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Geopolitics

Strange Foam Blankets Australia's Shoreline - Frothy Fun Or Toxic Risk?

ABC AUSTRALIA, THE BRISBANE TIMES, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia)

Worldcrunch

SUNSHINE COAST- While some spots in the northern hemisphere are covered in snow, the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia has been covered in something that looks a little bit like it - sea foam.

Revellers on the Sunshine Coast lap up yesterday's foam-tacularbit.ly/WtlLHp #bigwet Pic: brandonrooney.com twitter.com/newscomauHQ/st…

— news.com.au (@newscomauHQ) January 28, 2013

This phenomenon occurs every few years and is caused by the agitation of seawater (Tropical Cyclone Oswald in this case) especially when it contains higher concentrations of dissolved organic matter. As the seawater is churned by the waves, bubbles are formed and they stick to each other through the surface tension. As the foam has a low density and persistence, the onshore winds can blow it inland from the beaches, according to Wikipedia.

The Brisbane Times reports that Toxicologist, Professor Barry Noller has warned against playing in the foam for fear that it may contain pollutants, toxins and sewage. ABC Australia also writes that Professor Rodger Tomlinson is also warning against it because of "what lies beneath" the foam.

"You don't know whether there are rocks under there, broken glass... so I think there's a real concern about safety.” Among the various videos circulating on YouTube expand=1] (scroll down), there's one of two police officers almost being hit by a car that had suddenly burst out from the foam.

Drinking supplies risk running out in Brisbane, and authorities have asked people to cut back on water usage according to ABC.

These floods, which come just a week after some of the hottest temperatures on record in Australia, which have left four Queenslanders dead and two missing. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that 1,200 homes have been damaged.

As the rain continues, flood warnings are in place for 14 rivers in the neighboring state New South Wales, leaving 41,000 people cut off. This morning Sydney received 10 centimeters of water in just 24 hours.

Just found this pic on the SEQ flood update facebook page... nice work cows! #bigwet twitter.com/James_L_Bennet…

— James Bennett (@James_L_Bennett) January 29, 2013

Video via YouTube expand=1]

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Society

Big Brother For The People: India's CCTV Strategy For Cracking Down On Police Abuse

"There is nothing fashionable about installing so many cameras in and outside one’s house," says a lawyer from a Muslim community. And yet, doing this has helped members of the community prove unfair police action against them.

A woman is walking in the distance while a person holds a military-style gun close up

Survellance and tight security at the Lal Chowk area in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India on October 4, 2022

Sukanya Shantha

MUMBAI — When sleuths of the National Investigating Agency suddenly descended on human rights defender and school teacher Abdul Wahid Shaikh’s house on October 11, he knew exactly what he needed to do next.

He had been monitoring the three CCTVs that are installed on the front and the rear of his house — a chawl in Vikhroli, a densely populated area in suburban Mumbai. The cameras told him that a group of men and women — some dressed in Mumbai police’s uniform and a few in civil clothes — had converged outside his house. Some of them were armed and few others with batons were aggressively banging at the door asking him to immediately let them in.

This was not the first time that the police had landed at his place at 5 am.

When the policemen discovered the CCTV cameras outside his house, they began hitting it with their batons, destroying one of them mounted right over the door. This action was captured by the adjacent CCTV camera. Shaikh, holed up in his house with his wife and two children, kept pleading with the police to stop destroying his property and simply show them an official notice.

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