Antarctica’s doomsday glacier explored
After beginning their voyage last Thursday, 32 scientists on an American research ship will spend two months investigating the melting Thwaites glacier, also called the “doomsday” glacier. “Because of its importance, the United States and the United Kingdom are in the midst of a joint $50 million mission to study Thwaites, the widest glacier in the world by land and sea. Not near any of the continent’s research stations, Thwaites is on Antarctica’s western half, east of the jutting Antarctic Peninsula, which used to be the area scientists worried most about,” according to The Associated Press. Scientists have predicted that the melting of the entire glacier, roughly equivalent to the size of Florida, could cause sea levels to rise over two feet over hundreds of years.
North Korea claims hypersonic missile launch
Following Kim Jong Un’s vow to “bolster his military forces despite pandemic-related difficulties,” according to The Associated Press, the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party claimed that North Korea’s second successful test of hypersonic missiles was conducted. The Korean Central News Agency reported, “The successive successes in the test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have strategic significance in that they hasten a task for modernizing strategic armed force of the state.” According to Lee Choon Geun of the Science and Technology Policy Institute in South Korea, North Korea is believed to be testing or developing two different warheads for their hypersonic missiles. According to The Associated Press, “The North’s advancing nuclear arsenal is the core of Kim’s rule, and he’s called it ‘a powerful treasured sword’ that thwarts potential U.S. aggressions. During his 10-year rule, he’s conducted an unusually large number of weapons tests to acquire an ability to launch nuclear strikes on the American mainland. But his country’s economy has faltered severely in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sanctions and his government’s own mismanagement.”
Sudan protests military coup
As of Thursday, 61 fatalities were reported since the coup took place in late October, while hundreds have been wounded in the ensuing protests. As a result of protests, the Sudanese military regime has cut off access to mobile internet and has closed roads and bridges nationwide. According to The Associated Press, “The Sudanese Professionals Association, which has spearheaded many rallies since the Oct. 25 coup, called earlier on protesters to march to the presidential palace, the seat of the ruling military government in Khartoum.” The October military coup came over two years after a popular uprising ended the rule of Omar al-Bashir in April of 2019.
