Macedonian police fire tear gas at refugees

Frustrated refugees in overflowing camp in Greece destroy barrier along border, while in France police dismantle a camp.

Police in the FYR of Macedonia have fired tear gas and stun grenades after hundreds of frustrated Iraqi and Syrian refugees tried to force their way through a razor-wire barrier across the border into the southeastern European country from Greece.

Tensions flared on Monday, with thousands of desperate refugees stuck for days on the Greek side of the border, overflowing from a packed refugee camp at Idomeni.

"The situation is very hectic; people just want a safe passage," Vicky Markolefa, of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity, told Al Jazeera from Idomeni.

"We denounce violence against innocent refugees."

MSF treated many refugees for respiratory problems after they had tear gas fired on them, she said. Women and children were among those caught up in the crowds.

Markolefa said people were forming 400-metre long lines just for food.

"We are overwhelmed. NGOs [non-governmental organisations] are doing their best to respond, but we are calling for European governments to act now."

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Idomeni, said a rumour that the border crossing with Macedonia was opening brought hundreds to the razor-wire barrier.

"There was a state of panic and hope that finally those gates towards Western Europe would open. It's an emotional roller-coaster for these refugees and migrants who are here," she said.

About 50 refugees were allowed into Macedonia on Monday.

"The refugees are saying, 'What we've seen here is going to divide opinion in Europe'," our correspondent said.

"It's a completely different atmosphere at the moment from last year and they are aware of it. People are saying, 'This is not going to help us. They will see this and we will not be welcome'."

Refugees in limbo

Nearly 8,000 refugees are in limbo at the Idomeni border camp which has a capacity of 2,000, according to Greek officials.

Many are spread out into the surrounding fields as they wait for Macedonian authorities to let them continue their trek through the Balkans.

Only a tiny trickle of people from specific countries have been allowed to cross every day.

Later in the day, Macedonia sent special police reinforcements by helicopter to its border with Greece.

More than one million refugees and migrants have passed through the camp in the previous 12 months, travelling from Turkey to Germany and other Western European countries, where they hoped to secure asylum.

Elsewhere on the continent, French authorities began dismantling on Monday part of a refugee camp known as the "jungle" near Calais, after an expulsion order issued by the local administration was upheld last week by a judge.

Workers in bright construction vests and helmets took down tarps and sheets of material that had been cobbled together to create shelters at the camp, which was home to those seeking a future in nearby Britain.

Scores of riot police stood guard, keeping journalists and volunteers out as helmeted workers tackled the shelters one by one.

Fabienne Buccio, a police prefect who had ordered the camp evacuated and dismantled earlier this month, showed up as the operation began.

Her office decried "intimidation" tactics by some activists who she said were manipulating migrants into refusing to accept government offers of shelter.

"Really three houses out of four - I mean three huts out of four, or three tents out of four - were already totally abandoned with a lot of garbage inside," she said.

Migrants, she said, "had the time necessary to gather their belongings. The rest was good enough to throw away."

Europe struggling

After first sending welcoming messages, European authorities are now struggling to handle the situation.

Hungary has fenced off its borders, refusing to accept any migrants, and other Eastern European countries say they will not take in anyone under an EU refugee-sharing deal.

In recent weeks Austria - at the north end of the Balkan corridor - has severely restricted the inflow of refugees, causing a domino effect through the Balkans.

Many of those countries are now refusing to let Afghan refugees in, although UN authorities say no one has explained to them who made this decision or why.

Diplomatic tensions are rising too, with criticism mounting against Austria. Greece has threatened to block decisions at an upcoming EU-Turkey summit unless the bloc forces members to shoulder more of the refugee burden.

For her part, German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued on Sunday another robust defence of her quest for a European solution to the crisis.

She is resisting calls at home and elsewhere in Europe for limits on refugees as such as those imposed by Austria.

"We can't do this in such a way that we simply abandon Greece," she said on ARD television.

"This is exactly what I fear: When one country defines its limit, another must suffer. That is not my Europe."

At next Monday's summit, EU leaders "will discuss how we can restore the [passport-free] Schengen system step by step with Greece," Merkel said.

However, Reinhold Mitterlehner, Austria's deputy chancellor, said on Monday the refugee restrictions "are necessary [and] we're going to maintain them".

The article talks about the difficult situation of handling refugees in the European Union. The author seems presents both sides of the situation of the refugees hardships and even the European nations struggling. Despite all this, the author seems to be more biased towards the refugees. They create a sense of emotional tone which triggers in us sympathy for these people and empathy to relate with them. They account the personal aspects of these stories by sharing stories from real facts to elaborate their point. It seems the presentation situation is very difficult to handle since both sides of the issue don't exactly know how to react. I think the best thing to do now is maybe move these Syrian refugees into other places. The European nations have already received such a great number it might be better for these people to create and live a better life somewhere else. Since there always seems to be news articles and conflicts between these refugees and other nations, l think the UN should continue forming better plans and helping these people discover better lives.

"Macedonian Police Fire Tear Gas at Refugees." - Al Jazeera English. N.p., 29 Feb. 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/macedonian-police-fire-tear-gas-refugees-160229143534348.html>.

Global sea levels rising faster due to global warming

Sea levels are rising several times faster than they have in the past 2,800 years and are accelerating because of man-made global warming, according to new studies.

An international team of scientists dug into two dozen locations across the globe to chart gently rising and falling seas over centuries and millennia. Until the 1880s and the world's industrialisation, the fastest seas rose was about 3 to 4cm a century, plus or minus a bit.

During that time global sea level really didn't get much higher or lower than 7.62cm above or below the 2,000-year average. But in the 20th century the world's seas rose 14cm.

Since 1993 the rate has soared to 30 cm and two different studies published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said by 2100 that the world's oceans will rise between 28 to 131cm, depending on how much heat-trapping gas Earth's industries and vehicles expel.

"There's no question that the 20th century is the fastest," said Rutgers earth and planetary sciences professor Bob Kopp, lead author of the study that looked back at sea levels over the past three millennia.

"It's because of the temperature increase in the 20th century which has been driven by fossil fuel use."

If seas continue to rise, as projected, another 45cm of sea level rise is going to cause lots of problems and expense, especially with surge during storms, said study co-author Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

The link to temperature is basic science, the study's authors said. Warm water expands. Cold water contracts. The scientists pointed to specific past eras when temperatures and sea rose and fell together.

If greenhouse gas pollution continues at the current pace, both studies project increases of about 57 to 131cm. If countries fulfill the treaty agreed upon last year in Paris and limit further warming to another 2 degrees Fahrenheit, sea level rise would be in the 28 to 56cm.

The news article states that pollution by humans have caused the water level in the seas to increase severely. Although the author doesn't mention it that much, we all assume global warming and pollution is getting worse since this is what increases the sea levels to rise. He explains most of it is caused by fossil fuel use which we are assumed to know what it is. The author in the article seems to be against pollution and seems to be warning us of what the outcome of increasing global warming might bring. I never thought global warming was in such a bad position where the ocean level rose to such a high number of 30 cm, so I never really took the threats of global warming seriously, but after reading the article I would agree with the author that the earth is in a seriously dangerous situation since ocean levels can even rise up to 56 cm if we continue our present activity. Looking at the statistics and the numbers the author shares I would agree the earth has changed vastly and our activity with fossil fuels have affected natural water levels and such. After reading this article I would say in order to change the results and the amount of greenhouse gas pollution the world uses so as to not experience the projected amount of ocean level to rise.  Our world should change how we act and should differ in our current position.

"Global Sea Levels Rising Faster Due to Global Warming." Al Jaeera. N.p., 23 Feb. 2016. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/global-sea-levels-rising-faster-due-global-warming-160222201945865.html>.

Beyond meat: The end of food as we know it?

We travel to Chile to meet a group of young scientists determined to develop smart plant-based food to save the planet.

With the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence a whole new concept of food may soon radically change what we eat. And at the same time, some experts believe it could reduce global warming.

No longer based on animal ingredients, this is a food entirely based on plants - although it looks and tastes like the classic food.

This is not a new idea, it has been around for about 10 years.

But the breakthrough has been delayed, perhaps one of the reasons is that many consumers still prefer locally produced food, they want to trust the supply chain, and not simply depend on big manufacturers.

However, a group of young scientists in Chile are working on alternatives for a sustainable and meatless future.

Commercial engineer Matias Muchnick and Harvard research associate Karim Pichara are two of the founders of the Not Company. Together with biochemist Isidora Silva they are developing new plant-based food and are determined to bring it to people in their local market.

Part of what motivates them is what they consider to be the biggest drawback of classic animal farming: It requires massive amounts of land and it affects global warming.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock contributes both directly and indirectly to climate change through the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

Livestock is also a major driver of deforestation, desertification, as well as the release of carbon from cultivated soils. Overall the livestock sector is contributing 2.7 billion tonnes of CO2 emission according to the UN.

"When you get behind the scenes of the food industry, you don't like what you see. There is a lot of things that we should be knowing... but we are blindsided by a whole industry that is making it really hard for us to see what we are really eating," says Matias Muchnick.

The main scientist of the Not Company team is a computer, an artificial intelligence algorithm programmed to become the smartest food scientist in the world.

It uses deep learning parameters to understand food at a molecular level, helping the team to deliver tasty and affordable nutrition while using less water, less land, less energy, and without the need to cultivate harmful bio systems like animals.

It's a complicated process but it's designed to understand human perception of taste and texture which allows it to suggest clever recipes for sustainable and tasty plant-based foods. And it even understands the availability and use of resources for every single plant in the company's database.

"We want people to eat better, but without even knowing, that's the main objective of the Not Company," Muchnick says. 

But does the new model of food production really work? Will it be popular among consumers? What does it mean for the future of food? Are we at the tipping point of a food revolution?

The team behind the Not Company talks to Al Jazeera to discuss their work, their goals and their vision for the future of the food industry.

This article talks about a group of scientists and a Not Company working together to create food so as to protect both the world and humans. As the article points out all the positive aspects of creating food, the author seems highly biased in supporting  the new food production system. They seem to be raising support and awareness for the creation of food, since it not only prevents global warming, but also has potential benefits. Despite all this, the author doesn't mention any negative aspects of creation of food, which I feel like would be the author hesitating to provide us with this information or making us believe there aren't any negative aspects in the first place. Though after reading the article, I feel like it could become a beneficial creation in the future although it seems like a uncomfortable experience right now.

"Beyond Meat: The End of Food as We Know It?" - Al Jazeera English. N.p., 06 Feb. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. <http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2016/02/meat-artificial-food-160205152233913.html>.

WHO declares Zika virus global health emergency

Zika virus explosion "extraordinary" and constitutes a global public health emergency, World Health Organization says.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the explosive spread of the Zika virus in the Americas is an "extraordinary event" that merits being declared an international emergency.

The agency convened an emergency meeting of independent experts on Monday to assess the outbreak, after noting a link between Zika's arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads.

Margaret Chan, WHO director-general said there is an "urgent need to coordinate international efforts to understand whether the Zika virus is causing birth defects."

The WHO is under pressure to act quickly in the fight against Zika, after admitting it was slow to respond to the recent Ebola outbreak that ravaged parts of West Africa and killed more than 11,300 people.

The WHO declared that the surge in South America was "strongly suspected" of being caused by the Zika virus.

The UN health body said that there was a causal relationship between the mosquito-borne Zika virus and a surge in cases of microcephaly - the devastating condition which also sees babies born with small brains.

WHO estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.

Emergency declarations are meant as an international SOS signal and usually trigger increased money and efforts to stop the outbreak, as well as prompting research into possible treatments and vaccines.

'It is going to spread'

The declaration came amid news that Panama said it has 50 cases of Zika virus infections and warned that Zika will end up spreading across the Central American nation.

"Let's be clear: it [Zika] is going to enter, it is going to spread," the head of the health ministry's epidemological department, Israel Cedeno, told the television network TVN-2.

The 50 cases confirmed so far in Panama were concentrated in the predominantly indigenous Guna Yala region along its Caribbean coast.

Vice President Isabel De Saint Malo last week had spoken of 38 cases in Guna Yala and said at the time that "there is no big public health risk."

Infections have been reported in 13 countries in the Americas, according to WHO, as well as in Asia, and in Africa, from where it originated.

Panama borders Colombia, which has so far reported more than 20,000 cases of Zika, including 2,100 in pregnant women. Colombia is forecasting it will see more than 650,000 infections.

The article talks about the Zika virus having up to 4 million cases in the Americas in the following year. I think the comparison between the Zika virus and Ebola virus might not be so true. I feel like it might be a major problem, but it might also not be that much of an issue. The author seems kind of biased in making Zika seem like a bigger problem than it actually is. Though looking at the numbers increasing and the infections I wouldn't be surprised the author writes in this manner. It does seem like the WHO and many nations are taking this issue seriously which will help alleviate the current increase in Zika. So most of the actions by other nations seem to be successful and seem to be handling the case well :)

"WHO Declares Zika Virus Global Health Emergency." - Al Jazeera English. Agencies, 01 Feb. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2016. <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/declares-zika-virus-international-health-emergency-160201183441344.html>.