The second-largest cryptocurrency’s blockchain is preparing to transition to a ‘proof-of-stake’ protocol, which is expected to make the network more efficient, sustainable and scalable.

As many outside the blockchain world know, the recent crypto market crash has seen top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) tumble from their all-time highs. 

At the same time, a lesser known, albeit tectonic shift in the cryptoverse known as ‘the Merge’ is set to take place in the coming months.

The Merge is set to transition the second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum to its next phase (formerly known as Ethereum 2.0) as the network’s entire blockchain moves to a new system which proponents say will make it more efficient, sustainable and scalable.

It will be a complex multi-step process, as no blockchain of this scale has ever overhauled its consensus protocol, until now.

Here is how it will happen and why it's a big deal.

Why is Ethereum’s upgrade significant?

Essentially, Ethereum is changing the method it uses to process transactions.

Like Bitcoin, it uses a consensus mechanism called proof-of-work (PoW), which requires users to solve complex mathematical problems to validate transactions and secure the network.

Although this method is effective, it isn’t very efficient. People who solve these problems, known as miners, must invest massive amounts of energy and equipment to have a chance at mining the transaction blocks and earning rewards.

Why is this bad? Well, if only a few people can use Ethereum, it defeats the purpose of its existence – decentralisation.

Companies with huge computing power can take control of over half of the validator nodes, leading to much higher security threats to Ethereum. By definition, a decentralised blockchain can’t afford to have central points of failure. The Ethereum founders realised this and included a transition to another consensus mechanism called proof-of-stake (PoS).

PoS replaces the process of block mining that PoW employs by using validation to maintain the network. 

Here is how it works: Users commit their ETH by setting it aside, or ‘staking it’, to win the right to create a block. Based on their stake, one of the users is chosen to be the validator. Once a participant has validated a block of transactions, other contributors can attest (or confirm) that the block is valid. When enough attestations are made, the network adds a new block, and rewards are distributed in the blockchain’s native currency, ETH, in proportion to each validator’s stake.

However, if a user attests a malicious block, they risk losing their entire stake through a process known as ‘slashing’.

Despite the technical expertise required to become a validator, anyone can join if they meet the minimum requirement of having 32 ETH. Those who can’t meet the threshold can still contribute by staking their ETH in a pool to receive a portion of the rewards.

Overall, PoS eliminates the need for expensive equipment and cheap electricity, making it easier for the average user to participate.

Furthermore, the environmental toll that the PoW governance system uses often ends up being one of the main criticisms of cryptocurrencies. Comparatively, the move to PoS is predicted to reduce the energy consumption of the Ethereum network by 99.95 percent.

What are the phases of the upgrade?

The Merge is only one part of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. The entire plan consists of three main phases.

First is the launch of the Beacon Chain. This is a PoS blockchain that the Ethereum network will switch to when it transitions out of PoW. The Beacon Chain went live in December 2020 and runs parallel to the main Ethereum chain called Mainnet.

The second phase is the Merge, where the Mainnet and the Beacon Chain will combine and the Ethereum network will begin operating as PoS. Testing for the Merge has already begun.

The final phase of the upgrade is called ‘sharding’, which is expected to eliminate data congestion, high gas (transaction) fees, and support the next generation of layer 2 scaling systems.

Expected to be introduced sometime in 2023, sharding will see the main Ethereum blockchain broken up into several smaller chains for different parts of the data set. When that happens, Ethereum will be able to handle thousands of transactions per second – compared to the 7-15 transactions per second it can handle now.

This will solve the network’s scalability problem, putting it on par with centralised payment processors like Visa. It will also lower the entry barrier, as validators will only store or run data for a subset of the entire blockchain. This will make it possible to run the Ethereum node from a laptop or a phone, making it even more decentralised and secure.

When is the Merge expected to happen?

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin earlier this year said the Merge will take place in August, when the Beacon Chain is expected to mark its official transition from PoW to PoS.

Given the upgrade’s history of delays, however, Buterin’s timeline is likely to be tentative.

Earlier this June, Sepolia testnet Beacon Chain went live, setting the stage for its Merge dress rehearsal to give Ethereum network developers valuable technical insights. Sepolia was eventually merged with the network on July 7.

The final trial of the Merge is set to occur on the Goerli network, which is scheduled for the second week of August. After its merger, the official Merge would then be slated for September.

ETH has gained nearly 30 percent over the past week following developers floating September 19 as a potential date for the highly anticipated Merge.

At least 22 people have been killed and 33 injured in southern Egypt when the bus they were travelling in smashed into a parked truck.

The bus carrying around 45 passengers crashed into the stationary truck early on Tuesday near the village of al Barsha, some 300 kilometres south of the capital Cairo in Minya governorate.

"The truck was parked on the side of the road to change a tyre when it was hit from behind by the bus travelling from Sohag governorate to Cairo," a statement from the governorate said.

Ambulances rushed to the scene to transfer the injured to hospitals in Minya. 

Footage from the scene posted by local authorities showed a bus with heavy damage in the front half apparently from the crash with the back of the truck.

Poor transportation safety

Traffic accidents kill thousands every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. 

Crashes are mostly caused by speeding, careless driving, bad roads or poor enforcement of traffic laws.

In January, at least 16 people were killed and 18 others injured when a microbus collided with a public transportation bus in the Sinai Peninsula. 

In April last year, a bus overturned while trying to pass a truck on a highway in the southern province of Assiut, leaving at least 21 people dead and three others injured.

Some 7,000 people died in road accidents in the country in 2020, according to official figures.

Portugal has reported more than 1,000 deaths due to the current heatwave, with the health chief warning that the country must gear up to cope with the effects of the climate crisis as temperatures continue to rise.

"Portugal ... is among one of the areas of the globe that could be (more) affected by extreme heat," Graca Freitas, head of health authority (DGS), told the Reuters news agency. 

"We have to be more and more prepared for periods of high temperatures."

Temperatures across drought-stricken Portugal surpassed 40 degrees Celsius last week. Although they have dropped in the last few days, Freitas said they remained above normal levels for this time of the year.

DGS previously reported 238 excess deaths due to the heatwave from July 7 to 13, but Freitas said the number of fatalities has now increased to 1,063 for the period up to July 18.

'Increase in mortality'

High temperatures, the ongoing drought and poor forest management have been blamed for several wildfires sweeping across Portugal. Firefighters also are combating blazes in other southern European nations, including in Spain.

Carlos Antunes, a researcher at Lisbon University's faculty of sciences, said in an interview that the data showed those most likely to die due to heatwaves were elderly people.

He said the number of deaths in the future will depend, among other things, on the preventive measures people adopt to protect themselves, how care homes tend to their residents and the adaptation of infrastructures.

"With climate change, it is expected that this increase in mortality will intensify, and therefore we have to take measures at the public health level to minimise the impact," Antunes said./Reuters

The United Kingdom has recorded its highest ever temperature as a fierce heatwave leaves much of western Europe sweltering, fuelling ferocious wildfires and stretching emergency services.

After UK's warmest night on record, the country's Met Office registered a provisional reading of 40.2 degrees Celsius (104.4 degrees Fahrenheit) at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, breaching the 40C mark for the first time.

"Temperatures are likely to rise further through today," the Met Office meteorological agency added. Before Tuesday, the highest temperature recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), a record set in 2019.

The high temperatures have triggered an unprecedented red alert for extreme heat in much of England and Wales, where some rail lines were closed as a precaution and schools shuttered in some areas.

Experts blame climate change for the latest heatwave and note the more frequent extreme weather will only worsen in years to come.

World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas expressed hope that the heat would serve as a “wake-up call” for governments and voters to do more on climate change.

The WMO warned that temperatures may remain above normal into the middle of next week, adding that such events could occur with greater frequency in the future.

Wildfires and scorching temperatures across Europe

The heatwave, the second to engulf parts of Europe in recent weeks, has contributed to deadly wildfires in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, destroying vast tracts of land.

Record high temperatures were registered in 64 different areas around France on Monday as a heatwave peaked in the country, the national weather service confirmed on Tuesday.

Most of the highs were recorded along the western Atlantic coast where temperatures have soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and several forest fires are raging.

The all-time high temperature in mainland France dates to 2019 when the southern village of Verargues, north-east of Montpellier, clocked 46C.

Elsewhere, temperatures could locally exceed 40C in Belgium near the French border, prompting the Royal Meteorological Institute to issue its highest alert level.

In Germany, temperatures were expected to reach up to 40C in the west.

The hot, dry summer so far has raised fears of drought, with the German Farmers' Association president warning of "major losses" in food production./agencies

Australian authorities have urged businesses to let staff work from home and recommended people wear masks indoors and get booster shots urgently amid a major outbreak and after people admitted to hospitals from Covid-19 neared record levels.

"We need to do some things differently at least for a short period of time," Australia's Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told ABC Radio on Wednesday, as he predicted the number of people ending up in hospitals will soon hit an all-time high.

"We know that working from home is a very key component of stopping what we call macro spreading."

Australia is in the grip of a third Omicron wave driven by the highly transmissible new subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, with more than 300,000 cases recorded over the past seven days, even as authorities flagged the actual numbers could be double.

Tuesday's 50,000 cases were the highest in two months.

Thousands in hospitals

About 5,300 Australians are currently in hospital with Covid-19, not far off the record 5,390 recorded in January during the BA.1 outbreak, official data showed. 

Numbers in the states of Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia are already at their highest since the pandemic began.

But Kelly said he had not recommended the reintroduction of mask mandates or any other restrictions.

Last week, Australia reinstated support payments for casual workers who have to quarantine due to Covid-19 after more workers began calling in sick. Several frontline health workers are also sick or in isolation, further straining the health system.

Authorities have also warned of a lag in people taking their booster shots worsening the health crisis.

So far, 95 percent of people above 16 have had two doses, helping keep Australia's total Covid-19 cases just under 9 million and deaths at 10,845, far lower than many countries. But only about 71 percent have received three or more doses./ Reuters

President Joe Biden is reportedly mulling over whether to declare a climate emergency.

The Washington Post first reported that such a move could come as early as this week, with Biden scheduled to travel to Somerset, Massachusetts, on Wednesday to deliver remarks on climate change. Later in the day, though, the timeline was extended and a decision now is expected in the “coming weeks.”

Biden last week promised “strong executive action” after climate legislation talks fell apart in the Senate.

“Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever,” Biden said in a statement. “So let me be clear: If the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment. My actions will create jobs, improve our energy security, bolster domestic manufacturing and supply chains, protect us from oil and gas price hikes in the future and address climate change.”

Pressure intensified this week after Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat, on Monday called on the president to declare a climate emergency and invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of renewable energy products.

“It is time for the Biden administration to pivot to a very aggressive climate strategy,“ Merkley said.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia dealt a devastating blow last week to fellow Democrats when he said he wouldn’t support the climate legislation that they had hoped to pass before August recess. With an evenly divided Senate, Manchin’s support was critical to the effort.

While political pressure to do something about climate change in the U.S. heats up, record temperatures across the pond further underscore worries over a hotter future.

Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever recorded on Tuesday at 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The previous record set in 2019 was 101.7.

“If confirmed this will be the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK. Temperatures are likely to rise further through today,” the country’s weather service said on Twitter.

Chief scientist Stephen Belcher said such temperatures were “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change, according to the Associated Press. He said that Britain “could see temperatures like this every three years” without serious steps to address carbon emissions.

The development comes as much of Europe is facing extreme temperatures and wildfires./usnews

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe is in the grip of a record-breaking heatwave and wildfires are raging across the Mediterranean. Here's how climate change drives these events.

HOTTER, MORE FREQUENT HEATWAVES

Climate change makes heatwaves hotter and more frequent. This is the case for most land regions, and has been confirmed by the U.N.'s global panel of climate scientists (IPCC).

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have heated the planet by about 1.2 Celsius since pre-industrial times. That warmer baseline means higher temperatures can be reached during extreme heat events.

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"Every heatwave that what we are experiencing today has been made hotter and more frequent because of climate change," said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London who also co-leads the World Weather Attribution research collaboration.

But other conditions affect heatwaves too. In Europe, atmospheric circulation is an important factor.

A study in the journal Nature this month found that heatwaves in Europe have increased three-to-four times faster than in other northern mid-latitudes such as the United States. The authors linked this to changes in the jet stream - a fast west-to-east air current in the northern hemisphere.

FINGERPRINTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

To find out exactly how much climate change affected a specific heatwave, scientists conduct "attribution studies". Since 2004, more than 400 such studies have been done for extreme weather events, including heat, floods and drought - calculating how much of a role climate change played in each.

This involves simulating the modern climate hundreds of times and comparing it to simulations of a climate without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

For example, scientists with World Weather Attribution determined that a record-breaking heatwave in western Europe in June 2019 was 100 times more likely to occur now in France and the Netherlands than if humans had not changed the climate.

HEATWAVES WILL STILL GET WORSE

The global average temperature is around 1.2C warmer than in pre-industrial times. That is already driving extreme heat events.

"On average on land, heat extremes that would have happened once every 10 years without human influence on the climate are now three times more frequent," said ETH Zurich climate scientist Sonia Seneviratne.

Temperatures will only cease rising if humans stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Until then, heatwaves are set to worsen. A failure to tackle climate change would see heat extremes escalate even more dangerously.

Countries agreed under the global 2015 Paris Agreement to cut emissions fast enough to limit global warming to 2°C and aim for 1.5°C, to avoid its most dangerous impacts. Current policies would not cut emissions fast enough to meet either goal.

A heatwave that occurred once per decade in the pre-industrial era would happen 4.1 times a decade at 1.5°C of warming, and 5.6 times at 2°C, the IPCC says.

Letting warming pass 1.5°C means that most years "will be affected by hot extremes in the future," Seneviratne said.

CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVES WILDFIRES

Climate change increases hot and dry conditions that help fires spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely.

In the Mediterranean, that has contributed to the fire season starting earlier and burning more land. Last year more than half a million hectares burned in the European Union, making it the bloc’s second-worst forest fire season on record after 2017.

Hotter weather also saps moisture from vegetation, turning it into dry fuel that helps fires to spread.

"The hotter, drier conditions right now, it just makes [fires] far more dangerous," Copernicus senior scientist Mark Parrington said.

Countries such as Portugal and Greece experience fires most summers, and have infrastructure to try to manage them - though both have received emergency EU help this summer. But hotter temperatures are also pushing wildfires into regions not used to them, and thus less prepared to cope.

CLIMATE CHANGE ISN'T THE ONLY FACTOR IN FIRES

Forest management and ignition sources are also important factors. In Europe, more than nine out of 10 fires are ignited by human activities, like arson, disposable barbeques, electricity lines, or littered glass, according to EU data.

Countries, including Spain, face the challenge of shrinking populations in rural areas, as people move to cities, leaving smaller workforces to clear vegetation and avoid "fuel" for forest fires building up.

Some actions can help to limit severe blazes, such as setting controlled fires that mimic the low-intensity fires in natural ecosystem cycles, or introducing gaps within forests to stop blazes rapidly spreading over large areas.

But scientists concur that without steep cuts to the greenhouse gases causing climate change, heatwaves, wildfires, flooding and drought will significantly worsen.

"When we look back on the current fire season in one or two decades' time, it will probably seem mild by comparison," said Victor Resco de Dios, professor of forest engineering at Spain's Lleida University.

The head of the Kuwaiti Federation of Domestic Labor Offices Khaled Al-Dakhnan called for the urgent signing of the labor agreement with Ethiopia, reports Al-Qabas daily. Al-Dakhnan told the daily, the Ethiopian ambassador confirmed during a recent meeting that his country has given the ‘go ahead’ to the Kuwaiti terms of the agreement, and that Ethiopia is waiting for the invitation to sign the MoU. Al-Dakhnan pointed out that the recruitment of Ethiopian workers will contribute significantly to reducing the prices of new contracts for domestic workers.

He mentioned the contracts signed with Ethiopia will be less than what is currently available in the labor market in terms of cost and monthly salaries. In turn, the Federation advisor, Abdulaziz Al-Ali told the daily that contacts were made with officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Public Authority for Manpower regarding the urgency to sign the agreement with the Ethiopian side.

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Al-Ali pointed out that the Kuwaiti and Ethiopian parties agreed on some points and they were completed and submitted to the Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which “we hope will speed up its work and sign the agreement, indicating that the Ethiopian labor that will be brought to Kuwait will be of what he called sufficient experience and training.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Kuwait, HE Othman Jowhar said his country has cut down the fees for the recruitment of domestic workers from his country to between 230 dinars and 245 dinars instead of 475 dinars, reports Al-Rai daily. However, the ambassador added, this is only for individual sponsors and not the domestic labor recruiting offices in Kuwait for whom the fee is set at 890 dinars by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Commerce. He added, this came after several complaints were received from citizens regarding the high fees for signing contracts for the recruitment of domestic workers. He added the embassy does not use the K-net payment system and that the fees are received in cash only.

He disclosed about 30,000 labor contracts from his country were completed at the embassy over the past six months. This is in response to the complaint of several Kuwaitis regarding the high fee for attesting contracts for the recruitment of domestic workers from Sri Lanka. In a statement to the daily, Jowhar explained this fee is applicable to individual contracts brought by the sponsors only; not the contracts issued through the accredited labor offices in Kuwait, in which the fee is fixed at KD890. He added the embassy does not use the K-Net payment system, as it receives fees in cash only./Arab Times