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By Syed Nahas Pasha London, Aug 11 (bdnews24.com)--The planned unilateral construction of Tipaimukh Dam by India will have serious environmental, ecological, social and economic effects on the millions of people of Bangladesh and northeastern India, speakers at a conference at the London School of Economics warned. The conference, dubbed world forum, of the Voice for Justice World Forum on Sunday in London called upon the governments of Bangladesh and India to enter into a joint feasibility study before construction of any dam for a fair and equitable solution to the impending environmental catastrophe. It also underlined that as an upper riparian country India has a clear moral and legal obligation to consult Bangladesh before building any such dam. Convenor of the World Forum of the Voice For Justice, a global human-rights and justice organisation, Dr Hasanat Hussain MBE chaired the conference. British treasury minister Stephen Timms congratulated the organisers for convening its world forum in London. He told the conference that the British government will always stand by the oppressed all over the world and work with people's organisations such as VFJ to promote human rights and justice for the poor and marginalised. This was the first world forum of VFJ convened at the London School of Economics by a coalition of its European, US, Canadian and Asian chapters. It was participated, among others, by expatriate Bangladeshi academicians, experts, VFJ members and a wide cross-section of people from the British-Bangladeshi community in the UK. Abdul Moyeen Khan, former planning and science minister, and Sabih Uddin, former Bangladesh high commissioner to the UK, participated in the discussion via internet. Concerns were raised at the conference that the possible construction of any such obstruction to common rivers will create humanitarian crisis for millions of people who depend on the rivers Surma and Kushiara. A paper was also presented at the conference by Dr K M A Malik of University of Cardiff on Climate Change in South Asia with special reference to Bangladesh. The conference also deliberated on two separate papers on 'Rights of Migrants Workers in Gulf States' and 'Women's rights in Islam' presented by Dr Mahbub Khan of California State University and Hasan Mahmud, sirector of Sharia Law of Muslim Canadian Congress, respectively. Speakers stressed formal bilateral agreements between Bangladesh and other migrant-sending states with the migrant-receiving states in the Gulf, where serious allegations of violation of human rights and dignity of migrant works have been widespread. The conference called specially upon the migrant-receiving governments to respect and prioritise the human rights of migrant workers who contribute to their economies and also bring back millions of dollars in remittances for their home countries, and yet receive very little in minimum wages, working conditions, and job security in the host country. In his paper on women's rights and Sharia, Hasan Mahmud reaffirmed that Islam and the authentic Sharia promote and protect women's right in a most equitable and just manner. He regretted that the misinterpretation and distortion of these laws over time due to social and cultural biases have led to discriminatory treatment of women in many societies. Professor Anthony Booth, head of International Education, Christchurch University, Kent, UK, Prof. Shamsul Islam Choudhury of Roosevelt University, US, Dr. Abdur Rahman and Dr. Zakia Rahman of Limmeric University, Ireland, Dr. Stephanie Eaton of Kingston University, UK, Luthfur Rahman Choudhury and joint convenors of the World Forum of Voice For Justice from London, Kent, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Newcastle joined in the question and answer sessions at the end.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to use a farewell trip to Africa this week to build momentum for a rich nation summit that will focus on Africa and to push for a world trade deal, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Blair flies to Libya, Sierra Leone and South Africa on one of his last trips abroad before stepping down on June 27 after a decade in power, handing over to finance minister Gordon Brown. Aides to the prime minister say the visit comes at a critical time a week before a June 6-8 summit of the Group of Eight industrialised countries in Germany and when talks on a long-delayed global free trade deal are coming to a head. Blair wants to use the Africa trip to "build momentum for progress" at the Heiligendamm summit, a spokeswoman said. Blair hopes the G8 will reaffirm generous debt and aid commitments it made at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005 as well as making new pledges on education and AIDS, she said. He also hopes the summit will agree steps to combat global warming. Scientists say climate change is already being seen in parts of Africa in rising temperatures and water shortages. Blair will also rally support for a new global trade agreement, the spokeswoman said. South Africa is one of several African countries invited to the G8 summit and it is also a key player in the trade talks. The troubled Doha round of trade talks reaches a crunch time in early August. A full blueprint of a final deal needs to be agreed by the WTO's 150 member countries by then if they are to meet a target of sealing the round by the end of 2007. If they miss the target, the round could be delayed by several years. The spokeswoman said Blair backs efforts to build the African Union's capacity to intervene in African conflicts. The conflict in Sudan's Darfur region posed a "particular challenge", she said. The UN Security Council endorsed plans last Friday for an African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force of more than 23,000 troops and police for Darfur, where some 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million made homeless since 2003. Blair has sought to focus international attention on Africa's problems during his decade in power. This week's trip takes him back to Libya which he first visited in 2004, sealing Tripoli's return to the international fold after it abandoned efforts to acquire banned weapons and agreed to pay damages for a 1988 airliner bombing over Scotland. In Sierra Leone he may win praise for sending British troops to the country in 2000 to help shore up the United Nations peacekeeping operation there and hasten the end of a civil war marked by atrocities against civilians. The South African government said Blair would hold talks with President Thabo Mbeki and deliver a major policy speech on Africa during a visit on Thursday and Friday.

Sayed Talat Kamal Durban, South Africa Durban, Dec 3 (bdnews24.com) — Developing countries have raised concerns that they are taking climate change as a more serious global crisis than the rich countries. The US, in particular, is seen to be dragging its foot on key issues. Delegates at the UN Climate Summit at Durban from Europe and the head of the African bloc have separately denounced the US position. "Developed countries as a whole are not taking climate change seriously as a global issue," said Mali delegate Seyni Nafo. Pointing to the US leadership on democracy, human rights and market access, Nafo said, "We want to have the same leadership to tackle climate change." The EU chief negotiator, Arthur Runge-Metzger, while expressing his concerns, however, acknowledged that the US delegation may be hampered by the present US domestic scene where climate change was perceived to be an unpopular issue. "It's very hard for the Obama administration to move forward with climate change because of the situation in Congress," he said. The US is perceived as stalling, as it negotiates for conditions on the deal that would legally bind all countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions - holding up discussions on how to raise US$100 billion earmarked for poor countries to develop low-carbon economies and deal with the effects of global warming. Climate change is a result of greenhouse gases trapping the sun's heat in the earth's atmosphere raising global temperatures, which in turn trigger change weather conditions leading to stronger and more frequent cyclones and floods, rising seas, drought, erosion and increased salinity. It is widely accepted that a rise of global temperatures over 2 degrees Celsius would cause irreversible climate change. Global studies, endorsed by the UN and the scientific community indicate that in order to arrest the temperature rise within 1.5 degrees, global emissions must reduced to 40 percent of what they were in 1990 by the year 2020 and to 95 percent of 1990-levels by 2050. Furthermore, emissions must not peak after 2015. Instead of a binding target, the US has said that it favours voluntary pledges by countries to do as much as they can to control emissions. The US has promised to cut its emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020; a pledge that the US delegation chief Jonathan Pershing said this week that he did not believe would change in the near future. Runge-Metzger, however, asserts that these voluntary pledges taken all together would still amount to about half of what scientists say is required to avert potential climate disaster. On another front, Rene Orellana, head of the Bolivian delegation, in his nation's first statement, has categorically dismissed the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd) initiative. Redd is a set of steps designed to use financial initiatives to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation; and because forests produce carbon credits it is considered an emissions offsetting scheme. "Bolivia is showing strongly against the mechanism of Redd," Orellana said, "the role of the forest is not for carbon stocks." Almost half of Bolivia is blanketed by forests, "as a people who live in the forest, we are not carbon stocks," the Bolivian delegate asserted. "Forests provide a role of food security, a water resource and biodiversity for our indigenous population. Redd reduces the function of the forest as just one, carbon stocks," he added. Orellana also went on to criticise some of the aspects of the Green Climate Fund, particularly payments based on results of green initiatives. While Bolivia has suffered political instability of late, the country has been firm on its environmental stand at the 17th instalment of the conference of parties to the UN climate change convention. For example, this year the South American nation has passed the world's first laws granting nature equal rights to humans. Scientists predict that heat waves currently experienced once every 20 years will happen every year due to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Moreover coastal areas and islands were threatened with inundation by global warming and within a decade up to 250 million more people would face water scarcity. Climate action proponents argue that carbon concentration stabilisation in the atmosphere would only slow economic growth by 0.12 percent per year but, more importantly, that the costs would be offset by improved health, greater energy security and more secure food supplies.

Air travelers are paying vastly differing prices to offset their contribution to climate change, in some cases three times market levels, despite efforts to increase transparency in an unregulated market. Under a regulated carbon market, countries and companies buy offsets to help them meet binding international climate targets. Prices have halved in recent weeks as recession reduces industrial output and expected emissions. But prices which consumers pay in an unofficial market have lagged behind those falls. Carbon offsetting is offered to tourists and business travelers by many airlines and offset developers so as to allow people to justify flying by funding a carbon reduction project elsewhere. "If the market for CERs (offsets) is at 10 euros and you are charging around 30 to offset you have to ask what is happening there," said International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance spokesman Edward Hanrahan. Prices differed partly due to the quality of the offset credit, he added. Prices vary from 9-30 euros per ton of avoided carbon dioxide, a survey of 12 providers showed. Carbon offsets traded on regulated exchanges at 9 euros on Friday, while unregulated prices can be much lower. Buyers pay per ton of their expected carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, for example for taking a flight. The money helps fund projects which reduce emissions elsewhere, such as planting trees or trapping methane emissions from waste dumps in developing countries. Offset developer Tricorona charges around 30 euros a ton on its website for "high quality" offsets, including tax. "We are currently reviewing our pricing, in the wake of current market conditions," business development manager Conor Foley told Reuters, adding that the company would launch new prices on Monday. "We will not have a mark-up of more than 25 percent. For 2007, it was 15 percent," he said explaining that the mark-up is defined as the profit after deducting administration costs. "The rest goes to project activities." British Airways charges around 19 euros per ton to offset a London to Bangkok flight. The company website says that is based on market prices in November. "We don't make any money from this. We buy a set amount of CERs at a fixed price depending on the time of purchase. We use them until they run out and then we buy more," a company spokeswoman said.

On the right, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been criticised for including an Arab party within the coalition, a decision that right-wing critics say has dampened the state’s willingness to police Israel’s Arab minority and limited its ability to respond to the recent attacks, two of which were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel. On the left, Bennett has been criticised for making small concessions to the Palestinians while ruling out peace talks or any moves toward the formation of a Palestinian state — an approach that left-wing critics say has increased Palestinian despair, encouraging a minority to respond with violence. Bennett is also constrained in his options in responding to the violence by the composition of his ideologically diverse coalition, an eight-party alliance that includes right-wingers like Bennett, centrists, leftists and a small Arab Islamist party, Ra’am — the first independent Arab party to join an Israeli government. Ten months into their tenure, the alliance members have consistently found ways of circumnavigating their differences, but the violence has accentuated the gaps in their worldviews. The attacks that killed 11 people over 10 days have also been a reminder that no matter how much Israelis want the problem to go away so they can go about their lives in peace, as polls show they do, the Palestinian question remains unresolved and a potential powder keg. Bennett, like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, has placed the issue on the back burner, treating the conflict as a problem to be contained rather than resolved. The last peace negotiations petered out in 2014. The Palestinian leadership, divided between Gaza and the West Bank, has failed to form a united negotiating position, while key Israeli leaders, including Bennett, are blunt about their opposition to a Palestinian state. But the surge in violence has prompted some Israeli commentators to acknowledge the inherent instability of the status quo, even if that realisation has merely hardened people’s preexisting views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It’s in many ways a tired conversation with few new arguments,” said Ofer Zalzberg, director of the Middle East Program at the Herbert C Kelman Institute, a Jerusalem-based research group. “You don’t see people changing their positions given events,” he added. “They choose their position given where they sit.” To some witnesses and survivors of the most recent shootings in Bnei Brak, a city in central Israel, the attack by a West Bank Palestinian that killed five people there Tuesday calcified the perception that Israel has no partner for peace among the Palestinians and that the creation of a Palestinian state would only make life more dangerous for Israelis. Although Bennett also opposes Palestinian sovereignty, he came under heavy criticism for his partnership with Ra’am, and for giving tens of thousands more permits to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to work in Israel. Posters have popped up across the city calling on residents not to employ Palestinian laborers, and a placard placed beside a memorial to the victims called on Bennett to resign. In nearby cities, one mayor shut municipal construction sites that often employed Palestinian laborers, and another called on contractors not to hire Palestinians. “We need harsh punishment for the families of the terrorists,” said Moshe Waldman, an accountant in Bnei Brak who witnessed part of the attack. “Destroy their homes. Let’s have real acts of deterrence. “The world always tells us, ‘You need to sit and negotiate,’” he added. “But that’s not the reality here. We are getting killed because they hate us.” But if some criticise Bennett for working too closely with Arab Israelis and making too many concessions to Palestinians, others fault him for not making enough. In addition to the work permits, the Israeli government has granted legal status to thousands of West Bank Palestinians previously living in a legal limbo; lent $156 million to the Palestinian Authority, which manages parts of the West Bank; allowed families in Gaza to visit relatives in Israeli jails; and met and communicated more publicly with Palestinian leaders than the previous government did. But critics argue that this approach, which Bennett has described as “shrinking the conflict,” does little to improve the fundamental aspects of Palestinian life under occupation. The Israeli army still conducts daily raids in areas nominally run by the Palestinian Authority. Israel still operates a two-tier justice system in the West Bank — one for Palestinians and one for Israeli settlers. And the Palestinian dream of statehood remains as distant as ever. “There is total despair and lack of any political horizon on the Palestinian front,” said Mairav Zonszein, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, a research organisation based in Brussels. “Israelis have become accustomed to continuing the status quo with no price to pay,” Zonszein added. “But without any political process, the climate is more conducive to violence.” In the short term, Bennett has the difficult task of increasing Israeli security and assuaging the concerns of his right-wing base, while avoiding measures that might either further escalate the violence or alienate the Arab lawmakers on whom his coalition depends. Trying to strike that balance, the Israeli army has sent reinforcements to the West Bank and to the boundary between Israel and Gaza, and the Israeli Police has diverted its attention almost exclusively to counterterrorism. Bennett has also called on Israeli civilians to carry licensed firearms, a move that alarmed many Arab citizens of Israel, said Bashaer Fahoum-Jayoussi, co-chair of the board of the Abraham Initiatives, a nongovernmental group that promotes equality between Arabs and Jews. “This is crazy,” she said. “This is calling for the militarisation of the citizens,” and risks compounding the “hate speech that’s been rising in the past week and a half against the Arab community within Israel” with vigilantism. Attempting to calm tensions, Bennett has praised his Arab coalition partner, Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas, describing him as a brave and important member of the government. The government continues to allow tens of thousands of Palestinians to enter Israel from the West Bank and Gaza every day. And there has been no change to a plan to allow retirees from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan, which starts this weekend. Bennett’s office declined to comment for this article. But one of his closest allies, Micah Goodman, a philosopher who popularised the idea of “shrinking the conflict,” said it was too early to judge the success of the government’s approach in either the West Bank or in Israel. The two main pillars of his idea — “gradual liberation of the Palestinians in the West Bank and gradual integration of the Palestinians within Israel” — will take years, not months, to achieve, he said. “The dominant emotional experience of Israelis in the conflict is one of fear, and for Palestinians it’s of humiliation,” Goodman said. Shrinking the conflict is about creating “a reality where there’s less fear for Israelis because there’s less terrorism, and less humiliation for Palestinians because there’s less occupation.” That gradual, difficult process “can’t be judged just nine months into this government,” he added. If the current wave of violence ebbs soon, it might even be seen as evidence of the effectiveness of the Bennett government’s approach, said Zalzberg, the Jerusalem-based analyst. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a rare condemnation of the attack in Bnei Brak, a move that Israeli officials interpreted as a result of their increased engagement with him recently. Should the current violence subside, “it will give a sense that the PA is a partner and cooperation with it is valuable when fighting against Israel’s enemies,” Zalzberg said. That might “create more political space for steps that further empower the PA,” he added, while “obviously falling short of full-fledged Palestinian statehood.” But to Fahoum-Jayoussi, these piecemeal measures do not loosen the occupation, but instead give political cover for its entrenchment through the growth of existing settlements and settler violence, which rose in 2021. “The occupation is ongoing,” she said. “It’s actually getting worse and worse.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

China is preparing its first plan to battle climate change, a senior policy adviser said, stressing rising alarm about global warming in a nation where economic growth has gone untethered. Zou Ji, a climate policy expert at the People's University of China in Beijing, told Reuters the national programme will probably set broad goals for emissions and coping with changing weather patterns. It is likely to be released this year after at least two years of preparation and bureaucratic bargaining, he said. The plan showed that China was sharing deepening global alarm that greenhouse gases from factories, power plants and vehicles are lifting average temperatures and will seriously, perhaps calamitously, alter the world's climate, said Zou. "All this shows that the Chinese government is paying more and more attention to this issue," he said. "When it's approved and issued it will be China's first official, comprehensive document on climate change." Last week a U.N. panel of scientists warned that human activity is almost certainly behind global warming. The expert group gave a "best estimate" that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the 21st century, bringing more droughts, heatwaves and a rise in sea levels that could continue for over 1,000 years even if greenhouse gas emissions are capped. China is galloping to become possibly the world's third-biggest economy by 2008, overtaking Germany and lagging only Japan and the United States. And it may become the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases by 2009, overtaking the United States, the International Energy Agency has forecast. Beijing's public reaction to the panel's finding has been muted but behind the scenes it is paying attention to the raft of warnings, said Zou, who has been a member of Chinese delegation to international climate talks since 2000. Pan Yue, a vice minister of China's State Environmental Protection Administration, said wealthy countries bore most responsibility for cutting emissions but added that China would contribute, the China Business News reported on Monday. "As a responsible great power, China won't evade its duty," Pan told the paper. "There's tremendous pressure to reduce emissions, but this won't be solved overnight." Zou said the programme was awaiting approval from China's cabinet, or State Council, after being vetted by over a dozen ministries and agencies, but preparations for a major Communist Party congress later this year may slow its release. The dilemma facing President Hu Jintao is how to translate concern into policies that deliver growth and jobs while cutting fossil fuel use and greenhouse gases, said Alan Dupont, an expert on climate change and security at the University of Sydney. "The whole stability of the regime and, as Hu would see it, the future of his country, depends on the continuation of economic growth of 8 and 9 percent," Dupont said. "But the realisation is dawning on them that China will not get to where it wants to go unless it deals with climate change." In China's secretive, top-down government, few major policy shifts are advertised beforehand. But there have been growing signs that Beijing is worried about how global warming could frustrate ambitions for prosperity, stability and influence. Climate experts have been preparing a presentation on global warming for China's top leaders, the first time one of their regular study sessions will be devoted to climate change and a sure sign the issue is climbing the political ladder, said Zou.

President George W. Bush sought to calm Americans' fears about the economy on Monday while charting a course he hopes will keep him relevant in his final year in office. With the specter of recession supplanting the Iraq war as the top U.S. concern, Bush acknowledged in his final State of the Union address that growth was slowing but insisted the country's long-term economic fundamentals were sound. He prodded Congress to act quickly on a $150 billion economic stimulus package laid out out last week and resist the temptation to "load up" the plan with additional provisions. "In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth. But in the short run, we can all see that growth is slowing," Bush said in a globally televised speech to Congress. Politically weakened by the unpopular war in Iraq, eclipsed by the race to choose his successor and scrambling to stave off lame-duck status, Bush presented no bold new ideas. Bush urged Americans to be patient with the mission in Iraq almost five years after the U.S.-led invasion. He touted security gains in Iraq he ascribed to a troop buildup ordered last January but gave no hint of any further troop reductions there, asserting that such decisions would depend on his commanders' recommendations. Calling on Iran to "come clean" on its nuclear program, he issued a stern warning to Tehran, which he had branded part of an "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union speech. "Above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf," Bush said. A YEAR TO GO Bush's seventh State of the Union speech was a chance to set the tone for his waning months in the White House and try to salvage his frayed legacy before he leaves in January 2009. Sandwiched between Saturday's Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina and Tuesday's Republican contest in Florida, Bush will struggle to make himself heard above the growing din of the 2008 election campaign. Democratic White House hopefuls Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama attended the speech but Republican Sen. John McCain was campaigning in Florida where voters will choose their preference for the Republican nominee on Tuesday. "What he offered was more of the same -- a frustrating commitment to the same failed policies that helped turn record surpluses into large deficits, and push a thriving twenty-first century economy to the brink of recession," Clinton said. But topping Bush's agenda was a push for congressional passage of a stimulus package meant to avert recession in an economy suffering from high oil prices and a housing slump. "At kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future," Bush said, acknowledging rising food and gas prices and increasing unemployment. He is trying to head off attempts by some Senate Democrats to expand the plan beyond the tax rebates and business investment incentives agreed with House of Representatives leaders last week. The impetus for compromise is that no one, least of all an unpopular president nearing the end of his watch, wants to be blamed for an economic meltdown before the Nov. 4 elections. Some economists say the stimulus measures may buy time but will not be enough to solve the woes that have roiled global financial markets. "We're going to engender another bubble here because they're bailing the consumer and they're bailing out banks," said Michael Pento, senior market strategist at Delta Global Advisors in California. "TEMPORARY FIX" Delivering the Democratic response to Bush, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius called the stimulus plan only a "temporary fix" and urged Democrats and Republicans to work together so "we won't have to wait for a new president to restore America's role in the world." On Iraq, Bush was in a better position than a year ago, when he implored skeptical Americans to embrace his plan to send thousands more troops to Iraq. "Our enemies in Iraq have been hit hard," he said. "They have not been defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead." He announced no new troop reductions despite continuing calls from Democrats for a withdrawal timetable, something polls show most Americans want as well. Taking aim at Iran, Bush pressed Tehran not only on its nuclear program but to "cease your support for terror abroad." Bush's ability to rally international support against Iran has been diminished by a U.S. intelligence report that Tehran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Bush, a latecomer to the fight against global warming, also committed $2 billion for a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and combat climate change. He has faced international criticism for repeatedly rejecting caps on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the world's biggest polluter.

A self-styled democratic socialist whose calls for “Medicare for all,” a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public colleges have become pillars of the party’s left wing, Sanders is among the best-known politicians to join an already crowded Democratic field and one of the most outspoken against President Donald Trump, whom he has repeatedly called a “pathological liar” and a “racist.” “Three years ago, during our 2016 campaign, when we brought forth our progressive agenda we were told that our ideas were ‘radical’ and ‘extreme,'” Sanders said Tuesday in an early-morning email to supporters, citing those health, economic and education policies as well as combating climate change and raising taxes on wealthy Americans. “Well, three years have come and gone. And, as result of millions of Americans standing up and fighting back, all of these policies and more are now supported by a majority of Americans,” he said. Sanders did not immediately announce where he would campaign first, nor did he disclose any staffing decisions for his new political operation. A sensation in 2016, Sanders is facing a far different electoral landscape this time around. Unlike his last bid for the White House, when he was the only liberal challenger to an establishment-backed front-runner, he will be contending with a crowded and diverse field of other candidates, including popular Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who have adopted his populist mantle. Victories in the 2018 midterm election by women, minorities and first-time candidates also suggest that many Democrats may prefer fresh energy, something which sceptics believe Sanders could struggle to deliver. A 77-year-old whose left-wing message has remained largely unchanged in his decadeslong career, Sanders would also need to improve his support from black voters and quell the unease about his campaign’s treatment of women that has been disclosed in recent news accounts, and that has prompted two public apologies. Yet almost immediately after making his announcement, Sanders drew criticism for his response to Vermont Public Radio on Tuesday morning when asked if he thought he best represented the current Democratic Party. “We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the colour of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age,” Sanders said. “I think we have got to try to move us toward a nondiscriminatory society which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for.” The Republican National Committee issued a statement about Sanders that reflected Trump’s strategy of labelling his Democratic opponents as “socialists.” The statement criticised Sanders for supporting higher taxes on wealthy Americans to help finance “Medicare for all.” In an interview on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Sanders did not shy away from calling himself a democratic socialist in the face of Republican attacks. Trump, Sanders said, is “going to say, ‘Bernie Sanders wants the United States to become Venezuela.'” “Bernie Sanders does not want to have the United States become the horrific economic situation that unfortunately exists in Venezuela right now,” he said. “What Bernie Sanders wants is to learn from countries around the world why other countries are doing a better job of dealing with income and wealth inequality than we are.” Still, Sanders will start his campaign with several advantages, including the foundation of a 50-state organisation; a massive lead among low-dollar donors that is roughly equivalent to the donor base of all the other Democratic hopefuls combined; and a cache of fervent, unwavering supporters. A coveted speaker, he is still capable of electrifying crowds in a way few politicians can. He enjoys wide name recognition, and several early polls on the 2020 race had Sanders running second behind former Vice President Joe Biden. And while rising stars like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley have siphoned off some of his authority over the progressive wing of the party, he still claims to have spawned a “political revolution” that, true revolution or not, has reshaped the Democratic Party and ignited a generation of young, socialist-leaning voters. Sanders is also partly responsible for the party’s decision last year to overhaul its presidential nomination process, including sharply reducing the influence of superdelegates and increasing the transparency around debates — factors he felt greatly favoured Hillary Clinton in 2016. With his booming voice and familiar wide-armed grip at the lectern, Sanders has long positioned himself as a champion of the working class and a passionate opponent of Wall Street and the moneyed elite. His remarks often include diatribes against “the millionaihs and billionaihs” — one of his most common refrains is that the “three wealthiest people in America own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent” — as well as denunciations of “super PACs” and the influence of big money on politics. In particular, he has sharply criticised Amazon and Walmart over their wages and treatment of workers. In his planned email to supporters, Sanders laid out a litany of policy issues, familiar to anyone who has followed him through the years: universal health care, tuition-free public college, women’s reproductive rights, lower prescription drug prices, criminal justice reform. “Our campaign is about taking on the powerful special interests that dominate our economic and political life,” he said. And while some presidential candidates have avoided direct broadsides against Trump, Sanders — ever combative — addressed his potential opponent head on. “You know as well as I do that we are living in a pivotal and dangerous moment in American history,” he said. “We are running against a president who is a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and someone who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction.” © 2019 New York Times News Service

Funeral pyres have lit up the night sky in the worst affected cities, and the country has set a global record of 350,000 new infections a day, which experts say could be a vast undercount. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in response to questions about the export ban that “the United States first and foremost is engaged in an ambitious and effective and, so far, successful effort to vaccinate the American people.” The export restrictions fall under the Defense Production Act, which former President Donald Trump invoked in the early days of the pandemic and President Joe Biden has used since February to boost vaccine production in the United States. Price’s comments came Thursday, the day Biden assembled world leaders for a global climate summit that included India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. The White House used the summit to promote global cooperation in the fight against climate change and declared that the United States would help vulnerable countries, including India, deal with the ravages of rising temperatures. India, the world’s most populous democracy, is a vital US partner, especially at a time when relations with China are at a low point. “It’s of course not only in our interest to see Americans vaccinated,” Price went on to say. “It’s in the interests of the rest of world to see Americans vaccinated.” That did not go down well in India. “By stockpiling vaccines & blocking the export of crucial raw materials needed for vaccine production, the United States is undermining the strategic Indo-US partnership,” Milind Deora, a politician from Mumbai, one of the hardest-hit cities, said on Twitter. The contrast with the US tone on climate diplomacy was stark. “This is pathetic. Is this what the US’ “leadership” in the climate crisis will look like?” Ulka Kelkar, director of the climate program at the India office of the World Resources Institute, a research and advocacy group, said in a Twitter message. “Spare us the talking points.” India has also restricted the export of its domestically produced vaccines to meet Indian demand. Vaccine production has lagged behind the needs of India’s population of 1.2 billion people. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, a vaccine manufacturer, appealed to Biden in mid-April to “lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the US so that vaccine production can ramp up.” His company this past week faced criticism in India for the high price of its vaccines. Biden said earlier this week that the United States had sent some unused vaccine doses to Canada and Mexico and was considering sharing more. “We’re looking at what is going to be done with some of the vaccines that we are not using,” the president said Wednesday. “We’ve got to make sure they are safe to be sent.” News of India’s vaccine shortage, amid horrific scenes of overwhelmed hospitals and cremation grounds, spread on Twitter, drawing appeals to Biden from writer Salman Rushdie to public health expert Ashish K. Jha, who pointed out that the United States had millions of unused vaccine doses it could share. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg also weighed in. “The global community must step up and immediately offer the assistance needed,” she said Saturday on Twitter. Price noted that the United States had contributed $2 billion for the development of the COVAX vaccine, in use in India, and elsewhere, and would soon double that amount. “As we are more comfortable in our position here at home, as we are confident that we are able to address any contingencies as they may arise,” he said “I expect we’ll be able to do more.” ©2021 The New York Times Company

Pete Postlethwaite, the Oscar-nominated British actor, has died, a spokesman said on Monday. He was 64. He died in hospital in Shropshire, western England, on Sunday after suffering from cancer. "He had been unwell off and on for around two years and not worked as frequently as normal during the past year because of the cancer and its side effects," the spokesman said. Postlethwaite had been described by director Steven Spielberg as "probably the best actor in the world today". The two worked together on the movies "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Amistad". He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in "In the Name of the Father", the 1993 film about the wrongful convictions of the so-called Guildford Four for an Irish Republican Army bombing. Other notable film credits included "Brassed Off", "The Usual Suspects" and "Inception", while on stage he played the lead in "King Lear" in 2008 at Liverpool's Everyman, the northern English theatre where he began his career. Postlethwaite was well known for his political activism, appearing as front man in the climate change film "The Age of Stupid" and arriving at the 2009 London premiere on a bicycle. Actor Bill Nighy, who performed with Postlethwaite at the Everyman in the 1970s, paid tribute to "a rare and remarkable man. I was honoured by his friendship -- he is irreplaceable," Nighy was quoted as saying by the BBC. One friend, who asked not to be named, paid tribute to "a man of enormous dignity and integrity. "He was self-deprecating, enormously funny and had little time for fame or celebrity. The biggest love of his life was not acting, it was his family." Postlethwaite is survived by his wife Jacqui and two children Will, 21, and daughter Lily, 14.

After revealing a new draft treaty that removed some main points of contention last night, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a final text would now be presented to nearly 200 nations for review only on Saturday, not later on Friday as he had hoped just hours earlier. While annual UN climate meetings almost always run into overtime, the abrupt announcement came as some officials and observers also said that wee-hours discussions had not run as smoothly as hoped. The talks had been due to end on Friday. As at the outset two weeks ago, some nations remain at odds over issues such as how to balance actions by rich and poor to limit greenhouse gases, and also the long-term goals of any agreement to limit emissions that are warming the earth. One source said the "night was very hard". "Major countries have entrenched behind their red lines instead of advancing on compromise," said Matthieu Orphelin, spokesman for the Nicolas Hulot Foundation. Fabius, speaking on French BFMTV, kept a positive tone. "But the atmosphere is good, things are positive, things are going in the right direction," he said. Separately, China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone and said their countries would maintain cooperation on climate change, Chinese state television reported. It was unclear what they discussed, or whether the call signalled new divisions between the world's largest emitters, who struck a landmark climate accord last year. Xi said the two nations "must strengthen coordination with all parties and work together to ensure the Paris climate summit reaches an accord as scheduled", according to a report on state CCTV. The latest draft pointed to a compromise on the once-formidable divide over how ambitious the deal should be in trying to control the rise in the earth's surface temperature. It indicated apparent agreement on seeking a more ambitious goal to restrain the rise in temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

India and Pakistani officials began their first formal peace talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Monday in a meeting pushed into the background by the decision of their leaders to meet during a World Cup cricket match between the two countries. The two home secretaries, the top civil servants in charge of security issues, met in New Delhi to repair relations between nuclear rivals broken off after the Mumbai attacks when Pakistani militants killed 166 people in a three-day shooting spree. The talks are due to end on Tuesday, but the focus has already turned to Wednesday's World Cup cricket semi-final between the two old rivals after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Pakistani Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani to the game. Progress in Monday's talks was anyway expected to be small. They are about preparing the groundwork for a ministerial meeting in July that would put issues like Kashmir, terrorism and trade on the negotiating table in what is known as the "composite dialogue." The two countries, which have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947, agreed in February to resume formal peace talks. In a goodwill gesture ahead of the cricket match, President Asif Ali Zardari will also free an Indian national, Gopal Das, who has been languishing in a Pakistani prison for 27 years as an alleged spy. Wednesday's match has been heralded as "cricket diplomacy," something of a tradition between the two countries that has at least helped ease tensions in the past. Former Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq visited India in 1987 to watch a one-day match when the two countries' armies were eyeball-to-eyeball on the border. In 2005, Pakistan's then military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, travelled to India to watch a match but the trip effectively turned into a summit and the two leaders agreed to open up the militarised frontier dividing the disputed Kashmir region. "Going by past experience, however, cricket diplomacy has sadly been about short-lived atmospherics," The Times of India said in an editorial. The match has turned the northern city of Chandigarh into a fortress. There will be a "no fly zone" around the stadium and commandos will patrol the city. Anti-aircraft guns will be placed near the stadium, the Times of India reported. Touted as "the mother of all cricket contests," the game between the two cricket-mad nations has reportedly seen requests from business tycoons, including India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, to allow them to park their private jets in Chandigarh. Tickets sell on the black market for as much as $2,000 (1,250 pounds) in a country where 450 million live on less than $1.25 a day. SCEPTICISM ON ALL SIDES Pakistanis will be sceptical that Singh is simply playing to his domestic audience and trying to distract from a string of corruption scandals that have effectively paralysed the Congress-led government for months. "If the Indians have invited the prime minister and the president, there is no harm in going there, because this is a gesture," said Ejaz Haider, a Pakistani political analyst and contributing editor for Friday Times, "But this gesture in itself is not going to result in any breakthrough in substantial terms." Many Pakistanis also see little chance the ruling Congress party and its powerful, ruler-behind-the scenes Sonia Gandhi are really interested in making peace overtures. It is a risky issue for any Indian leader, one that wins few votes and would quickly backfire if there was another attack in India blamed on Pakistan. India, for its part, has always been sceptical about peace talks with civilian leaders in Pakistan, who play second fiddle to a more hawkish military intelligence service and army. TIME FOR A CHANGE But there may be new political winds blowing. The 78-year Singh was born in Pakistan before moving to India after Partition in 1947. Peace with Pakistan would secure his political legacy, threatened by months of corruption scams that have led the opposition to call for his resignation. Pakistan is also facing an increasingly difficult regional environment. India's new economic clout has seen it grow in influence with Pakistan's traditional ally, the United States. New Delhi has also been increasingly involved in aid to Afghanistan, see as Islamabad's backyard. In one sign that India may be taking these talks more seriously, the Times of India reported on Sunday that New Delhi wanted to open channels of communications with the Pakistan army chief and the head of its intelligence service, seen as the real powerbrokers in any talks. Singh's perceived determination may win similar commitment from the other side. "This kind of reputation that the PM has, in my view it helps," said Naresh Chandra, a former Indian ambassador to the United States. "It creates a climate that you can do business with this prime minister. It encourages the Pakistani side to do so."

The budget resolution, which Senate Democrats hope to pass by the end of this week, would allow the caucus to piece together social policy legislation this fall, paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy, large inheritances and corporations. Should all 50 senators who caucus with Democrats hold together, the measure could pass the Senate without a Republican vote, nullifying the filibuster threat. Democrats plan to take up the measure as soon as the Senate approves a separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is scheduled for a vote at 11 am Tuesday. Together, the measures could secure virtually all of President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda, rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, rail lines, water systems and electricity grid while expanding public education, social welfare and health care — and remaking the federal tax code. But the two-pronged effort will test Biden's ability to keep the razor-thin Democratic majorities in both chambers united as his party’s leaders both work with Republicans and manoeuvre around them. “It is big, bold change — the kind of change America thirsts for,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said on the Senate floor. “The American people don’t expect one piece of legislation to solve all our nation’s ills — no single law can do that — but we have to start in a bold, strong way.” Even with the blueprint yet to pass, rank-and-file lawmakers were jockeying to shape the specifics of the legislation it aims to create. The parameters laid out in the resolution and accompanying memos unlock the ability to draft a legislative package, setting the top line spending of $3.5 trillion and dividing it among the dozen committees assigned to hammer out details. With Republicans, who have branded the plan a reckless tax and spending spree, all likely opposed, Democrats will need to remain virtually united in both chambers — a difficult prospect, given that moderates have already begun to raise concerns about the price tag. © 2021 The New York Times Company

More than half the countries at 192-nation UN climate talks in Copenhagen back far tougher goals for limiting global warming than those favored by rich nations, a group of small island states said on Monday. The group, which says rising sea levels could wipe them off the map, complained that a 5-meter (15ft) globe hanging in the Copenhagen conference center omits many island states such as in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean. Dessima Williams, head of the 43-member alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said more than 100 nations had signed up for a goal of limiting rises in temperatures to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels, up from 86 in August. "Half of the United Nations is calling for ambitious and specific targets," Williams, of Grenada, told a news conference at the December 7-18 meeting among 192 nations trying to work out a new treaty to succeed the U.N.s Kyoto Protocol. The least developed nations, mostly in Africa, and small island states all support the 1.5 Celsius goal that would require cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations of at least 45 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. Any deal in Copenhagen will have to be agreed by unanimity. The depth of greenhouse gas cuts by the rich and the amount of funds on offer to help the poor are among major obstacles to a deal in Copenhagen. Most developed nations and leading emerging economies, led by China and India, back a goal of limiting warming to a maximum 2 Celsius over pre-industrial times. Temperatures have already risen by 0.7 Celsius and are set to rise further. "We are living on the front lines of climate change," Williams said, adding that AOSIS wanted a legally binding treaty from Copenhagen rather than a mere political declaration favored by many developed nations. Even with current warming, she said many islands were suffering "significant damage, some are going under the sea, some are losing their fresh water supply." Some coral reefs were getting damaged by rising temperatures. She dismissed suggestions of splits between the developing nations' group amid a dispute over a proposal by the Pacific Island state of Tuvalu for strong, legally binding pacts from Copenhagen for all nations. She said AOSIS members supported Tuvalu in principle but were still working out a common front. China and India favor legally binding cuts in greenhouse gases for rich nations in the Kyoto Protocol but less stringent obligations on the poor. "A fine sounding political declaration from Copenhagen without a legally binding outcome is like a shark without teeth," said Barry Coates, a spokesman for Oxfam. Antonio Lima, of Cape Verde, the vice chair of AOSIS, said climate change was a looming disaster for the poor -- like the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago that buried the Roman city of Pompeii. "They did not know what they were facing. Now we know what is going to happen. It will be the planet Pompeii," he said.

A strong shift toward renewable energies could create 2.7 million more jobs in power generation worldwide by 2030 than staying with dependence on fossil fuels would, a report suggested Monday. The study, by environmental group Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), urged governments to agree a strong new United Nations pact to combat climate change in December in Copenhagen, partly to safeguard employment. "A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as usual," the report said. Governments were often wrong to fear that a shift to green energy was a threat to jobs, said Sven Teske, lead author of the report at Greenpeace. He said that the wind turbine industry was already the second largest steel consumer in Germany after cars. "Renewable power industries can create a lot of jobs," he told Reuters of the outlook for solar, wind, tidal, biomass -- such as wood and crop waste -- and other renewable energies in power generation. "This research proves that renewable energy is key to tackling both the climate and economic crises," said Christine Lins, Secretary General of EREC, which represents clean energy industries. Assuming strong policies to shift to renewables, the study projected that the number of jobs in power generation would rise by more than 2 million to 11.3 million in 2030, helped by a surge in renewables jobs to 6.9 million from 1.9 million. COAL DECLINE Under a scenario of business as usual, the number of jobs in power generation would fall by about half a million to 8.6 million by 2030, hit by mainly by a decline in the coal sector due to wider mechanization. Teske said that the report was not advocating creation of millions of jobs in uncompetitive labor-intensive clean energy industries propped up by government subsidies. "Renewables must be competitive in the long run," he said. Labor costs would be higher but costs to drive a renewable power industry would be lower, for instance, in a world where it cost ever more to emit carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. The report said that, for the first time in 2008, both the United States and the European Union added more capacity from renewable energies than from conventional sources including gas, coal oil and nuclear power. The report suggested the wind sector alone, for instance, could employ 2.03 million people in generating power in 2030 against about 0.5 million in 2010. "The union movement, as well as the authors of this report, believe ambitious climate action by world leaders can and must be a driver for sustainable economic growth and social progress," Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said in a statement. The report was based partly on research by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney.

That was then. Now, as Democrats grapple with the possibility that President Donald Trump could win four more years in the White House, Werner feels that betting on the next generation is a risk she can’t afford to take. “We’re in such terrible straits that everything I’ve worked for my entire professional, personal life is about to go down the toilet,” said Werner, 72, as she waited to see former Vice President Joe Biden at a pizza parlor in Hampton. “Young people, I think they are hungry for change and they deserve change, but they don’t know how scary this is.” The political power of generational change, a constant in Democratic politics and in victorious presidential campaigns for much of the past 60 years, is being hotly debated as the party wrestles with how to defeat Trump. Age has never defined a race so sharply before. The 23 Democrats include one of the youngest presidential candidates in modern history and the oldest one, spanning four generations — from 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to 77-year-old Bernie Sanders, senator from Vermont. “The age thing is going to be one of the wedges by the time we get to the caucus next year,” said Bryce Smith, the 27-year-old Democratic chairman in Dallas County, a fast-growing suburb of Des Moines, Iowa. “It’s that question of experience versus new leadership.” Interviews with more than three dozen voters, strategists and officials in recent weeks showed Democrats struggling not only with the question of how old, exactly, was too old but also with whether it was time to turn over the country’s most powerful office to a new generation. Democratic midterm wins ushered in a diverse wave of younger politicians, assisted by record turnout from young voters. Twenty-four Democrats under the age of 40 entered Congress, a fourfold increase from just two years ago. While the three most powerful House Democrats are in their late 70s, the party’s youngest members, like 29-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, exert tremendous influence over its agenda. Their victories boosted expectations that youth could be an asset in the presidential race. Yet, at a time of ascendancy for younger Democrats, some worry there may be political peril in nominating a younger politician to challenge the 72-year-old Trump. It’s a notable shift for a party that has traditionally won the White House by embracing the ethos of a new generation in candidates like Obama in 2008, Bill Clinton in 1992 and John F. Kennedy in 1960. The two men leading most national polls — Sanders and Biden — would be over 80 by the time they finished their first term in office, beating out Trump to become the oldest of any president elected to a first term. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who polls in third place in many surveys, will be 71 on Election Day. Their age cuts a striking contrast with many of their rivals: Biden won his first statewide race for Senate in 1972, before eight of the Democratic candidates had been born. When Sanders entered Congress in 1990, 10 of his opponents had not yet graduated from college. Both men were the only candidates in federal office during the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first invasion of Iraq and the first major generational transition for their party in more than three decades — the election of Clinton in 1992. “If you think about Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, they really almost represent the very late years of the silent generation,” said Neil Howe, a generational demographer who coined the phrase “millennial generation” in 1991. Biden has repeatedly said that it is fair to question his age, announcing that he plans to release his medical records before the general election. But Sanders, pointing to his good health, has dismissed questions about his age as less important than those about his positions. “At the end of the day, it’s not whether you’re young or whether you’re old — it’s what you believe in,” argued Sanders during a Fox News town hall in April. Meanwhile, younger candidates have made their age a central part of their primary message, arguing they’re better prepared to embrace the new solutions needed to tackle issues like climate change, health care and the changing economy. A survey released by the Pew Research Center this month found that just 3% of Americans say candidates in their 70s are ideal for the office. “The world has changed so rapidly and we need what comes with a generational shift — new ideas, new approaches, new ways of doing things,” said Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, 45, who describes his age as one of his strongest assets. Buttigieg has made “intergenerational justice” the central theme of his candidacy, often saying he worries about what the United States will be like in 2054 — the year he will be Trump’s current age. In an interview, Buttigieg said he references that year to try to encourage Democrats to look beyond defeating the president. “What’s helpful, I think, with the generational energy that a young candidate can bring, is being able to put a very quick face on the urgency of dealing with things for the future,” he said. “When we’re trying to design that world, substantively, it points you to a place that’s more favorable turf for Democrats.” Historically, Democratic nominees and presidents have been younger than their Republican counterparts. The two Democratic nominees who have won the White House since 1992 — Clinton and Obama — cast themselves as agents of generational change. “Political parties are like anything else; they have to refresh themselves,” said James Carville, a chief strategist of Clinton’s 1992 victory. “The country, in 1992 and 2008, had great angst and dissatisfaction with things. I certainly see that now.” In the early months of the Democratic primary, a fairly significant split has developed between younger and older voters. While Biden leads the Democratic field across demographic groups, polling shows him with a far bigger advantage among voters over age 55. That’s a powerful cohort to have backing his bid: In 2016, voters older than 45 cast 60% of all votes in the 2016 primary, according to an analysis of exit polling. But the dominance of older voters at the polls may not hold in 2020. This presidential race is likely to be the first election in which voters under 40 make up the same proportion of the electorate as voters over 55 — nearly 40% of the electorate, according to some early projections. Generation Z, Millennials and Generation X outvoted older generations in the 2018 midterms, and early surveys show them on track to turn out in far greater numbers in next year’s primary contests than they did four years ago. “The generational gap is growing larger,” said John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics, which regularly surveys young voters. “Younger people believe they’ve been on the short end of the stick for a generation now.” Polling shows that younger voters lean more to the left than their parents do, with a majority saying they support programs like government-run health insurance, free college and action to curb climate change. In polling conducted by Harvard University in March, only 16% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they agreed with the statement that “elected officials who are part of the Baby Boomer generation care about people like me.” They are also more likely to embrace the possibility of a history-making candidate, expressing greater enthusiasm for a female nominee. “I’m ready for someone who’s not an older white man,” said Meg Thode, 21, a recent college graduate. “The country doesn’t look the same way it did 20, 30, 40 years ago.” Some younger voters say they question whether the older candidates really understand the increasing diversity of the country and the kinds of economic challenges younger people face. “It seems like the younger politicians understand the issues that are on our minds more,” said Rachel Felorman, a 19-year-old student in New Hampshire. “Look who’s taking the most action on climate change, on affordable health care and affordable tuition.” But Della Volpe cautions that age alone is unlikely to determine the millennial and Generation Z vote, pointing to the strong support that Sanders had from young voters during his 2016 primary campaign. Early polling in this race shows Sanders leading among younger voters. Rising generations are rarely represented by presidents their own age, Howe said. “It’s one thing for the government to reflect that younger generation. It’s a very different thing to say that means that someone from that generation has to be elected,” he said. “An interesting question is, could Bernie Sanders be the great champion for the millennial generation?” ©2019 New York Times News Service

But it is all by accident, and it will cause a bit of a mess. SpaceX, the rocket company started by Elon Musk, has been selected by NASA to provide the spaceship that will take its astronauts back to the surface of the moon. That is still years away. Instead, it is the 4-ton upper stage of a SpaceX rocket launched seven years ago that is to crash into the moon Mar 4, based on recent observations and calculations by amateur astronomers. Impact is predicted for 7:25 am Eastern time, and while there is still some uncertainty in the exact time and place, the rocket piece is not going to miss the moon, said Bill Gray, developer of Project Pluto, a suite of astronomical software used to calculate the orbits of asteroids and comets. “It is quite certain it’s going to hit, and it will hit within a few minutes of when it was predicted and probably within a few kilometres,” Gray said. Since the beginning of the Space Age, various human-made artefacts have headed off into the solar system, not necessarily expected to be seen again. That includes Musk’s Tesla Roadster, which was sent on the first launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018 to an orbit passing Mars. But sometimes they come back around, like in 2020 when a newly discovered mystery object turned out to be part of a rocket launched in 1966 during NASA’s Surveyor missions to the moon. Gray has for years followed this particular piece of SpaceX detritus, which helped launch the Deep Space Climate Observatory for the National Oceanic and the Atmospheric Administration on Feb 11, 2015. That observatory, also known by the shortened name DSCOVR, was headed to a spot about 1 million miles from Earth where it can provide early warning of potentially destructive eruptions of energetic particles from the sun. DSCOVR was originally called Triana, an Earth observation mission championed by Al Gore when he was vice president. The spacecraft, derisively called GoreSat, was put into storage for years until it was adapted for use as a solar storm warning system. Today it regularly captures images of the whole of planet Earth from space, the original purpose of Triana, including instances when the moon crosses in front of the planet. Most of the time, the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket is pushed back into Earth’s atmosphere after it has delivered its payload to orbit, a tidy way to avoid cluttering space. But this upper stage needed all of its propellant to send DSCOVR on its way to its distant destination, and it ended up in a very high, elongated orbit around Earth, passing the orbit of the moon. That opened the possibility of a collision someday. The motion of the Falcon 9 stage, dead and uncontrolled, is determined primarily by the gravitational pull of the Earth, the moon and the sun and a nudge of pressure from sunlight. Debris in low-Earth orbit is closely tracked because of the danger to satellites and the International Space Station, but more distant objects like the DSCOVR rocket are mostly forgotten. “As far as I know, I am the only person tracking these things,” Gray said. While numerous spacecraft sent to the moon have crashed there, this appears to be the first time that something from Earth not aimed at the moon will end up there. On Jan 5, the rocket stage passed less than 6,000 miles from the moon. The moon’s gravity swung it on a course that looked like it might later cross paths with the moon. Gray put out a request to amateur astronomers to take a look when the object zipped past Earth in January. One of the people who answered the call was Peter Birtwhistle, a retired information technology professional who lives about 50 miles west of London. The domed 16-inch telescope in his garden, grandly named the Great Shefford Observatory, pointed at the part of the sky where the rocket stage zipped past in a few minutes. “This thing’s moving pretty fast,” Birtwhistle said. The observations pinned down the trajectory enough to predict an impact. Astronomers will have a chance to take one more look before the rocket stage swings out beyond the moon one last time. It should then come in to hit the far side of the moon, out of sight of anyone from Earth. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will not be in a position to see the impact live. But it will later pass over the expected impact site and take photographs of the freshly excavated crater. Mark Robinson, a professor of earth and space exploration at Arizona State University who serves as the principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s camera, said he expected 4 tons of metal, hitting at a speed of some 5,700 mph, would carve out a divot 10 to 20 meters wide, or up to 65 feet in diameter. That will give scientists a look at what lies below the surface, and unlike meteor strikes, they will know exactly the size and time of the impact. India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, also in orbit around the moon, might also be able to photograph the impact site. Other spacecraft headed toward the moon this year might get a chance to spot the impact site — if they do not also end up making unintended craters. ©2022 The New York Times Company

The fund, announced in Fresno, California, is part of Obama's pledge to speed federal assistance to the most populous US state.California is attempting to cope with its worst drought in recorded history, which is threatening its critical agriculture industry, energy production and other industries.The fund is part of a broader approach to deal with climate change that Obama outlined in his Climate Action Plan in June 2013.While certain elements of that plan can be carried out through executive action, the fund requires Congressional approval, which makes its future uncertain."Given the saliency of the issues in communities across the political spectrum, it seems likely to create some momentum for action in Congress, although obviously that is very hard to say in the current environment," said Billy Pizer, associate professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.Republicans and some Democrats in coal reliant states have bitterly opposed previous attempts to pass legislation that would put a mandatory limit on carbon emissions. Some have tried to pass legislation that would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon emissions.The proposal will be formally introduced when Obama unveils his fiscal 2015 budget in March.It will help communities deal with extreme weather events, such as floods, drought, heat waves, and wildfires, according to the White House. Such disasters include Superstorm Sandy in 2012; the April 2011 tornado outbreak in Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States; and California wildfires in October 2007.Funds would be used to research how to better prepare for climate change-related effects like rising sea levels and extreme temperatures and encourage local initiatives. Other investments would include "breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure" such as building sea walls and more resilient electricity delivery systems to protect vulnerable cities and towns.The concept of the fund is based on a recommendation made in December 2012 by the think tank Center for American Progress (CAP).CAP founder John Podesta is a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. Podesta returned to the White House in December as a senior adviser to Obama."Every dollar spent on resilience will save federal taxpayers $4 in lower disaster recovery costs," Daniel Weiss, CAP's director of climate strategy, said on Friday, citing a study by the organization. "Now it's up to Congress to make this essential preparedness fund into a reality."CAP's proposal, called the community resilience fund, would direct the president to appoint a bipartisan panel to design the fund and recommend ways to pay for it.Nancy Sutley, the director of the White House's Council for Environmental Quality, said on Friday that Obama will use the California drought to highlight the importance of the climate resilience issue."This continues to demonstrate the continuing need to focus on resiliency, on reducing risks and vulnerabilities in light of the changing climate," said Sutley, whose last day at the CEQ was Friday. Sutley plans to return to her home state of California this month.

Climate experts neared agreement on Friday on the bleakest UN warning yet about the impacts of global warming, ranging from failing crops and hunger in Africa to species extinctions and rising sea levels. Scientists working with government delegates from more than 100 nations on the UN climate panel were locked in overnight talks in Brussels, seeking to overcome differences about a 21-page summary due for publication at 0800 GMT. Some parts of the text were toned down from a draft but delegates sharpened other sections, including adding a warning that some African nations might have to spend 5 to 10 percent of gross domestic product on adapting to climate change. The report predicts water shortages that could affect billions of people, extinctions of species and a rise in ocean levels that could go on for centuries. It says human emissions of greenhouse gases are very likely the main cause of warming. The text also says climate change could lead to a sharp fall in crop yields in Africa, a thaw of Himalayan glaciers and more heatwaves for Europe and North America. In one section, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) toned down risks of extinctions. "Approximately 20-30 percent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5 degrees Celsius (2.7-4.5 Fahrenheit)," the text said. A previous draft had said 20-30 percent of all species would be at "high risk" of extinction with those temperature rises. One participant said the United States, China and Saudi Arabia opposed mention of a 2006 study by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern that said it would be cheaper to fight climate change now than suffer consequences of inaction. The European Commission, Britain and Austria favoured including a reference to the Stern review. The report also softened a sentence saying salt marshes and mangroves "will be" negatively affected by sea level rise to say they "are projected to be" negatively affected. But it toughened some sections by saying "significant loss of biodiversity" was possible in parts of Australia such as the Great Barrier Reef by 2020. The IPCC report makes clear climate change, blamed mainly on human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, is no longer a vague, distant threat. "The whole of climate change is something actually here and now rather than something for the future," said Neil Adger, a British lead author of the report. The report will set the tone for policy making in coming years, including the effort to extend the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. Kyoto binds 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions but has been undercut by a 2001 pullout by the United States, the top emitting nation. U.S. President George W. Bush says Kyoto would cost U.S. jobs and wrongly excludes developing nations such as China. Friday's report will be the second by the IPCC this year. In February, the first said it was more than 90 percent probable that mankind was to blame for most global warming since 1950. The report emphasises developing nations are likely to suffer most even though they have done little to burn fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution.

Barack Obama on Wednesday will mark the 100th day of his presidency after a whirlwind start in which he has signaled a new approach on policies from the economy to climate change to US relations with Iran. Some have used the milestone to assess Obama's policies, even as analysts cautioned it was too soon to say whether his long list of initiatives will yield success. While dismissing the 100-day milestone as an artificial gauge created by the media, the White House is nonetheless putting a spotlight on it with high-profile events. Those include a visit by Obama to Arnold, Missouri, near St. Louis, for a town-hall style event and a televised news conference at the White House at 8 p.m. EDT/0000 GMT. The popular U.S. president, whose approval ratings are above 60 percent, will likely use the events to push his agenda for overhauling health care, fixing the troubled banking sector, rescuing U.S. automobile companies, combating global warming and pursuing greater engagement abroad. Looming large as well for Obama is a flu outbreak that has presented him with his first public health emergency and a simmering controversy over his decision to release classified documents detailing harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects during the Bush administration. The tradition of marking the first 100 days of U.S. presidencies dates back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who trumpeted his ability to push through 15 pieces of major legislation in that time period after taking office in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. Though none of Roosevelt's successors have yet matched the activity of his first few months in the White House, there remains a fascination in the media with the gauge. "There is no magic to the first 100 days," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "I think people are always looking for a maker or some sort of guidepost." As an example of the measures' flaws as a leading indicator, many analysts cite the first 100 days of the presidency of George W. Bush. The Republican president's two terms in office came to be defined by decisions such as the launch of the Iraq war that occurred in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks -- nearly nine months after Bush took office. STIMULUS, WAR STRATEGIES, HEALTH CARE Still, Baker and other experts said Obama's early months have revealed much about his style of governing, including his calm demeanor and effectiveness at commanding the stage but also his penchant for piling a lot onto his policy plate. So far in his presidency, Obama has enacted a $787 billion stimulus program, launched a drive to overhaul the health care system, made overtures toward longtime U.S. foes Iran and Cuba and unveiled new strategies for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. William Galston, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, said he viewed the 100-day mark as "an entirely artificial benchmark." On the other hand, Galston said, "I think we've learned a fair amount about Obama the human being occupying the Oval Office." "But a lot of people are leaping from the fact that he's set an enormous number of things in motion to the conclusion that those things that are now in motion are necessarily going to reach the finish line," Galston said. "It's not a leap I'm prepared to take." On the domestic policy side, Obama has been criticized by some who contend the stimulus package and a proposed $3.55 trillion budget he laid out for 2010 will curb economic growth in the future by leading to a pileup of government debt. Some critics have also faulted Obama's handling of the banking crisis, saying he should have moved earlier and more aggressively to try to grapple with problem of bad debt hanging over the financial system. But Obama's supporters point to what they see as early signs his economic remedies may be working, including a steadier tone to the stock market and a stabilization of new claims for jobless benefits after their prior huge increases. The president also got some upbeat news on the political front this week with the defection of Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter from the Republican Party. Specter's decision to join Obama's Democrats may put the president's party within reach of a crucial 60-seat majority in the Senate. That could make it easier for Obama to pass some of his top initiatives such as health care reform.

U.N. climate talks fell into crisis on Saturday after some developing nations angrily rejected a plan worked out by U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders of other major economies for fighting global warming. Copenhagen, meant to be the climax of two years of negotiations, risked ending with no firm U.N. accords despite a summit of 120 world leaders on Friday who tried to work out the first climate blueprint since the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Countries including Venezuela, Sudan and Tuvalu said they opposed a deal spearheaded on Friday in Copenhagen by the United States, China, India, South Africa and Brazil at the summit. The deal would need unanimous backing to be adopted. Opponents said the document, which sets a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degree Celsius rise over pre-industrial times and holds out the prospect of $100 billion in annual aid from 2020 for developing nations, was too weak. An acrimonious session long past midnight hit a low point when a Sudanese delegate said the plan in Africa would be like the Holocaust by causing more deadly floods, droughts, mudslides, sandstorms and rising seas. The document "is a solution based on the same very values, in our opinion, that channeled six million people in Europe into furnaces," said Sudan's Lumumba Stanislaus Di-aping. "The reference to the Holocaust is, in this context, absolutely despicable," said Anders Turesson, chief negotiator of Sweden. "This institution faces a moment of profound crisis at this meeting," British Environment Minister Ed Miliband said. He urged delegates to accept the plan, which he said would improve the lives of millions. U.N. BLUEPRINT Other nations including European Union states, Japan, a representative of the African Union and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) urged delegates to adopt the plan as a U.N. blueprint for action to combat climate change. "AOSIS stands by the document, we stand by the process," said Dessima Williams, chair of AOSIS. "It was not perfect, there were and still are things in it that we would not want." "We have a real danger of (U.N. climate) talks going the same way as WTO (trade) talks and other multilateral talks," Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said, urging delegates to back the plan to prevent the process dragging on for years. For any deal to become a U.N. pact it would need to be adopted unanimously at the 193-nation talks. If some nations are opposed, the deal would be adopted only as a less binding document or merely by its supporters -- a group representing far more than half the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Many nations said the deal fell far short of U.N. ambitions for Copenhagen, meant as a turning point to push the world economy toward renewable energies such as hydro, solar and wind power and away from fossil fuels. Before leaving, Obama said the deal was a starting point. "This progress did not come easily and we know this progress alone is not enough," he said after talks with China's Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of India, South Africa and Brazil. "We've come a long way but we have much further to go," he said of the deal. "The meeting has had a positive result, everyone should be happy," said Xie Zhenhua, head of China's climate delegation. European nations were lukewarm to a deal that cut out some goals mentioned previously in draft texts, such as a target of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. "The decision has been very difficult for me. We have done one step, we have hoped for several more," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called the deal "a significant agreement on climate change action. It is the first global agreement on climate change action between rich nations and poor countries." Many European nations want Obama to offer deeper U.S. cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. But Obama was unable to, partly because carbon capping legislation is stalled in the U.S. Senate. Washington backed a plan to raise $100 billion in aid for poor nations from 2020. The deal sets an end-January 2010 deadline for all nations to submit plans for curbs on emissions to the United Nations. A separate text proposes an end-2010 deadline for reporting back on -- but dropped a plan to insist on a legally binding treaty. Some environmental groups were also scathing. "The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport," said John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK.

In the latest round of climate protests across the world, people power is making all the impact, Khalidi said at an event organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust in Dhaka on Thursday. “Both initiated or organised non-violent noncooperation movement against the powers that be. Both were faced with villainous opponents who turned things violent,” he said. In Gandhi’s case, it was caused in an indirect way: post-1947 India saw terrible violence, with more than a million deaths, nearly 15 million displaced, families separated, thanks to the forces he defeated. As for Bangabandhu, his non-violent protests were met with brutal, massively disproportionate military power of the Pakistani army. “Resistance followed, in both cases, in different forms, both our heroes emerged victorious.” The influence of pioneering leaders such as Gandhi and Bangabandhu is evident in the ongoing climate protests organised by young activists around the world, according to Khalidi. Earlier this week, the #ShutdownDC was the culmination of a series of protests organised by young activists around the world. Thousands descended on the US capital bringing traffic to a halt and without even firing a gunshot in trigger-happy America. "This relentless onslaught on nature, on this tiny planet that is home to seven billion of us, in addition to numerous, countless other creatures, plants and trees, is more damaging than probably all the wars in human history put together," said Khalidi. Highlighting the protesters’ call for action against the extremities of climate change and its impact on the global population, Khalidi said: “In their lifetime, Mahatma Gandhi and Bangabandhu worked for fair, equitable and safe societies. These climate protesters have a similar objective.” Khalidi was addressing a seminar on the founding fathers of India and Bangladesh along with historian Dr Muntasir Mamun, organised by the Gandhi Ashram Trust to commemorate their 150th and 100th birth anniversaries. The programme at the National Museum in Shahbagh was also attended by Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammed Abdur Razzaque, former fisheries and livestock minister Narayon Chandra Chanda, Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Riva Ganguly Das and Gandhi Ashram Trust’s Chairman Swadesh Roy. Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque speaking at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman Razzaque recounted events of Mahatma Gandhi and Bangabandhu’s lives to describe how they shaped the contemporary issues of their times. Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque speaking at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman Religion greatly influenced politics in the times of Mahatma Gandhi and Bangabandhu, but they never pursued religion-based politics, the agriculture minister said. “Bangabandhu realised from the very beginning that religion cannot be used in politics. Gandhi too said religious fanatics who use religion are enemies of the people. Bangabandhu believed it wholeheartedly,” he said. He recalled how the Awami Muslim League was founded by breaking away from the Muslim League and later dropped the word “Muslim” from its name. “The Muslim League was equivalent to religion at the time. To speak against the Muslim League meant speaking against religion. He (Bangabandhu) took those steps,” Razzaque, a member of the Awami League’s presidium, said. Gandhi’s words and strategy are relevant, to this day, the minister said. He proved in his movement against the disciplined, mighty British forces time and again that nonviolence and non-coopetation movement is no less effective. Nonviolent resistance need participation and inspiration, which is why it works better, High Commissioner Riva Das said. “At the heart of Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent (movement) was his belief that strength comes from righteousness not force; power comes from truth not might; victory comes from moral courage not imposed submission. History, both past and contemporary, confirms violence only begins violence in an unending spiral, fostering hatred and revenge, violence seeks to impose and overwhelm,” she said. Giving example of the leaderships of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr as well, she said many things are possible to achieve through non-violence but not through use of force.    She urged all to apply the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Bangabandhu in their daily life instead of limiting these to events only. To the youth of Bangladesh, she said they need to hold the Liberation War spirit in their hearts while treading the path of development so that they can repay Bangabandhu and the freedom fighters for their sacrifices by building a multicultural nation of many ethnicities. Narayon Chandra Chanda, a member of the parliament, speaking at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman Former minister Narayon said both Mahatma Gandhi and Bangabandhu were uncompromising in establishing the people’s rights through nonviolent resistance. “They held this ideal in their personal lives as well.” Narayon Chandra Chanda, a member of the parliament, speaking at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman Many allegations of corruption were levelled against Bangabandhu, but even his killers could not find any such thing as he never compromised on his ideals. Professor Muntasir Mamun of Dhaka University’s history department speaks at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman Dhaka University history teacher Professor Muntasir Mamun also said Gandhi was pious, but he kept politics away from religion. Professor Muntasir Mamun of Dhaka University’s history department speaks at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman Referring to intelligence reports on Bangabandhu, which are being published as a book, he said no-one can say that Bangabandhu used religion in politics.  Even his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League used religion in some way after his death, Prof Mamun said, criticising the ruling party’s policies. “Only Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the exception who never wanted to use religion as a tool of politics.” Journalist Swadesh Roy told the youth at the event that they should follow the path showed by the two great leaders in order to tackle the problems of the world. The Trust’s Director Raha Naba Kumar moderated the seminar.   “STILL RELEVANT TO OVERCOME CONTEMPORARY ILLS, INJUSTICES” In leading their countries’ struggle for freedom, both Gandhi and Bangabandhu drew on their extraordinary networking skills, ability to love people and make personal sacrifices to inspire the masses, said Khalidi. The impact of the two leaders transcends their own lifetimes and their stories are especially relevant to overcome the contemporary ills and injustices across the world, he noted.   “The saddest part is, the key climate criminals are the rich and the powerful; the high and the mighty. The biggest polluters are the so-called advanced economies, the most mechanised societies.” These are the countries that are capable of destroying human civilisation in minutes or seconds, and that too many many times over, Khalidi said. “In their lifetime, both our heroes fought the mighty and the powerful. Both taught the world how to deal with them, how to defeat them. In afterlife, they are believed to be doing more.” bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi speaking at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman India and Bangladesh top the list of climate change victims that also include South Africa, where Gandhi worked for more than 20 years, and the regions such as the Caribbean. bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi speaking at a discussion organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust at the Begum Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman According to a British think tank, Bangladeshi households are spending almost Tk 158 billion taka a year on repairing the damages caused by climate change and preventive measures. “This sum is 112 times what international donors give Bangladesh and twice the amount what the Bangladeshi government spends,” said Khalidi. Rural families are therefore forced to divert their resources to counter the effects of climate change.   “Families are forced to borrow from informal sources at high-interest rates, pushing them into deeper poverty. That’s the report from the International Institute for Environment and Development.” Both Gandhi and Bangabandhu would have raised their voices in a bid to alleviate the plight of these families, said Khalidi. But even in their absence, they continue to impact the course of the world. “Take the case of Bangabandhu. Even his leadership in absentia galvanised global support despite strong opposition from some of the very powerful nations to the cause of Bangladesh in 1971.”  

Worldwide, about 52 percent of farmland is already damaged, according to the report by The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD), compiled by 30 research groups around the world. It estimated that land degradation worldwide cost between $6.3 trillion and $10.6 trillion a year in lost benefits such as production of food, timber, medicines, fresh water, cycling of nutrients or absorption of greenhouse gases. "One third of the world is vulnerable to land degradation; one third of Africa is threatened by desertification," it said. Such degradation, including from clearance of tropical forests, pollution and over-grazing "can also lead to transboundary migration, and eventually create regional conflicts", it said. The report cited a 2012 UN finding that up to 50 million people could be forced to seek new homes and livelihoods within a decade because of desertification. "Increased land degradation is also one of the factors that can lead to migration and it is being exacerbated by climate change," European Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella said in a statement about the report. Zafar Adeel, director of the UN University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health which contributed to the ELD report, told Reuters that it was hard to pin down exact reasons for migration, for instance refugees fleeing Syria for Europe. "We now have multiple factors - social, conflict - as in the case of Syria," he said. In May, a study in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlighted the link between drought, man-made climate change and conflict in Syria. "Human-induced climate change made a multi-year drought the most severe in the observed record," Colin Kelley of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led that Syria study, told Reuters. "The severity of this drought started a cascade of events, namely an agricultural collapse, a mass migration of farming families to the cities in Syria’s west, and ultimately conflict," he said. Much of the estimated lost trillions of dollars from land degradation in Tuesday's study falls outside conventional measures of gross domestic product - such as "free" pollination by insects or water purification by forests. "We need to take a much broader approach to managing the planet" including a price on natural services, Robert Costanza, an author at the Australian National University, told Reuters.

Greenpeace urged European Union and African leaders meeting in Lisbon over the weekend to take urgent measures to stop the destruction of African forests which cause carbon emissions responsible for climate change. "Leaders in Lisbon have to exercise political muscle and immediately support a halt to deforestation in Africa," said Stephan Van Praet, coordinator for the Greenpeace International Africa Forest Campaign. Trees soak up carbon dioxide -- the main greenhouse gas -- as they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt. According to the United Nations, deforestation accounts for around 25 percent of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide -- roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide produced by the United States, the world's largest polluter. "It's clear they have to take urgent measures," he said. Greenpeace activists unveiled a banner at Lisbon's Vasco da Gama tower on Friday that read: "Save the Climate-Save African forests." Stephan Van Praet said Greenpeace would continue with its campaign over the weekend in Lisbon. Europe should also adopt legislation to prevent illegal timber from being imported into its market to bolster the continent's credibility in the fight against climate change and forest destruction, he said. "If Europe wants to be responsible in the international market, they should start at home," he said. The EU has set a goal of cutting emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 as part of a drive to mitigate the consequences of climate change, which could mean more heatwaves, more disease, rising seas and droughts.

Climate change is one of the factors causing an increase in the incidence of diseases like malaria and dengue fever, the World Health Organisation said on Monday. At least 150,000 more people are dying each year of malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and floods, all of which can be traced to climate change, said Shigeru Omi, the head of the WHO's Western Pacific office. More than half of those deaths are in Asia, Omi told reporters. "Malaria-carrying mosquitos are now found in areas where there was no malaria before," he said, saying they were spreading to cooler climes from the tropics. "For dengue, there are many other factors responsible for the rise of the mosquitos. But I am sure that climate change is certainly playing one of the many roles, that much we can say." Malaria kills at least 100,000 people each year. WHO also estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection around the world every year, of which half a million will require hospitalisation. About 12,500 of the cases will be fatal. Climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, rivers to dry up and weather patterns to become erratic, Omi said. Floods, drought and heatwaves are taking a toll on human health, he said. Omi said the WHO is setting aside $10 million for an advocacy programme to inform people and governments about the health dangers of climate change. Less consumption of energy and advances in technology to lower carbon emissions will be crucial, he said. "In my office, we don't wear neckties any more, unless it is a very formal occasion," he said, adding that this led to less use of air conditioning. "There are many things ordinary citizens can do to avoid unnecessary use of electricity."

The frill is gone, baby. Tailored and sophisticated styles will take over from flowery baby-doll looks in fashion next spring. The serious tone of spring collections, shown this week in New York, reflect the mood of a nation facing such tasks as choosing its next president and resolving the conflict in Iraq, say experts who see hundreds of shows in the semi-annual Fashion Week coming to a close on Wednesday. Women's spring clothes are fitted and professional, a sign that the fashion world listens and responds to consumers' state of mind, said luxury consultant Robert Burke. A youthful look no longer suits the climate, he said. "There's uncertainty and things are a bit more serious. The stock market's been all over the place and elections are coming up," Burke said. "People want to look more serious and sophisticated as opposed to frivolous and girly." So spring will bring cinched waists, fitted blouses, pleated skirts, shirtdresses and high-necked collars. Designer Charles Nolan showed school blazers. Derek Lam and Tibi produced safari-style jackets, while swingy jackets with shortened sleeves emerged in shows by VPL by Victoria Bartlett, Lyn Devon, Tibi and Luca Luca. Alexandre Herchcovitch deconstructed tuxedos into waistcoats and backless vests. Sleeveless sheathes and strapless cocktail dresses were abundant and Carolina Herrera brought out dressy cocktail shorts as well. "It's much more ladylike and very classic, and that is often suggestive of a much more thoughtful time," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "It will be even more so next spring and summer because of the situation with the war and the national election." HILLARY'S IMPACT Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is having no small impact on fashion, she said. "It puts us to thinking of women in a more powerful position. This is no time for girly stuff." Politics influenced the collection by Zac Posen. "To me, with the elections coming, it's all about finding a way for the U.S. to transition elegantly," he said. Designer Catherine Malandrino said the uncertainty of the times helped inspire her elegant collection as well. "The way I'm dressing women is to bring harmony to the body," she said. "It's harmony between the body and the soul. There's something very peaceful about it and I think we need it." Some scoff at the notion designers pay heed to what women want or need. "I wish," said David A. Wolfe of The Doneger Group trend forecasters. "I think designers just get bored." The changing style is a matter of economics, said Patricia Pao, head of the Pao Principle retail consultants. "The whole unstructured look has been a nightmare for all the designers because in six weeks, the exact same thing is copied," Pao said. "More structured dressing is very hard to copy." The baby-doll look wore out its welcome on catwalks, many say, after making women appear overly casual and sloppy. "I think everybody was afraid to show it because everyone was making fun of it," said Stan Herman, former head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Global warming is one of the most significant threats facing humankind, researchers warned, as they unveiled a study showing how climate changes in the past led to famine, wars and population declines. The world's growing population may be unable to adequately adapt to ecological changes brought about by the expected rise in global temperatures, scientists in China, Hong Kong, the United States and Britain wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The warmer temperatures are probably good for a while, but beyond some level plants will be stressed," said Peter Brecke, associate professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. "With more droughts and a rapidly growing population, it is going to get harder and harder to provide food for everyone and thus we should not be surprised to see more instances of starvation and probably more cases of hungry people clashing over scarce food and water." Trawling through history and working out correlative patterns, the team found that temperature declines were followed by wars, famines and population reductions. The researchers examined the time period between 1400 and 1900, or the Little Ice Age, which recorded the lowest average global temperatures around 1450, 1650 and 1820, each separated by slight warming intervals. "When such ecological situations occur, people tend to move to another place. Such mass movement leads to war, like in the 13th century, when the Mongolians suffered a drought and they invaded China," David Zhang, geography professor at the University of Hong Kong, said in an interview on Thursday. "Or the Manchurians who moved into central China in 17th century because conditions in the northeast were terrible during the cooling period," he said. "Epidemics may not be directly linked to temperature (change), but it is a consequence of migration, which creates chances for disease to spread." HALF THE WORLD AT RISK Although the study cited only periods of temperature decline to social disruptions, the researchers said the same prediction could be made of global warming. A report last week said climate change will put half the world's countries at risk of conflict or serious political instability. International Alert, a London-based conflict resolution group, identified 46 countries -- home to 2.7 billion people -- where it said the effects of climate change would create a high risk of violent conflict. It identified another 56 states where there was a risk of political instability. "I would expect to see some pretty serious conflicts that are clearly linked to climate change on the international scene by 2020," International Alert secretary general Dan Smith told Reuters in a telephone interview. Near the top of the list are west and central Africa, with clashes already reported in northern Ghana between herders and farmers as agricultural patterns change. Bangladesh could also see dangerous changes, while the visible decline in levels of the River Ganges in India, on which 400 million people depend, could spark new tensions there. Water shortages would make solving tensions in the already volatile Middle East even harder, Smith said, while currently peaceful Latin American states could be destabilized by unrest following changes in the melting of glaciers affecting rivers. Unless communities and governments begin discussing the issues in advance, he said, there is a risk climate shift could be the spark that relights wars such as those in Liberia and Sierra Leone in west Africa or the Caucasus on Russia's borders. Current economic growth in developing states could also be hit.

Thirteen percent of Americans have never heard of global warming even though their country is the world's top source of greenhouse gases, a 46-country survey showed on Monday. The report, by ACNielsen of more than 25,000 Internet users, showed that 57 percent of people around the world considered global warming a 'very serious problem' and a further 34 percent rated it a 'serious problem'. "It has taken extreme and life-threatening weather patterns to finally drive the message home that global warming is happening and is here to stay unless a concerted, global effort is made to reverse it," said Patrick Dodd, the President of ACNielsen Europe. People in Latin America were most worried while US citizens were least concerned with just 42 percent rating global warming 'very serious'. The United States emits about a quarter of all greenhouse gases, the biggest emitter ahead of China, Russia and India. Thirteen percent of US citizens said they had never heard or read anything about global warming, the survey said. Almost all climate scientists say that temperatures are creeping higher because of heat-trapping greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels. The study also found that 91 percent of people had heard about global warming and 50 percent reckoned it was caused by human activities. A UN report due on Friday is set to say it is at least 90 percent probable that human activities are the main cause of warming in the past 50 years. People in China and Brazil were most convinced of the link to human activities and Americans least convinced. The survey said that people living in regions vulnerable to natural disasters seemed most concerned -- ranging from Latin Americans worried by damage to coffee or banana crops to people in the Czech Republic whose country was hit by 2002 floods. In Latin America, 96 percent of respondents said they had heard of global warming and 75 percent rated it 'very serious'. Most industrial nations have signed up for the UN's Kyoto Protocol, which imposed caps on emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from factories, power plants and vehicles. President George W Bush pulled the United States out of Kyoto in 2001, but said last week that climate change was a 'serious challenge'.

NORFOLK, Va. Wed Oct 29, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The next US president will face a daunting list of foreign policy challenges, from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global financial crisis to the need to shore up the country's frayed international image. Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have sparred over taxes, health care and other domestic issues as the Nov. 4 presidential election approaches, pushing subjects like the Iranian nuclear standoff and Middle East peace to the background. But whoever wins the White House on Tuesday will confront an overwhelming number of national security issues when President George W Bush hands over power. "The mantra for the next administration has to be, 'Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it,'" said James Lindsay, who was a foreign policy aide to President Bill Clinton and is now with the University of Texas, Austin. "The new president-elect is going to have a full foreign policy inbox and decisions to make with enormous consequences for American security," added Lindsay, who is now with the University of Texas in Austin. A week and a half after the election, Bush will convene a summit in Washington to look at the global economic crisis and begin negotiations among world leaders on financial reforms. His successor, who takes office on Jan. 20, will inherit the Iraq and Afghan wars and an intensifying effort to pursue al Qaeda militants on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and holding North Korea to its promise to dismantle its nuclear weapons program are also pressing issues. Both candidates have vowed a reinvigorated effort toward Middle East peace and promise staunch support of Israel. Obama foreign policy adviser Mark Lippert said fighting terrorism, dealing with militants along the Afghan-Pakistan border and killing or capturing Osama bin Laden are top national security priorities. Obama has pledged to end the Iraq war and bolster the US troop presence in Afghanistan. The ability to tackle deteriorating security in Afghanistan and pursue militants is "linked to the ability to make progress on political reconciliation in Iraq and the ability to draw down there," Lippert said. McCain agrees on the need for more forces in Afghanistan. He opposes a timetable in Iraq, saying US troops should remain there as long as they are needed. Obama's willingness to talk directly to US adversaries such as Iran and Syria is another major point of disagreement. TOUGH TALK Obama, an Illinois senator, says the Bush administration's resistance to engaging foes has limited its diplomatic options, but McCain has attacked the Democratic candidate's call for dialogue at the highest levels as naive. McCain has called for Russia's ouster from the elite Group of Eight club of rich nations in response to Moscow's August war with Georgia. Obama opposes that step. Both men condemned the Russian invasion, triggered by Georgia's bid to reimpose control over breakaway South Ossetia, but McCain has spoken more harshly. One foreign policy priority Obama and McCain share is repairing ties with traditional allies, including many European countries, that became strained under the Bush administration. Some analysts believe Obama's huge popularity abroad could give him an initial advantage, although it will not be a panacea for challenges such as persuading Europe to contribute more troops in Afghanistan. Lippert said strengthening European alliances would help on many fronts, including providing more leverage with Russia. "Sen. Obama has spelled out many times that the strength of the transatlantic relationship, for example, impacts our ability to help advance our interests in dealing with countries like Russia but also better tackle a number of transnational threats such as nonproliferation, terrorism, climate change, energy and democracy promotion," he said. While McCain has taken a tougher line than Bush on Russia and once jokingly sang about bombing Iran, he has promised a break with the current administration's "cowboy diplomacy." Randy Scheunemann, top foreign policy adviser to McCain, said it is a caricature that McCain, an Arizona senator and former prisoner of war, would be more inclined to use force than past US presidents. "He understands the consequences of ordering men and women in uniform into harm's way," Scheunemann said in an interview last month. Bush's Nov. 15 economic summit will bring together leaders of the G20, which includes major industrialized nations and large emerging economies like China, Brazil and India. The president-elect will have input, but it is unclear whether he would attend. McCain and Obama have both talked of the importance of the US economy to the country's global role. Obama's stance on trade is more cautious, but both promise to move quickly to try to strengthen the financial regulatory system.

The high share of spending by female-led households - many based in the flood-prone north - is double the average of 15% because women have lower incomes than men, said a study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Often men from Bangladesh's northwest regions migrate on a seasonal basis to work elsewhere, leaving women to run the home. Common measures taken by rural families to adapt to climate change and reduce risks include raising the plinth of their houses above flood-water levels, planting trees and making shelters to keep livestock safe. Low-lying Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of rising global temperatures, including more severe monsoon flooding, fiercer storms and higher sea levels. "While men spend a greater amount for climate adaptation in absolute terms, women have to spend a larger share of their smaller average income," said Paul Steele, IIED's chief economist and one of the study authors. For the study, IIED, Kingston University London and the UN Development Programme in Bangladesh surveyed 3,094 rural households in 10 districts to analyse how gender and socio-economic factors shaped spending to protect households from disasters like storms, floods, drought, salinity and heat. The researchers found that 43% of households were exposed to floods, 41% to storms and 83% were affected by longer-term stresses like drought or salinity. Each household spent nearly 7,500 taka ($88) a year on preventive measures in 2021, which would add up to about $1.7 billion among the wider rural population, the study said. The findings show that the Bangladesh government and donor nations need to provide more financial support to poor households dealing directly with climate change, including those headed by women who are shouldering the burden, Steele said. An earlier 2019 study by IIED found that Bangladeshi families in rural areas were spending 12 times more each year than the foreign aid the country had received to prepare for and cope with the effects of climate change. More data is needed to track households' climate-related spending in Bangladesh and other nations on a regular basis, Steele said, adding that research could be extended to include the losses suffered by urban households. Dwijen Mallick, a climate expert at the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, said climate change is pushing a steady flow of migrants into cities, where they often lack the knowledge and resources to protect themselves from threats. "It is important to quantify the loss and damage borne by poor urban households due to localised climate change impacts to make a case for compensation," he said. Mahfuza Mala, a climate expert and member of Naripokkho, a women's activist group, said the IIED study demonstrated how efforts to deal with climate change play out differently between men and women. “Just as women’s care work is often unpaid and unrecognised, their role in adaptation also sometimes goes unheeded,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The study found that female-headed households spend 2 percentage points more of their overall budgets on coping with floods compared to their male-headed counterparts, and 3 percentage points more for other hazards like extreme heat. But when it comes to storms, female-headed households spend a huge 30 percentage points more, although there are fewer such households in the storm-prone southwest region, where Cyclone Amphan affected millions of households in 2020. Social norms often require women to act as providers of food, water and other essentials, even though they have less capacity to adapt to climate pressures, the IIED study noted. Mala said the positive side of women playing a greater role in preparing for, and responding to, floods or storms could be that it allows them to assume a more active role in society.

Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler faced Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker, and the Rev Raphael Warnock, a pastor at a historic Black church in Atlanta. The results could be known by Wednesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told CNN, although the outcome may remain in doubt for days if the margins are razor-thin. Officials were set to begin counting ballots as soon as polls closed at 7 pm (0000 GMT), although a handful of sites will stay open later after earlier delays. Democrats must win both contests in Georgia to take control of the Senate. A double win for the Democrats would create a 50-50 split in the Senate, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote after she and Biden take office on Jan 20. The party already has a majority in the House of Representatives. If Republicans hold onto the Senate, they would effectively wield veto power over Biden's political and judicial appointees as well as many of his policy initiatives in areas such as economic relief, climate change, healthcare and criminal justice. Both Biden and Republican President Donald Trump campaigned in the state on Monday, underscoring the stakes. No Democrat has won a US Senate race in Georgia in 20 years, but opinion surveys show both races as exceedingly close. The head-to-head runoff elections, a quirk of state law, became necessary when no candidate in either race exceeded 50% of the vote in November. Biden's narrow statewide win in the Nov 3 election - the first for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992 - has given the party reason for optimism in a state dominated by Republicans for decades. More than 3 million Georgians voted early by mail or in person, shattering the record for runoff elections even before Election Day arrived. The two races drew nearly half a billion dollars in advertising spending since Nov 3, a staggering total that fuelled a tsunami of television commercials. An exit poll of more than 5,200 voters released by Edison Research on Wednesday showed the electorate's racial mix appeared to be roughly the same as in November. About six in 10 voters identified as white, while roughly three in 10 were Black and the remainder split among Latino, Asian and other groups. The poll included both early voters and voters who cast ballots on Tuesday. In Smyrna, about 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Atlanta, Terry Deuel said he voted Republican to ensure a check on Democratic power. "The Democrats are going to raise taxes," the 58-year-old handyman said. "And Biden wants to give everyone free money - $2,000 each or something like that for COVID stimulus? Where are we going to get the money?" Ann Henderson, 46, cast ballots at the same location for Ossoff and Warnock, saying she wanted to break Washington's gridlock by delivering the Senate to Democrats. "It's the social issues - civil rights, racial equality, voting rights, pandemic response," she said. "If we take it, maybe we can get something done for a change." TRUMP RAGES The campaign's final days were overshadowed by Trump's continued efforts to subvert the presidential election results. On Saturday, Trump pressured Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on a phone call to "find" enough votes to reverse Biden's victory, falsely claiming massive fraud. Trump's efforts to undo his loss - with some Republicans planning to object to the certification of Biden's win when Congress meets on Wednesday to formally count the presidential vote - have caused a split in his party and condemnation from critics who accuse him of undermining democracy. At Monday's rally in Georgia, Trump again declared the November vote "rigged," an assertion some Republicans worried would dissuade his supporters from voting on Tuesday. His attacks appear to have undermined public confidence in the electoral system. Edison's exit poll found more than seven in 10 were very or somewhat confident their votes would be counted accurately, down from 85% who said the same in a Nov 3 exit poll. Wall Street's main indexes finished higher after a weak start on Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome in Georgia. If elected, Warnock would become Georgia's first Black US senator and Ossoff, at 33, the Senate's youngest member. Perdue is a former Fortune 500 executive who has served one Senate term. Loeffler, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, was appointed a year ago to fill the seat of a retiring senator.

News of the plan comes as more than 150 world leaders arrived in Paris for climate change talks and Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama said they would work together towards striking a deal that moves towards a low-carbon global economy. According to the Xinhau report, the country's first two carbon-monitoring satellites will be ready by next May after four years of development led by Changchun Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics and Physics, part of China's Academy of Sciences. No launch date was given and no other details of the plan were announced. The government and research institute were not available to comment. If successful, it would be the world's third country to send satellites into orbit to monitor greenhouse gases, coming after Japan which was the first country to do so in 2009, followed by the United States last year. The satellites will be key for expanding research into emissions - currently, China is only able to collect data from the ground, whereas the probes will also monitor oceans, which make up 71 percent of the world's surface. While these probes will have worldwide scope it would improve China's emissions data collection, which many experts say is inaccurate. The country's emissions are estimates based on how much raw energy is consumed, and calculations are derived from proxy data consisting mostly of energy consumption as well as industry, agriculture, land use changes and waste.

A new round of UN climate talks opens on Monday with almost 200 nations meeting in Mexico in hopes of clinching an agreement on a narrow range of crunch issues dividing rich and emerging economies. The two-week conference at the beach resort of Cancun aims to agree on funds and approaches to preserve rain forests and prepare for a hotter world. It will also seek to formalize existing targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Fanfare is far below levels of last year's Copenhagen summit which aimed to agree a new climate deal but ended instead with a non-binding agreement rejected by a clutch of developing countries. The long-running UN talks have pitted against each other the world's top two emitters, the United States and China, with US demands for greater Chinese emissions curbs echoing similar pressure on free trade and human rights. On the eve of the talks, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pointed to the economic opportunities from fighting climate change, aiming to end the distrust of the previous summit. "This dilemma between protecting the environment and fighting poverty, between combating climate change and economic growth is a false dilemma," he said pointing to renewable energy as he inaugurated a wind turbine to power the conference hotel. Calderon said the talks would focus on preparations for a hotter world, a central concern for poorer countries. "Basically, what we're going to discuss is adaptation," he said. That comment jarred European Union negotiators, who said that the talks must also achieve harder commitments to existing emissions pledges, including from developing countries. "We will look for a limited set of decisions in Cancun. We hope we will lay out the path forward," Artur Runge-Metzger, a senior EU negotiator, said on Sunday. "We do see the outlines of a compromise," said Peter Wittoeck, senior negotiator with Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency. The main aim of the talks is to agree a tougher climate deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose present round ends in 2012, to step up action to fight warming. World temperatures could soar by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2F) by the 2060s in the worst case of climate change and require annual investment of $270 billion just to contain rising sea levels, studies suggested on Sunday.

Tornadoes cut through Florida and Georgia on Friday, destroying homes, felling trees and power lines and killing one person as a record series of winter tornadoes continued to pound the United States. The National Weather Service had reports of at least 12 tornadoes that flipped cars, damaged homes and interrupted power supplies in northern Florida and southern Georgia. A 62-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her mobile home in a twister that ripped through Lake City, Florida, damaging or destroying 50 homes and a dozen businesses, Columbia County emergency management spokesman Harvey Campbell said. Sixteen people suffered minor injuries and a man died when he tried to hook up a power generator after the storm knocked out electricity to as many as 16,000 people. "It's pretty devastating. Lots of trees damaged, substantial power pole damage, lots of homes that have been reduced to brick and wood," Campbell said. Florida resident Joe Thornton said he had left for work when he got a call a tornado had ripped through his house in Capitola, near the state capital, Tallahassee. He returned home to find pieces of his neighbor's metal roof wrapped around his trees. His mules, Curly and Ella, were covered in grass and broken twigs and were grumpy but unhurt. "It doesn't take but one of these tornadoes to make a lifetime of premiums worthwhile," Thornton said. "I feel blessed we're all OK." Jail inmates were put to work cutting up ancient live oak trees snapped in half by the windstorm that residents said swept through in a flash. "I got up to go to the bathroom and by the time I was done it was over," said Capitola resident Brett Winchester. The weather service's Storm Prediction Center counted 368 tornadoes in January and February, far above the three-year average of just under 60 for the two winter months. A swarm of twisters in early February killed at least 57 people in four states, the deadliest onslaught in two decades. Ferocious storms that can spin up winds of more than 300 mph (500 kph), tornadoes can occur at any time of the year but the season rarely picks up until March. The early spike in tornado activity was due to peculiar weather patterns sending successive wave troughs across the United States, said Greg Dial of the Storm Prediction Center. "These patterns don't last forever," he said. CLIMATE CHANGE? Some climate experts say it would be reasonable to see an earlier start to the tornado season as a result of global warming, but not necessarily more tornadoes overall as the end of the season would also occur earlier. About 800 twisters are recorded every year in the United States, most in the "Tornado Alley" Plains area between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. They kill on average 80 people each year in the United States. Increased tornado activity has also been associated with the La Nina weather phenomenon, an unusual cooling of waters in the equatorial Pacific that occurs every few years, said Jeff Masters of the Weatherunderground Web site, in a recent blog.

Indian approval of a delayed nuclear energy deal with the United States would be seen positively by global business, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Tuesday. He also said he felt Indian policy makers understood the need for reform, which would help improve the business and investment climate in Asia's third-largest economy. "I believe it would be perceived positively by the global business community if it goes through," Paulson said of the nuclear deal. Paulson, speaking to journalists accompanying him on his four-day visit to India, would not be drawn on whether business would view it negatively if the deal did not go ahead. Earlier on Tuesday, Paulson said the US valued the fact India was a vibrant democracy and said democratic processes needed to work for the country to come to a conclusion on the nuclear deal. "Let's let the process in India work on the civilian nuclear deal," Paulson told a business conference. Last week, Paulson said growing ties between the United States and India were broader and deeper than any single transaction. Leftist parties have threatened to withdraw support to India's coalition government if the nuclear energy deal went ahead, which could lead to the fall of the Congress-party led government. India has set itself a target of producing 20,000 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power by 2020, but the country's atomic energy department chief said on Tuesday it would fall short of the goal by 6,000 MW if the deal failed. "At some stage we had envisaged international cooperation to reach our target, but now if there is no deal then there would be a shortfall," Anil Kakodkar told reporters in India's financial capital, Mumbai. Supporters of the deal hope that it would give India much-needed uranium to power its reactors and eventually lower dependency on coal, which accounts for nearly 41 percent of its energy needs and has become a focus of global worries over climate change. Critics of the deal say nuclear energy will remain a small part of India's power supply for the next 25 years even if the pact materialises, and coal will remain vital. Nuclear power is expected to go up from the current 2-3 percent of India's energy supply to 6-7 percent by 2031 in the most optimistic scenario with the U.S. deal, they say. Paulson met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday evening. The treasury secretary said they discussed the nuclear deal, as well as the Doha round of world trade talks, climate change and Singh's domestic reform agenda.

The East Asia Summit, which collapsed in chaos on Saturday, was meant to provide an opportunity for leaders of half the world's population to discuss responses to the global financial crisis. The Asian leaders were also scheduled to sign an investment pact with China and put the final touches on a regional currency pool to help member nations fend off speculative attacks and capital flight. "The summit has been delayed and can be reopened, but we lost a good opportunity" to discuss financial cooperation and combat protectionism, said Zhou Fangye, of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The East Asia Summit brings together the 10 member nations of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand for discussions about trade, economic issues and regional security. The annual meeting is almost the only time Asian leaders gather without U.S. or European leaders. The Asian group has been struggling to create a focus and identity since their first summit was held in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. Thai protesters forced the cancellation of the summit after blockading hotels where visiting leaders stayed and storming into the media centre to denounce the Thai prime minister. Thailand Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the investment agreement with China and the foreign currency pool arrangement would most likely be inked in July at the annual meetings of ASEAN foreign ministers and their "dialogue partners". Thailand is still scheduled to host that event, as well as an ASEAN economic ministers meeting in September and the annual ASEAN summit in November or December, he said. "The annual ASEAN foreign ministers meeting and post-ministerial meetings with our dialogue partners, including the U.S. and EU, is the next big event in front of us," Tharit told Reuters. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao had been expected to sign a China-ASEAN Investment Agreement, capping long-running talks for a comprehensive free trade area that would be the world's largest, encompassing 1.8 billion people and a combined GDP of $2 trillion. China signed an initial free trade agreement (FTA) with the 10 members of ASEAN in November 2002, and both sides had set 2010 as a deadline for a broader pact. ASEAN has FTAs with Japan and South Korea and just over a month ago inked one with Australia and New Zealand. Eventually, the East Asia members hope to link up the pacts to create a free trade area stretching from Beijing to Sydney and Manila to Delhi. China had also planned to establish a $10 billion infrastructure investment fund and offer credit to its neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), its foreign minister said late on Saturday on his return from Thailand. Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was hoping to push his pet project, an Asia-Pacific Community covering regional economic, political and security affairs. "He was going to get a bashing on that from the leaders," said one ASEAN official who did not want to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Rudd never even made it to Pattaya. His flight was diverted to Singapore when it became clear the summit was off. SUSPICIONS Some East Asia leaders, China in particular, are suspicious that Rudd's idea is a way of bringing the United States back into their East Asia equation, the diplomat said. Leaders from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea had been set to back expansion of a currency swap network to $120 billion from $80 billion to deal with any shortages caused by the kind of capital flight that characterised the "Asian contagion" financial crisis a decade ago. That can be formally implemented at the ASEAN secretariat anytime and does not need the leaders' formal signature, the ASEAN diplomat said. The leaders were also expected to discuss trade protectionism, climate change, energy and food security and responding to disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and last year's cyclone in Myanmar. Analysts will be assessing the damage to the credibility of ASEAN, long derided as a talk shop but now on its way to becoming a rules-based EU-style community, from the collapsed summit. Malaysia's new Prime Minister Najib Razak did not think it would matter much. "This is a domestic problem and it did not affect the spirit of ASEAN," he was quoted as saying in the Star newspaper. "Our cooperation is still strong and our partners are still interested in working with us." He said the Thai government should be given a chance to host the meeting. "I am sure for the next summit, they will take into account the experience this time."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which selects the recipient of the prize, does not disclose the nominees or those who nominated them until 50 years later, leaving people to self-report their submissions if they choose. After the deadline for this year’s nominations, Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident leader; Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate change activist; and the World Health Organization were among the nominees, Reuters reported. Also mentioned were Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia politician who was credited with increasing voter turnout last year, and Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. (Trump himself was nominated for the prize in at least two years of his presidency — not counting two nominations that were forged in 2018.) Reuters surveyed Norwegian lawmakers “who have a track record of picking the winner.” The list of those who can submit nominations is long, including members of national governments; officials with international peace organizations; university professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology and religion; and former recipients. The Nobel committee says the large number of potential nominators ensures a “great variety of candidates,” but the group is tight-lipped about the process and did not respond to a request for clarification about the eligibility of nominators. In 1967, the most recent year available in the Nobel committee’s archive, 95 nominations were submitted (an individual or group can be nominated multiple times in the same year). The committee said there were 318 submissions last year, with a record 376 in 2016. There are few criteria for the nominees, and the process has sometimes been taken advantage of, for nakedly political reasons. Famously, an anti-fascist lawmaker from Sweden nominated Adolf Hitler in 1939 in an act of satire. He “never intended his submission to be taken seriously,” a note on his nomination in the archives reads. Josef Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, was nominated twice, in 1945 and 1948. Benito Mussolini, the Italian ruler, was nominated twice in 1935. The selection process to determine a recipient is much more rigorous. The committee, which is appointed by Norway’s Parliament, deliberates in secret beginning in February. The group narrows the submissions to 20 to 30 candidates before months of consideration. The recipient is announced in October. The Nobel committee has stressed that nominations do not represent an endorsement from the group and “may not be used to imply affiliation with the Nobel Peace Prize.” But Trump offers an example of how nominations themselves can be used to assume clout. In 2019, Trump told supporters that he had been nominated by Japan’s prime minister at the time, Shinzo Abe, a claim that Abe would not confirm. (That year’s prize went to Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia.) Last year, after two European politicians said they had nominated Trump, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called it “a hard-earned and well-deserved honor for this president.” The 2020 prize was later awarded to the World Food Program. Trump had actually been nominated by two right-wing Scandinavian members of Parliament. But to his supporters, the nominators’ personal politics, or his slim likelihood of receiving the prize, were less important than the optics. “Every day Donald Trump gets nominated for another Nobel Prize,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham beamed on her show. “It’s obvious that Trump should get the Nobel Prize.” At a campaign rally in October, Trump complained that his nomination had gotten less news coverage than his predecessor’s. (President Barack Obama was actually awarded the prize in 2009.) “I just got nominated for the Nobel Prize,” he said. “And then I turned on the fake news, story after story. They talk about your weather in the Panhandle, and they talk about this. Story after story, no mention. Remember when Obama got it right at the beginning, and he didn’t even know why he got it?” The award to Obama, just nine months into his first term, was greeted with surprise and puzzlement, even by the recipient. “To be honest,” Obama said afterward, “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize, men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Mitsotakis has this week apologised for delays in the firefighting effort while defending his government's action and authorising a 500-million-euro ($586.95 million) relief package. Hundreds of houses and businesses have been destroyed and around 65,000 hectares (160,620 acres) of forest destroyed by the conflagrations since the start of August, with relief finally brought by rain on Thursday on Evia, Greece's second-largest island and the scene of some of the worst blazes. Fire brigade officials told Reuters that forest fires on Evia and in the mainland Western Peloponnese and Northern Attica regions remained under control but that many firefighters had stayed on in the areas to fight possible flare-ups. "The internal government reshuffle is aimed at strengthening the response to natural disasters and crises and at supporting residents of the fire-affected areas," a senior government official told Reuters. The new deputy minister, Christos Triantopoulos, will be responsible for aid and recovery from natural disasters, a new post created to compensate businesses and families hard hit by recent blazes. With a string of deadly wildfires burning in countries from Turkey to Algeria amidst record summer heatwaves, extreme weather events caused by climate change have become a central policy challenge to governments across the Mediterranean. In Greece, one civilian has been killed and another died helping prepare fire defences. Two injured firefighters are in hospital. Other new faces in the Greek government include Ioannis Economou, a deputy agriculture minister, as government spokesman - a position that had been vacant since March.

In the first papal document dedicated to the environment, he called for "decisive action, here and now," to stop environmental degradation and global warming, squarely backing scientists who say it is mostly man-made. In the encyclical "Laudato Si (Praise Be), On the Care of Our Common Home", Francis advocated a change of lifestyle in rich countries steeped in a "throwaway" consumer culture and an end to an "obstructionist attitudes" that sometimes put profit before the common good. The most controversial papal pronouncement in half a century has already won him the wrath of conservatives, including several US Republican presidential candidates who have scolded Francis for delving into science and politics. His appeal, however, won broad praise from scientists, the United Nations and climate change activists. At a news conference presenting the landmark document, Cardinal Peter Turkson, one of Francis' key collaborators on the document, rejected pre-publication criticisms by US politicians. "Just because the pope is not a scientist does not mean he can't consult scientists," he said, adding with a sly smile that journalists write about many things after consulting experts. Latin America's first pope, who took his name from St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of ecology, said protecting the planet was a moral and ethical "imperative" for believers and non-believers alike that should supersede political and economic interests. The clarion call to his flock of 1.2 billion members, the most controversial papal document since Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae upholding the Church's ban on contraception, could spur the world's Catholics to lobby policymakers on ecology issues and climate change. Political myopia The Argentine-born pontiff, 78, decried a "myopia of power politics" he said had delayed far-sighted environmental action. "Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms," he wrote. Because Francis has said he wants to influence this year's key UN climate summit in Paris, the encyclical further consolidated his role as a global diplomatic player following his mediation bringing Cuba and the United States to the negotiating table last year. Francis dismissed the argument that "technology will solve all environmental problems (and that) global hunger and poverty will be resolved simply by market growth". Time was running out to save a planet "beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth" and which could see "an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems" this century. "Once more, we need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals." Francis also dismissed the effectiveness of carbon credits, saying they seemed to be a "quick and easy solution" but could lead "to a new form of speculation" that maintained excessive consumption and did not allow the "radical change" needed. "Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth," he wrote in the nearly 200-page work. "The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world," he said. "We need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences." The release and a high-profile roll-out including Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research were timed to precede the pope's speeches on sustainable development in September to the United Nations and the US Congress. Schellnhuber said "the science is clear: global warming is driven by greenhouse gas emissions." Scientific consensus Francis, saying he was "drawing on the results of the best scientific research available," called climate change "one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day" and said poor nations will suffer the most. In several passages in the six-chapter encyclical, Francis confronted head on both climate change doubters and those who say it is not man-made. "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system," he said. "Humanity is called to recognise the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it." He said greenhouse gases were "released mainly as a result of human activity." Francis called for policies to "drastically" reduce polluting gases, saying technology based on fossil fuels "needs to be progressively replaced without delay" and sources of renewable energy developed. In a passage certain to upset conservatives, he said "a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems has become indispensable". One of the major themes of the encyclical was the disparity of wealth. "We fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading poverty, with no way out, while others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed superiority and leaving behind them so much waste which, if it were the case everywhere, would destroy the planet," Francis said. He criticised those who "maintain that current economics and technology will solve all environmental problems, and argue, in popular and non-technical terms, that the problems of global hunger and poverty will be resolved simply by market growth."

The European Union has closed a loophole that would have allowed car manufacturers to continue putting climate-damaging chemicals in air conditioners of new vehicles beyond a 2011 ban, a Commission document showed. The move opens up a new market for greener refrigerants, with industry giant Honeywell International pitching its HFO-1234yf coolant against rival carbon dioxide-based systems, such as that of Austria's Obrist Engineering. The European Union ruled in 2006 that from 2011 it would ban the use of fluorinated chemicals, such as the industry standard known as R134a, which have a powerful climate-warming effect when released into the atmosphere. The move aimed to help the EU meet its commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto protocol, the United Nations' main tool against climate change. The rules apply to all new models of car from 2011, and any new vehicle at all from 2017. But many of the EU's national authorities decided not to enforce the ban for new vehicle types that were using air conditioning systems already approved in previous models. That would have effectively rendered the law obsolete until 2017 for the millions of European cars produced each year, such as those of Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen. "Such an interpretation would result in the circumvention of the objectives of the legislation," the European Commission said in a letter, seen by Reuters on Monday, to EU member states. From January 1, 2011, EU member states may only approve new vehicle models using less environmentally damaging gases, regardless of whether the air conditioning system has been approved before, the EU executive added.

The bank said that Malpass, the Treasury's undersecretary for international affairs, will start his new role on Tuesday as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings get underway. Malpass, a former Bear Stearns and Co chief economist who advised US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, was the sole candidate for the job. Previous World Bank President Jim Yong Kim faced two challengers, from Nigeria and Colombia, in 2012 when he was first selected. This time around, bank board members had said there was little appetite for a challenge to a US candidate from developed economies such as Europe and Japan, and from larger emerging markets such as China and Brazil. In a phone interview with Reuters, Malpass said he would uphold the bank's commitment to reducing poverty in the poorest countries and to fight climate change, and pursue goals stated in a $13 billion capital increase last year. Since taking his job at the Treasury in 2017, Malpass had been particularly critical of the World Bank's continued lending to China, arguing that the world's second-largest economy was too wealthy for such aid while it was loading up some countries with unsustainable debt from its Belt and Road infrastructure program. Those comments and Malpass' role in US-China trade negotiations caused some concern in the development community that he might try to use the bank's influence to put pressure on China. But Malpass said he saw an "evolution" of the bank's relationship with China "toward one which recognises China as the world's second-biggest economy and an important factor in global development. I expect there to be a strong relationship collaboration with China. We have a shared mission of poverty alleviation and reduction." Malpass said he did not participate in this week's US-China trade talks and is winding down his role at the Treasury. He said he intends to make his first trip as World Bank president in late April to Africa, which has been a primary focus for the bank's development efforts.

The proposal released by the Environmental Protection Agency would grant states the ability to write their own weaker regulations for the plants and give them the ability to seek permission to opt out of regulations on power plant emissions. The effort to re-write the plan is the latest move by the EPA under President Donald Trump, a Republican, to roll back environmental protections put in place by Obama, Trump's Democratic predecessor. Trump, who is scheduled to hold a rally on Tuesday in West Virginia, a top coal-producing state, has vowed to end what he has called "the war on coal" and boost domestic fossil fuels production. "Today’s proposal provides the states and regulated community the certainty they need to continue environmental progress while fulfilling President Trump’s goal of energy dominance," EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement announcing the proposal. The Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was finalized by the EPA under Obama in 2015, sought to reduce emissions from power plants to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 but never took effect. The Supreme Court put the brakes on it in 2016 after energy-producing states sued the EPA, saying it had exceeded its legal reach. Democrats and environmental organizations slammed the Trump administration's proposal as a handout to the US fossil fuel industry at the expense of Americans' wellbeing, the environment and other energy savings. "It will have serious consequences for the health of the public and our planet," Democratic US Senator Tom Carper said in a statement. The move to let states opt out of emissions regulations will likely face staunch opposition from electricity industry associations because in many states the CPP's limits on emissions have already been met. In addition, green groups are likely to mount a court fight against the provision that would allow states to opt out. EPA's proposal is open for a public comment period, with a final rule expected later this year.

If the plants managed to grow in soil made salty by decades of cyclones and floods, then strong winds would snap their stalks or pests would wipe them out. So, ten years ago, Tarafdar, 45, looked to his ancestors and started cross-breeding seed varieties that used to thrive in the southwestern Shyamnagar region but are now on the edge of extinction after farmers moved onto higher-yielding varieties. His new type of rice, called Charulata, tolerates salty soil and water-logging, stays standing in high winds and grows well without fertilisers or pesticides, Tarafdar said. In the olden days, local people could survive just from the rice they harvested without doing other work, he noted. "But we face many problems after planting paddy (rice). So, we have come up with a new method of cross-breeding to bring back the disaster-tolerant varieties of paddy planted by our ancestors," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The farmer said his seed variety can produce up to 1,680 kg (3,700 pounds) of rice per quarter hectare (0.62 acres), more than double what he was getting from conventional varieties. Repeatedly let down by seeds they buy or get from the government, other rice farmers in Shyamnagar sub-district are also taking matters into their own hands, reviving ancestral varieties and creating new ones that can withstand increasingly frequent storms, floods and droughts. "Farmers in this disaster-prone area have done a great job in preserving local rice seeds and inventing rice varieties," said SM Enamul Islam, the agriculture officer for Shyamnagar. That kind of innovation is one reason agriculture is still a viable livelihood in the area, he added. SHRINKING FARMLAND One of the country's top rice-producing regions, Shyamnagar provides work for about 45,000 farmers, according to data from the sub-district's agriculture office. But the soil started getting saltier in the late 1980s, farmers said, when shrimp farming picked up in the area. To create their ponds, shrimp farmers used saltwater taken from rivers, which seeped into the surrounding rice fields. Then Cyclone Ayla in 2009 brought high tides and tidal waves that submerged much of Shyamnagar, causing salt levels in the soil to shoot up, said ABM Touhidul Alam, a researcher at the Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK). Several cyclones and floods since then have made the ground saltier, forcing many people to abandon rice cultivation. According to a study by global charity Practical Action, between 1995 and 2015, farmland in five areas, including Shyamnagar, shrank by more than 78,000 acres as much was converted to shrimp farms. And researchers warn that the water and soil in coastal Bangladesh will only become more hostile to rice farming as the planet heats up. A 2014 World Bank report on climate change effects along the coast estimated that by 2050, rivers in 10 of the region's 148 sub-districts would become moderately or highly saline. Hoping to create seeds that can survive such a scenario, Sheikh Sirajul Islam, a farmer from Haibatpur village near Shyamnagar, set up a rice research centre in his home, where he stores more than 155 local varieties. The farmer is working on a variety of wild rice he hopes can be adapted for cultivation. It grows naturally in saltwater on the seacoast and riverbanks, but is not as nutritious as farmed rice, he explained. He has already developed two other varieties that can withstand saline water and water-logging, which he gives out for free to more than 100 farmers in the area. "I (also) plan to set up a seed market in town. Seeds will not be sold there, they will be exchanged," he said. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE Humayun Kabir, senior scientific officer at the government's Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), said the farmers' work on new seed varieties was making "a significant contribution" to the development of agriculture at the local level. Several rice varieties developed by farmers over the past few years - including Tarafdar's - have been sent to the BRRI, which tests the seeds in its own laboratories before deciding whether to distribute them to farmers across the country. While BRRI scientists have developed at least 100 varieties of rice already, including some that can grow in salty and water-logged soil, farmers in Shyamnagar say most of them are either inefficient or unsuitable for where they live. Several told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the BRRI varieties often do not reach them and when they do, they are too expensive and not adapted to their disaster-prone area. "I have planted them many times and the yields are not good," said Bikash Chandra, a farmer from Gomantali village, who now uses a local rice variety invented by Sirajul Islam. The BRRI's Kabir said the institute is working on ways to get its seeds out to more farmers. Farmers have developed 35 disaster-resilient rice varieties over the past decade, said Partha Sharathi Pal, regional coordinator at BARCIK, which gives technical assistance to Shyamnagar farmers developing their own varieties and stores the resulting seeds. Most are still in the field-testing phase, said Pal, adding that the results have so far been positive. "Farmers (in Shyamnagar) have found solutions to their own problems," he said. "As a result, paddy cultivation has returned to many disaster-prone areas. This is a new hope for the farmers of the future."

Fire is a critical part of ecosystems in the West, and many plants and animals depend on it to thrive, but the heat and intensity of the wildfires now ravaging California, Oregon, Washington and other Western states are so destructive that wildlife in some areas may struggle to recover. “Some of these places we set aside may be fundamentally impacted by climate change and may not be able to come back,” said Amy Windrope, deputy director of Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. “That’s just a reality.” With millions of acres across the west blackened by fire, the effect on humans has been clear: Lives lost, tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes, possessions and livelihoods destroyed, and state and federal fire fighting resources have been stretched beyond the limit. Residents are even beginning to question whether the changing fire danger will make their hometowns too dangerous to inhabit. Less obvious is the long-term effects to native species. Wildlife officials all over the West are grappling with how to respond now that the existence of habitats set aside for threatened species appear to be imperilled by megafires made worse by climate change. “It’s important to make the connection between what’s happening now and climate change,” said Davia Palmeri, policy coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We now have to think about climate change when managing wildlife.” Fire that raced through the sagebrush steppe country of central Washington this month destroyed several state wildlife areas, leaving little more than bare ground. The flames killed about half of the state’s endangered population of pygmy rabbits, leaving only about 50 of the palm-sized rabbits in the wild there. “It’s just heartbreaking,” Windirope said. “We have very little sage brush habitat left for them, and it will take decades for this land to recover.” The fires also destroyed critical breeding grounds for endangered sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse, and officials estimate the fast-moving flames may have wiped out 30% to 70% of the birds. The survivors are left without the critical brush cover they need to raise young. The intensity of the fires this month has not been seen in generations, said Molly Linville, whose family has ranched in Douglas County, Washington, for nearly a century. Ranchers in the area were unable to get cattle out of the way, and many died. On the range they found deer and other wildlife staggering around, severely burned. “One neighbour girl found a porcupine who had all his quills burned off. It took the longest time to even figure out what it was,” she said. “They took it in, and I think it’s going to be OK, but the land — it’s going to take years to come back.” In Oregon, the fires have largely raged in western pine forests, prompting different concerns. Several endangered and threatened species, including the northern spotted owl and the weasel-like pine marten, depend on the mature mountain forests that bore the brunt of the fires. “It’s too soon to tell the impact,” Palmeri said. “Birds can fly out of harm’s way, animals can seek refuge underground, but some wildlife may return to find the old-growth forests they rely on gone.” The impact of hundreds of thousands of acres of barren slopes may spread well beyond the fires’ reach and remain once the flames are out. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is bracing for winter rains that could wash ash and silt into local streams and affect endangered salmon. “We’re already thinking about how we can respond to that,” Palmeri said. “It’s important we do this restoration work now to try to minimize the impact.” Newsom says he will soon announce new measures to tackle climate change. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Wednesday said he would announce more action in coming weeks to combat the effects of climate change and also pushed back against President Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this week that the warming of the planet was not contributing to the wildfires that have plagued the West. “There are no Democratic thermometers and Republican thermometers,” Newsom said. “It’s a question of whether or not you acknowledge facts.” Still, the governor sought to walk a fine line in characterizing his interaction with the president over climate change as forceful but not counterproductive for communities that desperately need aid from the federal government. On Wednesday, Newsom highlighted that the state planned to work with the U.S. Forest Service to significantly increase the number of acres treated with prescribed burning, a measure scientists increasingly describe as essential for clearing fuel and rehabilitating ecosystems damaged by decades of total fire suppression. He also noted that California has long been a leader on environmental policy — dating back not only to his predecessor, Jerry Brown, a Democrat, but also to the tenures of Republican governors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan. Pressed by reporters on whether a fundraising email in which he claimed to have “confronted the President about what’s happening here,” belied what appeared to be a largely polite interaction, Newsom said he does not expect to change Trump’s mind. “We’ve been forceful in our policymaking,” he said. “We’ve been forceful in our resolve and we’ve been direct in our rhetoric.” Millions of acres burn in California as weather improves in Northwest. The prospect of scattered rain in the Pacific Northwest raised hopes for better firefighting conditions in Washington and Oregon on Wednesday, after weeks of oppressive heat, hazardous air and unpredictable fires that have grown with terrifying speed up and down the coast. Smoke from wildfires wrap Mount Shasta in northern California, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, as viewed from a commercial flight. (Bryan Denton/The New York Times) Although the storm system was not forecast to be significant, the possibility of rain clouds in coastal regions — instead of smoke plumes and falling ash — was a lifeline for residents after weeks of increasingly grim news. More than 30 people have died in wildfires in the past two months, hundreds of homes have been destroyed and thousands of people remain in evacuation shelters. Smoke from wildfires wrap Mount Shasta in northern California, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, as viewed from a commercial flight. (Bryan Denton/The New York Times) Inland and to the south, the forecast was less encouraging. Parts of Central Oregon were expecting gusts up to 35 mph in the afternoon that could contribute to a “significant spread” of new and existing fires, the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, said. Up to 29 fires were active in the state Wednesday, spread over more than 843,500 acres. And in California, there was not even temporary relief in sight, with the state fire agency saying Tuesday, “With no significant precipitation in sight, California remains dry and ripe for wildfires.” State leaders, facing not just this wildfire season, spoke about the need to face an indefinite future of fires worsened by climate change. “Firefighters themselves, with decades of experience, are telling me that they’ve never seen fires like this before because of the extreme aridity combined with wind,” Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state said at a news conference Tuesday. As of early Wednesday, there were at least 25 major wildfires and fire complexes, the term given to multiple fires in a single geographic area, burning in California, Christine McMorrow, a Cal Fire information officer, said. More than 2.8 million acres have either burned since Aug. 15 or are on fire now, she said. Late Tuesday, emergency officials reported progress on some of the biggest fires around the region. The growth of the Beachie Creek fire, which has burned more than 190,000 acres east of Salem, Oregon, had slowed, and the fire was 20% contained as of Wednesday morning. The August Complex fire, which has burned almost 800,000 acres north of Sacramento, was 30% contained, and the 220,000-acre North Complex fire, to its east, was 18% contained. Inslee said that Washington state was now in position to help its neighbours, if in a small way, by sharing some of its resources with Oregon. “We’re confident right now that we have enough personnel and equipment to protect our communities,” he said. “It’s not a lot but it is a gesture that, again, we are all in this together.” But he also warned residents of Western states that stepping outside exposed them to some of the worst air conditions in the world. The air, he said, was at “historically polluted levels” and “unhealthy at best and hazardous at worst, according to our state health experts.” Physical hazards remain even in areas where the fires are no longer active, authorities also warned. In addition to damaged structures and trees at risk of collapse, hundreds of electrical poles have been burned, leaving live wires on roadways or at risk of falling on pedestrians. And countless trees and branches are now dangers to anyone nearby. In a dashboard video tweeted by the Oregon State Police, a trooper’s car can be seeing driving through the haze of a forested road when a huge tree suddenly collapses on the vehicle. Fires put this year’s apple crop at risk in Washington state. Windstorms and wildfires along the West Coast could have a damaging effect on this year’s apple season. Washington state, the nation’s top apple producer, is expected to see a lower crop volume this harvest season because of recent poor conditions. Crop volume is expected to decrease 5-10%, according to the Washington Apple Commission, a nonprofit governing body that promotes the state’s apple industry. The state saw a windy Labor Day weekend, causing dust storms in eastern Washington that led to apples falling off trees and damage to trellis systems. As wildfires have raged within the state and smoke has blanketed multiple regions, crop operations have dwindled because of increased safety risks. “These extreme weather conditions are difficult on harvest timing, and fruit is maturing so there is specific timing you really need to get fruit off of the trees,” said Toni Lynn Adams, the commission spokeswoman. Washington state has a fairly dry, arid climate, Adams said, with the majority of apples produced in eastern Washington. The commission originally estimated crop volume of about 134 million, 40-pound boxes for the 2020-21 harvest season. Ines Hanrahan, who owns a midsize farm with her husband where they grow several different apple varieties, said intense wind on Labor Day weekend led to some of her apples bruising, making them not marketable. “Some of the apples will be compost, they’re not harvestable,” said Hanrahan, who is also executive director of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. “And some of the apples have markings now, making it a second grade fruit.” She also said less sunshine because of haze from wildfires will affect the size for some apple varieties, but so far smoke has not been detrimental to taste. Washington state is responsible for 65% of the country’s apple production, including varieties such as Gala, Honeycrisp and Red Delicious, the commission said. Harvest season usually takes place from August to November. Some of the planet’s most polluted skies are over the West Coast. The billowing wildfire smoke that has blanketed much of the West Coast with a caustic haze also began settling into the atmosphere thousands of miles away. West Coast residents from San Francisco to Seattle and beyond have for days suffered from the smoke, which has sent air-quality readings soaring to hazardous levels, closed some schools and led officials to shut parks and beaches while pleading for people to stay indoors. In Seattle, Harborview Medical Center reported seeing a rise in the number of people seeking help for breathing issues — many of the people with underlying conditions such as asthma or lung disease. “The air outside right now is at historically polluted levels,” Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said. Air that was considered unhealthy to breathe was recorded as far away as Montana and up into Canada, though the high-level haze extended much farther. Propelled by the jet stream and a high-pressure system over the Great Lakes, the smoke began arriving at higher altitudes across much of the continent. Brian LaSorsa, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in the Baltimore and Washington region, said he first noticed the smoke over the region on Monday, in the upper levels of the atmosphere. “Obviously we don’t see smoke very often from wildfires,” LaSorsa said. But on the ground along the East Coast, the air quality remained clear. There was a possibility the smoke could descend, possibly later this week if a cold front comes through, LaSorsa said, but he expected it to stay aloft. A small town in Oregon fights to save itself from the fires. As the flames rose higher and the smoke thicker, farmers and ranchers mounted Caterpillar tractors and ploughed the ground around the city of Paisley, Oregon. Then, the men set a controlled burn to deprive the advancing fire of terrain that could have fueled it and diverted its destructive path away from the city. Several days ago, as the Brattain Fire edged closer, the people of Paisley and surrounding areas went into action as it became clear that firefighting resources were strapped and they would have to fend for themselves. Some evacuated. Others stayed put. And one group climbed into their heavy machinery, and, at least at the start, diverted the Brattain fire from its destructive path, Mayor Ralph Paull said. “They built wide swathes of ground by just ploughing, scraping the surface so there is nothing left there to burn,” he said in an interview. “It was seven Caterpillar blades wide and all above the town. They went to work building these lines for 10 miles.” Paisley, in the south of Oregon, is a small city of about 220 people. It lies on the edge of the Great Basin, with sagebrush on the east and forest on the west. A small, spring-fed river, Chewaucan, runs through it. The mayor said that success came after setbacks — at one point, the fire jumped the waterway. The dry, gusty winds and temperatures in the 80s have not helped, he said. “So it is not a fun time for firefighters to tackle this stuff,” he said. More back-burning took place Tuesday night, and the efforts ultimately worked, sending the flames away and up a ridge, he said. “It was about 8 or 9 miles away when it started,” Paull said. “It is all around us. But as long as it takes the fuel away, it goes away.” Like other communities threatened by the wildfires, the city initiated a level 3 evacuation, meaning, as the mayor put it, one thing only: “Go.” A helicopter drops water as firefighters battle the El Dorado Fire in Angelus Oaks, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (Eric Thayer/The New York Times) Some did, loading up camp trailers. Their options were to travel south to Red Cross facilities at a fairground in Lakeview, but many did not. A helicopter drops water as firefighters battle the El Dorado Fire in Angelus Oaks, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (Eric Thayer/The New York Times) “People know other people. They went to friends’ houses and relatives. Kind of spread out,” the mayor said. Others stayed put. As he explained, you can’t force people to leave their homes, farms and livestock. “We have plenty of stubborn people who decided to ride it out,” Paull said. Right now resources are strapped in the state and along the West Coast. In Oregon, more than two dozen fires are raging. Recently, helicopter drops have been sending down bags of water, he said. “I think we are pretty much in the clear,” the mayor said. Intense fires are testing the limits of traditional firefighting techniques. The basic techniques for fighting wildfires have changed little in decades. Aircraft dropping water and chemicals from the sky, and on the ground bulldozers, adzes, chain saws and the boots of thousands of firefighters racing to hold back the flames. But the fires themselves are changing, partly as a consequence of climate change, burning hotter and more rapidly and destroying record acreage. California alone experienced a fivefold increase in annual burned area between 1972 and 2018, and this year more than 5 million acres have already burned in California, Oregon and Washington state. Over time, wildfires are becoming more frequent, and the seasons are growing more intense. The increasingly dangerous conditions are testing the limits of traditional firefighting techniques, experts say. “You can’t look to wildland firefighters to protect you if you don’t address the complexities of climate change,” said Jim Whittington, a former spokesman for firefighting agencies. The firefighters rely on techniques developed over the decades to hold fires at bay. Along with using helicopters and tanker aircraft to drop the water and flame retardant, there is arduous labour on the ground. Some of it requires carefully burning areas in the path of an advancing fire to try to rob it of the fuel it needs to keep progressing. It can also involve dousing flames with water brought in by truck — or, in rough country, hiked in along with hoses and pumps. At the most fundamental, though, it means workers using hand tools to dig the fire lines — the borders, cleared of trees and shrub, that can stop a fire from advancing by removing all vegetation and scraping down to the “mineral soil,” the bare dirt. “Despite our modern 2020 world, with an app for everything, there is no app for digging fire lines,” said Holly Krake, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman working on the Riverside fire in Oregon. The cost of the fires could be least $20 billion and rising, an expert says. With more than 5 million acres burned this year and hundreds of homes lost, the economic blow to the region is predicted to be staggering, too. “We’re setting records year after year,” said Tom Corringham, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “It’s a little early to say what the total impacts are going to be, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the damages are over $20 billion this year.” And that, he added, is counting only the “direct costs.” The wildfires in the west have been made worse by climate change, experts say. Higher temperatures and drier conditions have made it easier for vegetation to burn, causing fires to become bigger, more intense, and harder to extinguish. Corringham studies the economic impacts of extreme weather, which, as you might expect, are at once growing and difficult to count. In addition to the relatively clear-cut dollar figures associated with fighting the fires and the damage to property, there are health care bills, costs of disrupted business, lost tax revenue, decreased property values and what Corringham described as “reverse tourism” — people fleeing smoke or not visiting certain areas because of it. Studies show those indirect costs add up to at least as much as the direct ones; some studies say it is multiples more. © 2020 The New York Times Company

For more than four decades Ramzan has been a "mashki", or water bearer, an age-old profession now in decline as water companies and tankers increasingly supply residents. But his services are at least in high demand during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which fasting can be a challenge when the weather is hot. "In Ramadan, the poor mashkis have a very tough time delivering water to us inside buildings that are four or five storeys high," said resident Mohammad Imran, as Ramzan, 60, arrived with his load. "The tanker people often do not even answer our calls; they also charge too much. We are really grateful to these mashkis." Karachi needs about 1,200 million gallons per day of water to meet the demand of its estimated population of 20 million people. But officials say its two main water sources only provide the city with about 580 million gallons per day. Some of the water is lost due to dilapidated infrastructure and water theft, while experts say climate change and dams built upstream by India also reduce water supplies. Ramzan stops to catch his breath as he climbs the narrow stairwell, carrying his leather "mashk" which can normally hold up to 35 litres of water. "During the month of Ramadan, it becomes especially difficult for people to collect water from water points, so I bring water for them in the hope that Allah will bless me for it ... I also earn my living this way." Water bearers have existed in South Asia for centuries, providing water to travellers and warriors during battles in ancient times. But Ramzan worries that the days of the mashki are numbered. "Tankers are delivering water everywhere; mineral water companies are supplying water from house to house," he said. "Because of this, the profession of the mashki looks like it will not last long."

“This delta variant kind of erased our August,” said Suzanne Becker, the general manager of the Henry Howard Hotel, a boutique hotel in the Lower Garden District. But for the first time in weeks, guests were slated to fill nearly every room. Many other hotels were fully booked at the higher room rates only holiday weekends allow. “It was going to be huge for us,” Becker said. When the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival canceled the October event a few weeks ago, citing concerns about an increase in coronavirus cases, it wiped many reservations off the books. But hotels still had Labor Day to look forward to. “Everyone loves Labor Day in New Orleans,” said Robert LeBlanc, the owner of the Chloe, another boutique hotel in the Garden District. Not only was his hotel fully booked, but he had more large party restaurant reservations than he’d had since late July, when delta took hold. Come Friday night the French Quarter would be brimming with tens of thousands of visitors who’d come for Southern Decadence, or “gay Mardi Gras,” as many refer to it. Beaux Church, the manager of three gay bars in the French Quarter, put twice as many bartenders on the schedule as he normally would. Even with that staffing, he was certain they’d go home flush with tips. “It would have been the weekend that helped them catch up from everything they lost during COVID,” Church said. “It would help them get their rent caught up and get those extra credit cards paid off.” But after Ida howled into Louisiana on Sunday, lashing coastal communities and knocking out power in New Orleans — before moving on to the Northeast, where its remnants wreaked still more havoc — Church’s bartenders evacuated to other cities. The Henry Howard Hotel, along with hundreds of other hotels, stands empty. Southern Decadence is off once again. Even Cafe Lafitte in Exile, a gay bar that prides itself on staying open 24 hours a day — even during Hurricane Katrina — has been forced to shutter because of its inability to turn on the lights, air conditioning or margarita machine. As many in the city remain without power and surrounding towns are still assessing the damage, New Orleans’ tourism industry, a main driver of the city’s economy, is once again taking stock. “What COVID didn’t do, Ida took care of,” said Tony Leggio, one of the organisers of Southern Decadence, as he evacuated his home in scorching heat Tuesday. A ‘do-over’ weekend The possibility that Ida is the event that will finally push visitors over the edge, keeping them away long-term, is what has some in the hospitality sector scared. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the number of tourists in the city plummeted more than 60 percent. It wasn’t until 2010 that the number of visitors reached pre-Katrina numbers again. “We want people to understand this was not a Hurricane Katrina event for New Orleans,” said Kelly Schulz, a spokesperson for New Orleans & Company, the official marketing organisation for the New Orleans tourism industry. Because businesses and homes in the city did not take on water — as some lamentably did in other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi — the tourist infrastructure was generally undamaged, and she said she hoped that tourists would return as soon as the power is back on. Given that intensive care units in the city have been overflowing with young COVID patients and only 40 percent of people are fully vaccinated in Louisiana, some might argue that the city is better off without an influx of crowds. Public health researchers have blamed Mardi Gras in February 2020 for creating one of the most explosive outbreaks of coronavirus in the world. But restaurant owners, hotel managers and event planners say given that the city now requires proof of vaccination or a recent coronavirus test along with masks to enter most businesses, they could have handled the visitors, had the storm given them the opportunity. Visitors seemed to appreciate the rules because they gave them a way to move forward with events in a way that felt safe, said Amanda Price, an event planner based in New Orleans. Labor Day weekend, which falls right in the middle of the most active part of the hurricane season, has not traditionally been a popular time for weddings in New Orleans. “Most of the time people aren’t rushing to get married during hurricanes,” she said. But this year, many seemed determined to use the weekend to pull off weddings that had been canceled by concerns about the coronavirus and rules banning large gatherings that were in place for much of the pandemic. “It has been incredibly busy,” she said. Cayla Contardi, who lives in Austin, Texas, is one of Price’s clients who was hoping for a do-over. Saturday, Sept 4, was her third wedding date. Originally she was supposed to get married in Tucson, Arizona, on June 20, 2020. All of her guests already had recovered from COVID or are fully vaccinated, she said, so she felt that they could safely execute what was supposed to be a 120-person event in a ballroom in the French Quarter. On Saturday afternoon, Contardi was devastated to learn that her husband’s family, who live in New Orleans and in St Tammany Parish about 50 miles north of the city, were fleeing their homes. Still, even after the hotel called her Monday to tell her that her guests could no longer stay there because it was badly damaged, she admits that she struggled to accept that her wedding was off. “I have a beautiful dress that I’ve had for three years,” she said. She won’t plan a wedding a fourth time. Food headed to the trash Long before COVID, Labor Day had been a good weekend for restaurants in New Orleans, according to Nina Compton, the chef behind the restaurants Compère Lapin in the Warehouse Arts District and Bywater American Bistro in the Bywater neighborhood. “Normally a lot of people come to town for a big hurrah before school starts,” she said. This year she was anticipating a busy week. As soon as she saw the storm coming she accepted that was no longer the case. What’s been harder to stomach, she said, is that even as people across the state are struggling, restaurants have had to throw away so much good food. “You can’t donate food to many people because they don’t have the power to cook,” she said, as she finished cleaning out the walk-in fridge at Compère Lapin. She’d found someone who wanted the produce, but milk and fresh pasta were headed for the trash. James Doucette, the general manager of Meals From The Heart Cafe, which maintains a counter in the French Quarter’s open-air market, also lamented all the waste. “This storm is yet another obstacle we must face,” he wrote in an email, adding that his team is currently displaced. It’s not just the loss of weekend tourists that will devastate the restaurant industry, said Alon Shaya, the founder of Pomegranate Hospitality, which manages two restaurants. It’s the fact that the storm will also keep longer term visitors away. Students had just returned to Tulane University, which was helpful to his restaurant, Saba, about a mile away. Now the university is postponing classes for at least another month. This sense of whiplash is not new to New Orleans’ hospitality industry. Early in the pandemic business was so bad that nearly half of the city’s restaurants and one-third of its hotels closed indefinitely. Then, as more people got vaccinated and decided to return to New Orleans, optimism soared. At some point in the spring, business for Church, who manages a diner as well as the three French Quarter gay bars, actually surpassed its 2018 all-time high. Then delta showed up and Bourbon Street died, he said, noting that a few weeks ago, practically overnight, his bars went from making around $10,000 a night to $1,000. He believes that tourists stopped coming in once his staff got strict about rules requiring proof of vaccination and masks, requirements he supports. He was looking forward to all the visitors this weekend because the Southern Decadence festival had been so clear about communicating requirements. “It’s been a roller coaster,” said Edgar Chase IV, who is known as Dooky and runs two Dooky Chase restaurants, one outside the security gate at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and one in the Treme neighbourhood. It should have been a big weekend for his team. Instead they’ve all had to evacuate. In these moments, it’s not money that concerns him, he said. It’s “how can we get people some type of comfort?” In his mind that should be the real focus of the hospitality industry now.   ©The New York Times Company

Even though it turns 50 this month, the European Union still isn't sure what it wants to be when it grows up. The six-nation European Economic Community created by the Treaty of Rome signed on March 25, 1957, has grown without an architect's plan into a sprawling 27-nation union that is the world's biggest trading bloc and covers most of the continent. A perpetual work in progress, the EU is as torn as ever between wider enlargement and deeper integration, between political unification and economic union, and between being more open to the world and protecting its manufacturers and farmers. "European construction is not ready and will never be fully ready," European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom said this week, comparing the EU to a 'jigsaw puzzle' put together piece by piece without a master plan. Opinion polls suggest this sense of hurtling towards an unknown destination is one reason why the EU's popularity has fallen in many member states, along with perceptions that it is too remote, bureaucratic, cosmopolitan and business-friendly. The Union has yet to fully digest the 'big bang' expansion that saw it grow from 15 to 25 member states in 2004, when most of the ex-communist states of central Europe joined what had been a wealthy west European bloc. Bulgaria and Romania joined this year, pushing the gap from richest to poorest members in wealth per capita to 11:1. When French and Dutch voters rejected a EU constitution in 2005 intended to adapt the bloc's creaking institutions to cope with increased membership, one factor was discontent at the eastward enlargement and fear of giant Muslim Turkey joining. Those referendum defeats triggered a crisis of confidence that lingers two years later, leaving the EU struggling on with an outdated rulebook designed for six like-minded states. When EU leaders meet next week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, they will be unable to utter the word 'constitution' in their solemn Berlin Declaration or give a firm date for reforming their institutions. Nor will they be able to say how much further the bloc should expand, due to divisions over whether Turkey, Ukraine and Belarus should ever be offered full membership. Eighteen countries have ratified the constitution that would give the EU a long-term president and foreign minister, a fairer decision-making system with more policies subject to majority voting, and a greater say for European and national parliaments. But aside from France and the Netherlands, Eurosceptical Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic have failed to ratify the treaty and want it slimmed down or unpicked in ways that could upset the delicate balance on which it was built. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has emerged as Europe's most influential deal-maker, faces a tough challenge in trying to revive negotiations on reform at a summit in June. Yet the EU is far from paralysed, despite what Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa calls a melancholy mood. Its leaders last week unanimously adopted an ambitious plan on climate change, energy efficiency and green fuels, claiming world leadership in the fight against global warming. But unanimity rules have slowed moves to build a common foreign and security policy and tackle immigration and crime. Newcomers Cyprus and Poland have used their vetoes to block negotiations with Turkey and Russia, highlighting doubts about the ability of such a heterogeneous bloc to function. On economic policy, countries such as France want closer budget and tax harmonisation led by the 13 countries that share the euro single currency, while eastern newcomers want to keep their low-tax advantage to catch up economically. On trade, the EU is divided between farming nations that want to limit concessions on opening agricultural markets and cutting subsidies, and those who argue Europe has most to gain from a far-reaching liberalisation of global commerce. "There is a mismatch between economic reality, which is becoming increasingly European or global, and the still predominantly inter-governmental nature of EU politics," said Loukas Tsoukalis, head of Greece's ELIAMEP think-tank and an adviser to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Compounding the problem is a division of labour in which the EU concentrates on the often unpopular liberalisation of markets and the enforcement of regulations while member governments deal with citizen-friendly issues of wealth redistribution and welfare, Tsoukalis wrote in the policy journal Europe's World. That enables Eurosceptical politicians and media to blame "Brussels" for decisions agreed to by their own governments. If EU leaders can salvage key reforms in the constitution and either win or avoid another round of referendums, the Union may be able to overcome doubts over its future. If not, former Commission President Jacques Delors warned in a Reuters interview, it could unravel within 20 years.

“I’m lucky it didn’t hit me,” he recalled Monday, sitting at his home on Lancang Island and still visibly shaken by what he saw. “It was like lightning, very fast. It exploded when it hit the water. I saw debris floating. It was airplane debris.” Hendrik, 30, was one of five crab fishermen who were out working on the water Saturday afternoon when Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 fell from the sky minutes after takeoff with 62 people on board, 10 of them children and babies. The plane crashed into the Java Sea, about 300 feet from where Hendrik was fishing. Normally a sleepy island with relatively few visitors, Lancang has now become a base for the aircraft search and recovery operation led by Basarnas, Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency. The crash site is less than 1 mile from the island’s mangroves, coconut and banana trees. The islanders, who often live in colourful, single-story homes, can now see dozens of vessels offshore, combing the area for wreckage and bodies and trying to recover the black box. The Sriwijaya flight, which was bound for the city of Pontianak on the island of Borneo, is the third passenger plane in just over six years to crash into the Java Sea after departing from airports on Java island. Air Asia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea off the coast of Borneo in December 2014 with 162 people aboard as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. Investigators eventually blamed the disaster on the failure of a key component and an improper response by the flight crew. And in October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 nose-dived into the Java Sea northeast of Jakarta, the capital, minutes after takeoff with 189 passengers and crew onboard to Pangkal Pinang. The anti-stall system malfunctioned on the Boeing 737, a different plane from the one in the crash this weekend. Lancang is one of the so-called Thousand Islands, which actually number about 110 and are scattered in the Java Sea north of Jakarta. Some of the islands are popular tourist destinations. Others, like Lancang, are devoted almost exclusively to fishing. “Since the Lion Air crash, I often think when I’m on the sea and I see a plane pass by, what if an airplane crashes here?” Hendrik said. “There are many fishermen here. We would die.” Less than 1 mile long and a third of 1 mile wide, Lancang is home to about 2,100 people, nearly all of them connected to the fishing trade. The small, mostly Muslim community is just 15 miles northeast of Jakarta and one of the closest of the Thousand Islands to the city’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. There are no cars, and residents get around on foot or by motorbike. The main road is only one lane wide, and it takes less than an hour to walk all the way around the island. Few of the islanders have ever flown on an airplane. On clear days, they can see them pass overhead as they take off from Jakarta for northern destinations. Still, Hendrik said he never could have anticipated what happened Saturday. Family members of a Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ 182 passenger react after the plane crashed into the sea off the Jakarta coast, at a hospital in Palembang, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia, January 11, 2021. Nova Wahyudi/Antara Foto via REUTERS “I never thought a plane crash could happen here,” he said. Family members of a Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ 182 passenger react after the plane crashed into the sea off the Jakarta coast, at a hospital in Palembang, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia, January 11, 2021. Nova Wahyudi/Antara Foto via REUTERS The island’s village chief, Mahtum, 47, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said many families on the island eke out a living and lead simple lives. Lancang has been virtually untouched by the coronavirus, with just three cases that were detected last week. But the islanders live under the threat of tsunamis. The highest elevation in the entire Thousand Island chain is 23 feet, leaving many vulnerable to rising sea levels and the kind of extreme storms that delayed the Sriwijaya flight before takeoff. Lancang’s highest point is 7 feet above sea level. Some fishermen thought Saturday’s crash was a coming deluge. “Not only Lancang Island, but all islands in the Thousand Islands are threatened by high tides and strong winds because of climate change,” Mahtum said. When the airplane fell into the sea, it was so close to the island that it rattled windows. One fisherman, Sahapi, was on the water with his crew of one, checking his crab traps not far from Hendrik’s boat when the disaster struck. Sahapi, 52, a fisherman on Lancang Island since 1987, said he heard what sounded like a huge explosion. He felt the sea lift his boat and saw flashes of yellow and red beneath the surface. “I saw debris in the rising water,” he said. “Thick black smoke filled the air, and the rain was heavy. The water was yellow and red.” At first, he thought there might have been a tsunami, then he realized Hendrik’s boat was closer to the site of the explosion; he decided that his friend must have been struck by lightning. “I was afraid to be rolled by the wave,” he said. “I looked right and left, and I didn’t see my friend’s boat. “I didn’t hear any airplane sound,” he said. He hurried home to deliver the bad news of Hendrik’s death. To his relief, Hendrik returned soon after and reported that there had been an airplane crash. Indonesian Navy members pull up a piece of debris during a search for the remains from Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182, which crashed into the sea off the Jakarta coast, Indonesia, January 11, 2021, in this photo taken by Antara Foto/M Risyal Hidayat/via Reuters. Sahapi took police officers from the island back out to the scene after he learned of the crash and helped them use an anchor to pull up some wiring and bits of clothing from the aircraft. Indonesian Navy members pull up a piece of debris during a search for the remains from Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182, which crashed into the sea off the Jakarta coast, Indonesia, January 11, 2021, in this photo taken by Antara Foto/M Risyal Hidayat/via Reuters. By Sunday, searchers had located the airplane’s flight data recorders and hoped to recover them soon. But it could take months before investigators determine the cause of the crash. Efforts continued Monday to extract bodies and recover the data recorders from the wreckage. The Sriwijaya plane, a Boeing 737-500, was deemed safe to fly before takeoff, and the airline had never suffered a crash that resulted in fatalities on board. More than 50 ships and thousands of people are involved in the search and recovery. Hendrik, who was born and raised on Lancang, started fishing with his father as a child and has been a fisherman ever since. He was on his 33-foot boat with his crew of two at the time of the crash. He said he was still in such shock after what he witnessed that he declined to go with police to show them the location. “I was still in trauma,” he said. “I just sat at home shaking, and I was stuttering while speaking. I have lost my appetite until now. I’m still shocked.” Authorities have not allowed the Lancang crab fishermen to check their traps near the crash site since Saturday. Hendrik has 550 traps waiting in the sea.

The government will strengthen local governments in clime change issues. It decided to take up this project in a meeting of the climate change trust board at the environment ministry on Thursday. The project will be implemented jointly by related ministry units and non-governmental organisation Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP), environment state minister Hasan Mamud told journalists at a briefing. The board also approved climate change projects of 25 non-government organisations (NGO) in principle after the original costs of the projects had been revised downwards. "The NGOs will be asked through discussions to complete work according to the approved allocations. If any of them exceed their budgets, they will have to answer to the board," he added. Mahmud went on, "An expert organisation will review the work carried out by the government and non-governmental organisations approved by the trustee board." He added that the board also decided to skip certain projects and approve only the ones that would bring quick benefits to the people. Members of the board, including food minister Abdur Razzak and trustee board chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, attended the meeting.

To howls of protest from airlines, European Union lawmakers approved a deal with governments on Tuesday to include aviation from 2012 in the EU's Emission Trading Scheme, a key tool to fight climate change. Aviation generates 3 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the 27-member bloc but has been left out of the ETS so far because of concerns that its inclusion would damage the industry's ability to compete in international markets. With air traffic set to double by 2020, however, Europe is keen to apply the "polluter pays" principle as it struggles to reduce output of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The European Parliament voted 640 to 30 in favor of a rule that airlines would have to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 3 percent in the first year, and by 5 percent from 2013 onwards, paying for 15 percent of their emissions permits initially. The vote was the last step to turn the proposals into law. The system will apply to all airlines flying into and out of the 27-nation EU, including non-European carriers. A spokesman for German airline Lufthansa, one of Europe's biggest flag carriers, said: "From our perspective, the Emission Trading Scheme is ecologically counter-productive and economically harmful." Lufthansa estimates the scheme as approved will distort competition and cost it hundreds of millions of euros a year from 2012, he said. DEARER AIR TRAVEL? The decision seems bound to raise the price of air travel and pit consumer-friendly deregulation policies that have brought cheap flights to the masses against the EU's ambition to lead the world in fighting climate change. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas hailed the vote, saying: "Greenhouse gas emissions from international air transport are increasing faster than from any other sector in the EU, and this growth threatens to undermine our overall progress in cutting emissions. "This agreement will enable the aviation sector to make a fair contribution to Europe's climate change targets as many other sectors are already doing." But an organization representing 38 airlines serving the holiday industry said it was anything but fair. "Today's vote creates the worst of all worlds -- even more financial pressure on airlines without any proven benefits for the environment," complained Sylviane Lust, director general of the International Air Carrier Association. "Policymakers have succeeded in diverting any potential investment by airlines in new fleet and technology," she said. EU officials contend that on the contrary, charging for airline emissions will hasten the switch to using greener planes. The Lufthansa spokesman added that the EU would have more impact on airline emissions if it implemented a single air traffic control system known as the Single European Sky. The ETS sets a cap on emissions and forces companies to buy permits for some or all the CO2 they emit above that limit. The year 2012 is the last in the current trading cycle of the EU carbon market, which since 2005 has forced heavy industry including power plants and steel makers to buy permits to emit CO2. Soaring fuel costs have pushed several airlines over the brink into bankruptcy in recent months, making the issue controversial. "This represents a balance between environmental imperatives and our economic objectives," French Secretary of State for Ecology Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said in a debate before the vote. "This is a good omen for international negotiations in Poznan (Poland) in December."

SHANGHAI, Aug 15, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - China's carbon emissions will start to fall by 2050, its top climate change policymaker said, the first time the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases has given a timeframe for a decline, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. The comments by Su Wei did not indicate at what level emissions would top out. He restated Beijing's view that because China still needs to expand its economy to pull people out of poverty, it was too soon to discuss emissions caps, the Financial Times said. At a G8 meeting in July, China and India resisted calls to agree to a 50 percent cut in global emissions by 2050, posing a major obstacle for a new United Nations pact due to be agreed upon in Copenhagen in mid-December. "China's emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," the Financial Times quoted Su, director-general of the climate change department at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning body, as saying in an interview. "China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined."

WASHINGTON, January 21 (bdnews24.com/Reuters)- Environmentalists, evangelical Christians and congressional and corporate leaders have called for action on global warming in the days leading up to President George W Bush's State of the Union speech. Interest is particularly keen because of what Bush said in last year's address to Congress and the nation: that "America is addicted to oil" and that this addiction should be broken with technological advances and alternative fuels. Since then, environmental activists and others concerned about the impact of global climate change -- more severe storms, destructive droughts, rising sea levels and higher insurance costs -- have looked for substantial steps from the White House. Many have expressed disappointment. Bush's 2006 State of the Union speech may have unduly raised expectations, said Ben Lieberman of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. "I thought using the extreme rhetoric last year -- 'addicted to oil' -- was a mistake, because it could make people expect extreme action, and there really hasn't been," Lieberman said in a telephone interview. Asked what the Bush administration has done in the last year to cut US dependence on oil, federal officials said highlights include a $1 billion tax credit for construction of clean coal plants, a $16 million research program on recycling nuclear fuel, $250 million to study new biological fuels, and a tightening of fuel efficiency standards for light trucks. The Bush administration's moves did not impress environmental groups on a telephone news conference on Friday. "We have a White House that has yet to deliver on its own rhetoric about ending our dependence on fossil fuels, and up to now has placed its emphasis on helping Big Oil," Betsy Loyless of the National Audubon Society said at that briefing. Bush is expected to call for a big increase in the use of ethanol in Tuesday's speech, according to sources familiar with White House plans, but probably will not advocate limits on the emission of greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide given off by power plants and vehicles -- which contribute to global warming. That may not be enough for some major US corporations, which formed a coalition with environmental advocates to urge Bush and Congress to fight climate change faster. Known as the United States Climate Action Partnership, the group includes Alcoa Inc., General Electric, DuPont Co and Duke Energy Corp. It plans to publicize its recommendations Monday, a day before the big speech. In another unlikely pairing, evangelical Christians and scientists from Harvard Medical School and elsewhere also banded together last week to fight global warming, and called on Bush and others in power to do the same. The climate change issue prompted bipartisan cooperation in Congress, where Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat who heads the Foreign Relations Committee, joined the ranking Republican, Indiana's Richard Lugar, to introduce a resolution urging a US return to international negotiations on climate change. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who has long advocated environment-friendly policies, said on Friday, "It is important to our children's health and their global competitiveness to rid this nation of our dependence on foreign oil and Big Oil interests." Pelosi also announced the creation of a new congressional committee dealing specifically with global warming, and the House of Representatives passed legislation aimed at "Big Oil" that would roll back industry tax breaks and force energy companies to pay more drilling royalties.

India and China began talks on Friday to resolve their long simmering border dispute, but hopes of any progress are expected to grind against a recent spike in geopolitical tensions as well as muscle flexing along the border. India's National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo resumed the talks after a year's gap, focusing on narrowing down differences along their Himalayan border. Twelve rounds of talks have been held before. The two are also expected to talk the language of partnership, highlighted by a burgeoning trade and a common position on climate change and global trade talks. Yet, traditional mistrust since a bloody 1962 war and sparring in recent months over what New Delhi says is China's interference in India's strategic matters could cloud the talks. "The outlook of this round (of talks) is certainly not good," said New Delhi-based strategic analyst Brahma Chellaney. "The atmosphere has deteriorated in the recent months, plus there's been escalation of tensions along the Himalayan border." Feathers were ruffled two months ago when China objected to a $60 million Asian Development Bank loan for a project in Arunachal Pradesh that is claimed by Beijing. India officials say China also tried to block its efforts to get the United Nations to designate a Pakistan-based militant leader a terrorist, as well as privately lobbied against a nuclear deal between India and the United States last year. Of late, Chinese patrolling of the 3,500-km (2,200-mile) border, particularly along Arunachal Pradesh has also been markedly assertive, Indian officials said. All this, some analysts said, was largely consistent with Chinese policy towards India, but New Delhi saw it as an increasing assertiveness as part of Beijing's overall "Rising China" strategy. In response, India began to modernise its border roads and moved a squadron of Su-30 strike aircraft close to the border. Arunachal governor J.J. Singh, said in June up to 30,000 new troops would be deployed in the area. The reaction in Chinese official media has been strong. An editorial in the Global Times said China would never compromise on the border dispute and asked India to consider if it could afford the consequences of a conflict with China. "The Chinese government is trying to say that the public opinion in China is in favour of a more assertive stand towards India," B. Raman, former head of India's spy agency, said. Others say it is a warning from China that India must back down from its military posturing. That said, China may not want to escalate the border dispute now, given that it already has so much on its plate: from dealing with its restive Xinjiang region to fleshing out its relations with the United States and winning a bigger global role. So after 28 years of negotiations, there appears little hope of a breakthrough -- the two sides have never even agreed on a military line separating the two armies. "They wouldn't want to open too many fronts. So I expect status quo to be maintained in the talks," said Bhaskar Roy, a China expert.

US evangelical Christians are divided on global warming, the minimum wage and other issues, but they are united behind a new campaign to end modern slavery around the world. Following a trail blazed two centuries ago, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and Focus on the Family, two US evangelical groups whose leaders have disagreed over other issues, are both supporting a campaign against bonded labor, human trafficking and military recruitment of children. The campaign, "The Amazing Change," was set up by the makers of "Amazing Grace," a movie about the efforts of William Wilberforce, himself an evangelical, to end British participation in the slave trade 200 years ago. "We are carrying forward the banner of evangelical concern for human rights," said Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. Activists say it is crucial to highlight an issue that many people are unaware of. "Most people you ask don't know that there are slaves today," said Pamela Livingston, vice president of the Washington-based International Justice Mission, a Christian-based organisation that campaigns to free slaves overseas with a network of lawyers and social workers. Its work has led to the freeing of 78 slaves from a south Asian brick kiln where they were forced to labor to work off unpayable debts. From 2004 to 2006, the efforts of its staff in Thailand led to the rescue of 129 trafficking victims in Malaysia and Thailand. During the same period in Cambodia, 183 victims of trafficking were released. Evangelicals, a term that refers mostly to Protestants who place emphasis on personal conversion, draw on a tradition of Christian opposition to slavery in the US South -- although many white evangelicals were subsequent opponents of the 1960s civil rights movement to grant equality to blacks. Recently, the US evangelical movement has disagreed over issues such as whether to campaign to reduce reliance on fossil fuels to reduce global warming. Cizik said the National Association of Evangelicals' fights against slavery and climate change both stemmed from Christian compassion for the poor, who are seen as suffering most from increased droughts and food shortages. By contrast, Focus on the Family, which has urged people to watch "Amazing Grace" and support the related campaign, has been wary of climate change action, seeing it as a distraction from efforts to end abortion and block gay rights. But abolishing slavery, be it children kidnapped for warfare in Africa or women traded for sex, unites US Christians on the left and the right. Highlighting the diversity, Republican Sen Sam Brownback of Kansas, a Christian conservative, and prominent liberal preacher Jim Wallis have both raised the banner for "The Amazing Change" campaign. For those on the right like Brownback -- a convert to Catholicism with strong ties to evangelical Protestants -- it fits his "compassionate conservatism." "William Wilberforce and his monumental achievement ... is the story of heroic leadership and courageous action on behalf of the weak and marginalized," Brownback, a candidate for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, recently wrote. Some commentators note that Wilberforce's conservatism may be attractive to some but many of his views look outdated. "I think people like Brownback embrace Wilberforce because he was deeply religious and deeply conservative ... Do they know what they're embracing?," asked Adam Hochschild, author of "Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery." "Wilberforce was a man who was opposed to extending the franchise beyond the five percent or so of the British population who could then vote, who personally was uncomfortable around black people ... and who felt women had absolutely no role in politics," he told Reuters. Some critics of politically active conservative Christians in the United States -- often dubbed the Religious Right -- would say this profile fits their movement, which is suspicious of feminism and often lauds wealth and power. Whatever their stripe, modern anti-slavery campaigners would do well to emulate some of the tactics of their predecessors -- including an 18th century boycott of slave-grown sugar products in Britain, experts say. For example, they could begin with the startling fact that it is legal to deposit money earned from the sweat of slaves or the trade of slaves into US bank accounts -- provided the cash was garnered overseas. The problem, according to Raymond Baker, a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy, is America's two-pronged approach to money laundering. "There is one list for money derived from domestic crimes which is long. The one for foreign crimes is very short," said Baker, author of 'Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System.' Not included in the list of money knowingly derived from overseas illicit activities are crimes such as slavery, environmental crimes and trafficking in women.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, she said, “will bring, I’m sure, some very unique attributes to their leadership.” “I’m not sure I’m in a position to give her a message,” Mahuta added, her eyes bright with possibility. “But what I can say, as the first woman representing the foreign affairs portfolio in Aotearoa, New Zealand, is that we will do what we must do in the best interests of our respective countries. I know we will have many opportunities to share areas of common interest, and I hope we can.” Her excitement reflects a global desire among progressives for a shift away from the chauvinist, right-wing populism that has shaped the past four years in the United States and other countries that elected leaders like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Victor Orban in Hungary. New Zealand offers what many see as the world’s most promising, if tiny, alternative. When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern coasted to reelection last month in a landslide that gave her Labour Party the country’s first outright majority in decades, the remote island nation cemented its position as a beacon of hope for those seeking an anti-Trump model of government led by charismatic women and functioning with an emphasis on inclusion and competence. With a victory over COVID burnishing her image, Ardern and her team now face a surge in expectations. After three years of leading a coalition government that produced few, if any, lasting policy achievements on major issues like inequality, Labour now has the votes to pass what it wants, and the diversity other progressives long for. Labour’s newly elected majority is made up mostly of women. It also includes the New Zealand Parliament’s first member of African descent, Ibrahim Omer, who is a former refugee from Eritrea. The 120-member legislative body also has 11 lawmakers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; a dozen people of Pacific island descent; and 16 Maori members. It is, by far, the most diverse Parliament the country has ever seen, reflecting New Zealand’s demographics and its place within the broader Pacific islands. “It’s a really tectonic outcome,” said Richard Shaw, a politics professor at Massey University, which is based in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Ardern’s executive council, sworn in this month, includes a mix of well-known allies. She named Grant Robertson, the finance minister, as her deputy prime minister, making him the first openly gay lawmaker to have that role. She also appointed several members of Maori and Pacific island descent. Mahuta, 50, was the biggest surprise. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand speaks at the United Nations General Assembly, in Manhattan, Sept 27, 2018. Nanaia Mahuta, the new foreign minister in New Zealand, brings a reputation as an honest broker to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s cabinet, the most diverse in the country’s history. The New York Times She arrived in Parliament at the age of 26 with a master’s degree in social anthropology after working as a researcher for her Tainui tribe in the lead-up to its historic treaty with the government that settled land claims from colonisation. Her father was the lead negotiator; the Maori queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, was her aunt. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand speaks at the United Nations General Assembly, in Manhattan, Sept 27, 2018. Nanaia Mahuta, the new foreign minister in New Zealand, brings a reputation as an honest broker to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s cabinet, the most diverse in the country’s history. The New York Times But rather than seizing the spotlight, Mahuta burrowed into briefing papers. No-nonsense. Measured. Honest. Those were the words that trailed her as she moved through various roles. As associate environment minister, she navigated complicated negotiations over water rights between her tribe and the government. As local government minister, she was often sent to calm disputes over issues ranging from doctor shortages to dog control. While serving as customs minister, she worked closely with exporters and helped forge agreements with Japan and other countries to streamline trade. In her new role, she is expected to focus on organising COVID-safe tourism across the region while expanding economic links with other Pacific Island nations and Australia. David Cunliffe, a former Labour Party leader who worked with Mahuta for nearly two decades, called her promotion to foreign affairs an inspired choice. “She’s someone who seeks progress without necessarily seeking fame for herself,” he said. “All that hard work has now been recognised.” In an interview Thursday, Mahuta said she had not sought the foreign affairs job — “though it was on my long list,” she said — and had been surprised by the offer. She said she jumped at the chance to build New Zealand’s international reputation while working closely with “our Polynesian family across the Pacific.” The region has become more important and more closely scrutinised in recent years as China’s influence and investment have increased. US officials say Mahuta and her team — the defence minister, Peeni Henare, is also Maori — will be welcomed throughout the region as cultural equals and as a strong counterweight to Beijing. Mahuta’s elevation is also being celebrated in the Maori community, which represents 17% of New Zealand’s population, even as her rise has revived old cultural divides. In 2016, she became the first woman in Parliament to display a moko kauae (a sacred facial tattoo). But when her foreign affairs promotion was announced, a conservative New Zealand author tweeted that the tattoo was inappropriate for a diplomat, calling it “the height of ugly, uncivilised wokedom.” New Zealanders quickly rallied to Mahuta’s side. “This isn’t simply a win for ‘diversity,’ although it certainly is; it’s also a triumph of history and politics,” said Morgan Godfery, a political commentator who writes about Maori politics. “Mahuta is one of the most senior members of the Maori King Movement, the 19th-century resistance movement that fought against the invading New Zealand government, and her appointment to that same government’s foreign ministry is a signal of just how far this country has come.” And, yet, for any government, appointments alone are only the beginning. As is the case in the United States, Ardern’s team faces serious domestic and international anxieties. Climate change threatens everyone and everything. The economy is struggling, with COVID-19 exacerbating inequality as housing prices continue to rise beyond the reach of the middle class. Oliver Hartwich, the executive director of the New Zealand Institute, a centre-right research institute, said Ardern needed to be bolder, overhauling education to create more equal outcomes and changing the tax structure to create incentives for local governments to approve new housing construction. “They are not willing to rock the boat and do what needs to be done,” he said. “There are a lot of announcements and not much follow-up.” Cunliffe, the former Labour Party leader, said the governments of Ardern and President-elect Joe Biden both faced the need to be transformative while bringing along sceptics. Populism, he said, can be defeated only with progressive results that benefit supporters and critics alike. “You don’t beat it by one day at the ballot box,” he said. “You do it by using the power of your office to address the root causes that led to it in the first place, and if you don’t, it will be back again in four years’ time or three years’ time.” Mahuta agreed. She said she hoped that solutions for “reimagining what prosperity looks like” can be transferred from the Indigenous community, with values like manaakitanga (Maori for looking after people) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the environment). “Addressing issues of economic inequality is a significant challenge for many countries,” she said. It’s time, she added, “to cut through the old way of doing things.”   © 2020 New York Times News Service

Governments should focus more on generating returns and reducing risk for investors to attract the $100 billion in aid needed by developing countries to cope with climate change, a panel of experts said on Wednesday. Rich countries are being urged to adhere to key elements of a climate accord signed in Copenhagen last year, including a promise of $10 billion a year in quick-start aid from 2010-12 for poor countries, rising to $100 billion a year from 2020. "$100 billion sounds like a lot of money ... (but) raising large amounts of money in the private sector is actually very easy," said Martin Lawless, head of environmental financial products at Deutsche Bank. "Too much attention is focussed on who will provide the money. Instead it should be on the other side, how to increase returns and reduce risks. Once that is established, the finance will follow." The United Nations urged rich nations on Tuesday to keep their pledge to give $30 billion to poor nations by 2012, saying it was "not an impossible call" despite budget cuts in Europe. But with worries over sovereign debt also growing, the private sector may be asked to help fill more of the funding gap. "When you have the right proposition, the financing will come," said Mohsen Khalil, global head of the International Financial Corporation's new Climate Business Solutions Group. "We're at a transition phase where the public and private sectors have to align their interests because heavy subsidies will be required initially until costs come down and we can have a large-scale sustainable business." The panel agreed that the role of carbon markets in directing funds to financing clean energy and climate change adaptation in developing countries was shrinking. Another panel of analysts said earlier on Wednesday that market mechanisms will survive beyond 2012, but their exact shape remains unclear as international climate talks now bypass their role in favour of the wider policy picture. "Carbon credits were good for a time, but is it the only instrument (to engage the private sector)? I don't think so," said Khalil. "Against the background of recent economic turmoil, investors are particularly risk averse, so the private sector needs TLC: transparency, longevity and consistency," Lawless said. He cited a unilateral carbon price floor set by China in 2007 and growing uncertainty over the $144 billion global carbon market's future post-2012, when the first five-year leg of the Kyoto Protocol expires, as deterrents to investors. Key ministers and climate negotiators from China to Norway have said governments are unlikely to agree a successor to Kyoto at UN talks in Cancun, Mexico later this year.

The White House praised former US Vice President Al Gore and the UN climate panel on Friday for winning the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to raise awareness of the threat of global warming. "The president learned about it this morning," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto, who is traveling with Bush in Florida. "Of course he's happy for Vice President Gore and happy for the international panel on climate change scientists who also shared the peace prize." "Obviously, it's an important recognition and we're sure the vice president is thrilled," added Fratto, who said he did not know of plans for Bush to make a congratulatory call to Gore. Gore, a Democrat, has been a vocal critic of the environmental policies of President George W. Bush, a Republican who beat him narrowly in a disputed presidential election result in 2000. Since leaving office in 2001, Gore has lectured extensively on the threat of global warming. In a statement on Friday, he said the climate crisis was "our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level." Bush disagrees with many of the solutions Gore has offered to climate change. But Fratto said he did not see the prize as sending a message to Washington. At a White House-convened summit last month, some of the world's biggest greenhouse polluters called Bush "isolated" and questioned his leadership on the problem of global warming. Bush has rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that sets limits on industrial nations' greenhouse gas emissions, and instead favors voluntary targets to curb emissions. Fratto praised Gore and the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change for their work. "Obviously the next step ... is implementing climate change strategies that are effective and practical and that allow for continued economic development and for countries to do the work they need to do to lift people out of poverty," he said. "And that's a challenging task."

The World Bank on Monday unanimously approved Robert Zoellick as its president after a controversial two-year term by Paul Wolfowitz, who agreed to resign over a promotion scandal involving his companion. Zoellick, former deputy US. secretary of state and trade representative, was the only nominee for the job and will overlap for a week with Wolfowitz before he officially takes the reins of the poverty-fighting institution on July 1. "Mr. Zoellick brings to the bank presidency strong leadership and managerial qualities as well as a proven track record in international affairs and the drive required to enhance the credibility and effectiveness of the bank," the World Bank's board of shareholders said. Zoellick, 53, has said his first priority will be healing rifts between management and staff caused by the bruising battle over Wolfowitz, whose tenure at the bank was tainted from the start by his reputation as an architect of the Iraq war. "It is a special honor and responsibility and I am ready to get to work," Zoellick said in a statement. A tough negotiator with a reputation for being extremely demanding, Zoellick has said he will focus on the poorest countries in Africa but also wants to define a clearer role for the World Bank in emerging nations like China, India and Brazil, which despite rapid economic growth are still dogged by high poverty levels. He will also have to position the World Bank to deal with new global challenges such as greater concerns about climate change and its impact on developing countries. His five-year tenure begins in the middle of the bank's year-long negotiations with donors to raise funds for projects in its poorest borrowers, which will set the course of the bank's lending for the next three years starting in mid-2008. "Once I start at the World Bank, I will be eager to meet the people who drive the agenda of overcoming poverty in all regions, with particular attention to Africa, advancing social and economic development, investing in growth and encouraging hope, opportunity and dignity," he said. The White House welcomed the board's decision and said Zoellick was deeply committed to the mission of the World Bank in reducing global poverty. In his first few months at the World Bank, attention will be on Zoellick's management style and how different it will be from Wolfowitz, who relied on a coterie of former White House and Pentagon officials as advisers. While Wolfowitz made a controversial anti-corruption drive a signature issue, Zoellick has said little about whether he will stick with that strategy or change the way the bank tackles corruption in countries it lends to. "My sense is that it is an important issue for the legitimacy of the institution but also for the effectiveness of its programs," he said about corruption on May 30. Some of the stiffest opposition to Wolfowitz came from inside the bank. Zoellick said on Monday he intended to meet with the leadership of the bank's staff association. Zoellick brings a broad portfolio of experience to the World Bank. He served as a top foreign policy adviser to Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign and has studied and commented on events in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Now officials and environmentalists say goals to limit global temperature rise cannot be met without nature's help. Ahead of a UN "Climate Ambition Summit" to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris accord on Saturday, held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they said threats to plants, wildlife, human health and the climate should be confronted together. “It is time for nature to have a more prominent role in climate discussions and solutions," said Brian O’Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature, which works with scientists, indigenous people and conservation groups. "Global leaders can no longer deal with the climate and biodiversity crises in isolation if we are to be successful in addressing either of them," he added in a statement. It noted scientific estimates that protecting the planet's ecosystems could provide at least a third of the reductions in emissions needed by 2030 to meet the aims of the Paris pact. Under that deal, nearly 200 countries agreed to limit the average rise in global temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and ideally to 1.5C above preindustrial times. But the Earth has already heated up by about 1.2C and is on track to warm by more than 3C by the end of the century, the United Nations said this week. Understanding has accelerated in recent years about the crucial role ecosystems on land and sea play in absorbing carbon emitted by human activities - mainly from burning fossil fuels - and curbing potentially catastrophic planetary heating. In 2019, a U.N. climate science report said the way the world manages land, and how food is produced and consumed, had to change to curb global warming - or food security, health and biodiversity would be at risk. Zac Goldsmith, Britain's minister for the international environment and climate, said nature had been "left behind" and life on the planet was being exhausted at a "terrifying speed", as forests were cut down and seas polluted. "We are denuding the world at a rate that would have seemed impossible to humans a century ago," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It is not possible for us to tackle climate change properly unless we also restore nature - the two are inseparable," he added in a phone interview. SUPPLY CHAINS As host of the next major U.N. climate negotiations in November 2021, in Glasgow, the British government has vowed to put protection for forests and natural systems firmly on the political agenda. Goldsmith said the COP26 team was aiming to build a global coalition of governments and businesses committed to preventing deforestation in supply chains. That follows a proposed new UK law requiring large companies to ensure the commodities they use - such as cocoa, rubber, soy and palm oil - are not linked to illegal forest clearing. Britain also will push for countries to phase out close to $700 billion in annual subsidies worldwide for land use that harms the environment and degrades carbon-storing soils, such as intensive farming, he added. That money could be redirected into efforts to safeguard ecosystems - something sorely needed as less than 3% of international climate finance from donor governments and development banks is spent on that purpose, Goldsmith said. Financial markets, meanwhile, have yet to recognise the value of nature or the true cost of destroying it. "That is a massive failure," he added. GREEN GIGATON UN officials working on a new large-scale effort to channel payments to tropical countries and smaller jurisdictions that lock up carbon in rainforests hope to start turning that problem around by COP26. Last month, they launched a "Green Gigaton Challenge" that aims to catalyse funding for 1 billion tonnes of high-quality emissions reductions a year by 2025 from forests in regions including the Amazon and Congo Basin. Doing so would cut emissions by the equivalent of taking 80% of cars off American roads, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Tim Christophersen, head of nature for climate at UNEP, said the initiative was spurred by surging business interest in forest protection as a growing number of large firms commit to cutting their emissions to net zero by mid-century or earlier. That means companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce and Disney need to offset emissions they cannot eliminate themselves by paying to reduce them elsewhere, through projects such as restoring degraded forests. Under the gigaton challenge, donor governments will invest public money to put a floor under the price per tonne of carbon stored - which could be about $10-$15 - aimed at rewarding successful nature protection efforts that companies will eventually pay even more to back. Countries including Costa Rica and Chile have shown interest in participating, but deals have yet to be brokered between forest-nation governments and the private sector. Over the past decade, UN agencies have worked to develop the basis for a robust market in forest carbon offsets - but without firm international rules, carbon prices have not risen high enough to provide an incentive to keep trees standing. "There is a need for countries to see some sort of reward for results" at a price that makes protecting forests financially viable, said Gabriel Labbate, UNEP's team leader for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). The United Nations and others are still waiting for governments to iron out differences over a system to use carbon credits to meet emissions reduction targets under the Paris pact. Christophersen warned that companies - especially in the oil and gas industry - should not see supporting forest protection as an alternative to slashing their own emissions. "Nature is not a substitute for emissions reductions in other areas, and in particular for getting off fossil fuels," he said.

With most polls showing Scott Morrison's conservative coalition headed for a loss in the May 21 election, it has sought to highlight its national security credentials, such as a tough approach to China. "We are very aware of the influence the Chinese government seeks to have in this country," Morrison told reporters in Tasmania. "There is form on foreign interference in Australia." He was replying to a query about evidence for a radio statement by Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews that the timing of China's revelation of its recent Solomons deal was a form of foreign interference in Australia's election. China has said the pact was not targeted at any third party and urged Australia to "respect the sovereign and independent choices made by China and the Solomons". News of the security pact with the Pacific nation sparked concerns at the prospect of a Chinese military presence less than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Australian shores, casting the national security efforts of Morrison's coalition in poor light. After Australia's opposition Labor party this week called the deal a national security failure by Canberra, Morrison's government has toughened its remarks. He cited a ban on foreign political donations and a register of foreign representatives, saying, "Any suggestion that the Chinese government doesn't seek to interfere in Australia, well, we didn't put that legislation in for no reason." In the Solomon Islands a day earlier, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament the country would not participate in any militarisation in the Pacific, and had signed the China deal as a security pact with Australia was inadequate.

While Ukraine was able to hold a largely peaceful presidential election last month, the situation in the east near the Russian border remains volatile, with armed groups attacking Ukrainian government forces and occupying state buildings."We stand ready to intensify targeted sanctions and to consider significant additional restrictive measures to impose further costs on Russia should events so require," the G7 said in a statement after evening talks in Brussels.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Western powers would check "again and again" to verify that Russia was doing what it could to stabilize the situation, which erupted in March after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and annexed it."We cannot afford a further destabilization in Ukraine," Merkel told reporters."If we do not have progress in the questions we have to solve there is the possibility of sanctions, even heavy sanctions of phase 3 on the table," she said, referring to restrictions on trade, finance and energy.So far, the United States and European Union have imposed relatively minor travel bans and asset freezes on dozens of Russian officials in reaction to the seizure of Crimea.Further steps were threatened if the May 25 elections were affected. However, they went smoothly and new President Petro Poroshenko will be sworn in on Saturday.Some saw that as an indication that Russia was being more cooperative, reducing the threat of further sanctions. But Wednesday's statement suggests the West is not yet satisfied that President Vladimir Putin is doing enough to calm the situation.Russia denies it is behind the revolt in eastern Ukraine, where militias allied to Moscow have seized buildings, attacked Ukrainian troops and declared independence. Putin has also defended his right to protect Russian-speaking people.While Putin has been cut out of the G7 - this is the first meeting without Russia since it joined the club in 1997 - he will hold face-to-face meetings with Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Britain's David Cameron at a D-Day anniversary gathering in France later this week.Asked about those bilateral meetings and whether they raised any concerns for President Barack Obama, who has pointedly avoided any contact with Putin, a U.S. official said it wasn't important who Putin met but "what people say in those meetings". Ahead of the G7 summit, Obama met Poroshenko for talks in Warsaw and declared him a "wise choice" to lead Ukraine, part of efforts by the EU and the United States to provide moral and financial support to the new leadership.Poroshenko, a chocolate-industry billionaire, said he would be willing to meet Putin for peace talks on the sidelines of the D-Day commemorations in Normandy although no meeting has been set up."As things stand now, a meeting between me and Putin is not envisaged, but I do not rule out that it could take place in one format or another," he told reporters, adding that he was working on a peace plan for Ukraine that would involve the decentralization of power, local elections and an amnesty.ECONOMICS AND TRADEAs well as foreign policy, the two-day G7 summit will cover economics, trade, climate and energy policy.One of the most sensitive discussions will be over energy security, particularly in Europe, which relies on Russia for around a third of its oil and gas - a fact that gives Moscow leverage over the EU and its 500 million people.European leaders have committed themselves to diversifying away from Russia but doing so will take time and be costly, and may in part depend on the willingness of the United States to supply liquified natural gas to Europe.A separate communique will be released by the G7 leaders after talks on Thursday which will highlight the need to prioritize security of energy supplies."The use of energy supplies as a means of political coercion or as a threat to security is unacceptable," a draft of that statement, seen be Reuters, said."The crisis in Ukraine makes plain that energy security must be at the center of our collective agenda and requires a step-change to our approach to diversifying energy supplies."The economic discussion is not expected to break new ground, instead reiterating that all the G7 members - the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Japan and Italy - must focus on sustaining economic recovery and tightening regulations to prevent future banking sector problems.The leaders will reaffirm a commitment to completing financial reforms this year including ending "too-big-to-fail" banking.

June 3 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Leaders from the world's major industrialised nations look set to square off on global warming and a range of foreign policy issues when they meet on the Baltic coast this week for a G8 summit. Here are some details of the last five G8 summits. CANADA - KANANASKIS - JUNE 2002: -- Participants agreed a $20 billion deal to stop extremist groups from getting hold of nuclear weapons, notably from stockpiles held in the former Soviet Union. -- In line with year-old promises, the leaders drew up a new development package for Africa, but the Africa Action Plan was criticised for offering a lot of advice and little cash. FRANCE - EVIAN - JUNE 2003: -- The G8 nations focused on the need to press ahead with structural reforms and greater flexibility in rich economies despite resistance, highlighted by public sector strikes, in host country France. -- They sought to draw a line under bitter transatlantic differences over the Iraq conflict, which half the G8 opposed, saying all now agreed the time had come to reconstruct Iraq. -- The summit was marred by violent demonstrations. UNITED STATES - SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA - JUNE 2004: -- The summit agreed to extend a debt relief programme for poor countries, but fell short of demands for a total write-off of loans owed by African nations to multilateral lending agencies. -- G8 leaders said they would extend the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative, under which poor states can write off some of their debt, for two years beyond its expiry in December 2004. -- They also stressed the need to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict as part of an initiative for political and economic reform in the broader Middle East. UNITED KINGDOM - GLENEAGLES - JULY 2005: -- Leaders of the G8 say they would boost aid spending on Africa. But aid agencies argue there is little new money in the pledge from the summit in Scotland and accused the leaders of delaying the increases. -- G8 leaders announced they would more than double aid to Africa by 2010, boosting spending by $25 billion a year from then. -- They also said G8 nations and other donors would increase total aid for all developing countries by about $50 billion a year by 2010. -- The G8 declared global warming required urgent action, but set no measurable targets for reducing the greenhouse gases that trigger it and thus contribute to climate change. RUSSIA - ST PETERSBURG - JULY 2006: -- Group of Eight leaders launched a fresh bid to pin down an elusive global trade pact, seeking a positive outcome to a summit was riven by discord over the Middle East. -- A formal agenda of energy security, combating infectious diseases and promoting education held little controversy and required no financial commitment by G8 members. -- Russia had to concede to European Union concerns over its conduct in energy markets to get agreement on energy security. But it did not bow to demands to ratify the Energy Charter, an international rulebook for oil and gas market activity.  Assistance to Africa, put at the top of the 2005 summit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair but initially ignored by Russia for the 2006 meeting, also found its way onto the agenda. Sources: Reuters/G8 website: http://g-8.de/

Environment ministers struggled to nudge forward climate talks in Copenhagen on Sunday, and police detained more than 250 protesters on a second day of mass action. Church leaders handed a petition with half a million signatures to the United Nations and prayed for climate justice, while hundreds of demonstrators marched through the city centre for a second day to remind world leaders of the huge public pressure for a successful deal at the Dec 7-18 talks. "We are telling them: Hey you, you who are sitting there making the decisions, the world is waiting for a real agreement," South African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a crowd in the city centre. The day after a huge demonstration flared into violence and prompted the largest mass arrest in Danish history, police shut down a small march they said had not been authorised, detaining almost all who had joined it for disturbing the peace. More than 90 ministers had met informally, on their day off from official negotiations between 190 nations, to try to break an impasse between rich and poor over who is responsible for emissions cuts, how deep they should be, and who should pay. There was a positive atmosphere, but the talks apparently achieved little beyond a consensus that time is running out. "Everyone realises the urgency of what we are undertaking but we need to move faster," said British Energy Minister Ed Miliband. Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said he had not expected solutions on Sunday. "We have defined to each other where our absolute limits are," he told reporters. Countries like China and India say the industrialised world must make bigger cuts in emissions and help poor nations to fund a shift to greener growth and adapt to a warmer world. Richer countries say the developing world's carbon emissions are growing so fast it must sign up for curbs in emissions to prevent dangerous levels of warming. SUMMIT ADDS TO PRESSURE The talks will culminate in a summit on Thursday and Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama will attend, adding to the pressure on negotiators to reach a deal. The head of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, warned governments that failure to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen could lead to a collapse of the carbon market, which would hit efforts to deal with climate change. Tutu handed a petition with over half a million signatures, calling for a "fair, effective and binding climate deal," to Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat. De Boer told the crowd he hoped public pressure could persuade leaders to set aside their concerns about the global economic crisis and tackle the urgent threat of climate change. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, called for political courage at a service in Copenhagen's cathedral, attended by Danish royalty, which was followed by a "bell ringing for the climate" in churches around the world. "We have not yet been able to embrace the cost of the decisions we know we must make ... but we have an obligation to future generations," Williams told the congregation. Police have released all but 13 of nearly 1,000 people detained after a march on Saturday, a police spokesman said. The demonstration by tens of thousands of people was largely peaceful but violence erupted towards evening when demonstrators smashed windows and set fire to cars. Some of those detained said they were unfairly held and badly treated by police, and the waves of new arrests angered activists who said they were peacefully exercising their rights. A Reuters witness saw no violence at the small anti-capitalist "hit production" march. "They're just trying to stifle any kind of protest and they are mass arresting any demonstrators. Also today, there was nothing going on and suddenly police started arresting people," said protester Peter Boulo at Sunday's "hit production" march.

Framed by banana and eucalyptus trees, the caramel-coloured Mekong river rolls through this lush corner of Yunnan province in southwestern China with an unerring rhythm that is reassuring in its seeming timelessness. Yet as recently as April, a fearsome drought had shrivelled the Mekong to its narrowest in 50 years. Water levels were so low that at Guanlei, a river town not far from here, dozens of boats were laid up for more than three months. Alarmed at the drying up of the world's largest inland fishery, the four members of the Mekong River Commission -- Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam -- called a special summit. "Without good and careful management of the Mekong river as well as its natural resources, this great river will not survive," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva warned. The commission's political leaders suspected that China was hoarding water behind the dams it has built on the Mekong, exacerbating the impact of the drought. China presented data to allay these fears. Finally, the rains returned and the tensions dissipated. But the incident highlighted the strains that are being generated as Asia's unslakeable thirst for water collides with the reality of a supply that is limited and, if climate change projections are borne out, may shrink sharply. The Asian Development Bank speaks of a looming crisis that threatens access to water and sanitation needs for millions of households and industries. The bank is holding a high-level conference at its headquarters in Manila this week to chart solutions and canvass greater regional cooperation. "In the next five to 10 years, if the initiatives to secure greater efficiencies in water are not put in place, you really are at risk," said Arjun Thapan, the ADB's special senior adviser for infrastructure and water, told Reuters. MIND THE GAP Projections last year by the Water Resources Group (WRG), a consortium of private-sector companies formed to tackle water scarcity, point to a global gap of 40 percent between the supply and demand for water by 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario. The imbalance is particularly daunting in India, where the trend towards a middle-class diet will increase demand for meat, sugar and wheat, which require a lot of water to produce. Agriculture uses almost 90 percent of India's water. By 2030, demand will grow to almost 1.5 trillion cubic metres, compared with today's supply of about 740 billion cubic metres, according to a report for the WRG by consultants McKinsey. As a result, in the absence of concerted action, most of India's river basins could face a severe water deficit by 2030. China's likely water deficit is more manageable on paper -- a shortfall of 200 billion cubic metres -- but 21 percent of the country's surface water resources are unfit even for farming, which consumes about 70 percent of the country's water. See the McKinsey report at r.reuters.com/wuq57p What makes such forecasts even more daunting is evidence that global warming is already eroding the Himalayan glaciers covering the Tibetan plateau, which feed neighbours including India and Pakistan as well as China itself. More than 80 percent of glaciers in western China are now in retreat, according to a study by a group of mainly Chinese climate-change scientists in the September issue of 'Nature'. Overall, 5 percent to 27 percent of China's glacial area is forecast to disappear by 2050, the study said. "Even though the exact timing and magnitude of the 'tipping point' of each glacier is still uncertain, the projected long-term exhaustion of glacial water supply should have a considerable impact on the availability of water for both agricultural and human consumption," the scientists wrote. Because 60 percent of the run-off from China's glaciers flows out of the country, this can spell only trouble. China's plans for more dams on the Mekong and on other major rivers that tumble down from the Tibetan plateau already have its southern neighbours on edge. "As far as transboundary management of water is concerned, I think certainly the Himalayas are likely to be a flashpoint," said the ADB's Thapan. THE NEW OIL The risk of conflict over water rights is magnified because China and India are home to over a third of the world's population yet have to make do with less than 10 percent of its water. "Although both nations are seeking to become the superpowers of the 21st century, their weak point is water," according to Yoichi Funabashi, a prominent foreign-affairs commentator and editor-in-chief of the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. India and Pakistan are another potential point of friction. The Indus Waters Treaty, which parcelled out river use rights after India's partition in 1947, has survived three wars between the two neighbours since it was signed in 1960. But the pact is under strain from Indian plans for more upstream dams and water diversion schemes. So what is to be done? Given that agriculture accounts for almost 70 percent of global water use, it will be critical to increase "crop per drop" via improved irrigation techniques and growing food that needs less water. In the words of the Water Resources Group, "While the gap between supply and demand WILL be closed, the question is HOW." As Funabashi puts it, oil can ultimately be replaced by other resources, but the same is not true for water. Water is also closely tied to food, energy and climate change. "In that sense, water is a key component of national security. If the 20th century witnessed the rise and fall of nations over oil, the 21st century could be one in which the rise and fall of nations is determined by water," he wrote last month.

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. climate panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for raising awareness of the risks of climate change. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to share the $1.5 million prize from a field of 181 candidates. Gore has urged action to slow warming with his book and Oscar-winning documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth". "Such an award would fall under the expanded concept of peace but the activity can be linked to the climate-conflict combination and is highly timely," NRK veteran journalist Geir Helljesen, who has a solid record of tipping prize winners, had earlier said. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prize, reached its decision on Monday, unusually close to the announcement which Helljesen said might be a sign that the five members from five political parties found it a difficult choice. The UN climate panel, officially called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), groups 2,500 scientists and issued a series of reports this year blaming mankind for global warming and outlining solutions. Watt-Cloutier, 53, is a representative of indigenous Arctic people whose lives are altered by the melting of the polar ice. GORE, FINN, EU Helljesen said three candidates stood out this year: Gore, the European Union for more than five decades of peaceful integration, and Finland's Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari, who was Finnish president in 1994-2000, helped broker a 2005 peace deal between Indonesia and its Aceh province to end 30 years of conflict and is U.N. special envoy on Kosovo -- a task where he faces stiff resistance from Serbia and Russia. NRK's Helljesen said the Finn's chances would have been better if Kosovo's future had been clarified during Ahtisaari's term, and said the EU's chances were clouded by a split among Norwegians into pro and anti-EU camps. Norwegians voted "No" to EU membership in referendums in 1972 and 1994, with many fearing a loss of sovereignty. Experts have said the prize could go to climate campaigners or scientists working on global warming this year ahead of a December U.N. conference in Bali, Indonesia, that will seek to launch talks about widening the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. Others tipped by academic experts as possible winners include China's Rebiya Kadeer who has fought for the rights of the Uighur minority, Russian human rights lawyer Lydia Yusupova, and Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do. Australian online betting shop Centrebet put Ahtisaari and Gore as favorites at 4-to-1 odds, followed by Watt-Cloutier at 5-to-1 and Poland's Irena Sendler, a woman who saved Jewish children during World War Two, at 6-to-1. The IPCC and its head Rajendra Pachauri were tipped by Centrebet on Thursday in fifth place at 7-to-1.

A better-than-expected German business sentiment report helped lift the euro and European stocks on Wednesday, but ongoing worries about the world's biggest economy kept the dollar under pressure. A weakening greenback helped fuel interest in a range of commodities such as oil and gold that had sold off recently. Global demand for many commodities is seen remaining intact thanks to booming economies such as China despite a softer US outlook. German corporate sentiment improved in March as firms took a more optimistic view of the economic situation, according to a closely watched report from the Ifo institute, helping lift some of the gloom surrounding the global economy. "This is the third consecutive month that the Ifo has come out on the strong side of expectations," said Audrey Childe Freeman European economist at CIBC World Markets. "It sort of backs up a continued decoupling story for Germany and the euro zone as a whole," she said, adding that it also supported views that the ECB would not cut rates soon. The Ifo economic research institute said its business climate index, based on a poll of around 7,000 firms, rose to 104.8 from 104.1 in February -- easing investors' flight to safety and knocking safe-haven euro zone government bonds off early highs. The report came a day after US consumer confidence fell to a five-year low in March, while a separate US report revealed a record drop in home values in January, raising concerns Americans are tightening their purse strings.. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares pared early losses and briefly popped into positive territory before edging 0.2 percent lower. Germany's DAX was flat, while London's FTSE 100 index shed 0.3 percent. Swiss miner Xtrata was among the biggest losers, shedding about 9 percent, after takeover talks with the world's largest iron ore miner Vale broke down. Just a day earlier, European stocks had risen about 3 percent with banks in the lead after JPMorgan raised its offer to buy rival Bear Stearns five-fold, helping ease worries about a sector hit by the credit crunch. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei ended down 0.3 percent, but MSCI's measure of other Asian stock markets added 0.6 percent. MSCI world equity index edged up 0.2 percent. DOLLAR SOFTER The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies, struggling amid ongoing concerns about the health of the US economy. The dollar index fell 0.6 percent, while the euro rose half a US cent on the back of the Ifo report to around $1.5646. Among government bonds, the 10-year Bund yield was little changed at 3.872 percent, while the benchmark 10-year yield for US Treasuries lost 2.4 basis points to 3.517 percent. US light crude for May delivery climbed 73 cents to $101.94, while gold edged up to $940.50 an ounce from around $934.60 an ounce late in New York on Tuesday.

European Union leaders resolved on Friday to slash greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable fuels, challenging the world to follow its lead in fighting climate change. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bloc's "ambitious and credible" decisions, including a binding target for renewable sources to make up a fifth of EU energy use by 2020, put it in the vanguard of the battle against global warming. "We can avoid what could well be a human calamity," she said after chairing a two-day summit, stressing the 27-nation EU had opened an area of cooperation unthinkable a couple of years ago. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters: "We can say to the rest of the world, Europe is taking the lead. You should join us fighting climate change." The EU package set targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, developing renewable energy sources, boosting energy efficiency and using biofuels. In a move that will affect all of the bloc's 490 million citizens, the leaders called for energy-saving lighting to be required in homes, offices and streets by the end of the decade. Barroso argues Europe can gain a "first mover" economic advantage by investing in green technology but businesses are concerned they could foot a huge bill and lose competitiveness to dirtier but cheaper foreign rivals. The deal laid down Europe-wide goals for cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and developing renewable sources but national targets will require the consent of member states, presaging years of wrangling between Brussels and governments. Merkel scored a diplomatic victory by securing agreement to set a legally binding target for renewable fuels such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power -- the most contentious issue. Leaders accepted the 20 percent target for renewable sources in return for flexibility on each country's contribution. The United Nations, which has coordinated global efforts to tackle climate change, applauded the plan. "In the face of rising greenhouse gas emissions, committing to a substantial decrease for the next decade is ambitious," deputy UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. "But ambition and leadership are just what is needed to respond to climate change, one of the greatest challenges facing humankind." "GROUNDBREAKING" "These are a set of groundbreaking, bold, ambitious targets for the European Union," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. "They require an immense amount of work for Europe to secure this but ... it gives Europe a very clear leadership position on this crucial issue facing the world," he told reporters. By pledging to respect national energy mixes and potentials, the summit statement satisfied countries reliant on nuclear energy, such as France, or coal, such as Poland, and small countries with few energy resources, such as Cyprus and Malta. The leaders committed to a target of reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and offered to go to 30 percent if major nations such as the United States, Russia, China and India follow suit. The statement also set a 10 percent target for biofuels in transport by 2020 to be implemented in a cost-efficient way. But they did not endorse the executive European Commission's proposal to force big utility groups to sell or spin off their generation businesses and distribution grids. Instead they agreed on the need for "effective separation of supply and production activities from network operations" but made no reference to breaking up energy giants such as Germany's E.ON and RWE and Gaz de France and EDF. Renewables now account for less than 7 percent of the EU energy mix and the bloc is falling short of its existing targets both for renewable energy and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. French President Jacques Chirac insisted at his last formal EU summit that the bloc recognize that nuclear power, which provides 70 percent of France's electricity, must also play a role in Europe's drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But several EU states are fundamentally opposed to atomic power or, like Germany, in the process of phasing it out. Poland won a commitment to "a spirit of solidarity amongst member states" -- code for western Europe helping former Soviet bloc states if Russia cuts off energy supplies. Several other new ex-communist member states in central Europe were among the most reluctant to accept the renewables target, fearing huge costs from the green energy revolution. As chair of the Group of Eight industrialized powers, Merkel wants the EU to set the environmental agenda. The summit outcome will form the basis of the EU's position in international talks to replace the UN Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Environmentalists, often critical of EU efforts, hailed the agreement as a breakthrough.

WASHINGTON, Mar 13(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Visibility on clear days has declined in much of the world since the 1970s thanks to a rise in airborne pollutants, scientists said on Thursday. They described a "global dimming" in particular over south and east Asia, South America, Australia and Africa, while visibility remained relatively stable over North America and improved over Europe, the researchers said. Aerosols, tiny particles or liquid droplets belched into the air by the burning of fossil fuels and other sources, are responsible for the dimming, the researchers said. "Aerosols are going up over a lot of the world, especially Asia," Robert Dickinson of the University of Texas, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview. Dickinson and two University of Maryland researchers tracked measurements of visibility -- the distance someone can see on clear days -- taken from 1973 to 2007 at 3,250 meteorological stations worldwide. Aerosols like soot, dust and sulfur dioxide particles all harmed visibility, they said in the journal Science. The researchers used recent satellite data to confirm that the visibility measurements from the meteorological stations were a good indicator of aerosol concentrations in the air. The aerosols from burning coal, industrial processes and the burning of tropical forests can influence the climate and be a detriment to health, the researchers said. Other pollutants such as carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases are transparent and do not affect visibility. The data will help researchers understand long-term changes in air pollution and how these are associated with climate change, said Kaicun Wang of the University of Maryland. "This study provides basic information for future climate studies," Wang said in a telephone interview. The scientists blamed increased industrial activity in places like China and India for some of the decreased visibility, while they said air quality regulations in Europe helped improve visibility there since the mid-1980s. The aerosols can have variable cooling and heating effects on surface temperatures, reflecting light back into space and reducing solar radiation at the Earth's surface or absorbing solar radiation and heating the atmosphere, they added.

Talks on global warming in the United States next week may be complicated by differences among developing countries as their climate policy positions diverge. All agree that the rich should take a lead in tackling climate change after enjoying more than two centuries of economic growth fuelled by burning coal and oil. The differences will emerge on when and under what terms developing nations shoulder a greater burden in cutting their own growing greenhouse gas emissions. Climate summits next week in Washington and New York will feed into talks which are often simplistically portrayed as hinging on getting rich and poor to agree a formula. The Bush administration hosts a summit for "major economies" on energy and climate change in Washington later next week, following a U.N. climate summit in New York on Monday. Both are meant to contribute to long-running U.N. talks to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the global deal on cutting climate warming carbon emissions which expires in 2012. Beneath a show of unity splits exist among developing countries. "(Sub-groups) reflect differences in priorities generated from different national interests," said Alf Wills, head of South Africa's climate negotiating team. Developing nations engage in a single block called the "G77 plus China", and a common rallying cry is to remind rich nations that they haven't lived up to a promise to finance the fight against climate change. "We still haven't seen the commitments coming through," said Wills. But under that umbrella various shifting groups include: rapidly developing economies, tropical forested countries, oil-producing states, small island states and the poorest, least developed nations. INDIA-CHINA DIFFERENCES Small island states and forested nations may benefit from tough climate policies, while oil producers would lose out if, as intended, these dampened demand for fossil fuels like oil. Big, rapidly developing countries are also showing splits. India, for example, differentiates itself from China which is now neck-and-neck with the United States for the title of world's biggest carbon emitter, and coming under increasing international climate policy pressure as a result. Nitin Desai, an expert who is on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Council on Climate Change, said it was unfair to lump China and India two together. "Our per capita emissions are one fourth of theirs while their GDP (gross domestic product) is not four times larger than ours," he said. "India has achieved very substantial energy efficiency... by that yardstick India has achieved more on climate change than China." But the two have much in common, too, worried that energy constraints will strangle their economic growth. Like all countries, they also want to minimise the impact of climate change expected to trigger dangerous weather extremes and higher sea levels. "Everyone wants to do something about climate change, it's a difference in priority. It's not a simple formula, but it's not impossible," said South Africa's Wills. China says it is committed to the climate change cause. "The Chinese government attaches great importance to the issue of climate change," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. To reach agreement all countries, developing and developed, will have to recognise the problem as a shared one, said John Ashton, climate change representative at Britain's foreign ministry. "We can't do this on a blame game, 'after you' mentality... whether China, India, Europe or the US," he said.

The western Indian state of Gujarat will hold elections in December, in a test for the country's ruling Congress party, currently facing its worst crisis since coming to power in 2004. India's election authorities also announced that voting for a new assembly in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh would be held on Nov. 14 and Dec. 19. "This is the first direct fight between the Congress and the (opposition Bharatiya Janata Party) BJP since the changes in the country's political climate, primarily over the nuclear deal," political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan said. The Congress, which heads India's ruling coalition, is facing a major challenge from its leftist allies over a nuclear deal with the United States that its communist partners oppose. Its leftist allies have threatened to withdraw support for the coalition if the government goes ahead with the deal. If that happens, the government would be reduced to a minority and national elections could be held ahead of the 2009 schedule. More than 30 million people will vote for 182 seats in two phases on Dec. 11 and Dec. 16 in Gujarat where Chief Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP has won the last three successive elections. Five years ago, Modi was accused of turning a blind eye while the state was torn apart by Hindu-Muslim riots in which, human rights groups say, some 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. The official death toll is about 1,000. The riots in 2002 erupted after a fire broke out on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, killing 59 people. A Muslim mob was accused of starting the fire.

The prime minister said on Monday he wanted to lower the average age of his cabinet, a remark that could signal a greater role for young and reformist ministers in a team dominated by a socialist old guard. Prime Minister Manmohan's Singh's comments came ahead of a possible cabinet reshuffle before the winter parliament session begins in November. Several elderly and powerful ministers have been criticised for scuttling new thinking in the government, frustrating Singh's efforts toward rapid reforms, like opening up retail to foreign investors, after last year's resounding election victory. "I would like to reduce the average age of my cabinet," Singh was quoted by the semi-official Press Trust of India news agency as saying after the 77-year-old leader met newspaper and television editors in New Delhi. The Congress party-led government's term has seen the rise of some younger figures like Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who who created a stir last year by suggesting that India could be more flexible in its negotiating stance at the Copenhagen climate change summit. He soon backed down under pressure. Singh's drive for youth is also backed by Rahul Gandhi, 40-year-old son of Congress party head Sonia Gandhi and a likely future prime minister. "Younger people are more dynamic, they are open to newer ideas and can be more flexible -- all these are things investors will like," said D.H. Pai Panandikar, head of the New Delhi-based private think-tank RPG Foundation. The average age of Singh's cabinet is almost 64 -- old compared with that of Britain at about 51 years or even the United States at just above 57 years. Most ministers heading top ministries are about 70 years old or more. The younger ministers have been in the headlines, for trying to push established norms of policy-framing or even the use of modern technology such as Twitter. But any attempt at building a younger cabinet may mean Singh will only bring in more young faces rather than drop ageing ministers, most of whom remain powerful. He may give more responsibilities to incumbent junior ministers who are young.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday warned that most regions of the world will be hurt by the debt crisis enveloping the euro zone and said it was vital to protect the strong economic gains of the past decade in the developing world. In his first public speech since taking the helm of the World Bank on July 1, Kim said even if the euro zone crisis is contained, it could still reduce growth in most of the world's regions by as much as 1.5 percent. A major crisis in Europe could slash gross domestic product in developing countries by 4 percent or more, enough to trigger a deep global recession, he said. "Such events threaten many of the recent achievements in the fight against poverty," he said, noting that over the last decade nearly 30 developing countries have grown by 6 percent or more annually. Outlining challenges for the global poverty-fighting institution, Kim said his priority was to protect development gains from economic risks, such as the euro zone crisis, which has begun to weigh on growth in large emerging economies like China. For now, the world's poorest nations appear to be somewhat insulated from the euro zone crisis because they have limited exposure to global financial markets. But Kim said not everyone would be spared and he urged European policymakers to take necessary steps to restore stability. "To put it starkly, what's happening in Europe today affects the fisherman in Senegal and the software programmer in India," Kim told the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. He said the bank had a role in broadening development to include fragile states or countries afflicted by conflict so they are not left trailing behind, and ensuring growth in developing regions is lasting and benefits everyone. He said reforms are needed to sustain high rates of growth even in fast-rising economies. Middle-income countries need to modernize their economic structures and create jobs to meet the growing expectations of their people, Kim added. The challenge for the World Bank was also to help tackle growing inequality in developing countries, Kim said. "Even as an unprecedented number of people in the developing world are ascending into the middle class, segments of the poorest populations are being left behind, and other segments of the middle class are at risk of falling back into poverty," he said. Unlike previous heads of the World Bank, Kim is a physician and anthropologist, not a politician, banker or a career diplomat. His work has focused on bringing healthcare to the poor, whether fighting tuberculosis in Haiti and Peru or tackling HIV/AIDS in Russian prisons. As he makes his rounds of the different parts of the World Bank Group, Kim said he had was focused on what he called "the science of delivering results," in which the impact of development projects on people can be measured. "We have to have focus on actually delivering results on the ground," Kim said. Such ideas are likely to play well among the World Bank's major donors, such as the United States, which are facing budget constraints and wanting to see tax dollars put to good use. SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE Kim weighed into the controversial issue of the World Bank funding for energy projects, such as coal. Environmentalists have called on the World Bank, which oversees a clean technology fund for donors, to stop funding projects that increase damaging greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean sources of energy. Kim said he recognized the trade-offs between the need to protect the environment and ensure that developing countries have access to reliable power. "I have been trained in science and I have to tell you that the data I'm seeing about the changes (to temperatures and sea levels) ... is extremely disturbing and we have to put the science of climate change in front of all of our member countries and I guarantee you that I will do that," he said. He added: "But having said that, you should also know that I believe in energy to lift people out of poverty and prosperity, so we are going to be constantly having to balance those needs and those interests, which is part of my job." A lot of climate research shows that rising greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for increasing global average surface temperatures by about 0.17 degrees Celsius a decade from 1980-2010 and for a sea level rise of about 2.3mm a year from 2005-2010 as ice caps and glaciers melt. More than 180 countries are negotiating a new global climate pact which will come into force by 2020 and force all nations to cut emissions to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius this century -- a level scientists say is the minimum required to avert catastrophic effects.

Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, was scheduled to set sail from Hampton, Virginia, on Wednesday morning. This time, she will hitch a ride with an Australian couple that sails around the world in a 48-foot catamaran called La Vagabonde and chronicles their travels on YouTube. La Vagabonde will take roughly three weeks to reach Spain, where Thunberg hopes to arrive in time for the next round of UN-sponsored climate talks. “I decided to sail to highlight the fact that you can’t live sustainably in today’s society,” Thunberg said by phone from Hampton on Tuesday afternoon. “You have to go to the extreme.” Thunberg doesn’t fly because of the outsize greenhouse gas emissions from aviation. And so her trip from Europe to the United States was also by boat — a racing yacht that set off from Plymouth, England, and arrived in New York harbour to much fanfare in August. Thunberg had been travelling slowly across the United States and Canada — appearing on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” in New York, protesting alongside Sioux leaders in North Dakota, bike riding in California with Arnold Schwarzenegger and joining school strikes every Friday from Iowa City to Los Angeles. She had planned to make her way south, mainly by bus and boat, to Santiago, Chile, for the next round of UN-sponsored climate negotiations in December. Her slow travel plans needed to be quickly changed. First came a wave of street protests in Santiago. Chile said the climate talks could no longer be held there. Spain offered Madrid as the venue, and Thunberg found herself suddenly needing another ride across the ocean. “It turns out I’ve travelled half around the world, the wrong way,” she said on Twitter. “Now I need to find a way to cross the Atlantic in November… If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful.” Help came from Riley Whitelum, an Australian who has been sailing around the world with his wife, Elayna Carausu. “If you get in contact with me, I’m sure we could organise something,” he responded. In the span of a week, the voyage was organised. Whitelum and Carausu will be joined by a British professional sailor, Nikki Henderson, for this voyage. Thunberg’s father, Svante, will accompany her back across the ocean, as he did on the westward trip. The couple’s 11-month-old son, Lenny, will also be onboard, meaning that Thunberg, who is usually the only child in rooms full of powerful adults, will not be the youngest person in the crowd. “Finally,” she said. Thunberg’s extraordinary rise stems, in large part, from the fact that she is a child. She was 15 when she decided she would skip school and sit in front of the Swedish parliament, holding a homemade sign that read, in Swedish, “School Strike for the Climate.” She credits her single-minded focus on climate action to what she calls her superpower: Asperger’s syndrome, a neurological difference on the autism spectrum. Word spread of her solo act of civil disobedience. It buoyed the efforts of other young environmental activists and inspired hundreds of school strikes. Young people organised with the tool that they best know how to use: the internet, mobilising by the millions, from Melbourne to Kampala to Bonn to New York City. Their anger, like hers, embodied the frustration of their generation at the incongruously slow pace of action in the face of definitive science. Thunberg’s fame has grown in the United States. A collection of her speeches, most of them previously published, has been released in a new anthology by Penguin Press. Her angriest speech, delivered to world leaders at the United Nations in September, has been used in a death-metal remix. The likeness of her face is painted on a mural on the side of a building in San Francisco. Threats of violence have come at her too, along with attacks aimed at her medical condition. Perhaps her most famous American encounter was with President Donald Trump in the corridors of the United Nations. He didn’t see her. But she saw him, flashing icy daggers with her eyes. Asked what she was thinking in that moment, Thunberg said, “It speaks for itself.” Thunberg said Tuesday that she hoped La Vagabonde would bring her to Spain safely and on time. After that, she was looking forward to going back home to Stockholm and hugging her two dogs. “Travelling around is very fun and I’m very privileged to have the opportunity to do so, but it would be nice to get back to my routines again,” she said.   c.2019 The New York Times Company

Dhaka, Sep 1 (bdnews24.com)--Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday headed for Switzerland to attend the World Climate Conference-3. Hasina caught a regular flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines bound for London at 8:45am. Foreign minister Dipu Moni, state minister for environment Hassan Mahmud, the prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad and daughter Saima Wazed Putul are on her entourage. The cabinet ministers, three military chiefs and other high officials saw the delegation off at Zia International Airport. Mahmud told reporters in the VIP Lounge that Bangladesh would demand compensation from the counties responsible for climate change. Organised by World Meteorological Organisation the theme of the five-day long summit started from Monday is 'Better Climate Information for Better Future'. The summit will run through to Sept 4. Bangladesh is the chair of the 50-member LDC Group, which includes the countries that would be most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, mostly a result of emissions by developed countries.

Police clashed with demonstrators gathered around the Bank of England in the heart of London's financial centre on Wednesday during a day of protest against the G20 summit. Riot police staged baton charges to try to disperse several hundred people protesting against a financial system they said had robbed the poor to benefit the rich. Demonstrators earlier attacked a nearby branch of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), shattering three windows. Rescued by the government in October, RBS and former boss Fred Goodwin, who controversially refused to give up a pension of 700,000 ($1 million), became lightning rods for public anger in Britain over banker excess blamed for the financial crisis. During the protests one man died after he collapsed and stopped breathing. Police said they tried to resuscitate him but that they came under a hail of bottles. The man was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. A police source said it was likely the man died from a medical condition but that a post-mortem was needed. The protests in London's City financial area coincided with a G20 meeting of the world's leading and emerging economies. Protesters hurled paint bombs and bottles, chanting: "Our streets! Our banks!" RBS said in a statement it was "aware of the violence" outside its branch and "had already taken the precautionary step" of closing central City branches. As dusk fell, police charged a hard core of anti-capitalist demonstrators in an attempt to disperse them before nightfall. Bottles flew through the air towards police lines and police on horseback stood by ready to intervene. Some protesters set fire to an effigy of a banker hanging from a lamp post. Police brought out dogs as they tried to channel the few hundred remaining protesters through the narrow streets surrounding the classical, stone-clad Bank of England. Police said 63 protesters had been arrested by late evening and at least one officer was taken to hospital for treatment, although he was not believed to be seriously hurt. Some 4,000 protesters had thronged outside the central bank. A Gucci store nearby was closed and had emptied its windows. Demonstrations were planned for Thursday at the venue in east London where world leaders will discuss plans to fight the financial crisis, police said. HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE During Wednesday's protests, demonstrators marched behind models of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse" representing financial crimes, war, climate change and homelessness. Some threw eggs at police and chanted, "Build a bonfire, put the bankers on the top". Others shouted "Jump" and "Shame on you" at financial sector workers watching the march from office block windows. "I am angry at the hubris of the government, the hubris of the bankers," said Jean Noble, a 60-year-old from Blackburn in northern England. "I am here on behalf of the poor, those who are not going to now get their pension or who have lost their houses while these fat cats keep their bonuses, hide their money in tax havens and go and live where nobody can touch them." A smaller demonstration against Britain's military role in Iraq and Afghanistan attracted several hundred people in Trafalgar Square, not far from parliament. The protests, which brought together anti-capitalists, environmentalists, anti-war campaigners and others, were meant to mark what demonstrators called "Financial Fools' Day" -- a reference to April Fool's Day which falls on April 1. Police stopped a military-style armoured vehicle with the word "RIOT" printed on the front and a police spokesman said its 11 occupants were arrested for having fake police uniforms. For more on the summit, click here

Many architects have expressed frustration over the move to demolish the red building, which had added to the beauty of the street with a park on the opposite side. A heritage campaigner has demanded that the authorities preserve the building considering its historic significance. On Wednesday, some parts of the two-storey building's roof were already torn down by a contractor who provided a single name, Shakil. "We are pulling it down for four days. I secured the job through tender eight months ago," he told bdnews24.com. When contacted for comments, the Department of Agricultural Expansion or DAE Director General Md Golam Maruf told bdnews24.com that it was the government's decision to tear the building down. He declined further comments, saying the building was not under his department anymore despite its significance in the history of agricultural research. He advised Cotton Development Board or CDB, which owns the building now, be contacted. CDB Executive Director Md Farid Uddin told bdnews24.com by telephone that he was in a meeting and asked to call him again after an hour. But he did not take bdnews24.com calls anymore. Taimur Islam, Chief Executive of Urban Study Group, which works to protect the rich architectural heritage of Dhaka City, has criticised the demolition of the building. "Many buildings that are not listed as heritage are being demolished lately. The number of such unlisted building is over 2,500. Around 100 of these are preserved. But many of the buildings out of the list need to be preserved," he said. According to Taimur, the building is important for both historic and architectural reasons. He said a Famine Commission was formed after the famine in Odisha in the mid-18th century. Some buildings were constructed in Dhaka's Farmgate area as part of the work to expand agriculture at the time. The buildings were extended when Bengal was divided in 1905, Taimur said. He also said the building was rich in architectural value. "It is like the courts and DC council buildings constructed during the colonial period." "Besides this, agriculture is the most important sector of Bangladesh. And now we are wiping out our history in agriculture." Taimur said the entire area should have been preserved. "Because it is linked with an important chapter of our history. It witnessed the technological changes of our agriculture. There were seven to eight such buildings. These should have been preserved in line with the UNESCO Convention." When the work to demolish the building was under way, some architects rushed to the spot. One of them, the Institute of Architects Bangladesh or IAB General Secretary Qazi Muhammad Arif told bdnews24.com: "We want this building to be preserved for its historic significance. Many such buildings are there in the country. It's the government's duty to preserve them." "As professionals, we think the buildings which can be preserved should be preserved." About the building at Khamarbarhi, Arif said, "I've heard that a high-rise office building will be built here. But there could be steps to preserve the old buildings. Now it seems too late." The institute's Vice-President Jalal Ahmed told bdnews24.com at the scene that he knew of no design of the building. "The demolition work has gone too far ahead. The building doesn't appear to be in such bad shape to be taken down." The Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology’s Associate Professor Shehzad Zahir said the development of Bangladesh's agriculture sector was made through scientific research. "And this building was the laboratory. Agricultural research started here. This building was a pioneer in Bangladesh's agricultural development," he said. "That's why the demolition must stop right now and measures should be taken to prserve the building. It's of late colonial period. The shedding devices in front of the windows are beautiful and these have linked our local architecture with those of Europe," he said. BRAC University's Assistant Professor architect Sajid-Bin-Doza said the building was also suitable for the tropical climate of Bangladesh. "We are ashamed and hurt. It is all the more unfortunate that there is no design of the building. We haven't shown the right attitude in preserving our traditions. The authorities should have at least clicked some photos so that we would be able to show it to our next generations." But he said it would be very costly to preserve the building now since it has been bludgeoned with hammer.

Britain's landmark Climate Change Bill, which for the first time sets a legal requirement on a government to cut carbon emissions, is expected to pass its first parliamentary hurdle on Monday but has a rocky ride ahead. The House of Lords is expected to vote in its third reading on Monday on the bill which, in a departure from normal practice, was introduced in the upper house of parliament before the House of Commons to try to speed up the legislative process. The government had hoped to get the bill into law by May, but amendments forced through in its passage through the House of Lords against strong government opposition could now delay that until October or November, climate campaigners said. "It will be very tight to get it through this parliamentary session," said Friends of the Earth campaigner Martin Williams. "It is possible. But it is more likely it will be the Autumn." The bill forces the government to cut climate changing carbon dioxide emissions by 28-32 percent by 2020 and 60 percent by 2050 with five year rolling "carbon budgets". Climate campaigners have pushed for the end target to be raised to 80 percent, a figure the government has said it will ask a special climate committee set up by the bill to look at by the end of the year. In its passage through the House of Lords environmentalists managed to get several amendments put in to strengthen the legislation. "This is a much better bill than it was when it was introduced," said Williams. "But that also means it may face a rough ride when it goes to the House of Commons." But the almost certain rejection of many of the amendments by the Commons means it will have to come back again. The amendments shift in part the burden of responsibility for compliance from the environment minister to the prime minister and set annual indicative targets within the five year carbon budgets. Campaigners have failed to get the 2050 target raised to 80 percent but claimed partial victory with the inclusion of a clause committing the government to hold temperature rises to two degrees -- a goal they say is equivalent to 80 percent. In what they hailed as a major victory the amended bill also sets a strict limit on how many carbon emission permits the government can buy in from abroad to cover any shortfall in the national reduction performance. The government had fought against a limit on foreign carbon credits which would give it broad leeway to underperform its own legal targets. "The Lords' amendments do improve the bill, which means many won't make it through the Commons," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Charlie Kronick. The European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme has turned carbon into a commodity through issuing emission permits which can be bought and sold by companies. Also under the Kyoto climate change accord's Clean Development Mechanism countries and companies can buy into low emission developments to offset their own emission overshoots. Scientists say global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport, causing floods and famines and putting millions at risk.

A German government spokesman said on Friday he could not confirm that Europe's big four auto making nations had reached an agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "I believe there has been a narrowing of differences but there is not yet a complete agreement," Thomas Steg told a regular news conference. "I cannot confirm the report that there has been an agreement. The talks are continuing." On Thursday, Reuters quoted government sources in Berlin and Brussels saying the four countries had reached an agreement after Italy joined a deal between Britain, France and Germany, government sources in Rome and Berlin said. The European Union executive had proposed cutting carbon dioxide from cars by an average of 18 percent to 130 grams per km by 2012, mindful of U.N. warnings that climate change will bring more droughts, extreme weather and rising sea levels. It hoped a further 10 grams could be cut by introducing better tires, fuels and air-conditioning. Any binding deal must be approved by the European Parliament, and three-way talks between parliament, member states and the Commission are scheduled for November 24.

Istanbul has been dropped from a list of nine cities set to hold "Live Earth" concerts for climate change awareness because of a lack of interest and security concerns, organisers said on Tuesday. Former US presidential candidate and environmental campaigner Al Gore came to Istanbul this month to announce Istanbul would join London, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and other cities for a round-the-world series of concerts on July 7. But organisers said on Tuesday that the government bodies and sponsors it had approached were not interested because of security concerns ahead of general elections on July 22. "Unfortunately Live Earth Istanbul could not be a priority for several people and institutions because our country is in an election marathon and because of terror and security (problems)," the Turkish organisers said in a statement. Violence between Kurdish separatist guerrillas and security forces has escalated in recent months while last month a suicide bomber carried out a deadly attack on an Ankara shopping centre. Istanbul is booked to host a series of high-profile conference and concerts in coming weeks.

Dhaka, Apr 8 (bdnews24.com)—The World Bank has warned that Bangladesh and most other South Asian countries will fall short of reaching millennium development goals due by 2015, the multilateral lending agency said in a statement Tuesday. MDGs are a set of eight globally agreed development goals. The statement was released on the eve of launching the Global Monitoring Report by the WB and IMF. The report says Bangladesh has more unequal outcomes in primary education than middle-income countries such as Brazil and Colombia and is affected more than three times as much as India on extreme weather events. The WB recommends that programmes combining microinsurance and adaptive infrastructure for Bangladesh to face increased risks of flooding as a result of climate change. The report also says that absenteeism by physicians in larger clinics was 40 percent, while the rate was much higher, 74 percent, in smaller sub-centres (upazila level) with a single doctor. Bangladesh offers scope to receive scaled-up aid in the form of budget support, investment projects and technical assistance, according to the report. Although much of the world, including South Asia, is set to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015, prospects are gravest for the goals of reducing child and maternal mortality, with serious shortfalls also likely in human development goals such as primary school completion, nutrition and sanitation. The report was simultaneously launched in Dhaka, New Delhi and Islamabad from Washington through a multi-country video conference on Tuesday. "The report's central message is that urgent actions are needed to help the world meet the MDGs and combat climate change that threatens all countries, especially poor ones and poor people," Dr Zia Quoreshi, WB's adviser and the author of the report, told the conference. He said the goals of development and environment sustainability are closely related and the paths to the goals have many synergies. "Assessment at the MDG midpoint shows significant progress on some goals but major shortfalls on most of the goals," said Quoreshi. Speaking on a worldwide price hike in foods, the WB adviser said: "It would create a political window opportunity to bring an end of the deadlock in agricultural trade liberalisation." WB president Robert Zoellick in the statement expressed his concerns about the risks of failing to meet the goal of reducing hunger and malnutrition. "As the report shows, reducing malnutrition has a 'multiplier' effect, contributing to success in other MDGs including maternal health, infant mortality, and education," said the WB chief. The Global Monitoring Report: MDGs and the Environment—Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Development stresses the link between environment and development and calls for urgent action on climate change. The report warns that developing countries stand to suffer the most from climate change and the degradation of natural resources. South Asia faces a large potential health risk from climate change through increased malnutrition, diarrhea, and malaria. Factoids of the report suggests that South Asia will likely meet the poverty reduction MDG and contribute the most to global poverty reduction in the next decade but said most human development MDGs are unlikely to be met at the global level while South Asia is off track in areas like nutrition, maternal health, child mortality and education. However, the region is on track to meet the access to clean water but off track to provide improved sanitation. The WB-IMF report said South Asia has the highest incidence of child malnutrition. The child malnutrition rate in India is double the African average. The risk of malnutrition increases with high food prices. The percentage of births attended by skilled personnel is 41 percent in South Asia, which is "very low". The report suggested strong and inclusive economic growth, pace on human development goals, integrating environmental sustainability into core development work, more and better aid, effective harnessing of trade for strong and inclusive growth, and leveraging IFI (international financial institutions) supports towards an inclusive and sustainable development.

The messages in the three Academy Awards contenders are no accident. All were produced and financed by Participant Media, a pioneer among a group of companies aiming to advance social missions through movies. Participant was founded in 2004 by billionaire and former eBay President Jeff Skoll. The company's credits range from Al Gore's climate-change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Lincoln" to "Spotlight", a best picture winner about journalists who exposed a cover-up of abuse by Catholic priests. "We often gravitate toward stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, becoming leaders for change in their own and others' lives," Participant Media Chief Executive David Linde said by email. "Roma" is a prime example, Linde said. The black-and-white drama, which was distributed by Netflix Inc, revolves around Cleo, an indigenous Mexican housekeeper who displays courage in the face of serious challenges. It will compete at the Oscars on Sunday for best picture with "Green Book," a Participant movie released by Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures about a black pianist on a 1962 concert tour of the segregated US South. Actor Mahershala Ali attends the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, US Feb 4, 2019. REUTERS/David McNew "RBG," about US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is up for best documentary. Actor Mahershala Ali attends the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, US Feb 4, 2019. REUTERS/David McNew Participant's movies are paired with off-screen activism. For "Roma," the company joined the National Domestic Workers Alliance to push for labour protections and supported the launch of an app that provides benefits to house cleaners such as paid time off. COMPELLING, SUCCESSFUL Scott Budnick, who quit his career producing comedies such as "The Hangover" to advocate for prison reform, is also working to spark change through compelling and commercially successful entertainment. His new company, One Community, is aiming to raise $10 million to mount a year-long campaign around the January 2020 release of the film "Just Mercy," a biographical drama starring Michael B. Jordan as a lawyer fighting to free a man wrongly convicted of murder. The campaign is expected to kick off within the next two months and will be designed to prompt changes on issues such as the death penalty and juvenile sentencing, Budnick said in an interview. One Community, which is co-financing "Just Mercy" with AT&T Inc's Warner Bros., "is the branch between philanthropy and politics to the entertainment community," he said. Julie Cohen (L) and Betsy West from "RBG" attend a reception for Oscar-nominated documentary films, ahead of the 91st Academy Awards, in Los Angeles, California, US Feb 19, 2019. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni While many philanthropists and politicians want to tackle problems such as poverty or homelessness, "they are never aligned with a major studio that may be spending $20, $40 or $60 million to sell that issue to the public," Budnick said. Julie Cohen (L) and Betsy West from "RBG" attend a reception for Oscar-nominated documentary films, ahead of the 91st Academy Awards, in Los Angeles, California, US Feb 19, 2019. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni "We're here to be that aligner," he said. A co-producer of "Just Mercy" is Macro, a company committed to developing TV shows and movies that represent a broad range of stories featuring people of color. Past films include the critically acclaimed dramas "Fences" and "Mudbound." Macro was founded by former talent agent Charles King and is funded by organizations that support the company's mission, including the Ford Foundation that invested $5 million. "Affecting which stories are told, by whom, and from what perspective, is an extremely powerful way to change the discourse in this country," said Cara Mertes, director of a Ford Foundation initiative called JustFilms. "For us, this is social justice impact." Budnick's One Community is funded by a variety of investors, including Endeavor Content and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin. It is set up as a "double bottom line" company to generate profits and social change, Budnick said. Executives are working with social scientists to develop metrics to gauge success. That framework is not for every investor, Budnick said. If someone is looking for a return of 10 times their investment, "they could go to Twitter, Uber, Instagram," Budnick said. "This is not that. This is a company modelled to make money, and it's modelled to make impact."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, inspecting the rubble of UN offices hit by a car bombing in Algiers last week, said on Tuesday he was "very shocked" by an attack that killed 17 UN staff. "Terrorism is never justified," Ban, on a one-day visit, said of the Dec. 11 bombings claimed by al Qaeda's north Africa wing. "It must be condemned in the name of humanity and the international community. I was very shocked," he said of the attack, one of twin attacks the same day which killed at least 37 people in Algiers. The attacks were the second big bombing this year in the capital of the OPEC member country, seeking to rebuild after an undeclared civil in the 1990s war which killed up to 200,000. "I would like to express my sincere condolences to the government and people of Algeria and the families of the victims and to UN colleagues." Witnesses said Ban was driven in a heavily guarded convoy of vehicles to the city's Hydra district where he inspected crumpled blocks of masonry at the site of the ruined offices of the UN's refugee agency and the UN Development Programme. Reporters were not permitted to accompany Ban to the site. The second suicide car bombing on Dec. 11 damaged the Constitutional Court building in Ben Aknoun district. Al Qaeda's North African wing claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings, saying it had targeted what it called "the slaves of America and France". Ban also met President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, saying Algeria and the world body had decided to work together closely to fight terrorism. Ban said the two men also discussed climate change, illegal migration and the question of Western Sahara. The United Nations has identified the dead UN employees as 14 Algerians and one victim each from Denmark, Senegal and the Philippines. Ban said at the time that the bombs were "a despicable strike against individuals serving humanity's highest ideals under the UN banner" and "an attack on all of us". UN Development Programme Administrator Kemal Dervis said during a visit to Algiers last week that the United Nations was boosting security at its offices around the world after Tuesday's attacks, but he said this would need more funding.

Russian nuclear-capable missiles have been spotted on the move near Ukraine, and the Kremlin has signalled the possibility of a new intervention there. It has tested hypersonic cruise missiles that skirt US defences and cut all ties with the US-led NATO alliance. After a summer pause, ransomware attacks emanating from Russian territory have resumed, and in late October, Microsoft revealed a new Russian cybersurveillance campaign. Since President Joe Biden took office nine months ago, the United States has imposed sweeping new sanctions on Russia, continued to arm and train Ukraine’s military and threatened retaliatory cyberattacks against Russian targets. The US Embassy in Moscow has virtually stopped issuing visas. As world leaders met at the Group of 20 summit this weekend in Rome, Biden did not even get the chance to hash things out with his Russian counterpart face to face because President Vladimir Putin, citing coronavirus concerns, attended the event remotely. Yet beneath the surface brinkmanship, the two global rivals are now also doing something else: talking. The summit between Biden and Putin in June in Geneva touched off a series of contacts between the two countries, including three trips to Moscow by senior Biden administration officials since July and more meetings with Russian officials on neutral ground in Finland and Switzerland. There is a serious conversation underway on arms control, the deepest in years. The White House’s top adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, Anne Neuberger, has engaged in a series of quiet, virtual meetings with her Kremlin counterpart. Several weeks ago — after an extensive debate inside the US intelligence community over how much to reveal — the United States turned over the names and other details of a few hackers actively launching attacks on the US. Now, one official said, the United States is waiting to see if the information results in arrests, a test of whether Putin was serious when he said he would facilitate a crackdown on ransomware and other cybercrime. Officials in both countries say the flurry of talks has so far yielded little of substance but helps to prevent Russian-American tensions from spiralling out of control. A senior administration official said the United States was “very clear-eyed” about Putin and the Kremlin’s intentions but thinks it can work together on issues like arms control. The official noted that Russia had been closely aligned with the United States on restoring the Iran nuclear deal and, to a lesser degree, dealing with North Korea, but acknowledged that there were many other areas in which the Russians “try to throw a wrench into the works.” Biden’s measured approach has earned plaudits in Russia’s foreign policy establishment, which views the White House’s increased engagement as a sign that the US is newly prepared to make deals. “Biden understands the importance of a sober approach,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, a prominent Moscow foreign policy analyst who advises the Kremlin. “The most important thing that Biden understands is that he won’t change Russia. Russia is the way it is.” For the White House, the talks are a way to try to head off geopolitical surprises that could derail Biden’s priorities — competition with China and a domestic agenda facing myriad challenges. For Putin, talks with the world’s richest and most powerful nation are a way to showcase Russia’s global influence — and burnish his domestic image as a guarantor of stability. “What the Russians hate more than anything else is to be disregarded,” said Fiona Hill, who served as the top Russia expert in the National Security Council under President Donald Trump, before testifying against him in his first impeachment hearings. “Because they want to be a major player on the stage, and if we’re not paying that much attention to them they are going to find ways of grabbing our attention.” For the United States, however, the outreach is fraught with risk, exposing the Biden administration to criticism that it is too willing to engage with a Putin-led Russia that continues to undermine US interests and repress dissent. European officials worry Russia is playing hardball amid the region’s energy crisis, holding out for the approval of a new pipeline before delivering more gas. New footage, circulated on social media Friday, showed missiles and other Russian weaponry on the move near Ukraine, raising speculation about the possibility of new Russian action against the country. In the United States, it is the destructive nature of Russia’s cybercampaign that has officials particularly concerned. Microsoft’s disclosure of a new campaign to get into its cloud services and infiltrate thousands of US government, corporation and think tank networks made clear that Russia was ignoring the sanctions Biden issued after the Solar Winds hack in January. But it also represented what now looks like a lasting change in Russian tactics, according to Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of research group Silverado Policy Accelerator. He noted that the move to undermine America’s cyberspace infrastructure, rather than just hack into individual corporate or federal targets, was “a tactical direction shift, not a one-off operation.” Russia has already found ways to use Biden’s desire for what the White House refers to as a more “stable and predictable” relationship to exact concessions from Washington. When Victoria Nuland, a top State Department official, sought to visit Moscow for talks at the Kremlin recently, the Russian government did not immediately agree. Seen in Moscow as one of Washington’s most influential Russia hawks, Nuland was on a blacklist of people barred from entering the country. But the Russians offered a deal. If Washington approved a visa for a top Russian diplomat who had been unable to enter the United States since 2019, then Nuland could come to Moscow. The Biden administration took the offer. Nuland’s conversations in Moscow were described as wide-ranging, but in the flurry of talks between the United States and Russia, there are clearly areas the Kremlin does not want to discuss: Russia’s crackdown on dissent and the treatment of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny have gone largely unaddressed, despite the disapproval that Biden voiced on the matter this year. While Biden will not see Putin in person at the Group of 20 summit in Rome or at the Glasgow, Scotland, climate summit, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said in October that another meeting this year “in one format or another” between the two presidents was “quite realistic.” Foreign Minister Sergey V Lavrov said Sunday that he spoke briefly with Biden in Rome and that the president “stressed his commitment to further contacts.” “Biden has been very successful in his signalling toward Russia,” said Kadri Liik, a Russia specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. “What Russia wants is the great power privilege to break rules. But for that, you need rules to be there. And like it or not the United States is still an important player among the world’s rule setters.” The most notable talks between Russian and American officials have been on what the two call “strategic stability” — a phrase that encompasses traditional arms control and the concerns that new technology, including the use of artificial intelligence to command weapons systems, could lead to accidental war or reduce the decision time for leaders to avoid conflict. Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, has led a delegation on those issues, and American officials describe them as a “bright spot” in the relationship. Working groups have been set up, including one that will discuss “novel weapons” like Russia’s Poseidon, an autonomous nuclear torpedo. While Pentagon officials say that China’s nuclear modernization is their main long-term threat, Russia remains the immediate challenge. “Russia is still the most imminent threat, simply because they have 1,550 deployed nuclear weapons,” Gen John E Hyten, who will retire in a few weeks as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday. In other contacts, John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, spent four days in Moscow in July. And Robert Malley, the special envoy for Iran, held talks in Moscow in September. Alexei Overchuk, a Russian deputy prime minister, met with Sherman and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser — talks that Overchuk described as “very good and honest” in comments to Russian news media. Putin, finely attuned to the subtleties of diplomatic messaging after more than 20 years in power, welcomes such gestures of respect. Analysts noted that he recently also sent his own signal: Asked by an Iranian guest at a conference in October whether Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan heralded the decline of US power, Putin countered by praising Biden’s decision and rejecting the notion that the chaotic departure would have a long-term effect on America’s image. “Time will pass, and everything will fall into place, without leading to any cardinal changes,” Putin said. “The country’s attractiveness doesn’t depend on this, but on its economic and military might.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Floodwaters that had killed scores across Vietnam were rising ominously around their village. At a washed-out railway overpass, he hired a man to ferry them in a small boat. But strong winds carried away some of the baby clothes the couple had packed, and Minh waded into the water to retrieve them. Suddenly, the boat capsized in the fast-moving current. His wife, Hoang Thi Phuong, a 35-year-old cancer survivor, was just out of reach, and she was swept away by water turned brown by loosened sediment. A pregnant woman who drowned in Vietnam was one of at least 114 people killed in record-breaking floods that have pummelled the country’s central coast. The New York Times “Everything happened right in front of my eyes, but I couldn’t save her,” he said by phone Thursday. “All I could do was scream.” A pregnant woman who drowned in Vietnam was one of at least 114 people killed in record-breaking floods that have pummelled the country’s central coast. The New York Times Video from the scene in Thua Thien Hue province has ricocheted across social media, generating an outpouring of grief and sympathy nationwide. Phuong, a mother of two, was one of at least 114 people killed this month in record-shattering floods that have pummelled Vietnam’s central coast. Twenty-one people remain missing. More than a quarter of the deaths have been attributed to landslides. One killed at least 20 military personnel last weekend in the central province of Quang Tri, a prime theatre of battle during the Vietnam War. It is believed to have been the country’s largest military loss in peacetime. Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, president of the Vietnam Red Cross Society, said the floods were among the worst the aid group had seen in decades. “Everywhere we look, homes, roads and infrastructure have been submerged,” she said. Storms are a fact of life in Vietnam, with its 2,000-mile coastline. Typhoons lash central provinces during the rainy season, which begins in late summer. Tourists visiting Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the central coast, are often surprised to see its narrow streets suddenly turn into Venice-like canals. Scientists have pointed to climate change as the main driver of more frequent and deadlier storms around the globe. Authorities in Vietnam tend to be well prepared for natural disasters, but a surge in cyclones, rains and floods this month has overwhelmed some coastal provinces. According to the United Nations, 178,000 homes in central Vietnam had been flooded as of Thursday. Vietnam’s foreign minister, Pham Binh Minh, said on Twitter this week that the country had “suffered a difficult time with huge losses.” Now, as rescuers scramble to reach other flood victims by land, air and sea, Vietnam is bracing for its third major storm in three weeks. Typhoon Saudel was moving through the South China Sea on Friday and was expected to make landfall Sunday — in the same coastal areas where many villages are already underwater. The amount of rainfall this month was “so extraordinarily out of the normal” that it far exceeded the government’s midrange predictions of how climate change might increase precipitation in central Vietnam by the end of this century, said Pamela McElwee, a professor of human ecology at Rutgers University who studies environmental issues in Vietnam. Other countries in Asia have seen record-breaking rainfall. Earlier this year, torrential rains submerged at least a quarter of Bangladesh. Unusually heavy rains wreaked havoc in central and southwestern China, leaving hundreds dead and disrupting the economy’s post-pandemic recovery. Flooding in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Nepal killed scores of people, destroyed homes and inundated entire villages. In Vietnam, heavy rains can be bad enough along the flat plains of the Red River, which flows southeast from the border with China through the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, before emptying into the sea. But in central Vietnam, where population centers are wedged between mountains and coastline, the potential for catastrophic flooding is that much higher. “The earth is just soaked with water and has nowhere to go,” McElwee said. It hardly helps, she added, that tree cover is cleared in the mountains for hydropower dams, or that mountain roads are built in ways that weaken the soil. Residents get money from a volunteer at a flooded area in Quang Binh province, Vietnam October 23, 2020. Thanh Dat/VNA via REUTERS She added that the floods were a lesson for those who believe that building more infrastructure is a silver-bullet solution to the climate crisis. Residents get money from a volunteer at a flooded area in Quang Binh province, Vietnam October 23, 2020. Thanh Dat/VNA via REUTERS In the central province where Phuong and Minh scratched out a living, extreme weather is so common that it animates local folk sayings. “When it is hot, heaven burns the field like baking stones. When it rains, fields go rotten and sand starts to stink,” is a popular one. For years, the couple were too busy to worry much about the weather. He worked construction while she toiled on an assembly line in a garment factory. She also beat breast cancer. Last week, when Phuong went into labour, Minh fired up his motorbike, asking his brother-in-law to follow along on a separate bike with his wife’s luggage. When they reached the railway overpass, he hired a boat to take them across a flooded expanse to a taxi on the other side. After he climbed out of the boat to retrieve the baby clothes, it tipped his wife into the floodwaters. He was close enough to see her hands waving as the current pulled her under, he said. Authorities mobilised a search party of more than 100 people, but it was too late. Phuong’s body was found about 300 feet downstream. As of Friday, video of the search effort and Phuong’s funeral had been viewed more than 1 million times, and donations were pouring in for Minh and the couple’s daughter and son, now 12 and 13. In a video recorded at the site after the accident, on a patch of road by the water, Minh can be seen bending to the ground in a prayerlike position. “Oh my god,” he said. “My darling.”   ©2020 The New York Times Company

But when this hulking giant will begin supplying power to France’s electrical grid is anyone’s guess. Construction is a full decade behind schedule and 12 billion euros (about $13 billion) over budget. Plans to start operations this year have been pushed back yet again, to 2024. And the problems at Flamanville are not unique. Finland’s newest nuclear power plant, which started operating last month, was supposed to be completed in 2009. As President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine pushes Europe to sever its dependence on Russian natural gas and oil, nuclear power’s profile is rising, promising homegrown energy as well as reliable electricity. Nuclear energy could help solve Europe’s looming power crunch, advocates say, complementing a major pivot that was already underway before the war to adopt solar, wind power and other renewable technologies to meet ambitious climate-change goals. “Putin’s invasion redefined our energy security considerations in Europe,” said Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency. “I would expect that nuclear may well make a step back in Europe and elsewhere as a result of the energy insecurity.” But turning a nuclear revival into a reality is fraught with problems. The dash to find ready alternatives to Russian fuel has magnified a political divide in Europe over nuclear power, as a bloc of pronuclear countries led by France, Europe’s biggest atomic producer, pushes for a buildup while Germany and other like-minded countries oppose it, citing the dangers of radioactive waste. A recent European Commission plan for reducing dependence on Russia pointedly left nuclear power off a list of energy sources to be considered. The long delays and cost overruns that have dogged the huge Flamanville-3 project — a state of the art pressurized-water reactor designed to produce 1,600 megawatts of energy — are emblematic of wider technical, logistical and cost challenges facing an expansion. A quarter of all electricity in the European Union comes from nuclear power produced in a dozen countries from an aging fleet that was mostly built in the 1980s. France, with 56 reactors, produces more than half the total. A fleet of up to 13 new-generation nuclear reactors planned in France, using a different design from the one in Flamanville, would not be ready until at least 2035 — too late to make a difference in the current energy crunch. Across the channel, Britain recently announced ambitions for as many as eight new nuclear plants, but the reality is more sobering. Five of the six existing British reactors are expected to be retired within a decade because of age, while only one new nuclear station, a long-delayed, French-led giant costing 20 billion pounds ($25.4 billion) at Hinkley Point in southwest England, is under construction. Its first part is expected to come online in 2026. Others being considered in Eastern Europe are not expected to come online before 2030. “Nuclear is going to take so long” because the projects require at least 10 years for completion, said Jonathan Stern, a senior research fellow at the independent Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “The big problem is getting off Russian gas, and that problem is now — not in a decade, when maybe we’ve built another generation of nuclear reactors,” he said. Advocates say nuclear power can be a solution if the political will is there. Belgium’s government, in agreement with the country’s Green party, reversed a decision to phase out nuclear energy by 2025 and extended the life of two reactors for another decade as Russia intensified its assault on Ukraine last month. The energy will help Belgium avoid relying on Russian gas as it builds out renewable power sources, including wind turbines and solar fields, to meet European climate goals by 2035. “The invasion of Ukraine was a life changer,” Belgium’s energy minister, Tinne Van der Straeten, said last week, explaining the government’s U-turn. “We wanted to reduce our imports from Russia.” But in Germany, which is more dependent than any other European country on Russian gas and coal, the idea of using nuclear power to bridge an energy crunch appears to be going nowhere. Germany is scheduled to close its last three nuclear plants by the end of the year, the final chapter in a programme that lawmakers approved to phase out the country’s fleet of 17 reactors after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. Two of Germany’s largest energy companies said they were open to postponing the shutdown to help ease the nation’s reliance on Russia. But the Green party, part of Berlin’s governing coalition, ruled out continuing to operate them — let alone reopening three nuclear stations that closed in December. “We decided for reasons that I think are very good and right that we want to phase them out,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told parliament this month, adding that the idea of delaying Germany’s exit from nuclear power was “not a good plan.” Even in countries that see nuclear power as a valuable option, a host of hurdles lie in the way. “It is not going to happen overnight,” said Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a research organization. President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for a nuclear power renaissance in France envision a wave of large and small new-generation atomic reactors at an estimated starting price of 50 billion euros ($57 billion) — a staggering cost that other European countries cannot or will not take on. Buildup will not be fast, he acknowledged, in part because the industry also needs to train a new generation of nuclear power engineers. “Most governments push and push, and even if they start building it takes a long time,” Stern said. “All these other technologies are advancing rapidly and they’re all getting cheaper, while nuclear isn’t advancing and it’s getting more expensive.” In the meantime, many of France’s aging reactors, built to forge energy independence after the 1970s oil crisis, have been paused for safety inspections, making it difficult for French nuclear power to help bridge a Russian energy squeeze, said Anne-Sophie Corbeau of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “Nuclear production will decrease in France this year unless you find a magic solution, but there is no magic solution,” she said. Still, Moscow’s aggression may help reverse what had been an arc of the industry’s gradual decline. Recently there has been a string of upbeat declarations. Besides Britain’s announcement this month to expand its nuclear capacity, the Netherlands, with one reactor, plans to build two more to supplement solar, wind and geothermal energy. And in Eastern Europe, a number of countries in Russia’s shadow had been making plans to build fleets of nuclear reactors — a move that advocates say appears prescient in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. NuScale Power, an Oregon company selling a new reactor design that it claims will be cheaper and quicker to build because key components will be assembled in factories, has signed preliminary deals in Romania and Poland. Russia’s invasion has reinforced customers’ “desire to consider nuclear being part of the overall energy mix for their portfolios,” said Tom Mundy, the company’s chief commercial officer. Nuclearelectrica, the Romanian power company, is pushing ahead with both a NuScale plant and two Canadian reactors, to accompany a pair of nuclear facilities that generate about 20% of the country’s electricity, said CEO Cosmin Ghita. “The Ukraine crisis has definitely shown us the need to bolster energy security,” Ghita said. “We are gaining more traction for our projects.” Meike Becker, a utilities analyst at Bernstein, a research firm, said that over the long term, Russia’s war was likely to “help the European idea” of being more energy independent. © 2022 The New York Times Company

Deforestation has long been known to cause temperature increases in local areas, but new research published on Tuesday shows a potentially wider impact on monsoon rains. While releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, deforestation also causes changes in how much light reflects off the earth's surface and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere from plants transpiring. Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore used a model simulating atmosphere circulation, as well as photosynthesis, transpiration, warming of the ocean surface and ice melt. "We wanted to get a basic understanding of the effects of large-scale deforestation at different locations on monsoon rainfall," the authors said in a statement. They performed three deforestation experiments, removing all trees in tropical, temperate and high-latitude areas to look at the impacts. Deforestation in temperate and high latitudes caused changes in atmospheric circulation resulting in a southward shift in the monsoon rains. This would translate to a significant fall in precipitation in the northern hemisphere monsoon regions of East Asia, North America, North Africa and South Asia, and moderate increases in rainfall in the southern hemisphere monsoon regions of South Africa, South America and Australia. "Our study is showing that remote deforestation in mid- and high-latitudes can have a much larger effect on tropical rainfall than local tropical deforestation," the statement said. The South Asian monsoon region would be affected the most, with an 18 percent decline in precipitation over India, the scientists wrote in the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors said that evaluations of the climate benefits of planting trees on bare or cultivated land or in deforested areas must include remote impacts such as rainfall. The study noted that land used for crops and pastures has increased globally from 620 million hectares in the 1700s - or about 7 percent of the global land surface - to 4,690 million hectares in 2000, about a third of the world's land surface.

India's "People's Car" has yet to be unveiled and the advertising campaign has not even begun, but some Indians are already raving about Tata Motor's new $2,500 car -- despite the fears of environmentalists. "I am really excited and definitely buying the cheapest car in the world as soon as they launch it," said Arindam Sapui, a rice trader in Burdwan, a small town in West Bengal in eastern India. This is exactly the kind of unbridled enthusiasm that environmentalists have been dreading as they predict a plague of ever-cheaper cars and ever-swelling clouds of climate-changing fumes. Tata will unveil its 100,000 rupee car on Thursday. Selling for less than half price of the current cheapest car in the market, it hopes it will tap into the growing ranks of India's middle class -- rather like the Volkswagen Beetle did in Germany or the Mini in England. Sapui currently zips between villages for work on a scooter, and was thinking about upgrading to a more powerful motorbike. "But my wife said the 1-lakh car would be cheaper and much safer," he said, using the word for 100,000 in the Indian counting system. Several more-established middle class consumers who already owned one car also said it would make for an affordable second car for a spouse, son or daughter. COMMUTER WORRIES But environmentalists may be relieved that some people interviewed in New Delhi and Mumbai were more muted. Some echoed fears that car sales will rocket as more people become able to afford them. They were not thinking of gas emissions so much as the horror of the commute to the office in cities where roads are jammed and public transport is miserable. "I don't think the car should be launched at all," said Kishan Aswani, 75, who commutes for an hour each weekday to his south Mumbai office. "There is already a lot of traffic on the roads. Travelling by train is impossible, you simply cannot get in or move out." Tata Motors says a lot of these fears are unfounded. It says the car will meet emission standards and that car sales are already growing fast without the help of the People's Car. "Given the rate at which the entire industry will grow, even if we market it very heavily, it will still be a miniscule percentage of the cars entering the roads," a company spokesman said. He added that although the company is targeting first-time buyers, it was also expecting a large portion of sales to come from people trading in their old car as well as from people already considering buying a second-hand car. WIDESPREAD POVERTY Widespread poverty is another limiting factor. For people like Anil, a 22-year-old rickshaw driver in Delhi, even the world's cheapest car still seems ludicrously expensive. "No money," he said, rubbing his fingers and pouting. He earns almost exactly the national average income, and so the People's Car amounts to more than three years' earnings. Likewise, Rakesh Kumar, a taxi driver, pointed out that only scooters and motorbikes could fit down the tight alleys that thread through the slums where he and tens of millions of other urban Indians live. But as millions more people join the estimated 50 million strong middle class in the coming years, cars remain an important marker of status. "It's the same dream anywhere in the world," said Jyoti Anand, a used-car salesman in Delhi. "You want a good home, a good car, and a beautiful wife." Baliram Thakur, a taxi driver, was also thinking of his wife when he said he planned to make a booking right away. Then someone told him the cheapest model came without air-conditioning, and his resolve wavered. "No AC?" he said, taken aback. "The wife will get hot, and she won't like that."

The world's most prestigious political accolade will be unveiled on Oct 8. While the winner often seems a total surprise, those who follow it closely say the best way to guess is to look at the global issues most likely to be on the minds of the five committee members who choose. With the COP26 climate summit set for the start of November in Scotland, that issue could be global warming. Scientists paint this summit as the last chance to set binding targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for the next decade, vital if the world is to have hope of keeping temperature change below the 1.5 degree Celsius target to avert catastrophe. That could point to Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, who at 18 would be the second youngest winner in history by a few months, after Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai. "The committee often wants to send a message. And this will be a strong message to send to COP26, which will be happening between the announcement of the award and the ceremony," Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told Reuters. Another big issue the committee may want to address is democracy and free speech. That could mean an award for a press freedom group, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists or Reporters Without Borders, or for a prominent political dissident, such as exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya or jailed Russian activist Alexei Navalny. A win for a journalism advocacy group would resonate "with the large debate about the importance of independent reporting and the fighting of fake news for democratic governance," said Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo. A Nobel for either Navalny or Tsikhanouskaya would be an echo of the Cold War, when peace and literature prizes were bestowed on prominent Soviet dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Oddsmakers also tip groups such as the World Health Organisation or the vaccine sharing body COVAX, which are directly involved in the global battle against COVID-19. But prize watchers say this could be less likely than might be assumed: the committee already cited the pandemic response last year, when it chose the UN World Food Programme. While parliamentarians from any country can nominate candidates for the prize, in recent years the winner has tended to be a nominee proposed by lawmakers from Norway, whose parliament appoints the prize committee. Norwegian lawmakers surveyed by Reuters have included Thunberg, Navalny, Tsikhanouskaya and the WHO on their lists. SECRETS OF THE VAULT The committee's full deliberations remain forever secret, with no minutes taken of discussions. But other documents, including this year's full list of 329 nominees, are kept behind an alarmed door protected by several locks at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, to be made public in 50 years. Inside the vault, document folders line the walls: green for nominations, blue for correspondence. It is a trove for historians seeking to understand how laureates emerge. The most recent documents made public are about the 1971 prize, won by Willy Brandt, chancellor of West Germany, for his moves to reduce East-West tension during the Cold War. "The Europe you see today is basically the legacy of those efforts," librarian Bjoern Vangen told Reuters. The documents reveal that one of the main finalists Brandt beat out for the prize was French diplomat Jean Monnet, a founder of the European Union. It would take another 41 years for Monnet's creation, the EU, to finally win the prize in 2012.

Data from a new satellite provides the most precise picture yet of Antarctica’s ice and where it is accumulating most quickly, in parts of East Antarctica, and disappearing at the fastest rate, in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. The information, in a paper published Thursday in Science, will help researchers better understand the largest driver of ice loss in Antarctica, the thinning of floating ice shelves that allows more ice to flow from the interior to the ocean, and how that will contribute to rising sea levels. Helen A Fricker, an author of the paper, said that scientists have tried to study the link between thinning shelves and what is called grounded ice, but have been hampered because most observations were of one or the other, and made at different times. “Now we’ve got it all on the same map, which is a really powerful thing,” said Fricker, a glaciologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. The Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, was launched in 2018 as part of NASA’s Earth Observing System to replace an earlier satellite that provided data from 2003 to 2009. ICESat-2 uses a laser altimeter, which fires pulses of photons split into six beams toward the Earth’s surface 300 miles below. Of the trillions of photons in each pulse, only a handful of reflected ones are detected back at the satellite. Extremely precise measurement of these photons’ travel times provides surface elevation data that is accurate to within a few inches. “It’s not like any instrument that we’ve had in space before,” said another of the authors, Alex S Gardner, a glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The resolution is so high that it can detect rifts and other small features of the ice surface, he said. The researchers used the elevation measurements from both satellites to determine how Antarctica’s mass balance — the difference between accumulation and loss — changed from 2003 to 2019 for each of its 27 drainage basins. Overall, they reported that the continent lost enough ice to raise sea levels by 6 millimetres, or about one-quarter of an inch, over that time, a finding that is consistent with other studies. Ice loss was limited to West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula; the bigger East Antarctic sheet gained mass over that time. Why East Antarctica is gaining mass is not completely understood, but precipitation has likely increased relative to some point in the past, Gardner said. Increased precipitation in the form of snow leads to an increase in ice sheet mass because as snow compresses over time it turns to ice. Floating ice shelves accounted for 30% of the ice loss in West Antarctica, the researchers found. Floating ice is lost in two ways: by calving of icebergs and by melting from underneath by a deep current of warmer water that circulates around the continent. Floating ice is, by definition, already in the water, so when it calves or melts it does not add to sea level rise. But ice shelves act as buttresses against the grounded ice behind them; when they thin they allow that ice to flow faster. And when the previously grounded ice reaches the water, it adds to rising seas. “When we see changes in Antarctica, especially in the grounded ice, those are changes due to changes in ice flow,” said Ben Smith, a geophysicist at the University of Washington and another author of the study. Scientists are increasingly concerned that the loss of floating ice in West Antarctica is causing more rapid flow of grounded ice in the West Antarctic ice sheet, and that a portion of the sheet could collapse over centuries, greatly increasing sea levels. The study looked at the changes in the Greenland ice sheet as well. Unlike Antarctica, where little ice is lost through surface melting and runoff, as much as two-thirds of Greenland’s ice is lost this way. Using their elevation data, the researchers found that Greenland is losing on average about 200 billion tons of mass each year, enough to raise sea levels by about 8 millimetres, or a third of an inch, over the study period. The mass loss figure is roughly similar to other recent estimates. The study is the first to be published using data from ICESat-2, which was designed to have an operating life of at least three years. Many more studies are expected that should add to understanding of Earth’s frozen expanses. “Where we’re at in ice sheet science is there are still a lot of unknowns,” Gardner said. One advantage of ICESat-2, he said, is its ability to measure changes in some of the smallest ice sheet features. That will help scientists better understand how the changes are occurring and improve forecasts of future impacts as the climate continues to shift. ICESat-2, he said, “reveals the process of change, and without understanding those processes you have no ability to make predictions.” “It really just gives us this incredibly crisp, unified picture.” © 2020 New York Times News Service

US President-elect Barack Obama, who has vowed to adopt an aggressive approach to global warming and the environment, will announce his choices to lead the effort at a news conference on Monday. Obama will hold a news conference at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) to talk about "the nation's energy and environmental future," his transition office said on Sunday. He is expected to name Nobel physics laureate Steven Chu as energy secretary and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner to head a new council to coordinate White House energy, climate and environment policies, Democratic sources have said. Obama is also expected to name Lisa Jackson, chief of staff for New Jersey's governor, to run the EPA, and Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as head of the White House Council on environmental quality. He is also close to naming a secretary of the interior -- the federal department that leases public lands for oil and gas drilling. Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, who once practiced as an environmental lawyer, is the leading contender, sources close to the transition said. At the news conference, Obama will likely face more questions about Rod Blagojevich, Democratic governor of his home state of Illinois, who was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to swap political favors for cash, including trying to sell the US Senate seat vacated by Obama. Obama has said energy and the environment would be important to his administration. He wants to spend billions of dollars to promote alternative energy sources and create millions of green energy jobs. News of Obama's energy and environment team began trickling out last week. Environment groups applauded the choices. 'GREEN JOBS' The team will be charged with developing policies to reduce carbon emissions blamed for global warming. They will also try to develop new energy sources and create new jobs. In a meeting last week with former Vice President Al Gore, Obama said attacking global climate change was a "matter of urgency" that would create jobs. Obama hopes addressing climate change can create jobs that will help pull the US economy out of a deepening recession. He has begun to lay out plans for a massive recovery plan to stimulate the economy and create about 2.5 million jobs -- a portion of them so-called "green jobs." Browner, a principal at global strategy firm The Albright Group LLC, had a long history at the EPA. Chu would be the first Asian-American to lead the energy department. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light and has directed the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California since 1994. Jackson was New Jersey's environmental protection commissioner until she became the governor's chief of staff this month. Salazar is from the western part of the country, where most Interior secretaries come from. The son of Americans of Mexican descent, he would be the second Hispanic in Obama's Cabinet.

"In response to EU sanctions against our companies, Roskosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners on space launches from Kourou, and is withdrawing its technical staff... from French Guiana," Rogozin said in a post on his Telegram channel. The European Union played down Russia's pullout, saying it would not affect the quality of service of its satellite networks Galileo and Copernicus. Galileo is Europe's global navigation satellite system which provides positioning and timing information used in mobile phones, cars, railways and aviation. Copernicus delivers earth observation data, documenting climate change, for example. "We will take all necessary decisions in time to work on the development of the second generation of these two sovereign spacial infrastructures," EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, responsible for space issues in the bloc's executive Commission, said on Twitter. "We are also prepared to act determinedly together with the member states to protect these critical infrastructures in case of an attack, and to continue the development of Ariane 6 and VegaC to guarantee the strategic autonomy with regard to carrier rockets."

And those are just the immediate challenges for the politicians jockeying fiercely to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is leaving office a year early with no obvious successor. In the longer term, Japan’s next leader faces the unfinished business of Abe’s promises to advance women in politics and the workplace, and to improve working conditions so that men can help more at home. The country is confronting labour shortages as it grapples with a shrinking population and a stubbornly low birthrate, as well as snags in bringing in foreign workers. With the highest proportion of elderly people in the world, Japan could soon struggle to meet pension obligations and provide health care to the aging public. Not to mention natural disasters turbocharged by climate change, Japan’s energy vulnerabilities from its post-Fukushima nuclear shutdown, the threat of missile attacks by North Korea, and a low ebb in relations with South Korea. “It makes me wonder why anybody would want to be prime minister,” said Jeffrey Hornung, an analyst at the RAND Corp. But there is no shortage of aspirants. Abe’s conservative party, the Liberal Democratic Party, will announce on Tuesday whether it will call an extraordinary election limited to its members of Parliament and a few prefectural representatives, or a vote that would involve all the party’s 1 million members. (For the opposition to field a prospective leader, there would need to be a general election.) Those who have already announced their desire to stand for prime minister include Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister; Toshimitsu Motegi, the current foreign minister; Taro Kono, the defence minister; Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister who once ran against Abe for party leader; Seiko Noda, a member of the lower house of Parliament; and Tomomi Inada, another former defence minister. The eventual successor to Abe, who cited ill health in announcing his resignation Friday, will confront the many challenges without having the stature he had built over a record-setting run of nearly eight years. Fundamentally, Japan remains an orderly and prosperous nation. Still, its longer-term issues are so deeply entrenched that not even Abe’s long tenure was sufficient to remedy them. By his own reckoning, his biggest regrets were that he failed to revise Japan’s pacifist Constitution and so “normalise” its military, to secure the return of contested islands from Russia or to resolve the fates of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea decades ago. For now, the most pressing priority for the next prime minister will be restoring the economy, battered by a worldwide pandemic-related downturn. Japan already has the biggest debt load in the developed world relative to the size of its economy and has spent heavily to stimulate economic activity. “This is such a heavy lift even before you get to structural change and demographics or any of these larger Japan-specific problems,” said Sheila A. Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Still, the pandemic could present an opportunity for the next leader to encourage social reforms that could address some deep-rooted problems, including obstacles that make it difficult for women to progress in careers while having families. During a state of emergency this spring, the government urged companies to allow employees to work from home, but an analogue, paper-based office culture hampered many people. Recent surveys show that only about one out of five employees have continued working from home. Kathy Matsui, chief Japan equity strategist at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, said she hoped the next prime minister would propose a rigorous digital strategy for the government and urge companies to adopt more advanced technology. “Demographics are challenged, so how are you going to boost productivity without investing in a very clear IT transformation strategy?” Matsui said. “We absolutely need a productivity revolution in the not-so-distant future, so turning this pinch into a change for digital transformation” is crucially important. On the international stage, one of the largest concerns for Japan is whether any of the contenders for prime minister can hold on to power long enough to get beyond a short-term agenda. Both within Japan and internationally, the fear is that the country might return to the revolving-door political leadership that plagued it for years before Abe began his second stint in office in 2012. “Even in Washington, you can hear ‘Oh my God, are we going back to one prime minister a year?’” Smith said. Abe had the time to develop diplomatic relationships that had eluded the country during the period of high turnover. That ultimately allowed him to nudge Japan’s allies into trade deals and security partnerships. “One of the assets he had was he wasn’t the new face in the summit photo op for presidents and prime ministers” at international gatherings, said Takako Hikotani, associate professor of political science at Columbia University. “That meant a lot.” With the coming US presidential election, a new Japanese leader will have to skillfully manage relations with a long-term ally that has lately been stepping back from its leadership role on the international stage. Under Abe, Japan “filled some of the vacuum left by the United States in its reluctance to remain a considerable Pacific power,” said Shihoko Goto, a senior associate for Northeast Asia at the Wilson Center in Washington. She said she wasn’t sure if any of his likely successors would be able to assume the mantle of multilateral leadership in the region. In recent years, Japan has sought to act as a counterbalance to the rising aggression of China, which has carried out provocative maritime activities in both the East and South China Seas and cracked down on Hong Kong. But if Abe’s exit ushers in political instability, “China has shown that it takes advantage of situations and uncertainty,” Hornung, the RAND analyst, said. “If you have somebody that they see as weak or green in the teeth or not very capable, we might see China step it up in a way that Japan hasn’t experienced for a while,” he added. c.2020 The New York Times Company

The pledge would mark the first commitment from the G7 to quit coal-fuelled power - use of which needs to decrease if the world is to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. "There are very concrete declarations and agreements for the expansion of renewable energies, but also for example for phasing out coal," Lemke said. The final communique of the three-day G7 meeting in Berlin this week would also include a strong emphasis on protecting biodiversity and fighting plastic pollution, she said. Lemke was speaking as Germany hosted G7 energy, climate and environment ministers for talks held against a backdrop of spiralling energy costs and fuel supply worries sparked by the war in Ukraine. The conflict has triggered a scramble among some countries to buy more non-Russian fossil fuels and burn coal to cut their reliance on Russian supplies, raising fears that the crisis could undermine efforts to fight climate change. Germany has said finding alternative fossil fuels would not come at the expense of environmental goals. The final communique will be published later on Friday.

July 18, 1918 - Born Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela near Qunu, in Transkei (now Eastern Cape), the youngest son of a counsellor to the chief of his Thembu clan. 1944 - Founds African National Congress (ANC) Youth League with Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu. - Marries his first wife Evelyn. They had a daughter and two sons and were divorced in 1957. 1952 - Mandela and others arrested and charged under the Suppression of Communism Act. Given suspended prison sentence. - Elected deputy national president of ANC. 1958 - Marries Winnie Madikizela. They separated in April 1992 and were divorced about four years later. 1960 - Sharpeville Massacre of black protesters by police. 1962 - Mandela leaves secretly for military training in Morocco and Ethiopia. Returning to South Africa, the "Black Pimpernel" is captured and sentenced to five years for incitement and illegally leaving the country. 1963 - While serving, Mandela is charged with conspiracy and sabotage. June 12, 1964 - Mandela and seven others are sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island, off Cape Town. February 2, 1990 - F.W. de Klerk, South Africa's last white president, lifts ban on ANC and other liberation movements. February 11, 1990 - Mandela is freed from prison. 1991 - Elected president of the ANC. October 1993 - Wins Nobel Peace Prize with de Klerk. April 27-29, 1994 - South Africa's first all-race election. May 10, 1994 - Inaugurated as South Africa's first black president. December 1997 - Hands leadership of ANC to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki in first stage of phased transfer of power. July 18, 1998 - Marks 80th birthday with marriage to Graca Machel, widow of Mozambican President Samora Machel. June 16, 1999 - Retires, hands power to Mbeki. January 6, 2005 - Announces that only surviving son Makgatho Mandela has died from AIDS at the age of 54. July 18, 2007 - Launches international group of elder statesmen to tackle climate change, HIV/AIDS, poverty and other global problems. June 26, 2008 - U.S. lawmakers erase references to Mandela as a terrorist from national databases. May 9, 2009 - Attends Jacob Zuma's presidential inauguration ceremony. July 11, 2010 - Attends World Cup final between Netherlands and Spain. June 8, 2013 - Hospitalised for recurrence of lung infection. July 18, 2013 - Six weeks after being hospitalised, on his 95th birthday, the government says Mandela is improving. Many in South Africa celebrate Mandela Day with 67 minutes of public service to honour the 67 years Mandela served humanity. September 1, 2013 - Mandela is discharged and returns home after spending 87 days in a Pretoria hospital. December 5, 2013 - Nelson Mandela dies peacefully at home.

"Concerning the timing of the 2022 Fifa World Cup, we have always reiterated that we bid on the parameters that we would host in the summer of 2022," the Qatar 2022 supreme committee said in a statement."Various figures from the world of football have raised preferences for hosting in the winter. We are ready to host the World Cup in summer or winter. Our planning isn't affected either way..."Fifa President Sepp Blatter said on Thursday that any request to change the timing of the event to cooler months would have to come from Qatar.Organisers plan to host the tournament in air-conditioned stadiums which will be dismantled after the competition and shipped to developing nations.Friday's statement said Qatar had committed ‘considerable resources’ to proving that the cooling technology would work in open-air stadiums and training grounds and they would press ahead with developing the systems regardless."Our commitment to this is grounded in the legacy it will offer for Qatar and countries with similar climates. It will enable sport to be played 12 months of the year," it added."The application of this technology is not limited to stadiums or sports venues. It can be applied in public spaces, so outdoor life can be enjoyed all year round, regardless of climate."

In his first 100 days as head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick has worked quickly to give the poverty-fighting institution a sense of direction after the storm surrounding his predecessor Paul Wolfowitz. Zoellick marks his first 100 days at the World Bank on Wednesday with a policy speech in which he will outline a strategic direction for the institution that would position it to better deal with challenges in the developing world caused by globalization. The speech comes as Zoellick prepares for his first meeting of the bank's 185 shareholders in Washington next week. Since joining the World Bank in July, Zoellick has sought to direct its energy towards its mission of fighting global poverty and away from the bruising battle that led to the resignation of Wolfowitz, a former US deputy defense secretary and an architect of the Iraq war. Wolfowitz resigned in June after a scandal involving a high-paying promotion for his companion at the World Bank. Zoellick's 100-day speech is expected to include a fresh take on how the bank could help not only poor countries, but also fast-growing emerging economies, Arab states that feel under-served by the institution and nations emerging from conflict. Recently he reached a compromise with the bank's 24-member board that increased the bank's contribution to a fund for its poorest countries with the help of profits from its arm that lends to the private sector, the International Finance Corp (IFC). The move gives the IFC a bigger role in poor nations while adding a private-sector component to a fund whose main function has been providing loans and grants to countries in dire need of infrastructure. By contributing $3.5 billion of the bank's own resources to the International Development Association (IDA), Zoellick has challenged donors to dig deep into their pockets during talks to replenish the fund for the world's 81 poorest countries from 2009 to 2011. To ease complaints by emerging countries that the IFC profits should have gone towards finding solutions for undeveloped markets and social needs in their countries, Zoellick cut the bank's lending rates to emerging markets. Just last week, the bank also launched a $5 billion bond fund to help emerging economies develop their local capital markets. Still, with his background in US trade policy and Wall Street, Zoellick has recognized that the World Bank needs to be more creative to overcome poverty in a more globalized world, which has created opportunities but also increased the divide between rich and poor. Globalization has also introduced new strains on developing economies that need to be reflected in the bank's programmes, such as dealing with climate change.

New greenhouse gases emitted in making flat-screen televisions or some refrigerants might be capped under a planned U.N. treaty to combat global warming, delegates at U.N. talks in Ghana said on Friday. Emissions of the recently developed industrial gases, including nitrogen trifluoride and fluorinated ethers, are estimated at just 0.3 percent of emissions of conventional greenhouse gases by rich nations. But the emissions are surging. "I think it's a good idea" to add new gases to a group of six already capped by the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol for slowing global warming, Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters. "It makes sense to address all gases that lead to climate change," he said on the sidelines of the August 21-27 talks in Ghana meant to help work out details of a new treaty to combat global warming due to be agreed at the end of 2009. "The more gases you cover, the greater flexibility countries have" to work out how best to cut back, he said. He added that it was up to governments to decide. More than 190 nations have agreed to work out a broad new pact to succeed Kyoto as part of a drive to avert rising temperatures likely to bring more heatwaves, floods, desertification and rising seas. De Boer said the European Union had originally, in negotiations more than a decade ago that led to Kyoto, favored limiting the treaty to carbon dioxide, emitted by burning fossil fuels in factories, power plants and cars. LIVESTOCK But the addition of five other gases, such as industrial nitrous oxide or methane, emitted by livestock or rotting vegetation in landfills, had bolstered Kyoto, he said. Carbon dioxide is the main gas, accounting for 80 percent of emissions. Among new gases, nitrogen trifluoride is used in making semiconductors such as in flat-screen televisions. Fluorinated ethers have been used in some refrigerants in recent years as replacements for another group of gases found to damage the earth's protective ozone layer. Other new gases, such as iodotrifluoromethane or methyl chloroform, are used in the electronics industry or occur as by-products of industry. "Very little is known about sources, current and future emissions and atmospheric abundance of these gases," according to a technical report presented to delegates. "Emissions in 1990 are assumed to have been close to zero but are increasing exponentially," it said. It estimated that current annual emissions were below the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide -- or 0.3 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in rich nations. For carbon markets, the impact of adding new gases was unknown but would "in principle, increase the demand for tradable units under the Kyoto Protocol," it said. Disadvantages were that it could cost a lot to set up new monitoring and could distract focus from more important gases. "I'm pushing this issue to get more clarity," said Harald Dovland, a Norwegian official who chairs a group in Accra looking into new commitments by backers of Kyoto. Kyoto obliges 37 rich nations to cut emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. "There are not big amounts of these new gases emitted now. But many parties want to ensure that there are no increases," he said.

Africa is largely insulated from the credit crisis and will continue to grow at 6.5 to 7 percent next year, the head of the African Development Bank said on Wednesday, but future climate change could devastate economies. "The current economic growth in Africa... will continue for some time because of commodities and Chinese and Indian investment," Donald Kaberuka told Reuters in an interview. "Next year we should have 6.5 (percent) or I hope 7 percent." Economic growth is expected to be around 6.5 percent this year, he said. Citing the success of Ghana's recent international bond issue, he said many African countries were sufficiently appealing to investors that they would continue to find it easier to borrow money despite the global credit crunch. "In terms of second-round effects -- the wider effect on the global economy -- there may be some impact on Africa," he said. "But in terms of first-round effects they should not be much because there is not so much exposure to world capital markets." But in the longer run he said climate change could slash gross domestic product (GDP) in some countries by as much as 20 percent, with agricultural economies worst affected. "If you look at where the new investment is going it is in mining, telecommunications and the commercial sector," he said. "The countries that develop those may be able to manage but those based on agriculture will be hit very hard."

- of which China is a member -- although analysts had expected it to eventually support the deal. The Chinese comments came at talks between Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the 16-nation East Asia Summit in

LONDON, Dec 3, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The planet would be better off if the forthcoming Copenhagen climate change talks ended in collapse, according to a leading US scientist who helped alert the world to dangers of global warming. Any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed, said James Hansen, that it would be better for future generations if we were to start again from scratch. "I would rather it not happen if people accept that as being the right track because it's a disaster track," Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told the Guardian newspaper. "The whole approach is so fundamentally wrong that it is better to reassess the situation. If it is going to be the Kyoto-type thing then will spend years trying to determine exactly what that means." On Wednesday China and other big developing nations rejected core targets for a climate deal proposed by the Danish hosts in a draft text, such as halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Developing nations want richer countries to do much more to cut their emissions now before they agree to global emissions targets which they fear may shift the burden of action to them and hinder their economic growth. Hansen is strongly opposed to carbon market schemes, in which permits to pollute are bought and sold, seen by the European Union and other governments as the most efficient way to cut emissions and move to a new clean energy economy. Hansen opposes US President Barack Obama's plans for a cap and trade system for carbon emissions in the United States, preferring a tax on energy use. Tackling climate change does not allow room for the compromises that govern the world of politics, Hansen said. "This is analogous to the issue of slavery faced by Abraham Lincoln or the issue of Nazism faced by Winston Churchill," he said. "On those kind of issues you cannot compromise. You can't say let's reduce slavery, let's find a compromise and reduce it 50 percent or reduce it 40 percent." "We don't have a leader who is able to grasp it and say what is really needed," he added.