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Singapore Apr 26 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Climate scientists, used to dealing with sceptics, are under siege like never before, targeted by hate emails brimming with abuse and accusations of fabricating global warming data. Some emails contain thinly veiled death threats. Across the Internet, climate blogs are no less venomous, underscoring the surge in abuse over the past six months triggered by purported evidence that global warming is either a hoax or the threat from a warmer world is grossly overstated. A major source of the anger is from companies with a vested interest in fighting green legislation that might curtail their activities or make their operations more costly. "The attacks against climate science represent the most highly coordinated, heavily financed, attack against science that we have ever witnessed," said climate scientist Michael Mann, from Pennsylvania State University in the United States. "The evidence for the reality of human-caused climate change gets stronger with each additional year," Mann told Reuters in emailed responses to questions. Greenpeace and other groups say that some energy companies are giving millions to groups that oppose climate change science because of concerns about the multi-billion dollar costs associated with carbon trading schemes and clean energy policies. For example, rich nations including the United States, Japan and Australia, are looking to introduce emissions caps and a regulated market for trading those emissions. More broadly, the United Nations is trying to seal a tougher climate accord to curb emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation blamed for heating up the planet. Other opponents are drawn into the debate by deep concerns that governments will trample on freedoms or expand their powers as they try to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and minimise the impacts of higher temperatures. "There are two kinds of opponents -- one is the fossil fuel lobby. So you have a trillion-dollar industry that's protecting market share," said Stephen Schneider of Stanford University in California, referring to the oil industry's long history of funding climate sceptic groups and think tanks. "And then you have the ideologues who have a deep hatred of government involvement," said Schneider, a veteran climate scientist and author of the book "Science as a contact sport." The result is a potent mix that has given the debate a quasi-religious tone with some climate critics coming from the right-wing fringe and making arguments as emotive as those raised in the abortion and creationism debates in the United States. The debate has largely become drawn along political lines, at least in the U.S., where opponents in the Republican Party question climate science and raise doubts over the need to implement greener policies such as those espoused by climate change campaigner and former Vice President, Al Gore. In a party conference in April, Republican firebrand Sarah Palin, a potential 2012 presidential nominee, mocked what she called the "snake-oil-based, global warming, Gore-gate" crowd. The green lobby is also to blame. Exaggerations by some green interest groups, which have at times over-played the immediacy of the problem to bring about a groundswell of support for a new U.N. climate treaty and green policies, have given sceptics plenty of ammunition. Sceptics also point to admissions in a 2007 report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change that there is a 10 percent chance global warming is part of a natural cycle. The same report says there's a 90 percent probability that climate change is due to human activities led by burning fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the sceptics demand 100 percent certainty, something that researchers say is impossible. "THIS TIME IT'S DIFFERENT" Scientists and conservationists say some anti-climate change lobbyists are funded by energy giants such as ExxonMobil, which has a long history of donating money to interest groups that challenge climate science. According to a Greenpeace report released last month, ExxonMobil gave nearly $9 million to entities linked to the climate denialist camp between 2005 and 2008. The report, using mandatory SEC reporting on charitable contributions, also shows that foundations linked to Kansas-based Koch Industries, a privately owned petrochemical and chemicals giant, gave nearly $25 million (17 millon pounds). Koch said the Greenpeace report mischaracterised the company's efforts. "We've strived to encourage an intellectually honest debate on the scientific basis for claims of harm from greenhouse gases," the company said in a note on its website. ExxonMobil makes no secret of funding a range of groups, but says it has also discontinued contributions to several public policy research groups. "We contribute to an array of public policy organisations that research and promote discussion on climate change and other domestic and international issues," the company says on its website. Stanford's Schneider has dealt with sceptics for years. But this time, he says, it's different. "I don't see it stopping," said Schneider by telephone. "I see it intensifying. The ugliness is what's new." One of the thinly veiled death threats that Schneider has received says: "You communistic dupe of the U.N. who wants to impose world government on us and take away American freedom of religion and economy -- you are a traitor to the U.S., belong in jail and should be executed." HACKED EMAILS Scientists say there is a wealth of data showing the planet is warming, that it's being triggered by rising levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and that man is to blame. Sceptics counter this by saying that rising CO2 levels is natural and harmless and that it's impossible for mankind to influence the way the planet functions. Others play up doubts or errors in some scientific studies to undermine it all. Many also say warming has stalled, pointing to the recent burst of cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere as evidence of global cooling, even though satellite data show that, overall, November 2009 to January 2010 was the warmest Jan-Nov the world has seen since satellite temperature data began in 1979. Then came the release of emails hacked late last year from a British climate research unit. The "climategate" emails, totalling more than 1,000, were stolen from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU), and involve correspondence between director Phil Jones and other leading climate scientists, including Schneider and Mann. The emails led to allegations the scientists fudged data to bolster the case for mankind causing global warming, setting off a surge of criticism across the Internet accusing climate scientists of a massive hoax. "This whole thing has gone viral on the Internet," said Cindy Baxter of Greenpeace, author of a recent report "Dealing in Doubt: The Climate Denial Industry and Climate Science." "You've got all those voices out there on the blogosphere who are then picked up and echoed," she told Reuters. The University of East Anglia has been a particular target. "There have been an awful lot of abusive emails since 'climategate' broke," said university spokesman Simon Dunford. Sceptics were accused of very selectively choosing only a small number of the hacked emails and taking comments out of context to misrepresent the scientists' meaning. A British government inquiry cleared Jones of any wrongdoing, but said CRU was wrong to withhold information from sceptics. Mann, who was accused of falsifying data, was cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal investigation by Penn State University.

With the vehicle stalled in waist-deep water on Route 22 in Bridgewater, New Jersey, she and her 15-year-old daughter climbed out. They clung to a tree as the torrent rushed past, according to a close family friend and neighbour, Mansi Mago. Then the tree gave way, and “the water took her,” said Mago, recounting what another stranded motorist told her hours later. A 46-year-old software designer who emigrated from India, Kanche was one of six people who were still missing two days after Ida caused the deaths of at least 25 people in New Jersey — more fatalities than in any other state — as the monster storm whipped its way onto the Gulf Coast and tore north to New England. At least one-third of the fatalities in New Jersey were people who drowned after being trapped in vehicles in a densely packed state known for its car culture, its tangle of highways, suburban commuter towns and limited public transportation. Screeching alerts had sounded repeatedly on cellphones late Wednesday, warning people to stay inside, but no travel bans were put in place in New Jersey or New York, where 16 deaths — including 13 in New York City — have been linked to the storm. On Friday, in an acknowledgement of the growing risk of flash flooding as climate change unleashes increasingly intense storms, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would increase its use of evacuation orders and travel bans. In New Jersey, officials have not said whether they would apply new measures to protect the state given the likelihood of severe storms happening more frequently. As the region faced the daunting task of cleaning and clearing debris, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Gov Kathy Hochul of New York both said they were expecting large infusions of recovery aid from the federal government. President Joe Biden was expected to soon declare the states a federal disaster area. Murphy, speaking from Millburn, New Jersey, whose downtown commercial corridor had been ravaged by the rain, said the state would make $10 million in aid available to small businesses. “If you’ve been crushed and you can prove it, you’re eligible,” Murphy said. Early Friday, Murphy was still warning people to remain off the roads, especially near waterways that had not yet crested. “Many motorists have been caught by surprise that the depth of the water on a road that they thought they knew — not to mention the swiftness of the current,” Murphy said. “You can easily be swept away or trapped,” he said. “And sadly, we have many examples of just that.” The stories of devastation and death were tempered by the many tales of rescue in New Jersey, where the National Weather Service said three tornadoes also touched down during the storm, levelling homes in South Jersey but killing no one. In South Plainfield, New Jersey, a 31-year-old man, Danush Reddy, lost his footing as he was walking alongside a flooded roadway and was swept into a 36-inch-wide sewer pipe, borough officials said. His body was found miles away. But as the police searched for Reddy, they found a second man who had been sucked into the same pipe earlier Wednesday but had managed to survive by clinging to debris in the fast-moving current. “It really is a miracle,” said Glenn Cullen, South Plainfield’s administrator. A pregnant woman was plucked from the top of her car by police in Cranford, New Jersey, where streets turned into rivers and 300 people were still waiting for emergency help to pump out flooded basements at 11 am. Friday, Lt Matthew Nazzaro said. And in Millburn, a contractor heard a honking car horn and ran to help free the driver of a submerged Jeep. Then he went back for the man’s two laptop computers and let the stranded motorist sleep in his shop for the night. “He didn’t think of anything but helping me,” said the man, Joseph Siaba. “He gave me hope in humanity. At that moment I felt like COVID didn’t exist.” Siaba had been trying to make his way to Union City to visit his girlfriend and had made his way to Millburn after managing to get off Route 78 — a main artery in New Jersey where hundreds of drivers were stuck in cars until dawn Thursday. Ray McGrath, 52, had been heading home to Fanwood, New Jersey, after a service call in Manhattan when westbound traffic came to a standstill on Route 78 about 8:30pm Wednesday. Some drivers tried to plough ahead. “You could see them drive in and the car stopped and their lights went out,” said McGrath. He said he was marooned on the highway until about 5:30 am. “I just got comfortable and actually took a nap.” Four residents of an apartment complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey, did not have the same luxury of time. They died before they could escape from a first-floor apartment as water from the nearby Elizabeth River rushed through windows of the complex, the Oaks at Westminster. They were identified Friday as Rosa Espinal, 72; her husband, Jose Torres, 71; and their 38-year-old son, Jose. A neighbour, Shakia Garrett, also died in the flood. “It just rose so fast and so high,” said Tisha Dickson, one of 600 residents who had to be evacuated from the complex. J Christian Bollwage, a longtime mayor and lifelong resident of Elizabeth, said he had never seen flooding devastation so severe. The police had already towed 40 immobilised cars off the city’s major roadways, he said, and continued to clear five to 10 cars an hour Friday. Of the 25 confirmed deaths in New Jersey, eight people died trapped in cars, a state official said. At least one person was electrocuted and another person died of a heart attack after trying to push a car to safety. Hunterdon County in western New Jersey saw the most fatalities — six — followed by Somerset County, which had five. By Friday morning, power had been restored to 80,000 of the more than 92,000 households that had lost power during the storm, according to the state’s utility board. But fires caused by explosions at structures inundated by water were reported in Rahway and Manville. Murphy declared a state of emergency at 9 pm Wednesday, and had warned motorists hours earlier about the risks of flash flooding during an unrelated COVID-19 briefing. “Ida is going to be dropping water on already saturated ground, heightening the threat of flash flooding,” Murphy said. “If you are out and come across high waters, do not go into them — turn around, don’t drown.” “Let this storm pass,” he added, urging residents to remain off roads for all but emergency travel but stopping short of an outright ban. The volume of rain was staggering, shattering records that in some cases had been set only late last month when the remains of Hurricane Henri swept through the region. Newark Liberty International Airport recorded 8.44 inches of rain from 4 am Wednesday to 4 am Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Cranford, a township along the Rahway River in northern New Jersey, had close to 10 inches of rain — more than double what weather forecasters had predicted, and in half the time anticipated, Nazzaro said. “I just don’t think people expected the magnitude of the flash flooding,” he said. While there were no deaths, Cranford’s police and fire departments responded to at least 15 calls of people trapped inside cars. Helicopters hovered overhead Thursday, broadcasting images nationwide of the flood-ravaged township. Farther north, along the Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey, the roads were equally treacherous. Rickie Ricardo, a New York Yankees announcer, recounted how he drove through floodwaters to rescue his fellow announcer, John Sterling, 83, who was trapped in a Cadillac while trying to drive home to Edgewater after calling the game Wednesday night from Yankee Stadium. Their colleague, Suzyn Waldman, had gotten a call from Sterling, who reported being stranded in high water on River Road. She knew that Ricardo, who left the stadium about 10:30 p.m., would be headed home the same way. “It was nuts,” Ricardo, who announces the Yankees games in Spanish, said in an interview. “I live in Florida, too. I’m used to hurricanes, been through several, but in this environment — all that rain and loose rubble — I had never experienced that before. It was so much water.” He eventually reached the Cadillac, and helped guide Sterling out the passenger side and into his Jeep as water began to cover its hood. “The real hero,” he said, “was my Jeep.” On Friday afternoon, Kanche’s family in Raritan, New Jersey, received the news they had been dreading. The police had found a body of a woman matching Kanche’s description. “It is with a heavy heart that I have to report the loss of one of our own citizens,” Raritan Mayor Zachary R Bray announced on Facebook, thanking police in Bridgewater “for their tireless efforts these last few days in the search for Malathi.” Precious Fondren, Matthew Goldstein and Ashley Wong contributed in the reporting, and Susan Beachy contributed in the research   ©The New York Times Company

Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher called "unbelievable." Thousands of the snow-white birds, which stand 2 feet tall with 5-foot wingspans, have been spotted from coast to coast, feeding in farmlands in Idaho, roosting on rooftops in Montana, gliding over golf courses in Missouri and soaring over shorelines in Massachusetts. A certain number of the iconic owls fly south from their Arctic breeding grounds each winter but rarely do so many venture so far away even amid large-scale, periodic southern migrations known as irruptions. "What we're seeing now -- it's unbelievable," said Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute in Montana. "This is the most significant wildlife event in decades," added Holt, who has studied snowy owls in their Arctic tundra ecosystem for two decades. Holt and other owl experts say the phenomenon is likely linked to lemmings, a rodent that accounts for 90 percent of the diet of snowy owls during breeding months that stretch from May into September. The largely nocturnal birds also prey on a host of other animals, from voles to geese. An especially plentiful supply of lemmings last season likely led to a population boom among owls that resulted in each breeding pair hatching as many as seven offspring. That compares to a typical clutch size of no more than two, Holt said. Greater competition this year for food in the Far North by the booming bird population may have then driven mostly younger, male owls much farther south than normal. Research on the animals is scarce because of the remoteness and extreme conditions of the terrain the owls occupy, including northern Russia and Scandinavia, he said. The surge in snowy owl sightings has brought birders flocking from Texas, Arizona and Utah to the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, pouring tourist dollars into local economies and crowding parks and wildlife areas. The irruption has triggered widespread public fascination that appears to span ages and interests. "For the last couple months, every other visitor asks if we've seen a snowy owl today," said Frances Tanaka, a volunteer for the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Olympia, Washington. But accounts of emaciated owls at some sites -- including a food-starved bird that dropped dead in a farmer's field in Wisconsin -- suggest the migration has a darker side. And Holt said an owl that landed at an airport in Hawaii in November was shot and killed to avoid collisions with planes. He said snowy owl populations are believed to be in an overall decline, possibly because a changing climate has lessened the abundance of vegetation like grasses that lemmings rely on. This winter's snowy owl outbreak, with multiple sightings as far south as Oklahoma, remains largely a mystery of nature. "There's a lot of speculation. As far as hard evidence, we really don't know," Holt said.

While stopping short of declaring victory, Biden launched a website for a transition to a Democratic-controlled White House. His team called it buildbackbetter.com and declared "the Biden-Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One." As Trump spent part of the day airing grievances over Twitter, Biden pledged to govern as a unifier if triumphant. "What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart," Biden, appearing with his running mate Kamala Harris, said in his home state of Delaware on Wednesday. At the moment, not including Wisconsin, where the Republican Trump has demanded a recount, Edison Research gives Biden a 243 to 213 lead over Trump in Electoral College votes, which are largely based on a state's population. A former vice president with five decades in public life, Biden, 77, was projected by television networks to win the Midwestern states of Michigan and Wisconsin, a boost to his hopes of entering the White House on Jan 20. Trump, 74, who won both states in 2016, now has fewer options to secure a second four-year term. He hopes to avoid becoming the first incumbent US president to lose a re-election bid since George HW Bush in 1992. People react to the news of Democratic US presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden winning Michigan, after Election Day in Washington Trump has long sought to undermine the credibility of the voting process if he lost. Since Tuesday, he has falsely declared victory, accused Democrats of trying to steal the election without evidence and vowed to fight states in court. People react to the news of Democratic US presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden winning Michigan, after Election Day in Washington US election experts say fraud is very rare. Trump's campaign fought to keep his chances alive with the demand for a Wisconsin recount as well as lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania to stop vote counting. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson called his team's lawsuit "frivolous." His campaign filed a lawsuit in Georgia to require that Chatham County, which includes the city of Savannah, separate and secure late-arriving ballots to ensure they are not counted. It also asked the US Supreme Court to allow Trump to join a pending lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania Republicans over whether the battleground state should be permitted to accept late-arriving ballots. The manoeuvres amounted to a broad effort to contest the results of a still undecided election a day after millions of Americans went to the polls during the coronavirus pandemic that has upended daily life. While fighting to stop the count in states where he feared losing, Trump blasted news organisations that projected losses in Arizona and Nevada, two states he thought he should be winning. He tweeted his consternation over mail-in voting. "They are finding Biden votes all over the place -- in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!" he posted on Twitter. Biden said every vote must be counted. "No one's going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever," he said. Voting concluded on Tuesday night, but many states routinely take days to finish counting ballots, bolstered by a surge in mail-in ballots nationally because of the coronavirus pandemic. Other closely contested states, including Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, were still counting votes, leaving the national election outcome uncertain. THE PANDEMIC EFFECT The contentious aftermath capped a vitriolic campaign that unfolded amid a pandemic that has killed more than 233,000 people in the United States and left millions more jobless. The country has grappled also with months of unrest involving protests over racism and police brutality. US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is seen delivering remarks through television monitors from the White House Briefing Room in Washington, US, November 4, 2020. REUTERS The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new infections, and hospitals in several states reported a rising tide of patients, according to a Reuters tally. US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is seen delivering remarks through television monitors from the White House Briefing Room in Washington, US, November 4, 2020. REUTERS Supporters of both candidates expressed anger, frustration and fear with little clarity on when the election would be resolved. Trump held a narrow lead in North Carolina, while his lead dwindled in Georgia, and Biden led in Arizona. Should he win Arizona, Biden would be only the second Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in 72 years. Trump won it in 2016. Trump supporters in Arizona gathered at the state Capitol to rally for the president. Protesters wrapped in American flags chanted, “count the votes!” and “stop the steal!” In Pennsylvania, Trump's lead dropped to around 164,000 votes as officials gradually worked their way through millions of mail-in ballots, which were seen as likely to benefit Biden. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien called the president the winner in Pennsylvania. Biden said he felt "very good" about his chances in the state. In the nationwide popular vote, Biden on Wednesday was comfortably ahead of Trump, with 3.5 million more votes. Trump won the 2016 election over Democrat Hillary Clinton after winning crucial battleground states even though she drew about 3 million more votes nationwide. Legal experts had warned the election could get bogged down in state-by-state litigation over a host of issues, including whether states can include late-arriving ballots that were mailed by Election Day. Both campaigns marshalled teams of lawyers to prepare for any disputes. If victorious, Biden will face a tough battle to govern, with Republicans appearing poised to keep control of the US Senate and likely block large parts of his legislative agenda, including expanding healthcare and fighting climate change.

Her remarks came on Wednesday while addressing the Bangladesh Development Forum 2018 at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka. “For this, the developed countries will have to come forward with financial and technical assistance to implement the development goals,” she said. On the issue of combating climate change, Hasina said apart from ‘traditional financial assistance’, the global community needs to focus on the world trade system as it can contribute to overall development, including poverty alleviation and job creation. Describing Bangladesh’s achievement on the socio-economic avenue, she said: “In order to upgrade Bangladesh to a developed and prosperous country by 2041, we have to achieve the target of our five-year plan, Vision 2021 and the United Nations-declared sustainable development goals 2030.” “We have been working on implementing Vision 2021. Vision 2021 aims at transforming Bangladesh into a middle-income country.” Hasina hopes the Bangladesh Development Forum will play a key role in devising strategies for a ‘poverty-hunger-free and prosperous Bangladesh’. “Bangladesh is the country of huge potential. We have the confidence and materials to express ourselves as a dynamic economy before the world.” Bangladesh is currently the 44th largest economy on the basis of GDP and is the 32nd on the purchasing power parity, said the prime minister. “According to international financial analysts, by 2030 and 2050, Bangladesh will become the 28th and 23rd largest economy respectively, based on GDP and purchasing capacity.” Bangladesh will achieve the qualification of graduation out of LDC category at the United Nations Committee for Development Policy’s three-year review meeting in March. “However, as LDC, Bangladesh is currently enjoying a number of benefits which will be discontinued after the graduation. It is possible to make up for it by increasing economic mobility and work preparation. Bangladesh has taken strategic preparations to face its impact,” said Hasina. Bangladesh’s economic activities focus on regional communication and infrastructure, efficiency and employment, technology and institutional strengthening, economic and social equality, women’s empowerment and equal opportunities for everyone, she said. “In the development of ongoing progress, we consider private partnerships including international partner countries and organisations as important,” she said adding the government’s move for 100 economic zones across the country is part of that initiative. Underscoring rapid growth investment, Hasina said a ‘geometric increase’ in productivity can solve the investment limitations of Bangladesh.  The Bangladesh Development Forum brings together 700 delegations representing the government and development partners to discuss issues related to financing for sustainable development goals to help Bangladesh graduate from the least developed countries' group. The two-day event at the Sonargaon Hotel will see sessions on agriculture and extreme climate conditions, creating enabling environment for foreign direct investment, addressing inequality and fostering quality education and ICT. Sessions on addressing violence against women and ensuring women empowerment and improving urban service delivery will be held on the concluding day.

President Donald Trump alleged fraud without providing evidence, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided two days after polls closed. The race was coming down to close contests in five states. Biden held narrow leads in Nevada and Arizona while Trump was watching his slim advantage fade in must-win states Pennsylvania and Georgia as mail-in and absentee votes were being counted. The Republican president clung to a narrow lead in North Carolina as well, another must-win for him. Trump had to win the states where he was still ahead plus either Arizona or Nevada to triumph and avoid becoming the first incumbent US president to lose a re-election bid since fellow Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992. Edison Research gave Biden a 243 to 213 lead in Electoral College votes, which are largely based on a state's population. Other networks said Biden had won Wisconsin, which would give him another 10 votes. To win, a candidate needs 270 votes. The counting and court challenges set the stage for days if not weeks of uncertainty before the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14 and the next president is sworn in on Jan 20. RAZOR-THIN MARGINS With tensions rising, about 200 of Trump's supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, gathered outside an election office in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday following unsubstantiated rumors that votes were not being counted. In Detroit, officials blocked about 30 people, mostly Republicans, from entering a vote-counting facility amid unfounded claims that the vote count in Michigan was fraudulent. Anti-Trump protesters in other cities demanded that vote counting continue. Police arrested 11 people and seized weapons in Portland, Oregon after reports of rioting, while arrests were also made in New York, Denver and Minneapolis. Over 100 events are planned across the country between Wednesday and Saturday. By early Thursday, Biden had 3.6 million more votes than Trump nationwide, but margins were razor-thin in several states. In Wisconsin, Biden led Trump by roughly 21,000 votes out of 3.3 million cast. In Georgia, Trump led by 19,000 votes out of nearly 5 million cast. Biden, 77, predicted victory on Wednesday and launched a website to begin the transition to a Democratic-controlled White House. Trump, 74, has long sought to undermine the credibility of the voting process if he lost. Since Tuesday's Election Day, he has falsely declared victory, accused Democrats of trying to steal the election without evidence and vowed to fight states in court. US election experts say fraud is rare. Trump's campaign called for a Wisconsin recount - which he would be entitled to given the slim margin there - as well filing lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania to stop vote counting. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, in charge of elections, called the Trump team's lawsuit "frivolous." Trump's campaign filed a lawsuit in Georgia to require that Chatham County, which includes the city of Savannah, separate and secure late-arriving ballots to ensure they are not counted. It also asked the US Supreme Court to allow Trump to join a pending lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania Republicans over whether the battleground state should be permitted to accept late-arriving ballots. The manoeuvres amounted to a broad effort to contest the results before counting has concluded. "They are finding Biden votes all over the place - in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!" Trump posted on Twitter. Biden said every vote must be counted. "No one's going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever," he said on Wednesday. POTENTIAL GRIDLOCK If victorious, Biden will face a tough battle to govern, with Republicans appearing poised to keep control of the US Senate, which they could use to block large parts of his legislative agenda, including expanding healthcare and fighting climate change. US stock index futures jumped on Thursday as investors bet that potential gridlock in Washington could reduce the chance of major policy changes, although concerns remained about the risk of a contested election. The contentious election aftermath capped a vitriolic campaign that unfolded amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 233,000 people in the United States and left millions more jobless. The country has also grappled with months of unrest involving protests over racism and police brutality. The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new infections, according to a Reuters tally. Supporters of both candidates expressed anger, frustration and fear with little clarity on when the election would be resolved. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 after winning crucial battleground states even though she drew about 3 million more votes nationwide. Republican candidates have won the popular vote only once since the 1980s, though they have won three out of seven presidential elections during that period due to the Electoral College system.

Climate change could erode the human rights of people living in small island states, coastal areas and parts of the world subjected to drought and floods, the UN Human Rights Council said on Friday. In its first consideration of the issue, the United Nations forum's 47 member states endorsed by consensus a resolution stressing that global warming could threaten the livelihoods and welfare of many of the world's most vulnerable people. They backed the proposal from the Maldives, Comoros, Tuvalu, Micronesia and other countries for "a detained analytical study of the relationship between climate change and human rights," to be conducted by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. "Until now, the global discourse on climate change has tended to focus on the physical or natural impacts of climate change," Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, the Maldives' ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the session. "The immediate and far-reaching impact of the phenomenon on human beings around the world has been largely neglected," he said. "It is time to redress this imbalance by highlighting the human face of climate change." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made the fight against climate change one of his top priorities, and encouraged all United Nations agencies to incorporate it into their work. International experts have warned that the expected impacts of climate change -- including rising sea levels and intense storms, droughts and floods -- could strip millions of people from access to housing, food and clean water. But diplomats at the United Nations have not yet sought to enshrine the right to protection from the effects of climate change in an international treaty, as has been done for other social and economic rights. Louise Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court justice, has announced she will not seek another term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights when her tenure ends on June 30. Her successor has not yet been named.

Its authors say 31 natural and cultural world heritage sites in 29 countries have been identified as affected by climate change. The impacts include rising temperatures, higher sea levels, more extreme weather, and fiercer droughts. The report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the UN Environment Programme and the Union of Concerned Scientists says climate change is rapidly proving to be one of the most significant risks for world heritage sites. In an ironic twist, one of the sites the report lists is a national park on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), 500 km west of Chile. It faces water shortage, sea level rise and coastal erosion. Some scientists have suggested that the collapse centuries ago of the island’s civilisation was caused by human over-exploitation of its resources. Tourist attractions The report says climate change is a major threat to some of the world’s most popular tourist attractions, to the tourism industry itself, and to the entire economies of some countries which are home to the sites. It says tourism, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economic sectors, generates 9 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and provides one job in every 11 globally. But the authors warn that unplanned or poorly managed tourism is itself a separate threat to many heritage sites. They list some of the climate threats to the sites, including damage from extreme wind and rainfall, coastal erosion, flooding and increasing damp. Changes in soil moisture destabilises building foundations, and thawing permafrost can cause problems for Arctic sites. Humidity causes mould, rot and insect infestations inside buildings. In the open air, earthen architecture is at particular risk, and many such sites – for example, the Djenné mosque in Mali, West Africa – are in jeopardy. Rising sea levels in the Adriatic have already damaged hundreds of buildings in Venice. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy raised wave heights in New York Harbour to a record 9.91 metres, and the Statue of Liberty, the report says, faces a drastically increased risk from future storms, although Sandy was judged to be a once-in-700-years event. Valuable lessons But while $100 million has been allocated to protecting the statue and its surroundings, and work to protect Venice costing $6 billion is nearing completion, the amount available to the World Heritage Fund totals $4 million – a drop in the ocean, the authors say, to support a thousand sites. The report includes a number of recommendations. One, which could be valuable more widely than to heritage and tourism alone, is to make sure we learn the lessons of the past while we can. It urges scientists to “analyse archaeological data and cultural heritage to use what can be learned from past human responses to climatic change to increase climate resilience for the future”. But it warns that there’s little time to lose: “Some of the archaeological resources that can provide insights for our future by opening windows on the past are in danger of being lost, particularly in rapidly warming Arctic regions and along eroding coastal and riverine sites.”

Officials had said the death toll could soar past 100 from twisters that tore through at least six states in the US Midwest and South on Friday night, while seeing little chance of finding survivors in the rubble two days later. In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear estimated the death toll at 80 and said it was certain to rise above 100, but that was based on suspicion that scores were killed when acandle factory was destroyed in the small city of Mayfield. Up to 70 people at the factory had been feared dead, but that number could be revised down to 16 or fewer, a company spokesman said, raising the possibility the governor's death toll estimate could come down significantly. Among the 110 people who were at the factory, eight have been confirmed dead and eight others remained missing, said Bob Ferguson, a spokesperson for Mayfield Consumer Products. "There were some early reports that as many as 70 could be dead in the factory. One is too many, but we thank God that the number is turning out to be far, far fewer," Ferguson told Reuters, adding that rescue teams were still searching for the eight who remained unaccounted for. It was unclear how many factory workers Beshear was counting in his estimated death toll, which he formulated on Saturday and said on Sunday remained unchanged - at least for now. "We're still getting information in on the candle factory. The owner has been in contact and believes he has some different information. We are trying verify it. If so, it may be a better situation and the miracle we were hoping for," Beshear told a news conference on Sunday evening. In any case, rescue workers continued to scour debris for survivors and many people without power, water or even a roof over their heads salvaged what they could two days after disaster struck. While Kentucky was hardest hit, six workers were killed at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in Illinois after the plant buckled under the force of the tornado, including one cargo driver who died in the bathroom, where many workers told Reuters they had been directed to shelter. A nursing home was struck in Arkansas, causing one of that state's two deaths. Four were reported dead in Tennessee and two in Missouri. DEVASTATION IN MAYFIELD Nowhere suffered as much as Mayfield, a community of about 10,000 in the southwestern corner of Kentucky, where the large twisters also destroyed the fire and police stations. "The very first thing that we have to do is grieve together and we're going to do that before we rebuild together," Beshear said, noting that one tornado tore across 227 miles (365 km) of terrain, almost all of that in Kentucky. The governor said the tornadoes were the most destructive in the state's history and that even the sturdiest structures of steel and brick were flattened. Forecasters say tornadoes are unusual during cold weather this late in the year, and President Joe Biden told reporters he would ask the Environmental Protection Agency to examine what role climate change may have played in fueling the storms. "It didn't take a roof, which is what we've seen in the past. It exploded the whole house. People, animals ... just gone," Beshear said of the storm system. More than 300 members of the National Guard were going door to door and removing debris. Teams were working to distribute water and generators. The US Federal Emergency Management Agency was opening shelters and sending teams and supplies, including 30,000 meals and 45,000 liters (12,000 gallons) of water. Across Mayfield, homes were flattened or missing roofs, giant trees had been uprooted and street signs were mangled. Laurie Lopez, 53, said the tornado "sounded like a freight train going through a brick house." Steve Wright, 61, said his apartment complex was largely spared, so he grabbed a flashlight after the storm passed and started looking for people who might be trapped. He ended up helping a father pull his dead 3-year-old child from the rubble. "It was bad. I helped dig out a dead baby, right up here," he said gesturing to debris that used to be a two-story house. "I prayed for both of them, that was all I could do."

Introducing his new foreign policy and national security team, the Democratic former vice president signalled he intends after taking office on Jan. 20 to steer the United States away from the "America First" nationalism pursued by Trump. The Republican incumbent has unsettled many US allies, in Europe and elsewhere, with an antagonistic approach toward the NATO alliance and trade relations, abandonment of international agreements and warm relationships with authoritarian leaders. Biden said his team, which includes trusted aide Antony Blinken as his nominee for US secretary of state, would shed what the president-elect described as "old thinking and unchanged habits" in its approach to foreign relations. "It's a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it, once again sit at the head of the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies, ready to stand up for our values," Biden said at the event in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. The world is much changed since Democrats were last in the White House four years ago. China is on the rise and emboldened, Russia has sought to further assert its clout, US influence has waned as it has pulled out of various accords, and American moral authority has been dented by turmoil at home. Biden also has tapped Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as US ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security and John Kerry as envoy on climate-related issues. They appeared with Biden and underscored his message. US foreign policy under a Biden administration is likely to take more of a multilateral and diplomatic approach aimed at repairing Washington's relationships with key US allies and pursue new paths on issues such as climate change. Biden said he has been struck in calls with roughly 20 world leaders "by how much they're looking forward to the United States reasserting its historic role as a global leader." His promise to embrace alliances, including in the Asia-Pacific region, follows a deterioration in bilateral ties between the United States and China, the world's top two economies, that has triggered comparisons to the Cold War. This final year of Trump's administration was marked by frequent China-bashing as the two powers sparred over China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, deteriorating freedoms in Hong Kong and territorial issues in the South China Sea. While China is unlikely to find a soft alternative to Trump with Biden, diplomats and analysts expect a more measured tone and intensified efforts to strengthen alliances to counter Beijing. In his remarks, Biden said that working with allies would help keep America safe without engaging in "needless military conflicts." He did not reference the country's longest war - the Afghanistan conflict - as Trump moves to reduce US forces. TRANSITION MOVES FORWARD Biden has moved swiftly to assemble his team and make Cabinet choices after defeating Trump in the Nov. 3 election. Trump has waged a flailing legal battle to try to overturn the results, falsely claiming the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. Biden urged the Senate to give his nominees who require confirmation by the chamber "a prompt hearing" and expressed hope he could work with Republicans "in good faith to move forward for the country." "Let's begin that work ... to heal and unite America as well as the world," Biden added. Some Republican senators, however, indicated they may be prepared to stand in the way of his Cabinet appointments. Marco Rubio, a Foreign Relations Committee member, wrote on Twitter that Biden's Cabinet picks "will be polite & orderly caretakers of America's decline." Trump has said he will never concede the election but after weeks of limbo his administration on Monday finally gave the green light for the formal transfer of power to begin. That process had been held up despite Biden emerging as the clear winner and world leaders recognising him as the next president. In another sign that Trump had all but accepted his election loss, the White House gave the go-ahead for Biden to start receiving the president's daily intelligence briefing. Critics have said Trump's refusal to accept the results undercut the incoming administration's ability to combat the intensifying pandemic that has killed about 259,000 Americans and left millions more without jobs. Pennsylvania became the latest pivotal state on Tuesday to certify that Biden had won. The Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday also confirmed Biden had won the state, sending the results to Nevada's Democratic governor for final certification.

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved the setting up of a technology institute aimed at plugging Europe's innovation gap with the United States and China. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is the brainchild of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who envisaged a 2.3 billion euro ($3.56 billion) campus-based institute to rival the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and study areas such as climate change. But faced with scepticism on the part of Britain and other EU states, the EIT will have a more modest start as a link to a network of universities and private research bodies. Reino Paasilinna, the Finnish socialist who steered the measure through parliament, said the United States was filing a third more patents with the European Patent Office than Europeans themselves. "Europe is lagging behind," he said. "We are trying to catch up with not just the United States but other economic powers as well. "Why don't we believe in our own ideas in Europe? Even when we have ideas they don't seem to lead to commercial applications." In the past 10 years China's spending on research and development has risen from virtually nil to 0.5 percent of gross domestic product, Paasilinna said. "This is an opportunity to boost Europe's innovation," EU Education Commissioner Jan Figel said of the project aimed at helping Europe retain more of its scientists and turning their inventions more successfully into commercial applications. Students from Poland handed out leaflets to lawmakers to campaign for Wroclaw to become home for the EIT, though Austria and Hungary are also vying to host the new body's secretariat. EU governments will decide on the winner. The final deal -- which has already been informally agreed with EU states who have joint say -- diluted the Commission's original draft by ditching a proposal for the EIT to award its own degrees. The assembly also insisted the new body start with a pilot phase and renamed the new body the European Institute of Innovation and Technology to emphasise innovation, although the EIT acronym will remain unchanged. EU states agreed last November to provide 309 million euros for the EIT out of the bloc's funds. Green Party members said the project was laudable but poorly defined and lacked a realistic budget.

SINGAPORE, Aug 28,(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Small changes in the energy output of the sun can have a major impact on global weather patterns, such as the intensity of the Indian monsoon, that could be predicted years in advance, a team of scientists said. The sun swings through an 11-year cycle measured in the number of sun spots on the surface that emit bursts of energy. The difference in energy is only about 0.1 percent between a solar maximum and minimum and determining just how that small variation affects the world's climate has been one of the great challenges facing meteorologists. Using a century of weather observations and complex computer models, the international team of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the United States showed that even a small increase in the sun's energy can intensify wind and rainfall patterns. "Small changes in the sun's output over the 11-year solar cycle have long been known to have impacts on the global climate system," said Julie Arblaster, from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, a co-author of the study published in the latest issue of the journal Science. "Here we reconcile for the first time the mechanisms by which these small variations get amplified, resulting in cooler sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific and enhancing off-equatorial rainfall." The researchers found that during periods of strong solar activity the air in the upper atmosphere, in a layer called the stratosphere, heats up. This occurs over the tropics, where sunlight is typically most intense. The extra warming alters wind patterns in the upper atmosphere, which in turn increases tropical rainfall. Increased sunlight at solar maximum also causes a slight warming of ocean surface waters across the subtropical Pacific, where clouds are normally scarce, says the study. This extra heat leads to more evaporation, producing additional water vapour. The extra moisture is carried by trade winds to the normally rainy areas of the western tropical Pacific, driving more rain. PREDICTIONS In the tropical eastern Pacific, sea surface temperatures cool a little, creating conditions similar to a La Nina event. La Nina is the opposite phenomenon to El Nino, producing wetter weather in the western Pacific and drier weather in parts of South America. The Indian monsoon and many other regional climate patterns are largely driven by rising and sinking air in the tropics and subtropics. Solar-cycle predictions could help meteorologists estimate how those circulation patterns, changes in sea surface temperatures and regional weather patterns might vary. "The sun, the stratosphere, and the oceans are connected in ways that can influence events such as winter rainfall in North America," says NCAR scientist Gerald Meehl, lead author of the study. "Understanding the role of the solar cycle can provide added insight as scientists work toward predicting regional weather patterns for the next couple of decades." The sun is presently in a calm period after reaching a solar minimum at the end of last year, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States. The next solar peak is expected in May 2013. (For more details, see: www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/) "This paper represents a useful step forward in understanding how solar activity may lead to modest but detectable climatic effects," said Brad Carter, senior lecturer in physics at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. "It is a good reminder that solar activity is not an explanation of global warming over recent decades."

The United States and some developing nations criticised on Saturday a new UN draft text seeking to break a deadlock at UN climate talks in Mexico on a modest package to help slow global warming. The 33-page text, outlining options for a possible deal at the halfway mark of the Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 meeting, underscored deep rifts between rich and poor about future curbs in greenhouse gas emissions and aid to help the poor. "It's not complete in some key areas," US deputy climate envoy Jonathan Pershing told delegates at the talks in the Caribbean resort of Cancun. It defines goals, including a new fund to help developing nations and ways to protect tropical forests and share clean technologies. A treaty is out of reach after world leaders failed to reach a binding deal last year in Copenhagen. Pershing said the text did not do enough, for instance, to ensure that developing nations would carry out promises to slow the growth of their carbon emissions. China has overtaken the United States as the top emitter. Some developing nations said the text, which outlines a goal of limiting global warming to a maximum average global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times, implied too weak action by the rich. AMBITION "This paper lacks sufficient ambition for the urgent protection of islands and of the world in the context of the threat of climate change," said Dessima Williams of Grenada, which heads the Alliance of Small Island States. Bolivia and Venezuela also slammed the text as too weak to avoid more droughts, floods, desertification and rising sea levels. Others including the European Union, reserved judgment on the text. Some praised it as a basis for talks. Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa urged delegates to compromise and said they had made progress on some areas in the first week. "I call upon you to act with a renewed sense of urgency," she said. Espinosa said she would brief about 60 environment ministers on Sunday about the state of the talks after a welcome dinner on Saturday night in Cancun. The new text leaves two options for solving a bitter dispute about the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which now obliges about 40 developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the 2008-2012 period. One allows an extension and another simply leaves its future unclear. Kyoto backers Japan, Mexico and Canada have insisted they will not extend Kyoto and want a new treaty to include emerging economies such as China and India. Poor nations say they will only do more if Kyoto backers lead by extending the 1997 deal. "The draft text provides a good basis for negotiation," said Gordon Shepherd, of the WWF International environment group. The text also includes two options for future aid to the poor -- one is $100 billion a year from 2020 as favored by rich nations, the other demands 1.5 percent of rich nations' gross domestic product, or a far higher sum.

WASHINGTON, Thu Apr 2, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a federal budget that embraces President Barack Obama's initiatives on healthcare, energy and education but leaves the government deeply in debt for the foreseeable future. The House budget is a slightly less expensive version of Obama's $3.55 trillion plan for fiscal 2010 starting October 1. The Senate is expected to follow late Thursday night passing its own budget plan. Democrats control both chambers. Passage of the budget bills would be a political victory for Obama, who has said the big increase in spending is central to his plan for rescuing the recession-mired U.S. economy. The House voted 233-196 to pass the Democrats' $3.45 trillion budget with no Republican support. It followed a 293-137 vote to reject a Republican alternative that would have slashed spending but expanded tax breaks. "Democrats know that those policies are the wrong way to go," House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. "Our budget lays the groundwork for a sustained, shared, and job-creating recovery." Republicans countered that the Democrats' plans were chock-full of too much spending and tax increases which would expand the federal government and hurt the economy further. "The Democrat plan to increase spending, to increase taxes, and increase the debt makes no difficult choices," said House Republican leader John Boehner. "It's a road map to disaster." A compromise version of the House and Senate Democrats' measures is expected to take form in coming weeks. The budget legislation is a non-binding spending blueprint that guides later tax and appropriations bills. The House measure includes special language to allow for speedier consideration of legislation to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system. The Senate budget does not. Republicans in both chambers and some Senate Democrats oppose the move, known as reconciliation. "At the end of the day, if bipartisanship does not yield healthcare reform, then we will have to move to reconciliation, and we hope that will be the course that the Senate agrees to take as well," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, told reporters. SETTING PRIORITIES Senators adopted proposals aimed at preventing cuts to the tax deduction for charitable contributions in order to raise revenue for healthcare reform. They also called for greater oversight over the $700 billion financial bailout program. Democrats in the Senate also stopped a Republican attempt to pull back $272 billion from the bailout program and a bid to claw back some of the $787 billion designated for economic stimulus. Hoyer called the House Democrats' five-year plan "a responsible and realistic budget that mirrors the president's priorities for healthcare, energy and education" that he also said would help buttress the flagging US economy. Obama seeks an overhaul of the healthcare system to control spiraling costs and insure millions of people without coverage. On energy, he wants to develop alternative sources and rein in industrial pollutants that contribute to climate change. Education funding would be increased to boost programs ranging from early learning to college tuition aid. Republicans see a dangerous expansion of government. "The administration's budget simply taxes too much, spends too much, and borrows too much at a moment when we can least afford it," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. The Senate Democratic majority's budget, at $3.41 trillion for next year, would continue some tax cuts for the middle class while allowing some taxes on the wealthy to rise.

Oil spill workers raced against time in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, hoping to take advantage of another day of calm seas in their fight to contain a huge spreading oil slick before it hits the US shoreline. Cleanup crews had a reprieve for a few days as the slow-moving slick spewing from a damaged deep-water well drifted sluggishly in calmer waters, and a flotilla of boats worked to lay miles of protective containment booms. "The winds are helpful to us, but on Thursday they begin to be less helpful," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said in New Orleans. BP, under heavy pressure in Washington since a deadly April 20 rig explosion triggered the breach, has scrambled to plug the gushing undersea leak that has threatened coastal fishing and tourism and reshaped the US political debate on offshore drilling. The company used remote-operated undersea vehicles to cap one of three leaks in the ruptured well, but oil still flowed at an unchanged rate of 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 litres) per day, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The company expects a giant steel containment device designed to be placed over the biggest of three leaks on the seabed to be shipped towards the site on Wednesday and to be operating in the next six days. The dome has never been tested at the depths of the leak and BP has said it has no guarantee of success. "What could happen here, it will be a bit frustrating at the beginning, but I'm confident we will find a way to make this work," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, told CNN. BP has also started drilling a relief well, but that could take two or three months to complete. BP shares recovered on Wednesday, gaining 1.8 percent, after almost two weeks of declines that wiped more than $32 billion (21.2 billion pounds) from the company's market value. The STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index rose 0.3 percent on Wednesday. Analysts said the sell-off after the spill was viewed as an overreaction. US oil prices were down about 1.7 percent at $81.03 a barrel on Wednesday. The White House and US lawmakers vowed to change a law limiting BP's liability for lost revenues from fishing, tourism and other businesses to $75 million. Suttles said BP, which has promised to pay cleanup costs, would pay "legitimate" claims. "I don't think the $75 million cap is going to be the issue," Suttles told CNN. "Any impacts that are legitimate and created by this, we'll meet those responsibilities." US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is scheduled to visit wildlife refuges in Alabama and Louisiana on Wednesday as part of efforts to keep the pressure on BP after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and started the flow of oil into the sea. On Tuesday, nearly 200 boats took part in one of the biggest oil-containment operations ever attempted, laying down and repairing miles of boom lines along Gulf shores. The slick is estimated to be at least 130 miles (208 km) by 70 miles (112 km) in size. At the Joint Information Centre in Roberts, Louisiana, Coast Guard Petty Officer Matthew Schofield said there had been no reports of thick oil on shore. Environmental regulators reported a "first sighting" of a slick near the Chandeleur Islands, three narrow islands off the southeast coast of Louisiana, on Tuesday. Local officials worried that yet another potential swing in wind direction could threaten the Chandeleurs. POLITICAL IMPACT The spill forced President Barack Obama to suspend plans to expand offshore oil drilling, unveiled last month partly to woo Republican support for climate legislation. The leak, still weeks or months away from being stopped, threatens to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez catastrophe in Alaska, the worst US oil spill. Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are also threatened by the leak. If the slick contacts the so-called Loop sea current, the oily sheen could eventually be carried to Miami in southern Florida, or as far as North Carolina's barrier islands, warned Robert Weisberg, a physical oceanographer at the University of South Florida. "Exactly when the oil will enter the Loop Current at the surface is unknown, but it appears to be imminent," Weisberg said, referring to the prevailing current in the Gulf. Asked about the possibility, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the agency did not forecast it in its 72-hour projection forecast window. The White House is planning to set up an office in the region and was starting daily conference calls, said Bill Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, which covers the southern tip of Louisiana. It fears a direct hit. "This is something that is going to cause mental anguish. It is causing it to me because I truly don't know what to do," he told fishermen in Pointe-a-la-Hache, a tiny village on the bank of the Mississippi River. "But we are going to see it through. We are going to make it." A growing political debate over the environmental impact of offshore drilling was fuelled by the spill. Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, shot back at critics calling for the shutdown of drilling. "They are absolutely wrong," she told CNN. Ending drilling is "not going to do anything to clean our environment, it's not going to do anything to create jobs -- it will lose jobs -- and it is not going to do anything to make America safe and energy-independent."

Sometimes his political messages were blunt, like when he pleaded before the US Congress for Americans to end "hostility" toward immigrants. Other times, they were more subtle, like the climate-conscious pope's decision to ride around in a tiny Fiat rather than a gas-guzzling SUV. While Vatican officials said the pope was only re-stating Church social teachings and not making political statements in his first US visit ever, many in the public and across the political landscape saw it differently. Among them, 42-year-old Gabriela Muñoz of Brooklyn, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, who said the pope's comments on immigration had given her "a lot of hope and faith”. "Even if it's a small thing, it has to have touched the heart of congressmen," she said. But in an acutely polarised Congress, it was unclear if lawmakers' minds were changed by Francis' words in Washington or at the United Nations, where he condemned the "boundless thirst" for wealth and power. Shortly before arrival, Francis denied he was a leftist, despite his criticisms of the excesses of capitalism. Pope Francis waves from the popemobile during a parade in Philadelphia September 27, 2015. Reuters His speeches gave both Democrats and Republican fodder to support the intense partisan battles that define modern Washington. Pope Francis waves from the popemobile during a parade in Philadelphia September 27, 2015. Reuters On some matters, he likely arrived too late to make a difference. The first Latin American pope reiterated, in a veiled reference, the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion and defended traditional notions of the family in a nation where gay marriage is now the law of the land. Beyond the halls of power, the immensely popular 78-year-old pope made numerous stops in Washington DC, New York City and Philadelphia to commune with the people, capping the visit with a huge open-air Mass in Philadelphia for hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday. "Life means 'getting our feet dirty' from the dust-filled roads of life and history," the pope told a group of prisoners he visited Sunday morning. "All of us need to be cleansed, to be washed, all of us and me in the first place." Was he heard? Francis emphasised the plurality of faith, taking part in a service with representatives of six other religions at the site of New York's former World Trade Centre towers, which were destroyed in the Sep 11, 2001, attacks. He repeated the call made in the first-ever papal encyclical to focus on the environment, "Laudato Si," praising President Barack Obama for his actions on reducing air pollution while urging Congress and world leaders at the UN to do more. After exhorting Congress to work for the common good of the people, he went straight to lunch with the homeless and said there was "no moral justification" for their plight. Kristen Bushka, a 36-year-old Philadelphia resident who came out to catch a glimpse of the pope, said his messages cut across party lines. "You see Democrats taking from his speeches and you see Republicans taking from his speeches," Bushka said. "I don't think the pope has a political agenda. I think what he says is relatable to everyone." Within minutes of Francis' historic address to Congress, lawmakers for each party cited his words to bolster their arguments and contended that the other side failed to understand the message. "Washington didn't ignore it, but they are incapable of following the pope's suggestions. It's just that simple," said Larry Sabato, director of the Centre for Politics at the University of Virginia. "I think the pope had more impact on average Americans. That is where there might be an impact." Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a non-profit that advocates for debt relief for developing countries, was more hopeful. "Does it make a difference for all of Congress? No," LeCompte said. "But for some members of Congress, he has provided cover to take political risks and start to reach across the aisle again." U.S. President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with Pope Francis during a welcoming ceremony at the White House in Washington September 23, 2015. Reuters The Argentine-born pope is more comfortable speaking Spanish, which he used to deliver most of his homilies to Catholics during the visit, but gave his speech in the Capitol in heavily-accented English. U.S. President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with Pope Francis during a welcoming ceremony at the White House in Washington September 23, 2015. Reuters That likely reflected his desire to deliver his message as directly as possible to the American people, said Thomas Groome, executive director of Boston College's Centre for the Church in the 21st Century. "It was definitely his attempt to communicate according to the mode of the receiver," Groome said. "We have to wait and see, I suppose, on what the long-term effect of it is." 'Son of immigrants' At a time when immigration is a hot-button issue in the 2016 US presidential race, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump vowing to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, Francis played up his own heritage in calling for tolerance. He noted that he was the "son of immigrants" to Argentina from Italy and spoke in his native Spanish to crowds of Latino Catholics, saying their heritage was nothing to be ashamed of. Phil Tran, an 18-year-old who immigrated to the United States from Vietnam as a young child and is now in his first year of studying for the Catholic priesthood, said he was moved by Francis' focus on immigration. "He says that he, too is child of immigrants," Tran said. "He is a pope who stands for the whole family." Not every one who heard his words welcomed that message. "I think we should close our borders," said Loretta Sabella-Vigliona, 65, whose her brother fire-fighter Thomas Sabella, died in the attacks and came out to see Francis at New York's 9/11 Museum. "We have too many people coming here."

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said on Wednesday that Bangladesh was committed to adopt low-emission development strategies (LEDS) “if the process does not put additional burden on its economy and financial capacity”.He was speaking at the “Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change” at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard and Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Tine Sundtoft co-chaired the meeting that ministers and representatives of at least 40 countries and international organisations attended.The meeting was divided into four sessions – mitigation in the 2015 agreement, adaptation, means of implementation, and pre-2020 mitigation ambition.According to the foreign ministry, the junior minister spoke as opening speaker at the ‘adaptation to climate change’ session.He said the scopes of renewable energy expansion in Bangladesh were “ample”.It could be significant for the economy of the country in replacing expensive oil based power generators, he said.But he said it would require financial support both from the LDCs and developed countries.Alam also talked about the upcoming climate agreement that would be held next year at the Paris climate conference, and implemented from 2020.It is being negotiated through a process known as the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. The junior minister said Bangladesh puts emphasis on integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in all relevant sectors.“Bangladesh is considered a good performer in managing disaster and we have gathered many good lessons and practices over the years that can be and have been replicated in the context of CCA (Climate Change Adaptation)”, he said.He said the new agreement must recognise “the long term dynamic nature of adaptation”.Alam said it must “pave the way for adaptation to be based on real life observations, monitoring and analyses of vulnerabilities”.For the new agreement, he also said there must be “adequate and predictable” financial support and technology provision from the more developed countries.Alam left Dhaka for Brussels on Apr 29 and would come back after attending a climate summit in Abu Dhabi on May 4 and 5.According to the foreign ministry, he will leave Brussels for Geneva on Thursday to campaign for a Bangladesh candidate Ambassador Ismat Jahan to the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) for the 2015-2018 term.

Together, the mammoth structures proposed by scientists would completely enclose the North Sea and offer protection for tens of millions of Europeans threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change.The scientists behind the proposal, outlined in a paper published on Thursday in the American Journal of Meteorology, said that the scale of the project — which exists only in the broadest outlines at this point — reflected the urgency of the crisis.“See this as a warning,” said one of the authors, Sjoerd Groeskamp of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. “What we’re saying is: Here’s a plan, a plan we don’t want. But if we end up needing it, then it’s technically and financially feasible.”The project would be one of the largest engineering feats ever attempted on the planet and would cost anywhere from $250 billion to $550 billion, according to the proposal — a cost the authors suggest could be covered by more than a dozen Northern European countries that would be protected by the barrier.Some experts expressed doubt that damming the North Sea was the best solution for dealing with rising sea levels.“My initial reaction is skepticism,” said Craig Goff, who has been a dam safety engineer in Britain for about 20 years. “I suspect that it would be cheaper and quicker to build defenses along the coastline of Europe than to build dam structures across the North Sea.”Even the scientists behind the proposal acknowledge that attempting to dam the entire North Sea is not an ideal solution.Much better, they said, would be for the proposal to serve as an alarm, vividly illustrating the kind of drastic action that might become necessary if global leaders cannot find a way to address climate change.“It might be impossible to truly fathom the magnitude of the threat” posed by rising sea levels, the scientists wrote. “However, conceptualizing the scale of the solutions required to protect ourselves against global-mean sea level rise aids in our ability to acknowledge and understand the threat that sea level rise poses.”The other co-author of the paper, Joakim Kjellsson, a Swedish professor at the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, said that no official proposal had been made to the nations that would be protected by the barrier.“In the end, we came to realize it’s such an extreme solution that it would be much better and much less dramatic to reduce our CO2 emissions and curb global warming so that we don’t need these kind of things,” he said in an interview.If carbon pollution continues to grow, sea level rise by 2100 could exceed 40 inches (1 meter), Groeskamp said.If nothing changes, Kjellsson said, millions of people will be forced from their homes — effectively becoming climate refugees. Even today, coastal cities such as San Francisco and Manila are faced with the consequences of sea level rise. FILE -- The OceanAire apartment complex in Pacifica, Calif, on Dec 3, 2019. A proposal to build two huge barriers, one that would connect Norway to Scotland, the other France to England, was described as a warning about the urgency of the climate crisis and together, the mammoth structures proposed by scientists would completely enclose the North Sea and offer protection for tens of millions of Europeans threatened by rising sea levels. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times) By 2050, some 150 million people in low-lying coastal cities could find themselves below the high-tide line, threatening to submerge whole cities, according to a report by Climate Central, a science organization based in New Jersey.The proposed dams would dwarf the largest such barriers built so far — the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands, and the Saemangeum Seawall, in South Korea, which at 21 miles in length is the world’s longest sea wall.For scale, the North Sea dams would require at least 51 billion tons of sand — roughly equal to the total annual use of that commodity in construction projects around the world.While the depths of waters are manageable in much of the proposed area to be covered, engineers would also have to contend with the Norwegian Trench, which plunges to a depth of nearly 1,000 feet.The authors say that technology used by fixed oil rigs could be adapted for the dam.Building such structures across the North Sea would forever alter the ecological makeup of the area. Isolating the sea would stop the tidal flow, eventually turning it into a freshwater lake of sorts which would make it unlivable for species that depend on salt water.That, in turn, would have economic consequences, including on the income from North Sea fishing.But, as the authors of the proposal note, the good choices become fewer as the threat of rising sea levels increases.If there is one nation that is familiar with the risks and challenges of dealing with the sea, it is the Netherlands, where much of the country exists on land below sea level.“It’s a fairly extreme plan for the far future,” said Ferdinand Diermanse, an expert on flood risk at Deltares, a Dutch research institute for water. But when talking about the possibility of a sea level rise of multiple meters, he noted, “there are no simple solutions.”c.2020 The New York Times Company FILE -- The OceanAire apartment complex in Pacifica, Calif, on Dec 3, 2019. A proposal to build two huge barriers, one that would connect Norway to Scotland, the other France to England, was described as a warning about the urgency of the climate crisis and together, the mammoth structures proposed by scientists would completely enclose the North Sea and offer protection for tens of millions of Europeans threatened by rising sea levels. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)

- President George W. Bush is set to announce new U.S. sanctions against Myanmar over human rights as the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders gets under way on Tuesday. Bush is one of the first speakers on a list that later features Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and diplomats will be watching to see if the leaders of the two bitterly hostile countries cross paths or exchange words. But despite the United States leading efforts for more U.N. sanctions against Iran to curtail its nuclear programme, Bush will only make a brief mention of Tehran in his speech, the White House said. "The speech is not about Iran," spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "The speech is about liberation and how liberation from poverty, disease, hunger, tyranny and oppression and ignorance can lift people up out of poverty and despair." Bush will advocate supporting groups in Myanmar that are trying to advance freedom and announce new sanctions directed at key members of the military rulers and their financial supporters, said White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley. "He's going to talk about the importance of continuing to support the humanitarian organizations that are trying to deal with the needs of the people of Burma on the ground," he said, using Myanmar's former name. Buddhist monks were joined by tens of thousands of protesters on marches in Myanmar on Monday in the biggest demonstration against the ruling generals since they crushed student-led protests nearly 20 years ago. "Our hope is to marry that internal pressure with some external pressure -- coming from the United States, the United Nations, and really all countries committed to freedom -- to try and force the regime into a change," Hadley said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Reuters in an interview on Monday that Washington would step up pressure for the U.N. Security Council to take action. China and Russia vetoed a resolution on Myanmar in January. "The international community's got to stand up much more than it has," Rice said. "I think what the Burmese junta is doing is just a reminder of how really brutal this regime is." The fact that Bush will only briefly mention Iran in his speech does not mean U.S. concerns about Tehran have diminished, Perino said. "We talk about Iran constantly," she said. "We're talking about it with our partners to press on those U.N. Security Council resolutions." Ahmadinejad arrived in New York with a blitz of speaking engagements and media interviews, capturing much of the spotlight from other leaders in town for the General Assembly. The United States accuses Iran of supporting terrorism and supplying arms to insurgents in Iraq, and is pushing for a third U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran but faces opposition from China and Russia. The General Assembly session follows three days of meetings U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had organized to underscore a central role of the world body. The sessions were on Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Middle East and then a summit on climate change.

The House of Representatives on Friday approved the toughest reforms ever to offshore energy drilling practices, as Democrats narrowly pushed through an election-year response to BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Passing the bill as the House leaves for its six-week recess gives lawmakers the opportunity to return home boasting they reined in Big Oil and held BP responsible for the worst offshore oil disaster in US history. The vote was 209-193 on the bill supported by President Barack Obama. But first, Gulf Coast Democrats won an amendment ending the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil companies that met new safety requirements. The Obama administration's moratorium would end in November. By the time the full Congress completes action on this offshore drilling bill -- and it is uncertain that it will -- it could be November or later. A similar offshore drilling bill is pending in the Senate, without the House's new provision to end the drilling moratorium. But it was unlikely that measure would pass before that chamber begins its summer recess on August 6. House Republicans warned the bill would slash US oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, a major supplier of domestic energy, and cut high-paying drilling jobs. "The Obama moratorium on deepwater drilling has already costs thousands of jobs and this bill will eliminate even more American energy jobs, making it harder and more expensive to produce both energy on and offshore," said Republican Representative Pete Sessions. "It will drive American companies out of the Gulf," said Republican Representative Kevin Brady. "This is a choice between American energy workers and foreign oil." Democrats said the bill would make offshore drilling safer for workers, while also protecting the environment and Gulf Coast business from future oil spills like the one caused by BP that damaged wetlands and hurt the region's fishing and tourism industries. "This legislation is about safety, about establishing new safety standards, safety for the workers on the rigs," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "If you want to apologize for Big Oil, go right ahead, but the American people are not on your side on this one," Democratic Representative Jim McGovern told his Republican colleagues during a long day of debate. Before passing the bill, the House also approved an amendment to help smaller oil companies compete for Gulf of Mexico drilling projects under the proposed reforms. The amendment would let them pool their resources in demonstrating they have the financial resources to deal with potential oil spills. The House vote on the bill was close, as several Democrats representing districts with strong oil industry interests joined Republicans in opposition. Representative Gene Green, from the oil industry-dominated city of Houston, was one of those Democrats. "There are a lot of things in there that have nothing to do with safety" of offshore drilling operations, Green told reporters. A sticking point in the Senate is opposition from Republicans and some moderate Democrats to removing all liability limits oil companies would face for economic damages stemming from the BP disaster and any future spills. Current law requires companies to only cover up to $75 million for damages to local economies. The BP spill could end up costing billions of dollars in lost tourism, fishing and other Gulf Coast revenues. BP has said it would pay for all costs related to the spill, but many lawmakers worry that the company could put victims through years of litigation. The Senate energy bill has an added component: new incentives to encourage more natural gas-powered trucks and electric vehicles to clean up the environment. It also provides $5 billion to help improve home energy efficiency. But Senate Democrats abandoned attempts to attach climate change provisions that would have set mandatory limits on some companies' carbon dioxide emissions. Senate leaders plan to hold a test vote next Wednesday to gauge support for the bill, according to a Democratic aide. But Republicans, and possibly some moderate Democrats, might block a full debate, forcing senators to take it up in September. The House also approved a separate bill on Friday to give whistle-blower protection to workers who report violations in offshore drilling rules.

The visit, requested by Modi just hours earlier before he flew back home from Afghanistan, raised hopes that stop-and-start negotiations between the nuclear-armed neighbours might finally make progress after three wars and more than 65 years of hostility. Sharif hugged Modi after he landed at the airport in the eastern city of Lahore and the two left by helicopter for Sharif's nearby family estate. "So, you have finally come," Sharif told Modi, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry official who was at the meeting. "Yes, absolutely. I am here," Modi replied, according to the official. Modi phoned Sharif earlier in the day to wish him on his birthday and asked if he could make a stop in Pakistan on his way home, Pakistan's top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, told reporters. "And the PM said to him, 'Please come, you are our guest, please come and have tea with me'," he said. It was Sharif's 66th birthday and the family home was festooned with lights for his grand-daughter's wedding on Saturday. Modi and Sharif talked for about 90 minutes and shared an early evening meal before the Indian leader flew back home. "Among the decisions taken was that ties between the two countries would be strengthened and also people-to-people contact would be strengthened so that the atmosphere can be created in which the peace process can move forward," Chaudhry said. The next step will be for the two countries' foreign secretaries to meet in the middle of next month, he added. Modi was on his way back from a visit to Russia. He stopped off in the Afghan capital Kabul earlier on Friday, where he inaugurated a new parliament complex built with Indian help. The Lahore visit comes after India and Pakistan resumed high-level contacts with a brief conversation between Sharif and Modi at climate change talks in Paris late last month, part of efforts to restart a peace dialogue plagued by militant attacks and long-standing distrust. A spokesman at Sharif's office earlier told Reuters the two leaders were to discuss a range of bilateral issues, including the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the most contentious issue dividing the nuclear-armed rivals. A close aide to Modi said the visit was a spontaneous decision by the prime minister and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and that it should not be seen as a sudden shift in India's position. "But yes, it's a clear signal that active engagement can be done at a quick pace," the aide said, declining to be identified. Deep mistrust Mistrust between India and Pakistan runs deep. Modi's visit is the first by an Indian prime minister to Pakistan since the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed in the Indian city by militants trained in Pakistan. The two countries were born out of British colonial India in 1947, divided into Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan. Modi, a Hindu nationalist, came to power in 2014, and has authorised a more robust approach to Pakistan, giving security forces the licence to retaliate forcefully along their disputed border and demanding an end to insurgent attacks in Indian territory. In Afghanistan, many believe that Islamabad sponsors the Taliban insurgency to weaken the Kabul government and limit the influence of India. Pakistan rejects the accusation but it has struggled to turn around perceptions in Afghanistan, where social media users sent out a stream of glowing commentary on Modi's visit, contrasting the parliament building with the destruction wrought by Taliban suicide bombers. Nalin Kohli, a spokesman for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, said in New Delhi that India was ready to take two steps forward if Pakistan took one to improve ties. The opposition Congress Party called Modi's visit irresponsible and said that nothing had happened to warrant warming of ties between the rivals. Scheduled high-level talks between the two were cancelled in August after ceasefire violations across the border. "If the decision is not preposterous then it is utterly ridiculous," Congress leader Manish Tewari said. Opening the parliament building in Kabul, Modi pledged India's support for the Afghan government and urged regional powers, including Pakistan, to work together to foster peace. "We know that Afghanistan's success will require the cooperation and support of each of its neighbours," he said. "And all of us in the region - India, Pakistan, Iran and others - must unite in trust and cooperation behind the common purpose and in recognition of our common destiny." As well as the parliament building, India is also supplying three Russian-made Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistan's small air force, adding badly needed capacity to provide close air support to its hard-pressed security forces.  

The movie star had told the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain town of Davos on Wednesday that corporate greed was causing climate change and "enough is enough." At a dinner later in the day, Trudeau, elected in October as the head of a Liberal government, took the 41-year-old actor to task. "I pointed out that both Alberta and Canada have new governments over the past year that are committed to action on climate change...and that there are families suffering, out of work, who need to be supported, and inflammatory rhetoric doesn't necessarily help those families or help Canada," Trudeau said as he recounted his remarks to reporters on Friday. "He actually said if we took concrete action on climate change he would be the first to come up and celebrate with us."

Promising jobs and no new taxes or mandates, the plan did not include any toughening of emissions targets for 2030 — a major component of what scientists have said will be needed from world leaders at next week’s UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Despite international pressure, Australia signalled it would not retreat from its overreliance on coal and gas. Both play a major role in Australia’s electricity grid and as subsidised exports. Under the plan released Tuesday, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison called “uniquely Australian,” that dependence on fossil fuels will continue, prompting critics to argue that he will be arriving for the climate gathering with an outdated status quo wrapped up in new packaging. “This is an update on the marketing materials used by the federal government to claim it’s doing something when it’s really doing nothing new,” said Richie Merzian, climate and energy director at the Australian Institute, a progressive research organisation. “It’s kind of ridiculous.” Australia emits less than 2% of global greenhouse gases, but its climate decisions carry significant weight because it is a coal superpower and the world’s third-largest exporter of fossil fuels. At the same time, the country is increasingly vulnerable to global warming. Since 1910, Australia’s average surface temperature has warmed by 1.4 degrees Celsius, surpassing the global average. Fires, droughts and cyclones have all become more frequent and severe. If temperatures continue on their current trajectory, which is what world leaders who have made more ambitious commitments are seeking to avoid, Australia will see major ecosystem loss in its oceans, higher food prices from severe drought and hundreds of thousands of coastal properties put at risk from flooding, climatologists say. Morrison did not mention these risks Tuesday when he appeared in Canberra, the capital city, to introduce his plan alongside Angus Taylor, the minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction. Morrison said Australia was on track to beat its Paris Agreement target, cutting emissions by 30%-35% by 2030, largely because farmers, consumers and businesses have been choosing more efficient, cleaner options, such as solar power. He insisted that the “Australian way” offered a model for the world because it would be built on several principles, including “technology, not taxes” and “choices, not mandates.” Sounding at times like he was already campaigning — Australia’s next federal election is due by May of next year — he said the government would invest 20 billion Australian dollars ($15 billion) to expand the use of low emissions technologies, such as solar, wind and green hydrogen made from splitting water with electricity from renewable energy. There would also be financial support for the low emissions manufacturing of steel and aluminium. In all, according to the published plan, 70% of the projected emissions reductions needed to get to net zero by 2050 would come from technology in one form or another. Critics described that as mostly magical thinking — especially because Australia’s effort to reach net zero would also include support for hydrogen made from fossil fuels, which emit large amounts of carbon, along with rarely tested technologies such as carbon capture and storage, which involves locking carbon underground. Both can be read as another form of aid for the already-powerful coal and gas industries. And when asked about cutting back on gas exploration or power plants that use fossil fuels, Morrison emphasised that the plan would protect jobs around the country. In a statement published before the news conference, he put it more simply: “We want our heavy industries, like mining, to stay open, remain competitive and adapt, so they remain viable for as long as global demand allows.” In other words, critics argued, Australia’s official policy is still delay, not commitment. Terry Hughes, a climate scientist who directs a centre for coral reef studies at James Cook University, said that if Australia was serious about climate change, it would ban new coal mines and gas fields instead of encouraging them. “A promise, with no legislation, to reach ‘net’ zero by 2050 is meaningless,” he said. “It’s far too little and far too late.” “The plan,” he added, “is a lost opportunity that postpones any real action on reducing emissions.”   ©2021 The New York Times Company

The equivalent of a designer’s final exam, the graduate shows each May are not only an academic rite of passage, but also an opportunity to build a profile, make industry contacts and perhaps even secure future employment. Not this year. As the coronavirus took hold of Europe in March and Britain went into lockdown, the school closed. Lessons went online, and the final show was canceled in favor of a June 17 digital presentation in which each student could show only two looks and a 90-second video. For Ives, 24, an ambitious American who has already founded his own label and been part of the design team at Fenty, Rihanna’s fashion brand, the past two months have been a struggle. “We’ve all done our best to rise to the challenges created by the pandemic, but it has made me ponder some big questions,” said Ives, who has diabetes and who was isolated in his apartment for three months working on his pieces. “One of those is: If I had known four years ago that I would be graduating without the degree show, and would be taught remotely for months on end, would I have reconsidered doing a postgraduate degree?” He’s not the only student to have considered the question. The pandemic has disrupted universities worldwide, forcing a short-term shift to remote learning, raising questions about the future of higher education. Even world-leading institutions face significant staff layoffs and a re-evaluation of projected earnings as international students take stock of the uncertain global climate and the sky-high tuition fees. Many students of all ages, stages and vocations are thinking twice about college, including those interested in a career in fashion. Historically, a degree from a school like Central Saint Martins or Royal College of Art in London, Parsons and F.I.T. in New York, and Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp, has been an expensive but valuable asset for those looking to enter a notoriously competitive industry. Fashion education, as a business, has boomed over the past decade, in parallel with the industry itself. There are a growing number of courses from established names and new private offerings, like the Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design, dangling specialized courses, a network of peers, and internship opportunities. But the spread of the coronavirus has triggered travel bans and a drop in deposits. “We are being realistic about the fact our revenue will be lower next year,” said Valérie Berdah Levy, director of the Paris campus of the private Italian fashion and design school Istituto Marangoni, whose alumni include Domenico Dolce and Alessandra Facchinetti. Some students are nervous to come to Europe, Berdah Levy said, while others don’t know when their borders might reopen. “We also know that some parents may now face financial difficulties or health issues that impact on their resources and are trying to prepare accordingly,” she said. The adaptations that many art schools made earlier this year, in response to the pandemic, may inform their plans for the fall. According to Zowie Broach, the head of fashion at London’s Royal College of Art, the school is considering changes including concentrating on presentation and research at the start of the academic year and teaching digital skills necessary to create and present work remotely. Broach’s graduates are currently at home creating a RCA2020 “digital discovery platform” — on which each student will have their own page — that will go live between July 16-31. There have been a few silver linings to the new reality, she said: The caliber of speakers from the industry is suddenly much higher. “Anyone can be on Zoom, and as a result we have had some extraordinary speakers that we probably couldn’t have accessed before, and more ambitious debates on how to use corona as a motivator for meaningful industry change,” Broach said. At a recent event, Sir Jonathan Ive, Virgil Abloh and Olafur Eliasson all spoke. Walter van Beirendonck, the head of fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and a designer who was one of the Antwerp Six, created digital “blind dates” for his master’s students with stars from the fashion world like Stephen Jones and Raf Simons. And at the Savannah College of Art and Design this year, in Georgia, fashion and accessory graduates presented their final work virtually to panels from a pool of 50 industry judges including designer Christopher John Rogers and Bruce Pask, the men’s fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman. “Do our students miss being together and touching fabrics?” said Michael Fink, the school of fashion dean at SCAD. “Yes. Did some students struggle to find a rhythm around the challenges of working from home? Yes. But we shifted the emphasis away from simply finished final collections to how designers react to crisis.” Whether fashion students with expectations of a university experience beyond just a degree will value such changes remains to be seen, particularly those students from China. Universities in English-speaking countries, especially Britain, Australia and the United States, have grown increasingly dependent on tuition fees from Chinese students, which are significantly higher than those paid by local students. With continuing travel restrictions and anger rising among Chinese students and parents at the West’s permissive attitude toward public health, there are growing fears that enrollment levels could plummet after more than a decade of growth. “For now, international acceptances are tracking in line with last year,” said Sir Nigel Carrington, vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London, the collegiate university that includes Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion. “Still, we are still concerned about where actual enrollments might end up.” Out of a student body of 20,000, roughly 3,000 are Chinese, Carrington said, with an approximately 50:50 split between British and international students across the six colleges. Annual fees for British students are capped by the government at roughly $11,500 dollars, but for international students they rise to around $25,000. But flights to Britain from China (and other countries) are not due to restart until August at the earliest. Despite a delayed start to the fall term, many students are unable to take the language test required by the British government for anyone wishing to work or study in the Britain, because of a backlog in applications. Some scientists are predicting a second wave of coronavirus in the fall. And there are more challenges. A Brexit-related fee hike is coming in 2021, which may drive more students from the European Union to enroll before it takes effect, offsetting the drop in Chinese enrollment — but only in the short term. “We are one of the best art and design institutions in the world and so the demand is still there for our courses,” Carrington said. For less competitive schools, he said, fallout from the pandemic may be much more serious. As universities look to cut costs, many lecturers are now facing unemployment, particularly those on temporary contracts, which have limited benefits. According to an article published in The Art Newspaper on June 22, at British arts universities such layoffs and unrenewed contracts could disproportionately affect women and people of color. At a time when many voices in fashion education are demanding better representation and diversity within their institutions, exactly who teaches students could become an even bigger factor in their decision-making process. “We just don’t know what is going to happen in terms of demand next year despite our selective intake,” said van Beirendonck of the Antwerp school. “At a very basic level, so many young people all over the world are afraid, and all colleges must recognize that. But at the same time, the show must go on — life must go on — and I think for those who are keen to be brilliant fashion designers, school is often a part of their path.” Carrington said that when lockdown measures were eased, graduating students would hopefully be able to gain socially distanced access to workshops over the summer in order to complete their portfolios, a critical component of job searches. But employment opportunities in fashion studios have become even scarcer since the start of the pandemic. Some smaller luxury brands like Sies Marjan and Peter Pilotto have closed their doors in recent months, while many seamstresses and patternmakers have been let go or furloughed by even the largest fashion houses in countries like France and Italy. “I’ve worked inside big companies now, so my plan was to graduate and focus on my label,” said Ives, the Central Saint Martins graduate. “But the risks of doing that in a major recession are huge. I don’t yet know exactly what I’ll be doing, and lots of my peers don’t either.” © 2020 The New York Times Company

We are, said Peter E Kukielski, a rosarian and the author of “Rosa: The Story of the Rose,” a new book about the flower’s place in human cultural history. After the genus Rosa had survived some 35 million years on the planet, it took us less than a century to render it less resilient than it had to have been to stick around that long. “It has to be one tough plant to go through all the climate changes and everything else it’s gone through before we started hybridising roses,” Kukielski said, referring to the human interventions to change the flower’s shape into what became the hybrid tea, achieved at the expense of disease resistance. So “give them some credit,” he said. And give them some proper companions, too: flowering perennials, annuals and bulbs that foster a healthier rose garden, without chemical intervention. Like the one he designed three years ago for the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario — a chemical-free province — that he proudly describes as “3,000 roses and 18,000 perennials chosen as insect-attracting companions.” He added: “I don’t mind bad insects. As long as we have the good insects, we will have balance.” It’s no surprise that Kukielski doesn’t recommend a diet of synthetic fertilizer, or propping roses up with pesticides and fungicides if spider mites or black spot threaten. As a curator at the New York Botanical Garden, he won attention for his work from 2008 to 2014 on the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden — an approach that involved planting and trialling roses for disease resistance, using fewer chemicals. That served as research for his first book, “Roses Without Chemicals: 150 Disease-Free Varieties That Will Change the Way You Grow Roses.” “When I first did the garden revamp,” he said, “choices of disease-resistant roses were kind of limited.” But now there are many more roses bred with that intent, he said: “The rose world woke up to the idea that gardeners don’t want to rely on chemicals to grow their favourite flowers.” Matching Roses to Regions That pink rose on the latest catalogue cover looks delicious, but wait: How would it fare where you garden, compared to similar-looking varieties? “A rose is a rose is a rose … not,” Kukielski said. “Choosing the right one for your climate region can make for instant success. But the wrong rose will constantly be diminished, and the home gardener may give up.” Fortunately, he said, more companies are now educating customers about which regions a variety is best suited to: “It’s certainly an advance from where we were even five years ago.” Breeders (on their wholesale websites) and retailers (on their consumer-focused ones) often make it possible to filter varieties by regional adaptability and disease resistance. So rose-shopping gardeners take note — and do your homework. Some breeding has focused on cold-hardiness, producing varieties like the Buck roses from Griffith J. Buck of Iowa State University or the Easy Elegance roses bred by Ping Lim. Other varieties meet the opposite challenge: The Sunbelt collection from Kordes Roses is selected for strong performance in warmer zones. Certain trademarked series are marketed for toughness, including Carefree, Knock Out, Drift and Oso Easy, although there may be genetic trade-offs. As Kukielski pointed out, “When a series has been pushed to fill out an entire colour wheel of varieties, some colours — especially yellow — may be less resilient.” Fragrance may also be diminished. “If you want a fragrant garden, depending on where you live there may be some disease issues,” Kukielski said. “Breeding efforts focused on fragrance may not have the resistance, especially in hot, humid climates, against fungal diseases.” But putting scent back in is on some breeders’ to-do lists, he said. One example is the Parfuma collection from Kordes, a company long focused on disease resistance. And the Winner Is … There is no better proof of a plant’s durability than having data on what happens when it’s put to the test of multiyear garden trials in diverse regions. One program currently underway is the American Rose Trials for Sustainability, which Kukielski co-founded, taking place at Longwood Gardens, the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, Tucson Botanicals Gardens and university cooperative extension sites around the country, where roses are subjected to the challenge of no-spray environments, and offered no help from pesticides and fungicides. Another is the American Garden Rose Selections Trials, with testing sites at Queens Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden and other places in diverse zones. Both programs publish results and recommended varieties every year. For local information, try asking at garden centres with landscaping businesses, where employees may be able to recommend varieties that perform well for clients near you. Or talk to the local rose society, Kukielski suggested, and neighbors who garden: “If the person down the street is growing Queen Elizabeth and it looks great, take that as a cue.” Companion Planting Kukielski’s definition of a modern rose garden at any scale: “Not a monoculture, but a mixed border.” Into his rose beds he layers a long season of companion plants, using a heavy hand, with emphasis on flower types preferred by beneficial insects (pollinators, predators and parasites alike). Grouping multiple plants of a single variety makes for a more inviting appearance than scattering one-offs around. Of course, there are the classic rose companions: the chartreuse froth of lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) or catmint (Nepeta), with Clematis scrambling up the shrubs. A range of Allium — from tiny yellow-flowered A. moly to towering purple Globemaster — and, later, self-sowing annual Verbena bonariensis (a butterfly favorite) make big statements. But Kukielski also likes the umbel-shaped flowers of carrot family members, which are attractive to many beneficial insects — including, he hopes, tachinid flies, particularly one species imported in the 1920s as a biological control from Japan, where it is a natural enemy of the Japanese beetle that is a scourge to roses. He is also partial to dill’s yellow umbels, its ferny texture and its inclination to sow around. And he allows cilantro to flower and self-sow along garden edges. Beyond dill and cilantro, favourite herb companions include tansy, feverfew, lavender and thyme. Composite, or daisylike, flowers have wide insect appeal, and Kukielski uses many, including asters, gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia fulgida), coneflowers (Echinacea), Cosmos, sneezeweed (Helenium) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Native plants are, of course, particular magnets for insects: Besides the asters, Rudbeckia, Helenium and coneflowers, Kukielski favors Zizia aptera, wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and cultivars of Penstemon, Phlox paniculata and goldenrod (Solidago), plus perennial grasses like prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) and switch grass (Panicum virgatum). Feed the Soil, Not the Plants Think healthy soil, not bagged fertilizer, Kukielski advised. “When I stopped feeding my roses and started feeding the soil,” he said, “the rose garden became a lot easier.” He was inspired by the Earth-Kind methods promoted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. The inspiration for the soil-management practice, as he translates it: “Think forest floor, where nobody fertilizes but leaves fall, that then break down and feed plants.” To mimic that process, he puts down 3 inches of mulch, maybe an inch of which has decomposed into humus by season’s end, benefiting soil health and fertility. “Just top up the mulch again next spring — but don’t disturb the soil,” he said. “Once we started doing that at NYBG you could just tell that the plants were happier. There was a big difference by Year 3.” At his home garden in Maine, he also allows fallen tree leaves to remain in place and degrade. He hasn’t fertilized in three or four years, he said, beyond an occasional soil drench of dilute fish emulsion. By using disease-resistant, regionally appropriate roses, Kukielski has also been able to break the rose-spacing rules established to minimise black spot. “When I first started on the Peggy Rockefeller garden, I did get comments on that,” he recalled. “‘The plants should be 6 feet apart,’ people said. But the new hybrids are so resistant, I can put them closer. And as they grow together, the colours really show off — you’re painting with the colours.” The Next Challenge: Rose Rosette Disease Today, rose researchers and breeders face a formidable opponent. Rose rosette disease, a naturally occurring virus, is spread by a tiny, windblown mite that has used the invasive multiflora rose as a host to expand into an increasing territory. Early symptoms of infection include abnormal growth: excessive thorns, red pigmentation and general disfigurement — even what is known as witch’s broom, growth that resembles birds’ nests. Industry and university experts have created a website about the disease and ongoing efforts to combat it. But at the moment, only vigilance — including eradicating nearby multiflora roses — and drastic measures are prescribed. “If the gardener does discover it in the garden, the plant should be removed and destroyed, roots and all,” Kukielski said. But a new rose can be planted right away, as the virus cannot live in the soil. Or you could just let all those companion plants take up the slack.   © 2021 New York Times News Service

The United Nations' top climate change official on Thursday called on Tokyo to push for ambitious midterm emissions targets at the G8 summit to be held in northern Japan in July. Yvo de Boer, in Tokyo for an official level climate change conference, told reporters that Japan faces the task of reaching a consensus among industrialised countries on 2020 targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. "As chair of the G8, Japan could lead the discussion by moving forward on ambitious midterm targets," said de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. "The world, especially the private sector, is looking for clarity on this." De Boer added that there was already broad agreement that industrialised countries should think in terms of cuts of 25-40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and that emissions should peak in the next 10-15 years. "The challenge will be to see if the G8 summit under the Japanese presidency can identify where the G8 countries want their emissions to be in 2020," he said. Japan, one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters, has already flagged climate change as one of the main issues for discussion at the G8 summit on the northern island of Hokkaido. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told the World Economic Forum in Davos last month that Japan was committed to setting a national midterm target beyond the 2012 expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, without specifying what the figure would be. "It is not just a question of giving a figure," Japan's top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said when asked about de Boer's comments. "It must be based on rules that everyone can accept. We are about to start discussions on this," he said, but added that the summit would not necessarily be the time limit. At United Nations-led talks in Bali last year, Japan sided with the United States and rejected a European Union-backed emissions cut target beyond 2012, prompting outrage among environmentalists.

The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled a new national security doctrine that would join diplomatic engagement and economic discipline with military power to bolster America's standing in the world. In a formal break with the go-it-alone Bush era, President Barack Obama's strategy called for expanding partnerships beyond traditional US allies to encompass rising powers like China and India in order to share the international burden. Faced with a struggling economy and record deficits, the administration also acknowledged that boosting economic growth and getting the US fiscal house in order must be core national security priorities. "At the centre of our efforts is a commitment to renew our economy, which serves as the wellspring of American power," the wide-ranging policy statement said. Obama's first official declaration of national security goals, due to be released in full later on Thursday, pointedly omitted predecessor George W. Bush's policy of pre-emptive war that alienated some US allies. Laying out a vision for keeping America safe as it fights wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the document formalized Obama's intent to emphasize multilateral diplomacy over military might as he tries to reshape the world order. The administration even reiterated Obama's determination to try to engage with "hostile nations," but warned nuclear-defiant Iran and North Korea it possessed "multiple means" to isolate them if they ignored international norms. The National Security Strategy, required by law of every president, is often a dry reaffirmation of existing positions but is considered important because it can influence budgets and legislation and is closely watched internationally. SEEKS "FISCALLY SUSTAINABLE PATH" Obama, who took office faced with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, took a clearer stand than any of his predecessors in drawing the link between America's economic health at home and its stature overseas. "We must renew the foundation of America's strength," the document said, asserting that the sustained economic growth hinges on putting the country on a "fiscally sustainable path" and also urging reduced dependence on foreign oil sources. There was no discussion of what has become an emerging consensus in foreign policy circles -- that heavy US indebtedness to countries like China poses a national security problem. But the report did reflect Washington's enigmatic relationship with Beijing, praising it for taking a more active role in world affairs while insisting it must do so responsibly. It reiterated unease over China's military buildup, saying the United States would "prepare accordingly" to ensure its interests and allies are protected. Bush used his first policy statement in 2002 to stake out the right to unilateral and pre-emptive military action against countries and terrorist groups deemed threats to the United States in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Obama's plan implicitly distanced his administration from what became known as the Bush Doctrine and underpinned the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. While renewing previous presidents' commitment to preserve US conventional military superiority, the doctrine laid out on Thursday put an official stamp on Obama's departure from what Bush's critics called "cowboy diplomacy." "We need to be clear-eyed about the strengths and shortcomings of international institutions," the document said. But it insisted the United States did not have the option to "walk away." "Instead, we must focus American engagement on strengthening international institutions and galvanizing the collective action that can serve common interests such as combating violent extremism, stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and securing nuclear materials, achieving balanced and sustainable economic growth, and forging cooperative solutions to the threat of climate change," it said. MESSAGE TO EMERGING POWERS Obama's insistence the United States cannot act alone in the world was also a message to current and emerging powers that they must shoulder their share of the burden. Obama already has been widely credited with improving the tone of US foreign policy -- an achievement noted when he won the Nobel Peace Price in 2009 -- but still is struggling with two unfinished wars, nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea and sluggish Middle East peace efforts. Critics say some of his efforts at diplomatic outreach show US weakness, and they question whether he jeopardizes American interests by relying too heavily on "soft power." Obama's strategy repeated his goal to "disrupt, dismantle, and defeat" al Qaeda but insisted that in the process the United States must uphold and promote human rights. It also rejected torture as a tool of US national security. Obama has reached out to the Muslim world, where the US image under Bush was hurt by the Iraq war, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and his use of phrases like "war on terror" and "Islamo-fascism." Curbing the threat of "home-grown" terrorism was also listed as a top priority. This comes in the aftermath of the failed Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and the botched Times Square car bombing attempt earlier this month.

Indonesia's progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020, Norway's environment minister said on Tuesday. Indonesia imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, despite resistance from some government departments and from resource firms looking to expand in the archipelago. Norway has been impressed by what Indonesia has achieved in terms of transparency in the forest sector and by a change towards being more pro-environment in policy debates around land use, said its environment minister, Bård Vegar Solhjell. However, deforestation continues in areas not covered by the moratorium as well as illegally in the country's carbon-rich tropical forests and peatlands. Permits to clear land are often given out by local governors and there is a lack of central government enforcement. "We know that the moratorium itself is not sufficient to reach the climate mitigation pledged, or to stop deforestation in the speed that is necessary," Solhjell told Reuters in an interview. It was the first time Norway indicated the moratorium may not be working. Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed up to the Norway deal and moratorium as part of his pledge to slash emissions this decade, but there have been few other policy steps to curb emissions in the fast-growing G20 economy. "It's a very progressive pledge but it's also very challenging to actually put it into place," said Solhjell. The country is attracting increasing foreign investment in manufacturing industries such as steel, cement and power that are all heavy emitters of greenhouse gases, while sales of energy-guzzling SUV cars, mobile phones and flights are surging. Higher energy demand from power use, mainly produced from coal, will boost carbon emissions. Indonesia does not provide annual emissions data, though the World Bank rated it as the world's third largest emitter in 2005 because of deforestation. SELLING PERMITS The $1 billion Norway has promised under the deal is contingent on policy change and proven emissions reductions from the forestry sector. The forestry ministry makes billions of dollars from selling permits to use forests each year. Only months after Yudhoyono signed the forest moratorium, the former governor of the country's westernmost Aceh province breached the ban by issuing a permit to a palm oil firm to develop carbon-rich peatland. The permit prompted legal action from environmental groups and investigations by the police and several government bodies, making the case a test of the country's commitment to halt deforestation in the world's largest exporter of palm oil. After the investigation, the government said on Monday that the permit was issued to palm oil firm Kallista Alam without following proper procedures, and that it would protect the strip of peatland in Aceh. The forest, home to endangered orangutans, was partly cleared by burning even before the permit was issued, said Mas Achmad Santosa, a government official. "The case of Kallista Alam in Aceh is the typical problem we are facing ... some parts have been turned to palm oil plantations, some have been burned, and it turned out the permit does not exist," said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who is in charge of overseeing forestry sector reform.

When President Barack Obama and Prime minister meet next week to talk about climate change the leaders will focus on green technologies rather than narrowing the global divide on greenhouse gas emissions goals, the chairman of the UN's climate science panel said. Rajendra Pachauri said the gap between the United States and India on how to battle climate change has grown over the last six months in the lead up to the U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen in December. "I doubt if there would be much of a productive dialogue on what the two countries will do at Copenhagen," Pachauri told reporters in a teleconference. The gap has grown because Washington hasn't committed to emissions cuts, he said. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Washington on Monday for a state visit aimed at boosting economic ties between the two countries. Some 190 countries had been expected to hammer out in Copenhagen a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on reducing emissions. But the United States, which has emitted more greenhouses on a cumulative basis than any other country, is the lone developed country that has not tabled an emissions target. The climate bill in the U.S. Congress has been delayed and it is uncertain whether Democrats have enough votes to pass it. "On the Indian side there is a feeling that the U.S. is not forthcoming and (not) doing much itself, but is trying to push India in a corner," Pachauri said. "Therefore there is a feeling there's been a divergence of opinions between the U.S. and India as compared to what existed six months ago." Obama and Singh will instead focus on development of renewable energy, Pachauri said, including discussing advanced biofuels, since India has large amounts of crop residue that could be used as a feedstock to make alternative motor fuels. Michael Levi, a climate expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said he expected the Obama-Singh meeting to result money being pledged by the United States and private Indian concerns to develop clean energy in India.

An “oppressive and dangerous heat,” warned the National Weather Service. “Excessive heat, a ‘silent killer’,” echoed a news release by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Extreme heat is hazardous,” tweeted the NYC Emergency Management Department. But people with health issues, older people and young children are especially susceptible to the affects of extreme heat. It’s a threat that grows as climate change continues. Climate change makes heat waves more frequent To understand how climate change increases the frequency of heat waves, it helps to think of the Earth’s temperature as a bell curve, said Michael Mann, the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Centre. Climate change is shifting that bell curve toward the hotter part of the temperature scale. Even a tiny shift in the center means that more of the curve touches the extreme part of the temperature scale. “So you know, a warming of 1 degree Celsius, which is what we’ve seen thus far, can lead to a 10-fold increase in the frequency of 100 degree days in New York City for example,” said Mann. According to the US Global Change Research Programme, since the 1960s the average number of heat waves — defined as two or more consecutive days where daily lows exceeded historical July and August temperatures — in 50 major American cities has tripled. The programme used historic lows because the most serious effects of extreme heat tend to come when nighttime temperatures don’t cool off. By the 2010s, the average number of heat waves had risen from an average of two per year in the 1960s to the current average of nearly six per year. Climate change is also making heat waves longer There’s another way that climate change worsens heat waves: by changing the jet stream. Those air currents in the atmosphere help move weather systems around and are driven by temperature differences, which are shrinking. So when heat waves arrive, they stay in place longer. “We’re warming up the Arctic faster than the rest of the northern hemisphere,” said Mann. “So that’s decreasing that temperature contrast from the subtropics to the pole, and it’s that temperature contrast that drives the jet stream in the first place.” At the same time, under certain circumstances the jet stream can get “stuck” between an atmospheric wall in the subtropics, and at the Arctic, trapping weather systems in place. “That’s when you get these record breaking weather events," said Mann, “either the unprecedented heat wave and drought, to wildfires and floods.” This accounts for last summer’s European heat wave, as well as the recent European heat wave, he says, and is behind the current North American heat wave. Nationwide, the time period in which heat waves might be expected to occur is 45 days longer than it was in the 1960s, according to the US Global Change Research Programme. Heat deaths may soon surpass deaths from cold weather According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which uses methods most in accordance with global standards, currently, cold weather kills more people than hot weather does. But as global temperatures increase, the number of deaths associated with extreme cold are predicted to decrease. At the same time, the number of deaths associated with extreme heat will increase. And those deaths, according to the National Climate Assessment, will exceed the decline in deaths from extreme cold, meaning an overall increase in mortality. It’s important to note that not everyone suffers equally when temperatures soar. In addition to the vulnerable groups, like elderly people, it also matters where you live. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed data from the 2000 census and found that people of colour were up to 52% more likely to live in the hottest parts of cities. Similarly, Eric Klinenberg, the director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, found that during the 1995 Chicago heat wave that killed more than 700 people, the death tolls were highest in places that were not just poor and segregated, but what he calls “institutionally depleted.” “In a heat wave and many climate events, it’s social isolation that proves to be truly dangerous,” he said. “If you’re home and alone in a heat wave when you’re old and frail you’re more likely to die if you don’t have air conditioning.” The solution is reigning in greenhouse gas emissions, said Mann. If we don’t, he said, “think about the most extreme summer heat you’ve ever experienced in your lifetime. That will become a typical summer day by the middle of this century, if we continue on the path that we’re on.” ©2019 New York Times News Service

President George W Bush will welcome German Chancellor Angela Merkel to his Texas ranch on Friday where they will seek to show unity on Iran even as Tehran defies the West over its nuclear program. Bush extends invitations to Crawford, Texas, to signal a special relationship and Merkel will spend two days at the 1,600-acre (647.5-hectare) ranch where the leaders may go hiking between talks on world issues. "The Western White House provides a wonderful setting for a social visit, as well as a place to have a wide ranging discussion on many issues," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Merkel will be the second European ally this week to be treated as a special guest by Bush, coming on the heels of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who on Wednesday was given a tour of Mount Vernon, the Virginia home of George Washington, the first US president. With just over a year left in office, Bush is determined to keep up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. Iran has refused to agree to UN demands to halt nuclear work that could have both civilian and military uses. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran's nuclear program is irreversible and that Tehran has 3,000 centrifuges in its underground Natanz plant. As German companies conduct trade with Iran, the United States has taken a stronger stance against Tehran. 'EYE-TO-EYE' "Strategically, we see eye-to-eye. Tactically, there are some slight differences," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. Earlier this week Merkel said Germany would support a new round of tougher UN sanctions against Iran if Tehran did not address international concerns about its nuclear program. Bush recently escalated his criticism of Iran by raising the specter of World War Three if the Islamic republic acquired a nuclear weapon, which alarmed some European allies. bdnews24.com/lq/1238hrs The Bush administration insists that it is committed to pursuing diplomacy, but also says all options are on the table. Perino said the two leaders would discuss Iran "and the need for our countries to work together on the diplomatic track to get Iran to halt its uranium reprocessing and enrichment." They will also talk about Afghanistan, the Middle East, Iraq, climate change and economic issues such as the Doha trade round, she said. A senior German official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Merkel and Sarkozy had agreed to voice a common position on Iran, the Middle East peace process, and climate change in their conversations with Bush. Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States are expected to meet this month to discuss reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's compliance with international demands. Daniel Benjamin, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, said U.S.-German relations have improved since Merkel took over from Gerhard Schroeder.

That was the question a cheerful Amazon employee posed when greeting me last week at the opening of a Whole Foods Market in Washington’s Glover Park neighbourhood. She blithely added, “You can also begin shopping by scanning the QR code in your Amazon app.” “Let’s go for the palm,” I said. In less than a minute, I scanned both hands on a kiosk and linked them to my Amazon account. Then I hovered my right palm over the turnstile reader to enter the nation’s most technologically sophisticated grocery store. For the next 30 minutes, I shopped. I picked up a bag of cauliflower florets, grapefruit sparkling water, a carton of strawberries and a package of organic chicken sausages. Cameras and sensors recorded each of my moves, creating a virtual shopping cart for me in real time. Then I simply walked out, no cashier necessary. Whole Foods — or rather Amazon — would bill my account later. More than four years ago, Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13 billion. Now the Amazon-ification of the grocery chain is physically complete, as showcased by the revamped Whole Foods store in Glover Park. For a long time, Amazon made only small steps toward putting its mark on the more than 500 Whole Foods stores in the United States and Britain. The main evidence of change were the discounts and free home delivery for Amazon Prime members. But this 21,000-square-foot Whole Foods just north of Georgetown has catapulted Amazon’s involvement forward. Along with another prototype Whole Foods store, which will open in Los Angeles this year, Amazon designed my local grocer to be almost completely run by tracking and robotic tools for the first time. The technology, known as Just Walk Out, consists of hundreds of cameras with a God’s-eye view of customers. Sensors are placed under each apple, carton of oatmeal and boule of multigrain bread. Behind the scenes, deep-learning software analyses the shopping activity to detect patterns and increase the accuracy of its charges. The technology is comparable to what’s in driverless cars. It identifies when we lift a product from a shelf, freezer or produce bin; automatically itemises the goods; and charges us when we leave the store. Anyone with an Amazon account, not just Prime members, can shop this way and skip a cash register since the bill shows up in our Amazon account. Amazon has tested such automation for more than four years, starting with 24 Amazon Go convenience stores and several Amazon Fresh grocery stores around the country. The palm-scanning technology, known as Amazon One, is also being licensed by others, such as a Hudson convenience store at Dallas Love Field Airport and Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken restaurant at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Those stores were valuable experiments, said Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail and technology. The company is treating Whole Foods as another step in its tech expansion into retail stores, he said. “We observed areas that caused friction for customers, and we diligently worked backward to figure out ways to alleviate that friction,” Kumar said. “We’ve always noticed that customers didn’t like standing in checkout lines. It’s not the most productive use of their time, which is how we came up with the idea to build Just Walk Out.” He declined to comment on whether Amazon planned to expand the technology to all Whole Foods stores. My New York Times colleague Karen Weise, who covers Amazon from Seattle, said the company operated on long time horizons, with the patience and money to execute slowly. That has allowed it to transform labour, retail and logistics over many years, she said. Groceries are just one piece of its ambitions. The Whole Foods in Glover Park has operated for more than 20 years, a cornerstone of a neighbourhood that is within walking distance of Embassy Row and the vice president’s Naval Observatory residence. Four years ago, the store closed over a dispute with the landlord and a rat infestation. Amazon announced last year that it would reopen the store as a Just Walk Out pilot project. The rats may be gone, but not the neighbourhood angst. The renovated store has sparked a spirited local debate, with residents sparring on the Nextdoor community app and a group neighbourhood email list over the store’s “dystopian” feeling versus its “impressive technology.” Some neighbours reminisced about how the store used to invite people to just hang out, with free samples and fluffy blueberry pancakes sold on weekends. Alex Levin, 55, an 18-year resident of Glover Park, said people should not reject the store’s changes. “We need to understand the benefits and downsides of the technology and use it to our advantage,” he said. He added that he had tried tricking the cameras and sensors by placing a box of chicken nuggets in his shopping bag and then putting the item back in a freezer. Amazon wasn’t fooled, and he wasn’t charged for the nuggets, he said. But others said they had found errors in their bills and complained about the end of produce by the pound. Everything is now offered per item, bundle or box. Some mourned the disappearance of the checkout line, where they perused magazines and last-minute grab bag items. Many were suspicious of the tracking tech. “It’s like George Orwell’s ‘1984,’” said Allen Hengst, 72, a retired librarian. Amazon said it didn’t plan to use video and other Whole Foods customer information for advertising or its recommendation engine. Shoppers who don’t want to participate in the experimental technology can enter the store without signing in and pay at self-checkout kiosks with a credit card or cash. As a longtime customer of Glover Park’s Whole Foods, I had missed the dark, cramped and often chaotic store and was excited to explore the changes. But somewhere between the palm scan and the six-pack banana bundles, I began to feel ambivalent. I noticed a sign near the entrance that forbade shoppers to take photos or videos inside. My eyes drifted toward the ceiling, where I noticed hundreds of small black plastic boxes hanging from the rafters. An employee jumped in. “Those are the cameras that will follow you during your shopping experience,” she explained, with no hint of irony. Several workers milled about the entrance to guide customers through check-in, while others stood behind the seafood counter, cheese station and produce areas. Kumar said the stores would always employ humans, but I wondered for how much longer. Amazon, under scrutiny for its labour practices, said employees’ roles might shift over time and become more focused on interacting with customers to answer questions. There were early signs of a more self-service future. At the bakery, I looked for someone to slice my $4.99 Harvest loaf and was directed to an industry-grade bread slicer for customers. A small label warned: Sharp blades. Keep hands clear of all moving parts. Kumar wouldn’t share data on the accuracy of Just Walk Out, so I tested the technology. I picked up an organic avocado and placed it on a pile of nonorganic avocados. After walking around the store, I went back and picked up the same organic avocado. If the cameras and sensors functioned properly, Amazon would be on top of my actions and charge me for the organic avocado that had been misplaced in the conventional bin. When I was ready to leave, I had the option of using a self-checkout kiosk or skipping the process. I decided on the latter and waved my palm again over an exit turnstile. The turnstile’s arms opened. “You should receive your receipt within two to three hours,” an employee at the exit said. I walked out. It felt discomfiting, like I might be mistaken for a shoplifter. An email from Amazon landed in my inbox an hour later. A link sent me to my Amazon account for details. It said my shopping experience had lasted 32 minutes, 26 seconds. My total bill was $34.35 — and I was correctly charged for the organic avocado. © 2022 The New York Times Company

In his closing remarks at the ninth consecutive Global Media Forum on Wednesday, DW Director General Peter Limbourg drew attention to European values. “In discussing our values with others, we receive an important reflection on those values that we in Germany and in Europe consider worth protecting and sharing. But we do not always live up to our own values. “Looking at the sale of arms, the pollution of the environment and in cases of cooperation with corrupt regimes, these are strong reminders that we need to live up to our own values before we can start preaching them to others,” he was quoted as saying by a DW media release. More than 2,000 participants from 110 countries came together in the former West German capital for the three-day annual Global Media Forum. Challenging subjects were addressed under the banner of "Media. Freedom. Values." Many journalists face difficult situations in countries around the world. The role of the media, freedom of expression and the values that need protecting were considered at the conference. German President Joachim Gauck had an inspiring message for the participants of the conference and reminded journalists from around the world of their shared responsibility. Photo: Deutsche Welle “Never before have we had so many possibilities for acquiring information as we have today. But we see at the same time the increasing possibilities for manipulation and disinformation. Photo: Deutsche Welle “For this reason it is so necessary to enshrine the media whose hallmark is one of reliable journalism, one which you can continue to trust,” he urged. One of the most inspiring moments of this year’s Global Media Forum was when Sedat Ergin, editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet, received the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award. Upon accepting the award, Ergin said: “Issues related to freedom of expression are increasingly apparent not only in third world countries, dictatorships and monarchies, but also in countries claiming to be democracies. “The European continent is no longer immune to this authoritarian tendency." In his laudation for the Turkish editor, fellow journalist and publisher of the German newspaper "BILD", Kai Diekmann made it abundantly clear: “The freedom of the press is a valuable and noble good. We must not tire of addressing the terrible state of the freedom of the press and opinion in Turkey.” Some reactions from Turkish media close to the ruling party were extreme, a reminder of the pressure which journalists are working under in Turkey. The important role of bloggers and activists in societies without true freedom of speech was on the agenda of the GMF once again. Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef came to Bonn to take part in the award ceremony for The Bobs, awards given out by Deutsche Welle to honour the best international online activists and their work. The German Commissioner for Human Rights Policy Bärbel Kofler joined a panel with bloggers from Bangladesh who are now living under asylum in Germany and other European countries. Attacked by Islamist extremists and offered no protection by their government, journalists whose lives are in danger in their home countries were the topic of a discussion at the Forum aimed at raising more awareness for the need for asylum, the media release said. Journalist and author Martin Walker gave a grim status report of where the future of media may be heading. International speakers on several panels at the conference made it clear that media are at a turning point. The shift to an ever more important role of direct dialogue with people around the world through social media opens new opportunities for journalism. DW’s Director General Limbourg said: “This is an opportunity that media have to seize to be able to truly make a difference.”

“I think we will see a significant pivot in the tourism industry in 2021,” said Gregory Miller, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Travel, noting that the focus is “not on who is benefiting the travel business, but who’s benefiting the community.” The following are some of the many sustainable initiatives that have been started during the pandemic, awaiting the return of travelers. — A marine heritage site From Dana Point, California, whale-watching operations take visitors on boat trips to see gray whales, blue whales and, on occasion, racing megapods of dolphins. They also pick up discarded, deflated balloons — which might be mistaken for food by sea creatures. “We tell people, don’t celebrate with balloons, because this is where they end up,” said Donna Kalez, the co-president of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, a recreational guide service. She and Gisele Anderson, a co-president of another whale-watching operation, Captain Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, wanted a way to signal to the world that their region is not just a great place to see whales, but to learn about and protect them. They found it in the Whale Heritage Site programme from the nonprofit conservation association World Cetacean Alliance to which they applied. In late January, Dana Point received the designation a Whale Heritage Site, the first in the United States. The Whale Heritage Site designation is meant to identify to travelers not only whale-rich areas, but those that are engaged in conservation, education and cultural celebrations of whales. An initial pair of sites, The Bluff, South Africa, and Hervey Bay, Australia, were designated in 2019. In addition to Dana Point, a region off Tenerife, Spain, was also named a Whale Heritage Site this year. “It’s a new program but we think it could be what National Parks are to the US,” said Ben Williamson, the programs director for World Animal Protection, US, a global animal welfare nonprofit which is a partner on the heritage site project. “We think rolling out these landmarks for sustainable and responsible tourism gives tourists and the travel industry a marker to show how the wildlife experience should be done.” World Animal Protection promotes viewing animals in the wild rather than in captivity, such as at SeaWorld San Diego, about an hour south of Dana Point. Seven more candidate sites globally are currently under review for certification. A deep coastal canyon below Dana Point draws whales and dolphins close to shore, and the town is home to a whale festival that has been running for 50 years. Its sustainable whale-watching operations will be audited every three years to maintain heritage site status. “This isn’t a designation for life. You need to work to keep it,” Anderson said of plans for future beach cleanups and citizen science initiatives and continuing work to instruct recreational boaters on keeping safe distances from whales. — Colorado electrifies its byways A key component of Colorado Gov Jared Polis’ climate action plan — which calls for the state to obtain 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2040 — is electrifying transportation. More than 30 fast-charging stations for electric vehicles are planned or available on Colorado’s interstates and highways, or highly trafficked “corridors.” Greatly expanding the range of electric cars, charging facilities about 50 miles apart are coming in June to six of the state’s 26 Scenic & Historic Byways, which traverse rural areas and are popular with road trippers. By encouraging drivers to spend time in towns with charging stations while their car is being replenished, the initiative combines economic development and sustainable transportation. Andrew Grossmann, the director of Destination Development for the Colorado Tourism Office, calls the first electrified byways an “initial skeletal installation,” with capacities for a minimum of two cars at each station. While many newer model electric vehicles can go more than 200 miles on a charge, “having them in place more closely helps reduce range anxiety,” he said. To use the new system, travelers would have to arrive by electric vehicle, as few are available from rental car companies. However, the Dollar and Thrifty rental car franchises at the Eagle County Regional Airport near Vail have agreed with the state to add 10 electric vehicles before the end of the year. And Vail has 28 public charging ports and nearly 20 stations at hotels, including Sonnenalp Vail. For local drivers, electrifying remote byways is a passport to travel. “We want to go not just to Vail, but Clear Creek, South Park and places that are less discovered by tourists because we’re the locals, so that’s a game changer for us,” said Don Dulchinos, 64, a technology consultant based in Boulder, who owns a 2012 Chevy Volt and runs a Facebook page for electric vehicle owners in the state. — Biking adventures that start in the city Since 1976, when it organised a cross-country bike ride in celebration of the nation’s bicentennial, the nonprofit Adventure Cycling Association has specialized in mapping long-distance cycling routes across the United States. But this year, the organisation, which encourages bicycle transportation, aims to take travel-by-bike to urban areas in an effort to bridge environmental and social sustainability. Its new Short-Trips Initiative, which will kick off in June, will create maps and suggested itineraries for trips from one to three nights from eight cities — Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington, DC — with plans for 30 cities by 2023. “We wanted to focus on letting people know they can have a great adventure even if they’re going for one night,” said Eva Dunn-Froebig, the project director of the initiative. A major programme focus is to diversify the cycling scene, which the association describes as predominantly male and white. In addition to reaching urbanites, the initiative includes recruiting ambassadors from each city, especially among Black, Indigenous and other people of colour to lead occasional short trips and share their bike camping expertise. “I think the ACA is trying to catch up with the social environment,” said Jess Kim, 30, a transportation engineer in Seattle and avid bike camper who is Asian American and plans to apply to become an ambassador for the initiative. She calls it a “step in the right direction” in offering flexible rides to those with constrained schedules, targeting racially diverse communities and partnering with organizers like herself who are working on making cycling more inclusive. As a practical matter, the ACA says anyone can bike camp, which might include having a family member drive a support vehicle with camping gear or fashioning bike carriers from kitty litter containers. “The best bike for your first tour is the bike you already have,” said Dan Meyer, the deputy editor of the association’s Adventure Cyclist Magazine. — Saving pangolins The only fully scale-covered mammal, pangolins curl up in an armoured ball when threatened. It’s those scales, used in traditional Asian medicine practices, that largely make them the quarry of poachers. According to the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, more than 1 million of the small, ant-eating animals have been illegally traded in the last 10 years. Eight species of pangolins, native to Asia and Africa, range from vulnerable to critically endangered. “What we’re looking at here is yet another man-made extinction. And because of the silent and elusive nature of the pangolin, it could be a very silent extinction,” said Les Carlisle, the director of conservation at andBeyond, which runs safari camps and game preserves in Africa, and has started a program to rehabilitate pangolins rescued from illegal trading. The goal is to establish a breeding programme. Last year, a captive pangolin was recovered by authorities, rehabilitated at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and eventually relocated to the 70,560-acre andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, a private preserve and safari camp, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where it gave birth to a pup, the first in the area for an estimated 40 years. While the preserve is heavily guarded and the pangolin rehabilitation program is ongoing, its managers won’t say how many pangolins are living on the property for fear of drawing the attention of poachers. Guests at one of the Phinda lodges, which have reopened, can join a researcher from the conservation team during a general health check of a pangolin. But don’t expect to see one of the shy, nocturnal creatures on a game drive. “Rangers who have worked on reserves with pangolins have gone years without seeing one,” Carlisle said. — Carbon capture for the people Travel has a chronic carbon problem. The emissions associated with travel, by car, ship or by air, make sustainable travel a stumbling block right from departure. Carbon offsets have long been a balancing alternative, though most experts agree offsetting isn’t enough to slow or reverse climate change. Tomorrow’s Air, a new climate action group incubated by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, is taking a different tack, both technologically and socially. It champions carbon removal and storage, as done by the Swiss company Climateworks — an expensive process that filters carbon dioxide from the air, sometimes injecting it underground in basalt rock, where it mineralises over time. While the process seems sound, “the question is, is it scalable?” said Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has studied carbon capture for more than 30 years, noting the high cost of running the technology relative to the amount of carbon removed. “It’s a lot cheaper to not emit than to try to capture it later.” Though the emerging technology is indeed costly — one Peruvian tour operator estimated that mitigating a flight between London and Lima with carbon capture technology would cost $5,040 — Tomorrow’s Air aims to excite people about the future of carbon removal, invest in it and create a community of travelers and travel companies around it that will eventually be large enough to sway companies and governments to engage. “We’re providing ways for travellers and travel companies to support the scale-up of carbon removal technology,” said Christina Beckmann, the co-founder of Tomorrow’s Air. “We thought, what if we got travel, which is 10% of global GDP, or some portion of it, united around carbon removal with permanent storage? We could really do something.” Tomorrow’s Air is pursuing that goal by planning online Airbnb Experiences tours of a carbon capture plant. And it has partnered with artists who focus on the climate, showcasing their work on its website. It also sells subscriptions starting at $30, of which 80% is invested in a carbon removal company; 20% funds further educational efforts. The group is holding its first convention (virtual, of course) Friday, bringing together what it calls “climate clever travelers and brands” to talk not just about carbon capture, but where to go and how to be a more sustainable traveler, a step in harnessing consumer demand to climate change action. “It’s practical, it’s affordable and it’s a way to be a part of what will hopefully be a growing traveler’s collective where by eventual size maybe we can take some things to scale,” said Ann Becker, 68, a business and travel consultant living in Chicago and a member of Tomorrow’s Air. c.2021 The New York Times Company

In his first State of the Union address to the European Parliament, Juncker outlined an emergency plan to distribute 160,000 refugees among the 28 EU member states and promised a permanent asylum mechanism to cope with future crises. Defending his much-criticized proposal for mandatory burden sharing, he said Europe could not leave Greece, Hungary and Italy, the main receiving countries, to cope with the flood. He appealed to Europeans to respond to the crisis with humanity, dignity and "historical fairness" and not take fright, saying the vast majority of the 500,000 people who had arrived in Europe this year were fleeing war in Syria and Libya, "the terror of the Islamic State" or "dictatorship in Eritrea". Europe was a continent where many had been refugees over the centuries and it was rich enough to cope with a challenge far smaller than the one facing Syria's neighbors - Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. "It is Europe today that represents a beacon of hope, a haven of stability in the eyes of women and men in the Middle East and in Africa. That is something to be proud of and not something to fear," the former Luxembourg prime minister said in a marathon 80-minute speech. "The Europe I want to live in is illustrated by those who want to help," he added, denouncing calls to discriminate among refugees according to their religion. He was heckled by Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party, who said most of those arriving were economic migrants and the EU should emulate Australia's "stop the boats" policy to halt a flow of "biblical proportions". Italian lawmaker Gianluca Buonanno of the anti-immigration Northern League donned an Angela Merkel face-mask to interrupt Juncker in an attempt to suggest that the German chancellor was dictating asylum policy to Europe. Berlin has said it expects to receive up to 800,000 asylum seekers this year. Juncker said the refugee crisis was his top priority, before the economy, Greece's debt woes, Ukraine, climate change and a looming vote on Britain's membership of the bloc. That list of issues showed the European Union was in a bad state, he said, declaring: "There is not enough Europe in this Union, and there is not enough union in this Union." He confirmed plans for a common EU list of "safe countries of origins" whose citizens would be subject to fast-track deportations if they breached EU immigration laws. He also urged EU member states to allow refugees to work from day one while their asylum applications are processed. OPPOSITION EXPECTED Juncker's proposals face opposition from several central European governments when EU interior ministers meet on Monday. Many reject compulsory quotas and some, such as Slovakia, want to take in only a handful of Christian refugees. But under strong pressure from Germany, France and Italy, the tide appears to be turning towards more European solidarity. Juncker pledged to improve the management of the bloc's external frontiers, bolster its Frontex border agency and moves to create "European coastguard and border guard systems". He also proposed a "more effective approach to return" - addressing complaints that too many people not entitled to asylum enter the Union illegally and remain there often despite legal proceedings that conclude they should return home. Juncker called for efforts to strengthen the EU's common asylum system and a review of the so-called Dublin system, under which people may request asylum only in the state where they first enter the EU, straining resources in frontline countries. Answering criticism from refugee and migration agencies, he said the EU would "develop safe legal avenues for those in need of protection" - reducing the temptation to risk dangerous sea crossings and smuggling networks - as well as a permanent scheme to resettle refugees from other regions and better protection for refugees living in regions neighboring Europe. He also proposed a better system for legal migration to attract talents from around the world to the ageing continent. EU WRANGLING The detailed proposals may provoke new wrangling among EU states and between national leaders and the EU executive. Juncker reminded former communist central European member states that refugees fleeing Soviet repression in their countries had been welcomed in large numbers in western Europe. And he took a dig at Hungary's building of a frontier fence by saying desperate families fleeing Syria would cross any barrier and brave many dangers to escape their homeland. The mounting scale of the human calamity on the bloc's frontiers -- and fears that discord might do wider damage to shared interests like freedom of travel across Europe's internal borders -- has kindled some willingness to compromise after an earlier Juncker plan in May provoked bitter recrimination. "This time, the Commission seems to be proposing a more comprehensive approach, also addressing the need to control the external frontiers better," said one EU diplomat whose government was among those in the east who argued that their society, unused to immigration, could not take in large numbers. "There is still a lot to negotiate. There is a lot we cannot accept. But the debate is now a lot less emotional." MERKEL PERSUASION Also driving the EU towards some accord has been the stand taken by Merkel, whose government has taken in the greatest number of asylum-seekers. She has called on poorer eastern neighbors who receive German-funded EU subsidies to show solidarity -- and warned that the Schengen system of open borders from which they benefit is under threat from chaotic movements of migrants across the bloc. "When Merkel needs something, and she plays it sensibly as she usually does, things start to move," said another senior EU diplomat from the formerly Communist east. While Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban remains vocally opposed to relocation quotas, his country will now benefit from the scheme, having taken in tens of thousands. And Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz conceded on Tuesday that Warsaw could take in more than the 2,000 people it announced earlier. Under Juncker's plan, EU sources say Poland would be asked to take in nearly 12,000. EU officials have said countries could also be offered the chance to contribute financially rather than take in migrants. Britain has been critical of the EU approach but is exempt from the bloc's asylum policies and will not take part, although Prime Minister David Cameron said this week it would accept up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years. Spain, which had complained its likely quota was too high, said on Tuesday it was ready to take what the European Union allocated to it.

(Reuters/bdnews24.com) - Here are key findings on climate change from a February 2 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which groups 2,500 researchers from more than 130 nations. EVIDENCE OF HUMAN CAUSES * "Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (human) greenhouse gas concentrations," it says. The IPCC says "very likely" means at least a 90-percent probability. * "The level of confidence that humans are causing global warming has increased a lot," report author Peter Stott said. TEMPERATURE INCREASES * It is very likely that extremes such as heat waves and heavy rains will become more frequent. * "For the first time we have a best estimate of what we can achieve if we keep emissions levels lower," said report chair Susan Solomon. * The report does not include possible warming from methane, a potent greenhouse gas, escaping from melting permafrost. * Warming is expected to be greatest over land and at high northern latitudes, and least over the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic. SEA LEVEL RISES * The report cites six models with core projections of sea level rises ranging from 7.2 to 23.6 inches this century. That is a narrower and lower band than the 3.5 to 34.6 inch gain forecast in 2001. * If the Greenland ice sheet melts proportionally to the temperature increases, then sea levels would rise by up to 31.6 inches this century. * Some models show an ice-free Arctic in summer by 2100, meaning that sea ice floating in the water disappears, but not ice resting on Greenland. * If the Greenland ice sheet melted completely, that would lead to a 23.1-foot (7-metre) sea level increase. CHANGING OCEAN CURRENTS * The report predicts a gradual slowdown this century in ocean currents such as the one that carries warm water to northwest Europe. * "It's very unlikely there will be an abrupt breakdown in ocean currents in the 21st century," said Jurgen Willebrand, the report's author with special expertise in ocean effects. HURRICANES * The report says it is "more likely than not" that a trend of increasing intense tropical cyclones and hurricanes has a human cause. * It predicts such tropical cyclones will become more intense in the future. * "There may not be an increase in number, there may be a redistribution to more intense events -- which is what has been observed in the Atlantic since 1970," Stott said.

That was the question a cheerful Amazon employee posed when greeting me last week at the opening of a Whole Foods Market in Washington’s Glover Park neighbourhood. She blithely added, “You can also begin shopping by scanning the QR code in your Amazon app.” “Let’s go for the palm,” I said. In less than a minute, I scanned both hands on a kiosk and linked them to my Amazon account. Then I hovered my right palm over the turnstile reader to enter the nation’s most technologically sophisticated grocery store. For the next 30 minutes, I shopped. I picked up a bag of cauliflower florets, grapefruit sparkling water, a carton of strawberries and a package of organic chicken sausages. Cameras and sensors recorded each of my moves, creating a virtual shopping cart for me in real time. Then I simply walked out, no cashier necessary. Whole Foods — or rather Amazon — would bill my account later. More than four years ago, Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13 billion. Now the Amazon-ification of the grocery chain is physically complete, as showcased by the revamped Whole Foods store in Glover Park. For a long time, Amazon made only small steps toward putting its mark on the more than 500 Whole Foods stores in the United States and Britain. The main evidence of change were the discounts and free home delivery for Amazon Prime members. But this 21,000-square-foot Whole Foods just north of Georgetown has catapulted Amazon’s involvement forward. Along with another prototype Whole Foods store, which will open in Los Angeles this year, Amazon designed my local grocer to be almost completely run by tracking and robotic tools for the first time. The technology, known as Just Walk Out, consists of hundreds of cameras with a God’s-eye view of customers. Sensors are placed under each apple, carton of oatmeal and boule of multigrain bread. Behind the scenes, deep-learning software analyses the shopping activity to detect patterns and increase the accuracy of its charges. The technology is comparable to what’s in driverless cars. It identifies when we lift a product from a shelf, freezer or produce bin; automatically itemises the goods; and charges us when we leave the store. Anyone with an Amazon account, not just Prime members, can shop this way and skip a cash register since the bill shows up in our Amazon account. Amazon has tested such automation for more than four years, starting with 24 Amazon Go convenience stores and several Amazon Fresh grocery stores around the country. The palm-scanning technology, known as Amazon One, is also being licensed by others, such as a Hudson convenience store at Dallas Love Field Airport and Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken restaurant at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Those stores were valuable experiments, said Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail and technology. The company is treating Whole Foods as another step in its tech expansion into retail stores, he said. “We observed areas that caused friction for customers, and we diligently worked backward to figure out ways to alleviate that friction,” Kumar said. “We’ve always noticed that customers didn’t like standing in checkout lines. It’s not the most productive use of their time, which is how we came up with the idea to build Just Walk Out.” He declined to comment on whether Amazon planned to expand the technology to all Whole Foods stores. My New York Times colleague Karen Weise, who covers Amazon from Seattle, said the company operated on long time horizons, with the patience and money to execute slowly. That has allowed it to transform labour, retail and logistics over many years, she said. Groceries are just one piece of its ambitions. The Whole Foods in Glover Park has operated for more than 20 years, a cornerstone of a neighbourhood that is within walking distance of Embassy Row and the vice president’s Naval Observatory residence. Four years ago, the store closed over a dispute with the landlord and a rat infestation. Amazon announced last year that it would reopen the store as a Just Walk Out pilot project. The rats may be gone, but not the neighbourhood angst. The renovated store has sparked a spirited local debate, with residents sparring on the Nextdoor community app and a group neighbourhood email list over the store’s “dystopian” feeling versus its “impressive technology.” Some neighbours reminisced about how the store used to invite people to just hang out, with free samples and fluffy blueberry pancakes sold on weekends. Alex Levin, 55, an 18-year resident of Glover Park, said people should not reject the store’s changes. “We need to understand the benefits and downsides of the technology and use it to our advantage,” he said. He added that he had tried tricking the cameras and sensors by placing a box of chicken nuggets in his shopping bag and then putting the item back in a freezer. Amazon wasn’t fooled, and he wasn’t charged for the nuggets, he said. But others said they had found errors in their bills and complained about the end of produce by the pound. Everything is now offered per item, bundle or box. Some mourned the disappearance of the checkout line, where they perused magazines and last-minute grab bag items. Many were suspicious of the tracking tech. “It’s like George Orwell’s ‘1984,’” said Allen Hengst, 72, a retired librarian. Amazon said it didn’t plan to use video and other Whole Foods customer information for advertising or its recommendation engine. Shoppers who don’t want to participate in the experimental technology can enter the store without signing in and pay at self-checkout kiosks with a credit card or cash. As a longtime customer of Glover Park’s Whole Foods, I had missed the dark, cramped and often chaotic store and was excited to explore the changes. But somewhere between the palm scan and the six-pack banana bundles, I began to feel ambivalent. I noticed a sign near the entrance that forbade shoppers to take photos or videos inside. My eyes drifted toward the ceiling, where I noticed hundreds of small black plastic boxes hanging from the rafters. An employee jumped in. “Those are the cameras that will follow you during your shopping experience,” she explained, with no hint of irony. Several workers milled about the entrance to guide customers through check-in, while others stood behind the seafood counter, cheese station and produce areas. Kumar said the stores would always employ humans, but I wondered for how much longer. Amazon, under scrutiny for its labour practices, said employees’ roles might shift over time and become more focused on interacting with customers to answer questions. There were early signs of a more self-service future. At the bakery, I looked for someone to slice my $4.99 Harvest loaf and was directed to an industry-grade bread slicer for customers. A small label warned: Sharp blades. Keep hands clear of all moving parts. Kumar wouldn’t share data on the accuracy of Just Walk Out, so I tested the technology. I picked up an organic avocado and placed it on a pile of nonorganic avocados. After walking around the store, I went back and picked up the same organic avocado. If the cameras and sensors functioned properly, Amazon would be on top of my actions and charge me for the organic avocado that had been misplaced in the conventional bin. When I was ready to leave, I had the option of using a self-checkout kiosk or skipping the process. I decided on the latter and waved my palm again over an exit turnstile. The turnstile’s arms opened. “You should receive your receipt within two to three hours,” an employee at the exit said. I walked out. It felt discomfiting, like I might be mistaken for a shoplifter. An email from Amazon landed in my inbox an hour later. A link sent me to my Amazon account for details. It said my shopping experience had lasted 32 minutes, 26 seconds. My total bill was $34.35 — and I was correctly charged for the organic avocado. © 2022 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON, Thu Feb 5, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - US Vice President Joe Biden will seek to break with the unilateralist tilt of the Bush years by emphasizing cooperation and diplomacy in a major weekend foreign policy speech in Germany, US officials said. His remarks on Saturday to the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of defense and security experts, will be scrutinized for more details on the new administration's policies on Russia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and NATO expansion. Analysts said Biden's trip to Munich could go a long way toward repairing ties with Europe that were severely strained by former US President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, his policies on climate change and his confrontational approach to Russia. "It is critical in setting the tone between this administration and the Europeans," said Sam Brannen, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Clearly they (Europeans) want him to say the transatlantic relationship is central," Brannen said. Biden, on his first trip abroad as vice president, will head a delegation including retired General James Jones, President Barack Obama's national security adviser; the U.S. military commander for the Middle East and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus; and Richard Holbrooke, newly appointed special envoy for Afghanistan. Biden, who headed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a long time, will hold bilateral talks with other leaders at the conference. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are on the guest list. "My instinct is that the message will be that we are here to listen, I am here to take notes," said Steven Weber, a political science professor at University of California, Berkeley. Some media have speculated that Biden could use the conference to announce a review of the Bush administration's planned missile shield in Poland as an olive branch to Russia, but a senior White House official dismissed that. "There will be no announcements beyond a broad and pretty forceful statement about the new administration's new approach to the transatlantic relationship and foreign policy in general -- a great emphasis on cooperation, diplomacy, respect for our allies and their concerns and opinions," the official said. "But with all that positive outreach, we want in return ... we need our allies help to solve the world's biggest problems. That includes diplomatic, military, financial," he said. RUSSIAN DETENTE? With the Obama administration trying to formulate a comprehensive strategy to tackle deteriorating security in Afghanistan, analysts said Biden would be asking for more support there, although they were divided on what form that could take -- from troops, to training, to development aid. European leaders have been reluctant to risk soldiers' lives for a mission that is unpopular with voters, despite repeated appeals from Washington for more help and warnings that terrorism could spread if NATO was defeated there. Analysts said Europeans would also be watching for any signs of a thawing in ties between the United States and Russia, which deteriorated under Bush and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in a telephone call last week to stop the "drift" in ties between their two countries. Russia was later reported to have suspended plans to station missiles on the Polish border. "We want to work with Russia, and we want to see if we can get off on the right foot with Russia," the White House official said when asked whether Biden's speech would signal a new detente with Moscow. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov will be at the conference, but it is not clear whether there are plans for him and Biden to meet. "The whole point of Munich is that it provides lots of opportunities for a lot of side conversations," said Jeremy Shapiro, a fellow at Brookings Institution. With Obama also expressing a willingness to talk directly to Iran over its disputed nuclear program, conference observers will also be watching for any encounters with members of Iran's delegation, who include Ali Larijani, parliament speaker and an influential conservative politician in the Islamic Republic. But analysts said a meeting between Biden and Larijani was highly unlikely.

More than half of the shared three-wheeled taxis are technically illegal, and the drivers typically don’t have licenses. Accidents are common. Nearly all of the rickshaws are powered by lead-acid batteries underneath the passenger seats. And the electricity used to recharge them is often stolen. “It isn’t safe at all,” said Suman Deep Kaur, who works at a credit agency and rides an e-rickshaw twice a day between the station and her home. “But this is the only conveyance that will get me home.” Welcome to the front line of India’s electric vehicle revolution. It’s messy, improvised and driven by the people. The government and vehicle makers are now trying to gain some control over it. India’s million e-rickshaws make up the second-largest collection of electric vehicles in the world. Only China’s fleet of several hundred million electric motorcycles and bicycles is bigger. Workers for Saarthi, Delhi’s biggest maker of electric rickshaws, assemble vehicles at a warehouse in New Delhi, June 19, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) About 60 million Indians hop on an e-rickshaw every day, analysts estimate. Passengers pay about 10 rupees, or 14 cents, for a ride. In a country with limited shared transit options and a vast population of working poor people, the vehicles provide a vital service as well as a decent living for drivers, who are mostly illiterate. Workers for Saarthi, Delhi’s biggest maker of electric rickshaws, assemble vehicles at a warehouse in New Delhi, June 19, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) Whirring through Delhi’s side streets and dirt lanes, the e-rickshaws leave passengers with dust-filled lungs and shaken bones. Drivers often go against traffic, playing chicken with oncoming buses and trucks. The vehicles’ open sides, handy for hopping on and off, require that riders hang on or risk falling out. The batteries sometimes overheat, putting people in a literal hot seat. Yet to millions of Indians, it’s all worth it. In the country’s northern cities, where e-rickshaws are concentrated, the vehicles are supplanting auto-rickshaws, the better-known three-wheelers that serve as neighbourhood taxis, seat up to three people and run on diesel, gasoline or natural gas. Although auto-rickshaws are safer and faster, a ride in one costs three to 10 times more than a ride in an e-rickshaw, which is less expensive because of the vehicles’ cheaper energy supply and ability to cram in four or more paying passengers. Rajkumar Shah, who has driven a cycle rickshaw for 20 years, in New Delhi, India, June 19, 2019. Competition from electric rickshaws, he said, had put his business “in dire straits.” A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) For many drivers, going electric is an upgrade from the old-fashioned cycle rickshaws they once pedalled. Rajkumar Shah, who has driven a cycle rickshaw for 20 years, in New Delhi, India, June 19, 2019. Competition from electric rickshaws, he said, had put his business “in dire straits.” A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) Vinod Jha, 42, a cycle rickshaw driver who changed to an electric model two years ago, said that he got more business now. Passengers overwhelmingly prefer e-rickshaws to human-powered ones. But there are downsides. “I felt healthier then,” he said. “Now I’m lazy.” India’s embrace of electric vehicles has been disorganised, like so much else in the country. The first e-rickshaws appeared about a decade ago when small manufacturers imported ready-to-assemble kits from China, where the vehicles were used mainly to haul cargo. The government ignored the rise of e-rickshaws until 2014, when a 3-year-old child was knocked into a pot of hot oil by a driver who hit the boy’s mother. The Delhi High Court ruled that the vehicles were illegal and banned them. A man welds parts for Shahenshah, a brand of electric rickshaws sold by G&G Automotive in New Delhi, June 19, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) But the national parliament stepped in and legalised e-rickshaws in 2015. Sunny Garg, who runs G&G Automotive, a New Delhi manufacturer of higher-end e-rickshaws that cost about $2,000 apiece, said that elected officials had realised drivers were important constituents. A man welds parts for Shahenshah, a brand of electric rickshaws sold by G&G Automotive in New Delhi, June 19, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) “One e-rickshaw has at least four to six votes,” he said, referring to the members of each driver’s family. E-rickshaws reduce air pollution in places like New Delhi, one of the world’s smoggiest cities. Officials there now offer a subsidy of 30,000 rupees, or about $425, to drivers who buy new ones. As the vehicles’ popularity has grown, Indian companies have tweaked the original Chinese designs. New brands like Saarthi, one of the biggest manufacturers of e-rickshaws in the Delhi area, have emerged, as has an ecosystem of parts suppliers and neighborhood parking lots where drivers can store and recharge their vehicles overnight. Electric rickshaw drivers wait for passengers in Gurgaon, India, June 20, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) The central government is now trying to force motorcycle and auto-rickshaw makers to go all-electric, too. It just cut taxes on electric vehicles and has proposed subsidies for batteries and charging stations. Along with those carrots is a stick: a requirement that all new three-wheeled vehicles be electric by 2023 and that two-wheeled ones meet that goal by 2025. Electric rickshaw drivers wait for passengers in Gurgaon, India, June 20, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) “This is good for the Earth,” said Rajiv Kumar, vice chairman of Niti Aayog, the agency spearheading the plan. Safety remains a concern. E-rickshaws, with their slow speed and rickety design, are prone to accidents. Drivers are supposed to avoid major roads, but many do not. Utility companies complain about charging lots stealing power using illegal connections. A passenger travels in an electric rickshaw in Gurgaon, India, June 20, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) India’s hot climate also punishes electric batteries. They lose their charge more quickly here than in cooler countries, and they can overheat and shut down. A passenger travels in an electric rickshaw in Gurgaon, India, June 20, 2019. A million electric rickshaws sprang up out of nowhere and are now being used by 60 million people a day. The government and vehicle makers are struggling to catch up. (Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times) Big companies are starting to see potential in solving the problems. Ola, an Uber competitor in India, is experimenting with e-rickshaws that can exchange lithium ion batteries quickly so there is no downtime for drivers. Ola has built a battery-swapping station just outside of Delhi and has raised $250 million from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to invest in electric vehicle technology. “It can’t be chaos forever,” said Anand Shah, head of Ola Electric Mobility. “It’s got to improve.”   c.2019 New York Times News Service

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has already taken on an international role as a Middle East envoy, is now tackling climate change with a plan for the world to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Blair travelled to Tokyo on Friday to unveil a climate change initiative and said on his Web site he will go to China and India in the next week to discuss his proposals with the world's two largest developing economies. "There is a consensus now right across the world that we need a new global deal and at the heart of it there has got to be a substantial cut in emissions. The difficult thing is: what type of deal? That's the work that I'm working on," he said in a video clip on the website, www.tonyblairoffice.org. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Blair said he will propose halving emissions by the middle of the century. "This is extremely urgent. A 50 percent cut by 2050 has to be a central component of this," Blair said. "We have to try this year to get that agreed. We need a true and proper global deal and that needs to include America and China." Blair's spokesman Matthew Doyle said the United States and European Union backed Blair's efforts, although they had not yet signed up to his proposed 50 percent cut. Blair had discussed the project with U.S. President George W. Bush, as well as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Doyle added. Blair told the Guardian the world needed an agreement on curbing greenhouse gases within two years. "The fact of the matter is if we do not take substantial action over the next two years, then by 2020 we will be thinking about adaptation rather than prevention," he said, adding that progress would not be made by telling people not to consume. "The Chinese and Indian governments are determined to grow their economies. They have hundreds of millions of very poor people -- they are going to industrialise, they are going to raise their living standards, and quite right too," he said. Since leaving office last year after 10 years as prime minister, Blair has taken on the role of envoy for the Quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia promoting economic development for Palestinians. He has also drawn criticism for accepting lucrative business, publishing and public speaking deals. Among his business deals, he was hired in January by insurer Zurich Financial Services to help it develop insurance products to mitigate the effects of global warming.

Jill Biden has famously been a reluctant player (“It’s kind of surprising, I think, how much commentary is made about what I wear,” she told Vogue). Not for her the strategy of fashion diplomacy, mastered by Michelle Obama, wherein you champion a designer who bridges both your home country and a host country. Not for her the high fashion tactics of Melania Trump, conflating runway with realpolitik. But she has, nevertheless, proved there are a variety of ways to score, as least judging by her first solo trip leading the American delegation at the Tokyo Olympics. During her four days abroad, she not only represented the American industry, wearing a roll call of local designers. She also, perhaps more important, embodied the theme of the Olympics, which was billed as the greenest Games yet with the motto “Be better, together — For the planet and the people.” Biden apparently wore only a single new garment during the entirety of her trip to Japan: the Ralph Lauren navy jacket and pants that were part of the official US Olympic Team uniform, and that she wore in her role as official US Olympic Team booster. Other than that, her clothes were all recycled outfits from her closet. And not just at fun family getaways: At public events. Often very big, photo op-filled, recorded-for-history public events. The red caped Narciso Rodriguez dress she wore when she landed in Tokyo? Worn during a trip with Anthony Fauci to a Florida vaccination site in June. The floral Tom Ford worn to dinner with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan and his wife Mariko? Worn at the G-7 summit in Britain in July. The polka-dot Brandon Maxwell at the opening ceremony? Ditto (that one under the much-discussed “Love” jacket). Not to mention the white Michael Kors dress worn in Tokyo under a Team USA jacket; the dress had made an earlier G-7 appearance under a navy jacket when President Joe Biden and the first lady arrived in Britain. Even the lilac dress that Jill Biden wore to deplane in Honolulu during the last leg of the trip had been seen before. The recycled wardrobe may not seem like a big deal, but it has been practically unheard-of since the turn of the 21st century when it comes to image-making, celebrities and their powerful political or entrepreneurial equivalents. Instead, the constant demand for new content seems to have been equated with new dress — whether on the red carpet, a premiere or an occasion of state. It has been fun to look at, a great guess-the-designer distraction. But it has also had the perhaps unforeseen effect of reinforcing the culture of disposability around fashion that has helped create the glut of stuff everyone now bemoans; of sending the message that every outing deserves its own outfit. That Biden would just say no to this cycle is as big a break with recent tradition as the fact that she is continuing to work as a professor during her time in the White House. And it may be just as important, and maybe even (if people pay attention) influential. She is not rejecting fashion — each look she wore is part of the current New York Fashion Week story, each one from American brands both establishment and up and coming. She’s doing her part to promote local business on the global stage. Rather, by rewearing her clothes, she is underscoring their value; the idea that when you find a garment you love, that makes you feel effective and like the best version of you, you keep it. If it made you feel that way once, it will do so again. That such a garment is worthy of investment for the long term. That it’s as much for the woman inside it as for the watching public. That it is not a throwaway. That you could do it too. That this is something to which we can all relate, whether or not we’re aware of the sustainability side of things. Of course, it’s possible that all this rewearing was just a coincidence. That she was so busy in the run-up to the Olympics (she is definitely very busy and, according to Vogue, she doesn’t have a stylist) she didn’t have much time to think about what she would pack, and just grabbed whatever from her closet. But given it was her first solo trip, which automatically meant more eyeballs, and given its fraught nature — the angst and controversy around the fact these Olympics are taking place at all — such a conclusion seems unlikely. Especially since pandemic restrictions resulted in a shortage of other audience members in the arena, Biden knew she would stand out in the non-crowd. That what she said may not be heard but what she wore would definitely be seen. And though her recycling of styles became apparent during scattered events in the first 100 days of her husband’s administration — and also reflects the climate-focused aspect of the Biden agenda — it may have reached its apogee with this trip. All of which suggests this will now be a defining element of Biden’s time in the East Wing; part of the way she takes the role forward. If so, everybody wins. ©2021 The New York Times Company

Following are excerpts of a draft text under consideration by world leaders on Friday as part of a new deal to fight climate change: TEMPERATURE GOAL "Recognizing the scientific view that the increase in global temperatures ought not to exceed 2 degrees, and on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development, parties commit to a vigorous response through immediate and enhanced national action based on strengthened international cooperation." BROAD GOALS "Ambitious action to mitigate climate change is needed with developed countries taking the lead. Parties recognize the critical impact of climate change on countries particularly vulnerable to its adverse effect and stress the need to establish a comprehensive adaptation program including international support. Deep cuts in global emissions are required." RICH NATION (ANNEX ONE) TARGETS "Annex One parties to the Convention commit to implement, individually or jointly, the quantified economy-wide emissions targets for 2020 as listed, yielding in aggregate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of "X" percent in 2020 compared to 1990 and "Y" percent in 2020 compared to 2005." DEVELOPING NATIONS (NON ANNEX ONE) GOALS "Non Annex One parties to the Convention resolve to implement mitigation actions based on their specific national circumstances. Frequency of submissions of non Annex One parties will be every 2 years...subject to their domestic auditing and assessment...Clarification may, upon request, be provided by the party concerned at its discretion to respond to any question contained in a national communication...Supported nationally appropriate mitigation actions shall be subject to international verification." FUNDS "Scaled up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding shall be provided by developed country parties. Parties shall provide new and additional resources of $30 billion for 2010-12. In the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, the parties support the goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion a year to address the climate change needs of developing countries. This funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance. A Copenhagen Climate Fund shall be established as an operating entity."

Pakistan is facing a "raging" water crisis that if managed poorly could mean Pakistan would run out of water in several decades, experts say, leading to mass starvation and possibly war. The reliance on a single river basin, one of the most inefficient agricultural systems in world, climate change and a lack of a coherent water policy means that as Pakistan's population expands, its ability to feed it is shrinking. "Pakistan faces a raging water crisis," said Michael Kugelman, program associate for South and Southeast Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. "It has some of the lowest per capita water availability in Asia, and in the world as a whole." The vast majority -- between 90 and 95 percent -- of Pakistan's water is used for agriculture, the U.S. undersecretary for democracy and global affairs, Maria Otero, told Reuters. The average use in developing countries is between 70 and 75 percent. The remaining trickle is used for drinking water and sanitation for Pakistan's 180 million people. According to Kugelman, more than 55 million Pakistanis lack access to clean water and 30,000 die each year just in in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, from unsafe water. "Of the available water today, 40 percent of it gets used," Otero said. "The rest is wasted through seepage and other means." Otero was in Islamabad as part of the first meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue Water Working Group. Pakistan's Indus river basin is supplied by melting snow and glaciers from the Himalayas. A recent report in the journal Science by Walter W. Immerzeel of Utrecht University in the Netherlands said the Indus could lose large amounts of its flow because of climate change. Both India and Pakistan make use of the Indus, with the river managed under a 1960 water treaty. Pakistan has lately begun accusing India of taking more than its fair share from the headwaters by building a number of dams and waging water war against its downstream neighbour. India denies this. If the current rate of climate change continues and Pakistan continues to rely on the inefficient flood system of irrigation, by 2050, it will be able to feed between 23-29 million fewer people than it can today with approximately double its current population. The United States hopes to encourage Pakistan to modernise its agricultural system and plant less water-thirsty crops. Otero said Pakistan and the United States are also exploring ways to improve the storage of water and Pakistan must look at ways to charge more for water as a way of encouraging conservation. Such measures would likely be unpopular in the desperately poor nation. Measures to reduce subsidies on electricity, as mandated by the International Monetary Fund, amid chronic power shortages have battered the already unsteady civilian government. Pakistan needs to either pass land reform or a series of laws to govern proper water allocation, Kugelman said. "If nothing is done, the water crisis will continue, no matter how many canals are repaired or dams constructed," he said.

President Barack Obama on Thursday assured Canada, his country's biggest trading partner, that he would not pursue protectionist policies, and the two neighbors agreed to cooperate on cleaner energy technology. Obama, on his first trip abroad as president, sought in talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to allay Canadian concerns raised by a "Buy American" clause in a $787 billion U.S. economic recovery plan he signed this week. "Now is a time where we have to be very careful about any signals of protectionism," Obama told a joint news conference after several hours of talks with Harper on his one-day visit to Ottawa. "And as obviously one of the largest economies in the world, it's important for us to make sure that we are showing leadership in the belief that trade ultimately is beneficial to all countries," he said. He stressed the United States would meet its international trade obligations and told Harper he wanted to "grow trade not contract it." "I'm quite confident that the United States will respect those obligations and continue to be a leader on the need for globalized trade," Harper said afterward. Harper said he was willing to look at strengthening the environmental and labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, something Obama has said he wants. But the Canadian leader said he did not support renegotiating the agreement, which has boosted trade between the two countries. The two sides announced they would collaborate on environmentally friendly technologies that would help them develop an electricity grid fueled by clean, renewable energy and to tap their vast fossil fuel resources with less pollution. The technology is not cost-effective now. "How we produce and use energy is fundamental to our economic recovery, but also our security and our planet. And we know that we can't afford to tackle these issues in isolation," Obama said, adding there was "no silver bullet" solution. GOING FURTHER ON CLIMATE Environmentalists want Obama to go further and pressure Canada to clean up its oil sands in the western province of Alberta, from which oil is extracted in a process that spews out large amounts of greenhouse gases. "Tar sands create three times the global warming pollution as conventional oil and are not a viable alternative, no matter how the Canadian government and oil industry portray it," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the International Program Natural Resources Defense Council. But with his country facing its worst economic crisis in decades, Obama stressed the importance of Canada as the United States' largest energy provider. Most of the output of the oil sands is destined for U.S. markets. Despite the agreement to stimulate the development of green energy, Harper said it was too early for the countries to talk about a shared strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Obama, who took office last month, campaigned on a pledge to reduce U.S. emissions by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. In contrast to a passive approach by his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama is committed to tackling global warming, but he said climate change initiatives must be balanced against economic considerations in the midst of a worldwide recession. A White House official said the joint U.S.-Canadian green energy initiative would work on "elements like carbon capture and sequestration and the smart grid." Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for warming the Earth. Carbon sequestration, which is not yet commercially viable, involves capturing the gas and storing it underground before it enters the atmosphere. On Afghanistan, where Canada has 2,700 troops as part of a NATO-led force fighting a growing insurgency, Obama said he had not asked for more military help. Obama ordered 17,000 new U.S. troops there this week to battle the insurgency. Harper said Ottawa, which plans to withdraw its troops in 2011, would expand economic aid to Afghanistan, already Canada's biggest foreign recipient of aid.

The sprawling, $1 trillion bill that the Senate took up Monday — a 2,702-page bipartisan deal that is the product of months of negotiating and years of pent-up ambitions to repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — would amount to the most substantial government expenditure on the aging public works system since 2009. It is also stuffed with pet projects and priorities that touch on nearly every facet of American life, including the most obscure, like a provision to allow blood transport vehicles to use highway car pool lanes to bypass traffic when fresh vials are on board and another to fully fund a federal grant program to promote “pollinator-friendly practices” near roads and highways. (Price tag for the latter: $2 million per year.) The measure represents a crucial piece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, and the agreement that gave rise to it was a major breakthrough in his quest for a bipartisan compromise. But it was also notable for the concessions Biden was forced to make to strike the deal, including less funding for clean energy projects, lead pipe replacement, transit and measures targeted to historically underserved communities. Some of those provisions could be included in Democrats’ budget blueprint, expected to amount to $3.5 trillion, which they plan to take up after completing the infrastructure bill and push through unilaterally over Republican objections. The infrastructure legislation, written by a group of 10 Republicans and Democrats, could still change in the coming days, as other senators eager to leave their imprint have a chance to offer proposals for changes. The Senate began considering amendments Monday, with more possible in the coming days. But the legislation marks a significant bipartisan compromise, including $550 billion in new funds and the renewal of an array of existing transportation and infrastructure programs otherwise slated to expire at the end of September. Falling Short of Climate Goals As states confront yet another consecutive year of worsening national disasters, ranging from ice storms to wildfires, the measure includes billions of dollars to better prepare the country for the effects of global warming and the single largest federal investment in power transmission in history. Much of the money intended to bolster the country’s ability to withstand extreme weather would go toward activities that are already underway, but which experts say the government needs to do more of as the threats from climate change increase. It also would support new approaches, including money for “next-generation water modeling activities” and flood mapping at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which would also receive funds to predict wildfires. The legislation also includes $73 billion to modernize the nation’s electricity grid, which energy analysts said would lay the groundwork for pivoting the nation off fossil fuels. But it contains only a fraction of the money Biden requested for major environmental initiatives and extends a lifeline to natural gas and nuclear energy, provisions that have angered House progressives. There is also $7.5 billion for clean buses and ferries, but that is not nearly enough to electrify about 50,000 transit buses within five years, as Biden has vowed to do. The bill includes $7.5 billion to develop electric vehicle charging stations across the country, only half of the $15 billion Biden requested to deliver on his campaign pledge of building 500,000 of them. The bill would provide $15 billion for removing lead service lines across the nation, compared with the $45 billion Biden had called for and the $60 billion water sector leaders say is needed to get the job done. The legislation also includes more than $300 million to develop technology to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and $6 billion to support struggling nuclear reactors. It directs the secretary of energy to conduct a study on job losses associated with Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline. Winning Pet Priorities As one of the few major bills likely to be enacted during this Congress, the infrastructure measure has become a magnet for lobbying by industries across the country — and by the lawmakers whose votes will be needed to push it through, many of whom spent Monday highlighting funds for their top priorities. For the quartet of senators who represent the legions of federal workers who use the Washington Metro — Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia, and Benjamin Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, all Democrats — there was a critical annual reauthorization of $150 million for the transit system over a decade. The legislation would authorize funding to reconstruct a highway in Alaska, the home state of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican negotiator. Special funds are set aside for the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal economic development body whose co-chair is Gayle Manchin, the wife of Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, one of the bill’s principal authors and a key Democratic swing vote. Manchin also helped secure funds to clean up abandoned mine lands in states like his. Power lines in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 14, 2019. The sprawling, $1 trillion bill that the Senate took up on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 — a 2,702-page bipartisan deal that is the product of months of negotiating and years of pent-up ambitions to repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — would amount to the most substantial government expenditure on the aging public works system since 2009. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times) The legislation would set aside millions of dollars for individual projects across the country, including $1 million for the restoration of the Great Lakes, $24 million for the San Francisco Bay, $106 million for the Long Island Sound and $238 million for the Chesapeake Bay. Power lines in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 14, 2019. The sprawling, $1 trillion bill that the Senate took up on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 — a 2,702-page bipartisan deal that is the product of months of negotiating and years of pent-up ambitions to repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — would amount to the most substantial government expenditure on the aging public works system since 2009. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times) It also includes $66 billion in new funding for rail to address Amtrak’s maintenance backlog, along with upgrading the high-traffic Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston. For Biden, an Amtrak devotee who took an estimated 8,000 round trips on the line, it is a step toward fulfilling his promise to inject billions into rail. Repurposed Pandemic Funds With Republicans and some moderate Democrats opposed to adding to the nation’s ballooning debt, the legislation includes a patchwork of financing mechanisms, though some fiscal hawks have called many of them insufficient. To pay for the legislation, lawmakers have turned partly to $200 billion in unused money from previous pandemic relief programs enacted in 2020. That includes $53 billion in expanded jobless benefit money that can be repurposed since the economy recovered more quickly than projections assumed, and because many states discontinued their pandemic unemployment insurance payments out of concern that the subsidies were dissuading people from rejoining the workforce. The bill claws back more than $30 billion that was allocated — but had not been spent — for a Small Business Administration disaster loan program, which offers qualified businesses low-interest loans and small grants. That program has been stymied by shifting rules and red tape, and has disbursed cash far more slowly than Congress (and many applicants) expected. Leftover funds from other defunct programmes would also be reprogrammed. That includes $3 billion never deployed in relief funds for airline workers. Marc Goldwein of the Centre for a Responsible Federal Budget said that only about $50 billion of the estimated $200 billion represented real cost savings. The rest, he said, amounted to “cherry picking” numbers and claiming savings from projected costs that did not transpire. An analysis of the legislation by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the legislation could raise $51 billion in revenue over a decade, while the Congressional Budget Office is expected to release projections on its overall cost as early as this week. The legislation also includes tougher scrutiny by the IRS on cryptocurrency. But a last-minute lobbying push by the industry to water down the language succeeded, resulting in a scaling back of the new requirements. Still, the provision is projected to raise $28 billion over a decade. Providing Critical Resources As the United States remains battered by both the toll of the coronavirus pandemic and an onslaught of wildfires, droughts, floods and other weather calamities, the legislation seeks to target its support toward underserved communities historically in need of additional federal support. But while Biden had called for $20 billion for projects designed to help reconnect Black neighborhoods and communities of color splintered or disadvantaged by past construction, the legislation includes just $1 billion, half of which is new federal funding, over five years for the program. The legislation also creates a new $2 billion grant program to expand roads, bridges and other surface transportation projects in rural areas. The bill would increase support for tribal governments and Native American communities, creating an office within the Department of Transportation intended to respond to their needs. It would provide $216 million to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for climate resilience and adaptation for tribal nations, which have been disproportionately hurt by climate change. More than half of that money, $130 million, would go toward “community relocation” — helping some Native communities move away from vulnerable areas. It would also help improve access to running water and other sanitation needs in tribal communities and Alaska Native villages, with lawmakers determined to take care of all existing project needs. “We are still in an extreme deficit when it comes to our tribal communities,” Murkowski said in a speech on the Senate floor, adding that the funding level was “unprecedented.” “We’ve got to do right by our Native people.” Closing the Digital Divide Alongside old-fashioned public works projects like roads, bridges and highways, senators have included $65 billion meant to connect hard-to-reach rural communities to high-speed internet and help sign up low-income city dwellers who cannot afford it. Other legal changes seek to stoke competition and transparency among service providers that could help drive down prices. Official estimates vary, but most suggest that tens of millions of Americans lack reliable access to high-speed internet, many of them people of color, members of rural communities or other low-income groups. That need, lawmakers said, was exacerbated by lockdowns during the pandemic that required work and schooling from home. Biden had initially proposed $100 billion to try to bring that number to zero, but he agreed to lower the price to strike a compromise with Republicans. Democrats also fought to secure the inclusion of legislation to encourage states to develop comprehensive plans to ensure that access to high-speed internet is distributed equitably among traditionally underserved groups and educate them about access to digital resources. © 2021 The New York Times Company

Over lunch shortly after the July 14 sale, Felipe spoke openly about the business that has made him wealthy. He acknowledged cutting down the thick Amazon forest and that he had not paid for the land. He also said he structured his sales to hide the true origins of his cattle by selling to a middleman, creating a paper trail falsely showing his animals as coming from a legal ranch. Other ranchers in the area do the same, he said. “It makes no difference,” he said, whether his farm is legal or not. A New York Times investigation into Brazil’s rapidly expanding slaughterhouse industry — a business that sells not only beef to the world, but tons of leather annually to major companies in the United States and elsewhere — has identified loopholes in its monitoring systems that allow hides from cattle kept on illegally deforested Amazon land to flow undetected through Brazil’s tanneries and on to buyers worldwide. Felipe’s ranch is one of more than 600 that operate in an area of the Amazon known as Jaci-Paraná, a specially protected environmental reserve where deforestation is restricted. And transactions like his are the linchpins of a complex global trade that links Amazon deforestation to a growing appetite in the United States for luxurious leather seats in pickup trucks, SUVs and other vehicles sold by some of the world’s largest automakers, among them General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen. A luxury vehicle can require a dozen or more hides, and suppliers in the United States increasingly buy their leather from Brazil. While the Amazon region is one of the world’s major providers of beef, increasingly to Asian nations, the global appetite for affordable leather also means that the hides of these millions of cattle supply a lucrative international leather market valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. This leather trade shows how the wealthy world’s shopping habits are tied to environmental degradation in developing nations, in this case by helping to fund destruction of the Amazon despite its valuable biodiversity and the scientific consensus that protecting it would help to slow climate change. To track the global trade in leather from illegal ranches in the Brazilian rainforest to the seats in American vehicles, the Times interviewed ranchers, traders, prosecutors and regulators in Brazil, and visited tanneries, ranches and other facilities. The Times spoke to participants at all levels of the illicit trade in the Jaci-Paraná Extractive Reserve, an area in Rondônia state that has been granted special protections because it is home to communities of people who, for generations, have lived off the land by tapping rubber trees. These communities are now being forced out by ranchers who want the land for cattle. Over the past decade, ranchers have significantly expanded their presence in the reserve, and today some 56% of it has been cleared, according to data compiled by the state environmental agency. The reporting is also based on analysis of corporate and international trade data in several countries and thousands of cattle-transport certificates issued by the Brazilian government. The certificates were obtained by the Environmental Investigation Agency, an advocacy group in Washington. The Times independently verified the certificates and separately obtained thousands of additional ones. This enabled the tracking of leather from illegal farms in the Amazon to slaughterhouses operated by Brazil’s three biggest meatpackers, JBS, Marfrig and Minerva, and then to the tanneries they supply. JBS describes itself as the world’s largest leather processor. According to Aidee Maria Moser, a retired prosecutor in Rondônia state who spent almost two decades fighting illegal ranching in the Jaci-Paraná reserve, the practice of selling animals reared in the reserve to middleman traders suggests an intent to conceal their origin. “It’s a way to give a veneer of legality to the cattle,” she said, “so slaughterhouses can deny there was anything illegal.” The problem is not limited to Rondônia. Last month, an audit led by prosecutors in the neighboring state of Pará, home to the second-largest cattle herd in the Amazon, found that JBS had bought 301,000 animals, amounting to 32% of its purchases in the state, between January 2018 and June 2019 from farms that violated commitments to prevent illegal deforestation. JBS disagreed with the criteria used by the prosecutors and agreed to improve its monitoring system, block suppliers flagged by the research and donate $900,000 to the state in response to the audit. To get a sense of scale of the ranches operating in vulnerable areas across the Brazilian Amazon, the Times overlaid government maps of protected Amazon land, deforested areas and farm boundaries with the locations of ranches that JBS publicly listed as supplying its slaughterhouses in 2020. An analysis showed that, among the JBS suppliers, ranches covering an estimated 2,500 square miles significantly overlapped Indigenous land, a conservation zone or an area that was deforested after 2008, when laws regulating deforestation were put in place in Brazil. The methodology and results were examined and verified by a team of independent researchers and academics who study land use in the Brazilian Amazon. International trade data showed companies that own tanneries supplied with the hides had then shipped leather to factories in Mexico run by Lear, a major seat-maker that supplies auto assembly plants across the United States. Lear said in 2018 that it was then sourcing about 70% of its raw hides from Brazil. Brazil’s hides also go to other countries including Italy, Vietnam and China for use in the automotive, fashion and furniture industries, the trade data showed. JBS acknowledged that almost three-quarters of the ranches identified in the Times’ analysis did overlap with land that the government categorises as illegally deforested, or as Indigenous land or a conservation zone. But it said all the ranches had been in compliance with rules to prevent deforestation when JBS bought from them. JBS said that, in those instances where there were overlaps, the farms were allowed to operate in protected or deforested areas, or their boundaries had changed, or they had followed rules to fix their environmental violations. Ranching is allowed in some protected areas in Brazil if it follows sustainable practices. In a statement, JBS said it has maintained a monitoring system for more than a decade that verifies supplier compliance with its environmental policy. “More than 14,000 suppliers have been blocked for failure to comply with this policy,” it said. However, the company said, “the great challenge for JBS, and for the beef cattle supply chain in general, is to monitor the suppliers of its suppliers, since the company has no information about them.” Amazon deforestation has surged in recent years as ranchers race to supply growing demand for beef, particularly in China. Leather industry representatives make the point that as long as there is demand for beef, they are simply using hides that would otherwise be sent to landfills. Raoni Rajão, who studies Amazon supply chains at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, said that because the leather industry makes ranching more profitable, it shares responsibility for any deforestation. “Leather can have high added value,” he said. Forest loss is destroying the Amazon’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, which trees pull out of the air. Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is the main driver of climate change. Brazil was one of more than 100 nations to pledge to end deforestation by 2030 at the recent United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. While most ranches in the Amazon region are not linked to illegal deforestation, the findings show how illegal leather is entering the global supply chain, circumventing a system that slaughterhouses and leather companies themselves created in recent years to try to show that their cattle come only from legitimate ranches. In response to detailed questions, JBS, Marfrig and Minerva said they were not aware that cattle from the Jaci-Paraná reserve were entering their supply chains. All three said they had systems to monitor farms that supply their slaughterhouses directly, and that they exclude farms that do not comply with environmental laws. But all three acknowledged that they cannot trace indirect suppliers, such as Felipe, who sell cattle through middlemen, masking their origins. Lear said it used “a robust sourcing process” that ensured it worked “with the most capable and advanced suppliers that are committed to purchasing hides from cattle reared on compliant farms.” The company said that if suppliers violated its policies, it would take steps that could include cancelling their contracts “and/or legal action against the supplier.” GM said it expected suppliers to “comply with laws, regulations, and act in a way consistent with the principles and values” of the automaker. Ford said it aspired “to source only raw materials that are responsibly produced.” Volkswagen said its suppliers already adhered to a high level of sustainability. In Jaci-Paraná, the global demand for leather is helping to sustain a growing herd of 120,000 cattle where forest once stood. “If all the cattle were sold,” said Moser, the former prosecutor, the government would have enough money “to reforest the whole reserve.” ‘I came here to kill you’ It was pouring rain last December when two men docked at Lourenço Durães’ home by the Jaci-Paraná River. Durães, a 71-year-old rubber tapper, invited the men in and offered them coffee. Then, after discussing the weather for a few minutes, one of the visitors got right to the point. “I won’t fool you,” he said, according to Durães and one of his friends, who together described the meeting recently. “I came here to kill you.” They wanted to get rid of Durães because his land is valuable to ranchers. Jaci-Paraná was created in 1996 to grant a community of rubber-tree tappers the right to pursue their livelihood. Durães is among the last of the tappers. The community is being pushed out by deforestation. “We are frightened, but I hope for justice,” Durães said, adding that he believed he was spared that day because he is an old man. According to Durães and a police report filed by his friend, the would-be hit man identified the person who had sent him, but only by a nickname. The police did not investigate, according to the police report, because Durães and his friend could not provide a full name of a person to press charges against. In an interview, Lucilene Pedrosa, who directs the regional police division, said her team was waiting for the men to provide more information so it could investigate. Government data analysed by the Times shows the appetite for land in the area. According to the numbers, between January 2018 and June 2021 ranches operating in Jaci-Paraná on illegally deforested land sold at least 17,700 cattle to intermediate ranches. The buyers were suppliers to the three big meatpackers, JBS, Marfrig and Minerva, according to both government and corporate data. Almost half of those 17,700 cattle were bought by Armando Castanheira Filho, a local trader who has been one of the largest buyers in Jaci-Paraná and a direct supplier to all three major meatpackers. The sales to him created a paper trail that concealed that the cattle originated on illegal ranches. A Times reporter witnessed such a transaction when Felipe, the rancher who acknowledged engaging in deforestation, sold his 72 cattle this year. The buyer that day was Castanheira. The Times then tracked the animals. Eleven hours later, they ended up at a Marfrig slaughterhouse Marfrig runs a website listing where its cattle come from in an effort to show that it sources cattle responsibly. For the July 14 shipment tracked by the Times, Felipe’s ranch is not listed on the site. But the list of farms that supplied cattle for the next day’s slaughter does include Castanheira’s farm, which is located outside the reserve. At the end of that day at the Marfrig slaughterhouse, a truck marked with the name of a tannery, Bluamerica, left the slaughterhouse carrying hides. Bluamerica is a tannery that supplies Lear, the automobile seat-maker. Castanheira confirmed that some of the cattle he buys from the reserve go directly to slaughter, spending no time at his ranch, although the paperwork shows they went through his own farm first. He denied doing it to hide the cattle’s origin. “I don’t do this to ‘launder’ anything,” he wrote in a text message. He said his intent was simply to profit from the difference between what he pays for each animal and what he can get at the slaughterhouse. Marfrig, Minerva and JBS said they did not dispatch trucks to pick up cattle at the Jaci-Paraná reserve, or any location other than their direct suppliers. Lawyers for Marfrig have also filed a report with the police that lists the events described by the Times, calling them “potential offenses of criminal nature.” Castanheira now maintains that the Times reporter witnessed the only instance of this kind of transaction by him. All three meatpacking companies said they have now excluded Castanheira from their supplier pool. Two of Bluamerica’s owners, companies named Viposa and Vancouros, said their suppliers were subject to regular audits and acknowledged the challenges of tracing indirect suppliers. Both companies said they were working with the World Wide Fund for Nature, an environmental group based in Switzerland, to improve their systems. Overall, an analysis of government data on cattle movement in Jaci-Paraná and nearby areas between 2018 and 2021 identified 124 transactions that show signs of cattle laundering, experts say. The transactions show at least 5,600 cattle were transferred from farms in the reserve to middlemen who, on the same day, sold cattle to the three major slaughterhouses. Holly Gibbs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geographer who has been researching agribusiness in the Amazon for a decade, said that though legitimate middlemen often buy and sell cattle on the same day, the fact that the transactions are not closely tracked “is a huge loophole.” “They’re bringing animals that were raised on a protected area into national and international supply chains,” she said. The supply chain, from the ranch to the auto showroom, is complex. Hides from Minerva and JBS slaughterhouses go to JBS-owned tanneries, while Marfrig’s hides are mainly processed by Vancouros and Viposa, according to corporate data and interviews. Trade data compiled by Panjiva, the supply-chain research unit at S&P Global Market Intelligence, shows that the seat manufacturer Lear, which is based in Southfield, Michigan, is the largest American buyer of hides from JBS, Vancouros and Viposa. In May, illegal ranchers in Jaci-Paraná won a major victory. Rondônia’s governor signed into law a measure that shrank the size of the reserve by 90%. The law, which prosecutors are fighting in court, opens a path for ranchers on illegally deforested land to legalise their businesses. Critics of the law said it could set a precedent for further deforestation in other protected reserves. No matter the outcome of that legal fight, Durães, the rubber tapper, said he did not intend to leave his sliver of forest. The cattle pasture is now barely a mile away from his two-room wooden home. Living among the mighty trees is the only existence he knows. And staying, he said, is “the only way to keep the forest standing.” ‘Transparency’ with a loophole Every few seconds at the Vancouros tannery in southern Brazil, the sound of leather hides tumbling in dozens of 11-foot wooden drums is interrupted by the clicks of a pneumatic marker as each individual hide is pierced with a seven-digit code that traces its origin. Clébio Marques, the tannery’s commercial director, plucked a damp blue hide from a pile, pulled out his phone and typed its code into a website that his company created for its clients, such as Lear. Up popped the details of the supplier of that specific hide. “All of our leather is traceable,” he said. “This is not required, no one asked for it, but we felt the market needed more transparency.” But then Marques was presented with the finding that one of his most important suppliers, Marfrig, was buying cattle from suppliers whose transactions showed signs of cattle laundering. “I’m surprised,” he said. “We expect the main product to be legal.” He stressed, though, that his own company’s monitoring was not at fault. “We have to trust the documents that are provided to us, because our audit is based on their system,” Marques said. All three major meatpackers have systems designed to track the last farm where the cattle they slaughter came from. However, all three have the same flaw: They do not account for the fact that cattle do not typically spend their whole lives on a single farm. Therefore, they do not consider that a direct supplier might be selling cattle that were actually raised by someone else, on illegally deforested land. The tracking systems were created after a 2009 Greenpeace report that linked Brazilian beef and leather suppliers to illegal deforestation. Today, the three major firms state that they have zero-tolerance deforestation policies for all direct suppliers. All three major slaughterhouses publicly post their tracking data online. JBS’ is the most detailed; the other companies omit ranches’ precise locations. It was the Times analysis of this JBS data for 2020, the most recent year available, that indicated the company’s suppliers included ranches that may have violated government rules designed to prevent deforestation and displacement of Indigenous people. JBS said all of its suppliers were in compliance at the time of purchasing. Marfrig and Minerva said that they shared as much information about their direct suppliers as permissible under Brazil’s data privacy law. As part of this process, tanneries rely on an industry-funded organization, the Leather Working Group, to certify their compliance. The group has assigned its top rating, “gold,” to all the Amazon-based tanneries that supply Lear with leather, signifying that they adhere to environmentally sustainable practices. In a statement, the group said it was working to improve its traceability protocols but that “due the complexity of the farming systems in Brazil and lack of publicly available databases, there is still, unfortunately, no easy solution for this situation.” JBS, Marfrig and Minerva all have publicly pledged to improve the tracking of ranches that sell cattle to its direct suppliers. JBS has said it will trace one layer of indirect suppliers by 2025. Marfrig vowed to trace all its indirect suppliers in the Amazon by 2025 and Minerva said it would have fully traceable supply chains in South America by 2030. “Only a birth-to-slaughter traceability for individual animals is going to be enough to ensure that there is no deforestation in these high-risk supply chains in the Amazon,” said Rick Jacobsen of the Environmental Investigation Agency, the nonprofit group. From Brazil to America’s car lots The leather seats in Cadillac’s Escalade SUV, described by a dealer in Washington state as “a luxury hotel on wheels,” can push the price for GM’s top-of-the-line model to more than $100,000. The Escalade is one of the many vehicles sold in the United States that uses leather seats and other trimmings from Lear, a company that commands about a fifth of the world’s market in car seats. Neither Lear nor GM labels where the leather for its car seats comes from. Lear’s imports of Brazilian leather have surged over the past decade, driven by a jump in leather sourced from JBS, according to data from Panjiva, the supply-chain data company. Last year, Lear was the largest American importer of leather and hides from Brazil, importing about 6,000 tons, the bulk of that from JBS, according to Panjiva data. Full-size trucks and large SUVs are a growing force behind the demand for leather trimmings in the auto industry. To many buyers, leather “screams luxury and usually adds significant resale value,” said Drew Winter, a senior analyst at Wards Intelligence, an automotive research firm. Raymond E. Scott, Lear’s CEO, laid out the importance of luxury vehicles at an investor presentation in June. The company has 45% of the luxury market, he said. And what was propelling the growth in Lear’s seating business was “really the strength of GM’s full-size trucks and SUVs,” a lineup that also includes the Yukon, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban. In Brazil, “100% of our suppliers use geo-fencing” (a technology that uses GPS to establish a virtual fence) “to ensure they don’t buy animals from farms involved with deforestation,” Lear said in a 2018 statement. However, the Times’ findings in Brazil indicate that Lear’s suppliers did not have the ability to track all cattle in this way. Lear said it required all suppliers to comply with a no-deforestation policy, which bans the use of any materials sourced from illegally deforested areas or from Indigenous or other protected lands. According to corporate filings, Lear’s other biggest customers are Ford, Daimler, Volkswagen and Stellantis, formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the French maker of Peugeot and Citroën cars. GM said its supply chain was “built on strong, transparent and trusted relationships.” Ford said it held itself and its suppliers to ambitious standards and “did well in many areas and can improve in others.” Volkswagen said it was working on better tracking the supply chain back to the farm. Daimler said a small percentage of its leather came from Brazil. Stellantis said it shared concerns over traceability, and was actively working to confirm locations of tanneries and farms in its supply chain. Last year, about one-third of the 15,000 tons of leather imported to the United States came from Brazil, which recently overtook Italy to become the biggest exporter of leather and hides to America. Much of that increase can be attributed to the auto industry. The bulk of JBS’ leather shipments to Lear in the United States travels from São Paulo to Houston, according to trade data from Panjiva. From there, much of it is trucked across the Mexican border to one of two dozen car-seat factories operated by Lear in Mexico, where workers cut the hides and stitch them into seat covers. The leather is then trucked back over the border. From January 2019 through June 2021, Lear’s plants in Mexico shipped at least 1,800 tons of leather to the United States, according to trucking data tallied by Material Research. Its final destination: Lear facilities nationwide. They tend to be located closer to the final automobile-assembly plants, making it easier for the company to match colour and other variations to the models coming down the vehicle assembly lines. One such destination is GM's plant in Arlington, Texas, a sprawling campus on 250 acres where the automaker produces some of the company’s largest and most luxurious trucks, including the Escalade. Autoworkers assemble about 1,300 SUVs a day for sale in the United States as well as for export. A 10-minute drive away, Lear has a factory that makes leather seats. © 2021 The New York Times Company

There are about 200 species of so-called freshwater megafauna, but compared with their terrestrial and marine counterparts, they are poorly studied by scientists and little known to the public. And they are quietly disappearing. After an exhaustive survey throughout the Yangtze River basin, researchers this month declared the Chinese paddlefish extinct. The paddlefish, last seen alive in 2003, could grow up to 23 feet long and once inhabited many of China’s rivers. Overfishing and dams decimated their populations. The paddlefish may be a harbinger. According to research published in August in Global Change Biology, freshwater megafauna have declined by 88% worldwide in recent years. “This study is a first step,” said Zeb Hogan, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a co-author of the study. “We want to go beyond just studying conservation status and look at ways to try to improve the situation for these animals.” To the relatively few scientists who focus on freshwater species, news that the largest are disappearing comes as no surprise. Since Hogan began studying giant fish 20 years ago, he has witnessed the decline of many species — and now, the extinction of at least one, the Chinese paddlefish. “The species that were rare when I started working on them are now critically endangered, and even some of the much more previously common ones have become rare,” he said. In a photo provided by Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center, a giant catfish caught on the Tonlé Sap River in Cambodia. Overharvesting and habitat loss endanger most of the world’s freshwater “megafauna," but many species may yet be saved. (Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center via The New York Times) In their paper, Hogan and his colleagues defined freshwater megafauna as any vertebrate animal that spends an essential part of its life in fresh or brackish water and can weigh over 66 pounds. They identified 207 such species and combed the scientific literature for at least two population measurements for each. In a photo provided by Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center, a giant catfish caught on the Tonlé Sap River in Cambodia. Overharvesting and habitat loss endanger most of the world’s freshwater “megafauna," but many species may yet be saved. (Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center via The New York Times) The researchers found data meeting those criteria for just 126 species. Their list mainly included fish, but also mammals like beavers, river dolphins and hippopotamuses, as well as coldblooded creatures like crocodiles, giant salamanders and alligator snapping turtles. Had more data been available, “the picture probably would become even worse,” said Sonja Jähnig, an ecologist at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin and senior author of the study. According to the researchers’ analysis, freshwater megafauna populations underwent an 88% global decline from 1970 to 2012. Fish were hit hardest, with a 94% decline. Fish in Southern China and South and Southeast Asia experienced the greatest overall losses, at 99%. “Freshwater megafauna are the equivalent of tigers or pandas,” said Ian Harrison, a freshwater scientist at Conservation International who wasn’t part of the study. “There is a powerfulness to the message that these very charismatic species are extremely threatened, and that the threats they represent are incumbent on all species in freshwater systems.” According to the World Wildlife Fund, populations of freshwater animals in general are declining at rates more than double those observed among terrestrial and marine animals. A multitude of threats drive these declines, including overfishing, pollution, habitat degradation, and water diversion and extraction. Dams, however, inflict the deadliest toll on giant fish, many of which are migratory. According to research published in May, two-thirds of the world’s major rivers are no longer free flowing. Hundreds of dams are proposed or under construction in megafauna-rich river basins, including the Amazon, Congo and Mekong. “We’re up against this challenge of how to balance species conservation with the human need for water,” Harrison said. “The effects of climate change will make this challenge even greater.” In a photo provided by Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center, Zeb Hogan, an aquatic biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, with a giant freshwater stingray.Overharvesting and habitat loss endanger most of the world’s freshwater “megafauna," but many species may yet be saved. (Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center via The New York Times) The authors of the new study emphasise, however, that there are many strategies for ensuring freshwater giants survive — and that there are signs of positive change. In a photo provided by Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center, Zeb Hogan, an aquatic biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, with a giant freshwater stingray.Overharvesting and habitat loss endanger most of the world’s freshwater “megafauna," but many species may yet be saved. (Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center via The New York Times) “We do not want to send a doom-and-gloom message to the public,” said Fengzhi He, an ecologist at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, and lead author of the study. Conservation initiatives can, and do, work. People living around Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago, for example, have tracked the lake sturgeon population since the 1930s. The lake now holds one of the largest populations of that threatened species in North America. Arapaima — a 10-foot-long South American fish that breathes air — have disappeared from much of the Amazon River basin because of overharvesting. But fishing villages in Brazil that sustainably manage the populations have seen arapaima numbers increase by as much as tenfold. In the United States, protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act have helped stabilise declining populations of green sturgeon and Colorado pikeminnow. Policymakers have also used the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain water bodies as pristine. Seven-foot-long green sturgeon in Oregon’s Rogue River are protected this way, as are American paddlefish in the Missouri River in Montana. River restoration and dam removal projects are gaining popularity: 1,500 dams have been dismantled in the United States. Yet protections for freshwater bodies are generally rare. While about 13% of land in the United States is conserved, less than 0.25% of its rivers are. In a photo provided by Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center, a short-tailed river stingray on the Paraná River in South America. Overharvesting and habitat loss endanger most of the world’s freshwater “megafauna," but many species may yet be saved. (Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center via The New York Times) According to John Zablocki, a conservation adviser for rivers at the Nature Conservancy, part of the problem is that people assume that rivers running through terrestrial protected areas are afforded the same protections by association. In fact, dams often are built within national parks. In a photo provided by Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center, a short-tailed river stingray on the Paraná River in South America. Overharvesting and habitat loss endanger most of the world’s freshwater “megafauna," but many species may yet be saved. (Zeb Hogan, UNR Global Water Center via The New York Times) “Rivers are basically the redheaded stepchild of protected areas,” he said. “If you look around the world, there are very few examples of rivers that are themselves protected in any sort of durable way.” To change this, Zablocki, along with a growing group of scientists and advocates, is seeking a global policy framework to protect rivers, something that has long been in place for marine and terrestrial systems. In the meantime, grassroots interventions sometimes force positive change in the absence of government commitment. Citizens in Bangladesh, New Zealand, Ecuador and other countries recently secured legal rights for rivers, meaning courts must treat those water bodies as living entities. Huge dam projects in the Brazilian Amazon were suspended in 2018 after citizen protests and calls for a move toward renewable energy. In 2012, protests in Chile contributed to the decision not to dam the Pascua and Baker rivers, and instead to install solar and wind farms for energy production. Indeed, as prices for renewables drop, solar and wind are becoming viable alternatives for hydropower, especially in developing countries that have yet to break up their rivers with major dams, said Michele Thieme, lead freshwater scientist at the World Wildlife Fund. “We see a real opportunity in the developing world to leapfrog forward and avoid the mistakes that have been made in other parts of the world,” she said. Cambodia, for example, recently greenlighted a 60-megawatt solar park, although the country is still considering a large dam on the Mekong River that would block migration of endangered fish and destroy critical habitat for endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. While none of these strategies in isolation will save all of the world’s freshwater megafauna, Hogan and his colleagues believe that, collectively, they can tip the scales for many species and help preserve freshwater biodiversity. “These extraordinary fish make our life and experience on Earth richer and more worthwhile,” Hogan said. “Do we want to live on a planet where we’ve killed all these amazing animals, or on one where we can find a way to coexist?” ©2020 The New York Times Company

Now, he is just back from a Hanoi summit with North Korea that collapsed and the cloud has grown darker. While Trump’s much-hyped meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un broke up in disagreement over sanctions linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, testimony from his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who accused him of breaking the law while in office, represented a potentially damaging development for the president at home. Trump faced challenges on other fronts: sensitive talks with China over a trade deal, a slow-rolling crisis in Venezuela, tensions between India and Pakistan and an attempt in Congress to kill his emergency declaration aimed at securing funding for a wall on the border with Mexico. U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller may also end his probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election in a matter of days - ensuring that speculation about the role of Trump and his campaign will keep making headlines. Before Trump left for Vietnam, he privately complained that Democrats would go ahead with the Cohen testimony, violating an unwritten rule against attacking the president while he is overseas. He also wished the Mueller report was finished. “He was very unhappy that they were holding the hearings while he was overseas,” said one person who was present and asked to remain unnamed. “He was also very unhappy that the Mueller investigation had not been concluded before he left. He felt that there was a cloud hanging over him.” While at the summit, Trump cut the talks about North Korea’s denuclearization short and the two sides gave conflicting accounts of what happened, raising doubts about the future of one of Trump’s signature initiatives. The White House had included a signing ceremony for a deal on Trump’s public schedule in Hanoi - and then abruptly canceled it. Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo complained about reporters being obsessed with what he tried to dismiss as “process” and said they were “radically uninformed.” “Y’all shouldn’t get hung up on things like that,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him. As the summit unfolded, Trump kept up to date with Cohen’s testimony from his suite at a Hanoi hotel despite the 12-hour time difference. The conclusion among Trump’s inner circle was that the president came out of the week okay, feeling there was not much new in Cohen’s testimony and that Trump was getting credit for walking away from a potentially bad deal with the North Koreans. “There were no surprises this week,” said Christopher Ruddy, a conservative media mogul and a close friend of the president. “We knew North Korea was a tough nut to crack and that Michael Cohen was going to say a lot of nasty stuff. At the end of the day I don’t think it changes the political climate for President Trump,” Ruddy told Reuters. But the Cohen testimony raised questions among Trump allies about his re-election campaign’s ability to organize a proper response. “Where’s the defense of the president?” former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Trump friend, told ABC’s “This Week” program on Wednesday. Trump will have a friendly audience on Saturday when he addresses the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference in a Maryland suburb of Washington. At the CPAC event on Thursday, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was quick to defend Trump’s handling of the Vietnam summit. “He walked away rightly because he said we’re not going to take away the sanctions if you not going to de-nuclearize,” she said to applause.

The falling cost of renewable energy could fuel a city stampede for the country to exchange clean air for carbon emissions, says Nick Rosen, author of a new book, 'How to live Off-Grid'. Rosen runs through a familiar checklist of modern woes and fears, from climate change through to record oil and house prices, and then lists emerging solutions including wireless internet and increasingly competitive wind and solar energy. "In the long-run it's where society's going... there'll be a rush to exurbia," he says, referring to the rural zone beyond US city suburbs that are still close enough to reach the city centre, and known as the stockbroker belt in Britain. The idea is you buy a field, wood or building plot -- but don't pay the premium for mains access to water, gas and electricity. You skip that by installing your own solar or wind power, with a diesel generator back-up, and dig your own well. A quarter of a million U.S. households and 100,000 Britons live off grid, estimates writer and broadcaster Rosen. Rosen's idea isn't to return to a 1960's-style "green" idealism. He sees off-grid becoming mainstream, and appealing as much to well-off people who want a self-contained, second home. "The only thing that's stopping an exodus now in Britain is planning permission. But the rules are bending," he says. Britain says it has no plans to relax strict rules on building homes in the country, but has launched a drive to build 3 million new homes by 2020 and wants all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016. On Rosen's website (http://www.off-grid.net/) his own personal request has no offers yet. "Land wanted in the UK: To live on. Mixture of woodland and meadow. South facing with water. Nowhere near a big road." CONCESSIONS Investment in solar and wind power and batteries is paring the price of traditionally more expensive renewable energy compared to fossil fuels, and wireless technology makes it possible to access email, internet and work wherever there's a phone signal. But going off grid is still expensive for incumbent house owners who don't benefit from that cheap plot of land to start. A renewable energy system to cover an average British household's entire electricity needs would cost around 20,000 pounds ($41,130) for solar power and 13,500 pounds for wind, including grants, estimates the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) -- compared to an annual electricity bill of about 400 pounds. If you have a river at the bottom of your garden the cost of a hydropower system is around 7,500 pounds. "For most people living in houses, they have a grid connection and the easiest way to save energy is through energy efficiency," said CAT's Lucy Stone. In addition, renewable sources of heating such as wood-burning stoves are much cheaper than renewable electricity, said Stone, and given heating accounts for by far the biggest slice of the average household energy budget -- and carbon emissions -- that's a better place to start. What about the convenience of living off-grid? I look around my kitchen where I interview Rosen -- coffee machine, radio, electric juicer, dishwasher, spotlights, gas cooker, kettle, are all plugged into energy grids at the flick of a switch or turn of a dial. "You just have to make concessions," Rosen replied: you can't have a television, washing machine and electric lights all on at the same time in an off grid house powered by wind or solar power, for example, he says. "Society has already accepted that we have to make concessions," he said, referring to growing consensus that carbon emissions must be cut. "It's going to need more than just turning down the thermostat a notch and recycling your rubbish." "It might take continuing high oil prices, severe droughts, or a power, water or food shortage, to make off grid urgent." In lieu of actual disasters, imaginary ones will do in the hunt for a reassuring protection. "Being 'off grid' ready brings peace of mind. Buying a wood burning stove provides comfort about the Russians raising the price of gas."

The investors, which include the fund arm of insurer Aviva and several Swedish state pension funds, wrote to the food companies on Sept 23 urging them to respond to the "material" risks of industrial farming and to diversify into plant-based sources of protein. Among the companies targeted were Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco and Walmart, a statement by the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return Initiative, which organized the investor group, said on Monday. "The world's over reliance on factory farmed livestock to feed the growing global demand for protein is a recipe for a financial, social and environmental crisis," said Jeremy Coller, founder of the FAIRR initiative and chief investment officer at private equity company Coller Capital. Pollution from intensive livestock production is already at too high a level, while safety and welfare standards are too low and the industry cannot cope with the projected increase in global protein demand, Coller said. "Investors want to know if major food companies have a strategy to avoid this protein bubble and to profit from a plant-based protein market set to grow by 8.4 percent annually over the next five years," Coller said. The campaign follows an Oxford University study which said $1.5 trillion in healthcare and climate change-related costs could be saved by 2050 if people reduced their reliance on meat in their diet. "Forward-looking companies can move now to encourage more sustainable diets by reducing reliance on meat and growing the market for plant-based protein alternatives. In the process, companies make their own protein supply chains more resilient to future shocks," she said. The other companies written to by FAIRR were General Mills, Mondelez International, Ahold-Delhaize, The Co-operative Group, Costco Wholesale Corporation, Kroger Company, Marks & Spencer, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, Ocado, Sainsbury's and Whole Foods Market.

More than 20 US cities, including New York, Las Vegas and Denver, have agreed to measure their carbon footprints, with a system some 1,300 companies have been persuaded to use, in an attempt to find ways to curb emissions blamed for warming the planet. "If you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said Paul Dickinson, the chief executive of the UK- based Carbon Disclosure Project, which joined forces with the cities. Urban traffic, buildings and manufacturers emit 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gases. Each of the 21 cities will gather emissions data for their municipal functions, such as their fire and police departments, government buildings and waste services, which will help cities compare how they are doing. They will also assess emissions from the city as a whole. "Working together, and with the best data, we can manage this problem," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a release. The CDP, which represents 385 global institutional investors that manage a total of more than $57 trillion in assets, has gathered corporate emissions data through surveys since 2000. It says it has collected the largest corporate greenhouse gas emissions database in the world. CDP also assists multinational organizations to collect climate change data from their suppliers. Earlier this year, more than 20 of the world's largest companies, including IBM, Nestle SA, and Tesco, with a combined purchasing power of about $1 trillion, found that only a quarter of their suppliers had greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to a survey coordinated by CDP. Dickinson said once the cities discover their biggest sources of emissions, emerging energy-efficiency companies should swoop in and find ways for them to save emissions and money by slowing the waste of fuel. "The process should really lead to the beginnings of a fundamental restructuring of how cities consume energy," he said. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which initially resisted disclosing their emissions through CDP, has since received praise for targeting the sources of their emissions. Cities can do the same, Dickinson said. "Cities compete in the market for business, investment, talent, all sorts of things, and finding ways to profit by tackling climate change can make them attractive," he said. The 21 cities will submit their responses to CDP by October 31. and the results will be published in the group's first cities report in January. Other cities in the project include West Palm Beach, St. Paul, and New Orleans. At least nine more are expected to take part. Dickinson said CDP is working to expand the project to cities in other countries. CDP partnered on the project with ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability USA, an international association of local governments working on environmental issues.

The panel produces a comprehensive overview of climate science once every six to eight years. It splits its findings into three reports. The first, on what’s driving global warming, came out last August. The second, on climate change’s effects on our world and our ability to adapt to them, was released in February. This is No. 3, on how we can cut emissions and limit further warming. Without swift action, we’re headed for trouble. The report makes it clear: Nations’ current pledges to curb greenhouse-gas emissions most likely will not stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, within the next few decades. And that’s assuming countries follow through. If they don’t, even more warming is in store. That target — to prevent the average global temperature from increasing by 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels — is one many world governments have agreed to pursue. It sounds modest. But that number represents a host of sweeping changes that occur as greenhouse gases trap more heat on the planet’s surface, including deadlier storms, more intense heat waves, rising seas and extra strain on crops. Earth has already warmed about 1.1 degrees Celsius on average since the 19th century. Emissions are tied to economic growth and income. So far, the world isn’t becoming more energy-efficient quickly enough to balance out continued growth in global economic activity, the report said. Carbon dioxide emissions from factories, cities, buildings, farms and vehicles increased in the 2010s, outweighing the benefits from power plants’ switching to natural gas from coal and using more renewable sources such as wind and solar. On the whole, it is the richest people and wealthiest nations that are heating up the planet. Worldwide, the richest 10% of households are responsible for between one-third to nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report. The poorest 50% of households contribute around 15% of emissions. Clean energy has become more affordable. The prices of solar and wind energy, and electric vehicle batteries, have dropped significantly since 2010, the report finds. The result is that it may now be “more expensive” in some cases to maintain highly polluting energy systems than to switch to clean sources, the report said. In 2020, solar and wind provided close to 10% of the world’s electricity. Average worldwide emissions grew much more slowly in the 2010s than they did in the 2000s, partly because of greater use of green energy. It wasn’t obvious to scientists that this would happen so swiftly. In a 2011 report on renewables, the same panel noted that technological advances would probably make green energy cheaper, although it said it was hard to predict how much. Still, altering the climate path won’t be easy or cheap. The world needs to invest three to six times more than it’s currently spending on mitigating climate change if it wants to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius, the report said. Money is particularly short in poorer countries, which need trillions of dollars of investment each year this decade. As nations drop fossil fuels, some economic disruption is inevitable, the report noted. Resources will be left in the ground unburned; mines and power plants will become financially unviable. The economic impact could be in the trillions of dollars, the report said. Even so, simply keeping planned and existing fossil-fuel infrastructure up and running will pump enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to make it impossible to keep warming below 1.5 degrees, the report said. There are other steps that could help and wouldn’t break the bank. The report looks at a host of other changes to societies that could reduce emissions, including more energy-efficient buildings, more recycling and more white-collar work going remote and virtual. These changes do not have to be economy-dampening chores, the report emphasised. Some, like better public transit and more walkable urban areas, have benefits for air pollution and overall well-being, said Joyashree Roy, an economist at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok who contributed to the report. “People are demanding more healthy cities and greener cities,” she said. In all, steps that would cost less than $100 per ton of carbon dioxide saved could lower global emissions to about half the 2019 level by 2030, the report said. Other steps remain pricier, such as capturing more of the carbon dioxide from the gases that pour from smokestacks at power plants, the report said. The world also needs to remove carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere. Planting more trees is pretty much the only way this is being done at large scale right now, the report said. Other methods, like using chemicals to extract atmospheric carbon or adding nutrients to the oceans to stimulate photosynthesis in tiny marine plants, are still in early development. “We cannot ignore how much technology can help,” said Joni Jupesta, an author of the report with the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth in Kyoto, Japan. “Not every country has a lot of natural resources.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

The researchers for the state-owned Council for Scientific and Industrial Research had been assured by government authorities that their years-long study would be published, according to three people familiar with the matter. So far, it has not seen the light of day. The study, a copy of which was reviewed, showed more than 5,000 South Africans die annually in the nation's coal belt because the government has failed to fully enforce its own air quality standards. It also revealed that nearly a quarter of households in the region, where 3.6 million people live, have children with persistent asthma. That's double the national rate. South Africa's government has since 2015 granted waivers from emissions limits to its indebted state power and fuel companies, Eskom and Sasol, allowing them to save money. That kind of continuing government support highlights an issue in many coal-dependent nations, from Australia to Indonesia, that is hobbling the transition to cleaner energy. In producing countries, governments, businesses and local residents often see coal as an economic lifeline. South Africa’s coal industry, the world’s fifth largest, employs 90,000 miners, generates 80% of the country’s electricity, and supplies the feedstock for about a quarter of the country’s liquid fuel for vehicles, all at a time of soaring unemployment and frequent blackouts. The costs of a mammoth coal industry are also high, and not just for the climate. South Africa’s coal belt is blanketed in smog and coal ash; the stink of sulfur pervades. The area east of Johannesburg is among the world's most polluted, experts say, rivaling Beijing and New Delhi. In 2017, British air pollution expert Mike Holland calculated that the health impacts from Eskom’s emissions alone cost South Africa $2.37 billion every year. Environment Minister Barbara Creecy, whose department commissioned the 2019 coal health study, declined to say why it remains unpublished. She said the government still intends to release it at some point. "We understand that there are serious health challenges facing communities," she said, adding that the government considers improving air quality "absolutely imperative." But Creecy's agency - the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment - has publicly defended its lax enforcement of pollution regulations as an economic necessity in court battles with activists. In a recent filing, it said its main challenge is addressing pollution without hurting "the poor, who are desperate for job opportunities." COAL IN THE CROSSHAIRS As the United Nations' climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow gets underway this month, coal is in the crosshairs of a global push to replace it with cleaner fuels. South Africa is the world's 12th largest greenhouse gas emitter, according to the non-profit Global Carbon Atlas. This water-stressed country also stands to be one of the big losers from climate change. Temperatures in southern Africa are rising twice as fast as the global average, according to the International Panel on Climate Change, pushing the region's northwestern deserts south. In an effort to secure foreign investment, Eskom is pitching a $10 billion plan to shut most of its coal-fired plants by 2050 and embrace renewables like wind and solar, with financing from wealthy nations. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union on Tuesday provided that effort a big boost, offering $8.5 billion to help South Africa transition off coal. Eskom's green push, however, has put the company in conflict with Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, who has called ditching coal "economic suicide." Mantashe represents a powerful constituency within the ruling ANC that includes workers' unions on whose support the party depends to win elections. Those unions, like Mantashe, are concerned about job losses. "We should not collapse our economy because they are greedy for green funding," Matashe told a South Africa mining conference in October. He has previously said switching off the nation's coal plants would allow South Africans to “breathe fresh air in the darkness.” Mantashe declined to comment for this story. Darkness is already a familiar experience in the coal belt. Power cuts are a daily reality for the shanties threaded between the mine shafts and cooling towers of towns like Emalahleni -- "The Place of Coal" in the Zulu language. If people stay, it is for the chance of a job. ‘HER CHEST WAS RASPING’ Mbali Matabule and her partner were senior high school students when they swapped phone numbers on a dirt track in Vosman, a township outside Emalahleni. After graduation, her partner found work in Sasol's Secunda plant, which transforms coal into liquid fuel for cars. The following year, Matabule bore their first child, Princess. His salary allowed them to feed and clothe their daughter and buy trappings of middle-class life: a TV, microwave, fridge and electric cooker to put in their shack at her parents’ compound. Then, in May 2018, as she approached her fourth birthday, Princess started struggling to breathe. They rushed her to the hospital, where a doctor put a mask on Princess's face attached to a nebuliser. “They said she had asthma,” Matabule said. “I was thinking: why? She was not born with asthma." Toward the end of that year, they had a second child, Asemahle, who soon also developed breathing problems. "Her chest was rasping," Matabule said. Hospital visits became routine, and the medical costs started to mount. Without health insurance, the couple was spending 2,500 rand ($184.03) a month on medical bills for their kids, nearly half Mbali’s partner’s salary. AMONG THE WORLD’S WORST Smog released from burning coal is laced with chemicals like sulphur and nitrogen oxides, mercury and lead, and radioactive elements like uranium and thorium. "We know air pollution from coal causes lung problems, cardiac diseases. It impairs cognitive development of children," said Mohammed Tayob, a doctor in Middleberg, one of the worst affected towns in the coal belt. The 2019 CSIR study obtained by Reuters concluded that 5,125 lives could be saved every year in the coal belt by enforcing national air quality standards on soot, otherwise known as particulate matter. The air in Emalahleni, it said, contains around 20% more particulate matter than the nation’s limit of 40 micrograms per cubic meter, and more than three times more than recommended by the World Health Organization. The region’s sulphur dioxide levels, meanwhile, are off the charts. The non-profit Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air this month found Eskom alone emits more SO2 than the entire power sector of the United States and China combined. Clearing up the air would require a crackdown on polluting industries. Eskom environmental manager Deidre Herbst told Reuters the government waivers allowing his company to exceed pollution limits were an economic necessity: it would cost 300 billion rand ($20 billion) and take 10-15 years to fully meet national SO2 standards, leading to prolonged outages in the meantime. "It's impossible for us to become immediately compliant,” she said, and South Africa can't simply switch off all its coal plants. Sasol spokesperson Matebelo Motloung said the company’s emissions were permitted under its operating licenses and that the company hoped to embrace cleaner technologies in the future. 'PEOPLE WERE SICK AND DYING' Matabule had not imagined the haze in her neighborhood was behind her childrens' illness until she attended a local meeting about air pollution and heard the stories of neighbours. "I became so angry because nobody was doing anything, and people were sick and dying," Matabule said. But, like her husband who relies on coal for a paycheck, many in her community are wary of a transition to cleaner energy. Vosman resident Valentia Msiza, 33, said her family has done well since her husband got his job in the coal mines. They worry a transition could leave them behind. They, too, have a child with respiratory problems - and they can’t pay for his care without the husband’s salary and health insurance. The family is seeking a medical specialist to treat their toddler’s lung disease. “That’s our last hope now,” Valentia said.

Methane is less abundant in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but it is more potent in its near-term effects on global warming. Large amounts of methane pour into the air from wells and pipelines, sometimes through unintentional leaks. Other sources include livestock, landfills and the decay of organic matter in wetlands. Atmospheric concentrations of methane have increased steadily over the past 15 or so years, and in 2021, they rose by a record amount over the year before, reaching a new high, according to preliminary analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The previous record for annual increase in methane levels had been set in 2020. “Our data show that global emissions continue to move in the wrong direction at a rapid pace,” said Richard W. Spinrad, the NOAA administrator. “Reducing methane emissions is an important tool we can use right now to lessen the impacts of climate change in the near term, and rapidly reduce the rate of warming.” Surging methane emissions in recent years have brought increasing attention to the gas’ role in accelerating climate change. Carbon dioxide still contributes much more to the warming of the planet overall. The NOAA analysis published Thursday indicates that levels of carbon dioxide also continued to rise rapidly in 2021. During the past 10 years, carbon dioxide concentrations grew at their quickest pace in the six-plus decades since monitoring began, NOAA said. However, because of how much more methane contributes to warming over shorter periods of time, scientists regard reducing methane emissions as a way to curb warming more rapidly. And, unlike carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned for energy, methane is the main component of natural gas, which means emitters have economic reasons not to let too much of it be released into the air through leaks. The energy industry accounts for about one-third of global methane emissions, scientists estimate. Apart from trapping heat at Earth’s surface, methane also contributes to ground-level ozone pollution, which can cause breathing problems and other health issues. By NOAA’s estimates, methane is now more than 2 1/2 times more abundant in the atmosphere than it was before the Industrial Revolution. At a global climate summit last year in Glasgow, Scotland, more than 100 nations joined together and pledged to slash global methane emissions 30 % by 2030. The Biden administration has announced new rules governing methane from oil and gas rigs across the United States. One factor that may have contributed to the rapid growth in methane emissions during the past two years might be increased rainfall in tropical regions resulting from the climate phenomenon known as La Niña, said Xin Lan, an atmospheric scientist at the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. The added rain and moisture may have led to increased methane production by microbes living in tropical wetlands, she said. These micro-organisms are also more active in warmer weather, she said, so natural emissions from wetlands and other places may be generally increasing as the planet heats up. Even so, limiting leaks from fossil fuel facilities should be an easier way to stabilise methane levels than trying to manipulate rainfall in the tropics, Lan said. “Fossil-fuel methane emission reduction seems to be low-hanging fruit to us,” she said, particularly given that emitters could be using this methane as fuel and making money from it. That leaked methane is “a waste of pure energy,” Lan said. “It shouldn’t be there in the atmosphere.” ©2022 The New York Times Company

"I know people would rather see a lone priest sweeping up with his broom," he says. "But we're a bit more modern than that, and frankly, I can't get to all the leaves otherwise." It is an unseasonably warm November morning. The trees only changed shades a few weeks ago, and the steep hill behind the shrine looks as though it's on fire. The 69-year-old eventually puts down the roaring machine and sweeps up the lingering leaves into neat piles. Then he changes into formal robes to offer a tray of rice, sake, salt and water at the shrine's altar, and begins his prayers. Below him, Lake Suwa looks like frosted glass, the surface mimicking ice so fragile it may crack at any moment. But the lake is far from frozen. For nearly 600 years, priests at the Yatsurugi Shrine have observed ice cover on the lake here in the Japanese Alps, diligently recording it by hand and storing it safely, first in the shrine's vault and later in a local museum. These records represent one of the world's oldest continuous measurements of climate change, written long before the priests knew what they were providing. Miyasaka is the fourth generation of his family to watch over the lake as priests at the shrine, keeping track of a phenomenon they called omiwatari, or the crossing of the gods. For the omiwatari to form, the lake needs to freeze over completely and air temperatures have to stay below minus 10 degrees Celsius for several days in a row before warming ever so slightly. Then, with what at first sounds like distant drums, giant sheets of ice crack and buckle over each other into a miniature mountain range. Shinto priest Kiyoshi Miyasaka, 69, who oversees the Yatsurugi and Tenaga shrines, displays a photo he took on January 13, 2006, that shows a phenomenon called "omiwatari," or the crossing of the gods, which occurs when Lake Suwa in central Japan freezes over and two sheets of ice collide into each other to create a ridge. Picture taken November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato At first villagers feared the roaring sound of the crashing ice and imagined the ridge was the scaly back of a dragon living in the lake's watery depths. Shinto priest Kiyoshi Miyasaka, 69, who oversees the Yatsurugi and Tenaga shrines, displays a photo he took on January 13, 2006, that shows a phenomenon called "omiwatari," or the crossing of the gods, which occurs when Lake Suwa in central Japan freezes over and two sheets of ice collide into each other to create a ridge. Picture taken November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato "Do you know what the foundation for religion is?" asks Miyasaka, speaking as if he's addressing a room full of students. "Fear of nature. Then comes appreciation, then familiarity, and then we take it for granted." With global temperatures steadily rising in recent years, Lake Suwa rarely freezes solid, even in the coldest months of the year. The ice, once so thick that military tanks could rumble over it, is often too thin now for the mythic omiwatari to appear. And the lake, once so central to the town's identity, is slowly vanishing from the everyday lives of the people who surround it. As winter nears, Lake Suwa provides an intimate reminder of damage wrought by climate change – and its ability to erase the very things people hold most dear. During the entirety of the 17th century, there was only one year without a sighting of the omiwatari. Between the end of World War II and 1988, the ice ridge failed to form 13 times. Since then, the omiwatari has become rarer still. The crossing finally appeared last year after a four-year absence. Miyasaka flips through a folder filled with newspaper clippings and photographs of the lake. In one laminated black-and-white picture, local firemen pose in front of a fighter plane that landed on the lake ice during a military exercise before World War II. In another, more recent photograph, Miyasaka and a group of local leaders stand precariously on the lake to examine an ice fracture beneath their gumboots. "You could say the gods aren't hearing my prayers," he says, softening his words with a smile. Atsushi Momose, 71, a local conservationist, paddles his kayak on Lake Suwa in Suwa, central Japan, November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato A CHILDHOOD ON THE LAKE Atsushi Momose, 71, a local conservationist, paddles his kayak on Lake Suwa in Suwa, central Japan, November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato It's a little past 10am by the time Atsushi Momose finishes his coffee in his garden. He stubs out a hand-rolled cigarette in an ashtray and grabs a lifejacket off the ground. It's Sunday, but he still has to complete his daily routine of cleaning the lake he's loved since he was a child. Momose removes a tarpaulin covering his kayak. He moves his hand over the gleaming wooden boat, which he built using a plan he ordered online. He hoists the kayak onto a trolley and rolls it onto a side street. "These all used to be small inns and houses," he says as he passes by parking lots. A 14-story hotel blocks Momose's view of the lake from his childhood home, where he returned to care for his elderly father after retirement. When he was a boy, a popular teenage movie star visited the lake wearing a figure skater's costume and expensive leather skates. "I remember a bunch of us boys hanging around on the ice, trying to talk to her and then suddenly, she slipped and grabbed my arm for support," the 71-year-old says. "My heart stopped. I still remember it." With the help of a friend, Momose hauls his kayak into the lake and slowly lowers himself onto the boat. It sinks under his weight, but he quickly regains balance and paddles out onto the water. When Momose first returned to Suwa after a lifetime bouncing from one city to the next working as a documentary filmmaker, he was surprised to find the lake deserted. Plastic bottles and cigarette butts littered the water's edge. In winter, police and tourism organisations put up ugly red flags all around the lake to warn locals and tourists to stay away from the ice. These days, Momose starts most mornings on the lake, picking up floating debris using long silver tongs. "Nobody even looks at the lake anymore," he says as he braces his feet inside the kayak and floats in place. Murky water laps the sides of the boat. "I think we should try and give back to this place since it gave us so much." Momose's paddle creates ripples in waters that are eerily quiet for a weekend morning. The only noise comes from a pair of children furiously pedalling a boat shaped like a swan, waving and calling out to parents who watch anxiously from a nearby pier. People enjoy skating on a frozen Lake Suwa in this handout photo taken around the 1950s, released by Suwa City Museum and obtained by Reuters on November 28, 2019. Suwa City Museum/Handout via REUTERS IGNORED WARNINGS People enjoy skating on a frozen Lake Suwa in this handout photo taken around the 1950s, released by Suwa City Museum and obtained by Reuters on November 28, 2019. Suwa City Museum/Handout via REUTERS Rusted fishing boats are still anchored near the pier. Kanji Fujimori, 75, who recently retired as the head of the local fisheries union, walks up the stairs of a local community centre in his socks and sits at a large desk in the building's empty library. Though he has retired, Fujimori still spends most of his days deep in research. He recently self-published two tell-all books about his tenure at the union, which had fallen into mismanagement and debt when he took over. In them, government bureaucrats with barely veiled pseudonyms refuse to listen to his warnings and fail to take aggressive measures to clean up the lake. "I've been saying for years that the level of oxygen in that lake is dangerously low," he says. The community centre’s only staffer looks over at Fujimori, then returns to his computer. "No one listened to me or believed me." Then, in July 2016, Fujimori got a call from a veteran fisherman that mounds of dead fish had washed up on the lake's shores overnight. He spent the rest of the day fielding calls from residents all around the lake with more sightings of dying fish. The "mass death" event, as he calls it, was so shocking it made it into national newspapers the next day. The Suwa fisheries union estimated that around 80% of smelt in the lake washed up that day. A Nagano prefectural fisheries lab published a similar estimate. After the die-off, the prefecture created a task force of local professors and experts to study the lake. Up until the 1940s, the local union regularly handled 1,000 tons of catch, mostly carp and smelt, a year. This has now dwindled to 10 tons, barely enough to supply local restaurants and hotels. The loss of ice in winter also means that travelling water birds can feast on fish year round. Because the birds are protected in Suwa and can't be shot, frustrated fishermen have resorted to chasing the birds with speedboats and using air horns to scare them away. These days, there are only a few dozen fishermen on the lake, Fujimori says. An alley behind the community centre opens up to a scenic lakeside road, where an imposing mansion stands as one of the few reminders of Suwa's gilded past. When Japan opened up to trade with the rest of the world in the late 19th century, raw silk made up the majority of the country's exports. Thousands of girls from neighbouring villages were sent by their families to Suwa, where they lived in cramped dormitories and spent long, gruelling hours working in silk mills. In its heyday, mills around Suwa manufactured the bulk of raw silk produced in Japan and is still considered by some to be the birthplace of the country's industrial revolution. The mansion was built in the 1920s by a wealthy local nicknamed the "silk emperor" as a place where working women from nearby mills could rest and recuperate. The emperor's silk mills are long gone, but visitors still come to the mansion to see the gigantic Roman bath inside, large enough to fit 100 people at once, decorated with stained glass and marble statues. Next door, construction workers tear down an old hotel, leaving its once-grand rooms exposed to the weather outside. A pair of old skate shoes, which are little more than traditional wooden slippers with rusty blades crudely attached to them, are seen at the house of Atsushi Momose in Suwa, central Japan, November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato CENTURIES OF MEMORIES A pair of old skate shoes, which are little more than traditional wooden slippers with rusty blades crudely attached to them, are seen at the house of Atsushi Momose in Suwa, central Japan, November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato Less than a kilometre away, Yuichi Miyabara sits in his concrete office building overlooking the lake. The Shinshu University professor arrived here in 2001 to study Lake Suwa and the disruptions to its natural rhythms. His team takes regular samples from the lake and analyses them to closely track fluctuations in the water's temperature and oxygen levels. The only time his team avoids the lake is in the midst of winter. One of the first stories Miyabara heard when he arrived in Suwa was how a promising young researcher had died after falling through the ice decades earlier. "This isn't a place where you can play," he says, explaining that even in summer, locals avoid swimming in the water because it was contaminated for decades by wastewater and later overrun by algae and weeds. "The lake is more of a place you look at from a distance." A woman demonstrates figure skating on a frozen Lake Suwa in this handout photo taken on January 8, 1957, released by Suwa City Museum and obtained by Reuters on November 28, 2019. Suwa City Museum/Handout via REUTERS After a decades-long effort by the prefecture to divert wastewater and remove pesky weeds and algae, Suwa's waters are noticeably cleaner now. But the natural circulation of the lake has also been disrupted by rising temperatures and shorter winters. Warm water is less dense and naturally sits above colder water, which sinks to the bottom of the lake. In the past, when summers were less hot and winters reliably cold, water at the lake's surface and its depths would settle at similar temperatures, aiding circulation. This would ensure that oxygen would mingle and saturate the entire lake. A woman demonstrates figure skating on a frozen Lake Suwa in this handout photo taken on January 8, 1957, released by Suwa City Museum and obtained by Reuters on November 28, 2019. Suwa City Museum/Handout via REUTERS Two decades ago, researchers at Suwa started noticing that dissolved oxygen levels five meters below the lake's surface were frequently dropping well below three milligrammes per litre in the summer, an environment uninhabitable for most fish, just as Fujimori had long predicted. Recently, the prefectural government has tested a project that funnels "nano-bubbles" of compressed oxygen into the lake through a plastic hose. Similar tests in the past have been unsuccessful. An official in the prefectural division in charge of the project said it is still awaiting results from the August study, but conceded that continuing the project would require a "considerable" budget and had to be weighed carefully. The contraption is a neat idea, Miyabara says, but it's hard to imagine how many machines it would take to pump enough oxygen into the lake. "We're not talking about a small body of water. It's not like we can artificially mix the entire lake," he says. Shinto priest Kiyoshi Miyasaka, 69, who oversees the Yatsurugi and Tenaga shrines, takes part in his morning Shinto ritual at Tenaga Shrine in Suwa, central Japan, November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato More than 20 years ago, John Magnuson, a longtime researcher of inland waters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was scouring the world for climate observations taken before the 1840s when he remembered Suwa. Magnuson flew to meet Miyasaka, the Shinto priest, and worked with a local researcher to trawl through the historic lake-ice data. Shinto priest Kiyoshi Miyasaka, 69, who oversees the Yatsurugi and Tenaga shrines, takes part in his morning Shinto ritual at Tenaga Shrine in Suwa, central Japan, November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato Magnuson found that since the advent of industrialisation, ice began to freeze later in winter at Lake Suwa. In a 2016 paper published in Nature, Magnuson and his colleagues wrote that extreme warm weather had become more common in Suwa and attributed such changes to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that has led to a rapid rise in local temperatures. Annual air temperatures in Suwa have warmed at a rate of 2.4 degrees Celsius over the past century, double the national figure, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Between 1950 and 2014, Lake Suwa failed to freeze 17 times. In comparison, between 1443 to 1700, there were only three instances in which the lake didn't freeze over completely. And when it comes to the omiwatari, the absences have grown more common: In the 1990s, it once disappeared for six consecutive years. "There is something different about a human being looking at the lake, saying it iced over or broke up, that resonates more than complicated palaeoclimate research," says Magnuson, mentioning data taken from ice cores and tree rings that scientists can use to understand climate conditions from millions of years ago. People enjoy skating on a frozen Lake Suwa in this handout photo taken around the 1950s, released by Suwa City Museum and obtained by Reuters on November 28, 2019. Suwa City Museum/Handout via REUTERS Human-made data has obvious shortfalls, Magnuson says, with sometimes damaged or partial recordings making it hard for researchers to draw large conclusions. "But it's something people can relate to more easily, it's something that makes more sense to them," he says. People enjoy skating on a frozen Lake Suwa in this handout photo taken around the 1950s, released by Suwa City Museum and obtained by Reuters on November 28, 2019. Suwa City Museum/Handout via REUTERS Scientists have since discovered even older data, like those taken since the 9th century at the Bodensee, a lake that straddles the Swiss, German and Austrian border. Churches on opposite banks of the lake used to carry a bust of St John the Evangelist across the ice every winter. But the Bodensee, also known as Lake Constance, stopped freezing in 1963, interrupting a centuries-old tradition. The religious relic is now permanently stored on the Swiss side of the water. Magnuson predicts a similar fate for the Suwa omiwatari ritual. "The future generation may not see ice on Suwa," he says. Pausing on the phone, Magnuson asks after Miyasaka, and wonders if he has responded to a question about how he feels about the disappearance of the ice. "I am curious how he feels about it, about the fact that he may be among the last to see the crossing," he says. A record booklet containing observations of ice cover on Lake Suwa and major events in the towns surrounding the lake from 1683-1882 is displayed at Suwa City Museum in Suwa, central Japan, November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato BOTH ANCIENT AND FLEETING A record booklet containing observations of ice cover on Lake Suwa and major events in the towns surrounding the lake from 1683-1882 is displayed at Suwa City Museum in Suwa, central Japan, November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato Miyasaka's shrine is a picture of restraint and modest repose, its buildings made of bare wood stripped and roughened by the elements. Water drizzles out of a shallow pool carved from stone, and droplets glisten on the blue-green moss that covers it. Much like the central tenet that guides Shinto beliefs, the shrine, though centuries old, feels as if it is one with the greenery surrounding it, both ancient and fleeting at once. The hushed reverence of the shrine is rudely disturbed by Miyasaka's phone. His clamshell mobile rings incessantly with people asking him to approve festival plans and confirm venue reservations. "Just give me the conclusion first, never mind the explanation," Miyasaka says as he balances his phone on one shoulder. "OK, OK, OK, bye now," he finally says, hanging up with a sigh. Aside from the annual occurrences of the omiwatari, the shrine's records also note major events in the towns surrounding the lake. In a particularly dramatic excerpt from the 1780s, Suwa's records show how a nearby volcano erupted and caused a historic famine across Japan. "From July the second, a great fire on Mt. Asama raining ash," he reads, tracing the page with his finger. "Roads blocked....large fog cast...harvest ruined...villagers starving." His voice gets higher and louder with excitement as he flips the page. "What you learn is that people never write about good things; they only write about their difficulties," he says. "When I read about these people tearing up the mountain to find something to eat, I realise again that people have always fought to survive, that hardship is the origin of everything." But with his knowledge of the sweep of history at the lake, how does he feel about the receding of the ice? Every winter when a crowd of journalists asks him to give his verdict on yet another year without the omiwatari, he'll throw out a pithy line to get laughs. Asked the same question now, he begins to tidy a pile of papers. Miyasaka's two sons left Suwa after high school, and both work in Tokyo. His oldest frequently travels abroad to conduct research for a large company. "He's tried to explain to me what exactly he does for work, but I can't quite understand it," he says as the sun lights up the room in amber. His daughter lives nearby and helps when she can around the shrine. It remains unclear who will be next in line to observe the lake after Miyasaka retires. It also remains to be seen if the omiwatari will disappear entirely as ice continues to thin over the lake. "But we are here to keep watch," Miyasaka says, "whether the ice disappears or not." A woman takes photos of Lake Suwa at dusk at Tateishi Park in Suwa, central Japan, November 11, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato TWILIGHT ON THE LAKE A woman takes photos of Lake Suwa at dusk at Tateishi Park in Suwa, central Japan, November 11, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato A few minutes after 4 p.m., as the sun begins to set, people begin gathering at the park overlooking the lake. Its waters still, the lake gradually turns tangerine, reflecting the clouds gathering above. A young couple set up a small tripod for their iPhone and giggle as they dash into position, facing each other with their hands touching, the lake as their backdrop. They check through their burst of selfies, swiping the screen to find the perfect shot. Nearby, an elderly woman in a crochet hat sits alone on a bench. She rubs her gloved hands together and takes in the scene. Fumiko Motokura, 84, comes to the park almost every day at this hour. She likes it here, a place with young people and foreign tourists, all mingling and waiting for the day to end. "When I was a little girl, I could see the train come in every morning and see a line of workers walking along the lake to the watch factory there," she says, pointing down toward the centre of the town. "There was a training centre here up on the hill where foreign students would come and learn how to make watches," she said. The building is now abandoned. She misses the omiwatari as a symbol of winter and a sign of a new, prosperous year. Recounting the myth of the god crossing the frozen lake to visit his love, she smiles with her whole face. "It's a romantic story, isn't it?" she says. The sun dips farther below the clouds and more visitors arrive, a few more of them acting out a memorable scene from an animated film released three years ago. In the movie, a young woman and a man swap lives and bodies in their dreams, only to realise later that they are actually from separate timelines. The only place and time where they can reunite, a place free of all temporal restrictions, is at twilight above a lake that was inspired by Suwa. As the sky deepens into night, a young woman steps out of her car and walks over to the edge of the park. She crosses her arms to keep warm and stares at the lake, her breath turning into vapour. In time, all that is left of the light disappears, and the lake fades into darkness at the centre of town.

India will host the next Live Earth concert to raise funds for lighting homes with solar energy in places where people do not have access to electricity, organizers said. The December event will see rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Bollywood's biggest superstar, Amitabh Bachchan share the stage, and is described by organizers as one of the biggest events held in India. The concert will be held in India's financial capital Mumbai on December 7, Live Earth founder Kevin Wall said in Mumbai. "(Former Vice President) Al Gore asked me whether we could do this in India, and I said yes," Wall told Reuters in Mumbai. "This is going to be huge." "Jon Bon Jovi is just one name and Mr Bachchan is just one name, but there will be a lot of international artists," he said. Wall, who organized a series of concerts last year with the former vice-president, said the event in India would be telecast live in more than 100 countries. Gore, who spoke via satellite this week during a news conference held in Mumbai on Thursday said India could provide the leadership required to bring about changes in world policies on climate change. The proceeds from the concert will go to the "Light A Billion Lives campaign," supported by Nobel Prize-winner Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nation's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). At least 1.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity, Pachauri said, adding that the campaign would target villages in countries like India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Malawi. Organizers said they would set up giant screens and distribute televisions in remote villagers for the concert.

After two gloomy UN. reports on global warming, scientists and governments began on Monday looking at how to fight climate change, with green groups saying the world has the means to cut emissions at little cost. "Science certainly provides a lot of compelling reasons for action," Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) said as experts from more than 100 nations gathered in Bangkok to debate a raft of solutions. "The IPCC doesn't have any muscle, it has grey matter. The muscle will have to come from somewhere else," he said when asked how its third report of the year to be issued on Friday could be converted into government action. Delegates will wade through 140 pages of nearly 1,000 proposed amendments to the draft 24-page report, which says time for inexpensive fixes is running out because of a surge in greenhouse gas emissions. Major polluters such as United States, China and top oil producer Saudi Arabia are expected to seek to water down the report, wary of language that prescribes targets to cut emissions or threatens their oil and gas industries. The head of U.S. delegation, Harlan Watson, said it was crucial for the report to reflect the best science in tackling global warming. "The U.S. is actively reducing projected emissions growth by increasing energy efficiency and reducing barriers for the wider use of clean energy technologies that also ensure greater energy security and continued economic growth," he said in a statement. The UN. climate panel issued its first report in February, saying it was at least 90 percent certain that mankind was to blame for warming. The second report on April 6 warned of more hunger, droughts, heatwaves and rising seas. Green groups say the time for bickering is over. "The key thing is whatever they decide here, it cannot be ignored anymore that climate change is happening in a big way," said Stephan Singer, head of the WWF's Climate Change Policy Unit. "It's happening much faster. We have more solutions out there than before and it's not as costly as some people want us to believe it is," he added. The report estimates that stabilising greenhouse gas emissions will cost between 0.2 percent and 3.0 percent of world gross domestic product by 2030, depending on the stiffness of curbs on rising emissions of greenhouse gases. Under some scenarios, GDP growth might even get a tiny net spur from less pollution and health damage from burning fossil fuels, blamed as the main cause of warming. The conclusions broadly back those by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern, who estimated last year that costs of acting now to slow warming were about one percent of global output -- and 5 to 20 percent if the world delayed action. More than 1,000 amendments have been proposed to the draft 24-page summary for policymakers. Some countries complain it is hard to understand and too laden with scientific jargon. The report lays out solutions such as capturing and burying emissions from coal-fired power plants, a shift to renewable energies such as solar and wind power, more use of nuclear power, more efficient lighting and insulation of buildings. But it says temperatures will rise by at least 2 to 2.4 Celsius (3.6 - 4.2F) above pre-industrial levels even under the most stringent curbs. The European Union says a 2 C rise is a threshold for "dangerous" changes to the climate system. The more deep and rapid the emissions cuts, the more costly to economies, says the draft report, which gives a range of stabilisation levels of greenhouse gases in the future. By 2030, the costs of letting greenhouse gas concentrations rise to 650 ppmv (parts per million volume) of CO2-equivalent are 0.2 percent of global gross domestic product, it says. Greenhouse gas concentrations are now at about 430 ppmv of carbon dioxide and rising sharply. South African delegate Peter Luckey said any talk of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations at 650 ppmv "is quite disturbing to us" as too high.

But some are not so sure. One investor-tracking firm gives Beyond Meat a zero when it comes to sustainability measures. Another rates it a “severe risk,” putting it on a par with beef and chicken processing giants JBS and Tyson. “We don’t feel we have sufficient information to say Beyond Meat is fundamentally different from JBS,” said Roxana Dobre, a manager of consumer goods research at Sustainalytics, a firm that rates the sustainability of companies based on their environmental, social and corporate governance impact. At first glance, it seems logical that plant-based food companies like the publicly traded Beyond Meat and its privately held competitor, Impossible Foods, would be better for the environment than meat processors like JBS. Those processors slaughter and package millions of heads of cattle each year, a significant contributor to methane released into the atmosphere. The problem, critics say, is that neither Beyond Meat nor Impossible Foods discloses the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from its operations, supply chains or consumer waste. They also do not disclose the effects of their operations on forests or how much water they use. But on its website, Beyond Meat claims that consumers who switch from animal to plant-based protein can “positively affect the planet, the environment, the climate and even ourselves.” Impossible Foods says that switching to plant-based meats “can be better than getting solar panels, driving an electric car or avoiding plastic straws” when it comes to reducing your environmental footprint. “The dominant narrative from the plant-based industry and the venture capitalists supporting it is that these companies are better for the environment, they’re better for health, they’re better for this and better for that,” said Ricardo San Martin, research director of the alternative meats program at the University of California, Berkeley. “But it is really a black box. So much of what is in these products is undisclosed. Everybody has a supply chain, and there is a carbon footprint behind that chain.” By some estimates, the agriculture industry produces one-third of the world’s greenhouse gases linked to human activity, is a primary driver of deforestation and uses as much as 70 percent of the world’s freshwater supply. Yet it is lax in terms of tracking and disclosing not only its greenhouse gas emissions but also the effect it has on forests and water use. An examination of 50 North American food companies this year by Ceres, a nonprofit investor network, found that the majority did not disclose emissions from crops and livestock used in their products or disclose emissions from converting forests into agricultural use. In response to growing investor concerns about the risks of climate change on corporations, the Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing a rule that would force companies to report their emissions, although it remains unclear whether the agency would also have companies account for emissions that came from supply chains and consumer waste. Even as consumers and investors move to hold Big Food more accountable for its emissions, the fact that two of the leading plant-based food companies do not offer these disclosures is a source of frustration for watchdogs. Beyond Meat, which went public in spring 2019 and whose shares have fallen 16 percent this year, said it had completed a comprehensive greenhouse gas analysis that would be released in 2022 and planned to update its environmental, social and governance goals by the end of the year. But Patrick Brown, founder and CEO of Impossible Foods, echoed some of the arguments made by big food companies around the current accounting and reporting standards for emissions and other climate data, saying it does not reflect the total impact of a company like his. The environmental, social and governance reporting that currently exists “simply doesn’t contemplate something of the magnitude that we’re doing,” he said. “We are as transparent as it is reasonably possible to be about our environmental impact, but the existing framework doesn’t recognize, doesn’t appreciate, the overall majority of our impact, which is massive.” A spokesperson for Impossible Foods added that the company had a working group that had completed a full greenhouse gas inventory, was planning to set targets to reduce emissions and was preparing for environmental, social and governance reporting. Both Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have commissioned studies by academics or third parties that compare how their plant-based burgers or sausages stack up to beef or pork products. A 2018 study by researchers at the University of Michigan concluded that a quarter-pound Beyond Burger generated 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than its beef burger equivalent. Likewise, an analysis by a third-party firm done for Impossible Foods concluded that its plant-based burger used significantly less water and land and created fewer emissions than the meat equivalents. For other food products, Impossible Foods has commissioned similar analysis that also include details on its supply chains and land and water use for the individual products. But those reports, say analysts, may not tell the whole story about how the production of plant-based burgers, sausage and chicken may be affecting the climate. An Impossible Burger has 21 ingredients, according to the company’s website, including soy. “The problem with plant-based products, generally speaking, is that while they may be fixing one problem, combating the fact that growing meat is very carbon-intensive and emits a lot of carbon dioxide, depending on the ingredients and where they are sourced from, you could still be involved in deforestation issues,” said Dobre of Sustainalytics. “You still need the space to grow the soy that is in many of these products.” Brown of Impossible Foods acknowledged that soy was a key ingredient in the company’s products but argued that much of the soy grown in the world is used to feed animals and that Impossible Foods uses the soy more efficiently than the animals do. Further arguing his point, Brown said it would be “ridiculous” for the company, which uses coconut oil in its products, to try to ascertain how many of the coconut shells it used were recycled versus thrown away. “It’s such a tiny fraction of the positive impact that we’re having, to be perfectly honest,” he said. “We’ll report it if it’s necessary, but really, you’re totally missing the point if you’re obsessing about that kind of stuff.” Trying to account for every sustainability measure “is a ridiculous use of our resources,” he said. “It will make us less impactful because we’re wasting resources to satisfy an Excel jockey rather than to try to save the planet.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Obama also signaled he would block construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada if it contributed to climate change. That does not mean the project is doomed, however. A State Department report, which Obama could reference, has said the pipeline would not change the outlook for carbon emissions because the development of Canada's oil sands would continue whether it is approved or not.Canada weighed in on Obama's remarks, saying it did not think there would be a net increase in carbon emissions if the proposed pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to Texas is built, according to the country's natural resources minister.Obama's long-awaited climate plan, detailed in a speech at Georgetown University, drew criticism from the coal industry, which would be hit hard by carbon limits, and Republicans, who accused the Democratic president of advancing policies that harm the economy and kill jobs. Environmentalists largely cheered the proposals, though some said the moves did not go far enough.Obama's first-term attempt to reduce climate-warming carbon emissions in a "cap and trade" system was thwarted by Congress, and his administration's long process of studying whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline has raised hackles from business groups and Republican critics.With Congress unlikely to pass climate legislation, Obama said his administration would set rules using its executive authority."We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like mercury and sulfur and arsenic in our air or our water, but power plants can still dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into the air for free," Obama said."That's not right. That's not safe. And it needs to stop."Obama said he had directed the Environmental Protection Agency to craft new emissions rules for thousands of power plants, the bulk of which burn coal and which account for roughly one-third of US greenhouse gas emissions.Share prices for major US coal mining companies stabilized on Tuesday after tumbling on Monday, in some cases to multi-year lows, in anticipation of the White House plan.KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE SIGNAL?Environmental activists welcomed Obama's speech, while Republicans raised economic concerns."It's tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today's economy," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who planned to talk to Obama about his concerns at a meeting at the White House.The president's unexpected comments on TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline drew a mixed response as well.A decision to approve or reject the pipeline is expected later this year or in early 2014."Our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution," Obama said. "The net effects of the pipeline's impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward," he said.Keystone XL supporters and foes heard what they wanted in Obama's remarks."Based on the lengthy review by the State Department, construction of the pipeline would not have a significant environmental impact," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner. "It's time to sign off on Keystone and put Americans to work."Bill McKibben, a leading activist against the project, said Obama had set an appropriate standard with his remarks and called that "encouraging news," while environmentalist Tom Steyer hailed "the Keystone death knell."Some observers have worried that a strong push for new climate change measures would be used by the White House to offset an eventual approval of the controversial pipeline.In its draft environmental impact study in March the State Department found that the project would not have an impact on climate because the oil sands from which the oil would be extracted would make it to market whether or not the pipeline was approved. The EPA has questioned that finding, and the two agencies will need to come to an agreement before the final report is sent to Obama for his decision.COURT CHALLENGES AHEADThe pipeline aside, Obama's administration faces a long fight over his power plant proposals. The EPA is routinely challenged in court, both by industry groups seeking to quash rules and by green groups trying to push the agency to set tougher standards. Attorneys general from four coal-dependent states made it clear that they would fight back against "overreaching regulations."The new rules on existing power plants, which Obama wants finalized by June 2015, could be tied up in court for years."Challenges defining standards for existing power plants mean that delays are likely, exacerbating uncertainties for utilities attempting compliance with other power plant regulations," said research firm Eurasia Group in a note.Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, the No. 2 US coal mining state after Wyoming, said Obama had "declared a war on coal," and the industry said the rules threatened its viability."If the Obama administration fails to recognize the environmental progress the industry has made and continues to adopt more regulations, coal power could cease to exist, which would be devastating for our economy," said Mike Duncan, president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.Ann Carlson, faculty director of the Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA, was unimpressed."All Obama has done is tell his Environmental Protection Agency to issue rules that are already required under the terms of a settlement EPA entered into after being sued for missing deadlines," Carlson wrote in a blog post.Obama's allies abroad were watching closely. The president said Washington would lead the world in talks to fight climate change and reiterated his pledge to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.The European Union said it wanted more than words:"Internationally, the White House plan contains a number of good intentions which have now to be translated into more concrete action," said EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard.

Britain's crude oil production and exports rose in October versus September with the end of yearly field maintenance, while refinery output fell amid seasonal turnarounds, energy department figures showed on Thursday. Crude oil production was up 20.4 percent in October at 2.851 million tonnes as producing fields returned from maintenance, from 2.368 million tonnes in September. Exports rose 9.7 percent to 2.036 million tonnes in October, from 1.855 million tonnes in the previous month. Crude imports fell by 11.9 percent to 3.424 million tonnes from 3.885 million tonnes in September. The UK was a net crude importer by 1.4 million tonnes in October. The above figures released do not include natural gas liquids (NGLs), as this data is still being collected, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said. According to data including NGLs, September production was 25.7 percent lower at 2.455 million tonnes, from 3.322 million tonnes in August, mainly due to the planned maintenance at the large Buzzard field. Production was also down year on year from September last year at 3.689 million tonnes. NGLs production was 39.8 percent lower due to maintenance at the St Fergus associated gas terminal in September, the DECC said. Refinery output dropped by 23.7 percent to 4.125 million tonnes in October, from 5.406 million tonnes in the previous month. This fall was due to seasonal maintenance, the closure of the Coryton refinery as well as less crude intakes due to production problems at the large Buzzard field. In the third quarter, refinery output fell by 9.2 percent to 17.505 million tonnes compared to the same period in 2011 at 19.282 million tonnes. This was the largest quarterly decrease since March 2010. Rising oil products demand by 3.8 percent was met by product from stockholdings. Total oil products imports decreased by 13.3 percent to 2.179 million tonnes, from 2.512 million tonne in September. For a second month in a row, the UK recorded net imports of petroleum imports. October net imports were at 0.4 million tonnes. Prior to September, the last time the UK had net imports was in 2010. Gasoil saw the largest output drop, down 24 percent in October to 1.501 million tonnes from 1.977 million tonnes in September. Total oil product deliveries for inland consumption were lower in the third quarter by 3.7 percent compared to the same period last year. Gasoline deliveries were 5.6 percent lower at 3.305 million tonnes in the third quarter compared to the same period last year at 3.502 million tonnes. Gasoil and diesel deliveries rose 3.4 percent in the third quarter at 5.461 million tonnes, from 5.280 million tonnes for the same period in 2011. Jet fuel deliveries were also up by 1.9 percent quarter on quarter at 3.057 million tonnes. Deliveries of butane and propane fell by about a third to 507,000 tonnes compared to the same quarter in 2011 at 750,000 tonnes, owing to lower petrochemical demand.

Riyadh, Nov 19(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - An OPEC summit ended on Sunday in sharp political division over whether to take action over the weak dollar, as heads of state vowed to keep providing Western consumers with an "adequate" supply of oil. A fall in the value of the US dollar on global markets helped fuel oil's rally to a record $98.62 on Nov 7 -- causing Western consumer nations to call for more OPEC supplies to cool prices -- but it has also eroded the purchasing power of OPEC members. The final statement of the oil cartel's summit in Riyadh did not include any reference to the dollar's predicament, in an apparent victory for US-allied moderates led by Saudi Arabia. But Iran and Venezuela -- anti-US firebrands locked in tough diplomatic disputes with Washington -- made clear before and after the summit that they would press for action, which could include pricing oil in a basket of currencies. Such a move would be a political blow to the United States, whose currency Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters had become a "worthless piece of paper." Fears the United States or its ally Israel could attack Iran -- over a nuclear energy program Washington says is a cover for seeking atomic weapons -- have helped drive world oil prices to record levels. Tehran denies the charge. Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabor told Reuters after the summit's close that, backed by Ecuador, the anti-U.S. powers won agreement that finance ministers would discuss the issue before a scheduled oil ministers meeting in Abu Dhabi on December 5. "There was a proposal from Iran and Venezuela to have a basket of currencies for the pricing of OPEC oil. But a consensus could not be reached (in the summit)," he said. "Because the final communique was already drafted, there was an agreement that OPEC finance ministers hold a meeting before the oil meeting in the UAE in December to discuss economic issues including the dollar's exchange rate," he added. OPEC oil ministers said last week any decision on raising output will be left to the Abu Dhabi meeting in two weeks time. "We affirm our commitment ... to continue providing adequate, timely and sufficient oil to the world market," said the final declaration issued at the two-day summit's close. SAUDI BACKS THE GREENBACK Talks on the dollar were actively discouraged by Saudi Arabia, an old U.S. ally that has traditionally assured the West of easy oil supplies through its OPEC "swing producer" status. On Friday, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal was seen in a closed session -- accidentally beamed to reporters by closed- circuit television -- arguing against putting the question in the communique lest it backfire and weaken the currency further. At the summit's opening session on Saturday, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez vaunted OPEC's ability to ensure high oil prices for developing producer nations, partly as recompense for perceived Western injustices toward the rest of the world. Addressing leaders assembled in an opulent hall with crystal chandeliers and toilet accessories fitted in gold leaf, the self-styled socialist revolutionary said OPEC "must stand up and act as a vanguard against poverty in the world." And he threatened that if Washington follows through on military threats against Iran, oil could double to $200 a barrel. Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran would not use oil as a weapon if attacked. King Abdullah, the octogenarian Saudi leader, sat stone-faced throughout the 25-minute diatribe, joking afterward to the anti colonial-era firebrand: "You went on a bit!" "Oil is an energy that is about construction and development and should not be turned into a tool of dispute and whimsy," the Saudi monarch said in a brief speech. The summit -- only the third in the group's history -- also acknowledged the oil industry's role in global warming, with pledges of cash for research into climate change. Saudi Arabia said it would give $300 million, and Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates each pledged $150 million toward research on the environment. But even there, clear differences emerged, as other countries were reluctant to make similar promises. "We are not committing anything. We don't know what the proposal is," Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said. Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa -- a Chavez ally -- told reporters the world's richest nations should pay for the protecting the environment in the world's poorest countries. "It annoys us a bit, all this moralizing 'don't cut down your trees' from the first world, when they've already done it," he said. "If Europe wants to breathe pure air from Amazon countries then Amazon countries shouldn't have to pay for it."

As of Friday, some 80 monkeypox cases have been confirmed and an additional 50 are under investigation in 11 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The following is what is known about the current outbreak and relative risk of monkeypox: HOW DANGEROUS IS IT? The risk to the general public is low at this time, a US public health official told reporters at a briefing on Friday. Monkeypox is a virus that can cause symptoms including fever, aches and presents with a distinctive bumpy rash. It is related to smallpox, but is usually milder, particularly the West African strain of the virus that was identified in a US case, which has a fatality rate of around 1%. Most people fully recover in two to four weeks, the official said. The virus is not as easily transmitted as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that spurred the global COVID-19 pandemic Experts believe the current monkeypox outbreak is being spread through close, intimate skin on skin contact with someone who has an active rash. That should make its spread easier to contain once infections are identified, experts said. "COVID is spread by respiratory route and is highly infectious. This doesn't appear to be the case with the monkeypox," said Dr. Martin Hirsch of Massachusetts General Hospital. Many - but not all - of the people who have been diagnosed in the current monkeypox outbreak are men who have sex with men, including cases in Spain linked to a sauna in the Madrid region. WHAT HAS HEALTH EXPERTS CONCERNED? The recent outbreaks reported so far are atypical, according to the WHO, as they are occurring in countries where the virus does not regularly circulate. Scientists are seeking to understand the origin of the current cases and whether anything about the virus has changed. Most of the cases reported so far have been detected in the UK, Spain and Portugal. There have also been cases in Canada and Australia, and a single case of monkeypox was confirmed in Boston, with public health officials saying more cases are likely to turn up in the United States. WHO officials have expressed concern that more infections could arise as people gather for festivals, parties and holidays during the coming summer months in Europe and elsewhere. HOW CAN PEOPLE PROTECT AGAINST INFECTION? The UK has begun to inoculate healthcare workers who may be at risk while caring for patients with the smallpox vaccine, which can also protect against monkeypox. The US government says it has enough smallpox vaccine stored in its Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to vaccinate the entire US population. There are antiviral drugs for smallpox that could also be used to treat monkeypox under certain circumstances, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. More broadly, health officials say that people should avoid close personal contact with someone who has a rash illness or who is otherwise unwell. People who suspect they have monkeypox should isolate and seek medical care. WHAT MIGHT BE BEHIND THE SPIKE IN CASES? "Viruses are nothing new and expected," said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. Rasmussen said a number of factors including increased global travel as well as climate change have accelerated the emergence and spread of viruses. The world is also more on alert to new outbreaks of any kind in the wake of the COVID pandemic, she said.

Dhaka, July 3 (bdnews24.com)--Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has stressed the need for industrialised nations to provide climate adaptation funds for developing countries, the worst victims of climate change, "without any conditions". Inaugurating the first ever 'SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change' in Dhaka, he also called on richer nations to transfer better technology so that developing countries can progress toward climate resiliency. "The industrialised economies must provide adaptation funds and facilitate technology transfer without any conditionality," Fakhruddin said. He added that developed nations, the polluters, had an unshakeable responsibility to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the cause of global warming, within the stipulated time frames. The SAARC climate conference is being held in response to a proposal by Dhaka, as it is feared that a huge portion of Bangladesh's landmass will be inundated owing to rising sea levels caused by global warming. The meeting is expected to adopt a common declaration on action for confronting climate change that will in one way or another affect the entire SAARC region, comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The whole of the Maldives island chain also faces inundation by rising sea levels. "SAARC countries should speak with one voice to ensure that developed countries commit new and additional resources to support our adaptation efforts," Fakhruddin said. The chief adviser announced that Bangladesh was trying to establish an international climate adaption centre to share knowledge and best practices. "The developed countries must make unilateral and unconditional commitment to reduce their emission levels. This is a must to save us from the perils of climate change," he said. Fakhruddin said climate change would cost millions of poor people their livelihoods and intensify the havoc of floods, droughts and salinity. "It will unleash the gravest tragedy in human history, far graver than the 'Black Death' or the atrocities of World War II." "We cannot, and must not, sit idle and let this happen," he said. Echoing the chief adviser, SAARC Secretary-General Sheel Kant Sharma told the meeting: "SAARC believes that the way forward must include, among others, binding greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments by developed countries with effective timeframes." Presided over by the chief adviser's special assistant for environment Devasish Roy, the inauguration was also addressed by foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

Global energy demand is expected to soar 44 percent over the next two decades with most of the demand coming from developing countries such as China and Russia, the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency said on Wednesday. The worldwide economic downturn has hit energy consumption, but an expected recovery next year could respark demand and boost prices, the Energy Information Administration said in its new forecast. U.S. oil prices are forecast to rise from an average $61 barrel this year to $110 in 2015 and $130 in 2030. Oil prices "begin to rise in 2010-2011 period as the economy rebounds and global demand once again grows more rapidly than non-OPEC liquid supply," EIA acting administrator Howard Gruenspecht told a news conference. Global oil demand is expected to rise to 107 million barrels per day over the next two decades from nearly 84 million bpd this year. Oil will account for 32 percent of the world's energy supply by 2030 from about 36 percent in 2006. Almost 75 percent of the rise in global energy demand through 2030 will occur in developing countries, particularly China, India, Russia and Brazil, the agency said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will continue to provide 40 percent of the world's oil supplies during the period. Renewable energy, like wind and solar power, will be the fastest growing energy source, making up 11 percent of global supplies. Biofuels, including ethanol and biodiesel, are expected to reach 5.9 million bpd by 2030. The EIA said its long-term forecast does not reflect efforts the United States may take to cut greenhouse gas emissions or an expected international agreement to curb greenhouse gases. Gruenspecht said the agency will analyze the possible impact of climate change legislation approved last week by the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. But he said the bill may not change energy use initially, citing carbon dioxide emission limits and the allowed transfer of carbon cuts to developing countries. "One could imagine that one could comply at least with the 2020 part of this proposal calling for a 17 percent reduction (from 2005 levels) just using the offsets and not having a significant change in our consumption or the way we use energy at all," Gruenspecht said. If global climate change laws and policies don't change, world energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will rise by a third to 40 billion metric tons a year, the agency said. The EIA's report also found that global natural gas demand will increase by almost 50 percent to 153 trillion cubic feet. The agency said that unconventional natural gas production, particularly from gas shale, will make the United States "virtually self sufficient in natural gas supply in 2030." To see the forecast growth for OPEC oil production, please click here: here The EIA's forecast also predicts that in 2030: * World production of unconventional petroleum resources, including oil sands, extra-heavy oil and coal-to-liquids, will quadruple to 13.4 million bpd, representing 13 percent of total global petroleum supplies. * Iraq's crude oil production will jump from 2 million bpd to 5 million bpd. * China's electricity generation from coal-fired power plants will triple.

The Inuit of Arctic Canada and Alaska are bearing the brunt of global warming and their way of life is in peril, an international human rights body will be told next month. Inuit activists hope a hearing on Arctic climate change by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will lead to reduced emissions and will help to protect the culture of the northern native people. "In the Arctic, things are happening first and fastest and it's a way of life that's being jeopardized here," said Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who submitted a petition for a hearing on how climate change infringes on Inuit human rights to the commission in 2005 on behalf of Inuit in Canada and Alaska. The commission, which is an arm of the Organization of American States, rejected Cloutier's request to rule on the rights violations caused specifically by US emissions, deciding instead to hold a general hearing on March 1 to investigate the broad relationship between climate change and human rights. Officials at the Washington-based commission said it will be the body's first such hearing. Climate change "very much connects to rights because no where else in the world do you see ice and snow representing life and mobility like it does for us," Watt-Cloutier, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her work on the issue, said from the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. The human rights commission has scant powers and can do little more than publicize its findings and propose a resolution to the 35-member OAS. About 10 percent of petitions to the commission receive a hearing, said Ariel Dulitzky, the assistant executive secretary. He would not comment on why Watt-Cloutier's first petition was rejected by the seven-member board. Watt-Cloutier said her group's legal team will submit findings from studies including the 2004 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, which concluded the Arctic is extremely vulnerable to global warming and is now experiencing some of the most rapid changes on Earth. Average annual Arctic temperatures are increasing more than twice as fast as temperatures in the rest of the world, the study found, causing a decrease in snow and ice and a transfigured landscape. "For Inuit, warming is likely to disrupt or even destroy their hunting and food-sharing culture as reduced sea ice causes the animals on which they depend to decline, become less accessible, or possibly go extinct," the study said. Watt-Cloutier said the United States was singled out on the rejected petition because it has refused to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Carbon emissions from US industry represent about 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Democratic Party leaders are advancing legislation that would slow US emissions, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushing legislation by July 4 that would halve emissions by 2050. Canada is currently 33 percent above greenhouse gas emissions targets it is obliged to meet by 2012 under Kyoto. "This erodes and violates the human rights of an entire people who really are not benefiting from any of the industrial world that we have become," Watt-Cloutier said. "In fact we become the net recipients of many contaminants that end up in the Arctic sink and in our bodies."

The climate is heating up far faster than scientists had predicted, spurred by sharp increases in greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries like China and India, a top climate scientist said on Saturday. "The consequence of that is we are basically looking now at a future climate that is beyond anything that we've considered seriously," Chris Field, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago. Field said "the actual trajectory of climate change is more serious" than any of the climate predictions in the IPCC's fourth assessment report called "Climate Change 2007." He said recent climate studies suggested the continued warming of the planet from greenhouse gas emissions could touch off large, destructive wildfires in tropical rain forests and melt permafrost in the Arctic tundra, releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gasses that could raise global temperatures even more. "There is a real risk that human-caused climate change will accelerate the release of carbon dioxide from forest and tundra ecosystems, which have been storing a lot of carbon for thousands of years," Field, of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science, said in a statement. He pointed to recent studies showing the fourth assessment report underestimated the potential severity of global warming over the next 100 years. "We now have data showing that from 2000 to 2007, greenhouse gas emissions increased far more rapidly than we expected, primarily because developing countries, like China and India, saw a huge surge in electric power generation, almost all of it based on coal," Field said. He said that trend was likely to continue if more countries turned to coal and other carbon-intensive fuels to meet their energy needs. If so, he said the impact of climate change would be "more serious and diverse" than the IPCC's most recent predictions.

After Sept 11, New Yorkers did what they do — coped, improvised, found one another in public spaces, reimagined the city. Two decades on, lower Manhattan, still a work in progress, is mostly better than it was. The outcome seemed unlikely for a time. The reconstruction at ground zero was a mess and remains a massive, missed opportunity. But it may well be the mess, not the memorial or the office towers — half conceived to reignite the economy, half as middle fingers raised to Osama bin Laden — that has ended up being the ultimate retort to Sept 11 and the emblem of New York’s resilience. City-building in a fractious democracy is a slow, lurching, multipronged process, after all. The southern tip of what the Lenape tribe called Mannahatta has been contested territory and a civic petri dish since the September morning in 1609 when a community of Lenape watched a Dutch ship, carrying Henry Hudson, sail through the Narrows. In the wake of another September morning, New York has become less Manhattan-centred since the attack on the twin towers, less a hub with spokes and more multi-nodal, hastening the booms in Brooklyn and Queens. The old model of urban economics, agglomerated vertically in a clutch of downtown skyscrapers, has gradually ceded to a broader vision of mobility, remote access and live-work neighbourhoods. After Sept 11, proponents of walking, cycling, public transit and public space began to find allies on Wall Street and in City Hall, ones who recognized lower Manhattan’s viability depending on more than a memorial and commercial skyscrapers where the twin towers had stood. It involved attracting highly educated workers who were increasingly gravitating to lively streets, rejuvenated waterfronts, signature parks, bike lanes and loads of restaurants and entertainment. “For us and many of our friends who started walking across the bridge,” as Manfredi puts it, “9/11 fundamentally changed how we envisioned the city.” A new urbanism began to emerge from the rubble, in other words — but in tandem with fresh challenges around affordable housing, a widening of income gaps and also climate change, which few in authority or in the media 20 years ago were focused on. Headlines and official plans after Sept 11 were fixated on bollards and checkpoints, on collective security and preventing more truck bombs and hijacked planes. They focused on the pleas of the grieving families of victims, some of whom lobbied to turn the entire 16-acre site where the towers had stood into a memorial. The authorities struggled to reconcile families’ demands with the herculean task of restoring downtown. New York’s governor, George Pataki, seeking a path to the White House, rushed to settle ground zero’s fate. By June 2002, he had committed to a huge memorial occupying the footprints of the fallen towers, surrounded by new skyscrapers. When the city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, proposed housing and schools instead, alongside a more modest memorial — arguing sensibly that a living, breathing neighbourhood might make a better memorial and answer to the terrorists — he was shouted down. “The combination of big money, prime real estate, bottomless grief, artistic ego and dreams of legacy transformed ground zero into a mosh pit of stakeholders banging heads over billions in federal aid, tax breaks and insurance proceeds,” as Deborah Sontag wrote in The New York Times on the fifth anniversary of Sept 11. Even so, New Yorkers and city leaders pursued their own plans. Starting in the mid-1990s, residential conversion incentives undertaken by the Giuliani administration, along with efforts by groups like the Downtown Alliance, had already begun to rethink lower Manhattan as more of a live-work district, an evolution the Bloomberg administration and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp then encouraged after the twin towers fell, funnelling federal recovery money and other resources toward housing, schools, refurbishing the East River Esplanade and Hudson River Park. Notwithstanding the doomsayers who predicted that no one would ever live or work in tall buildings or the neighbourhood again, the residential population in the district tripled to something like 70,000 post-Sept 11. As for the World Trade Centre site, it was by a fluke of history, six weeks before Sept 11, that developer Larry A Silverstein took the title to a 99-year lease on the property, putting up just $14 million of his own money. After the attack, Pataki and the Port Authority, seeing crucial revenue in commercial development, decided to honour Silverstein’s lease — prioritising the desire of a private businessman to build millions of square feet of Grade A office space over other possible outcomes at ground zero. I won’t dwell on all the public money spent constructing the stegosaurus-shaped PATH Station and underground shopping mall called the Oculus by architect Santiago Calatrava, a visually spectacular $4 billion vanity project of the Port Authority. It’s a pity plans were quashed to dig a tunnel to divert traffic and narrow the highway called West Street, which cleaves lower Manhattan, separating the trade centre from Battery Park City. That was a good idea. But Goldman Sachs objected. A few decent commercial buildings got built, including 7 World Trade Centre by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and the immaculate 4 World Trade Centre by Maki and Associates, with its creased corners and a reflective facade that nearly dematerializes on the skyline. Its calm seems an implicit response to the violence and grief. Next door, the more muscular 3 World Trade Centre by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, corseted by steel braces, steps back and upward 80 stories. Between it and 4 World Trade runs one of the restored streets that used to connect the World Trade Centre site to the rest of lower Manhattan, which disappeared when the twin towers were built. The restoration of the streets was an attempt to reknit the urban fabric and integrate the neighbourhood. But the whole trade centre site still feels like an alien zone, cordoned off by security, with office buildings around a park whose design and policing tend to thwart joy, or even the eating of a sandwich at lunchtime. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum, with its vocabulary of voids and negative spaces, attracts hordes of tourists, but seems more suited to the Washington Mall than to downtown Manhattan. Two decades is barely the flap of a hummingbird’s wing in city-building time. During the 18th century, American colonists began poisoning their own freshwater supply. They built toxic tanneries along the shore of the Collect Pond, which, for centuries, had supplied the Lenape with drinking water. Outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever killed thousands of Americans before Aaron Burr persuaded city leaders to support a new business enterprise of his, the Manhattan Co., which proceeded to tear up the district’s cobblestone streets and lay miles of log pipes to deliver clean water. But the Manhattan Co. was more intent on accumulating capital than on public safety. Today the Manhattan Co is JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in America. When the log pipes failed, New Yorkers had to construct a new infrastructure of reservoirs and aqueducts to get fresh drinking water, which by the early 20th century had seeded, among much else, the creation of Central Park, the development of midtown Manhattan around the 42nd Street Library and neighbourhoods all across the island. Eventually, in other words, the crisis of the Collect Pond helped give birth to the modern banking system and what we now recognize as New York City. Progress takes not just time but also unanticipated forms. Lower Manhattan now has some of the poorest air quality and highest noise levels in town because of traffic congestion. Since Sept 11, City Hall has failed to add much-needed affordable housing in the neighbourhood. And in an old waterfront district with few protections against rising seas, climate change presents an existential challenge that dwarfs the rebuilding at ground zero. But this set of issues is also a legacy of Sept 11. The conversation has moved on. After Superstorm Sandy in 2012, a plan called the Big U to gird miles of the area’s waterfront against rising seas started wending its way through the city’s bureaucratic maze. Servicing residents in the neighbourhood, a weekly farmers market has colonised the plaza under the flying ribs of Calatrava’s stegosaurus. With the pandemic shuttering offices, there’s increasing talk now about converting more commercial buildings into residences. Plans for a Freedom Centre and cultural program at ground zero were cancelled two decades ago when Pataki caved to right-wing protests, but the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Centre, in a building designed by the firm REX, is now scheduled to open in 2023. And better late than never, the still-undeveloped World Trade Centre parcel formerly occupied by Deutsche Bank is slated to become an apartment tower (with subsidised units). Other dreams of remaking lower Manhattan today include proposals by organisations like the Financial District Neighbourhood Association to institute open streets, shared by cars and pedestrians, and green the zone between the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall. The concept pictures 21st-century lower Manhattan as a kind of high-rise version of the Marais in Paris or the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona. “We hardly got it perfect,” Carl Weisbrod, the city’s former planning commissioner, responded when asked to sum up what he and other officials involved in the rebuilding accomplished after Sept 11. “On balance, the area is better than it was — we got it more right than wrong.” Weiss, the architect, put it another way: “People periodically declare New York over — they did with 9/11, the financial crisis, Hurricane Sandy, now COVID — but the city endures.” “It turns out that every crisis,” she added, “is a rebirth.” ©2021 The New York Times Company

Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation brought out a rally in the city to mark the World Food Day on Friday. This year's theme of the day is 'Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis'. Agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury inaugurated the day's events through the rally followed by a procession that started from Khamar Bari, participated among others by agriculturists, scientists, officials and members of the public. Hundreds of school children joined the rally with colourful banners and festoons. The programme was supported by Telefood, a FAO project for eradicating hunger, bdnews24.com and Channel i. A seminar in observance of the day is also being held at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, attended by agricultural minister Matia Chowdhury. Food and disaster management minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaque and minister of fisheries and livestock Abdul Latif Biswas are also participating in the seminar where FAO Bangladesh representative, AD Spijkers, is the guest of honour. A children's painting competition is scheduled to be held at 3pm at Bangladesh Shishu Academy. A three-day fair on 'Agriculture and Food' will also be inaugurated at the Krishibid Institution premise at 12pm. A similar fair will be held at Depasai village in Somobhat union under Dhamrai upazila. Channel i will telecast the programme live. In the afternoon, prime minister Sheikh Hasina will release postage stamps and envelops commemorating the day. Moreover, the district and upazila administrations around the country are observing the day through holding discussion meetings and rallies. President Zillur Rahman, on the eve of World Food Day on Friday, said proper measures must be taken to ensure food security in a changing climate. In his message on Thursday, Rahman said, "I believe sufficient research and adequate technological innovation and usage can play an important role to produce more food." Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said, "Agriculture is the most affected and vulnerable sector due to climate change. It is absolutely needed to ensure food security by fighting the situation." "Bangladesh achieved self-dependency during the previous Awami League government in 1996-2001. But the succeeding government could not carry the success." The incumbent government is pledged to guarantee food security for all being self-dependent again, the prime minister added. In his message the UN chief Ban Ki-moon said, "Food and nutritional security are the foundations of a decent life, a sound education and, indeed, the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals." "Over the past two years, volatile food prices, the economic crisis, climate change and conflict have led to a dramatic and unacceptable rise in the number of people who cannot rely on getting the food they need to live, work and thrive. "For the first time in history, more than one billion people are hungry," he added. He said, "At this time of crisis, I encourage all nations to pursue coordinated and comprehensive strategies for agricultural development and effective social protection so that vulnerable people – women and children in particular – can get the food they need for nutritional security and well-being." FAO representative in Bangladesh AD Spijkers said, "The achievement of the MDG 1–to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger–faces the risk of serious setbacks." "It has occurred because of the economic crisis and panicky price hikes that have reduced incomes and access to food of the poor, more severely those in the poorest parts of the globe," he added. Spijkers said, "The government has taken a strong resolve to return to self sufficiency in food by 2012 and to sustain it. The farmers of Bangladesh may rightfully aspire to attain that target. We believe they can, and they will."

Colombia will not sink beneath the waves despite a 5-0 drubbing by Paraguay in the Copa America, coach Jorge Luis Pinto said on Friday. "This is not a catastrophe. A catastrophe is when you can't control the circumstances, such as the climate, the sea...This is not what is happening at the moment," he said. "We haven't been destroyed, neither in a footballing sense, nor a tactical sense nor in our morale. We lost but the world hasn't ended," he told reporters. "We're not down yet, we're going to react." Colombia dominated the early stages of their opening Group C game on Thursday and Alvaro Dominguez missed a 28th minute penalty. Paraguay went ahead two minutes later and the Colombians fell apart in the second half. Curiously, Colombia's defence had been their strong point in the run-up to the tournament conceding two goals in six games. Their next match is on Monday against tournament favourites Argentina, who began with a 4-1 win over United States. "We will make changes. We may vary the style of play and the players," said Pinto. Pinto also compared the match to Colombia's 5-0 win over Argentina in a World Cup qualifier in 1993. "On that occasion, we weren't that good and Argentina weren't that bad," he said, "This game (against Paraguay) reminds me of it."

The congenial Professor Duan Xuru doesn't look like a stereotypical mad scientist as he shows guests into a cluttered laboratory filled with canisters, vacuum pumps and patched-up pipes tied together with spirals of blue wire and rubber tubing. But Duan, based in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu, is working on an audacious project described as a "man-made sun". He hopes it will eventually create almost unlimited supplies of cheap and clean energy. Duan is no maverick either, but a pioneer in one of the many expeditions that China has launched to map out its nuclear energy options in the future. Old-fashioned atom splitting has been in the spotlight after Japan's biggest earthquake and tsunami left an aging nuclear reactor complex on the northeast coast on the verge of catastrophic meltdown. While Germany and Italy have turned their backs on nuclear power, China is pressing ahead with an ambitious plan to raise capacity from 10.8 gigawatts at the end of 2010 to as much as 70 or 80 GW in 2020. Many of the nuclear research institutes across the country are working on advanced solutions to some of the problems facing traditional reactors, from the recycling and storage of spent fuel to terrorist attacks. But Duan and his state-funded team of scientists are on a quest for the Holy Grail of nuclear physics: a fusion reactor that can generate power by forcing nuclei together instead of smashing them apart -- mimicking the stellar activity that brought heavy elements into existence and made the universe fit for life. Duan said fusion could be the ultimate way forward: it is far safer than traditional fission, requires barely 600 grams of hydrogen fuel a year for each 10-gigawatt plant, and creates virtually no radioactive waste. "Due to the problems in Japan, the government hopes nuclear fusion can be realized in the near future," said Duan, the director of fusion science at the Southwestern Institute of Physics, founded in 1965 and funded by the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). While fusion has moved some way beyond the purely hypothetical after more than half a century of painstaking research, it still remains some distance away from being feasible. Critically, the energy required to induce a fusion reaction far exceeds the amount of energy produced. Fusion might be the ultimate goal, but in the near future, all China's practical efforts will continue to focus on a new model of conventional fission reactors. While China's nuclear industry awaits the results of a government review in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, all signs point to China pushing ahead with its long-term strategy. The National Development and Reform Commission said last week China would continue to support the construction and development of advanced nuclear reactors and related nuclear technologies. "Suddenly, China has become even more important to the world -- as other people ask whether they still want to go ahead, China still seems intent on going ahead at full speed," said Steve Kidd, deputy secretary general with the World Nuclear Association, a London-based lobby group. If traditional nuclear power represents the civil application of the atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, fusion is an extension of the hydrogen bomb, first tested by the United States in 1952. Showing Reuters around a sweltering, hermetically-sealed lab designed to bring hydrogen isotopes to an unthinkable 55-million degree boil in a 1.65 m vacuum chamber, Duan said progress had been slower than first expected at the dawn of the nuclear age. "It took about nine years to go from the atomic bomb to nuclear power, and we hoped it would take a maximum of 20 years to get from the first H-bomb to a fusion reactor," he said. "But in reality it was very difficult because there were so many technical and scientific challenges." Described by one observer as an attempt to put the sun in a box, nuclear fusion has been derided as the province of cranks and charlatans -- the modern equivalent of the perpetual motion machines that plagued U.S. patent offices in the 19th century. Skeptics scoff the world is now 50 years away from fusion power -- and always will be. Duan shrugged off the criticism. He has spent more than 20 years in the field, including eight years in Germany, and found reasons to be optimistic. "Actually, the concept of nuclear fusion is very simple," he said with a wry smile. "The first thing is to generate the plasma. The second thing is to heat the plasma to a few hundred million degrees. And then you need to confine it." The devil, of course, is in the details. EXOTIC OPTIONS As Japan's stricken Fukushima plant lurched from crisis to crisis in March and April, the safety of nuclear power was called into question -- including in China. Five days after the quake and tsunami knocked out the 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi complex, China said it was suspending approvals for nuclear power plants pending safety checks of plants in operation or under construction. China by most calculations is already the world's biggest energy consumer, and demand for power is set to soar in the next decade. But its dependence on fossil fuels have also turned it into the world's biggest source of greenhouse gas. Duan's fusion reactor could be the answer to China's energy conundrum. It does not require acres of space or tones of scarce fuel or water resources. It produces no CO2 emissions or waste, and is completely safe, even if struck by an earthquake. A large part of China's fusion research is now focused on the tokamak, a Russian acronym meaning "toroidal magnetic chamber". It is a doughnut-shaped vacuum vessel wrapped in superconducting magnetic coils that confine and control the ultra-high temperature soup of ions and electrons known as plasma. But tokamaks can only run a few seconds in experiments conducted every five months or so, creating a brief 500-megawatt burst of energy before fizzling out. Unlike the tokamak, new conventional technologies are on the cusp of being commercialized, including "third-generation" designs imported from U.S.-based Westinghouse, owned by Toshiba, and France's Areva. Also on the horizon are fourth- and fifth-generation technologies that go by names like fast-breeder, traveling wave, or high-temperature gas-cooled, as well as small and versatile "modular" reactors with shorter construction times. "(China) has investments in the more exotic reactor designs and they also have got cooperation on fast reactors with the Russians," said Kidd of the World Nuclear Association. "They are keeping their options open, and Fukushima will encourage that tendency toward next-generation reactors." The allure of the next generation reactors is they can eliminate, or at least defer, the problem of fuel shortages by reprocessing spent uranium into plutonium and other actinides and boost the amount of usable fuel by a factor of 50. Like fusion, some of these advanced reactors remain a long way from the market, said Adrian Heymer, executive director at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C. High-temperature gas-cooled reactors are unlikely to be ready until 2030, and fast breeders could have to wait until the 2040s. "When we say future, we are really looking at the distant future -- they not only need a step forward in technology but certainly also a step-up in operator acumen," Heymer said. The nuclear debate, Kidd says, needs to focus more on the commercial application of current technologies. "The nuclear industry's reaction, whenever there is a problem, is to try to find technical solutions rather than business solutions, which is the way any other industry would deal with it." Non-mainstream technology is a diversion, he said, and China needs to focus on the task in hand: getting a new generation of reactors into commercial operation for the first time. "What the industry has to do now is build a large number of third-generation units around the world, bring costs down and establish a global supply chain that will allow costs to be cut." FISSION MISSION All the discussions about Duan's "artificial sun" seemed ironic in the April gloom of Chengdu in China's rainswept Sichuan basin, where industry representatives met to talk about the long-term prospects for nuclear power. They were originally lined up to celebrate the country's rapid capacity build-up and the extraordinary leaps expected over the next decade. Now they had to come to terms with the worst crisis to hit the industry in a quarter-century. For the first time in years, China's bullish nuclear firms were on the back foot. Tang Hongju, the head of the nuclear division of the Chengdu-based Dongfang Electric, one of China's biggest nuclear equipment manufacturers, tried gamely to put it in the best light. "The fact that we could have this conference and invite so many experts after the Fukushima accident shows how much confidence there still is in the Chinese nuclear sector." Some worried about profits in the coming year. "We are actually quite worried about a slowdown in orders," said a representative with another supplier. "There is still a lot of uncertainty because in the end it all depends on what the government decides. Right now we have no idea what it will be." Before March 11, the world was awaiting a bold 2020 capacity target of 85 GW, more than doubling the previous 40 GW figure. The two big plant builders, CNNC and the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC), said 100 GW would be possible. Even before Fukushima, some urged caution. The State Council Research Office published a paper in January saying China needed to rein in the overexuberant nuclear sector and keep the target at around 70 GW. "There was a lot of hot air about a 'nuclear renaissance' in the last few years and the credibility of it was getting lower -- Fukushima actually provides an excuse to slow down a bit." Beijing has not yet published new targets, but Xue Xinmin, a researcher with the NDRC's Energy Research Institute, said it was now likely to be scaled back to around 70-80 GW. He said a slowdown would give China time to improve its regulatory system, train personnel and build manufacturing capacity, thus ensuring the industry's long-term strength. Official corruption is another concern. Last November, the CNNC chief was jailed for life for taking bribes and abuse of power, raising questions about the integrity of policy-making at the top of the industry. Despite the uncertainties, optimism continues to prevail -- and some insiders suggested Fukushima could actually cement China's future dominance of the sector. "The Japan accident could be good for China," said one industry official who didn't want to be identified in order to speak more candidly. "It will force China to move forward technologically and pay even more attention to safety. But it will also lead to a bigger slowdown in nuclear development in other countries. China can really gain the upper hand." China has already committed itself to investing $1.5 trillion in seven strategic industries, including nuclear and high-speed rail. Its plans to push into high-tech sectors prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to call for a "Sputnik moment" aimed at ensuring that the United States doesn't fall behind. Even the lower target of 70 GW is still a huge leap from 10.8 today, and China could very quickly return to "business as usual Kidd said. While many predicted the safety review after Fukushima would cause project approvals to be suspended for at least a year, now the expectation is for the pipeline to start moving again in August. Dozens of plants are waiting to be built. "Obviously, there will be some delays, but I don't think there are any implications for those projects already under construction -- and there are 27 of those, which is enough to be going along with," said Kidd. FUKUSHIMA NIGHTMARE Parts of China are prone to earthquakes, such as the 8.0-magnitude quake that flattened several towns in Sichuan in 2008, killing 80,000 people. The quake did no harm to nuclear power plants, sparing China a Fukushima-style nightmare. But it damaged beyond repair a turbine manufacturing unit belonging to one of China's biggest nuclear equipment makers, Dongfang Electric, at a loss of 1.6 billion yuan. Since then, the company has recovered, building and expanding facilities in quake-damaged Deyang and elsewhere. Despite misgivings among the general public, the quake didn't stop nearby cities -- including the megapolis of Chongqing -- from pushing ahead with their own reactor plans. Chinese netizens have expressed concerns about the projects, and after Fukushima some accused local officials of putting prestige and profit ahead of public safety. "The people of Sichuan should unite and together resist the shameful act of building a nuclear power station in Sichuan," said one comment on an Internet site (www.mala.cn) used to discuss local issues in the province. Existing nuclear projects are clustered on China's eastern coast, but the government has identified nuclear power as a crucial part of efforts to reduce coal dependence and boost energy supplies in poor and polluted interior regions. Beijing said shortly before the Japan crisis that China's first inland plant would begin construction within two years, and Sichuan was among a number of provinces hoping to be in the first pick. A lot is at stake. Sichuan officials said apart from Dongfang Electric, more than 30 companies in the province were preparing for the projects, which have not been given the final go-ahead by the central government. Critics of nuclear power suggest all the "inland" nuclear plans should be torn up in light of the Japan crisis, and not just because of the potential earthquake risks. "China has a huge variety of natural disasters -- this is a country vulnerable to extreme weather and the government needs to take into consideration all the worst-case scenarios," said Li Yan, China campaign manager with Greenpeace. Nuclear supporters see a massive overreaction to Fukushima. "The safety requirements for inland nuclear power plants are no different from those on the coast -- the key consideration is water supply and environmental capacity," said Li Xiaoxue, an official in charge of new reactor projects at CGNPC. Kidd of the World Nuclear Association said plants in earthquake-prone regions could be scaled back, but that was no reason to ban all inland projects. "Some of the regions have seismic problems and as a consequence of Fukushima there may be less of a rush to go to some of these areas, including Sichuan, but otherwise there's no particular good reason not to build them," he said. GENERATION GAP Li of CGNPC caused a stir at the Chengdu conference when he said China could halt approvals for new second-generation plants -- similar to the Fukushima Daiichi plant -- after Japan's disaster. He also wondered whether China was ready to make the big leap into third-generation technology. The company later denied Li had made those statements. But even if China does go ahead with some second-generation plants among the many projects pending approval, the Japan crisis is likely to strengthen its prior commitment to third-generation reactors such as the AP1000 and Areva's EPR. "China was heading that way anyway," said Kidd. "They see the AP1000, or derivations of the AP1000, as the way forward. I think they have looked at it and said if they can build it properly, it will be cheaper." At Sanmen on the east coast, China is building the world's first AP1000, a model designed by Westinghouse to withstand the sort of catastrophic strains that struck the Fukushima complex. China isn't just building Westinghouse's new third-generation model, it is also absorbing the technology in a strategy aimed at seizing the global initiative in the industry and building an entire industrial chain with a global reach. Technology transfers from Westinghouse and others will allow China to create its own reactor brands. CNNC is talking to foreign partners about selling them abroad. "Many of the technologies have already been basically localized," said Xue, the NDRC researcher. Reactors now under construction could rely on domestic manufacturers for around 80-85 percent of their components and equipment, he said. "We are localizing advanced technologies in order to enter the global market -- China must become a nuclear exporting country and exporting reactors must be a part of our national strategy." China is emulating South Korea, which signed a similar technology transfer agreement in 1987 and is building its own reactors in the United Arab Emirates. "With the transfer of technology, the Chinese will have the wherewithal to move ahead with similar designs, and by the time they get to unit 10 they are going to be pretty much self-sufficient," said Heymer of the Nuclear Energy Institute. "It could mean that by 2020-2025 they will be up and running themselves and could be a competitor," he said. BREAKING EVEN Back at his lab in Chengdu, Professor Duan remains optimistic about the long-term prospects for fusion, particularly when the pressures of climate change begin to intensify. Duan heads a team of 200 people, up from just a few dozen in the 1980s when fusion researchers were struggling to convince their paymasters the technology was feasible. In recent years, Beijing has offer more funds, partly to meet its commitments to a fusion project known as the international thermonuclear experimental reactor, or ITER. "Now it is much better than before," Duan said. "One reason is energy security. Another is political: we joined the ITER project." China joined the European Union, Russia, Japan and the United States in ITER in 2003. With India and South Korea also on board, the project aims to produce a working fusion reactor by 2019. The countries will share the project's costs, expected to run to 10 billion Euros. Fusion is far behind fission in terms of development and far more reliant on international cooperation, at least while the technology is in its infancy. China, which has shown it can leverage its nuclear might to get know-how from Westinghouse and Areva, could be equally hard-headed if fusion looks like is paying off. While the fusion research community has no secrets now, Duan said, labs like his could start to go their own way if big breakthroughs are made. A number of labs -- including the Joint European Torus (JET) in Abingdon near Oxford in the United Kingdom -- have come close to a crucial breakthrough: getting more power out of the reactor than they put in, a ratio known as Q or "breakeven". ITER is likely to lift Q from less than 1 to more than 10 within 20 years. The Q ratio is a starker, more scientific version of the sort of cost-benefit analysis that is brought to all forms of energy, including conventional nuclear power. For the industry's inveterate opponents, benefits will always be outweighed by costs. But as China scours the planet for the scarce resources needed to meet the energy demand of more than 1.3 billion people, nuclear is seen as fundamental. During his travels around the nuclear conference circuit, Kidd said he had identified as many as 20 separate excuses why nuclear power shouldn't be developed, but in the end, the fundamental problem facing the sector is cost. It is a problem China is in the best position to solve. "They have a wonderful opportunity to show what they can do and the key thing they can bring to the world is lower costs." Whether China can eventually do the same for fusion remains to be seen, and until it is finally commercialized, China and the rest of the world have little choice but to endure all the costs and risks that arise from splitting the atom. Duan has dedicated his adult life to fusion research, and he still isn't sure if he will see a commercially viable reactor in his lifetime. "It is difficult to say," he said ruefully. "I believe we will have a fusion power plant within fifty years, but I don't know if I will still be here to see it."

The Obama administration wants to build on a US-India civilian nuclear power deal to work with the Indians to strengthen the global non-proliferation system, a senior US diplomat said on Monday. US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said the 2005 atomic power deal allowing New Delhi to import nuclear technology after a 33-year freeze gave both countries a duty to shore up the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty system. "Both the United States and India have the responsibility to help to craft a strengthened NPT regime to foster safe, affordable nuclear power to help the globe's energy and environment needs, while assuring against the spread of nuclear weapons," he said. India, which is not a signatory to the NPT, is nonetheless "in the position to look at the kinds of commitments it can make to be part of an international approach," Steinberg said at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group agreed in September to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India, imposed after its first nuclear test in 1974 and for its refusal to join the NPT. Washington overcame significant opposition to win the NSG waiver in order to implement the nuclear cooperation pact, a key strategic, clean energy, environmental and commercial goal of the United States. India, Pakistan and Israel are the only countries never to have signed the NPT. India's special envoy for nuclear issues and climate change said the nuclear deal and NSG waiver meant his country was "now accepted as a partner in the global nuclear domain." "Thanks to the civil nuclear agreement, we are now, potentially at a different level of engagement on these hitherto sensitive and even contentious issues," envoy Shyam Saran said at Brookings. "How we deal with bringing India and Pakistan into the NPT world is a critical question," Steinberg said. How Washington and New Delhi would cooperate on non-proliferation issues would be worked out in talks once the Obama administration filled key posts and following India's general elections in April and May, he added.

Unemployment is low, inflation is muted and growth has continued unabated for nearly 10 years. As a college professor, I’m often drawn to giving letter grades, and would give the US economy an A-, with the potential for a better grade if the economic gains had been distributed more evenly. But Trump controls economic policy, not the economy, and so a fairer report card would also assess his actual policies. To provide a nonpartisan appraisal, I’ve reviewed surveys of about 50 leading economists — liberals and conservatives — run by the University of Chicago. What is startling is that the economists are nearly unanimous in concluding that Trump’s policies are destructive. That is why many economists are uneasy about his presidency, even though the economy earns solid grades. TRADE POLICY: F Trump’s protectionist impulses place him squarely at odds with the economic wisdom that tariffs are harmful. Worse, by imposing tariffs on goods like aluminium and steel Trump’s trade policy has also damaged the competitiveness of US manufacturers. None of the economists taking part in the surveys agreed with the claim that these tariffs would “improve Americans’ welfare,” and all of them said global supply chains had made these tariffs more costly than they would have been in the past. The United States started a trade war with China and China quickly retaliated, raising tariffs on American-made goods. Trump also created needless uncertainty with his threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement that binds the United States, Canada and Mexico. The threat yielded a substitute deal that market economists believe will do little more than replicate the previous one, and it is unclear that Congress will pass it. Criticism of Trump’s protectionist instincts is widespread. When he said on Twitter that he was “Tariff Man,” financial markets tanked. An analysis conducted by the president’s own Council of Economic Advisers has reportedly concluded that his tariffs will reduce economic growth. Even by Trump’s own preferred metric, the balance of trade, his policy has failed: The trade deficit has risen to a 10-year high. FISCAL POLICY: D- The logic of fiscal policy is straightforward: In good times, the government should spend less, so that in bad times it can afford to spend more and tax less, helping to support an ailing economy. When private-sector demand falls, government picks up the slack. On this score, Trump’s fiscal policy is a colossal failure. His signature achievement is a $1.5 trillion tax cut that provided stimulus when, arguably, it was least needed. As a result, the budget deficit is atypically high for a healthy economy, and rising government debt will make it hard for fiscal policy to provide a boost when the next downturn hits. Trump might argue that the point of the tax cut wasn’t to provide a short-term stimulus, but rather to promote long-term economic growth. However, economists say that it will fail to do that, too. In a survey before the bill was passed, all but one expert said the tax cut wouldn’t lead gross domestic product “to be substantially higher a decade from now.” Darrell Duffie, the lone dissenter, said it would boost growth, but he added that “whether the overall tax plan is distributionally fair is another matter.” The problem, according to Daron Acemoglu, a prominent macroeconomist, is that while “simplification of the tax code could be beneficial,” that effect would most likely be “more than offset by its highly regressive nature.” Recent data support this pessimism, as the much-promised investment boom the tax cut was supposed to deliver appears not to have materialised. It is worth noting that the one part of Trump’s platform that received a strong endorsement from economists — his promise of infrastructure spending — has languished, despite the possibility of bipartisan support. MONETARY POLICY: C For a president, monetary policy should be simple: Appoint good people, and let the Federal Reserve do its job. Trump has got half of this right. Jerome Powell, his pick for Fed chairman, has so far proven to be adept. In a recent survey, 43 percent of economists gave Powell’s leadership an A, and 51 percent gave him a B (with the remaining 6 percent giving him a C). Trump’s other Fed appointments have been mainstream, yielding a cast of policymakers that Jeb Bush might have appointed had he been elected president. But Trump has dragged down his grade in this category by meddling in ways that have needlessly complicated the Fed’s job. Most industrialised countries, including the United States, have generally insulated monetary policy from political pressure, believing that such independence helps policymakers deliver low and stable inflation. Yet Trump has repeatedly criticised Powell for not setting interest rates lower, and has reportedly raised the possibility of firing him. The president is playing a self-defeating game, because he is making it harder for Powell to deliver low rates without appearing to have been bullied by Trump. DECIPHERING A PUZZLE Trump isn’t just pushing against one or two threads of economic consensus. Instead, his programme is an almost complete repudiation of the orthodoxies endorsed by Democratic and Republican economists. Put the pieces together, and all of this presents a puzzle: If economic policy is so bad, why is the economy doing so well? Perhaps it reflects good luck rather than good judgment. Trump’s luck was to inherit an economy that had been on a steadily improving glide path since about 2010. Charting nearly any economic statistic shows that today’s economic strength represents a continuation of that trend. Even if Trump doesn’t deserve credit for this trajectory, he should get some credit for not knocking the economy off this path. Unless, of course, the real explanation is that the president doesn’t have much effect on economic outcomes. The more frightening explanation is that the downside of Trump’s policies are yet to become evident. The chaos of his administration’s policy process has created uncertainty and probably scared off some investors, although their absence is difficult to measure. In addition, Trump’s unfunded tax cuts are creating a debt that future generations will have to repay. And by undermining the Fed’s independence, he may have made it less effective at fighting inflation. That’s not all. Cutting regulations in the financial sector may help big banks today, but it could increase the chances of future financial crises. Eliminating environmental regulations has probably improved results for some businesses while speeding climate change. And while impeding immigration may have reduced competition for jobs, many economists worry that in the longer run, reducing the number of immigrants will lead to less innovation and growth.Of course, I should admit a final possibility: Perhaps Trump has got it right, and the economists have gotten it all wrong. As a card-carrying economist, I don’t believe this, but it seems that, in equal measure, Trump doesn’t believe what economists say, either. c.2019 New York Times News Service

This sweltering effect can be attributed to the built environment, with its lack of protective tree shade, swarms of traffic and surroundings cramped with glass, asphalt, metal and concrete. Installing cool roofs, which involves lightening the surface colour of rooftops to reflect and not absorb heat, can temper excessive heat from the top down and reduce the urban heat island effect — a common and adverse consequence of climate change where air temperatures are significantly higher in a city than in surrounding areas, even at night. The Hunts Point Produce Market, the country’s largest wholesale produce market and a longtime mainstay in the borough, took a step toward climate action in October, coating about 30,000 square feet of its dark 800,000-square-foot roof with a material known as Elasto-Kool 1000, a white paint infused with silicone to reflect solar heat and ultraviolet rays and decrease indoor and surface temperatures during summer months. The coated roof is expected to help cut down on the energy use for air conditioning, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases expelled into the atmosphere. The remainder of the roof is expected to be coated in 2022 or later, depending on the availability of funds. The project was part of a city initiative, NYC CoolRoofs, and was being completed by workers of the Hope Program, a nonprofit organisation that provides job training and professional development resources to New Yorkers seeking opportunities in climate-focused industries. To date, CoolRoofs, in partnership with city agencies and grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, has covered more than 10 million square feet of rooftops since 2009. “We are making an impact on the environment and on people’s individual lives,” said Zakiyah Sayyed, 36, who lives in the South Bronx and is a crew supervisor for the Hope Program. “We have projects all across the city, so I can see the impact that we are making in NYC.” “Rooftops present an important opportunity to both mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to address a range of environmental and social issues,” said Emily Nobel Maxwell, cities director for the Nature Conservancy in New York. Combining different roofing types with reflective coatings and solar panels can boost energy benefits. A new 11,500-square-foot “green roof” at 399 Sands St. in the Brooklyn Navy Yard features a mix of sedum and wildflowers, and its effect is augmented by a white cool-roof system by Siplast, a commercial manufacturer. It is atop a property owned by Steiner NYC and was installed by Brooklyn Grange, an organisation that designs and maintains green roofs, featuring vegetation and rooftop farms. “Every roof has the potential to help solve the climate crisis,” said Gwen Schantz, Brooklyn Grange’s co-founder and chief creative officer. The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio launched Cool Neighborhoods NYC, furthering a strategy that would focus on locations with the highest scores on a heat vulnerability index, such as some neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Under the 2019 Climate Mobilization Act, New York City mandates that new roofs feature reflective surfaces and, if eligible, solar panels or a green-roof system. The NYC CoolRoofs program, which supports the city’s goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, offers free installations on affordable housing and buildings that house nonprofits, and low-cost installations to other buildings willing to cover the cost of coating materials. The New York City Housing Authority, the public housing agency that is the largest landlord in the city, expects that 2,300 of its 2,500 buildings will have cool-roof features in place in the next few years. “To date, 623 cool roofs have been installed along with full-roof replacements that are more effective at insulating the apartments below them,” said Rochel Leah Goldblatt, deputy press secretary for the agency. Although cool roofs are often associated with large buildings, such as Ford Field, the 340,000-square-foot domed football stadium in downtown Detroit, reflective materials such as paint, shingles, tiles or specialised metal sheets can be installed on private homes. Costs will vary depending on the location, condition of the roof and materials required, but compared with traditional roofing products, cool-roof coatings can run up to 20 cents more per square foot, according to the EPA. On hot summer days, cool roofs can reduce air-conditioning costs by 10% to 30%, according to NYC CoolRoofs. The Cool Roof Rating Council, an independent nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, that evaluates the reflective performance of roofing products, said there are rebates and incentives for cool roofs and other energy-saving projects, searchable via its site, coolroofs.org, or on dsireusa.org, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. Jeffrey Steuben, executive director for the council, noted that cool roofs need not be covered in white; alternative hues for the coating include grey and terra cotta, among others. The council said it would begin a similar review program dedicated to products for vertical surfaces in January. “There are a growing number of codes and programs that are specifying solar reflective walls,” Steuben said. For now, there’s ample real estate in New York that can be evaluated for a cool-roof makeover before next summer, Nobel Maxwell of the Nature Conservancy said. “There are more than a million buildings in New York City that, in total, have about 40,000 acres of rooftops, which is about the size of a whole additional borough.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

The British government played an early role in brokering the three-way alliance with the United States and Australia to deploy nuclear-powered submarines in the Pacific, according to officials in London and Washington. The landmark agreement was announced hours after Australia canceled a $66 billion deal for diesel-electric submarines with France, provoking fury in Paris and quiet satisfaction in London. For British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will meet this coming week with President Joe Biden at the White House and speak at the United Nations, it is his first tangible victory in a campaign to make post-Brexit Britain a player on the global stage. Since leaving the European Union 18 months ago, Britain has cast about for a place in the world. Brexiteers latched on to the phrase “Global Britain,” which always seemed more a marketing slogan than a coherent foreign policy. Yet the deal sealed Wednesday, in which the United States and Britain would supply Australia with the submarines, confirmed Britain’s status as a military power with nuclear expertise, as well as a trusted ally of the United States. It also lent credibility to Johnson’s effort to build a British presence in Asia, a strategy that at first looked mostly like a nostalgic throwback to its imperial past. Now, Britain has negotiated trade deals with Australia, Japan and South Korea, and deployed an aircraft carrier to help the United States keep an eye on China in the South China Sea, where Beijing is asserting its own imperial ambitions by constructing a chain of military installations. “It does for the first time start to flesh out Global Britain,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington. “We’re starting to build a real presence, in the defense and economic spheres, in that part of the world.” Darroch cautioned that the economic dividends of the deal — how many jobs and how much money would flow to British factories — still had to be worked out with the United States. Joining a far-flung security alliance also imposes costs and expectations on Britain, which is shrinking the size of its military and, like many countries, has had its public finances ravaged by the pandemic. Still, for a country that was treated as little more than an afterthought by Biden in the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was a welcome return to relevance. British officials cited the deal as proof of their ability to move adroitly in a post-Brexit world — in this case, at the expense of a European neighbor. Australia first approached Britain to propose that the British and Americans help it deploy nuclear-powered submarines, according to British officials. The Australians concluded that the diesel models provided in the French deal were not going to be adequate for a future in which China posed an ever greater threat. Britain’s links with the United States on nuclear technology date back to a 1958 defense agreement, so the concept of the two allies working together was not only natural but unavoidable. The United States will provide the highly enriched uranium that powers the submarines’ reactors. Britain and Australia, officials said, made an aggressive sales pitch to Washington that included an exchange between Johnson and Biden in June at the Group of 7 meeting in Cornwall, England. Britain, they said, had to fend off American officials who questioned why Australia could not simply buy submarines directly from the United States. Among Britain’s arguments: Its military protocols are more closely aligned with those of the Australian military, making it easier for the Australians to operate vessels also equipped with British technology. A Biden administration official said the White House never contemplated cutting Britain out of the alliance. “It was largely a technical decision,” said Bates Gill, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute who is based in Sydney. “But it could also have been partially a decision about trustworthiness.” For Johnson, who has made the “special relationship” with the United States the cornerstone of his foreign policy, the submarine deal was compensation for having his views on Afghanistan brushed aside by Biden. Johnson, officials said, wanted the withdrawal to be contingent on conditions on the ground. Regardless of ruffled feathers, Johnson has made it clear that Britain will back Biden on his No. 1 priority: the competition with China. “They’re making choices, and the choices have consequences,” said Thomas Wright, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, who praised the British approach. To some in Britain, those consequences might not be worth the benefits. Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor as prime minister, warned that Britain could be dragged into a war with China over Taiwan. In 2016, Johnson argued that leaving the EU would allow Britain to engage more independently with China. That was before Beijing cracked down on Hong Kong, a former British colony. Now, Britain’s China policy looks scarcely different from that of the United States. Johnson hopes to build on Britain’s profile by playing host at a successful United Nations climate-change conference in November in Glasgow, Scotland. But it is not clear how much help he will get from Biden. Britain is pressing the United States to double its contribution to a $100 billion annual fund to help countries mitigate the impacts of climate change. It has yet to do so. Britain, analysts said, may benefit from having a new foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who won praise in her last job for negotiating trade deals in Asia. Johnson demoted her predecessor, Dominic Raab, after he came under fierce criticism for staying on vacation last month in Crete when the Taliban swept into Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. “Liz Truss has her detractors,” said Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to Washington. But he said she was “as well placed as anyone to try and add substance to the slogan of Global Britain.” For all of the satisfaction in London, Britain still faces daunting geopolitical realities. The submarine deal is likely to worsen its relationship with France, which is already strained by post-Brexit disputes over fishing rights and migrants crossing the English Channel. The French government’s disdain for Britain was evident in its response to news of the alliance: It recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia but left its envoy to Britain — a gesture, the French media said, meant to convey that it viewed Britain as a bit player in the geopolitical drama. Other analysts said France was particularly irked because it believed the United States was rewarding Britain when it should be punished for leaving the EU. Still, Johnson should not count on smooth sailing with Washington, either. Britain may yet find itself at odds over Northern Ireland, where Johnson is pressing for changes in post-Brexit trade arrangements. On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on a visit to London, reiterated a warning that if Britain jeopardized the peace in Northern Ireland, Congress would not approve a trade agreement between Britain and the United States. Beyond that, analysts said, Biden’s offhand treatment of Britain on Afghanistan, coupled with the short notice the White House gave France before announcing the security alliance, showed that the United States would pursue its interests without regard to the sensitivities of trans-Atlantic relationships. “The most remarkable thing is how little the Americans are talking about this and how much the Brits are,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and the Americas program at Chatham House, a British research institution. “That basic fact captures a lot about the special relationship. Special doesn’t mean equal.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

The risk that deteriorating government finances could push economies into full-fledged debt crises tops a list of threats facing the world in 2010, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. Major world economies have responded to the financial crisis with stimulus packages and by underwriting private debt obligations, causing deficits to balloon. This may have helped keep a worse recession at bay, but high debt has become a growing concern for financial markets. The risk is particularly high for developed nations, as many emerging economies, not least in Latin America, have already been forced by previous shocks to put their fiscal houses in order, the WEF think tank said in its annual Global Risks report ahead of its meeting in Davos, Switzerland. "Governments, in trying to stimulate their economies, in fighting the recession, are (building) unprecedented levels of debt and therefore there is a rising risk of sovereign defaults," said John Drzik, Chief Executive of management consultancy Oliver Wyman, which was one of the contributors to the WEF report. He said higher unemployment levels could follow, with associated social and political risks. The report placed unsustainable debt levels and the looming shadow of the financial crisis among the top three risks, alongside underinvestment in infrastructure -- one of the fastest rising risks -- and chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes driving up health costs and reducing growth. Other looming threats including the risk of asset price collapse, risks connected to Afghanistan and a potential slowdown in Chinese growth which could hit employment, fuel social unrest and hurt exports through the region and beyond. CREEPING RISKS The report, highlighting the risk developed nations could overextend "unsustainable levels of debt," said full-blown debt crises would have inevitable social and political consequences, not least higher unemployment. "Government debt levels of 100 percent of GDP -- which is where the United States and the UK are heading -- and higher are clearly not sustainable," said Daniel Hofmann, group chief economist at Zurich Financial Services, a contributor to the report. "There is an inherent risk that investors may take fright, they may question the sustainability of these debt levels -- the result (would be) sovereign debt crises and defaults. "Clearly Dubai and Greece were early warnings that should be heeded," he told a press conference. Worries over Dubai, Ukraine and Greece have spilled over into global markets , and all three look set to remain under pressure, with the threat also high for the Anglo-Saxon economies -- the United States and the United Kingdom. The WEF report said both faced with "tough choices" in the months ahead as they seek to time a "gradual and credible withdrawal of fiscal stimulus so that the recovery is sustained but not so late that fiscal deficits cause fear of sovereign debt deterioration." The report highlighted what it called a "governance gap" -- the gap between short-term pressures on governments and business and the need for long term decisions, not least on issues including health and pension reform and climate change. Too little was being done to address underinvestment in infrastructure, it said, which could hurt food and energy security. The World Bank puts global infrastructure investment needs at $35 trillion for the next 20 years. Greater life expectancy and unhealthy lifestyles would lead to a soaring financial cost from chronic disease, they said, which must be addressed by both developing and developed nations such as through prevention campaigns promoting healthier living. "The biggest risks facing the world today maybe from slow failures or creeping risks," said the report. "because these failures at risks emerge over a long period of time, there potentially enormous impact and long-term implications can be vastly underestimated."

Moving on from the risk of global warming, scientists are now looking for ways to pinpoint the areas set to be affected by climate change, to help countries plan everything from new crops to hydropower dams. Billion-dollar investments, ranging from irrigation and flood defences to the site of wind farms or ski resorts, could hinge on assessments about how much drier, wetter, windier or warmer a particular area will become. But scientists warn precision may never be possible. Climate is so chaotic and the variables so difficult to compute that even the best model will be far from perfect in estimating what the future holds. "We need to give indications which are at the scale countries can use to make decisions," said Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which oversees the UN's climate panel. "We need to come to a scale which is smaller than countries like Spain or France or the UK. You really need to come to smaller scales -- 100, 200 kms (60-120 miles). "We are not yet there." The UN climate panel meets in Valencia, Spain, on Nov. 12-17 to issue a final report summing up more than 3,000 pages of findings this year that blamed humans for climate change and outlined solutions. It will also look at what a next report, perhaps in 2013 if governments agree on spending, might contain. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. An IPCC report in April gave regional projections for a warmer climate such as a melting of the Himalayan glaciers or better growing conditions for Nordic forests, but the scale is often too vague to be of great use. DAMS, SKI SLOPES Farmers from Africa to Australia would like to know which areas are threatened by desertification. Ski operators from the Alps to the Rocky Mountains wonder how high the snow line will be before investing in new hotels or ski lifts. But forecasts may never be precise enough to estimate which of two neighbouring valleys in the Andes, for instance, might get wetter and be better suited to a hydroelectric dam. "To get down to the site-level would be a huge step," said Martin Parry, a British scientist who co-chairs the IPCC section devoted to regional impacts of climate change. The impact of global warming depends largely on how many people keep burning fossil fuels, a main source of greenhouse gases, or develop cleaner energies such as wind or solar power. "I don't think that an assessment in 2013 would deliver that much more detail needed for planners on water issues," said Johan Kuylenstierna of the Stockholm International Water Institute. "The uncertainties will still be quite high." Planners already know enough to act in many cases. The smallest grids used for climate projections are 50x50 km (31x31 miles). FIRST-FLOOR KITCHENS London is looking into ways to confront projected regional risks such as more floods from North Sea surges up the Thames, more heatwaves and a drier climate. Painting houses white to protect against heatwaves makes sense, Parry said. Homeowners in areas at greater risk of floods could raise electrical goods such as fridges or washing machines off the ground floor. Parry said some farmers in eastern England were considering selling and moving north to Scotland because they reckoned they could soon grow the same crops on land that costs less now. A rise in sea-levels is already factored in as a threat to all coasts. The IPCC projects that sea-levels will rise by 18-23 cms (7-23 inches) this century. "It would be pretty unwise to build a nuclear power station at sea-level," Parry said. WATER Kuylenstierna said there may well be stronger evidence by 2013 that climate change is under way, such as melting Arctic ice or a drier Mediterranean region. That would in turn give pointers to future change. "But to break that down to information to a level relevant to a city or a hydroelectric dam base is a different question. I think nature is much more complex," he said. "Even so, we can start making a lot of investments today." Glaciers are already melting in mountain ranges from the Andes to the Himalayas, so countries should invest in flood protection along vulnerable rivers and consider new irrigation needs if glaciers, a source of water in dry seasons, vanish. In Florida, the population has soared to about 18 million from below 1 million in 1920, with ever more people living near the coast. New construction codes should aim to help protect against hurricane damage and rising seas.

This particular giant cork, formerly at 24265 Ocean Drive, was Pham’s. He had purchased the four-bedroom place in November 2020 for $275,000. “It’s definitely a feeling that you can’t explain,” said Pham, 30, a Knoxville, Tennessee, real estate agent. “Just to see something that once was there, and it’s not there anymore.” The feeling, he added, “is pretty empty.” Three prime beachfront lots are now empty on Ocean Drive, a small stretch of a charmingly scruffy Outer Banks subdivision called Trade Winds Beaches that has, to the chagrin of its property owners, become a sort of poster neighbourhood for sea-level rise — particularly since the video of Pham’s house, which collapsed Tuesday, was shared widely on social media. The once-generous stretch of beach in front of the houses has largely vanished in recent months, leaving them vulnerable to the destructive power of the Atlantic Ocean. It was Feb 9 when the first house on the street floated away. A second house, a girthy two-story place with double wraparound porches owned by Ralph Patricelli of California, was claimed by the ocean just hours before Pham’s. “I talked to a contractor who is helping us with the cleanup; he said there is nothing left of our house,” Patricelli said. “We don’t know where it’s gone. But it’s just completely gone.” The gradual nature of sea-level rise means that for many coastal communities, it can feel like a distant threat. That is not the case on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the delicate chain of barrier islands fronting the Atlantic. Federal officials say that sea levels in the area have risen roughly 1 inch every five years, with climate change being one key reason. State officials say that some Outer Banks beaches are shrinking more than 14 feet per year in some areas. “The water’s already high and the waves are coming that much further inland, eating away at sand in a way that it wouldn’t if the seas were lower,” said William Sweet, an expert on sea-level rise at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Experts and locals note that on places like Hatteras Island, a thin strip of land where Trade Winds Beaches is one of numerous imperiled neighbourhoods, beach erosion is a natural and inevitable process. Barrier islands get battered by storms on the ocean side, with the sands shifting westward, building up on the bay side. David Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said that rising seas, and the increased frequency and intensity of storms, are likely intensifying the erosion on Ocean Drive, which abuts the Hatteras Island National Seashore. Patricelli, who was never a climate-change doubter, said the disappearance of his house brought the issue out of the realm of abstraction. “I think I have been naive that it’s not going to affect me on the level that it just did,” he said. “Having experienced this, I have a whole new level, in my head, of how severe climate change is.” North Carolina Highway 12, an essential two-lane route onto Hatteras Island, on May 12, 2022, was closed for more than a day this week after a storm. The New York Times The last two houses were destroyed amid a multiday nor’easter that pushed sand and wind onto North Carolina Highway 12, closing the essential two-lane route onto Hatteras Island for more than a day. On Thursday, Ocean Drive was a post-storm mess. The pavement was buried under several feet of sand, as if in a snowstorm. Splintered wood and other debris from the two houses were scattered around, spreading southward along the coast. Beach rentals with happy names (“Kai Surf House”) were mostly unoccupied. TV news crews trudged around. Mark Gray, a worker with a cleanup company, was scraping remnants of Patricelli’s house with an excavator. North Carolina Highway 12, an essential two-lane route onto Hatteras Island, on May 12, 2022, was closed for more than a day this week after a storm. The New York Times “Mother Nature’s pissed off,” he said, “or something.” Hallac stood in front of the place where Patricelli’s house used to be, wrinkling his nose as the stench from the broken septic system wafted toward him. None of this, he said, was surprising. Around the time the first house collapsed, he said, officials in Dare County, North Carolina, informed his office that eight homes on the street had been ruled unsafe for habitation. “So I reached out to homeowners and said, ‘Hey, can you move your house, or remove it?’” Hallac said. Both these options proved problematic for Ocean Drive homeowners in ways that many more property owners may experience in the next 30 years, a time period in which sea levels along US coastlines are likely to rise by 1 foot, on average, resulting in more coastal flooding, according to a multiagency federal report released in February. Robert Coleman, the owner of the house that fell in February, had considered moving or tearing down the place. He discovered that insurance companies would pay him for the house if it was destroyed by the ocean, but not if he tore it down himself. Coleman said he got in touch with a company that would move his house 35 feet inland, at a cost of $185,000. It was too much for him to stomach. So the tide took it away. “I got a call from the park service saying, ‘Your house just fell. Come get it cleaned up,’” Coleman said. The debris washed down the coast for miles. The total cleanup, he said, cost him $57,000. Patricelli said that two of his neighbours have moved their houses inland. But he said that only seemed to be buying a little time. “Moving the house doesn’t mean you’re not going to have problems,” he said. “We can see what the ocean can do.” Elsewhere on Hatteras Island, some communities have embraced a solution called beach nourishment, which involves replenishing the beach with sand pumped from offshore. But that is expensive work, and Danny Couch, a member of the Dare County Commission, said he was sceptical that he could convince the park service that such a project was necessary to protect vital infrastructure, in part because a new elevated road will soon open up next to a flood-prone stretch of Highway 12 near Ocean Drive. For now, Patricelli’s dream of having a rental investment property — one where his bicoastal family could also gather and make memories — is lost. But some beachfront houses are still attracting visitors. Just up the beach from Patricelli’s lot, Stephanie Weyer, a truck dispatcher from Pennsylvania, was enjoying a vacation with her family as best as she could, given the weather and the drama. She said she planned to come back to the same house next year — but 20 years on, she wondered if the neighbourhood would be gone. A few houses away, Matt Storey was pacing on the outdoor deck of the beachfront home he had bought in November and christened “Mermaid’s Dream.” He estimated there were roughly 70 feet of sand between the house and the beach when he closed on the property. On Thursday, the waves were lapping by the pilings of the house. Storey, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, said that he felt somewhat confident buying the house, particularly because it had been moved back from the ocean in 2018 at a cost of $200,000. He owns another place nearby, and while he expected potential erosion problems eventually, he did not anticipate them coming so fast. For now, he said, he planned to keep renting the place. But he said he worried about losing his investment. “We’re stressed out,” he said. “The worst thing that can happen is I can’t sell it, I can’t move it, I can’t get rid of it, and I can’t rent it.” Storey said his “nuclear option” was moving to Ocean Drive and living in his house full time, but that, too, came with obvious risks. “I don’t have a plan,” he said. “My plan is to ride it out.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

Australian leader John Howard risks becoming the first prime minister to lose his own seat at an election in 78 years, as he battles to save his conservative government from defeat in next month's poll. Electoral boundary changes to his safe Sydney seat of Bennelong have made it marginal, with a swing of around 4 percent -- or about 3,000 votes -- enough to defeat him. An increase in Asian migrants to the area, with Chinese and Koreans now representing 20 percent of voters, is also seen as working against Howard, 68, who is seeking a fifth term in office in the national election on Nov. 24. "When he is in an election he has used the race card and we (do) not need that sort of leadership," said Jason Koh, editor of the local Korean newspaper Hoju Donja. Koh said many Chinese and Korean voters believed Howard had played the "race card" with his tough stance against boatpeople, a tactic that helped him win the last election in 2004. Unlike previous elections, the opposition Labor party has chosen a high-profile candidate, former television and news magazine journalist Maxine McKew, to challenge Howard in the harbourside seat he has held since entering parliament in 1974. McKew, who only moved into the electorate a few months ago, leads Howard in opinion polls and with betting agencies. Aware he is fighting for political survival in his own backyard, Howard has repeatedly reminded his constituency that he does not take Bennelong voters for granted. He has also altered his electioneering tactics and is spending a lot more time in Bennelong, say local residents, pressing the flesh on weekends and attending community events. ROWDY RALLY Last Saturday's Granny Smith Apple Festival, normally a subdued community fair, turned into a rowdy election rally when Howard and McKew turned up. Brandishing placards and balloons, hundreds of supporters of both candidates waged a vocal battle. John Booth, editor of the community newspaper The Weekly Times, said it was the first time in 21 years that Howard had attended the festival. "He is opening things he has not done for years. He realises he is in a real fight," said Booth, who believes Howard will lose his seat. "The people I speak to, people who say they voted for him last time, say it is time for a change." Bennelong is named after one of the most notable Aborigines in Australian history, who was taken to England in 1792, and covers some of Sydney's more affluent, leafy northern suburbs. When Howard first won the seat it was a conservative, middle class electorate, but over the years it has changed in nature, expanding west to incorporate more working class Labor suburbs. The issues resonating in Bennelong are similar to those on the national campaign -- economic management, the Iraq war, climate change and new work place laws. But where Bennelong differs is with its Asian-Australian voters, some 12,000 Chinese and 5,000 Koreans. Immigration and Australia-Asia relations are important issues in the seat, where half the residents were either born overseas or their parents were. Bennelong's Asian voters remember 1988 anti-immigration comments by Howard when he was in opposition and his government's wooing of supporters of anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson at the 2001 election, said Koh. "Mr Howard has a long history of divide and rule ... and many people are suspicious," he said. In contrast, Booth said Labor has promoted its Asian credentials, wheeling out a former state politician and his Asian wife and leader Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat. Rudd's ability to conduct a fluent discussion with Chinese President Hu Jintao at a recent Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney apparently won him many fans in the city's Asian communities. "The Korean and Chinese vote is big enough to decide who wins, John Howard or Maxine McKew," said Koh.

Officials in New York City on Friday postponed a planned clean-up of the downtown Manhattan park where anti-Wall Street protesters set up camp a month ago, averting what many feared could have been a showdown with authorities. Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the private owner of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Office Properties, decided late on Thursday to delay the cleaning, which had been slated to begin at 7 a.m. EDT. He offered no reason for the delay. Protesters celebrated the postponement at the publicly accessible park, where the mood was festive. However, at least seven people were seen being arrested when several hundred people left the park and marched through the downtown financial district. A spokesman for the New York Police Department confirmed there were arrests but did not say how many or provide any details. Many protesters had feared the cleaning would be an attempt to shut down the movement that has sparked solidarity protests in more than 1,400 cities. There were plans for global rallies on Saturday in 71 countries, according to Occupy Together and United for Global Change. Protesters are upset that the billions of dollars in U.S. bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had scant relief from high unemployment and job insecurity. They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share in taxes. Roughly 1,000 protesters were on hand early on Friday at the New York park, where many had been up all night cleaning it themselves. Throughout the park, big buckets were filled with brooms and mops. Many protesters had packed up their belonging in preparation for the clean-up. "We clean up after ourselves. It's not like there's rats and roaches running around the park," said Bailey Bryant, 28, an employee at a Manhattan bank who visits the camp after work and on weekends. Some at the park feared a clean-up was still in the works as a ploy to evict them. "It's almost too good to be true," said Sofia Johnson, 17, a high school student from Brooklyn, of the postponed clean up. "I think it's still a possibility and in a climate like this, letting your guard down completely seems like a naive thing to do," she said. Brookfield has said conditions at the park were "unsanitary and unsafe," with no toilets and a shortage of garbage cans. Neighbors complained of lewdness, drug use, harassment and offensive odors from the protesters, Brookfield said. Brookfield did not immediately respond to calls for comment on Friday morning. CONSISTENT WITH PARK REGULATIONS Brookfield representatives, escorted by police, handed out notices to the protesters on Thursday to tell them that the park would be cleaned in three stages and would reopen for public use consistent with park regulations. But the rules ban camping, tents or other structures, lying down on the ground, placing tarps or sleeping bags on the ground, and the storage of personal property -- everything the protesters have been doing since they set up on September 17. In announcing the postponement, the deputy mayor said in a statement that Brookfield was "postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation." "Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation," he said. Hundreds of people have been arrested at rallies in New York, and dozens have been arrested in the past couple of weeks from Boston and Washington, D.C., to Chicago, Austin and San Francisco. Solidarity rallies have also sprung up at more than 140 U.S. college campuses in 25 states, according to Occupy Colleges.

The plan also calls for a new White House-coordinated "Environmental Justice Fund" that would focus on defending at-risk communities from environmental threats, including a nationwide lead remediation program to replace all lead water pipes for schools and residences. Booker's home of Newark, New Jersey, where he served as mayor for seven years, has been grappling with lead contamination in its water supply in recent weeks. "We are facing a dual crisis of climate change and economic inequality," Booker said. "Without immediate action, we risk an incredible human toll from disasters, health impacts, rising national security threats, and trillions of dollars in economic losses." Booker, 50, has lagged behind the front-runners, including former Vice President Joe Biden and fellow US senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He is among the 10 candidates – out of a field of 20 – who qualified for the third Democratic debate this month in Houston. The 10 candidates are also set to appear on Wednesday on CNN at back-to-back town halls focused on climate change. Along with several other candidates, Booker has previously supported the Green New Deal, a Democratic-backed congressional resolution that calls for net-zero emissions by 2030 but is more of a statement of ideals than a specific legislative plan. President Donald Trump, a Republican and climate change sceptic, has announced plans to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement that aims to limit global warming and has rolled back environmental regulations he says are bad for the economy. Booker said he would impose a carbon tax on natural gas, coal and oil producers and return some of the revenue to Americans via a monthly dividend, though his campaign did not offer specific figures. Several lawmakers from both parties have introduced versions of a fee-and-dividend system in Congress, though none of the bills appear likely to pass. The proposal includes several executive actions that Booker would take as president, including barring new offshore and onshore fossil fuel leases, requiring all new passenger vehicles be zero emission starting in 2030 and requiring fossil fuel companies to stop all methane leaks. Booker also offered legislative reforms that would face a tough road in Congress, such as ending all fossil fuel subsidies; investing billions of dollars in energy storage, clean energy and electric vehicles; phasing out fracking; and banning fossil fuel exports by 2030. In addition to lead remediation, the Environmental Justice Fund would clean up every abandoned coal, uranium and hard rock mine in the country, plant 100 million trees in urban areas and ensure all households have adequate plumbing, all moves Booker said would help low-income and minority communities that are hardest hit by environmental problems.

The United States, led by the unabashed nationalist Donald Trump, was ordering multinational companies to abandon China and make their goods in US factories. Britain was forsaking the European Union, almost certainly reviving customs checks on both sides of the English Channel, while threatening to disrupt a vital trading relationship. A surge of refugees fleeing some of the most dangerous places on earth — Syria, Afghanistan, Central America — had produced a backlash against immigration in many developed countries. In Europe, it elevated the stature of extreme right-wing parties that were winning votes with promises to slam the gates shut. Trump was pursuing the construction of a wall running along the border with Mexico, while seeking to bar Muslims from entering the country. The coronavirus that has seeped out of China, insinuating itself into at least 81 countries while killing more than 3,200 people, has effectively accelerated and intensified the pushback to global connection. It has sown chaos in the global supply chain that links factories across borders and oceans, enabling plants that produce finished products to draw parts, components and raw materials from around the world. Many companies are now seeking alternative suppliers in countries that appear less vulnerable to disruption. The epidemic has supplied Europe’s right-wing parties a fresh opportunity to sound the alarm about open borders. It has confined millions of people to their communities and even inside their homes, giving them time to ponder whether globalisation was really such a great idea. “It reinforces all the fears about open borders,” said Ian Goldin, a professor of globalisation and development at Oxford University and an author of a 2014 book that anticipated a backlash to liberalism via a pandemic, “The Butterfly Defect: How Globalisation Creates Systemic Risks, and What to Do About It.” “In North America and Europe, there is a recalibration, a wanting to engage on a more selective basis,” he said. By Goldin’s estimation, the coronavirus is merely the latest force to reveal the deficiencies of globalisation as it has been managed in recent decades — an underregulated, complacent form of interconnection that has left communities vulnerable to a potent array of threats. From the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 to climate change, ordinary people have concluded that authorities cannot be trusted to keep them secure. That has allowed politicians to attack legitimate problems with simplistic solutions, like trade protectionism and armoured borders. Now the coronavirus scare has aggravated the trend. “I don’t think any wall can be high enough to keep out a pandemic, or climate change, or any of the other big threats that face humanity in the future, so I think it’s counterproductive,” Goldin said. Globalisation is far from over. The commercial links that produce the goods of the modern age, from computers to automobiles, involve so many people coordinating so many processes that a purely localised form of industry now seems unimaginable on a mass scale. The coronavirus itself does not respect borders, requiring international coordination, a process facilitated by the infrastructure of globalisation. But as surgical masks become desperately desired items; as schools from Japan to Ireland sit closed; as airlines scrap flights; as trade shows are cancelled; and as stock markets plunge, annihilating trillions of dollars in wealth, the panic seems likely to alter the contours of globalisation. The most obvious impact is on trade. The epidemic has prompted a reexamination of the world’s central reliance on China as ground zero for manufacturing, a trend that was already underway via the trade war. In Trump’s depiction, any product made in a foreign country and then sold in the United States amounts to an instance of American workers getting fleeced. In that spirit, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods from China, promising that this would force companies — from clothing brands to gadget-makers — to bring production back to the United States. The trade war has failed to produce the promised jobs, instead yielding a manufacturing slowdown in the United States. Some multinational companies have moved factory production away from China, shifting work to Vietnam, Bangladesh and Mexico. Trump administration officials have taken the coronavirus outbreak as the impetus to reinforce their pressure on companies to leave China. “It will help accelerate the return of jobs to North America,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in late January. Last week, Trump’s senior trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who wrote a book called “Death by China,” used the coronavirus as a stark reminder that the United States had allowed too much factory production to leave its shores. “A lot of it’s in China,” he told Fox News. “We’ve got to get that back.” Many in the manufacturing world dismiss such talk as politics masquerading as economic policy. No matter what happens, Americans are unlikely to find themselves sitting in large numbers behind sewing machines stitching up clothing or hovering over assembly lines as they fit electronics into circuit boards. But a marginal shift of work from Chinese factories to those in other low-wage nations is likely to accelerate. “People have understood from the trade war that they cannot rely too much on China,” said Sebastien Breteau, chief executive of Qima, a Hong Kong-based company that inspects factories that make clothing, electronics and other goods for major international brands. Since the beginning of the year, he said, Qima’s inspections have increased by roughly half in both Vietnam and Bangladesh. The outbreak has brought into sharp relief that the world’s factories and retail operations have become so dependent on China that a crisis there can swiftly turn into trouble nearly everywhere. Economists broadly assume that shortages of parts will crop up in coming weeks and months, after inventories are exhausted. FILE -- A Hyundai dealership in Seongnam, South Korea, Feb. 6, 2020. Hyundai, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, halted production at its factories in South Korea last month because of a shortage of parts made in China. (Jean Chung/The New York Times) Manufacturers in India and Japan rely on China for 60% of their imported electronics components, according to Fitch Ratings. US manufacturers buy roughly half their imported electronics parts from China. FILE -- A Hyundai dealership in Seongnam, South Korea, Feb. 6, 2020. Hyundai, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, halted production at its factories in South Korea last month because of a shortage of parts made in China. (Jean Chung/The New York Times) Hyundai, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, halted production at its factories in South Korea last month because of a shortage of parts made in China. Nissan cited parts shortages in ceasing production in Japan. Nintendo faces delays in delivering its popular gaming console, the Switch, to customers in the United States and Europe because a factory that makes the devices in Vietnam has been unable to secure critical parts from China. In Italy, local authorities quarantined industrial communities south of Milan as the coronavirus spread there late last month, threatening to amplify troubles for the global supply chain. Italy is a major supplier of auto parts, meaning that disruption in its factories is likely to be felt in Germany and the rest of Europe. But the moral of this story, economists said, is not that globalisation is inherently dangerous: It is that market forces left unsupervised pose perils. Part of the world’s vulnerability to supply chain disruption stems from the excessive embrace of the so-called just-in-time mode of manufacturing: Rather than keep warehouses stocked with needed parts, ensuring that they are on hand come what may, the modern factory uses the web to order parts as the need arises, while relying on global air and shipping networks to deliver them on a timeline synchronised with production. Just as the financial crisis demonstrated that banks were lending mind-bending sums of money without leaving enough in reserve to cover bad debts, the coronavirus has underscored how global manufacturing has been running too lean, operating in disregard of risks like earthquakes, epidemics and other disasters. That state of play is the direct result of the supremacy of shareholder interests in the global economy, with whatever yields short-term profits generally pushing aside prudent considerations about longer-term risks. “It costs to have a stock,” said Goldin, the Oxford expert. “You have the pressure of the market and quarterly reporting, and analysts are breathing down your neck. You can’t say, ‘Well, we have lower profits but more resilience.’” In the political realm, the coronavirus has handed those who denounce immigration putative evidence for their warnings. The impact is especially palpable within the 27 countries of the EU, which has long been governed by a central belief that economies and societies are most dynamic when people and goods are able to move freely across borders. The arrival of millions of migrants in recent years has tested that thinking. Extreme right-wing parties emerged from the political wilderness to achieve mainstream status with promises that they would seal borders. The Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement; Alternative for Germany, whose followers have revived the language of Hitler; and France’s National Front have all prospered. In Italy, the League — whose leader, Matteo Salvini, has said immigration is an attempt at the “ethnic cleansing” of Italians — has attacked the country’s government for failing to bolster the borders in the face of the epidemic. But if some are inclined to use the coronavirus as an opportunity to write globalisation’s obituary, others said that misses the point of an outbreak born in a global manufacturing hub, propelled by modern air travel and spread by the irrepressible human impulse to move around. “This is just an indication that globalisation is what it is,” said Maria Demertzis, an economist and deputy director at Bruegel, a research institution in Brussels. “People will always want to travel. They will always want to trade. The answer is not to again build walls. You need more cooperation and clear information.” c.2020 The New York Times Company

"People here suffer from respiratory and health problems," he said. "At night, noise and shaking caused by the local power plant disturb people's sleep." Narayanganj city - a major industrial hub just to the south of Dhaka that produces most of the country's knitwear exports - has the third-worst air quality in Bangladesh, according to a survey last year by Stamford University. Manufacturing and construction, meanwhile, account for 58% of the city's planet-warming emissions, showed an assessment by the South Asia branch of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, an international body that helps cities with green policies. Major sources of pollution include the city's seven cement factories, 70 to 80 illegal brick kilns and a number of steel mills, said Moinul Islam, town planner for Narayanganj City Corporation. Narayanganj Mayor Salina Hayat Ivy, the first woman to head a city corporation in Bangladesh, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation she had asked cement and lime factories to relocate away from residential neighbourhoods. In April, the city corporation approved an action plan for low-carbon, climate-resilient development, supported by ICLEI, making Narayanganj the first Bangladeshi city to adopt such a plan, said Jubaer Rashid, Bangladesh representative for ICLEI South Asia. “We assessed the vulnerability of the climate-impacted urban systems like energy, water supply, waste management and so on, and came up with realistic recommendations for the city to implement,” he said. The city administration has already set up air-quality monitoring systems with help from ICLEI to detect and measure polluting gases like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, as well as particulate matter, with real-time data displayed on public screens. ICLEI has also encouraged renewable energy adoption in the city and has set up rooftop solar power systems at some public facilities including a public library and a hospital. But cities have limited authority over policies and actions to tackle climate change in Bangladesh, where central government agencies are charged with delivering public services nationwide. Municipalities need backing from central government to roll out their plans, said Rafiur Rabbi, leader of the Citizens’ Committee, a local movement working on social and environmental issues. The Department of Environment, for instance, enforces regulations on emissions and effluent management, while district deputy commissioners allocate land to factories. WATER WORKS Narayanganj industrialised rapidly in the last 100 years owing to its strategic location on the 113 km-long Shitalakhya River, which meets the Dhaleshwari River near the city, according to local journalist Golam Rabbani. Jute, hosiery and garment industries developed in the city as the goods could be transported along the Shitalakhya. In addition, Narayanganj has more than two dozen canals for water transport and stormwater drainage to prevent flooding. But in recent decades, there has been sustained encroachment on the river and canals, hampering run-off of stormwater and causing water-logging in some areas, said activist Rabbi. The city corporation has been working to restore 26 canals in phases, which is expected to stop bad odours, boost vegetation and enable inhabitants to get around more easily. “Water bodies also reduce the heat island effects in urban areas through evaporation,” said environmental engineer Dipak Bhowmick, ICLEI’s project officer in Narayanganj. The Shitalakhya, however, has been damaged by dumping of untreated industrial effluents and municipal waste in its water, decimating biodiversity and making it “biologically almost dead”, said journalist Rabbani. This has hurt local people too. Manoranjan Goswami, 73, a leader of the fisher community in eastern Narayanganj, lamented the loss of fish and erosion of traditional livelihoods. "There are around 100 fisherman families here, but the fish stock in the river is mostly gone," he said. Smaller businesses usually lack funding to install and operate effluent treatment plants, said activist Rabbi, urging the government to set up central treatment plants to serve industry clusters. The city corporation is working to build eco-parks - ecological zones including forests, wetlands and recreational green spaces - along the banks of the main river and canals to protect water bodies and address climate change, said Mayor Ivy. Reducing river and canal pollution could also help ease growing pressure on underground aquifers as residents sink tube wells to extract clean water for their own use, she added. MIGRANTS OVERLOOKED Mohammad Babul Hossain, 60, moved to the city from Chandpur several years ago, and has worked as a taxi and rickshaw driver in Narayanganj - a place he prefers as "there is too much hurly-burly and trouble over there in Dhaka". At least three-quarters of Narayanganj's roughly 2.5 million-strong population are migrants from across Bangladesh. As one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, Bangladesh could see its internal climate migrants top 13 million by 2050, according to a 2018 World Bank report. Boatmen like Mansur Gazi, 48, and Mahadeb, 45, who also left their flood-prone riverine district of Chandpur for Narayanganj, ferry people across the Shitalakhya for a few cents a journey. Most of the manual and electric rickshaws that serve as popular transport in the city are also driven by migrants. But their presence can cause social tensions, as “newcomers often settle down as roadside hawkers, causing congestion”, noted Rabbi. Despite growing migration, Narayanganj - like the vast majority of cities - lacks a formal strategy to deal with the challenges, while migration as a way of adapting to climate change pressures is not included in its ICLEI-backed climate action plan. FUNDING SHORTFALL Insufficient finance is the key constraint to Narayanganj's efforts to pursue a climate-smart development model, said Mayor Ivy. The city corporation's annual budget for 2021-22 is about $80 million, while in Rajshahi - which has less than half the population but is the main city of its administrative division northwest of Dhaka - it is more than $120 million. “We need a larger budget,” said Ivy, noting Narayanganj's outsized contribution to the national economy. ICLEI is working closely with the city corporation to formulate project proposals that include climate concerns and pitch them to global development organisations for funding, said ICLEI South Asia project officer Bhowmick. The World Bank, Japanese government and Asian Development Bank are among those that have funded projects in the city. Town planner Islam urged other government organisations working there, such as the Department of Environment and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, to coordinate their activities with the city's sustainable development aims. ICLEI country head Rashid said Narayanganj would serve as a pilot for low-emissions urban development in Bangladesh. Rajshahi is the second city to approve and start implementing a climate action plan, but there are no others as yet, he noted. The southwestern port city of Mongla, meanwhile, has made some progress, with Bangladeshi organisations helping it craft a strategy for infrastructure to prevent flooding, as well as opportunities for climate migrants. "The example of Narayanganj will demonstrate how local governments could play a role in realising the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change," Rashid said. (Editing by Megan Rowling)

But behind the scenes at the annual gathering of some of the world’s leading industrial powers, President Donald Trump still found himself at odds with his counterparts Sunday over issues like trade, climate change, North Korea, Russia and Iran. Ever so gingerly, as if determined not to rouse the American’s well-known temper, the other Group of 7 leaders sought to nudge him toward their views on the pressing issues of the day, or at least register their differences — while making sure to wrap them in a French crepe of flattery, as they know he prefers. It was far from clear the messages were received, or in any case at least welcome. Like other presidents, and perhaps even more so, Trump tends to hear what he wants to hear at settings like this, either tuning out contrary voices or disregarding them. Through hard experience, other leaders have concluded that direct confrontation can backfire, so they have taken to soft-pedalling disagreements. Even Trump favourites like Boris Johnson, the populist new prime minister of Britain, tread carefully. On Sunday, Johnson expressed qualms about Trump’s trade war with China, but appeared to take pains not to offend the easily offended president. As the two met for the first time since the new prime minister’s installation a month ago, Trump said none of the other leaders in Biarritz had expressed concern about his guns-blazing trade war. “No, not at all,” he said. “I haven’t heard that at all, no. I think they respect the trade war.” He added: “The answer is, nobody has told me that, and nobody would tell me that.” But Johnson proceeded to tell him exactly that, while characterising it oh-so-deferentially as a “faint, sheeplike” dissent. “We’re in favour of trade peace on the whole, and dialling it down if we can,” the prime minister said. For his part, Trump largely stuck to diplomatic niceties, refraining from hate-tweeting his colleagues and leaving aside his caustic complaints about their military spending, economic policies or even French wine. He did not repeat his aides’ criticism of France for focusing the meeting on “niche issues” like climate change and African development rather than the global economy. While the president relishes confrontation, he tends to avoid conflict in person, saving his vitriol for long-distance social media blasts. No one can say how the remainder of the meetings will go, or what will happen after he leaves. But everyone seemed determined to avoid the sort of blowup that marred last year’s G7 meeting in Canada, when a stormy Trump refused to sign the final communiqué and lashed out at the host, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Thus far, this has been really a great G7,” Trump gushed Sunday, “and I want to congratulate France and your president because they have really done a great job.” The lunch he had with President Emmanuel Macron was “the best hour and a half I’ve ever spent with him,” he said, and the dinner Saturday with the other leaders “was fantastic.” And Prime Minister Johnson, he said, was “the right man for the job.” Still, even by Trump’s own account, the dinner did include a “lively” discussion about his desire to invite Russia to return five years after it was expelled from what was then called the Group of 8 for annexing Crimea through force of arms. The other leaders have rejected doing so until Russia reverses its intervention in Ukraine, saying it would reward aggression. As host of next year’s G7 meeting, to be held in the United States, Trump could theoretically invite Russia to attend as an observer, but he said he had not made up his mind about that yet. “I think it’s advantageous,” he said. “I think it’s a positive. Other people agree with me, and some people don’t necessarily agree.” The dinner discussion Saturday night also focused on Iran, an issue on which Trump broke with US allies by abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. Macron, who has tried to resolve the dispute, emerged thinking he had a consensus to convey to Iran: that the leaders agreed it should not have a nuclear weapon or destabilise the region. But when Trump was asked about that Sunday, he looked blank, as if he did not recall such a conversation. “No, I haven’t discussed that,” he said. Within hours, the Iranian foreign minister was making a surprise visit to Biarritz, invited by Macron, while US officials maintained a grim silence. The president likewise found himself striking a different note than Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan regarding the recent string of short-range missile tests by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Trump brushed them off, saying that while he was “not happy” about them, “he’s not in violation of an agreement.” By that, Trump meant that Kim had not violated the understanding the two leaders had when they first met a year ago in Singapore that North Korea would not test long-range ballistic missiles or nuclear explosives. But while Trump may not care about short-range missiles, Abe does, since they can easily reach Japan. He pointed out that the recent round of tests “clearly violates the relevant UN Security Council resolutions” and called them “extremely regrettable.” Still, as the two agreed on principles for a new trade pact, Abe, too, sought to avert a rupture with Trump. “I would like to make sure that we — meaning, myself and President Trump — will always stay on the same page when it comes to North Korea,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re always on the same page,” Trump agreed. In his inaugural encounter with Trump as peers, Johnson demonstrated that he had learned from the difficulties his predecessor had with the American president. Even as he spoke out on the trade wars, Johnson was careful to first heap praise on Trump. “Look, I just want to say I congratulate the president on everything that the American economy is achieving,” Johnson said. “It’s fantastic to see that.” Having dispensed with the compliments, he noted his country’s experience on trade. “The UK has profited massively in the last 200 years from free trade and that’s what we want to see,” Johnson said. “We don’t like tariffs on the whole.” Trump took it in stride, but could not restrain himself entirely from poking back. “How about the last three years?” he said, challenging Johnson with a smile and referring to Britain’s anemic economy of late. “Don’t talk about the last three. Two hundred, I agree with you.” Johnson laughed and left it at that. Any further disagreement would wait until the cameras left the room. © 2019 The New York Times Company

From banana imports to rules for protecting the product names, officials and diplomats were working on Friday on a range of issues ahead of next week's make-or-break ministerial trade negotiations. But trade experts said the significance of next week's Doha round talks goes far beyond the detail of tariff and subsidy cuts, signaling the international community's ability to deal with major problems such as the food crisis. "If governments can't even agree on a trade negotiation I'd like to know what they're going to do in climate change over the next half a decade," World Trade Organisation Chief Economist Patrick Low told a briefing. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called the Geneva meeting, which starts formally on Monday and is set to last a week, to push for a breakthrough in the long-running Doha round. The talks have missed repeated deadlines since they were launched in late 2001 to open up world trade and help developing countries export their way out of poverty. But negotiators say there is a new sense of urgency, and even optimism, now. Ministers from about 30 countries aim to clinch the outlines of a deal in the core areas of agriculture and industrial goods next week, to prevent the talks being sidelined by U.S. elections and next year's change in the White House. Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, arriving late on Thursday for talks ahead of the meeting, said any deal had to address the challenges of three "F's" -- finance, food and fuel. "These three "F's" are the backdrop against which these negotiations are being held," he told reporters. OUTLINES OF A DEAL World leaders from U.S. President George W. Bush to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have called for a deal. A deal will see rich countries like the United States, Japan and EU members open up their markets for food by cutting farm tariffs and subsidies. In return tariff cuts in big emerging countries like India and Brazil will give them more access to markets for industrial goods and services. Once ministers agree the terms of that framework, negotiators will apply the details in the coming months to thousands of tariff lines, and turn to other areas, from fisheries subsidies to rules for unfairly priced imports. The question now is whether ministers can overcome the differences that divide developed and developing countries. France, the European Union's biggest food producer and current holder of its presidency, said the EU had exhausted its scope for concessions in agriculture. "We have a shared objective, to achieve a rebalancing of the concessions the EU has already made," French Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Idrac told a news conference in Brussels. EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said he felt EU governments had strengthened his hand in pressing for more concessions from others in the WTO talks. In the WTO's consensus-driven system each of the 152 members -- rising to 153 next week when Cape Verde joins -- has a veto. Poor countries, pointing to the Doha round's development mandate, say they should have to open their markets less than rich countries. Instead they are being asked to expose subsistence farmers and infant industries to competition while rich countries continue to protect their farmers. Rich countries say they cannot sell a deal at home involving big sacrifices in farm protection unless they can point to real gains in market access in countries such as India and China. And they say some of the biggest gains would come in South- South trade -- developing countries trading with each other. The conventional wisdom, repeated this week in a WTO report on globalization, is that free trade increases prosperity. It creates both winners and losers, but nations as a whole benefit. Many non-governmental organizations challenge that view, arguing that the current Doha proposals will expose poor-country farmers and workers to more poverty, and lock developing countries into dependence on the rich. "It flies in the face of what is being proposed by communities and social movements and takes away the space needed for developing countries to put in place the measures to deal with the crisis," Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based thinktank, told a briefing. But Lamy, an austere Frenchman and former EU trade chief, argues forcefully for the potential of a Doha deal to reduce distortions in the world trading system to benefit poor countries. In the long term that would boost food supplies, and in the short term it would boost confidence, he says. "What we can do is give one of the rare signals that there's a bit of good news in the system. I don't see any other front where this is available," he said.

Asian leaders were meeting in Singapore on Wednesday to discuss free trade, financial market stability and cutting greenhouse gases, after a Southeast Asian summit overshadowed by controversy over Myanmar. The Association of South East Asian Nations, which signed a landmark charter on Tuesday aiming for economic integration, is meeting leaders from Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand in the annual "ASEAN+6" meeting. ASEAN is negotiating free trade with all of them, with a China-ASEAN deal seen as the most advanced and possible by 2010. An agreement with India has stalled over agricultural tariffs, and potential deals with the United States and EU are off since both have sanctions on Myanmar. "The agreement with China is the most advanced and nearing completion," said Rodolfo Severino, visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Secretary-General of ASEAN from 1998-2002. "The one with Australia and New Zealand is one of the most beneficial, since it includes technical assistance." Greenhouse gas emissions will be a hot topic. Japan will present a proposal to cut emissions and give incentives to developing nation polluters such as China, a move analysts say could complement the United Nations Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plans to pledge more than $1.8 billion in loans for environmental projects in Asia during the meeting, Japanese media have said, to finance projects such as sewage disposal and scrubbing of sulphur dioxide from power plant chimneys. Analysts say Japan is trying to form an Asian consensus that would be the basis for its negotiating position at UN climate talks in Indonesia next month that aim to find a successor to Kyoto, whose current targets to cut emissions end in 2012 and do not include the US or China. "Other countries import a lot of products from China so the notion is that they should be responsible for some of the emissions made by China," said Yonghun Jung of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre in Tokyo. FUKUDA'S DEBUT Japan, as host to next year's Group of Eight summit, where global warming is expected to be a top agenda item, is keen to be seen taking leadership on environmental issues. But Japan, the world's fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter and the only country in Asia with a Kyoto Protocol target, is itself still far from hitting its goal. Japan's prime minister on Tuesday promised he would visit China as soon as possible, in a symbol of warming ties, but the leaders of both countries side-stepped issues that could undermine relations. Yasuo Fukuda, making his Asian diplomacy debut after taking office in September, held his first summit with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Singapore on Tuesday. The moves for closer ties are in stark contrast to relations under former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who only met Chinese and South Korean leaders occasionally. The UN envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was planning to brief the East Asia summit on the situation in Myanmar, but some ASEAN members opposed that and he has ended up talking to individual delegations instead. The new ASEAN charter calls for human rights and democracy, but offers little in the way of enforcement measures. The document underlines the primacy of ASEAN's longstanding policy of non-interference in each other's internal affairs. The charter sets up ASEAN as a legal entity that can enter into legally enforceable agreements with other countries and blocs. It also sets out an an economic blueprint that includes timetables for trade reform, but does not include a customs union, a free trade area with a common external tariff, which businesses would have preferred.

Maibam Sharat was second in a line of six friends, walking past a security post with his hands up in the air as ordered by Indian troops, when he says a soldier stepped out of an armoured car and opened fire. He doesn't know how long the shooting lasted but when it stopped he found his friend Ranbir, who was walking in front of him, bleeding from the stomach. The troops, there to fight separatist militants in India's remote northeastern state of Manipur, moved him to their camp instead of getting medical help. When they gave in to pressure from locals and took him to hospital, it was four hours too late -- the farmer had taken seven bullets and lost too much blood to make it. "Maybe they were just venting their frustration and anger after their colleagues close by had come under attack from militants earlier in the evening," said Sharat, a driver from the hamlet of Nongpok Semai. Human rights groups and political parties say Ranbir's killing was the latest in a long list of abuses by the military in insurgency-torn Manipur, abuses committed under the protection of a draconian federal anti-terror law. That law, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA, gives soldiers virtual immunity from prosecution, and has taken centre stage as the state of 2.6 million people begins voting this week in a three-stage poll to elect a new legislature. Most parties seem to agree that the law, which only applies to parts of India's northeast and to Kashmir in the northwest, should either be repealed or drastically changed. "If we come to power, we will ensure AFSPA is repealed in the very first session of the new legislature," said Sovakiran Singh, legislator from the Heirok constituency to which Nongpok Sekmai belongs. In theory New Delhi could overrule the state government and reimpose the law. But Singh hopes it will respond to the pressure from Manipur, where 20,000 people have died in a separatist rebellion since the 1960s. AFSPA gives troops sweeping powers to search, arrest and kill suspected militants even when they face no imminent threat. Troops can only be prosecuted with central government permission, -- and that rarely comes. The 1958 law was introduced to combat armed separatist militancy in northeast India, and the army says it offers them vital protection from politically motivated charges. Rights groups say the powers it grants have fostered a climate where security forces commit rights abuses with impunity, including torture, rape and murder. That, they say, has only fuelled more anger and created more insurgents. "AFSPA is the product of the gross paranoia of the state," said Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of the Imphal Free Press daily. A top official of the Border Security Force, whose men were involved in the Nongpok Sekmai shooting, said the soldiers were retaliating against fire from militants. But hardly anyone in the hamlet believes him. Manipur is one of India's most troubled regions, 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from New Delhi but far from the nation's consciousness. Soldiers are everywhere. The state has gone up in flames several times in the last five years when soldiers were accused of killing innocents and people took to the streets in anger. Despite the protests, extra-judicial killings saw a "slight increase" last year, with 18 documented cases, says Babloo Loitongbam, director of Manipur's Human Rights Alert. Phanjoubam and Loitongbam say New Delhi should be pushing for a political not a military solution to the insurgency in Manipur, to bring development to one of India's most backward states. But whether political parties here will be able to create genuine pressure for change remains to be seen. India's ruling Congress party, which has also been in power in Manipur since 2002, has dilly-dallied on AFSPA. Party chief Sonia Gandhi told Manipuris this week that New Delhi was "seriously and genuinely" looking into the report of an expert panel which is said to have recommended changes to the law 18 months ago. But many Manipuris remain sceptical of change.

The European Commission will ask Finland to increase its renewable energy output by around a third to 38 percent in draft proposals to be unveiled next week, Finnish public broadcaster YLE said on Saturday. The Commission is due to spell out on Wednesday how it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change, share out the burden of cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) and increase the use of renewable energy sources. "According to information obtained by YLE from sources at the negotiations, Finland should produce 38 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2020," YLE said. The commission is also set to propose Finland cut its CO2 emissions from transport and agriculture by 16 percent compared to levels in 2005. YLE said the figures were draft numbers that were still under discussion. YLE quoted Finland's energy minister Mauri Pekkarinen as saying Finland could live with the numbers, but last week the minister said in a speech the EU targets were too ambitious. The Finnish news agency STT, citing unofficial information, said the Commission would ask Sweden -- the EU's best renewable energy performer -- to increase to 50 percent from 39.8 percent the proportion of its energy produced from renewable sources. EU leaders agreed last March to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in 2020 from 1990 levels, as well as use renewable sources for 20 percent of power production and biofuels for 10 percent of transport fuel by the same date.

When Hillary Clinton made her first trip abroad as secretary of state, she baldly said the United States could not let human rights disputes get in the way of working with China on global challenges. Now that the blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is under US protection in Beijing, according to a US-based rights group, the United States will find out if China has made the same calculation. Chen's escape after 19 months of house arrest and apparent request for US protection comes at a vexing time for both countries, with diplomats preparing for annual economic and security talks in Beijing this week, and with China's Communist Party trying to contain a divisive political scandal involving a former senior official, Bo Xilai. Assuming it has Chen, it is inconceivable that the United States would turn him over to the Chinese authorities against his wishes, said current and former US officials. That leaves China with a choice - let the broader relationship suffer in a standoff with the United States, or seek a compromise, a scenario analysts, current and former officials saw as probable though by no means certain. "I can't imagine they will tank the relationship," said a senior Obama administration official who spoke on condition that he not be identified. "This isn't the same as a spy plane incident or Tiananmen Square. I do think they will try to manage it." In 2001, relations between Beijing and Washington suffered a plunge after a collision between a Chinese fighter jet and US surveillance plane. The Tiananmen Square incident of 1989, when Chinese troops crushed pro-democracy protesters who had made the square their base, brought ties with Washington to an even deeper nadir. AWKWARD TIMING As of Sunday, the United States has not publicly confirmed reports that Chen fled from house arrest in his village home in Shandong province into the US embassy. China has also declined direct comment on the dissident's reported escape from his carefully watched home. But Texas-based ChinaAid said it "learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation that Chen is under US protection and high level talks are currently under way between US and Chinese officials regarding Chen's status." The incident will form an unwelcome backdrop for the visit of the US secretaries of state and treasury to Beijing for their Strategic and Economic Dialogue on Thursday and Friday. The reports of Chen's escape also come nearly three months after a Chinese official Wang Lijun fled into the US consulate in Chengdu for over 24 hours, unleashing the Bo Xilai scandal that has rattled the ruling Communist Party months before a once-in-a-decade leadership handover. Chris Johnson, until earlier this month the CIA's top China analyst, said Sino-US relations were "almost approaching a perfect storm," citing the Bo Xilai case, Chen's apparent escape and reports that the United States is considering selling Taiwan new F-16s in addition to upgrading its existing fleet. "For the conspiracy-minded in Beijing, and there are plenty of them, they will see these things as completing the circle of a US containment strategy designed to stifle China's rise," said Johnson, now a Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst. How China's leadership will try to resolve the problem hinges on the balance between such nationalist sentiments and a more pragmatic desire to avoid further disruptions to the Chinese communist party leadership succession this autumn. For now, the scale tips toward a quick, quiet resolution, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing who specializes in US-China ties. "China does not want to allow this case to have a lot of influence because it is not good for its foreign relations or its domestic politics," said Shi, adding that the countries have too much at stake to cancel this week's meetings. "I don't think the United States will play this card to embarrass China. They still want to influence China on North Korea and Syria. They want to limit this case's impact because they know it is already embarrassing for China." The US and China have found ways to disentangle knotty problems in the past. On April 1, 2001, a mid-air collision between a US Navy EP-3 signals intelligence plane and a Chinese fighter about 70 miles off Hainan island killed a Chinese pilot and forced the US aircraft to make an emergency landing on Hainan. The 24 US crew-members were detained until April 11, and released after a the United States wrote a letter saying that it was "very sorry" for the death of the Chinese pilot and that the EP-3 entered China's airspace the landed without clearance. NO HANDOVER In February 2009, Clinton said that while the United States would keep pushing China on Taiwan, Tibet and human rights, "our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises." Despite the suggestion that human rights might take a back seat, analysts said it was impossible - for reasons of principle and politics - for the United States to sacrifice Chen. "It's inconceivable that they would hand him over against his will," said Tom Malinowski, who worked in US President Bill Clinton's White House and is now Washington director for the Human Rights Watch advocacy group. "Most people in the administration would recognize that that would be completely wrong," he said. "I don't think you even have to get to the politics of it - but if you do get to the politics of it, that is another argument against it." Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has already accused Obama of being weak on China, an attack that would only intensify if the Democratic president were seen to abandon Chen. Analysts and rights activists sketched out two possible scenarios for resolving Chen's case. Under the first, Chen might be released inside China with guarantees about his own safety as well as that of his family and perhaps those who helped him to escape. Under the second, he would go into exile despite what his associates describe as his reluctance to leave China. "We would not force him out without being very, very confident that he would not suffer for his actions, and it's very hard to be confident about that if he remains in China," said Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. "You never know what happens here, but the odds are sooner or later he will be escorted to the airport with assurances that he will be able to get on a plane and leave," he added. "He will not get back into China - probably never - certainly not anytime soon."

Bill and Melinda Gates said on Friday they would spend $10 billion over the next decade to develop and deliver vaccines, an increased commitment that reflects progress in the pipeline of products for immunising children in the developing world. Over the past 10 years, the Microsoft co-founder's charity has committed $4.5 billion to vaccines and has been instrumental in establishing the GAVI alliance, a public-private partnership that channels money for vaccines in poor countries. By increasing immunisation coverage in developing countries to 90 percent, it should be possible to prevent the deaths of 7.6 million children under five between 2010 and 2019, Gates told reporters at the World Economic Forum. Vaccination rates have already climbed remarkably in recent years, with even a poor African country like Malawi now boasting coverage rates similar to those in many Western cities. "Over the last 10 years, the success of both increased vaccine coverage and getting new vaccines out has been phenomenal," Gates said. More cash is now needed to make the most of new vaccines becoming available, including ones against severe diarrhoea and pneumonia from GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Pfizer. Further off, Glaxo is also in the final phase of testing a vaccine against malaria that Gates said could slash deaths from the mosquito-borne disease. Gates warned against the risk of governments diverting foreign aid funding for health towards climate change, arguing that health should stay a top priority -- not least because better health leads to a lower birth rate, which is critical for tackling global warming.

SYDNEY, Dec 24(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - An ancient underground water basin the size of Libya holds the key to Australia avoiding a water crisis as climate change bites the drought-hit nation. Australia's Great Artesian Basin is one of the largest artesian groundwater basins in the world, covering 1.7 million sq km and lying beneath one-fifth of Australia. The basin holds 65 million gigalitres of water, about 820 times the amount of surface water in Australia, and enough to cover the Earth's land mass under half a metre of water, says the Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee. And it is slowly topped up with 1 million megalitres a year as rain filters through porous sandstone rock, becoming trapped in the underground basin. "There is probably enough water in there to last Australia's needs for 1,500 years, if we wanted to use it all," says John Hillier, a hydrogeologist who has just completed the Great Artesian Basin Resource Study. But he and other experts warn that access to the basin's water supply is under threat from declining artesian pressure, which forces the water to the surface via bores and springs. If artesian pressure falls too far, due to excessive extraction of water, the ancient water source will be unreachable, except through costly pumping. Lying as much as two km below ground, some parts of the basin are 3 km deep from top to bottom. The basin was formed between 100 and 250 million years ago and consists of alternating layers of waterbearing sandstone aquifers and non-waterbearing siltstones and mudstones. Basin water is extracted through bores and is the only source of water for mining, tourism and grazing in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia states, and the Northern Territory. The underground water spawns A$3.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) worth of production a year from farming, mining and tourism, says the Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee. The mining and petroleum industry extracts 31,000 megalitres of basin water a year, which is used in production or pumped out as a by-product of mining, and is vital for future expansion. Mining giant BHP-Billiton draws about 11,680 megalitres a year from the basin to operate its Olympic Dam gold, copper and uranium mine in South Australia. It would treble water usage under a plan to double production, with the extra water drawn from the basin and a new desalination plant. Swiss-based miner Xstrata Plc is looking at the basin as a water source for what would be Australia's biggest open cut thermal coal mine, at Wandoan in Queensland, which would supply 20 million tonnes a year, with a mine life of 30 years. But the pastoral industry is by far the biggest user, taking 500,000 megalitres a year to water some of Australia's most productive farmlands. Angus Emmott runs a cattle property called Moonbah in central Queensland and relies on basin water in times of drought. "The bores underpin the social and economic value of this huge inland area of Australia where there wasn't permanent fresh water," said Emmott. "With climate change, we will be more reliant on the Great Artesian Basin, so we're morally obliged to make the best use of that water...so we don't waste it." BASIN WATER THREATENED Since it was first tapped in 1878, an estimated 87 million megalitres has been extracted and up to 90 percent of it wasted. As a result of falling water pressure, more than 1,000 natural springs have been lost and one-third of the original artesian bores have ceased flowing. The extraction of ancient basin water into the atmosphere also contributes to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 330,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. A 15-year Great Artesian Basin Sustainability project started in 1990 aims to protect the water supply and the hydraulic pressure necessary to access it. Today, there are still some 3,000 bores which pour water into 34,000 km of open bore drains, with 90 percent of the water evaporating in the outback heat. But more than 1,052 bores have now been controlled and tens of thousands of kilometres of open drains removed and pipelines laid, saving 272 gigalitres of water a year. Farmers are now fencing off bores and using mobile telephone, satellite and computer imaging technology to control livestock access to bores and control bore flows. "Bores and springs that had previously ceased to flow have begun to flow again. It's a huge change to land management and has allowed better pasture and stock management," said Emmott. "With the capping and piping programme you don't get the bogging of domestic animals, you don't get the maintenance cost of drains and you don't get soil salination," he said. SUSTAINABLE USAGE Farmers and scientists say it is crucial that more work is done to avoid a water crisis in the Great Artesian Basin as there will be greater demand on basin water in the future. "It is absolutely crucial for the existence of communities that it is looked after," said Emmott. "We realise there is a lot there, but we need to look after it very carefully because it needs such a huge time for recharge that if we lose it now it will not recharge in human lifetimes." A A$17 million long-term sustainability report on the Great Artesian Basin announced this month will look at how to ensure water for future mining, pastoral and environmental development. The global commodities boom in recent years has seen mining activity over the basin increase dramatically and authorities expect the mining industry's extraction will continue to rise. "An expansion in exploration and mining activities in the area will place increased demands on securing groundwater allocations for economic development," said Andy Love, from Flinders University in Adelaide, who will lead the study. "Clearly a balance between development and environmental protection needs to be achieved. However, this is not possible without increased knowledge about the amount of groundwater that can be safely extracted," said Love.

Christian Chapman, 41, compared his feelings during Better.com’s orientation to the head rush of a new relationship. The perks were bountiful, the mission was sound and Chapman, a mortgage underwriting trainer, fell fast and hard. “LGTM!” he and his teammates cheered, which stood for “Let’s Get That Money.” Soon, though, there were red flags. Most notable was a video call last summer when Vishal Garg, the company’s chief executive, unleashed an expletive-laden monologue about beating the competition, prompting Chapman to hit mute and usher his young daughter out of the room. Then, last month, Garg summoned 900 Better.com employees, including Chapman, roughly 9% of his staff, and fired them in a Zoom call that was recorded and shared online. Garg later apologised, but just over one week afterward, the company’s board announced that the founder and chief executive was “taking time off” from his role. For almost two years, couches have been offices. Colleagues are instant message avatars. And a workforce that had shocking changes imposed on it has reconsidered its basic assumptions about how people treat one another in corporate life. “The tolerance for dealing with jerky bosses has decreased,” observed Angelina Darrisaw, chief executive of the firm C-Suite Coach, who saw a spike of interest in her executive coaching services last year. “You can’t just wake up and lead people,” she added. “Companies are thinking about how do we make sure our managers are actually equipped to manage.” The scrutiny of workplace behaviour comes after several years of high-profile conversation about appropriate office conduct. The #MeToo movement propelled dozens of executives to step down after accusations of sexual assault. The Black Lives Matter protests after the killing of George Floyd prompted corporate leaders to issue apologies for past discriminatory behaviours and the lack of racial diversity in their workforces and to pledge to make amends. And increasingly, as people’s work routines have been upended by the pandemic, they’ve begun to question the thrum of unpleasantness and accumulation of indignities they used to shrug off as part of the office deal. Some are saying: No more working for jerks. But it is not illegal to be a jerk, which introduces a hiccup into that mean-colleague reckoning. The definition of a bully is often in the eye of the coffee-fetcher. The pop culture archetype of recent years is the ice queen with standards higher than her stiletto heels, Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly (a thinly veiled Anna Wintour) in “The Devil Wears Prada.” The sort of boss who might ask, of an assistant: “Is there some reason that my coffee isn’t here? Has she died or something?” In real life, jerk behaviour exists on a spectrum of cringe. There is the founder, whose vision and ambition can make it difficult for staff to question his temper — such as Garg, who accused the employees he fired of “stealing” from the company by putting in too few hours. (In response to requests for comment, Better.com pointed to Garg’s early December apology for the way he had executed the layoffs.) There’s the example of Hollywood mogul Scott Rudin, who made critically acclaimed art, and also threw staplers at underlings. (He later apologised.) There’s millennial hustle culture unhinged: Away’s former chief executive, Steph Korey, who demanded loyalty and Slack activity at all hours of the day and night. “I hope everyone in this group appreciates the thoughtfulness I’ve put into creating this career development opportunity,” she wrote in a message telling her staff to stop requesting time off. (Korey apologised, too.) And then there’s the self-determined type, like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who referred to his own leadership style as MBR, for “management by ridicule.” “You’ve got to be good at intellectual intimidation and rhetorical bullying,” Ellison once said. (He later disavowed this as the strategy of an “inexperienced and insecure” CEO.) Tessa West, a social psychologist at New York University, wrote a field guide to bad personalities, called “Jerks at Work,” that sketches out a handful — the bulldozer, the free rider, the gaslighter and the kiss up/kick downer. Many of her examples are of bosses, who tend to be harder to report. For West, the quest is personal. Her own encounter with a workplace jerk came during graduate school at the University of Connecticut, when a peer resorted to creative forms of sabotage: giving West the wrong time for a meeting so that she would arrive late; calling her clothing overly sexualized. (“I dressed like a California girl,” West said.) Because the comments did not seem clearly in violation of any code of conduct aside from basic manners, West hesitated to escalate the issue. “The climate has changed,” West reflected. “I think we now recognize these behaviours are really inappropriate.” Reporting to work has always meant accepting a variety of unpleasantries: commutes, precoffee chitchat, people who would like you to do what they tell you to do even if it’s not yet 10 a.m. But for some, the past year has rebalanced the power seesaw between worker and boss. Maybe it was the surge of people quitting: A record high 4.5 million Americans voluntarily left their jobs in November. Maybe it was the ebbing will-they-won’t-they tides of return to office plans. Whatever the change, more workers are feeling empowered to call out their managers. “For the entirety of my career, I would hear this phrase, ‘Be your full self at work,’ and that meant wearing a pop of colour,” Darrisaw said. “Now it means making time for meditation with your team, making time for conversations about how the company is showing up to support your community.” Jacquelyn Carter, 26, did not think she was going to quit her job at the start of the pandemic. She was working at a nonprofit in Houston, and she had been taught by her mother, who had worked at the same place for 30 years, that it was important to stick with a team for as long as possible. But the slights started to add up. Some colleagues regularly forgot her name. Others talked over her in meetings. A manager at the organization called an idea of hers “stupid.” And, as a Black woman, she found herself fielding insensitive remarks from white colleagues. “When you get to be home in your own space, you realize, ‘I don’t have to deal with someone passing me in the hallway and commenting on my hair,’” she said. She watched TikToks of other people celebrating their decisions to leave jobs they didn’t like — QuitTok — with its posts featuring Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” and Cardi B’s “Money.” One prime example of the genre: A trio of women dance their way offscreen to text that reads: “the company would rather lose 3 reliable hard working employees than fix their toxic management.” Carter decided that a mean colleague was as good a reason as any to leave her employer, so she started looking for new opportunities, and then joined Darrisaw’s firm. The bad-boss-goodbye posts also inspired some to jump from retail to office jobs, including Kristofer Flatt, 23, who used to work at a big-box store in Arkansas. He said his managers ignored his pleas for more protective gear, gave him time-consuming tasks with no explanations — “change the item in that aisle to charcoal, not birdseed” — and questioned his request to take time off for a funeral. In spring 2020, he quit and moved to a corporate job. “If you’re a business leader and you want to recruit the best talent you can, you need to start prioritizing and doing the work of creating conscious culture,” said Janine Yancey, who runs Emtrain, which provides workplace trainings. “Over the last couple decades, companies have not invested as much time and resources in developing leadership and management skills,” she said. “Everyone’s focused on the technical skills, the what, but not necessarily the how.” Yancey used to work as an employment lawyer. But she came to feel that the workplace changes she wanted to see wouldn’t be brought about solely by legal reform, something reaffirmed in 2015 when she watched Ellen Pao lose her gender discrimination lawsuit against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “The laws are the bare minimum,” Yancey said. “Society has to change.” Shani Ospina’s work is trying to accelerate that change. She is a professional jerk patroller. An executive coach who works with Strategyzer, a software and consulting company, she conducts 90-minute screenings during the interview process to assess the personality fit of job candidates, helping to enforce the company’s emphasis on being a team player. “What aspect of yourself are you most proud of?” Ospina starts out by asking. Then she gets deeper: “What aspect about yourself would you most like to change?” (She braces for the wince-inducing “I got promoted a year later than I’d hoped.”) Ospina’s process is guided by the idea that most people are petty sometimes, but what separates the average person from the hardcore jerk is the capacity to recognize failures and try to improve. One of Strategyzer’s founders, Alex Osterwalder, says common jerk qualities are blaming colleagues, refusing feedback and talking about people behind their backs. He believes that screening for nonjerkiness is just as important as looking for technical skills. Jerkiness, like incompetency, takes a toll on productivity. And competent jerks who rise through the ranks can have wide-reaching effects, especially in a corporate culture that puts more emphasis on output than on how the work gets done. People get gold stars for performance, not collegiality. Baird, the financial services firm, took the principle a step further by codifying it in policy. Employees are informed during their orientation of the company’s “no asshole rule” — it’s even written into training material. Leslie Dixon, head of human resources, has fired people for violating it. “By putting it out there in print and talking about it when they’re onboarded and throughout their career, it fosters a very open conversation about behaviour that’s not illegal but that can be uncomfortable,” Dixon said. Like the team at Strategyzer, the enforcers of Baird’s policy realize rudeness isn’t an immutable trait. People aren’t fired for slip-ups. Even Beth Kavelaris, director of culture and integration at the company, said she got feedback years ago that helped her rethink her own conduct. “It was from my boss, who said, ‘You’ve got to learn to listen better, Beth,’ and I think I interrupted her while she was telling me that,” Kavelaris recalled. “I’ve gotten better. I haven’t been told that in a long while.” Last month, Garg, who had fired 900 people over Zoom, posted an apology to his Better.com team. “I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected,” he wrote, and he pledged to do better. The note concluded with a promise to be transparent and share 2022 goals. His reckoning came at a moment when nearly every company shares the same goal: keeping talent. Nobody can hit metrics if they don’t have a staff. And many are realizing that there’s nothing that thins out a workforce like misbehaviour. Darrisaw, for example, of C-Suite Coach, helps companies assess how they can improve their culture. “Are more people trying to leave certain teams?” she asks clients. “That often tells you what the management style is like.” Sometimes workers can name and shame their meaner colleagues — but in other cases, that job falls to those resigning instead. Which means quitting season might spell trouble for the jerks. ©2022 The New York Times Company

Since the year 1500, more than 320 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct. Populations of the remaining species show a 25 percent average decline in abundance.The situation is similarly dire for invertebrate animal life."While previous extinctions have been driven by natural planetary transformations or catastrophic asteroid strikes, the current die-off can be associated to human activity, leading to an era of 'Anthropocene defaunation'," explained lead researcher Rodolfo Dirzo, a professor of biology at Stanford University.Across vertebrates, 16 to 33 percent of all species are estimated to be globally threatened or endangered.Large animals - described as megafauna and including elephants, rhinoceroses, polar bears and countless other species worldwide - face the highest rate of decline, a trend that matches previous extinction events, the study noted.Consequently, the number of rodents doubles - and so does the abundance of the disease-carrying ectoparasites that they harbour."Where human density is high, you get high rates of defaunation, high incidence of rodents and thus high levels of pathogens, which increases the risks of disease transmission," Dirzo added.The scientists also detailed a troubling trend in invertebrate defaunation. Human population has doubled in the past 35 years; in the same period, the number of invertebrate animals - such as beetles, butterflies, spiders and worms - has decreased by 45 percent.As with larger animals, the loss is driven primarily by loss of habitat and global climate disruption, and could have trickle-up effects in our everyday lives."Immediately reducing rates of habitat change and overexploitation would help but these approaches need to be tailored to individual regions and situations," Dirzo suggested.According to him, "we tend to think about extinction as loss of a species from the face of Earth but there is a loss of critical ecosystem functioning in which animals play a central role that we need to pay attention to as well."The review was published in the journal Science.

US President Barack Obama found common ground with Republicans on Tuesday over his top priorities of job creation and deficit reduction but drew a rebuke on healthcare reform. A Democrat, Obama has been promoting a retooled strategy since an election in Massachusetts last month deprived his party of a "super majority" in the US Senate and forced him to work more closely with rival Republicans. After a roughly 90-minute White House meeting with congressional leaders from both parties, Obama indicated he would accept "incremental steps" rather than more sweeping measures to create jobs, his top domestic priority. "(It's) realistic for us to get a package moving quickly that may not include all of the things I think need to be done," Obama said during an impromptu news conference. "It may be that that first package builds some trust and confidence that Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill can work together," he said. Eyeing November elections that could further change the balance of power in the Democratic-led Congress, the president sought to engage the opposition on shared priorities while accusing them of sometimes putting politics ahead of policy. Republican leaders said after the meeting they saw a basis for support from both parties on expanding trade, nuclear power and offshore drilling -- all to help create jobs. "These are areas where I think there could be pretty broad bipartisan support to go forward on a collaborative basis," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. But Republican leaders gave no ground on healthcare, saying broad Democratic-backed legislation in its current form should be scrapped. Obama's first year in office was characterized by sweeping -- not incremental -- proposals on healthcare, climate change and financial reform all still pending in Congress. Though improving, the economy is still a top concern for US voters. The economy grew by a brisk 5.7 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2009 and unemployment dipped to 9.7 percent in January. But the jobless rate remains historically high and the White House wants additional stimulus on top of a $787 billion emergency spending package Obama signed last year. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS Obama said the business world was anxious for certainty in policy areas such as financial reform and healthcare. "The sooner the business community has a sense that we've got our act together here in Washington and can move forward on big, serious issues in a substantive way without a lot of posturing and partisan wrangling, I think the better off the entire country is going to be," he said. Obama repeated that he was willing to listen to Republican ideas on healthcare but rejected calls for a complete overhaul. He said an energy package should include a mix of measures to boost nuclear, oil and gas production -- areas that appeal to Republicans -- along with new technology to boost renewable fuels such as wind and solar. On jobs, Obama said both parties could agree to eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses. He said he hoped all would support a way to get more capital to community banks lending to small businesses. The House of Representatives passed a $155 billion jobs bill in December while the Senate has yet to act. Senate Democratic leaders unveiled a set of job-creating ideas last week and said they would solicit Republican input before moving ahead with legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hoped to introduce a bill on Monday and pass it by the end of the week, but he has been delayed by snowstorms that have kept many lawmakers from getting to work. A jobs bill that could go through the Senate would extend soon-to-expire jobless payments, healthcare subsidies for the unemployed and highway-funding programs, according to the text of the bill obtained by Reuters. "Frankly, it is not ready yet," McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said, referring to a jobs bill. "Most of my members have not seen it yet. We're certainly open to it and ... there is a chance we can move this forward on a bipartisan basis." In a potential sign of conciliation, House Republican leader John Boehner said the party was mulling appointing members to Obama's proposed bipartisan deficit commission. Obama plans to issue an executive order to set up the commission to study options on spending and taxes after lawmakers failed to create a congressional panel on the issue.

The World Bank will start a trust fund to boost agriculture in poor countries with an initial $1.5 billion, its president Robert Zoellick said on Tuesday, warning of the risk of another food price crisis. Crop shortages in India and the Philippines combined with increased speculation in commodity markets by investment funds have increased the risk that food prices could spike, as happened in 2008, Zoellick said. "I'm not forecasting this. I'm just staying we have to anticipate this as a possible risk," he told reporters on the sidelines of a food security event at Brookings Institution. More than 1 billion people are now chronically hungry as food prices have been slow to fall from last year's record highs, and as nations grapple with the global economic downturn, United Nations agencies have said. The world's richest nations pledged to give $20 billion over three years to help small farmers in developing countries grow more food, but diplomats and aid groups have estimated only $3 billion appears to be new spending. Asked whether he thought the $20 billion would be new spending or money diverted from existing aid programs, Zoellick said: "From what I can see so far, it's going to be a mixture, as these things usually are." The World Bank was asked by the Group of 20 nations in September to create a fund to help quickly disburse the pledges. "I'd like (the World Bank) to get more (of the $20 billion promised) but the key thing is that people keep their pledges," Zoellick told reporters, noting that some aid may be delivered bilaterally or through other multilateral agencies. "My key point is, let's get these things up and running," he said. The World Bank fund will pool money from the United States, Canada and Spain, Zoellick said, and the European Commission will also add funds. WORLD FALLING SHORT ON EMERGENCY AID Climate change and the other factors that caused the run-up in food prices last year remain risks, said Josette Sheeran, head of the UN's World Food Program. "I don't think it was a one-off phenomenon," Sheeran said. "I think what it was was more of a wake up call that exposed fault lines in access to food from the village level up through the national, regional and global level." The UN's World Food Program, which feeds about 100 million people in 72 countries with government donations, has fallen far short of its emergency needs this year, raising only $3.7 billion against requirements of $6.4 billion, Sheeran said. The WFP appealed last week for $1 billion to feed 20 million people in east Africa over the next six months, and secured pledges of half that amount, including donations from the United States and Spain, she said. "It's a challenging time. Even in the richer countries, the countries are going through a period of financial challenge," she told Reuters.

Dhaka, Nov 14 (bdnews24.com)—Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has urged weather-vulnerable countries to collectively air their concern before the UN climate conference in South Africa later this month. The economic cost of climate change is $130 billion and it would increase if adequate and timely steps are not taken, she said, opening the Climate Vulnerable Forum 2011 at a city hotel on Monday. The Climate Vulnerable Forum is one of the most striking new voices on climate change that's emerged since the UN summit in Copenhagen two years ago. "Climate change constitutes a serious injustice and must be acknowledged by the global community," prime minister Hasina added. "We are bearing the brunt of the damage though we made negligible or no contribution to the menace." The first Climate Vulnerable Forum was held in the Maldives capital of Malé in 2009 and the second one in Kiribati last year. The grouping includes small island states vulnerable to extreme weather events and sea level rise, those with immense spans of low-lying coastline such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, and dry nations of East Africa. Hasina lamented that there was no concrete move to support nationally determined adaptation initiatives undertaken by the vulnerable countries. "We see no evidence of direct and easy access to fund and technology," she said, "We have seen no clarity on how the global community would raise funds in the period between 2012 and 2020 towards operationalisation of the Green Climate Fund." The prime minister said before the Nov 28-Dec 917th Conference of the Parties (COP17) in Durban, vulnerable countries should join together to raise their concern in the programme. "In the face of climate change, we need to engage the global partners and forge an effective partnership," she said. United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Dhaka on Sunday on a three-day trip, was the keynote speaker. He said Green Climate Fund needs to be launched in Durban. "Durban must complete what was agreed last year in Cancún," he said, "An empty shell is not sufficient." It was agreed in Cancún, Mexico that the fund would be launched. "Durban must advance a work programme on loss and damage to respond to the needs of countries like Bangladesh that are particularly afflicted by extreme climatic events," he said. "We cannot ask the poorest and most vulnerable to bear the costs." The UN chief expected that the governments would find a compromise on the Kyoto protocol to make a broader comprehensive climate agreement possible in future. Citing an example, he said in 1991 ac cyclone killed 140,000 people while only 4,000 people died in a cyclone in 2007 in Bangladesh. "Volunteers with bullhorns and bicycles helped move more than three million people," he said, "Thanks to the Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness programme." Bangladesh is recognised as one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world. If sea level increases by two metres, about 30 million Bangladeshis would be displaced from their homes. The Dhaka declaration of climate forum will be adopted at 4:30pm.

The protest by more than 1,000 people snarled rush hour traffic in the Brazilian capital adjacent to the Mané Garrincha National Stadium, the most costly stadium built for the 32-nation sports event that begins in 16 days.Adding to the tension, Indians in traditional tribal dress with bows drawn joined the protesters from the Homeless Worker's movement. The group says building stadiums to host the World Cup was too costly, caused real estate prices to soar and forced lower-income families out of their homes.Brazil is rushing to finish stadiums and urban transport systems in time for the World Cup in a climate of growing civil disobedience by groups of Brazilians who seek to disrupt the event saying its cost was excessive for a developing nation.The World Cup now serves as a backdrop to push for variety of causes, and bus drivers in Rio de Janeiro said on Tuesday they would start a 24-hour strike at midnight while professors marched down Sao Paulo's main thruway to demand a raise.Local soccer fans lined up outside the Brasilia stadium to see the Fifa World Cup Trophy, which is touring the 12 cities hosting the games, but the protest march forced authorities to cancel the trophy display and close the stadium.The Brasilia protest follows a peaceful march led by the same group in Sao Paulo last week. That protest of several thousand held up traffic in South America's business hub and spurred fears that more protests and even violence could disrupt the month-long World Cup when it starts on June 12.A spokesman for the military police said Tuesday's protest started peacefully and that police were trying to contain the march with tear gas and walls of shield-bearing police. But if the demonstrators reached the stadium, they would have to intervene, the spokesman said.Brasilia's stadium will cost 1.9 billion reais ($849.26 million) when the surrounding landscaping is finished after the World Cup, city auditors said in a report published last week, almost three times the price tag first budgeted.Though they have not previously joined anti-World Cup protests, Indians have routinely protested in Brasilia against efforts to change the rules around how Indian reservations boundaries are determined. They invaded Congress while it was in session on several occasions last year.Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has promised the Homeless Worker's movement that squatters who have gathered around some of the stadiums will receive low-cost government housing. But her government has warned that it will call in troops if necessary to prevent protests disrupting the soccer games.Some 600,000 foreign soccer fans are expected to travel to Brazil for the World Cup.

China has now officially blocked coal imports from Australia after months of vague restrictions that dramatically slowed trade and stranded huge ships at sea. For Australia, the world’s largest coal exporter, the decision is a gut punch that eliminates its second-biggest market at a time when many countries are already rethinking their dependence on a filthy fossil fuel that accelerates the devastation of climate change. While Beijing’s motives are difficult to divine, there are hints of mercantilist protection for local producers and the desire to punish Australia for perceived sins that include demanding an inquiry into the source of the coronavirus. China’s commitment to cut emissions may also allow it to be marginally more selective with its vast purchases. Whatever the reasoning, the impact is shaping up to be profound for a country that has tied its fate to coal for more than 200 years. Mining policy can still decide elections in Australia, and the current conservative government is determined to do the bare minimum on climate change, which has made China’s coal cutback a symbolic, cultural and economic shock. “A transition has been forced upon us,” said Richie Merzian, the climate and energy program director at the Australia Institute, an independent think tank. “It’s hard to see how things will really pick up from here.” The realisation, if it holds, may take time to sink in. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ridden Australia’s traditional reliance on fossil fuels into power. He famously held up a hunk of coal in Parliament in 2017, declaring “don’t be scared,” and first became prime minister in an intraparty coup after his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, tried to pursue a more aggressive approach to combating climate change. “Coal-Mo,” as some of his critics call him, dismissed concerns Wednesday about China’s ban, arguing that there are many other countries still lining up for the product. “I should stress one point, that our biggest coal-exporting country, the country that takes our exports largest on coal are actually Japan and India,” he said. “So China is not our major importer when it comes to thermal or metallurgical coal.” While Japan accounted for 27% of Australia’s roughly $50 billion in coal exports last year, China was not far behind at 21%. India was third at 16%. Morrison’s faith in coal is hardly unique. The combustible rock is a most Australian product. It was first discovered on the continent in 1797, less than a decade after the first British settlers arrived. Since then, entire communities have been built around not just mines but also sprawling ports where cargo ships lug mountains of coal all over the world. It is not a huge job producer. Only about 50,000 people worked in coal mining last year in Australia. (Plumbers clocked in at around 80,000.) But it is a huge moneymaker. Coal production in Australia has more than doubled over the past three decades, with the share that is exported jumping to 75% in fiscal 2017, up from 55% in 1990. Coal royalties for one state alone, Queensland, approached $4 billion last year. And in many areas, from the Hunter Valley a few hours outside Sydney, to Mackay near the Great Barrier Reef, coal has long been a constant. It’s what you see on trains and at sea. It’s what put Australia on the global map. For many, it’s what inspires nationalist pride. China’s ban, which started gradually reducing imports in August, is deflating that image. Glencore, one of the largest coal mining companies in Australia, temporarily closed several of its mines in September and October. In Mackay, where coal volumes from the ports have been dropping, the fear of lost jobs and a lost way of life has been increasing. The stocks of Australian coal companies collapsed this week after the China news hit the markets. And there is little sign of improvement. One pricing agency, S&P Platts, has estimated that in the first quarter of next year alone Australia will lose out on sales of up to 32 metric tons of thermal coal — the coal for power plants — that would have gone to China. China, in many ways, is simply the face of a more significant global disruption. Japan announced earlier this year that it would retire about 100 of its most inefficient coal plants and invest in renewable energy. The country’s new prime minister announced in October that it would be carbon neutral by 2050. South Korea and Taiwan, two other buyers in Australia’s top five, have also announced sharper targets for emission reduction, which would most likely mean less coal. “It’s not market forces; it’s politics all the way down,” said Robyn Eckersley, a political scientist at the University of Melbourne who specialises in climate change. “The politics leads to a drying up of markets.” For the coal industry, the broader trends beyond China are raising more concern. The United Nations’ scientific panel on global warming has repeatedly emphasised that a radical transformation of the world economy is needed to avoid devastation, calling for a rush away from coal. There are signs that it could be happening faster than the industry expected. But there are also industry veterans who note that the politics and economics of energy tend to be fluid, and that coal cannot be counted out just yet. “None of this stuff happens very rapidly,” said Clinton Dines, the former head of BHP China, a subsidiary of the Australian-British mining giant. Specifically, he said that while there are signs of a transition away from coal in some countries, coal-fired power plants in India, China and elsewhere are still being built, even if total demand declines. It is also unclear, he added, how long the favourable politics and generous subsidies around renewable energy will last. “You’ll probably get a spurt in the next couple of years,” he said. “Once the voting populace has to pay for it, it’s a different matter.” With China, of course, trade is always a complex calculation with a web of products and companies. Even after Beijing has targeted Australian coal, wine, barley and beef, Australia’s exports to China may end up flat or up for 2020, with iron ore accounting for roughly half of the total. Dines argued that China might lift the coal ban after its businesses grumble. But with energy now intersecting with economics and the health of the planet, many coal critics in Australia are feeling ebullient, as if a turning point has already been reached. Banks in many countries are refusing to finance coal projects. There’s a new president in Washington who has pledged to join the worldwide effort to move away from fossil fuels — and Morrison’s stance, including his refusal to commit to net zero emissions by 2050, is increasingly leading to alienation on the global stage. Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain rescinded a request for Morrison to speak at a UN summit focused on climate change, questioning whether Australia was doing enough to earn the slot. “Australia is like the party boy that is still living like a 20-year-old in its 40s and 50s,” said Merzian at the Australia Institute. “Everyone is taking it seriously because their health depends on it and they know better, but Australia is still trying to rage on.” No matter how much Australia’s leaders wants to hold onto coal, “the shock is coming,” said Alex Turnbull, an energy investor based in Singapore who is also the son of the former prime minister. It’s time, he said, to find a way to support the communities that have been told for decades that coal will always be there to save them. “We need to just realise that this game is over here as far as export markets, which are looking very challenging,” he said. “If you’re Scott Morrison, you need to pivot or rip off the Band-Aid, or change the narrative. This is as good an opportunity as you can get because ultimately, it’s not your fault.” © 2020 The New York Times Company

The ballot is the first major popularity test for the junta led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has suppressed political activity during the two years since he seized power in a 2014 coup. Ahead of the referendum, polls suggested a small lead in favour of accepting the new constitution, but most voters were undecided. Preliminary results were expected at around 8pm local time. Prayuth has said he will not resign if Thailand rejects the constitution and that an election will take place next year no matter what the outcome. He encouraged Thais to participate after casting his vote on Sunday. "I urge everyone to come out and vote... to decide on the future of the country," Prayuth told reporters at a polling station in northwest Bangkok.  Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha He was heckled by one woman as he spoke to the media. "Can you manage the country? Can you protect the country?" she asked, before being moved away by security personnel. Around 200,000 police were deployed for the vote, and while Thailand's largest political parties rejected the constitution ahead of the vote, there were no signs of protests or trouble. The junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order, has banned all criticism of the constitution and authorities have detained and charged dozens of people who have spoken against it, including politicians and student activists. Decade of turmoil Critics say the charter is the military's attempt to make good on their failure to banish former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his brand of populism from Thai politics after the coup that removed him in 2006. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha Thailand has seen over a decade of political turmoil since Thaksin was ousted. Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile but retains a strong influence, particularly with his rural support base in the north. His sister Yingluck swept to power with an electoral landslide in 2011, and her government was ousted by Prayuth three years later in the 2014 coup.  Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra after casting her ballot. Yingluck, who was banned from politics for five years in January 2015 after a military-appointed legislature found her guilty of mismanaging a rice scheme, also voted on Sunday. "I'm happy that I could still exercise my rights as a (Thai) person," Yingluck told reporters, urging others to go and vote. Thaksin called the charter a "folly" on Thursday, saying it would perpetuate the junta's power and make it impossible to govern Thailand. Reuters interviews with senior officers showed the military's ambition is to make future coups unnecessary through the new charter by weakening political parties and ensuring the military a role in overseeing the country's economic and political development. Under the constitution, which would be Thailand's 20th since the military abolished an absolute monarchy in 1932, a junta-appointed Senate with seats reserved for military commanders would check the powers of elected lawmakers. In the northeastern city of Khon Kaen, around 50 voters queued to vote outside the town's rebuilt city hall, which was burnt down during political unrest in 2010. "I want the country to get better," said farmer Thongyoon Khaenkhaomeng at a nearby polling station in a school. He voted in favour of the constitution because he wanted to see an end to Thailand's divisions, he said. Day laborer Decha Shangkamanee said he had voted against the charter because he disliked the junta, but did not expect the referendum to make much difference. "I know that nothing really changes today with the way the country is ruled," he said. Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra after casting her ballot. "I want the country to get better," said farmer Thongyoon Khaenkhaomeng at a nearby polling station in a school. He voted in favour of the constitution because he wanted to see an end to Thailand's divisions, he said. Day laborer Decha Shangkamanee said he had voted against the charter because he disliked the junta, but did not expect the referendum to make much difference. "I know that nothing really changes today with the way the country is ruled," he said. The vote comes against the back-drop of concern about the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88. The military has for decades invoked its duty as defender of the deeply revered monarch to justify its interventions in politics. No reconciliation Whichever way the vote goes, the United Nations would like to see more dialogue between the military and political opponents, said Luc Stevens, the UN chief in Thailand. "There is no reconciliation if one group says 'Lets reconcile on our terms'," he told Reuters ahead of the referendum. "If you don't want to leave anybody behind in this country, you need to think about an inclusive process, an open dialogue, and ensure that people can express their opinion." Two students were detained and charged on Saturday in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum for handing out leaflets urging voters to vote against the referendum, said Police Colonel Aram Prajit. The ban on campaigning has not stopped the junta from deploying thousands of military cadets to carry a message to Thailand's 50 million eligible voters encouraging them to participate in the referendum. The Election Commission is hoping for a turnout of 80 percent. Amnesty International said on Friday the junta had created a chilling climate ahead of the vote through pervasive human rights violations.

From banana imports to rules for protecting the product names, officials and diplomats were working on Friday on a range of issues ahead of next week's make-or-break ministerial trade negotiations. But trade experts said the significance of next week's Doha round talks goes far beyond the detail of tariff and subsidy cuts, signaling the international community's ability to deal with major problems such as the food crisis. "If governments can't even agree on a trade negotiation I'd like to know what they're going to do in climate change over the next half a decade," World Trade Organisation Chief Economist Patrick Low told a briefing. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called the Geneva meeting, which starts formally on Monday and is set to last a week, to push for a breakthrough in the long-running Doha round. The talks have missed repeated deadlines since they were launched in late 2001 to open up world trade and help developing countries export their way out of poverty. But negotiators say there is a new sense of urgency, and even optimism, now. Ministers from about 30 countries aim to clinch the outlines of a deal in the core areas of agriculture and industrial goods next week, to prevent the talks being sidelined by U.S. elections and next year's change in the White House. Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, arriving late on Thursday for talks ahead of the meeting, said any deal had to address the challenges of three "F's" -- finance, food and fuel. "These three "F's" are the backdrop against which these negotiations are being held," he told reporters. OUTLINES OF A DEAL World leaders from U.S. President George W. Bush to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have called for a deal. A deal will see rich countries like the United States, Japan and EU members open up their markets for food by cutting farm tariffs and subsidies. In return tariff cuts in big emerging countries like India and Brazil will give them more access to markets for industrial goods and services. Once ministers agree the terms of that framework, negotiators will apply the details in the coming months to thousands of tariff lines, and turn to other areas, from fisheries subsidies to rules for unfairly priced imports. The question now is whether ministers can overcome the differences that divide developed and developing countries. France, the European Union's biggest food producer and current holder of its presidency, said the EU had exhausted its scope for concessions in agriculture. "We have a shared objective, to achieve a rebalancing of the concessions the EU has already made," French Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Idrac told a news conference in Brussels. EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said he felt EU governments had strengthened his hand in pressing for more concessions from others in the WTO talks. In the WTO's consensus-driven system each of the 152 members -- rising to 153 next week when Cape Verde joins -- has a veto. Poor countries, pointing to the Doha round's development mandate, say they should have to open their markets less than rich countries. Instead they are being asked to expose subsistence farmers and infant industries to competition while rich countries continue to protect their farmers. Rich countries say they cannot sell a deal at home involving big sacrifices in farm protection unless they can point to real gains in market access in countries such as India and China. And they say some of the biggest gains would come in South- South trade -- developing countries trading with each other. The conventional wisdom, repeated this week in a WTO report on globalization, is that free trade increases prosperity. It creates both winners and losers, but nations as a whole benefit. Many non-governmental organizations challenge that view, arguing that the current Doha proposals will expose poor-country farmers and workers to more poverty, and lock developing countries into dependence on the rich. "It flies in the face of what is being proposed by communities and social movements and takes away the space needed for developing countries to put in place the measures to deal with the crisis," Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based thinktank, told a briefing. But Lamy, an austere Frenchman and former EU trade chief, argues forcefully for the potential of a Doha deal to reduce distortions in the world trading system to benefit poor countries. In the long term that would boost food supplies, and in the short term it would boost confidence, he says. "What we can do is give one of the rare signals that there's a bit of good news in the system. I don't see any other front where this is available," he said.

POZNAN, Poland, Dec 13(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Developing nations accused the rich of meanness on Saturday at the end of UN climate talks that launched only a tiny fund to help poor countries cope with droughts, floods and rising seas. They said the size of the Adaptation Fund -- worth just $80 million -- was a bad omen at the halfway mark of two years of negotiations on a new treaty to fight global warming designed to be agreed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. "We are so sad and so disappointed," Colombian Environment Minister Juan Lozano said of the Dec. 1-12 talks, which went on into the early hours of Saturday and have been overshadowed by worries that global economic woes are drying up donor cash. "The human side of climate change is the suffering of our orphans and our victims and that was not considered here. It's a bad signal on the road to Copenhagen," said Lozano. "I must say that this is one of the saddest moments I have witnessed in all these years," Indian representative Prodipto Ghosh told delegates at the 189-nation talks, adding he had attended U.N. climate meetings for 12 years. Several other nations including Brazil, Costa Rica and Maldives made similar remarks. Many delegates expressed hopes that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama would adopt more aggressive climate policies. Environment ministers at the talks in Poland set rules for the Adaptation Fund, which is meant to help poor nations build flood defences, develop drought-resistant crops, or produce storm warnings. Polish Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki, the host, said the launch of the fund was the biggest achievement of Poznan. The fund, which can start paying out cash in 2009, has just $80 million but could rise to $300 million a year by 2012. BILLIONS NEEDED U.N. projections are that poor nations will need tens of billions of dollars a year by 2030 to cope with climate change. Poland spent 24 million euros ($31.84 million) just to host the Dec. 1-12 conference. Developing nations accused the rich of blocking agreement in Poznan on a wider funding mechanism that could raise about $2 billion a year. The issue was delayed until 2009. Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said the talks achieved all they had set out to do but acknowledged there was "some bitterness". "Half the work (for Copenhagen) hasn't been done," he said. Still, he said Poznan had achieved a main task of reviewing progress towards a sweeping new global climate treaty in Copenhagen in December 2009 to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Environmentalists disagreed. "We are desperately disappointed with the progress here," said Stephanie Tunmore of the Greenpeace environmental group. "The stocktaking bit wasn't difficult: 'What did we do in 2008? Not much'." Environmentalists accused Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand of blocking progress and failing to set ambitious new goals to cut emissions. By contrast, countries including Mexico, China and South Africa laid out ideas to curb rising emissions. European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said talks were on track. "Everyone said the fight against climate change is consistent with tackling the economic crisis," he said. European Union ministers in Poznan expressed relief after EU leaders in Brussels agreed a pact on Friday to cut greenhouse gases by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 -- after making costly concessions to east European countries. Under the Adaptation Fund, cash is raised by a 2 percent levy on a U.N. system of projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions in poor nations. The levy has raised 60 million euros ($80 million) so far.