI’s vaccine had shown promising results so far — including in bats and pangolins — with clinical studies hoped to start in the coming months ahead of results in early 2023.

The ferritin nanoparticle vaccine effort led by Barton Haynes, director of Duke University’s Human Vaccine Institute, has received funding from the US National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases.

He told AFP this vaccine, which targets SARS-like viruses but not a broader range of coronaviruses like MERS, had been shown to work well against Omicron. 

‘Leaping one step ahead’

Pamela Bjorkman of the California Institute of Technology said a true pan-coronavirus vaccine was probably not realistic because there are so many lineages — some which include common colds.

Her project uses a mosaic nanoparticle approach to target the B lineage of betacoronaviruses, which includes the original SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease Covid.

Bjorkman told AFP that even the “quest” for this specific lineage was comparable to the “many years of effort to make a universal influenza vaccine”.

Like Haynes, she said the wide availability of a vaccine depended on how quickly they could begin human trials.

Even if none of the current pan-coronavirus vaccine projects are likely to be rolled out in the next year, their eventual arrival could change the world’s relationship with Covid.

“If a pan-coronavirus vaccine is successfully able to establish a broader foundational immunity against coronaviruses, it would allow us, as a global society, to go from being one step behind, to leaping one step ahead of the pandemic,” Diaz-Mitoma said.

The broadening horizons of vaccine research could also be one way Covid has forced the world to better prepare for the threat of even worse pandemics ahead.

The US-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has earmarked $200 million (185 million euros) for pan-coronavirus research. 

But it also has a $3.5 billion (3.2 billion euro) plan it hopes will help develop a vaccine targeting “the next Disease X” within 100 days of it emerging — regardless of whether it is a coronavirus.

Comfortable, capable and convenient, large American-built pick-up trucks have become popular in Jordanian during the last 20 years. Well-equipped and durable for bad roads, they don’t come cheap and are thirsty, but are good value and benefit from more forgiving duties.

Tough lifestyle and work vehicles, large American pick-ups, however, became far more desirable and exciting with the 2010 launch of the first Ford F150 Raptor. Among the most popular “performance” vehicles in Jordan, the Raptor now enters its third generation and has been joined by the even more powerful Ram 1500 TRX and Jeep’s dedicated desert driving Gladiator Sand Runner.

Ford F150 Raptor

Undisputed champion of the near ready-to-race, Baja-style mass production off-road full-size truck segment since its first arrival, the Ford F150 Raptor was reintroduced tearing across the desert to the soundtrack of Metallica’s Enter Sandman in its third generation in a pitch perfect video debut last year. Boasting numerous new tech and connectivity features including adjustable sound levels, the latest Raptor improves on its thoroughly impressive predecessor, but retains its winning recipe and character.

Built on a rugged frame designed for punishing high performance off-road driving, the Raptor’s suspension system is central to its extensive abilities. Trading leaf springs for five-link coil spring rear suspension, the new Raptor delivers improved axle articulation, and ride and handling properties. Larger than ever at 78mm diameter, the Raptor’s Fox Live Valve internal bypass dampers meanwhile feature faster and more nuanced active adjustability to better respond to changing terrain with comfort, control and confidence.

Seamlessly absorbing punishing landings, the job of launching the 2.6-tonne Raptor from desert dunes is again entrusted to Ford’s twin-turbo 3.5-litre engine. Putting power down to all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic gearbox and electronically locking rear differential, the Raptor’s mighty 450BHP and 510lb/ft engine provides effortlessly muscular performance, including estimated 5.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration. However, a more powerful upcoming Raptor variant is expected to deploy the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500’s 760BHP supercharged 5.2-litre V8 Predator V8 engine.

Specifications

• Engine: 3.5-litre, twin turbo V6-cylinders
• Gearbox: 10-speed automatic
• Drive-line: Four-wheel-drive, low ratio gears, electronic locking rear differential
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 450 (456) [335] @5,850rpm
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 510 (691) @3,000rpm
• 0-100km/h: 5.5-seconds 
• (estimate)
• Top speed: 190km/h 
• (estimate)
• Length: 5,908mm
• Width: 2,200mm
• Height: 2,027mm
• Wheelbase: 3,693mm
• Ground clearance: 305mm
• Approach, break-over, departure angles: 31°, 
• 22.7°, 23.9° 
• Kerb weight: 2,603kg
• Suspension: Suspension: Double wishbones/5-link solid axle
• Dampers: Fox, variable compression, 79mm
• Tyres: 315/70R17

Ram 1500 TRX

A follow-up to Dodge’s Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye super saloon and Durango SRT Hellcat super SUV when introduced last year, it was inevitable that Stellantis-owned Chrysler automotive group would both bestow the Hellcat engine treatment on the Ram 1500 pick-up truck, and in one fell swoop challenge the long uncontested Ford F150 super-truck champion. Dubbed 1500 TRX, Ram’s new top tier truck may out-muscle the regular F150 for now, but nevertheless follows a similar trophy-truck inspired formula.

Built on a durable high strength, low torsion frame and riding on massive 325/65R18 tyres, the Ram 1500 TRX’s high performance off-road capabilities are largely facilitated by its it much enhanced suspension set-up. With forged aluminium components and more comfortable and a dynamic five-link, coil spring rigid axle system at the rear, the TRX also features significantly improved wheel travel, and a 66mm Bilstein Black Hawk e2 active performance damping system designed to tackle demanding high speed off-road driving at over 160km/h. 

The most powerful in its class — at least until Ford’s Raptor R fight back arrives — the TRX’s supercharged 6.2-litre V8-powered formula is brutally effective with 702BHP and 650lb/f output. Driving all four wheels through a full-time active transfer case and 8-speed automatic gearbox, the TRX blasts through 0-97km/h in just 4.5-seconds and attains 190km/h, despite a near 2.9-tonne weight. Meanwhile, an electronic locking rear differential helps maintain off-road traction.

Specifications

• Engine: 6.2-litre, supercharged V8-cylinders
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic
• Drive-line: Four-wheel-drive, low ratio gears, electronic locking rear differential
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 702 (711) [523] @6,100rpm
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 650 (882) @4,800rpm
• 0-97km/h: 4.5-seconds
• Top speed: 190km/h
• Length: 5,916mm
• Width: 2,235mm
• Height: 2,055mm
• Wheelbase: 3,685mm
• Ground clearance: 300mm
• Approach, break-over, departure angles: 30.2°, 21.9°, 23.5° 
• Kerb weight: 2,880kg
• Suspension: Double wishbones / 5-link, solid axle, coil springs
• Dampers: Bilstein active dampers, 66mm
• Tyres: 325/65R18

Jeep Gladiator Sand Runner

Designed with high speed desert driving high jinks in mind, the Jeep Gladiator Sand Runner is the brand’s first to wear a new “desert rated” badge, and is for the most part a Middle East version of the US market Gladiator Mojave model. Engineered for extreme ability rather than outright extreme performance, the Sand Runner retains the same tried and true 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 engine and 8-speed automatic gearbox as garden variety Gladiators.

Improving on the Jeep Wrangler-based Gladiator pick-up’s already impressively off-road capable formula, the Sand Runner gains a suspension lift, wider track, silver skidplate and reinforced frame, axles and steering knuckles. To cope with the hard knocks of high speed desert driving, the Sand Runner also receives 64mm variable compression Fox dampers with internal bypass, external fluid reservoir and jounce bumpers to improve comfort, handling, fade and bottoming out resistance for more demanding desert runs. 

If not quite the extreme high speed hooligan, the Gladiator’s off-road dedicated design allows a truly extreme 44.7° approach angle, while its 281BHP and 260lb/ft output provides plenty of high rev power and low-end muscle. Formidable and specially-oriented for fast desert driving, the Sand Runner features low gear ratios and a rear axle that can uniquely be locked in high gear four-wheel-drive mode, but lacks the more technical Gladiator Rubicon off-roader’s front differential lock and disconnecting extreme axle articulation anti-roll bars.

Specifications

• Engine: 3.6-litre, V6-cylinders
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic
• Drive-line: Four-wheel-drive, 
• low ratio gears, rear differential lock
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 281 (285) [209] @6,400rpm
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 260 (353) @4,400rpm
• 0-100km/h: approximately 9-seconds (estimate)
• Top speed: approximately 160km/h (estimate)
• Length: 5,539mm
• Width: 1,875mm
• Height: 1,857mm
• Wheelbase: 3,487mm
• Ground clearance: 295mm
• Approach, break-over, departure angles: 44.7°, 20.9°, 25.5° 
• Kerb weight: 2,256kg
• Suspension: Solid axles, multilink, coil springs
• Dampers: Fox, variable compression, 64mm
• Tyres: 285/70R17

YUKI, Japan — Japan’s famed cherry blossom season blankets the country in the delicate white flowers of the prized and popular “somei-yoshino” tree, delighting residents and visitors alike. But some want change.

The season produces a nationwide frenzy, as forecasters compete to declare when full bloom will arrive, and Japanese unfurl picnic blankets for sometimes raucous flower-viewing parties — at least in pre-pandemic times.

The blooms of the ubiquitous somei-yoshino strain, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the cherry trees planted in Japan, last only around a week and tend to emerge simultaneously in a given region because the trees are clones of a single specimen.

And while the tree has become synonymous with blossom season, it is a growing headache for city planners because the strain is prone to disease and tends to grow too large to be well managed in urban settings.

“It’s all about planting the right flora in the right place,” says Hideaki Tanaka, an expert on sakura — Japanese for cherry blossoms — who is trying to popularise other strains.

“There are all kinds of sakura, not just somei-yoshino. I want to help recreate the old times when people enjoyed a wide variety,” added Tanaka, 63.

He runs a farm in Yuki, in eastern Japan’s Ibaraki prefecture, with around 1,000 sample trees of 400 cherry varieties.

His goal is to convince local officials across Japan to consider alternatives with petals in all shades of pink, or even rare green.

As Tanaka sits on the grass among his trees, nail-sized petals of pale pink flutter down in the gentle breeze, while elsewhere other flowers are still coming into bloom.

It’s a scene more like the cherry blossom seasons Japanese enjoyed several centuries ago, with a range of blooms arriving at different times.

Promoting diversity

His farm is operated by the Flower Association of Japan, which gives cherry saplings to communities that want to create scenic spots to draw tourists and please residents.

The farm has distributed about 3 million saplings, including somei-yoshino, but it is now promoting the “jindai-akebono” variety which is more resistant to infection and grows smaller, making it easier to prune.

Its flowers bloom around four days earlier than somei-yoshino’s and are a stronger pink colour.

But convincing Japan to turn its back on the somei-yoshino strain may not be easy.

As urban development swept the country from the 1950s to 1980s, cities competed to plant countless millions of fast-growing somei-yoshino trees.

Decades on, many of those trees have not been properly pruned, leaving them vulnerable to an infection called “witch’s broom” that deforms twigs, discourages flowering and can kill the trees.

Somei-yoshino also grows large — as high as five-storey buildings in some cases — with sprawling branches stretching from enormous trunks that can develop hollows, and bulky roots that can crack pavements.

Older trees are at risk during the country’s typhoon season, giving city planners plenty of reasons to consider replacing them.

But residents are less convinced.

‘Green shoots of feeling’

In western Tokyo’s Kunitachi, it has taken officials three decades to remove around 80 of the approximately 210 trees that have been designated as needing to be felled or replaced.

The trees formed an elegant floral tunnel every spring and residents wanted to keep them, said Ryusuke Endo, an official at the city’s roads and traffic division.

“Some people moved here to enjoy them and bought apartments along the street,” he said, describing locals as emotionally attached to the trees.

Elsewhere, efforts in Yokohama to axe around 300 cherry trees along a busy street caused public outcry and made television news.

In Kunitachi, officials have started planting the jindai-akebono variety promoted by Tanaka’s farm, and residents are starting to embrace the new arrivals.

“I believe green shoots of feeling are emerging among residents who are starting to see that they too are very beautiful,” Endo said.

But Tanaka said even diversity evangelists like him are convinced the somei-yoshino will never be dethroned as Japan’s sakura king.

Instead, he hopes to encourage people to “learn about the profound diversity of cherry trees”.

“The somei-yoshino will always be the main draw for cherry viewing. I want to help communities create other places where people can enjoy all kinds of cherry varieties.”

PARIS — A warming world and intensive agriculture are causing insect populations to plummet by nearly half compared to areas less affected by temperature rises and industrial farming, researchers said on Wednesday.

The researchers measured both insect abundance and number of species in areas across the world and compared that to insects in more pristine habitats. 

The study published in Nature found that the double whammy of global warming and shrinking habitats has not just hit population numbers, but also provoked a 27 per cent drop in the diversity of species.

“The reductions are greatest in the tropics,” lead author Charlie Outhwaite, a macroecologist at University College London’s Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research, told AFP.

But less data from tropical regions, which are richest in biodiversity, means the global decline in insects is likely worse than the study’s headline figures suggest, she said.

The calculations may also be too conservative because areas used to benchmark change — while the most pristine on the planet — have already been degraded to some extent by human activity. 

While in line with earlier estimates of insect decline, the new findings are based on different methodologies.

Covering 18,000 species from beetles to butterflies to bees, the study drew from 750,000 data points collected from 1992 to 2012 at 6,000 locations.

“Previous studies have been carried out at the small scale on a limited number of species or species groups,” Outhwaite said. 

The consequences of insect decline are significant. 

Some three-quarters of 115 top global food crops depend on animal pollination, including cocoa, coffee, almonds and cherries.

Some insects are also crucial for pest control — especially of other bugs.

Ladybugs, praying mantis, ground beetles, wasps and spiders all play crucial roles in keeping pest insects in check, from aphids and fleas to cutworms and caterpillars. 

Insects are also crucial for decomposing waste and nutrient cycling. 

‘A catastrophic outcome’

The study is the first to look at the combined impact of rising temperatures and industrial agriculture, including the widespread use of insecticides.

“We often only consider one driver of change, such as land use, whereas in reality a lot of drivers will be impacting the same space,” Outhwaite said.

The interaction between these drivers, the study shows, is worse than if they had acted independently.

Even without climate change, converting a tropical forest into agricultural land leads to drier hotter areas due to the removal of vegetation that provides shade and retains moisture in the air and soil. 

Add a degree or two of warming, and these regions become even hotter and drier, pushing certain species of insects up to or beyond their limits.

In some regions, insects are now experiencing extended periods in which temperatures exceed the highest extremes of less than a century before.

Up to now, intensive agriculture and habitat loss have been the major driver of insect decline. 

Earlier research, for example, estimates the number of flying insects across Europe has dropped 80 per cent on average, causing bird populations to shrink by more than 400 million in three decades. 

“We know that you can’t just keep losing species without, ultimately, causing a catastrophic outcome,” said Tom Oliver, a professor of applied ecology at the University of Reading. 

“You cannot keep removing rivets from an aeroplane without it eventually falling out of the sky.”

Farming hope

The new study points to a strategy that could extend a lifeline to threatened insects.

Areas practising low-intensity agriculture — fewer chemicals, less monoculture — that were surrounded by at least 75 per cent natural habitat saw only a seven per cent decline in insect abundance. 

But if the density of surrounding natural habitat dropped below 25 per cent, insect population declined by nearly two-thirds.

“I think this finding gives us hope that we can successfully design landscapes to produce food where biodiversity can thrive,” Jane Hill, a professor of Ecology at the University of York, told the Science Media Centre.

Insects comprise about two-thirds of all terrestrial species, and have been the foundation of key ecosystems since emerging almost 400 million years ago.

Moles, hedgehogs, anteaters, lizards, amphibians, most bats, many birds and fish all feed on insects.