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00:00: Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis
00:05: from across the world, the latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported
00:11: by advertising. Hi, I'm Hannah and I'm very excited to be hosting What in the World
00:18: a New Daily Podcast from the BBC World Service, where we try to help you make sense of the world
00:23: around you, of the big things that are happening, the small things that are happening and everything in between.
00:29: Search for what in the world wherever you get your BBC podcasts and hit subscribe.
00:36: This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
00:41: I'm Andrew Pichon in the early hours of Sunday the 13th of August.
00:45: These are our main stories.
00:47: Disaster management officials are sending more resources to the Hawaiian island of Maui
00:51: as the search for victims of deadly wildfires continues.
00:55: A doctor has been given access to Niger's ousted president who's been held prisoner in a basement since last month's coup.
01:02: Saudi Arabia is appointing its first ambassador to the Palestinian Authority.
01:09: Also in this podcast, they speak of another time and another place.
01:15: A stunning combination of pure commercialism and a kind of ageless beauty.
01:22: An exhibition showcases the neon signs of Hong Kong that used to light up the city's
01:27: night sky, but many of which have now disappeared.
01:34: We begin in Hawaii, officials say 80 people have died in wildfires that have devastated the island of Maui.
01:41: Hawaii's Attorney General has ordered an investigation into the handling of the fire
01:45: as questions grow over whether the authorities could have done more to warn residents.
01:50: Our correspondent John Sudworth sent this report from near the town of Lahaina, which has been ruined by the blaze.
01:56: More expert help is on its way to the town of Lahaina for the difficult task of combing through the charred embers for signs of human remains.
02:05: Some homes and buildings have not yet been searched and the authorities are warning that the number of confirmed deaths is likely to rise further still.
02:13: Captain Vince Carter is a local helicopter pilot and has seen the devastation from the air.
02:18: Yeah, there was a pit in your stomach knowing that this is just the tip of the
02:23: spirit, you know, losing, losing buildings, losing property, asking by the
02:27: Marina, that you could see there was still boats on fire, wooden slips that the
02:31: dots were gone. So we're talking things that were floating on water, that it
02:35: was so hot that those lit on fire. While the forensic work continues, there's
02:39: another major challenge, housing and feeding the thousands made homeless by the
02:44: wildfire. Access into the town, which was almost completely destroyed earlier this week,
02:49: is restricted to residents only, and there have been long tail backs for those trying to
02:53: return by car to retrieve what few belongings they can. Even while firefighters continue
03:00: to tackle flare-ups. Many are still searching for news of missing family members, an effort
03:05: complicated by the still disrupted phone and power networks. While the mood remains calm here,
03:11: there are hints of anger too, with questions about whether the authorities could have provided
03:15: more warning of the impending disaster. A review of official decision-making has been announced by
03:21: Hawaii's Attorney General. The American Red Cross has set up emergency shelters on Maui.
03:27: My colleague Lucy Gray spoke to its national spokesman Todd James and asked about the
03:31: challenges they're facing. The main focus of our work continues to be sheltering,
03:37: working with our partners, the local and state government and our nonprofit partners in the area,
03:42: because we've got to make sure that all of these families who have been displaced have a safe
03:46: place to stay, have access to food, to medical care, and to crisis counseling, and of course, you
03:52: know, knowing that they've got a safe place to go until they figure out what their next steps are.
03:57: We've had thousands of people coming through the shelters, we've had over 2,900 overnight stays so
04:03: far and a lot of folks who are coming into the shelter during the day, they can charge their phones,
04:08: they can get a meal, they can talk to some of the other partners we have in the shelters with us
04:13: to get information and if they need to stay then they know they're more than welcome to stay with us.
04:18: So that is our big focus right now. Once it's safe and we get the word from officials that we can
04:24: begin going out, we'll assist with the damage assessment of the area and then we'll start
04:28: distributing some of the emergency supplies that families will need when they start the a cleaning process.
04:33: And is it the case that some people haven't been reached yet?
04:36: I mean, we're hearing that hundreds of thought to be uncontactable, that unaccounted thought.
04:42: Does that mean that they haven't been reached?
04:44: You know, I haven't gotten any direct information.
04:47: I wouldn't be surprised if there are some difficulties getting old of some folks.
04:52: There's a lot of confusion.
04:53: The infrastructure is down.
04:55: The communications, electricity, water, all of that, you know, is not functioning or barely
05:01: working in some areas affected by the fire. So that makes it very tough. So I'm sure the
05:06: officials are doing all they can. It's still a search of rescue operation. So that's why they're
05:11: restricting access, I believe, but whoever needs shelter, if there are still folks out there
05:16: and they make their way to our shelter, they're going to find a welcome arm from a Red Cross volunteer
05:21: who will get them settled, get them a meal and make sure they have access to everything they need right now.
05:26: Todd James of the American Red Cross.
05:29: The family doctor of the ousted president of Niger, Muhammad Buzum, has said he's in
05:34: good spirits, after visiting the deposed leader.
05:37: Mr Buzum and his family have been held captive in the basement of the presidential palace
05:41: since he was removed from office by the military last month.
05:45: The doctor who brought them food and medicines said their living conditions were difficult.
05:49: Here's Richard Hamilton.
05:51: The doctors visit reportedly came as a huge relief to the president, his wife, and their
05:57: 20-year-old son, who has a serious medical condition.
06:01: Earlier the UN Human Rights Chief Falkerturk said the conditions of their detention were
06:07: inhumane, degrading, and in violation of international human rights law.
06:12: But despite the widespread condemnation, the military junta continues to hold Mr. Bazoom,
06:19: presumably as a hostage to make West African leaders think twice about military intervention.
06:26: Armenia has called for the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting on the deteriorating
06:31: humanitarian situation in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia has accused
06:37: neighbouring Azerbaijan of preventing supplies being delivered to the region. The enclave,
06:42: which is landlocked within Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians, is only
06:47: connected to Armenia by a single short mountain road. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two
06:54: wars over the territory since the 1980s. The last in 2022 saw Azerbaijan make substantial
07:01: territorial gains. Rebecca Kespy has been talking to Mohamed Magharyan, Armenia's ambassador
07:06: to the UN, and asked him about the appeal to the Security Council.
07:11: We have been warning the international community that the alarming situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
07:16: is close to turning into humanitarian catastrophe for some month now.
07:21: And the closure of this vital lifeline by Azerbaijan has been instigating conditions of a man-made humanitarian catastrophe.
07:29: Today is exactly eight months that thousands of besieged families in Nagorno-Karabakh
07:34: have been suffering from critical shortages of essential goods, including food, fuel, and medical supplies.
07:41: And we think that it is up to the Security Council to uphold its responsibility for the
07:47: maintenance of international peace and security, and to take appropriate measures to prevent
07:53: mass atrocities, including ethnic cleansing and the crime of genocide from happening in
07:58: Nagorno-Karabakh.
08:00: What can you tell us about the situation with Azerbaijan?
08:04: I mean, have you asked them to reopen that road?
08:07: Presumably, you have.
08:09: Not only that we have asked them, the international court of justice issued provisional measure
08:14: in February, and then won again, three or four in July, according to which Azerbaijan
08:20: shall take all measures to ensure an impeded movement of persons vehicles and cargo along
08:25: the large encoded door, which Azerbaijan is not implementing to this day.
08:30: The Secretary General of the United Nations made three statements.
08:35: in December, the other one in February, and the most recent one on the 3rd of August,
08:40: calling for the unconditional implementation of international court of justice is ruling
08:46: and reaffirming the binding nature of that. Many international organizations called upon
08:51: Azerbaijan to implement the court order, and we have appealed also to the Security Council
08:58: A month ago, asking the Security Council specifically to undertake urgent and effective measures
09:05: in response to Azerbaijan's violation of international humanitarian law and to ensure
09:11: the implementation of legally binding orders of international court of justice.
09:16: Nothing happened so far.
09:18: The BBC did approach the government of Azerbaijan for comments, but they didn't respond to us.
09:23: French and British Coast Guards have rescued 58 people from a boat full of migrants that got
09:28: into difficulty in the English channel on Saturday. Six people are known to have died.
09:33: Those rescued include children, most of them from Afghanistan and Sudan.
09:37: Frank Dersin is vice president of the Oat de France region on the French coast.
09:41: He told us how difficult it is to police migrants who are determined to make the crossing.
09:46: Nothing can stop the will of migrants to pass. We can only slow it down.
09:54: When they are on the boat, it's impossible to stop.
09:57: We have to stop the people before they go inside the boat.
10:02: The coast guard has taken many of the survivors to Cali.
10:05: Rebecca Kessby spoke to our correspondent, Bethany Bell, who's in the French port,
10:09: and asked her what the authorities think happened.
10:12: They're still trying to find that out.
10:14: Many of the people who are well enough to speak to the authorities
10:19: are being questioned at the moment to try and establish how
10:23: they were out on this overcrowded boat in very windy conditions when of course it capsized
10:30: and investigation has been launched at the moment to try and see how this tragedy took place.
10:36: I mean hundreds of migrants do try to make this journey every day but it's incredibly dangerous
10:42: isn't it? I mean this is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and the water even in in the summer is very cold.
10:49: Extremely cold and as you say an extremely busy area, 600 tankers, 200 fairies around
10:57: about passing every day and you know difficult currents last night the winds were strong
11:04: and France's Secretary of State for the Sea responsible for safety at sea was saying
11:09: that the trafficers didn't seem to care about sending people out in a small dinghy in such
11:16: conditions and it was very distressing scenes that we've seen.
11:21: And briefly we heard there a French voice from the authorities. This is a political issue
11:27: on both sides of the channel but in the UK the rules have changed recently which is leading to quite a lot of controversy.
11:36: Well the A groups that we've been speaking to here in in Calais say that they do warn
11:43: migrants about the problems, the risks of trying to make this crossing and what awaits them on the other side.
11:50: But many of them, as we heard just there, say they can't stop them if people are determined to try and get over.
11:57: It's very, very difficult to stop it. And one of the interesting things that we've been told is that
12:03: it does seem that more migrants have been coming to this region in recent weeks.
12:09: They're living rough along the shores, hopes possibly that now that the summer weather
12:14: has come, it might be easier to make the crossing, but certainly an uptick in numbers.
12:20: Our correspondent, Bethany Bell, in Calais.
12:23: The authorities in the Czech Republic have appealed for calm after a teenage girl was
12:27: raped and left for dead, allegedly by an 18-year-old Ukrainian man.
12:32: Here's Rob Cameron.
12:34: These days, shocking rape and attempted murder in the city of Pusen has been condemned
12:39: by both Czech and Ukrainian politicians, including Ukraine's deputy foreign minister who was until recently Ambassador to Prague.
12:48: The girl aged around 15 reportedly knew her alleged attacker and agreed to go for an evening walk with him.
12:56: Police say she was then tied up, blindfolded, raped, stabbed, placed in a sack and pushed down a slope.
13:03: played dead before managing to free herself.
13:07: For decades there were a visual symbol of Hong Kong, the neon signs that lit up the city's
13:12: night sky. In recent years many of them have disappeared thanks in part to safety concerns
13:17: and worries about the environment. Now a new exhibition is showcasing them in all their glory. Tim Orman reports.
13:31: They speak of another time and another place, a stunning combination of pure commercialism and a kind of ageless beauty.
13:42: The signs represented all that was unique and magical about Hong Kong, literally illuminating, inspiring and iconic.
13:53: They are an increasingly rare species these days, but there are still people like Cardin
13:58: and Chan, you want to restore them and show them off.
14:02: It's not only about appreciation of the beauty of the signs up close,
14:07: it's also about to appreciate, to understand the scale
14:12: and also the works that goes into each of these signs.
14:16: This exhibition shines a light on Hong Kong's cultural history,
14:21: an opportunity for some to see the world they never knew,
14:24: and for some to relive their past.
14:27: I think it's a good way to go.
14:30: It's really worth recommending to others, this visitor.
14:33: It's conserving the history of Hong Kong.
14:36: We saw these signs when we were young,
14:38: but as time goes by, many of them disappear.
14:45: Not so far away, another neon sign is taken down.
14:49: Advertising a cowl-oon restaurant,
14:51: it's been in place for nearly 60 years.
14:54: The owners say they've asked for permission
14:55: to erect a new smaller sign, but a chap that is closing for Hong Kong in so many ways, the lights are going out.
15:06: Tim Almond reporting.
15:09: Still to come we meet the scientist who wanted to save a bit of his favourite glacier in Switzerland.
15:14: And I thought, now it's a time to go up there one last time and save a bit of this ice.
15:27: World Football, where the women's World Cup is the podcast, telling the global story of the tournament.
15:32: That's so proud of our team, hope our guests.
15:35: We're speaking to the fans who have traveled down under as they share all the excitement of this incredible competition.
15:42: I think we're still in the running, they go all the way.
15:45: I'm really very proud of Vietnam News.
15:46: This is probably the biggest moment in their careers and Australians right behind them.
15:49: World football at the Women's World Cup, from the BBC World Service.
15:54: Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
15:58: Saudi Arabia has named its first non-resident ambassador for the Palestinian territories.
16:03: The move follows growing speculation
16:05: that Saudi Arabia and Israel could soon reach an agreement to normalize relations.
16:10: Here's our Middle East Regional Editor, Mike Thompson.
16:13: Saudi Arabia has long maintained that the normalization of relations with Israel, which
16:18: it currently does not recognise, is dependent on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
16:24: So, talk that the country could soon normalise relations without this will have alarmed many
16:30: Palestinians.
16:31: It appears that creating this new and bastardorial position, which also includes the role of
16:37: of consul general to Jerusalem is designed to show that Riyadh wouldn't abandon its support
16:43: for the Palestinian cause. The new job is to be filled by the Kingdoms ambassador to
16:48: Jordan, now your of Al-Sidari.
16:51: According to the Conservation Organization, WWF, or the Worldwide Fund for Nature, there
16:57: are around 415,000 African elephants left in the world and a maximum of 50,000 Asian
17:03: elephants. Some estimates suggest the populations have halved in 50 years because of ivory poaching
17:10: in Africa and habitat loss in Asia. A decade ago animal campaigners set up World Elephant
17:16: Day on the 12th of August to highlight the plight of elephants around the world. This year,
17:20: they're focusing on Asian elephants in particular, as our environment correspondent Navings
17:25: Singh Kanka has been telling me.
17:27: Unlike with African elephants, the issue with these elephants is that they are now deprived
17:33: of their habitat because forests are shrinking.
17:37: And then that is why they come in contact with humans and there is conflict, retaliatory killing as it is known.
17:44: And also, not to forget, the infrastructure building across all these countries, roads,
17:49: railways, bridges, canals obstruct their migratory paths.
17:54: And finally, the tourism industry or even mining elephants are used in all those activities.
18:01: why these animals, they are still so endangered.
18:05: So lots of ways in which mankind is getting in the way of the elephants.
18:09: What about what governments are doing to try and stop this decline?
18:13: We don't see very much good stories.
18:15: One example often quoted in Myanmar, they identified 170,000 square kilometers for elephants,
18:22: but then what they also found later on by an independent investigation was only 7% of
18:26: that 170,000 square kilometers of ophebidad was protected.
18:31: How does this play out in India and Nepal, past the world that you know so well?
18:36: We all know about Assam tea, for example.
18:38: So I went to this Assam tea states.
18:40: We found these tea states were actually spreading right on where the traditional elephant's migratory roots are.
18:48: So now what they find is, instead of their forests or waterholes, they find tea.
18:54: And tea is something elephants don't eat.
18:56: They're very angry about it.
18:58: And that's why what happens is, if elephants gets into villages,
19:01: kill people and then people in turn kill elephants, that story is being played out, not just in Putan or India, but also in Nepal and elsewhere.
19:09: And then if you look at India's social media, we'll see trains knocking off elephants, even calves being killed on tracks.
19:17: We need to identify where are those traditional
19:21: migratory roots and then think about the solutions
19:25: that you could dovetail with your development plans.
19:28: Otherwise, what happens is,
19:29: Elvents will keep on getting angry,
19:31: seeing those tea states or palm oil forests
19:34: or rubber plantations instead of their natural forests.
19:38: Our environment correspondent, Navingsin Kadke.
19:41: Now to football, and we know the four teams
19:42: still in contention to win the Women's World Cup.
19:45: The co-hosts of Australia
19:47: survived a tense penalty shootout to defeat France.
19:50: England came from behind to beat Colombia.
19:53: Our correspondent in Sydney Shima Halil watched the day's action.
19:57: I think I've aged 10 years and almost lost my voice in those two matches.
20:01: The good news is this has been one of the most entertaining, exciting, nerve-wracking days of the whole tournament.
20:08: First off, let's start with Australia versus France.
20:11: It was neck and neck until the very last minute and that penalty shootout.
20:15: There was just collective gasps and intakes of breath with every hit and miss.
20:20: And then onto the England Columbia game.
20:23: And we all knew that this wasn't going to be an easy game.
20:26: Colombia, this underdog of a team, have delivered some of the most dramatic and memorable moments.
20:33: But I must say Kudos to England's defense, Kudos to that team that just kept running and running.
20:39: And of course, these two goals from Lauren Hemp to equalize with Colombia.
20:42: And then the winning goal from Alicear Russo, I think they delivered the win that so many
20:48: fans have wanted and I will tell you right now I'm calling it.
20:52: Align us versus the Matilda's game is going to break so many records in terms of
20:56: viewership. I understand that 4,000 England fans have traveled for the World Cup.
21:00: Some of them wanted tickets and they couldn't have them so the next best
21:03: thing is that they came to the fan zone and I think what's really interesting is
21:08: the confidence that they have in the team that even though they were quite
21:12: nervous about how they performed against Nigeria every time I ask
21:17: about how they felt about the line as they just said, were confident.
21:21: The rival release is going to be there.
21:22: But I will say this, I think the atmosphere is going to be electric.
21:27: I think on the pitch, they both have a point to prove.
21:31: Both teams know that there are a couple of steps away from making history for their country and their squads.
21:35: So it is going to be a very strong game.
21:38: I think it's going to get really, really physical.
21:40: But I think off the pitch it's going to be very, very enjoyable.
21:44: And I think maybe I'll age another 10 years watching that game. watching that game. I correspond on Shima Halil. Let's hear from some fans now. Here's the reaction of some Australia supporters watching in Sydney. Oh my God,
21:54: I'm tied in my life. My jersey software. My jersey. Oh my God.
21:59: And here's England fan Jessica
22:01: who watched the game in her hometown of donkester. It's amazing. I'm so
22:05: happy with the way that they played and they've been pushing through.
22:07: And that's all they can do is hold
22:08: their own and push to the next round. And that's the most important thing that it's amazing also for
22:13: young players to look up to these
22:15: players and know that it's possible to make it there and that the women's game is just
22:19: growing every year, so it was awesome.
22:21: The first of the two semi-finals on Tuesday between Sweden and Spain.
22:26: At State with Football, he's the captain of the English team, the country's record goal
22:30: scorer, but Harry Kane's first night playing in the German Bundesliga certainly hasn't gone to plan.
22:36: Brought on as a replacement striker on Saturday, the day he signed for Bayern Munich, they
22:41: then lost the German Super Cup final to RB Leipzig.
22:45: I've been talking to Joe Inwood who spent the day outside the stadium in Munich, so not
22:49: the dream start that Harry Kane might have wanted.
22:52: No, but I think it probably would have been too good to be true how he'd come on and brought
22:57: by and down back from 2-0 down to Arby Leipzig.
23:01: He barely, the truth is, he didn't get much of a touch of the ball.
23:04: He came on in about the sixth-deus minute or so.
23:07: He ran around gamely, but I think it was beyond even a man of his prodigious talents.
23:11: I mean, it's worth pointing out.
23:13: Harry Kane wouldn't have even had a chance to train properly with his new teammates.
23:18: In the end, they lost three now.
23:19: So Harry Kane's 19 year wait for silverware continues, at least for this day,
23:25: probably until the end of the season.
23:27: Harry Kane's been at Tottenham Hotspur,
23:29: the English Premier League club for 20 years.
23:32: Here, as I said, the England captain, record goal scorer.
23:35: Why does he want to go and play in Germany?
23:37: A number of reasons.
23:37: I mean, firstly, it's a lovely country
23:39: to be in to live in its beautiful city that he has here in Munich.
23:43: But I think in terms of the football, he got some great clubs.
23:46: Buying is a fantastic side.
23:48: Obviously a great international reputation, highest quality football, but also very well run.
23:53: It's one of the things that's commonly said about German clubs is they don't overspend.
23:58: He is indeed the most expensive player any German clubs ever bought.
24:01: And I think they know it's going to be a well run team.
24:03: But more than that, the reason Harry Kane wanted to come here is to win trophies.
24:08: And it's worth, you know, this cup, the super cup that they didn't win today.
24:11: They've won for six of the seven previous seasons.
24:14: They've won more than 10 Bundesliga's in a row.
24:17: So I think it probably would be assumed that he will win trophies if he comes here,
24:21: even if he didn't do it today.
24:22: Joe Inwood in Munich.
24:24: Campaigners in Britain have raised concerns that betting firms are targeting
24:28: adverts at players of the online game Fantasy Premier League or FPL, which is popular with children.
24:34: Millions of people around the world play FPL,
24:37: what you have to do is pick a team of footballers and then you earn points based on their real
24:41: life performance. Anyone over 13 can play as a result. It's a target for the global gambling
24:48: industry recruiting their next generation of customers. Rob Wayne is an FPL content creator.
24:54: I cannot think of many major fantasy Premier League websites that do not advertise gambling.
25:01: or have some form of affiliation with a gambling company or a subsidiary of a gambling company.
25:07: And those major websites have signed pretty much every major content creator of fantasy football and fantasy Premier League.
25:15: Tom Grundey, tell me more about the game. It's huge, I think last year,
25:20: 11 million people signed up in total and just under half of those are in the UK.
25:24: So that's an awful lot of people around the world. But there's also this huge subculture community
25:30: that's grown up around it as well, made up of independent websites, not affiliated to the
25:35: Premier League, content creators, with thousands of followers, or all making a living based on
25:41: sharing tools and tips to do with FPL. And that seems to be where these betting companies are
25:47: trying to find a way in. We know how big the English Premier League is with our listeners all
25:51: over the world on the World Service, particularly with the biggest clubs. Gambling is clearly part of
25:56: football, it's just suddenly becoming part of this app.
26:00: Yeah, basically we've got these independent sites and people are telling me that the
26:06: betting community have probably seen similarities between the game, fantasy, premier league, it's
26:11: played by predominantly young men, young men who are clearly interested in sport and that
26:17: ticks a lot of the box same boxes as people who do traditional sports betting as well.
26:23: And certainly some of the charities we've been speaking to, one of which, led on the
26:26: campaign to get betting ads off Premier League football shirts, they think that the betting
26:32: industry C, FPL is fertile ground basically for the next generation of customers and potentially addicts.
26:39: And there are different rules governing gambling, especially gambling with any sense of targeting
26:44: people under 18 in different countries, but when something's been played internationally, you can get round all that.
26:50: Yeah, and that's the thing with perhaps a content creator sending a tweet, for example,
26:55: that's promoted by a betting company. Certain people in certain jurisdictions around the world are going to be seeing that where potentially gambling is illegal.
27:04: And actually, fantasy sports has a really interesting relationship with gambling regulation around the world.
27:10: One of the big companies that we've seen sponsoring stuff around FPL is DraftKings.
27:15: And they're one of the biggest gambling companies in the US.
27:19: The reason that they became so big
27:21: is because there was such tight gambling regulation
27:24: in certain states in the US that actually paid fancy sports
27:28: with prizes and in a sort of fancy format.
27:31: We're seen as a way of getting round
27:33: and getting across these tight gambling rules.
27:35: And even though they've been lessened in states now,
27:38: companies like Draftkings and Fan, Joule are still huge and have a huge market share.
27:44: Grondi reporting. Switzerland is known for its snowy peaks and sky-scraping alpine glaciers.
27:51: But just like glaciers all over the world, warmer global temperatures are seeing them start to melt away.
27:56: One glacial scientist, Matthias Huss, decided to save the last bit of his favourite glacier
28:02: and it's in his own freezer. Matthias is a senior researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of
28:08: Technology in Zurich and has been talking to Rebecca Kesby.
28:12: This pital glacier is a very small glacier in Switzerland. It has been studied since more than
28:18: 100 years and since 18 years at the beginning of my PhD, I went up there to look at it in more detail
28:25: doing measurements on this glacier at least twice a year and it has strongly declined in
28:31: area and thickness and it has now almost completely disappeared.
28:37: How did you know that it was going to disappear?
28:39: Well, it became thinner and thinner and then about four years ago it started to fall apart.
28:45: So different pieces of it split off and more and more rocks started to protrude out of the ice.
28:52: So it all went very, very fast in the last few years. So in 2022 after this extreme melting
28:59: event of that summer, I need to stop the measurements. And now there was just this little tiny piece
29:05: of eyes left that I knew it was still old glacier eyes but just basically a few square meters
29:11: and I thought well now it's a time to go up there one last time and save a bit of this ice.
29:17: I put it in my own freezer for the moment I will probably put it at ETH later to the university
29:23: but it's not for scientific reasons so it's not for scientific analysis but it's really just
29:27: for emotional reasons it's to save this little part of my baby glacier that I'm very attached
29:35: on to because obviously climate change will put a complete end to this ice this year probably maybe
29:42: maybe next year but then it's over. I mean you say it's not for scientific research but we do
29:46: know that glacial ice does contain history doesn't it in its own way which may be useful
29:53: scientifically? Yes exactly so one can analyze glacier ice in very much detail but this is not
29:59: feasible for these glaciers at low, relatively low elevation that are so small. So if you go to
30:06: Antarctica, to Greenland, or at the very high elevation of the Alps, then you can actually analyze
30:12: the history of the Earth's climate out of the glacier ice. But as I said, this is for the bigger
30:17: ice masses and it's much more demanding than what I did here. The Glacier scientists Matthias us in Switzerland.