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VIDEO. 14 juillet: Dans les coulisses des préparatifs du défilé aérien sur les Champs-Elysées20minutes.fr1 juillet 2016RebloguerPartagerTweeterÉpinglerEnvoyer

SOCIETE – Les pilotes de l’armée ont débuté la préparation du défilé aérien du 14 juillet…

Objectif Champs-Elysées. Le défilé aérien du 14 juillet, ça ne s’improvise pas. Les pilotes de l’armée ont commencé les préparations bien en amont. 20 Minutes vous dévoile les coulisses du premier « brief » qui s’est déroulé le 9 juin, sur la

base aérienne 107 de Villacoublay, dans les Yvelines. Au menu de cette journée de formation : réunion le matin avec les « équipages leaders » qui viennent des bases d’Istres, de Cazaux, d’Orléans ou encore de Nancy. L’après-midi est consacrée à la reconnaissance des axes autour et au-dessus de la capitale.

« Le défilé aérien du 14 juillet, c’est aussi important qu’une opération extérieure (en dehors du territoire national) », prévient le général Jean-Christophe Zimmermann, chargé de cette parade. Dans une salle de la base de Villacoublay, le numéro 2 de la défense aérienne donne ses instructions aux hommes du ciel. Avec environ 80 appareils volant parfois à moins de 10 mètres les uns des autres, il faut éviter l’accrochage tout en restant en formation. « Vous serez dans un espace extrêmement contraint, avec de nombreux aéronefs dans votre environnement immédiat. Pensez à la sécurité », prévient-il. Avant d’ajouter : « Rappelez-vous que la chronologie est à la seconde. Ce ne sera pas le moment de regarder le paysage ».

« Voler au-dessus de Paris est très, très rare »

Les pilotes briefés, place aux travaux pratiques l’après-midi, à bord d’hélicoptères. Parmi eux, le lieutenant-colonel Arnaud*, pilote de Mirage 2000 D et commandant d’un escadron de chasse sur la base de Nancy. A bord d’un Fennec, il cherche des yeux les points de repère au sol, emmagasine les informations données par le pilote d’hélicoptère, le lieutenant Denis.

Un hélicoptère Fennec au-dessus de Paris lors de la répétition du défilé du 14 Juillet, le 9 juillet 2013 – V. Wartner/20 Minutes

(…) Lire la suite sur 20minutes.fr
VIDEO. 14 juillet: Dans les coulisses des préparatifs du défilé aérien sur les Champs-Elysées
Les infos immanquables du jour: Antoine Griezmann, chansons de matches, les changements du 1er juillet
Avant 2017, il n"y aura ni vote blanc, ni vote obligatoire, ni droit de vote dès 16 ans
Attentats de Paris : Après Hamza Attou, Mohamed Bakkali sera également remis à la France
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VIDEO. 14 juillet: Dans les coulisses des préparatifs du défilé aérien sur les Champs-Elysées

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Affaire Kerviel-Société Générale: Un rapport à plus de deux milliards d"euros enterré par le parquet20minutes.fr1 juillet 2016RebloguerPartagerTweeterÉpinglerEnvoyer

EXCLUSIF – Les avocats de la banque ont entretenu des liens étroits avec certains membres du parquet de Paris pendant l"enquête sur l"affaire Kerviel…

C’est un « document de travail » à 2,197 milliards d’euros. D’après une enquête conjointe de 20 Minutes,

Mediapart et

France Inter, un rapport égratignant la Société Générale aurait été enterré par le parquet de Paris lors de

l’enquête sur l’affaire Kerviel, en mai 2008. Plus encore que le document, c’est surtout la principale question qu’il soulève qui n’a, à l’époque, fait l’objet d’aucun examen approfondi par la justice.

Une question à un peu plus de 2 milliards d’euros, donc. Soit le montant du coup de pouce fiscal dont a bénéficié la Société Générale, en 2008. Comme la loi sur le crédit d’impôt le lui permet, la banque a déduit de sa déclaration fiscale une partie des « pertes exceptionnelles » occasionnées, selon elle, par

l’affaire Kerviel.

La défense de la Société Générale jugée « peu plausible »

Avait-elle raison de le faire ? Le rapport de 25 pages que nous nous sommes procuré – reconstitué après avoir été passé à la broyeuse – instille le doute à ce propos. Il est signé par Cédric Bourgeois. Assistant spécialisé au sein de la section financière du parquet de Paris, cet expert –

diplômé de l’ESCP et formateur à l’Ecole de la magistrature – était alors chargé de suivre les développements de l’enquête afin d’en rendre compte à sa hiérarchie. Il s’exécute le 14 mai 2008 en rédigeant ce « document de travail ».

>> A lire aussi : >> La Société Générale a «laissé faire» affirme un témoin

Sans exonérer Jérôme Kerviel de ses responsabilités, il juge, à plusieurs reprises, « peu plausible » la défense de la banque qui assure qu’elle ignorait tout des agissements de son ancien trader. Mais c’est surtout dans la dernière partie de son rapport – intitulée « Les questions soulevées par le comportement de la partie civile » – qu’il met le doigt sur le nœud fiscal à 2,197 milliards (…) Lire la suite sur 20minutes.fr
VIDEO. 14 juillet: Dans les coulisses des préparatifs du défilé aérien sur les Champs-Elysées
Les infos immanquables du jour: Antoine Griezmann, chansons de matches, les changements du 1er juillet
Avant 2017, il n"y aura ni vote blanc, ni vote obligatoire, ni droit de vote dès 16 ans
Attentats de Paris : Après Hamza Attou, Mohamed Bakkali sera également remis à la France
Téléchargez gratuitement l"application Android 20 Minutes

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Affaire Kerviel-Société Générale: Un rapport à plus de deux milliards d"euros enterré par le parquet

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Attentats de Paris : Après Hamza Attou, Mohamed Bakkali sera également remis à la France20minutes.fr1 juillet 2016RebloguerPartagerTweeterÉpinglerEnvoyer

JUSTICE – L’annonce intervient au lendemain de l’annonce de la remise à la France du suspect Hamza Attou…

Un jour après l’annonce du transfèrement d’Hamza Attou aux autorités françaises par la Belgique, la justice belge annonce jeudi la remise de Mohamed Bakkali, soupçonné d’avoir joué un rôle de logisticien dans la préparation des

attentats du 13 novembre à Paris. L’information provient du parquet fédéral belge.

Tout comme pour Hamza Attou, cette remise à la France n’a été rendue possible qu’à la condition que Mohamed Bakkali purge sa peine « ou la mesure de sûreté qui serait prononcée à son encontre » sur le sol belge, précise le parquet dans un communiqué.

Un rôle de logisticien

Agé de 29 ans, le Belge est soupçonné d’avoir loué une BMW, repérée à proximité immédiate de logements Charleroi et Auvelais ayant servi à préparer les attentats qui ont fait 130 morts dans la capitale française le 13 novembre.

Il est aussi soupçonné d’avoir loué la planque de la rue Henri Bergé, à Schaerbeek (Bruxelles), où les ceintures explosives ayant servi le 13 novembre ont été fabriquées, et d’avoir espionné un responsable d’un centre de recherche nucléaire en Belgique.

Il aurait également loué un autre appartement à Schaerbeek où les frères kamikazes Ibrahim et Khalid El Bakraoui ont séjourné avant de se faire exploser lors des attentats de Bruxelles le 22 mars (32 morts), selon l’agence Belga.

Mohamed Bakkali avait été interpellé à Bruxelles le 26 novembre puis inculpé d’assassinats terroristes et de participer aux activités d’un groupe terroriste.
Retrouvez cet article sur 20minutes.fr
Affaire Kerviel-Société Générale: Un rapport à plus de deux milliards d"euros enterré par le parquet
VIDEO. 14 juillet: Dans les coulisses des préparatifs du défilé aérien sur les Champs-Elysées
Les infos immanquables du jour: Antoine Griezmann, chansons de matches, les changements du 1er juillet
Avant 2017, il n"y aura ni vote blanc, ni vote obligatoire, ni droit de vote dès 16 ans
Téléchargez gratuitement l"application iPhone 20 Minutes

RebloguerPartagerTweeterÉpinglerEnvoyer

Attentats de Paris : Après Hamza Attou, Mohamed Bakkali sera également remis à la France

23:31

News Climate,Plants Warming alters mountain plant’s sex ratios

Mid-elevation male-female balance now shifted to higher altitudes, study finds

By Amy McDermott 6:04pm, June 30, 2016 Valerian plant

MOUNTAIN CLIMBER Male valerian plants like this one have moved up in elevation in response to hotter, drier climate conditions. As a result, male-female plant ratios have changed since the late 1970s, researchers have found. This plant is growing in the research team’s highest study site, at 3,790 meters.

W. Petry

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In Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, male and female valerian plants have responded differently to hotter, drier conditions, a new study shows. Rapidly changing ratios of the sexes could be a quick sign of climate change, the researchers say.

Valerian (Valeriana edulis) plants range from hot, scrubby lowlands to cold alpine slopes. In each patch of plants, some are male and some are female. The exact proportion of each sex varies with elevation. High on the mountain, females are much more common than males; they can make up 80 percent of some populations.

Four decades ago, in patches of valerian growing in the middle of the plant’s elevation range, 33.4 percent of the plants were males. Those patches grew in the Rockies at elevations around 3,000 meters. Today, you would have to hike considerably higher to find the same proportion of male plants. Males, now 5.5 percent more common on average, are reaching higher elevations than in the past, researchers report in the July 1 Science.

“We think climate is acting almost like a filter on males and females,” says Will Petry of ETH Zurich, who led the study while at the University of California, Irvine. “The settings on this filter are controlling the sex ratio.” Those settings are sweeping up the mountainside like a rising tide at a rate of 175 meters per decade, Petry and colleagues found. <b>STARTING POINT</b> Historical data from 1978 to 1980, collected by coauthor Judy Soule (pictured), lent long-term perspective to a study of valerian plants in the Colorado Rockies. ~~ J. Soule

Ecologists already knew that the ratio of male to female plants can vary with altitude or water availability, says ecologist Spencer Barrett of the University of Toronto, who was not involved in this study. But “the idea that a sex ratio is moving upslope — nobody’s ever done that before.”

Those moving sex ratios have kept pace with climate change since the late 1970s. Today, winter snows are melting earlier and summers are hotter, with less rain. As a result, the same amount of precipitation that would have fallen at one elevation in 1978 now falls at higher elevations instead; it has moved upslope by 133 meters per decade. Soil moisture has moved up the mountain, too, by 195 meters per decade.

The parallel shifts mean that changing sex ratios could be a marker of climate change, says population biologist Tom Miller of Rice University in Houston, a coauthor of the study. Today, movements of whole species — often up in latitude or altitude — are a hallmark of climate change. But proportions of males and females are changing “substantially faster than species are moving,” Miller says. They “might be a much more rapid fingerprint of climate change than where species are migrating to.”

Petry’s team found that fingerprint while hiking around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Crested Butte, Colo. As the scientists walked through the mountains in Chaffee and Gunnison counties, they counted flowering males and females at 31 sites in 2011, then compared their modern data with historical counts from nine of the same populations, made by coauthor Judy Soule from 1978 to 1980. When Petry saw that the percentage of males and females had changed, “we also started thinking about the consequences,” he says.

If one sex vastly outnumbers the other, populations could die out. “Imagine if it became an Amazonia situation,” says Kailen Mooney, whose lab at UC Irvine led the new study. A 100 percent female population wouldn’t be pollinated, and would disappear once the mature females died, he says.

If those female-only populations grew above a certain altitude and died out because males couldn’t reach them, then male plants would set the upper boundary for the whole species. Sex ratios “add nuance” to the way scientists think about climate-driven migration, Mooney says, because one sex could determine geographic limits for whole species.

Citations

W. Petry et al. Sex-specific responses to climate change in plants alter population sex ratio and performance. Science. Vol. 353, July 1, 2016, p. 69. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf2588.

Skill at exploiting atmospheric air flows allow long-distance treks

By Laurel Hamers 2:00pm, June 30, 2016 frigatebirds

FREQUENT FLIER Frigate birds, even juveniles like this one, can fly for months without stopping by riding air currents over the ocean.

Aurélian Prudor/CEBC CNRS

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Even Amelia Earhart couldn’t compete with the great frigate bird. She flew nonstop across the United States for 19 hours in 1932; the frigate bird can stay aloft up to two months without landing, a new study finds. The seabird saves energy on transoceanic treks by capitalizing on the large-scale movement patterns of the atmosphere, researchers report in the July 1 Science. By hitching a ride on favorable winds, the bird can spend more time soaring and less time flapping its wings.

“Frigate birds are really an anomaly,” says Scott Shaffer, an ecologist at San Jose State University in California who wasn’t involved in the study. The large seabird spends much of its life over the open ocean. Both juvenile and adult birds undertake nonstop flights lasting weeks or months, the scientists found. Frigate birds can’t land in the water to catch a meal or take a break because their feathers aren’t waterproof, so scientists weren’t sure how the birds made such extreme journeys.

Researchers attached tiny accelerometers, GPS trackers and heart rate monitors to great frigate birds flying from a tiny island near Madagascar. By pooling data collected over several years, the team re-created what the birds were doing minute-by-minute over long flights — everything from how often the birds flapped their wings to when they dived for food.

Flight pattern

A frigate bird repeatedly soars up on rising winds, then glides down, as shown in the top image depicting the altitude of the bird’s roller coaster‒like flight path. The pullout shows a single cycle of energy-saving soaring and gliding, depicting the bird’s spiraling climb and zigzag drift due to wind direction.

~~ H. Weimerskirch <em>et al/Science</em> 2016

The birds fly more than 400 kilometers, about equivalent to the distance from Boston to Philadelphia, every day. They don’t even stop to refuel, instead scooping up fish while still in flight.

And when frigate birds do take a break, it’s a quick stopover.

“When they land on a small island, you’d expect they’d stay there for several days. But in fact, they just stay there for a couple hours,” says Henri Weimerskirch, a biologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Villiers-en-Bois who led the study. “Even the young birds stay in flight almost continually for more than a year.”

Frigate birds need to be energy Scrooges to fly that far. To minimize wing-flapping time, they seek out routes upward-moving air currents that help them glide and soar over the water. For instance, the birds skirt the edge of the doldrums, a windless region near the equator. On either side of the region, consistent winds make for favorable flying conditions. Frigate birds ride a thermal roller coaster underneath the bank of fluffy cumulus clouds frequently found there, soaring up to altitudes of 600 meters.

Airplanes tend to avoid flying through cumulus clouds because they cause turbulence. So the researchers were surprised to find that frigate birds sometimes use the rising air inside the clouds to get an extra elevation boost — up to nearly 4,000 meters. The extra height means the birds have more time to gradually glide downward before finding a new updraft. That’s an advantage if the clouds (and the helpful air movement patterns they create) are scarce.

It’s not yet clear how frigate birds manage to sleep while on the wing. Weimerskirch suggests they might nap in several-minute bursts while ascending on thermals.

“To me, the most fascinating thing was how incredibly far these frigate birds go in a single flight, and how closely tied those flight patterns are to the long-term average atmospheric condition,” says Curtis Deutsch, an oceanographer at the University of Washington in Seattle. As these atmospheric patterns shift with climate change, frigate birds might change their path, too.

Citations

H. Weimerskirch et al. Frigate birds track atmospheric conditions over months-long transoceanic flight. Science. Vol. 353, July 1, 2016, p. 74. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf4374.

New 3-D simulation filters out natural variation in long-term trend

By Thomas Sumner 2:00pm, June 30, 2016 ozone map

OZONE SNAPSHOT The Antarctic ozone hole is finally healing, scientists say, even though that recovery has been somewhat obscured by recent volcanic activity that temporarily boosted the hole (bluish area centered over Antarctica) to record size last October.

Ozone Hole Watch/NASA

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A gaping wound in Earth"s atmosphere is definitively healing. Since 2000, the average size of the Antarctic ozone hole in September has shrunk by about 4.5 million square kilometers, an area larger than India, researchers report online June 30 in Science. While the hole won’t close completely until at least midcentury, the researchers say the results are a testament to the success of the Montreal Protocol. That international treaty, implemented in 1989, banned ozone-depleting chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons worldwide.

Ozone helps shield life on Earth from hazardous ultraviolet radiation. Tracking the ozone layer’s recovery process is tricky because natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and weather variations can alter the size of the ozone hole. While some earlier studies suggested that the ozone had already begun healing (SN: 6/4/11, p. 15), many scientists questioned whether the work had been detailed enough to separate out the effects of natural variability.

MIT atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon and colleagues used a sophisticated 3-D atmospheric simulation to distinguish between the forces acting on atmospheric ozone. The work suggests that about half of the ozone hole’s recent shrinkage resulted from a drop in chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere; the remainder stemmed from weather changes.

Volcanic eruptions obscure healing signs. Last October, the ozone hole reached a record-setting average size of 25.3 million square kilometers — an area larger than Russia — thanks to the April 2015 eruption of Chile’s Calbuco volcano. That large size doesn’t disprove that the ozone hole is healing in the long run, though. Without the temporary 4.2-million-square-kilometer boost from the volcano, the hole’s average size would have peaked at a more modest 21.1 million square kilometers, the researchers estimate.

Citations

S. Solomon et al. Emergence of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer. Science. Published online June 30, 2016. doi: 10.1126/science.aae0061.

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Science News Staff Science Ticker Planetary Science, Juno mission to Jupiter Juno spacecraft is on its final approach to Jupiter by Christopher Crockett 3:42pm, June 30, 2016 Jupiter and three moons, taken by Juno on June 28, 2016

Juno is closing in on Jupiter, seen with three of its moons in this June 28 picture taken by the spacecraft when it was about 6 million kilometers from the planet.

JPL-Caltech/NASA, SWRI, MSSS

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All systems are go for the Juno spacecraft’s July 4 encounter with Jupiter.

“We couldn’t be more excited about being this close to Jupiter’s doorstep,” said Diane Brown, Juno program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., during a June 30 news briefing.

The scientific instruments have been shut off and the final command sequence for going into orbit around Jupiter has been uploaded to the spacecraft’s computers. On July 4, the probe will fire its main engine for 35 minutes, using it as a brake to slow down and be captured by Jupiter’s gravity. Once in orbit, Juno will spend 20 months figuring out what’s hiding beneath the thick clouds that encase the planet.

Juno has been busy during its final approach. On June 28, it got one more look at Jupiter and three of its moons. And last week Juno monitored changes in interplanetary plasma (see below) as it crossed a magnetic boundary that shields Jupiter from the stream of charged particles blowing from the sun.

Now all scientists can do is wait. “I have mixed emotions,” said mission lead Scott Bolton, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “I’m excited, but I also have tension and nervousness.” Juno has to perform a critical engine burn all on its own while passing through treacherous belts of radiation that encircle the planet. A series of radio tones from the spacecraft will let mission scientists know whether or not it worked.

“Come see us on July 4,” Bolton said.

Read all of Science News’ coverage of NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter.

Juno recorded vibrations in interplanetary plasma as it crossed Jupiter’s magnetic boundary (the bow shock) on June 24. Play the video to hear that data turned into sound. JPL-Caltech/NASA, SWRI, University of Iowa

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Juno spacecraft is on its final approach to Jupiter

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Futura sciences le site du savoir

Mid-elevation male-female balance now shifted to higher altitudes, study finds

Skill at exploiting atmospheric air flows allow long-distance treks

Flight pattern

New 3-D simulation filters out natural variation in long-term trend

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