As a metaphor made literal it was almost too good to be true: A day before British Prime Minister David Cameron’s much-heralded speech on his worries about the EU, an offensive stink drifted across from continental Europe, putting Britons off their breakfast.
The reality was more prosaic. The odor, variously described as cabbage, rotten eggs or diesel, came from a leak of a harmless — if undeniably smelly — gas at a chemical works in Rouen, France. After much nose-holding and occasional reports of nausea and headaches around Rouen and Paris, more than 100km away, the cloud was blown across the channel into Kent and Sussex, and then to the southeast of London.
Its arrival on British shores brought a flurry of calls to local police and the National Grid’s gas emergency line, with the latter reporting 60,000 calls by 10am on Tuesday, as against a normal daily total of 10,000. Official reassurance often came via Facebook and Twitter, with Hastings police using the #noneedtopanic hashtag.
Alarm was, inevitably, replaced on social media by a welter of flatulence jokes and jibes at neighboring towns accused of always smelling that way. Before too long the semi-official term “Le Pong” emerged, seemingly coined by a Portsmouth newspaper.
The gas was mercaptan, also known as methanethiol, a naturally occurring substance used as an additive in the chemicals industry and in animal feeds. Testament to its odor is that the substance is not only closely related to the smell in a skunk’s spray, but plays a key part in the aromas of halitosis and flatulence.
It began leaking on Monday morning from the Lubrizol plant in Rouen, a company belonging to the US business magnate Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway empire. As the cloud drifted to Paris, the fire service and Interior Ministry had to ask people to stop ringing clogged emergency phone numbers. Paris police had their own take on the smell, describing it vividly as a combination of “sweat, garlic and rotten eggs.”
Overnight the gas drifted across the Channel, bringing as much confusion as outright panic.
“I could definitely smell burning. We thought something must be on fire,” Keri Bond, manager of the Champneys spa in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, told the BBC. “We were going into every room and smelling it to see if there was a fire. It smelled like burning or as if the air conditioning system had broken down.”
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
BRICS leaders are to meet in Rio de Janeiro from today, with the bloc depleted by the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is skipping the annual summit of emerging economies for the first time in 12 years. The grouping meets as its members face imminent and costly tariff wars with the US. Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be dominated by Beijing, which grew much faster and larger than the rest. China has not said why Xi would miss the summit, a first since he became president in 2013. “I expect there
RSS