Connect with us

Published

on

Professional athletes are pressuring ski chiefs to dramatically improve winter sports’ sustainability, fearing skiing is becoming unjustifiable to a public increasingly concerned about climate change.

US slalom star Mikaela Shiffrin and Norwegian racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are among nearly 200 signatories to a letter to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), saying current environmental policies are “insufficient”.

The letter arrives after warm weather and snow shortages wiped nearly a month of racing from the start of the season, with pre-season training on shrinking European glaciers melting away.

“It’s about time to address a really important topic,” Kilde said after earning a silver medal in downhill during the skiing world championship on Sunday.

“We see also the impact of our sport,” he said. “I want the future generations to experience winter and to be able to do what I do.”

The letter was written by Austrian downhiller Julian Schütter, an ambassador for the nonprofit organisation Protect Our Winters, known as POW.

Read more:
Images show dramatic lack of snow in ski resorts as heat in Europe ‘annihilates’ records
Climate crisis may have triggered collapse of ancient empire
Click to subscribe to ClimateCast wherever you get your podcasts

Olympic cross-country skiing champion Jessie Diggins and Freeride World Tour champions Arianna Tricomi and Xavier de le Rue also signed the letter.

“This is our most important race, let’s win it together,” the athletes said.

Competitors suggested a more “geographically reasonable” race schedule to reduce carbon emissions from flights, citing how the men’s circuit will have travelled from Europe to North America and back twice by the end of this season.

“The races of Beaver Creek in November and those in Aspen in February are 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from each other,” the skiers said, referring to the two Colorado resorts.

“Planning those two races one after the other would reduce approximately 1,500 tons of (carbon emissions).”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Skiers were left to drift down a single slope at an Austrian resort after record temperatures melted the rest of the snow

“The public opinion about skiing is shifting towards unjustifiability,” the athletes wrote. “We need progressive organisational action. We are aware of the current sustainability efforts of FIS and rate them as insufficient.”

The athletes asked the federation to shift the start of the alpine skiing season from late October to late November and the end of the season from mid-March to late April.

“The seasons have shifted and in the interest of us all we need to adapt to those new circumstances,” they said.

Sky News has requested a comment from FIS.

Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3.30pm Monday to Friday, and The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

All on Sky News, on the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.

The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.

Continue Reading

World

Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson left me ‘half alive’, sole survivor says

Published

on

By

Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson left me 'half alive', sole survivor says

The sole surviving guest of a lunch where three others died after being served food laced with toxic mushrooms has told an Australian court that the actions of murderer Erin Patterson have left him feeling “half alive”.

Ian Wilkinson, who received a liver transplant and spent months in hospital after the poisoning in July 2023, described how he had been left traumatised as he delivered his victim impact statement at Patterson’s pre-sentencing hearing in Melbourne.

Patterson, 50, was found guilty last month of luring her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home in Leongatha and poisoning them with individual portions of Beef Wellington that contained toxic death cap mushrooms.

A jury also found her guilty of the attempted murder of Mr Wilkinson, Heather’s husband.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Australian mother found guilty of killing three relatives by serving toxic lunch

Speaking at the start of the two-day hearing, Mr Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, said the death of his wife had left him bereft.

“It’s a truly horrible thought to live with that somebody could decide to take her life. I only feel half alive without her,” he said, breaking down in tears.

“It’s one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil and so little on those who do good.”

More on Australia

Ian and Heather Wilkinson. Pic: The Salvation Army Australia - Museum
Image:
Ian and Heather Wilkinson. Pic: The Salvation Army Australia – Museum

‘I bear her no ill will’

He described Gail and Don Patterson, the parents of Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson, as the closest people to him after his wife and family.

“My life is greatly impoverished without them,” Mr Wilkinson said.

“I’m distressed that Erin has acted with callous and calculated disregard for my life and the lives of those I love. What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder could be the solution to their problems, especially the murder of people who have only good intentions towards her?”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

He called on Patterson, who said the poisonings were accidental and continues to maintain her innocence, to confess to her crimes.

“I encourage Erin to receive my offer of forgiveness for those harms done to me with full confession and repentance. I bear her no ill will,” he said.

“I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim and she has become the victim of my kindness.”

Read more from Sky News:
National Guard will begin carrying firearms in Washington DC
Flesh-eating screwworm parasite detected in person in US for first time

The court received a total of 28 victim impact statements, of which seven were read publicly.

Don and Gail Patterson. Picture: Facebook
Image:
Don and Gail Patterson. Picture: Facebook


‘An irreparably broken home’

Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson – who was invited to the lunch but declined – spoke of the devastating impact on the couple’s two children.

“The grim reality is they live in an irreparably broken home with only a solo parent, when almost everyone else knows their mother murdered their grandparents,” he said in a statement that was read out on his behalf.

Patterson attended the court in person on Monday rather than watch via a video link from prison which she did during a hearing earlier this month.

The hearing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.

Patterson faces a potential life sentence for each of the murders and 25 years for attempted murder.

She has 28 days from the day of her sentencing to appeal, but has not yet indicated whether she will do so.

Continue Reading

World

Israel pounds outskirts of Gaza City overnight as military offensive plans continue

Published

on

By

Israel pounds outskirts of Gaza City overnight as military offensive plans continue

Israel pounded the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.

Families streamed out of the city as the explosions hit.

“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” said Mohammad, 40.

“No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”

Mahmoud Abedrabo mourns over the body of his son Hamada in Gaza City on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Mahmoud Abedrabo mourns over the body of his son Hamada in Gaza City on 24 August. Pic: Reuters

Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.

“We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn’t afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation.

“We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money,” she said.

More on Gaza

Mourners pray next to the body of Palestinian boy Hamada Abedrabo on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Mourners pray next to the body of Palestinian boy Hamada Abedrabo on 24 August. Pic: Reuters

Witnesses said that overnight they heard nonstop explosions in Zeitoun and Shejaia.

Tanks shelled houses and roads in Sabra, and buildings were blown up in Jabalia.

On Sunday, the IDF said its forces had returned to combat in Jabalia to strengthen its control of the area and dismantle militant tunnels.

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters

It added that the operation there “enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas terrorists from returning to operate in these areas.”

This month, Israel approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City. The offensive isn’t expected to start for another few weeks.

Read more from Sky News:
Pro-Palestine Australians protest after week of tension with Israel
‘I’m deprived of my UK citizenship but I’m not a convicted terrorist’
Ghislaine Maxwell was given ‘platform to rewrite history’, say Giuffre’s family

In the meantime, mediators in Egypt and Qatar are trying to resume ceasefire talks between the two sides.

On Friday, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas releases all its remaining hostages and ends the war on Israel’s terms.

Mourners transport the body of  Ahmed Balata on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Mourners transport the body of Ahmed Balata on 24 August. Pic: Reuters

Around half of Gaza’s two million residents currently live in the city and on Friday a global hunger monitor said that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread.

Israel said the monitor ignores steps Israel has taken since late July to increase aid supplies into and across Gaza.

Eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on Saturday.

281 people, including 114 children, have now died of malnutrition and starvation since the war started, according to the ministry.

The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, mainly civilians, and took 251 hostages.

Since then, Israel has killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and internally displaced nearly its entire population.

Continue Reading

World

Two married couples found dead in British car after crash in Germany

Published

on

By

Two married couples found dead in British car after crash in Germany

Two married couples have died after a British car veered off the road and crashed in Germany, according to police.

The fatal accident happened shortly after midnight on Saturday in the trees near a highway in the Kassel district, north of Hesse in central Germany.

The 32-year-old male driver, a 31-year-old female passenger, a 32-year-old female passenger, and a 30-year-old female passenger all died at the scene, despite the efforts of German emergency services.

Sky News understands UK officials have not been contacted for assistance.

At roughly 12.30am on Saturday, the car appears to have veered off the road and crashed into nearby trees around 30m from the road, according to the Kassel police department.

Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
Image:
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen

One of the victim’s phones automatically alerted the emergency services to the incident, who sent an ambulance to the scene.

Soon, fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and emergency support vehicles were all dispatched.

More on Germany

When emergency workers arrived, the car was lying on its side, wedged between several trees.

It wasn’t until they removed the roof that they found all four passengers.

Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
Image:
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen

The accident happened on Highway L3229
Image:
The accident happened on Highway L3229

The emergency workers who dealt with the victims were immediately supported by the specialist mental health workers at the fire station in Reinhardshagen.

“This high number of deaths is an extraordinary operation for our Reinhardshagen Volunteer Fire Department,” said a fire department spokesperson.

“For some of the emergency personnel, it is the first time they have been confronted with death in this way.

“Therefore, a great deal is being done to help us process these images. We will also discuss this among ourselves and within families, because not everyone can easily shake off what they have seen.”

An investigation into the accident is ongoing and is being conducted by the Hofgeismar police station.

Continue Reading

Trending