Day: May 5, 2023

Back in the times when 25-meter-long ocean dinosaurs swam the seas and the T-Rex and Triceratops roamed the ground we walk today, Earth was a hot place to live. Very hot. During this Mesozoic Era — from about 250 to 66 million years ago — the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere were around 16 times higher than now, creating a "greenhouse climate” with temperatures on average six to nine degrees warmer than today.

Scientists assume that methane from dinosaurs burping and farting — similar to cows today — contributed to global warming at the time. But the main reason was that the supercontinent of Pangaea was slowly starting to drift and break apart. Not only did this ultimately lead to the creation of the continents as we know them today, but it also led to a changing climate.

The movement of entire landscapes and continents caused enormous volcanic eruptions that spewed climate-damaging gases into the atmosphere, thereby heating the planet. It also led to acid rains, acidification of the ocean and a radical change in the chemical compositions on land and in the water, causing a mass extinction that paved the way for the rise of the dinosaurs.

Were dinosaurs adapting better?

Today we are still a long way from the kind of temperatures that made the planet a hothouse during the Mesozoic Era. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas at unprecedented levels, humans have already warmed the planet by 1.1 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

As a result, ecosystem health is deteriorating faster than ever before, with dramatic impacts for people as well as land, forest and marine ecosystems across the world. Scientists say the average duration of drought in Central America will increase by five months with 1.5 degrees of warming, by eight months at an increase of 2 degrees and by 19 months should temperatues rise to an additional 3 degrees.

They also say the world will reach that 3-degree mark by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, leading to unprecedented floods, storms, sea level rise and extreme heat waves. Scientists therefore speak of the climate crisis as an existential threat to humans.

The fact that the dinosaurs coped well with the climatic conditions in which they lived is mainly due to one decisive factor: time.

Although CO2 concentration in the atmosphere was extremely high back in the Mesozoic Era, it rose very slowly. While it previously took mighty volcanic activity and millions of years to warm the planet by several degrees, by burning fossil fuels, humans have managed to radically change the climate within two centuries.

Georg Feulner of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) said a slower pace of warming gives nature the chance to adapt. "Animal species that don't love the heat can move to higher latitudes, towards the poles for example. Or they can also adapt through evolutionary processes."

He said as long warming occurs slowly and its impacts don't hit a highly technical civilisation with existing infrastructure, it has largely not been a big problem thus far.

But he added that extreme heat could render given regions uninhabitable for certain animal species "because there are simply certain physiological limits for animals and humans." Every year, hundreds of thousands die worldwide because of extreme heat.

Even dinosaurs get problems when things go too fast

For humans to adapt to a warmer planet and the extreme storms, floods, droughts and heat waves that higher temperatures promise to bring, it would require a global investment of more than $300 billion (€272 billion) by 2030 alone. Billions more are needed for the energy transition to stop continued runaway heating. History shows that the five great mass extinctions the planet has so far witnessed were all connected to radical heating or cooling of the planet, as well as changes in the chemical cycles in the sea or on land.

For example, the impact of an asteroid 67 million years ago created an enormous cloud of dust and caused violent volcanic eruptions all over the world, darkening the sky and radically cooling the climate. This drastic and comparatively rapid cooling left little time for adaptation and spelled the end of the dinosaur era. Overall, 76% of species became extinct at that time.

In a mass extinction, at least three quarters of all species disappear within about 3 million years. Some scientists, looking at current extinction rates, think we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. In the next few decades alone, it is estimated that at least one million out of eight million known species are in danger of disappearing forever. Many scientists believe that the real numbers could be much higher.

Source: Deutsche Welle

For the first time in its history, Sweden will try a suspect accused of extorting money for the PKK terror group, according to local media.

Prosecutor Hans Ihrman said the male suspect's links with the terrorist organization have become more evident since he was detained in February, public broadcaster SVT reported Thursday.

According to Ihrman, the PKK has been widely using extortion to fund its activities in Sweden and other countries for a long time.

"Even though this is a single event, which is the basis of the investigation itself, most things point to the fact that this single event is part of a more extensive activity that has been carried out in organized forms for a long time," he said.

The suspect is being charged with attempted aggravated extortion, aggravated weapons offense, and attempted terrorist financing, the broadcaster noted.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom admitted last week that the PKK terrorist organization's extensive activities in his country were the reason why Trkiye has blocked Stockholm's accession to NATO.

Sweden's bid to join NATO

After the Russia-Ukraine war began in February last year, Sweden, together with Finland, decided to abandon its decades-long military non-alignment policy and apply for NATO membership.

Ankara, a NATO member for over 70 years, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terror groups such as the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind a 2016 defeated coup in Trkiye, in order for them to join the alliance.

In June last year, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Trkiye to address Ankara's security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries held various meetings to discuss the implementation of a trilateral agreement.

Showing Trkiye's support for NATO's open-door policy, the Turkish parliament approved Finland's bid to join NATO on March 31, having said earlier that Helsinki had done what was necessary for the membership, whereas Sweden still had work to do.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Trkiye, the PKK - listed as a terrorist organization by Trkiye, the US, and EU - has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Just five months after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted "accelerated" approval for a drug to treat Alzheimer's disease , developed by Biogen and Eisai and called lecanemab, another pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, has released what it calls "positive results" from phase 3 trials for its own candidate Alzheimer's treatment, donanemab.

In a press release published May 3, Eli Lilly said donanemab had "significantly slowed cognitive and functional decline in people with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease."

Eli Lilly has yet to publish the full results, which means the data has not been peer reviewed or independently verified, so experts have only been able to comment on the press release.

In the US, the Alzheimer's Association's chief science officer Maria Carrillo said "these are the strongest phase 3 data for an Alzheimer's treatment to date."

And the association Alzheimer Europe has also welcomed the news.

But writing for the journal Science, Derek Lowe, who works in drug discovery, commented that "we are surely looking at the most optimistic take possible — we'll have to wait for filing with the FDA to see more."

Eli Lilly says it aims to present its results at a conference in July and submit the drug for FDA approval around the same time.

Goal to treat Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia

Alzheimer's disease affects at least 55 million people worldwide.

The World Health Organization says Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia — "dementia is the seventh leading cause of death and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people globally."

Dementia is one of the hardest conditions to treat. As a result, pharmaceutical companies have been known to stop their research when it's unprofitable and they see their chances of success as low.

But there is a renewed push to find treatments Alzheimer's. The US National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease aims to "prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's disease by 2025."

The FDA says it "may approve drugs for serious conditions where there is an unmet medical need," which would explain lecanemab's fast approval, but that doesn't mean the FDA lowers its standards in such cases.

In January, the FDA denied an Eli Lilly request for accelerated approval for donanemab. The FDA said it needed safety data from more patients.

How does donanemab work?

Donanemab is not the first of its kind. As with similar antibody-based therapies such as lecanemab, donanemab is not a cure for Alzheimer's.

Instead, they are antibodies that target different forms of amyloid-beta (Aß) proteins that can clump together to form amyloid plaques in people's brains, resulting in their congnitive decline.

The drug aims to remove the plaques from the brain and slow the progression of the disease.

"Nearly half (47%) of the participants on donanemab, compared to 29% on placebo, had no clinical progression at 1 year," said the Eli Lilly press release. "[The drug] resulted in 40% less decline on the ability to perform activities of daily living."

A placebo is a non-active substance that is used to compare results with an active substance — that is, the one that is being tested.

How does donanemab compare to lecanemab?

Eli Lilly's press release suggests that donanemab slows cognitive decline by 35%. Lecanemab trial results showed it slowed cognitive decline by 27%.

Both drugs are given intravenously, but the doses are different — donanemab was given every four weeks and lecanemab every two weeks.

Both drugs were only tested on people with early stages of Alzheimer's. It is, therefore, unknown how effective the drugs are for people with more advanced forms of the disease.

Lecanemab is approved in the US, but it is still under evaluation by the FDA's counterpart in Europe, the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

At time of writing, donanemab was not approved for use in either the US or Europe.

Three deaths in the donanemab trials

Both donanemab and lecanemab have a high-risk of side effects, wrote the journal Nature in a news article May 4.

The side effects include "amyloid-related imaging abnormalities" — or ARIA — which include swelling or bleeding in the brain.

Eli Lilly reported swelling of the brain in 24% of trial participants and bleeding in the brain in 31% of its participants.

Three patients died because of these side effects, the company said.

"The majority of ARIA cases were mild to moderate and resolved or stabilized with appropriate management," said the company. The incidence of serious ARIA cases was 1.6%.

AI to detect Alzheimer’s

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"ARIA is usually asymptomatic, although serious and life-threatening events can occur," said Frank Jessen, director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Cologne, Germany.

Lecanemab's phase 3 results showed that 17% of participants had brain bleeds and 13% had brain swellings, which is less than donanemab. But Biogen and Eisai, the companies behind lecanemab, have also reported three deaths associated with the drug.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Expressing 'frustration' over continued incarceration and the US pursuit of whistleblower Julian Assange, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the case 'needs to be brought to a conclusion.'

'It needs to be worked through, we're working through diplomatic channels, we're making very clear what our position is on Mr. Assange's case,' Albanese told ABC News on Thursday night in an interview in the UK, where Assange has been held in a prison for the past four years.

Concerned about Assange's health, Anthony said he was frustrated because his government was not been able to find any diplomatic solution to Assange's ongoing incarceration.

'I continue to say in private what I said publicly as Labor leader and what I've said as prime minister, that enough is enough,' Albanese told the Australian broadcaster.

The Australian premier is in the UK to attend coronation of King Charles III.

'This needs to be brought to a conclusion,' he said about the case of WikiLeaks publisher, whose custody is wanted by the US government which has pursuing extradition of Assange from the UK.

Assange, an Australian citizen, is being held in the UK, where authorities approved his extradition to the US last year. He is wanted for his alleged role in espionage and the dissemination of classified US military information.

He was dragged out of Ecuador's Embassy building in London in 2019, where he took refuge for more than seven years. If extradited to the US, Assange faces a prison sentence of up to 175 years.

While the UK has agreed to Washington's demand, Assange, however, has appealed the decision through the court.

Australia's top diplomat in the UK, Stephen Smith, visited Assange last month in the Belmarsh Prison.

On failure of any diplomatic solution to end Assange's case, Albanese said: 'I know it's frustrating. I share the frustration. I can't do more than make very clear what my position is.

'And the US administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian government's position is.

Albanese said punishment meted out to Assange has been 'disproportionate.'

'There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration,' Albanese said.

He added that the case had to be examined in terms of whether the time he had 'effectively served' was more than a 'reasonable' sentence if the allegations against him were proved.

'I think that when Australians look at the circumstances, look at the fact that the person who released the information (Chelsea Manning) is walking freely now, having served some time in incarceration but is now released for a long period of time, then they'll see that there is a disconnect there,' he explained.

Source: Anadolu Agency

For decades, Turbine Potsdam had little need for hope – it was largely superfluous for one of the best clubs in Europe. But now, hope is all Turbine have left.

"If we didn't have any hope, we'd have given up. Which we definitely have not," Turbine striker Sophie Weidauer told DW earlier this year.

With the Bundesliga season rapidly coming to a close and Turbine six points from safety, optimism that one of Germany's most decorated football teams can pull off a great escape and avoid their first-ever relegation is waning fast.

Overnight implosion?

While Potsdam's impressive trophy collection has accumulated a solid layer of dust in recent years, this season's bleak battle for survival is still a shock. Turbine narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League last season, capping off six consecutive finishes in the top four.

The club's struggles "have definitely been a massive surprise," longtime fan Karl told DW.

Though this season has been astonishingly dismal – club President Karsten Ritter-Lang said the team "imploded" during the winter break – the roots of Turbine's immediate plight can be traced back to the summer of 2021 at the latest.

That's when former player Tabea Kemme's campaign to return the club to former glory failed, with Kemme losing her bid to succeed longtime President Rolf Kutzmutz. More than anything, this result demonstrated Turbine's general reluctance towards revitalization.

Since then, the club's foundation has collapsed. Then-coach Sofian Chahed surprisingly left the club shortly after last season and Kutzmutz, who's been at the club for 22 years, followed suit, setting off a dizzying merry-go-round of personnel churn. In addition to various changes at the board level, Turbine have had five head coaches since Chahed's departure.

Unsurprisingly, the turmoil at the top has had an impact on the pitch. More than a dozen players, most of them starters, left the club last summer.

"These days, there are a lot of professional opportunities in women's football. Every player decides which environment they want to play in," Weidauer said.

"Of course it's a shame that so many left even though we played an excellent season last year. But at the end of the day, every player has to choose for themselves the level of professional football they want to play at," she continued.

While turmoil at the board level and in the coaching ranks has been a distraction, a near wholesale roster turnover in the offseason has put immense pressure on the players.

"There’s no need to act like a secret, it's been extremely difficult. There are so many players with different backgrounds, origins, and languages on the squad, it can be a barrier to communication," Weidauer said. "It takes time together on the pitch to figure these things out, but by now we don't really have time."

Tradition no longer pays

This season's acute crisis is also down to Turbine failing to adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape of women's football.

"If you look at how good they were 10-15 years ago, they had a huge advantage over other clubs when it comes to infrastructure and tactics. But teams have caught up to them, or even passed them," former player Anja Mittag, who won two Champions League titles and a handful of domestic silverware in Potsdam, told DW.

During Turbine's heyday of the 2000s, Germany's most successful teams were exclusively women's clubs. Potsdam's 2012 Bundesliga title wasn't just the last time the club won silverware, it was the last time a women-only club won the league.

Since then, Wolfsburg and Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga and other men's Bundesliga clubs like Eintracht Frankfurtand Leipzig have also invested heavily in the women's game. These sides boast resources, infrastructure, and sporting expertise that women-only clubs lack.

Turbine briefly partnered with regional neighbors Hertha Berlin, but their three-year partnership will not be renewed after this season as Hertha have opted to launch their own women's team. Potsdam and SGS Essen are the only two strictly women's sides left in the Bundesliga, and it's looking increasingly likely that Turbine’s top-flight days are numbered.

The beginning of the end?

"Personally, it's really sad. Watching the club where I came up on the verge of relegation has not been easy," former Turbine striker Conny Pohlers told DW. Like many of her contemporaries, Pohlers developed into a Germany international in Potsdam.

With players like Pohlers and Mittag contributing to a larger legacy at Turbine that includes two Champions League trophies, six Bundesliga titles and three German Cups, the club will always have their history. Its fans hope that won't soon be all that is left.

"It'd be a blow, especially for football in eastern Germany," Turbine supporter Frank said. "And if they get relegated, they're not coming back to the Bundesliga. To lose such a traditional club would be bitter."

Though not optimistic about the immediate future, Mittag believes shifting strategy could still help ensure the club's long-term survival.

"They (still) have that big name. Maybe they can change how they recruit players and focus on scouting and developing young players. They probably need to change in order to turn things around," she said.

And while letting go of past glory and retooling into a development club could be a viable way forward for a side with decades of know-how but limited resources, the more pressing concern is battling for unlikely survival this season.

"Sure, there's pressure, but we knew there would be from the beginning of the season. I am truly positive we can do it, I believe in this team," Weidauer said.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Some 4.3 million people in northeast Nigeria are projected to face severe hunger during the lean season between June and August, the UN warned on Friday.

Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a UN weekly press briefing that the period between harvests, where people typically struggle to meet their food needs, is set to begin next month and OCHA is "raising the alarm of widespread hunger and child malnutrition in the conflict-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe."

Laerke said their analysis shows that almost 600,000 people of 4.3 million are facing emergency levels of food shortage.

An estimated 2 million children under 5 in the three states are facing wasting, he stressed, adding that about 700,000 of them are at risk of severe wasting.

They are "11 times more likely to die compared to well-nourished children" and "need immediate interventions," he said.

The World Food Program, he said, is increasing its efforts to give emergency food and nutrition aid to 2.1 million people, while UNICEF provides therapeutic treatment to acutely malnourished children.

"However, the message from our colleagues in Nigeria is clear: we must further scale up interventions including food, therapeutic food, and livelihood assistance."

Laerke warned that the situation for millions of people could turn "catastrophic," as he drew attention to the lack of funding as only 11% of the $1.3 billion needed for the northeast in 2023 has been met.

"The longer families go unassisted, the greater the risk of starvation and death, and more people may be forced into damaging and harmful coping strategies such as survival sex, selling their possessions, and child labor," he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

"Someone has to take responsibility for all that's happened," says a man in a Belgrade café. "On the other hand… tragedies like this keep happening everywhere in the world."

Like all of Serbia, this middle-aged man is trying to make sense of why the Balkan country has just experienced two fatal mass shootings in the space of two days. It is almost the only topic of conversation. Many people are experiencing a confusing mix of grief and anger. Belgrade, normally known for its noisy streets and buzzing nightlife, is noticeably quiet.

Still in shock after Wednesday's bloodbath at a school in the capital, the country awoke on Friday to news of another mass shooting. This time, another eight people had been killed and 13 wounded, some of them critically.

Full-scale manhunt

The gunman, Uros B. (21), who has since been arrested, is the son of an army officer. On Thursday evening, he fired an automatic weapon at passersby in the village of Orasje, around 50 kilometers south of Belgrade. The initial victims were almost all young people who had met up near the village school for an evening picnic, beer and a barbecue.

The attacker went on to kill more people in two neighboring villages before eventually fleeing. A full-scale manhunt ensued, involving anti-terrorist units, sniffer dogs and helicopters. Uros B. was finally arrested in central Serbia on Friday morning.

Highest number of weapons per capita

Serbia is the country with the highest number of legal and illegal weapons per capita in Europe. Many of them date back to the time of the Yugoslavian wars, after which they remained in private hands. Domestic violence is also a widespread, everyday phenomenon; so is gang crime.

Until this week, though, mass shootings have been a very rare occurrence. And now: two massacres in two days? Many people you meet on the street have reacted almost superstitiously to the tragedies.

On Wednesday, a 13-year-old boy killed eight of his fellow pupils and a security guard at a primary school in the middle-class Belgrade district of Vracar. He had planned the attack carefully in advance, and carried it out using weapons that were legally owned by his father. Thousands of people have been gathering outside the school in the aftermath, leaving white flowers and lighting candles.

Seeking an explanation

"Serbian society is both armed and deeply traumatized, and has been for more than three decades," said Momir Turudic, the editor of the Belgrade weekly magazine Vreme, in an interview with DW. "I would almost say it's a miracle that we haven't seen atrocities like this before."

The journalist is dismayed to see that, even at a time like this, his country is still split along deep political divides. After the massacre at the school on Wednesday, it wasn't long before politicians, journalists and intellectuals were trying to outdo each other in the media and on social networks, speculating and apportioning blame.

Some — including some members of the government — blame the tragedies on "Western values," video games, and people turning away from tradition. Others say Serbia's autocratic system of government and the constant rabble-rousing in the tabloid media are responsible. Others still see the fondness for Russia that is widespread in Serbia, and indeed traditional values, behind the rampages.

"Instead of quietly grieving, we saw aggression and political games-playing yet again. You could almost predict that, with that kind of atmosphere, people would instrumentalize it for their own political ends," Turudic told DW.

Gun laws to be tightened

The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, appeared before the press again on Friday. He has ruled the Balkan country almost absolutely, with an iron fist, for eleven years, and keeps most of the media on a very short leash.

Vucic described the bloodbath in the three villages as "terrorism" and an "attack on the whole country." He did not, however, provide any evidence of this. It is still unclear what the perpetrator's motivation was. It seems he may have fired at people randomly following a private quarrel.

"The attacker will not see daylight again," Vucic promised. The president presented himself at the press conference as the father of the nation getting to grips with the problem. He wants to see the age of criminal responsibility lowered from 14 to 12, and says there are plans to deploy more so-called school police. He is also promising regular drug tests for children, and the blocking of certain online content. Gun laws will also be tightened, he says, with a sentence of up to 12 years imprisonment for the possession of an illegal weapon. "We will disarm Serbia," the president declared.

Many are skeptical as to whether further repression will help to deal with the problem of violence in Serbia. "People would be well advised to listen to experts and not come up with new measures like these overnight," says the journalist Turudic. "It's inappropriate, to say the least, that the government and opposition are engaging in political mudslinging right now, with reciprocal accusations and hasty conclusions."

Serbia has declared three days of national mourning, starting on Friday. But will this week bring about national catharsis, and self-criticism in the political and media systems? No one in Serbia seems to think so.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Climate change is a global problem that poses a serious threat to people all over the world, particularly to the poor, and requires regional and global cooperation and mechanisms to address, underlined a prominent Greek climate scientist.

While wealthier people obviously have the ability to protect themselves from climate change and its effects such as extreme heat, life will grow harder and harder for the poor people, Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the National Observatory of Athens, told Anadolu in an exclusive interview.

'To put it simply, when there is an extreme heatwave, those who can afford can turn on their air-conditioners without worrying about the electricity bill. Likewise, if drought leads to higher food prices, the rich would still be able to eat whatever they want,' he said.

Also, climate change is more dangerous for metropolitans where people live in packed districts than rural areas, added Lagouvardos, noting that they are more exposed to the hazardous effects of the extreme heat and floods.

'Europe fastest-warming continent'

Geographically speaking, he said, the effects of climate change are more visible in Europe.

'According to the data from European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe has been the fastest-warming continent in the world. Temperatures in Europe have increased by more than twice the global average over the past 30 years,' Lagouvardos said.

While warming is a continent-wide phenomenon, lack of rain and above-average temperature showed its negative consequences particularly in Portugal, Spain, and Italy in the forms of droughts and wildfires in early spring, he noted.

According to Lagouvardos, parts of Trkiye and Greece experienced below-average temperatures in an opposite warming trend that took the continent under its influence.

'Specifically, the temperatures in most parts of Crete island of Greece and central Anatolia in Trkiye remained below-average, which is exceptional in the European context.'

When asked about the warnings by some experts that the western part of Trkiye and Greece can experience extremely hot weather this summer with temperatures up to 50 Celcius, he said there is no sufficient scientific data or proof to support such claims.

'We, however, should be ready for the worst scenario,' said Lagouvardos.

New mechanisms, cooperation

Calling for global cooperation and the mechanisms to address the issue, he said: 'What needs to be done globally is reducing carbon emission, the biggest cause of climate change. To this end, the transformation to green energy should be further accelerated. Also important is to build mechanisms that would facilitate this transformation and enforce universal rules.'

As to the regional efforts, Trkiye and Greece can join forces to combat climate change, he asserted.

'I cannot say what kind of initiatives and policies politicians can devise, but I, as a scientist, would like close cooperation with my Turkish colleagues. We can exchange relevant data and findings of surveys and co-develop projects, among other things. The climate change issue presents us, neighbors, a very good opportunity to work together,' Lagouvardos concluded.

Source: Anadolu Agency

There is no doubt that the coronation ceremony in London's Westminster Abbey will be a solemn affair, with music befitting the occasion.

As he wanted a contemporary touch, King Charles III commissioned 12 new pieces of music, among others from musical legend Andrew Lloyd Webber and film composer Patrick Doyle. The latter contributed a coronation march, and Webber had the honor of writing a new coronation anthem.

The orchestra was put together just for the coronation ceremony. Some of the musicians are from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Renowned soloists will play; several choirs, including a gospel choir, will perform, too. There will be Greek Orthodox music in honor of Charles' late father, Prince Philip, who was in younger years a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.

When the Archbishop of Canterbury places the crown on the King's head at 12 noon, trumpets will sound, accompanied by gun salutes.

Concert in Windsor Park

The day after the coronation ceremony, the royal family hosts a big concert event in the garden of Windsor Castle, featuring live music from pop stars like Lionel Richie and Katy Perry, both ambassadors for various of the king's foundations and charities. Some 20,000 guests have been invited.

Pop band Take That will take the stage in its current trio lineup, but there are rumors that Jason Orange might not want to miss out on joining his old band to sing for the newly crowned royal couple. Robbie Williams made it clear earlier this year he would not participate.

Take That played for Queen Elizabeth a few times over the years, but this event is special even for the former boy band. "A huge live band and orchestra, a choir, military drummers, the backdrop of Windsor Castle and the celebration of a new King. We can't wait," the pop icons said.

Some big name pop stars are missing

Opera buffs can look forward to Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli in a duet with Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel. Singer songwriter Freya Ridings is performing a duet with Alexis Ffrench, a composer and pianist who combines classical music with soul.

There will be a special Coronation Choir made up of singers from all over the UK, including shanty singers, farmers, cab drivers and reggae groups — backed up by a virtual choir with singers from all over the Commonwealth.

Other famous British pop stars that immediately come to mind including Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Adele were either not asked to perform or had to cancel for scheduling reasons, like Australian pop diva Kylie Minogue.

Pop classics on Spotify playlist

The British Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) put together a "Coronation Celebration Playlist" on Spotify that presents 26 songs from seven decades of British pop music.

It starts off with The Beatles ("Come together") and zips through the decades with music from Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Take That, Harry Styles, the Pet Shop Boys and many more.

Many of the pop classics are great dance songs, and one out of five is about reaching for the stars.

The most recent song on the playlist is Sam Ryder's "Space Man." He came in second in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, right after the Ukrainian entry. Since the winning country will not be able to host the event because of the war, the popular music competition will be therefore held in the UK this year.

Too few Commonwealth countries

At first glance the playlist looks fine, but critics soon addressed individual issues.

Originally, the list had 28 tracks, but Dizzee Rascal was dropped after those responsible learned that the rapper is currently on appeal after a conviction for assaulting his ex-fiancée.

Track number 27 also disappeared from the playlist. The Scottish rock duo The Proclaimers had that slot with the hit "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," but was dropped for the band's anti-monarchy views.

A closer look also reveals that there are no artists from African or Pacific Commonwealth countries. Only three are not British acts: Jamaican Grace Jones, Canadian Michael Buble, and the German-Caribbean band Boney M. There are no other artists from the more than 50 Commonwealth countries, like Rihanna who hails from Barbados and Kylie Minogue from Australia.

Critics also point out a lack of diversity: Too many white artists, too few female artists.

Source: Deutsche Welle