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BRUSSELS, Fri Mar 6, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience on Friday "never waste a good crisis," as she highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy intensive model. Highlighting Europe's unease the day after Russia warned that gas exports to the EU via Ukraine might be halted, she also condemned the use of energy as a political lever. Clinton told young Europeans at the European Parliament global economic turmoil provided a fresh opening: "Never waste a good crisis ... Don't waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security." Europe sees the United States as a crucial ally in global climate talks in Copenhagen in December, after President Barack Obama signaled a new urgency in tackling climate change, in stark contrast to his predecessor George W Bush. Europe has already laid out plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions to about a fifth below 1990 levels in the next decade, while Obama has proposed a major shift toward renewable energy and a cap and trade system for CO2 emissions. But with many countries in the grip of a punishing recession, some question whether businesses can muster the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to cut carbon emissions. "Certainly the United States has been negligent in living up to its responsibilities," said Clinton, on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state. "This is a propitious time ... we can actually begin to demonstrate our willingness to confront this. POLITICAL LEVER Many politicians argue that the economic crisis, energy security issues and climate change can all be dealt with in a "New Green Deal," replacing high-carbon infrastructure with green alternatives and simultaneously creating millions of jobs. "There is no doubt in my mind the energy security and climate change crises, which I view as being together, not separate, must be dealt with," Clinton added. She attacked the use of energy as a political weapon, echoing Europe's worries after repeated spats between Russia and gas transit country Ukraine hit EU supplies in recent years. "We are ... troubled by using energy as a tool of intimidation," she said. "We think that's not in the interest of creating a better and better functioning energy system." Clinton is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for dinner in Geneva in the hope of improving relations after a post-Cold War low during Bush's presidency. The latest cuts to Russian gas exports in January forced the closure of factories, hospitals and schools in Eastern Europe and left thousands of snowbound households shivering. A new row between Ukraine and Russia appeared to have been averted on Thursday after state-owned Gazprom said Ukraine had settled payments at the heart of the disagreement. But European leaders were rattled by the warning of cuts to supply by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin .

Reinhart, who was elevated to senior management as part of the bank's bid to rebuild its credibility after the ethics concerns, said some key concepts for the new product were already clear. These included a mandate for more transparency about the underlying methodology, greater reliance on survey data from companies, and less focus on ranking countries. "The underlying nuts and bolts will be in the public domain," Reinhart said. "Public disclosure is an important pillar in restoring credibility." The bank would also emphasise survey data to reduce the role of judgment, and eliminate the 'beauty contest" aspect of the rankings that incentivised countries to "game the system." In September, the bank's board scrapped publication of the annual "Doing Business" rankings after an external review of data irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 versions claimed that senior bank officials - including then-chief executive Kristalina Georgieva, who now heads the IMF - pressured staff to make changes. The law firm WilmerHale is still working on a second report on possible staff misconduct about the data changes, which benefited China, Saudi Arabia and other countries. The International Monetary Fund's board backed Georgieva after a lengthy review of the allegations, but she could still be implicated in the second review. Reinhart said the saga has dented the credibility of the World Bank, and it would take time and effort to rebuild trust. "It's important that the metrics of credibility are not personality-based, that they're systems based," she said, adding that the bank had instituted "a lot of safeguards" over the past year after reviewing several external reports. "Nothing in life is failsafe but it reduces ... the capacity for misuse and abuse," she said. "Hopefully credibility will follow. You know, credibility is one thing that is difficult to establish and easy to lose. But time will tell." Reinhart commissioned a major review of the Doing Business methodology by an external advisory panel after concerns were raised internally about data manipulation involving the reports. The resulting scathing 84-page review called for a series of remedial actions and reforms, citing a pattern of government efforts to interfere with the scoring. It faulted the bank for a lack of transparency about the underlying data and said it should stop selling consulting services to governments aimed at improving their scores, a practice Reinhart said had been halted already in 2020 and 2021. Reinhart said the bank would take a broader look at the consequences of the scandal and what other measures were required once the second WilmerHale report was completed. "That is a bridge we will have to cross once the full report is in," she said.

The two leaders debated how to handle China's growth as a world power more than 40 years after President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit to Mao Zedong's Communist China in 1972 ended decades of estrangement between Washington and Beijing.While Obama publicly emphasised the US desire for a "peaceful rise" by China, privately he laid out some specific examples to Xi of what the United States says is Chinese cyber thievery.American officials have voiced increasing alarm at cyber spying from China that has hit US businesses and Obama is under pressure to take steps to stop it amid controversy in America about the extent of his own government's counterterrorism surveillance.The Washington Post reported recently that China had accessed data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs.Obama's message to Xi carried a warning, "that if it's not addressed, if it continues to be this direct theft of United States property, that this was going to be a very difficult problem in the economic relationship," White House national security adviser Thomas Donilon said.Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi told reporters Beijing wanted cooperation rather than friction with the United States over cybersecurity. Xi had told a news conference with Obama on Friday that China itself was a victim of cyber attacks but that the two sides should work together to develop a common approach."Cybersecurity should not become the root cause of mutual suspicion and friction, rather it should be a new bright spot in our cooperation," Yang said.But while cyber attacks were a sore spot, the two leaders found common ground on North Korea, whose belligerent rhetoric, nuclear tests and missile launches have frustrated its only ally, Beijing, and raised tensions in the Asia Pacific.American officials came away from the Obama-Xi summit believing that China is ready to work more closely with the United States on North Korea than it has in the past, but offered no specific concrete measures to be taken.Donilon told reporters that Obama and Xi "agreed that North Korea has to denuclearise, that neither country will accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state and that we would work together to deepen cooperation and dialogue to achieve denuclearisation."Yang told a separate news conference that Xi had told Obama that China and the United States were "the same in their positions and objectives" on the North Korean nuclear issue.China Still N Korea AllyBeijing has resisted full implementation of UN sanctions against its impoverished neighbor out of fear a collapse of the reclusive state could trigger chaos on China's border.Analysts cautioned that it remained unclear and probably unlikely that Beijing had changed its fundamental calculus about North Korea, an old Cold War ally that serves as a buffer between China and democratic South Korea, which hosts 28,000 US troops."Going back a very long time, China and North Korea have a lot of problems, and don't particularly like each other, but they've needed each other and in a certain real sense they still do," Alan Romberg, director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center, a Washington thank tank.In one tangible outcome of the summit, Obama and Xi agreed to cooperate in fighting climate change by cutting the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are greenhouse gases.In talks that may set the stage for US-Chinese relations for years to come, both Obama and Xi appeared to gain something from talks that both used to try to advance a new model of cooperation between the world's lone superpower and its rising economic competitor in Asia.Obama, whose second term has gotten off to a rocky start at home, was able to break away from domestic political troubles and advance US interests in Asia, even as he faces a new controversy over a government-run domestic surveillance program that in recent days has emerged as far more expansive than originally thought.Xi was able to promote directly to Obama his desire for a "new model of major country relationship," in which China would be viewed as an equal global player.Many questions remain unanswered about US-Chinese relations in the wake of the talks. Concerns about the US military "pivot" toward Asia were unresolved, while Washington's worries about China's military assertiveness are ongoing.To that end, Obama urged Xi to de-escalate a contentious territorial dispute with Japan over remote islands in the East China Sea and deal with the matter through diplomatic channels, Donilon said.A maritime territory dispute over islets in the East China Sea has escalated to the point where China and Japan scramble fighter jets and patrol ships shadow each other.The United States, a formal security ally of Japan, says it is neutral about sovereignty over the islets, but opposes use of force or unilateral efforts to change the status quo.For its part, China urged the United States to halt its arm sales to Taiwan.Aside from the discussion of various disputes, the overall objective of the summit appeared to have been reached, as Obama and Xi simply got to know each other and injected some warmth into often chilly relations.Obama also seized the opportunity to strike an even deeper personal bond with Xi by meeting the Chinese leader's glamorous wife, Peng Liyuan, a famous singer, for tea before bidding the couple farewell at the end of the summit.There had been some talk that Obama's wife, Michelle, had snubbed the Chinese first lady by staying back in Washington, but the Chinese knew well in advance that Mrs. Obama needed to stay home while her two daughters finished the school year."Terrific," was how Obama described the sessions when asked by a reporter how the talks were going.The Obama-Xi visit included a 50-minute one-on-one session on Saturday morning that included a stroll outside in the desert heat, and a Friday night dinner of lobster tamales, porterhouse steak and cherry pie prepared by celebrity chef Bobby Flay.China experts say if Obama and Xi can develop personal rapport - something lacking between US presidents and Xi's notoriously wooden predecessor, Hu Jintao - and make at least some progress on substantive issues, the summit could gain historic significance."One would hope that there's a level of confidence that emerges from this meeting, and it's something that's very personality-specific," said Richard Solomon, a former assistant secretary of state.

Answering that question is, according to the writer Amitav Ghosh, the literary world’s great challenge. “I feel completely convinced that we have to change our fictional practices in order to deal with the world that we’re in,” he said. “Something this big and this important, there have to be an infinite number of ways to just talk about it,” he said, similar to how war, slavery, colonisation, famine and other crises and events have seeped into so many forms of literature. Ghosh, 63, is attempting to add something to the conversation with “Gun Island,” his 12th book. The novel, which comes out Tuesday, leaps from the United States, to the Sundarbans mangrove forest between India and Bangladesh, to Italy, places where rising temperatures and water levels have uprooted human and animal lives and upended political systems. It centres on Dinanth Datta, a rare book dealer also known as Deen, who reluctantly sets off on an Indiana Jones-esque trip to a temple in the Sundarbans, seeking clues to an ancient Bengali legend. That visit thrusts him into an adventure that connects him with Bangladeshi migrants in Libya, dolphins in the Mediterranean and venomous water snakes in California, while touching on migration, xenophobia and technology. In his 2016 nonfiction book of essays, “The Great Derangement,” Ghosh wrote about his ancestors, “ecological refugees long before the term was invented” who lived on the shores of the Padma River in what is now Bangladesh. “One day in the mid-1850s the great river suddenly changed course, drowning the village,” he writes. “It was this catastrophe that had unmoored our forebears.” About a century later, Ghosh was born in Kolkata, a city that sits near India’s border with Bangladesh and serves as the starting point for Deen’s journey. Ghosh’s life, like Deen’s, has stretched across countries, from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to Britain and eventually the United States, where he now lives. While studying in New Delhi in the late 1970s, Ghosh experienced a tornado and hailstorm — phenomena previously unheard-of in India. He struggled to incorporate the episode into his fiction because, as he explained in “The Great Derangement,” it is difficult for a writer to use a case of “extreme improbability” without it seeming contrived. Ghosh came up with the idea for “Gun Island” in the early 2000s when he was researching another novel, “The Hungry Tide,” that explores the rivers of the Sundarbans, whose ecosystem supports the endangered Bengal tiger and thousands of other species. But Ghosh could already see the impact of climate change: bigger waves and worsening cyclones that hindered farming. That shift, over the years, has directly or indirectly forced a sizable number of the 4 million inhabitants of the Sundarbans to flee to parts of India and Bangladesh. “Gun Island” is likely to resonate in Italy, said Anna Nadotti, his friend and Italian translator of more than 30 years, as the country grapples with an influx of migrants fleeing war, persecution and climate crises. “Politically, socially and also culturally, it’s important to give people all the means to understand what is really happening, why all these people are coming,” she said. “Even if sometimes in ‘Gun Island’ Amitav invents, nothing is fictional,” she added, pointing out a scene from the book that is familiar to many Italians: a boat full of migrants, stranded at sea because it has been denied permission to dock. At one point in “Gun Island,” Deen arrives in Los Angeles for an antiquarian book dealers conference at a museum. Wildfires burn nearby. The conference, at first, goes on. But soon, the bibliophiles, librarians and book dealers are told to evacuate because the winds are changing direction, making the blaze’s path increasingly unpredictable. It seems to mirror when fires came perilously close to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2017, raising concerns they would destroy the artifacts inside. Ghosh said he wrote the scene six months earlier. Later in the story, Deen confronts a freakish hailstorm and fierce “gusts of winds” in Venice. Two months ago, the real-life city was battered by hailstones and winds powerful enough to toss a cruise ship about. That a novel seems to anticipate some of these unusual weather events is proof to Ghosh that literature should devote more attention to the environment. “Fact,” he said, “is outrunning fiction.”   © 2019 New York Times News Service

Hamila, who at 40 is an entrepreneur and the owner of a Moroccan packaged food business in London, still remembers feeling the excitement surrounding the holiday. She and her father would bring an entire sheep back to the apartment, where all the women would gather to clean the innards and trotters in the bathtub. “We even had a specific order for the way we ate the meat,” she said. The first day of Eid al-Adha was for the organs. On the second day, they ate the head and trotters, and only on the third day, once the fresh meat had rested, would they make kebabs, tagines or grills. Eid al-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, is the second of the year’s two major Islamic holidays, and coincides with the Hajj pilgrimage. It commemorates the prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail at Allah’s request. According to the Quran, God ultimately offered Ibrahim a ram to kill in the son’s place. So people across the Islamic world have traditionally sacrificed a lamb — or goat, cow or camel, depending on the region — at home and divided it into thirds among the needy, friends and relatives and their immediate family. Home butchering of animals is now banned in many countries, including large swaths of the Arab world, where a fifth of the globe’s Muslim population live. Meat is still central to Eid al-Adha, which many Arabs refer to colloquially as Eid al-Lahm, or Festival of Meat. But as celebrations deeply entrenched in community and tradition start to slip away, especially for Arab Muslims in the diaspora, people are finding new ways of observing a holiday for which food is a hallmark. Areej Bazzari, a digital marketing director at Salesforce, in San Francisco, grew up in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, where breakfast was the highlight of Eid al-Adha. On her family’s holiday table was a bounty of offal cooked in myriad ways: braised with garlic, fried with onion and spices, or mixed with eggs. “We had teams,” Bazzari said, laughing. “Team liver, team kidneys — and that’s my visual of Eid at home, all of us quarreling over who got to sit in front of which plate.” Since her Palestinian family moved to Sonoma County in 2000, they have rarely prepared organ meat, which is harder to find fresh there. On the rare occasion that her father tracks down a fresh heart or kidneys, they will include it with other cuts of meat just to continue the tradition, but not with the same abundance they grew accustomed to in Saudi Arabia. “We’re not going to a slaughterhouse,” she said. “This is, like, Dad going to Whole Foods.” Bazzari, 38, cherishes the way her Eid al-Adha celebrations have evolved over the years. “I like that I can draw on childhood experiences and different cultural traditions I’m learning from friends here,” she said. For her, Eid al-Adha now usually includes a large get-together of extended family and friends, with Eid decorations and countless dishes, including nontraditional ones like fattehs (toasted bread-based dishes with various protein toppings and sauces); shushbarak (meat filled dumplings cooked in yogurt sauce); and manaqeesh (flatbreads topped with za’atar and cheese). But dessert — the highlight, which stays on the table for the remainder of the day — “is always a flavour from home,” Bazzari said. Her parents still fly to Saudi Arabia or Jordan every year and bring back desserts they save especially for Eid. Ka’ak and ma’amoul — quintessential holiday cookies in the Arab world, made with semolina and most often stuffed with dates or nuts — are the nonnegotiable items on that table. Hamila’s array of desserts this year will feature cookies stuffed with dates or nuts. But her star dish for the long holiday will be mechoui, a slow-roasted leg of lamb — a constant in her feast, for its symbolism as much as for its flavour. Side dishes will lean more toward salads and vegetables. “It’s the middle of summer,” she said, “and I want to keep it a bit light.” This Eid al-Adha is tentatively set for July 20. Because Islamic holidays are pegged to the Hijri lunar calendar, the exact date depends on the sighting of a new moon, and, over time, the holidays move through the seasons. A decade or two ago, Eid al-Adha was celebrated in cooler weather. Over the past five years, the holiday has fallen in summer, influencing the food choices. Hamila appreciates the departures from custom. “I’m a strong believer that traditions have to adapt,” she said. To her, what counts is embracing the celebrations and connecting with the spirit of the occasion. Sumaya Obaid, a chef and TV personality in the United Arab Emirates, recalls that when she was a child, the neighbours, regardless of race or class, would gather to sacrifice sheep for Eid al-Adha, then wash the meat and distribute it. “Now that laws have changed, and people don’t slaughter animals at home, the collaboration and sharing, the butchering, the cleaning together, that has all disappeared,” she said. “That sense of community is just not there anymore.” Other elements of Eid celebration, however, remain intact. Machboos el-Eid, spice-rubbed and roasted lamb, is still the essential holiday dish in the Emirates. The saffron-laced spice mixture varies from family to family, and the women take pride in picking out the fresh spices at the market a few days before the celebration to grind and prepare at home. “It is so unique, so unique,” Obaid said of her own blend. “But I will only give it to my daughter. It is one of the most secret things in the family.” The heart of the Eid al-Adha meals may be meat, but their spirit is generosity. Obaid quickly added, “Inshallah, one day we share this meal, and you taste our family’s machboos.” — RECIPES: Ka’ak el Eid Yield: About 35 round cookies Total time: 1 3/4 hours, plus overnight resting and cooling Ingredients: For the dough: A scant 1 1/2 cups/250 grams semolina flour 2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons/125 grams softened unsalted butter 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon nigella seeds (or unhulled sesame seeds) 1 tablespoon ground aniseed 1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon instant yeast 1 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup warm water, plus more if needed For the filling: Vegetable or olive oil, as needed for greasing 1 pound/450 grams date paste (see tip) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Preparation: 1. Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, combine the semolina flour, all-purpose flour, butter and oil. Rub the ingredients between your palms until the mixture resembles wet sand. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight (or several hours). This allows the semolina to soften and fully absorb the butter and oil. 2. Finish the dough: The next day (or several hours later), after your semolina mixture has rested, add the nigella seeds, aniseed, fennel, baking powder, yeast, sugar and salt to the semolina mixture and gently rub together with your hands. Add 1/2 cup warm water and start to gently knead for no longer than 2 minutes. The mixture will probably still be crumbly at this point. 3. Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup water to the mixture in 1-tablespoon increments, and continue to knead for about 1 minute after each addition — making sure you don’t over-knead — until you can take a clump of dough in your fingers and it holds together. You may not need to use all the water, or you may need extra, a couple tablespoons at a time, depending on a variety of factors such as climate or flour. What you are looking for is a clump of dough to come together easily and not fall apart when you try rolling it into a log. Cover and let rest while you prepare the filling. 4. Prepare the filling: Line a medium baking sheet with plastic wrap or parchment paper and grease with oil. Pour some oil in a small bowl that you will use to grease your hands as necessary. Put the date paste and cinnamon in a bowl and knead slightly with greased hands until evenly incorporated. 5. Grease your hands and tear out about 35 portions of filling, each about the size of a golf ball. On a flat surface, roll each into a string slightly thinner than your finger and about 4 to 5 inches long. Place on the greased baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap, then set aside until ready to use. This can sit at room temperature for a couple of days without any issue. 6. Prepare the cookies: Heat oven to 400 degrees and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment. Take a golf ball-size piece of dough, keeping the rest of the dough covered to keep it moist, and roll it between your palms or on a flat surface into a sausage shape about 4 inches long. Using the tips of your fingers, gently press to flatten it. Take one of the date strings and place on top of the dough, cutting off as much as necessary for it to fit the dough. (Any cut off pieces can be used to extend shorter pieces or combined to make more filling strings.) 7. Enclose the dough around the date filling and roll it on a flat surface into a slightly longer, thin sausage shape, about 8 to 9 inches long. Take one end and place it slightly overlapping the other end to form a ring shape. With a thin object (such as a chopstick), press down all the way through to make two holes where the ends overlap to ensure they are firmly attached and won’t come apart during baking. Place on the prepared lined baking sheet and repeat until dough and filling are finished. 8. Bake cookies until a very light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, transfer to an airtight container. Cookies will keep 2 to 3 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, or up to 3 months in the freezer. TIP: Date paste can easily be found in any Middle Eastern grocery store. However, you could also buy good quality soft Medjool dates, pit them and knead them by hand with a tablespoon of olive oil to get a pastelike consistency. Do not use a food processor, because the dates will become extremely sticky and difficult to remove. Sajiyeh Yield: 2 to 4 servings Total time: 40 minutes Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound beef (such as sirloin, rib-eye, skirt steak or flank steak), cut into bite-size strips 2 1/2 teaspoons Lebanese seven-spice blend (see tip) 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced 1 small red bell pepper, halved, cored and thinly sliced 2 jalapeños or 1 small green bell pepper, halved, cored and thinly sliced Saj bread, pita, naan or flour tortillas, for serving Preparation: 1. Heat olive oil in a cast-iron pan over medium until shimmering and hot, but not smoking. Add the strips of meat, spice blend and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring periodically, until all the released water evaporates and the meat starts to brown all over, about 10 minutes. 2. Once meat is browned, add 1/2 cup water, cover the pan, and cook until the water again evaporates and oil visibly releases, about 5 to 7 minutes. Repeat the process: Add another 1/2 cup water, cover, and cook until the water evaporates and oil releases. 3. Add the onion, pepper, jalapeños and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, uncovered, tossing regularly, until the onions are browned and meat is starting to soften, about 4 minutes. 4. Add another 1/2 cup water and cook for a final time, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until some of the water evaporates and you are left with a thick sauce coating the meat and vegetables, about 3 minutes. 5. Remove from heat and serve immediately with bread to scoop up the meat and gravy. TIP: You can replace the seven-spice blend with 1/2 teaspoon each ground allspice, ground cinnamon and ground black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin and a few grates of nutmeg. ©2021 The New York Times Company

The United Nations praised on Thursday a step by a US Senate committee to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the world's top carbon emitter even as Washington reaffirmed opposition to caps. "That's a very encouraging sign from the United States," Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said at 190-nation UN talks in Bali, Indonesia, of a vote by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. His comments rubbed in the isolation of President George W Bush's administration at the Dec. 3-14 talks. Australia's new government ratified the Kyoto Protocol on Monday, leaving the United States as the only developed nation outside the pact. In Washington, the Senate committee voted 11-8 on Wednesday for legislation outlining a cap-and-trade system for industry, power generators and transport. The bill is headed for debate in the full Senate. "It will not alter our position here," U.S. chief climate negotiator Harlan Watson told reporters in Bali of the vote. Bush has opposed mandatory caps on emissions, favouring instead big investments in clean technologies. And Watson said Washington was pushing ahead with its own track by inviting big economies to Honolulu, Hawaii, next month for climate change talks after a first Washington meeting in September. He said he believed the dates were Jan. 29 and 30. BALI TO HAWAII Bush wants 17 big emitters, accounting for more than 80 percent of world greenhouse gases, to agree to new climate goals by the end of 2008 -- just before Bush leaves office -- and feed into a new U.N. pact meant to be agreed by the end of 2009. "Things are going well here," de Boer said of the negotiations that are seeking ways to bind all nations, including the United States and developing nations such as China and India, more tightly into a fight against climate change. Bush says Kyoto would harm the U.S. economy and wrongly excludes goals for developing nations until 2012. Separately, more than 200 climate scientists from around the world urged nations at the Bali talks to make deeper and swifter cuts to greenhouse emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels. They said governments had a window of only 10-15 years for global emissions to peak and decline, and that the ultimate goal should be at least a 50 percent reduction in climate-warming emissions by 2050. "We appreciate this is a significant challenge for the world community," Professor Andy Pittman, from the University of New South Wales in Australia, told reporters in Bali. "But it is what is required to reduce the risks of dangerous climate change, and that is what we are all trying to do here." Professor Diana Liverman of Britain's Oxford University said the world was already seeing substantial impacts from global warming, but a warming of 2 degrees Celsius would have severe impacts in Africa, Australia, the polar regions and the Pacific Islands. Outside the Bali conference centre, eight activists dressed as polar bears -- threatened by a melt of Arctic ice -- added a twist to the climate debate by holding banners reading: "Humans need help too". Separately, the WWF conservation group said that 55 percent of the Amazon rainforest could be wiped out or severely damaged by 2030 by a "vicious feedback loop of climate change and deforestation". It said the effects of warming could cut rainfall and aggravate current trends in farming, fires, droughts and logging in the world's largest tropical forest. The Amazon basin is a giant store of carbon dioxide -- trees soak up the main greenhouse gas as they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt. -- For Reuters latest environment blogs click.

Australia's top climate change adviser urged the government to make deeper-than-planned cuts in greenhouse emissions, to set an example for developing nations on the need to fight global warming. Professor Ross Garnaut, who is advising the government on how to curb carbon pollution without harming the economy, said on Thursday Australia needed to go further than its plan to slash emissions by 60 percent of 2000 levels by 2050. But Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the government stood by its current target, which was promised ahead of its victory at last year's national election. "The government's commitment is the one we made prior to the election. That is the approach the government will take," Wong told reporters. Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent, is the world's largest coal exporter with an economy which relies heavily on polluting fossil fuel, with about 80 percent of its electricity coming from coal-fired power stations. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change last December in his first act after being sworn in, leaving the United States isolated as the only developed nation not to sign up to the pact. The former conservative government refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding targets on carbon emissions for developed countries, saying the move would unfairly hurt Australia's economy due to its heavy reliance on fossil fuel. Garnaut said it was crucial that global measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming, do not hurt economic growth, particularly in the booming economies of China and India and other developing nations. "Let's not kid ourselves. There's no solution to the climate change problem that is based on asking people to diminish their ambitions for high material standards of living," Garnaut told reporters. Australia, he said, should set a good example and adopt targets similar to the European Union, which has committed to cut emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050, and California, which has legislated to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Garnaut also encouraged the government to develop agreements with other regional nations on ways to cut pollution, with a focus on slowing deforestation in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Australia produced about 1.2 percent of global carbon emissions in 2004. Rudd's government has promised to introduce carbon trading by 2010, which will provide a financial incentive for polluting industries to cut emissions.

NEW DELHI Aug 18,(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday the country must invest in its own environmentally friendly technologies, the latest in myriad pledges from one of the world's biggest polluters to fight climate change. Singh's comments underlined how India was seeking to undercut demands by rich nations for it to do more to curb carbon emissions. New Delhi has constantly resisted emissions targets, saying it will take its own unilateral action to cut pollution. Global negotiations for a new UN agreement on climate change are stuck on the question of how much cash or technology rich nations will provide the poorer countries. Singh's comments also signalled that India, the world's fourth-largest polluter, was willing to put in money to develop expensive clean technologies to supplement what it might get from rich countries. "Our growth strategy can be different. It must be different," the prime minister said, referrring to the western world's decades of industrialisation that is blamed for climate change. He said India's energy use will rise sharply in the coming decades as it tries to lift a multitude out of poverty, but stressed a different development path must be walked. "For this we need access to new technologies that are already available with developed countries. We must also make our own investments in new environment-friendly technologies," he told a national conference on environment and forests in New Delhi. India has already announced several steps to fight global warming, such as ramping up solar power investment, expanding forest cover and bringing in domestic energy efficiency trading. "In dealing with the challenge of climate change and environmental degradation we face the unfair burden of past mistakes not of our making," Singh said. "However, as we go forward in the march of development we have the opportunity not to repeat those mistakes." With about 500 million people, or about half the population lacking access to electricity and relying on dirty coal to expand the power grid, India's booming economy has huge potential to leap-frog to a low-carbon future. But it says it needs a little hand-holding by rich countries to keep it on the right path.

Leaders of the Commonwealth group of mostly former British colonies met on Friday for a three-day summit under pressure to get tougher on human rights abuses by members or risk losing its purpose as a group. Britain's 85-year-old Queen Elizabeth opened the meeting of leaders of the 54 states of the Commonwealth, home to 30 percent of the world's population and five of the G20 leading economies but struggling to make an impact on global policies. The leadup to the summit has been dominated by pressure to take a stronger line on human and political rights abuses. A confidential report to the group warned than unless it did, the Commonwealth risked becoming pointless as an organisation. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in her opening speech, touched on the issue when she said it needed "to ensure that those member nations that fall short (of the group's values) understand that their peers want to see change". Much of the debate has focused on Sri Lanka and international demands that it allow an independent inquiry into accusations of war crimes during its 25-year civil war, especially in its final months in 2009. Sri Lanka says it will wait for the results of its own investigation next month, calling the pressure over human rights a propaganda war waged by the defeated Tamil Tigers. A senior Commonwealth official said foreign ministers on Thursday failed to agree on a key recommendation in an "eminent persons" report that the group set up a rights commissioner. Canada, home to a large ethnic Tamil community, has said it will boycott the 2013 Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka, unless the host country improves its human rights record. "Today, Commonwealth leaders are faced with a choice - reform the Commonwealth so that it can effectively address human rights violations by its members, or risk becoming irrelevant," said Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Deputy Director. British Prime Minister David Cameron dismissed suggestions that the Commonwealth was no longer of much use. "We live in a world of networks and this is a great network: a third of the world's population, 54 different countries across six continents," he told reporters in Perth. "But not just a network, a network with values about promoting human rights and democracy and freedom." ABORIGINES CLEANSE OPENING CEREMONY Aborigines cleansed the opening ceremony by waving smoke from burning grass over leaders as they arrived. Local Noongar Aborigines welcomed the leaders to their traditional homeland. In a stark reminder of the clash of cultures, Aborigines refer to British white settlement of Australia as the invasion. About 500 people, protesting a broad range of issues, demonstrated in Perth but were kept well away from the leaders by a large contingent of police in the central business district, dominated by office blocks of the mining companies that are the backbone of Western Australia's economy. Smaller countries within the group, many at risk from the effects of global warming, are pressing for a strong statement ahead on next month's international summit of climate change in the South African city of Durban. There have also been calls on leaders to help to end the practice of child brides. Twelve of the 20 countries with the highest rates of child brides are in the Commonwealth. And health advocates say laws in 41 Commonwealth states making homosexuality a crime breached human rights, hindering the fight against HIV-AIDS. Commonwealth states represent 60 percent of the world's HIV-AIDS population.

Pope Benedict on Wednesday made another strong appeal for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race. The Pope made his appeal, his second on environmental issues in four days, at the end of his general audience before some 16,000 people in St Peter's Square. "Care of water resources and attention to climate change are matters of grave importance for the entire human family," he said. "Encouraged by the growing recognition of the need to preserve the environment, I invite all of you to join me in praying and working for greater respect for the wonders of God's creation," he told his listeners, speaking in English. The Pope gave his backing to a symposium called "The Arctic: Mirror of Life," on religion, science and the environment, due to start in Greenland on Thursday and be attended by scientists and religious leaders. Earlier this month, scientists said previously unknown islands were appearing as Arctic summer sea ice shrinks to record lows, raising questions about whether global warming was outpacing U.N. projections. Benedict and other world religious leaders have been banging the environmental drum more loudly recently. Last Sunday in central Italy, Benedict led the Catholic Church's first 'eco-friendly' youth rally and told up to half a million people that world leaders must make courageous decisions to save the planet "before it is too late". Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green". It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels. Last month Benedict said the human race must listen to "the voice of the Earth" or risk destroying its very existence.

The conference president entered the plenary hall to a huge applause as the Cancún climate summit gets close to its end with a 'striking balance'. The no-nonsense Mexican foreign minister had been able to strike the balance that many countries had sought for. Patricia Espinosa was visibly embarrassed when ministers, bureaucrats, activists, journalists and officials refused to stop clapping. She had been able to produce a text that was, more or less, accepted by all parties. Without the pressure o strike a deal, almost all of the 190 countries rallied behind her and extended their support for the text. Even the ever critical Venezuelan delegation could not hold back its pleasure. They said this was an "amazing text" with "striking balance". The main hall reverberated with the sounds of applause as delegations took the floor one after another only to praise or commend Espinosa's efforts and extend their strong support to the text. Greenhouse gases trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere which raises temperatures leading to climate change through what are called extreme climate events like more frequent and intense floods and cyclones, rising sea level and causing persistent droughts. Experts say a temperature rise of over 2 degrees Celsius would result in 'catastrophic' climate change which may not be reversed. Espinosa put an end to the two-hour informal plenary just after Friday midnight and asked delegations to sit in their respective working groups in order to get through the tedious but necessary process. Those meetings will be followed by a closing plenary that will finally adopt the outcome barring any surprises. Mihir Kanti Majumder, Bangladesh's environment secretary, said the draft signified progress from what had come out of the last climate summit at Copenhagen. "This draft is acceptable and I think we can work on it and take it further," he said before hurrying off to the plenary on Friday evening. But another delegate of the Bangladesh contingent said the text was not at all the end and it is just the beginning as Espinosa had suggested during her closing speech. She said, "This conference is not an end but the beginning of a new stage of cooperation on solid basis." The delegate pointed out that there were several things that did not suit Bangladesh's negotiating position or the larger interests of the poor and vulnerable countries. "But all the parties agreed to it in the spirit of compromise." Ziaul Hoque Mukta, policy and advocacy manager for Oxfam Bangladesh who is also on the national delegation, said although not fully complete, "It has much potential to be developed." Mukta agreed that the text had the foundations necessary to launch serious negotiations by next year in Durban, South Africa where the next summit of the UN climate convention is scheduled to be held. Saleemul Huq, a senior researcher for the International Institute for Environmental Development, in his initial reaction to bdnews24.com approved the content of the text and the manner in which it was produced. He echoed points of the minister saying, "Two specific points that could be mentioned are the Adaptation Committee and the Green Climate Fund." Also a lead author of assessment reports produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the top body on climate change, he said these two things were the demands of the poor and vulnerable countries. "We are getting that here." He went on: "It's a clean text. The Mexicans have run the negotiations really well. It was open and transparent." Already having had a cursory look, the long-time insider to complex climate negotiations approvingly said about the 32-page document, "They have been able to remove all the brackets." Huq said the text was a certain progress on Copenhagen and pointed out that it reflects "compromise". "Everybody does not have everything, they all have something." "But more importantly it brings back trust in the process and each other," he said. The glee and delight among participants clearly indicated that they were thankful to Espinosa for that particular reason — for bringing back their trust in the multilateral process.

A Commonwealth summit opened on Friday, with climate change high on the agenda, after Pakistan angrily rejected its suspension by the organisation of mostly former British colonies because of emergency rule. A special ministerial group set up to safeguard democratic standards harshly criticised President Pervez Musharraf for his three-week-old state of emergency and suspended Pakistan's membership late on Thursday. "The situation in Pakistan continued to represent a serious violation of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values," a statement said. Pakistan is not attending the Kampala summit but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Reuters in Islamabad that his country deeply regretted the suspension by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). "The CMAG decision is unreasonable and unjustified. Pakistan will review its association and further cooperation with the organisation," he said. Zimbabwe, suspended in 2002 over flawed elections, withdraw from the Commonwealth the following year. It was the second time Pakistan had been suspended after being barred when Musharraf first seized power in 1999. It had been reinstated in 2004. The angry reaction from Islamabad underlined the huge international pressure on Musharraf to fully lift the emergency rule he imposed on Nov. 3. While Commonwealth suspension has few immediate practical effects, analysts say it could further isolate Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war against Islamic militancy, discourage foreign investment and undermine him domestically, where he is trying to fend off major opposition challenges to his continuing rule. The summit here will also discuss Fiji, which has been suspended since a military coup in 2006. The Pacific island nation has promised elections in 2009 but critics say little democratic progress has been made. CLIMATE CHANGE One of the biggest issues for discussion here is climate change and its impact on Commonwealth members, especially small island states threatened by rising water levels. Experts say Africa also risks being left behind in efforts to combat warming, which could have a disastrous effect on crops on the continent through drought. "One of the biggest challenges we face is climate change. The consequences ...are far ranging," said outgoing Commonwealth chairman Lawrence Gonzi, the prime minister of Malta, in an early address after the summit was opened by Queen Elizabeth. "Small island states like my own country are particularly vulnerable, but the need to adapt is one that faces all countries," he said. Many Commonwealth leaders, eager to show their relevance as a unique body cutting across regional groupings, believe they can issue an influential statement before a meeting of world environment ministers in Bali next month which will discuss a new deal to replace the UN's Kyoto protocol. Britain is pushing hard for a strong statement. "We hope Commonwealth heads will send an unequivocal message that to achieve climate security we need a high-ambition, UN-based global framework with developed countries taking on binding emission reduction commitments," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said before the meeting. But diplomats said Canada's conservative government, which believes its commitments under the Kyoto treaty are impractical, would resist such a tough statement. Canada is a big oil producer. Australia is a major CO2 emitter but, with an election coming this weekend, has not sent a senior delegation to Kampala. Pacific island nations are furious with Australia for refusing to ratify Kyoto.

Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition was set to win 311 seats, keeping its two-thirds "super majority" in the 465-member lower house, an exit poll by TBS television showed. Public broadcaster NHK also said the ruling bloc was closing in on a two-thirds majority, although some other broadcasters had the ruling bloc slightly below the two-thirds mark. A hefty win raises the likelihood that Abe, who took office in December 2012, will have a third three-year term as LDP leader next September and go on to become Japan's longest-serving premier. It also means his "Abenomics" growth strategy centred on the hyper-easy monetary policy will likely continue. Final official results are expected early on Monday. Election officials count votes after Japan's lower house election at a counting centre in Tokyo, Japan, October 22, 2017. Reuters The US-drafted constitution's Article 9, if taken literally, bans the maintenance of armed forces. But Japanese governments have interpreted it to allow a military exclusively for self-defence. Election officials count votes after Japan's lower house election at a counting centre in Tokyo, Japan, October 22, 2017. Reuters Backers of Abe's proposal say it would just codify the status quo. Critics fear it would allow an expanded role overseas for the military. The LDP's junior partner, the Komeito, is cautious about changing the constitution, drawn up after Japan's loss in World War Two. Several opposition parties favour changes, but don't agree on details. Amendments must be approved by two-thirds of each chamber of parliament and then by a majority in a public referendum. "Nothing about the process (of revising the constitution) will be easy," said Tobias Harris, an analyst at Washington-based consultancy Teneo Intelligence. "But we'll be hearing a lot about it." "National crisis" Abe had said he needed a new mandate to tackle a "national crisis" from North Korea's missile and nuclear threats and a fast-ageing population, and to approve his idea of diverting revenue from a planned sales tax hike to education and child care from public debt repayment. He called the poll amid confusion in the opposition camp and an uptick in his ratings, dented earlier in the year by suspected cronyism scandals. Abe has backed US President Donald Trump's tough stance towards North Korea that all options, including military action, are on the table. Trump is to visit Japan Nov 5-7 to reaffirm the leaders' tight ties. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, gestures at an election campaign rally in Tokyo, Japan Oct 21, 2017. Reuters Abe's move had seemed risky after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, often floated as a possible first Japanese female premier, launched her conservative Party of Hope. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, gestures at an election campaign rally in Tokyo, Japan Oct 21, 2017. Reuters The Party of Hope absorbed a big chunk of the failed main opposition Democratic Party. But voter enthusiasm soon waned despite its calls for popular policies such as an exit from nuclear power and a freeze on the planned sales tax rise. Koike did not run for a lower house seat herself - she was in Paris for a climate change event on Sunday - and failed to say whom her party would back for prime minister. "It's an extremely tough election result," Koike said on NHK public TV. "We had sought to put policies first. But we ended up with a very tough outcome, so I deeply apologise for that." A girl casts her father's ballot for a national election at a polling station in Tokyo, Japan Oct 22, 2017. Reuters A new Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), formed by liberal former DP members, was vying with Koike's party for the top opposition spot - the TBS exit polls had the CDPJ beating out the Party of Hope - although both will have just a sliver of the LDP's presence if forecasts prove accurate. A girl casts her father's ballot for a national election at a polling station in Tokyo, Japan Oct 22, 2017. Reuters "Day by day, we felt we were getting more voter support for our call to revive more decent politics, and not fret about whether it's right or left wing - and instead to push things forward," Tetsuro Fukuyama, a CDPJ member in parliament's upper house, said on NHK.

But on Monday, the central government imposed a 65-day national ban on coastal fishing — the most restrictive ever in Bangladesh, a poor and densely populated country where fish play a central role in the economy and diet. Shamsuddin, 30, promptly reduced by about a third the amount of food that he buys for himself, his wife and their three children. “But I won’t be able to run my family for the next two months with this little amount of savings,” he said by telephone from Bhola District, about a 155-mile drive south from the capital, Dhaka. “And when the savings run dry, my life will be a nightmare.”Officials say the ban, imposed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, will be an annual one to help conserve fish and shrimp stocks over the long term. But fishermen across the nation are girding for hardship and planning protests in Dhaka if officials do not offer them compensation. “This is a nightmare situation for a huge number of fishermen and their family members” because prices typically rise in Bangladesh during Ramadan, said Mokter Ahmed, a spokesman for the National Fishermen’s Association in Cox’s Bazar, a port city with about 200,000 fishermen. He added that if authorities cannot prevent illegal fishing off the Bangladeshi coast by fleets from other Asian countries, “the ultimate goal of this ban will not be achieved and only our fishermen will suffer.” Representational Image: Fishermen in Bhola harbouring their boats ahead of cyclone Foni. Tensions over the 65-day ban highlight how governments are struggling to balance a need for long-term conservation with those of coastal communities that depend on fish for short-term survival. Fish stocks worldwide have been declining in recent years because of overfishing and ocean warming caused by climate change. Representational Image: Fishermen in Bhola harbouring their boats ahead of cyclone Foni. The tensions are particularly acute in Asia, which has seen some of the steepest declines in fisheries productivity as human populations that rely on fish as a vital protein source have grown. And Bangladesh, a country slightly larger than New York state that has more than 160 million people, about a third of whom suffer from food insecurity, is a case in point. The country produced nearly 4 million metric tons of fish in 2016, a more than fourfold increase from 1990, according to World Bank data. That was only a fraction of China’s huge output, but more than Norway’s and South Korea’s, and nearly as much as Japan’s. But depletion of fish stocks in Bangladesh, along with pollution, unchecked coastal development and other problems, has led to clear losses of biodiversity and prompted “an immediate need for transformation in coastal and marine governance,” two Bangladeshi scientists wrote in an academic study last year. As evidence of a fisheries crisis mounts in Bangladesh, the government has said it plans to permanently turn at least 10% of coastal and marine areas into protected zones by 2020. It has rolled out a series of weekslong fishing bans in some regions or for certain types of fish, including hilsa, a staple of South Asian fisheries. A similar 65-day marine fishing ban along Bangladesh’s roughly 400-mile coastline came into effect in 2015, and only applied to commercial fleets. But the current ban, to be enforced by the navy and coast guard, applies to fishing boats of any size. “These resources will deplete one day if we do not use them sustainably,” Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, the minister of fisheries and livestock, told the Dhaka Tribune newspaper last week, referring to marine resources in the Bay of Bengal. “We should let fish grow and breed. Otherwise, we will have to suffer in the future.” Representational Image: Workers carrying baskets full of hilsas to warehouses from the Fishery Ghat in Chattogram on April 17, 2019. Photo: Sumon Babu Temporary fisheries closures can help manage depleted fish stocks when combined with “appropriate enforcement and alternate opportunities” for those who fish them, said Simon Nicol, a senior fisheries officer at the United Nations food agency’s Asia headquarters in Bangkok. Representational Image: Workers carrying baskets full of hilsas to warehouses from the Fishery Ghat in Chattogram on April 17, 2019. Photo: Sumon Babu “Rebuilt stocks provide a greater certainty of catch for fishers,” Nicol added. But in Bangladesh, where more than 1 in 10 people work in the fisheries sector, officials have not announced any plans to compensate fishermen affected by the 65-day ban. Fisheries officials in Dhaka did not respond to requests for comment. Shah Alam Mollik, a representative of the Bangladesh Fishing Boat Owners Association, estimated that the ban had already plunged about 2.5 million people, including fishermen and their families, into crisis. Ahmed of the fishermen’s association said that many small-scale fishermen, who are essentially day labourers, would soon need to borrow money or face starvation if no compensation materialises. He added that fish supplies in Cox’s Bazar were already dwindling and that people whose diet revolves around fish will suffer even more once prices “touch the sky.” But the ban could help restore depleted fish stocks in the Bay of Bengal, said Mohammad Mahmudul Islam, a fisheries professor at Sylhet Agricultural University in the country’s northeast, who was the co-writer of the recent academic study on Bangladeshi fisheries. Many small-scale fishermen in coastal Bangladesh are vulnerable because they are indebted to loan sharks for investment capital, he added, and their ability to fish is often interrupted by cyclones and tropical storms. He said it was crucial that the government provide immediate compensation. Officials typically offer fishermen 44 pounds of rice per household during a 22-day annual ban on hilsa fishing that takes effect every October. But Islam said that the ration is insufficient and that the rice typically only reaches about half of eligible recipients. Last October, many fishermen across Bangladesh blatantly flouted the hilsa fishing ban. One fisheries officer told the Dhaka Tribune at the time that 50 police sweeps in his district had turned up more than 2,500 pounds of fish and 400,000 feet of netting. Shamsuddin, the fisherman in Bhola District, said he would not be fishing anytime soon because the boats he works on have been grounded. He said that extremely poor fishermen like himself usually subsist on rice, lentils and vegetables. “Now they will have to survive by eating rice only with salt,” he said. © 2019 New York Times News Service

After the hastily arranged 90-minute meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, Abe told reporters: "The talks made me feel sure that we can build a relationship of trust." But he would not disclose specifics of the conversation because the talks were unofficial. The conversation came as Japan's leadership was nervous about the future strength of an alliance that is core to Tokyo's diplomacy and security. Abe and other Asian leaders were alarmed at Trump's pledge during his campaign to make allies pay more for help from US forces, his suggestion that Japan should acquire its own nuclear weapons and his staunch opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. The Republican president-elect will succeed Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan 20. Describing his conversation as "candid" and held in a "warm atmosphere," Abe said: "Alliances cannot function without trust. I am now confident that President-elect Trump is a trustworthy leader." He said he had agreed to meet again with Trump "at a convenient time to cover a wider area in greater depth." It was not clear if such a meeting would occur before Trump's inauguration. Trump official Kellyanne Conway said earlier on Thursday in an interview with CBS that "any deeper conversations about policy and the relationship between Japan and the United States will have to wait until after the inauguration." Trump officials did not immediately comment following the meeting with Abe. Abe is a veteran lawmaker who worked closely with Obama on the 12-nation TPP trade pact, which was part of Obama's push to counter the rising strength of China and was a pillar of Abe's economic reforms. Abe and Trump gave each other golfing gear as gifts during their meeting, according to a Japanese government statement. Photographs taken inside the ornate meeting room at Trump Tower showed Abe and an interpreter along with Trump, his daughter Ivanka, her husband and Trump adviser Jared Kushner, and Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Filling administration posts A senior Trump official said on Thursday that Trump had offered Flynn the national security adviser position. While it was not clear whether Flynn had accepted the job, a person familiar with the offer told Reuters: "When the president-(elect) of the United States asks you to serve, there is only one answer." As the incoming Trump administration prepares to take office on Jan 20, a Pentagon spokesman said he expected the Defense Department would conduct its first military briefing for Trump transition officials on Friday. Other Obama administration agencies, including the Justice Department, were taking similar steps. A brash outsider who has never held public office, Trump has been consumed since winning last week's election with working out who will occupy senior positions in his administration. Democrats in Congress kept up their criticism of Trump's controversial selection of right-wing firebrand Stephen Bannon as senior counsellor. A spokesman for House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said that during a meeting with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, she urged that the appointment be reconsidered. Trump has been holed up in Trump Tower meeting with people who could fill senior roles on his governing team. On Saturday, he plans to meet with Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee in the 2012 presidential election, and may discuss bringing him on as secretary of state, a source familiar with the meeting said. The source had earlier said the meeting would take place on Sunday. It would be an extraordinary turn of events, given that Romney called Trump a "fraud" and urged Republicans to vote for anyone but the real estate magnate while the party was picking its presidential nominee. Trump mocked Romney on the campaign trail, saying he "choked like a dog" during his unsuccessful 2012 run against President Barack Obama. Trump’s 1980s view of Japan? Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters on Friday in Tokyo that it was beneficial for Abe to meet Trump before he becomes president, given the importance of Japan-US relations. Abe adviser Katsuyuki Kawai told Reuters he had spoken to several Trump advisers and lawmakers since arriving in Washington on Monday and had been told: "We don’t have to take each word that Mr. Trump said publicly literally." Abe has boosted Japan's overall defence spending since taking office in 2012, while stretching the limits of its pacifist postwar constitution to allow the military to take a bigger global role. Defense spending still stands at just over 1 percent of GDP compared with more than 3 percent in the United States. The United States is projected to spend $5.745 billion for US forces in Japan in the current 2017 fiscal year. According to Japan’s Defense Ministry, Tokyo’s expenses related to US troops stationed in Japan totalled about 720 billion yen ($6.6 billion) in the year that ended in March. Some of Trump's campaign rhetoric suggested an image of Japan forged in the 1980s, when Tokyo was seen by many in the United States as a threat to jobs and a free-rider on defence. The Trump adviser who spoke earlier in the week stressed a more positive view. "Frankly, the prime minister has been more assertive and forthright in trying to make those changes to Japan’s global posture," he said. Abe was expected to see Obama at a summit in Peru on the weekend. Hours before Abe and Trump met, Obama's secretary of state, John Kerry, and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Lima to discuss the Paris climate accord - a deal Trump has pledged to exit. Some diplomats say that until Trump makes key appointments, it will be hard to assess his policies on security issues ranging from overseas deployments of US troops, China's maritime assertiveness and the North Korean nuclear threat.

Obama's visit is a fresh bid to make India an enduring strategic partner and he will seek to nurture friendship with a prime minister who a year ago was persona non grata in Washington. Obama will be the first US president to attend India's Republic Day parade, a show of military might long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War, and will host a radio show with Modi. His presence at Monday's parade at Modi's personal invitation is the latest revival in a roller-coaster relationship between the two largest democracies that just a year ago was in tatters. "I'd like to think the stars are aligned to finally realise the vision (of) India and America as true global partners," Obama said in an interview with India Today, a weekly magazine, published on Friday. Modi greeted Obama and his wife, Michelle, on the tarmac of the airport in New Delhi as they came down the steps from Air Force One on a smoggy winter morning. The two leaders hugged each other warmly. According to protocol, the prime minister does not greet foreign leaders on their arrival, meeting them instead at a formal ceremony at the presidential palace. Modi made the decision himself to break with tradition and surprised even his own handlers, media reports said. As Obama's motorcade headed off for the welcome ceremony at the residence of President Pranab Mukherjee, the roads were lined with armed police and soldiers, part of a highly choreographed plan for the visit. Up to 40,000 security personnel will be deployed during the visit and 15,000 new closed-circuit surveillance cameras have been installed in the capital, according to media reports. The two sides have worked to reach agreements on climate change, taxation and defence cooperation in time for the visit. Talks on a hoped-for deal on civil nuclear trade went down to the wire with no clear solution at the weekend. The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight to China's assertiveness in Asia, but frequently grows frustrated with the slow pace of economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs. India would like to see a new US approach to Pakistan. "Particularly with regards to security, and we would like a much greater understanding with the United States with regards to regional issues," India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Davos ahead of Obama's visit. Elected last May, Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy and foreign relations and, to Washington's delight, begun pushing back against China's growing presence in South Asia. Annual bilateral trade of $100 billion is seen as vastly below potential and Washington wants it to grow fivefold. The White House said Obama will depart slightly early from India to travel to Saudi Arabia following the death of King Abdullah, instead of a planned visit to the Taj Mahal. Modest roots Like Obama, Modi rose from a modest home to break into a political elite dominated by powerful families. Aides say the two men bonded in Washington in September when Obama took Modi to the memorial of Martin Luther King, whose rights struggle was inspired by India's Mahatma Gandhi. The "chemistry" aides describe is striking because Modi's politics is considerably to the right of Obama's, and because he was banned from visiting the United States for nearly a decade after deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in a state he governed. Obama, the first sitting US president to visit India twice, also enjoyed a close friendship with Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh, who in 2009 staked his premiership on a controversial deal that made India the sixth "legitimate" atomic power and marked a high point in Indo-US relations. In a reminder that personal chemistry is not always enough, under Obama ties between Washington and India descended into bickering over protectionism that culminated in a fiery diplomatic spat in 2013 and the abrupt departure of the US ambassador from New Delhi, who has only just been replaced. "India and the United States are still some distance away from realizing their objective of cementing a strong geopolitical affiliation," Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a paper. The 2009 nuclear deal, which failed to deliver on a promise of billions of dollars of business for US companies, is back on the agenda with bureaucrats meeting three times in the past six weeks to find a workaround to a tough Indian liability law. "There's extraordinary potential in this relationship," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters this week. "What we want to do is turn that potential into concrete benefits for both of our peoples."

Tackling climate change, pollution and other environmental hazards is affordable and urgent action is needed to avoid irreversible damage, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday. "Climate change is mankind's most important long-term challenge," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria told Reuters after issuing a 520-page Environmental Outlook in Oslo. The 30-nation OECD said possible environmental safeguards might slow world growth by just 0.03 percent a year -- meaning that by 2030 the global economy would be 97 percent bigger than in 2005 instead of almost 99 percent larger with no measures. "Solutions are available, they are achievable and they are affordable," Gurria told a news conference. "The consequences and costs of inaction ... would be much higher." "If we want to avoid irreversible damage to our environment ... we'd better start working right away," he said. Global warming, losses of species of animals and plants, water scarcity, pollution and hazardous chemicals were all areas for urgent action, according to the study by the Paris-based OECD. The OECD called for an overhaul of sectors that cause most damage -- energy, transport, agriculture and fisheries. A first step should be a removal of environmentally harmful subsidies, particularly for fossil fuels and agricultural production. BIOFUELS A hypothetical policy package included a 50 percent cut in farm subsidies, a $25 per tonne tax on emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide phased in by region, new biofuels, measures to cut air pollution and improved sewerage systems. The measures would limit overall growth in greenhouse gas emissions to 13 percent rather than 37 percent by 2030. The study adds to evidence that curbing global warming, blamed mainly on use of fossil fuels, will not derail growth. Last year, the U.N. Climate Panel also said that measures to curb global warming would cost a tiny fraction of world gross domestic product a year to 2030. A 2006 report by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern warned that unchecked warming would be as damaging as world wars or the Great Depression with more floods, droughts, heat waves and rising seas. The OECD study is wider than both the U.N. and Stern reports and looks at other environmental problems. Gurria said the environment needed urgent attention even in the worst case of a economic recession. "We would be making a very, very grave mistake" to put off action, he said. More than 190 governments agreed in Bali, Indonesia, in December to work out by the end of 2009 a new treaty to fight climate change and succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which binds 37 developed nations to cut emissions by 2012. The United States is outside Kyoto, with President George W. Bush reckoning it would damage the U.S. economy and saying it wrongly omitted 2012 curbs for developing nations. Gurria said that climate change would be a priority for Bush's successor. The OECD said that rich nations would have to work closely with other big economies -- "especially Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa". Without curbs, greenhouse gas emissions from China, India, Russia and Brazil alone "will grow by 46 percent to 2030, surpassing those of the 30 OECD countries combined," it said.

Birth control and new technologies -- not lifestyle change alone -- may be needed to head off a combined climate, food and energy crunch later this century, said the head of Britain's science academy Martin Rees. The world's population is expected to rise by one third to more than 9 billion people by 2050, and may keep growing, fuelling concern about food and energy shortages and a more difficult task to curb greenhouse gases heating the planet. But analysts and environment and development groups rarely mention population control, which smacks of totalitarianism, in U.N.-led climate talks meant to agree in December a broader, more ambitious pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol. "There should not be any stigma in providing women with ways of getting out of ignorance, poverty and getting access to contraceptives," said Rees, president of the Royal Society, at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit. "I think population issues need to be higher up the agenda because population beyond 2050 is very uncertain. There should not be any stigma against stronger efforts to give women in Africa more empowerment." There will be more than 1 billion extra people in Africa than now by 2050 said Rees, who added the continent by then would have three times the population of Europe -- which had triple Africa's population in 1950. Rees gave two priorities for policymakers now to maintain food, energy and low-carbon air supplies later this century: "Substituting as quickly as possible fossil fuels and doing all we can to ensure the global population doesn't continue rising after 2050," he told Reuters in London. "There are going to be pressures on the environment, not just climate change but food and water." The Chinese government estimates its population was 300-400 million smaller in 2008 as a result of a one-child policy introduced in 1979. Its population now is about 1.3 billion. CLEANTECH Climate talks are deadlocked on who will foot the bill to install more expensive low-carbon energy and prepare for droughts and rising seas. The group of eight leading developed countries committed in Italy in July to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 -- but gave no detail of how to achieve that. "Without new technologies we will never meet the 2050 target," said Rees. "Alternative energy, biofuels, genetic modification, fourth generation nuclear power, fusion, battery technology should all be developed with urgency. By throwing more money at problems you can in many cases speed up progress." Rees urged a substantial increase in energy research funding, which globally he estimated at the same level now as 20 years ago. Politicians and economists are often reluctant to suggest that fighting climate change will be expensive and require painful behavior change, for example to walk more, fly less. "Changing people's behavior is not enough. Maybe we can get 30-40 percent (emissions) cuts by insulating our houses and turning down the air conditioning." "I don't want to disparage that because we have seen how attitudes have changed to smoking and drinking and driving."

Unless federal prosecutors can present new evidence that suggests racial malice motivated Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic, to shoot Martin, an unarmed black teenager, they are unlikely to pursue charges, lawyers with expertise in civil rights said on Monday. A jury in Sanford, Florida, on Saturday found Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2012 shooting death of Martin. Defense lawyers argued Zimmerman shot 17-year-old Martin in self-defense. State and federal courts generally have the same threshold for a criminal conviction: a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by a unanimous jury, or by a judge if a defendant waives a jury trial. By finding Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder, the Seminole County jury rejected the charge that Zimmerman acted with ill will, spite or hatred. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Monday his Justice Department had yet to decide whether to file federal civil rights charges against Zimmerman. Like the videotaped police beating of Rodney King in 1991 or the 2006 fatal shooting of Sean Bell by New York police, the Martin case is a window into the federal government's authority to enforce civil rights. Preachers led by Al Sharpton planned a news conference at Justice Department headquarters in Washington for Tuesday to add pressure to prosecute Zimmerman. They believe he racially profiled Martin before pursuing him with a 9mm pistol. HATE CRIMES LAW The law federal prosecutors would most likely use against Zimmerman was passed in 2009 to target hate crimes. It requires that prosecutors prove that someone caused bodily injury "because of the actual or perceived race" of the victim, a bar that while straightforward can be hard to clear. "The difficult part is always showing the perpetrator's state of mind, and the statute requires that there was racial motivation, that the defendant was thinking in racial terms," said William Yeomans, a former Justice Department civil rights lawyer. The government typically uses evidence such as an attacker's contemporaneous racial epithets, or a pattern of planning to target a specific race, said Samuel Bagenstos, who served in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division during President Barack Obama's first term. "If you look at the standard patterns of these cases, there are often statements made by the defendant expressly referring to the race of the victim during the attack," he said. "That is a cut above the evidence that we've seen so far" against Zimmerman, he added. In an emergency call before the encounter with Martin, Zimmerman told a police dispatcher that Martin "looks black" but only after the dispatcher asked for Martin's race. One of the jurors in Zimmerman's state trial told CNN on Monday that she did not think Zimmerman racially profiled Martin. "All of us thought race did not play a role," said the juror, granted anonymity by the television news network. Further, there is no video of the encounter as there was of King's beating at the hands of four Los Angeles police officers. After a jury acquitted the officers of state charges in the King case, the Justice Department relied heavily on the video when it tried the officers on federal charges that they deprived King of his civil rights. Prosecutors analyzed the baton blows to King and zeroed in on those that came after the video showed King had been subdued. The second jury convicted two of the officers, helping to calm a poisonous US racial climate that included riots. RACIAL ANIMUS Wayne Budd, who as a Justice Department official oversaw the prosecution of the Los Angeles police officers, said he believed it would be difficult for the government to prove racial animus by Zimmerman with the evidence that has become public so far. "They're going to have their hands full. It's not going to be easy," Budd said.Terree Bowers, the US attorney in Los Angeles during the police officers' second trial there in 1993, said prosecutors were able to refine their case the second time around. He said he was not sure the Justice Department could do the same thing against Zimmerman. "I don't know what else is out there for the government to develop if they decide to proceed," he said. Holder, the chief US law enforcement official and an Obama appointee, in April 2012 referred to the difficulty of proving racial motivation. "We have a very ... high bar that we have to meet in order to bring federal charges in this case so we are continuing in that regard," Holder said while addressing Martin's death at a news conference. A Justice Department statement on Sunday alluded again to the challenges prosecutors face, referring to the "limited" civil rights laws. One advantage for prosecutors is a change in the hate-crimes law in 2009 that eliminated a requirement that they show a connection between the crime and a federally protected activity, like voting. A Justice Department spokeswoman on Monday declined to say whether prosecutors had convened a federal grand jury to hear evidence about Zimmerman, a step that would indicate increased activity on the part of prosecutors.

Japan and Australia set an outline for their groundbreaking defence pact on Sunday and agreed to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the region, saying it was one option to tackle climate change. Meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart John Howard backed an "action plan" for their defence agreement signed in March, Japan's first with a country other than the United States. The plan includes cooperation in areas such as peacekeeping and counter-terrorism.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that visiting Antarctica and the Amazon had brought home to him personally the critical need to tackle climate change. Nearly 200 nations meeting in Bali reached a deal to launch talks on a pact to fight global warming, but only after a reversal by the United States allowed a historic breakthrough. Ban, who has made climate change a priority, went last month to the tip of South America to see melting glaciers and the Antarctic, where temperatures are at their highest in about 1,800 years. He also went to the Amazon basin in Brazil, a leader in developing biofuels from crops as an alternative to fossil fuels. "That visit also made me personally much more convinced in my conviction. That has given me much more convincing power in talking to other people," Ban said in an interview on board a flight from the East Timor capital Dili to Jakarta via Bali. The U.N. Secretary General stopped over in Bali to make an 11th hour appeal to negotiators to end a deadlock in the talks. The breakthrough came shortly afterwards when nations approved a "roadmap" for two years of talks on a treaty to succeed the existing Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, widening it to the United States and developing nations such as China and India. The deal after two weeks of talks came after Washington dropped opposition to a proposal by the main developing-nation bloc, the G77, for rich nations to do more to help the developing world fight rising greenhouse emissions. Ban took some credit for raising awareness over climate change, which a UN climate panel has said is caused by human activities led by burning fossil fuels that produce carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. "If you look at the situation last year, even early this year there was not much heightened understanding and awareness," said Ban, who has visited nearly 60 countries in his first year as UN Secretary General. "This is the defining moment for me and my mandate as secretary-general," the 64-year-old Ban told Reuters separately, shortly after a deal was reached and before re-boarding a UN plane to resume his flight to the Indonesian capital Jakarta. "I appreciate that all the countries...recognised that this is a defining agenda for all humanity, for all planet earth," said Ban, 64, a former South Korean foreign minister. He cautioned, however, that there was a lot more work to do. "This is just a beginning, a beginning of the negotiations. Next year we'll have to engage in a much more complex and difficult process of negotiation." Ban this week also made his first visit to Asia's youngest nation East Timor, which plunged into chaos last year during factional violence that killed 37 people and drove more than 100,000 from their homes. "This is a huge challenge. Almost one tenth of the population are now living in camps," said Ban, who toured a camp for displaced people in the capital Dili during his one-day visit. The United Nations will decide in February whether to extend the mandate of its mission in the country, which became fully independent in 2002 after voting to break away from Indonesian rule in a violence-marred UN sponsored ballot in 1999.

A debate preceded the adoption of the non-binding resolution. MEP Charles Tannock said he found Bangladesh government was committed to protect the rights of citizens’ freedom of expression. He lauded the government for tackling terrorism, facing “very difficult” circumstances. The MEP from London compared this with the European countries' fight against terrorism. He said despite having benefits of economic advancements, the European countries were struggling to fight off terrorism. A foreign ministry official, who followed this debate, said Tannock also urged Parliament to be mindful of this fact while discussing this ‘delicate issue’ or criticising the Bangladesh government’s efforts in ensuring the rights of its people. The debate was mostly focused on “freedom of expression and press” with particular reference to Article 57 of the ICT Act, and the ongoing restrictions on social media use. The MEPs condemned the increasing attacks by “Islamist extremists” against secular writers, bloggers, religious minorities and foreign aid workers, and expressed concern at “restriction on freedom of speech and press and space for civil society organisations”. Romanian politician Dan Preda, however, pointed out that a very high number of newspapers were being published in Bangladesh and said “freedom of expression does exist” in the country.  He condemned the killing of a number of journalists, and appreciated the government’s ‘zero-tolerance policy’ in all form of terrorism and extremism. He said Bangladesh was threatened by some terrorist organisations and urged the government to do whatever necessary to protect the lives of the journalists. Jean Lambert, Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to South Asia, commented that Bangladesh had a “vibrant press” which was now under attack. She commended Bangladesh’s considerable developments in gender equality, child nutrition, climate change adaptation and other issues. She said that quality justice system needed to be restored to bring the perpetrators of the killing of journalists to justice. Some lawmakers also urged the parliament to help Bangladesh fight against the rise of fundamentalism and intolerance. A non-binding resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body that cannot be signed into a law. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. Seven drafts were initially proposed by different political groups which were finally merged into a joint text. In the adopted resolution, the MEPs also lauded the “modern and secular credentials” of Bangladesh and lauded the socio-economic progress and development, particularly in the field of gender equality, and climate change. They also praised the government’s commitment to combating terrorism and violent extremism and ‘zero-tolerance policy’ in this regard. They urged the government to amend the Information and Communication Technology Act, the Cyber-Security Act of 2015, and Foreign Donation Regulation Act. Diplomats who followed the debate said few MEPs were adamant in their views regarding death penalty and made explicit references to the recent execution of war criminals. They mentioned that the EP “deeply regrets the execution”, arrest of the opposition leaders and attacks on minorities. However, Bangladesh ambassador to the EU intervened and argued against any such references. The ambassador expressed dismay and said should the EP be seen “expressing regret” at instances when perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide were brought to justice, it would definitely not augur well for the credibility of the Institution. One of the original seven drafts also had reference to need for “elections and dialogue”, that the ambassador also objected. In the final text, both of those issues did not find place. EU Commissioner for Budget & Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva in a traditional concluding remark said that the priority must be given in fighting radicalisation, respect for human rights as well as ensuring labour rights. She reaffirmed that the EU would continue to assist Bangladesh in strengthening democracy and governance.

- Myanmar's junta arrested more people on Wednesday hours after the departure of a U.N. envoy who came to the country to try to end a ruthless crackdown on protests which sparked international outrage. At least eight truckloads of prisoners were hauled out of downtown Yangon, the former Burma's biggest city and centre of last week's monk-led protests against decades of military rule and deepening economic hardship, witnesses said. In one house near the Shwedagon Pagoda, the holiest shrine in the devoutly Buddhist country and starting point for the rallies, only a 13-year-old girl remained. Her parents had been taken, she said. "They warned us not to run away as they might be back," she said after people from rows of shophouses were ordered onto the street in the middle of the night and many taken away. The crackdown continued despite some hopes of progress by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on his mission to persuade junta chief Than Shwe to relax his iron grip and open talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he met twice. Singapore, chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is a member, said it "was encouraged by the access and cooperation given by the Myanmar government to Mr Gambari". Gambari, in Singapore on his way back to New York but unlikely to say anything publicly before speaking to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was expected to return to Myanmar in early November, U.N. sources said. But there were no indications of how his mission and international pressure might change the policies of a junta which seldom heeds outside pressure and rarely admits U.N. officials. "I don't expect much to come of this. I think the top leadership is so entrenched in their views that it's not going to help," said David Steinberg, a Georgetown University expert on Myanmar. "They will say they are on the road to democracy and so what do you want anyway?", he added, referring to the junta's "seven-step road to democracy". The first of the seven steps was completed in September with the end of an on-off, 14-year national convention which produced guidelines for a constitution that critics say will entrench military rule and exclude Suu Kyi from office. "NORMALCY RESTORED" The protests, the biggest challenge to the junta's power in nearly 20 years, began with small marches against shock fuel price rises in August and swelled after troops fired over the heads of a group of monks. The junta says the monk-led protests -- which filled five city blocks -- were countered with "the least force possible" and Yangon and other cities had returned to normal. It says 10 people were killed and describes reports of much higher tolls and atrocities as a "skyful of lies", but Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer agreed with other Western governments the real figure was much higher. "It's hard to know, but it seems to me that the number of 30, which is the number we've officially been using, is likely to be an underestimate," he told Australian radio. Still, the junta appears to believe it has suppressed the uprising and lifted the barricades around the Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the focal points of the protests, and eased an overnight curfew by two hours. Eighty monks and 149 women believed to be nuns swept up in widespread raids last week were released. Five local journalists, one of whom works for Japan's Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, were also freed. However, there was still a heavy armed presence on the streets of Yangon and Mandalay, the second city, witnesses said. The junta is also sending gangs through homes looking for monks in hiding, raids Western diplomats say are creating a climate of terror, and there was no let up in international anger at the harsh response to peaceful protests. In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council, including China, the closest thing the regime has to an ally, condemned the junta's "violent repression". It called on the generals to allow Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N. human rights envoy to Myanmar, to visit for the first time in four years. He said thousands of people had been detained. "Light must absolutely be shed on what happened," Pinheiro told the council, which adopted a resolution deploring beatings, killings and detentions. Myanmar said the hearing was being used by "powerful countries for political exploitation".

MANAUS, Brazil (bdnews24.com/Reuters)-- The presidents of France and Brazil said on Thursday that rich countries must immediately boost aid for developing nations to fight global warming if they want to reach a climate accord in Copenhagen next month. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who hosted a climate summit of leaders from the Amazon region in Manaus, said progress had been made with pledges by China and the United States this week to curb greenhouse gas emissions. But he said poor countries needed more aid to cope with climate change and help meet their own targets. "The poor need to be supported without any country giving up its sovereignty," Lula said. Brazil has opened an investment fund to help conservation in the Amazon rainforest but insisted donor countries would have no say in it. So far, Norway has donated the largest amount. Climate negotiators have made little visible progress in sorting out the thorny issue of how rich countries should help poorer ones fight global warming. "We need numbers, not only to reduce the temperature. Copenhagen also needs to provide funds from developed countries for developing countries," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was invited because French Guyana forms part of the Amazon basin. "That needs to happen now," he said through a translator. Sarkozy welcomed the target Washington announced this week to reduce emissions 17 percent by 2020. The European Union says the cost to help developing nations fight global warming is about $100 billion annually. But developing countries say rich countries should pay between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of their gross domestic product. Brazil, which has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by between 36.1 and 38.9 percent from projected 2020 levels, has been seeking a growing role in climate talks and wanted to forge a common position of Amazon countries to take to Copenhagen. But only one other South American president took part at the Manaus summit - Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana.

Dhaka, Aug 31 (bdnews24.com)—Two British ministers, arriving in Dhaka on Monday, said the UK will help Bangladesh secure the interests of the least developed countries (LDCs) at the critical Copenhagen climate negotiations in December this year. The assurance, from Douglas Alexander, UK minister for international development, and Ed Milliband, in-charge of energy and climate change, came a day before prime minister Sheikh Hasina flies to Geneva to attend to attend the World Climate Conference-3. "We will ... discuss how the UK can support Bangladesh in playing a key role as it represents the interests of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the crucial Copenhagen summit in December," Alaxander told reporters after landing in Dhaka. The two British ministers went on to meet Hasina and discussed climate change and development cooperation between the two countries. 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. Rich nations, including Britain, want to forge an alliance with the LDCs to press emerging economic giants China and India to make commitments for reducing their green house gases too. UN member countries will meet in Copenhagen to frame a new international legal instrument to reduce carbon emissions replacing the existing Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol had emission reduction bindings for developed countries, but not for developing countries. The last major climate talks in Bali in 2007 recognised that major emerging economies will have to reduce emissions. The LDC alliance with the developed countries will mount pressure on China and India which are now seen as major emitters of greenhouse gases. "Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Its efforts in adaptation and risk reduction offer lessons and inspiration to the rest of the world. "The challenges are huge," Ed Milliband told reporters. "The UK is committed to helping Bangladesh meet these challenges". The visiting ministers had dinner with foreign minister Dipu Moni at the state guest house Padma on Monday evening. International Climate Champions Initiative Alexander and Milliband also opened the UK government's International Climate Champions Initiative in Bangladesh at the British High Commission Club on Monday. Under the initiative of the British Council, the UK government will send 15 Bangladeshi youths, aged between 18 and 35 years, to participate in the Copenhagen summit. The objective of the project is to create awareness about climate change and its adaptation among the young generation. The interested candidates will have to submit proposals on climate change and a panel, headed by Dr Atiq Rahman of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, will choose 15 candidates.

Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are nearing a make-or-break moment in their bid to push through huge new policies, as an escalating fight between the progressive and moderate wings — and a multitude of other divisions within the party — threatens to sink their chances of doing so while they retain control in Washington. At the same time, even the basic functions of Congress — keeping the government from shutting down next week and from defaulting on its debt sometime next month — are in peril as Republicans refuse to support legislation that would both fund the government and increase the statutory cap on federal borrowing. The challenges are unfolding against a backdrop of mistrust and strife within Democratic ranks. Moderates are pressing for quick action on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill; progressives are demanding approval first of a far-reaching, $3.5 trillion domestic policy plan including vast new investments in climate, education, health and social programs. Without consensus on both, Democrats, who have minuscule majorities in the House and Senate, will not have enough votes to send either to Biden’s desk. That prospect has sown alarm at the top echelons of the party. On Wednesday, John Podesta, who held key White House roles under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, sent a memo to every Democrat on Capitol Hill imploring them to scale back the $3.5 trillion plan in the interest of compromise, warning that doing otherwise would risk sinking both bills and costing the party control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections. “You are either getting both bills or neither — and the prospect of neither is unconscionable,” he wrote. “It would signal a complete and utter failure of our democratic duty, and a reckless abdication of our responsibility. It would define our generation’s history and show that, when our time came, we failed, both for Americans now and in the years to come.” Biden’s long day of meetings with lawmakers reflected a recognition that “there needs to be a deeper engagement by the president” to bring Democrats together, said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary. The president, she added, “sees his role as uniting and as working to bring together people over common agreement and on a path forward.” That path is exceedingly murky as Democrats careen toward a tangle of fiscal and political deadlines with no discernible public strategy in place, but party leaders remained publicly sanguine on Wednesday. “We are on schedule — that’s all I will say,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters after meeting with Biden for more than an hour. “We’re calm, and everybody’s good, and our work’s almost done.” But Democrats conceded that the process was painful. “When you’ve got 50 votes and none to lose, and you’ve got three to spare in the House, there’s a lot of give and take — that’s just the way it is,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “It’s tough. But I think at the end of the day, we’re going to be fine.” At the crux of the stalemate is a leadership commitment to a group of moderate Democrats that the House would take up the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill by Monday. Liberal House Democrats say they will vote down the measure until their priority legislation first clears both the House and Senate. Those Democrats say the infrastructure bill, which omitted most of their top priorities including major provisions to combat climate change, cannot be separated from the $3.5 trillion package, which contains many of those elements, such as a shift to electric power. Beyond the climate portions, the social policy measure would, among many other things, extend child care and child tax credits, expand free prekindergarten and community college and fortify Medicare. But key centrists in the Senate have balked at that package, which Democrats plan to push through using a fast-track budget process known as reconciliation that shields it from a filibuster. Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona both voted to begin work on a $3.5 trillion measure, but have since warned they will not support spending that much. On Wednesday, Biden urged the holdouts to specify exactly what they would support, so Democrats could coalesce behind a plan that could pass. “Find a number you’re comfortable with, based on what you believe the needs that we still have, and how we deliver to the American people,” Manchin said, describing the president’s request. “He was very straightforward in what he asked us to do.” The internal disputes are escalating just as Congress is facing urgent deadlines. Without congressional action, at 12:01 am next Friday, federal funding will lapse, shutting down the government. And at some point in October, the Treasury Department will reach its statutory borrowing limit, forcing it to halt some payments to international creditors, Social Security recipients and government contractors. Amid those looming crises, Republican leaders are practically taunting Democrats, refusing to back legislation coupling a debt-limit increase and a stopgap spending measure. “Don’t play Russian roulette with the economy; step up and raise the debt ceiling,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said on Wednesday, even as he vowed not to give Democrats a single Republican vote. And House Republicans on Wednesday urged their rank-and-file members to oppose the bipartisan infrastructure bill that they said had been “inextricably linked” to the reconciliation package. “Republicans should not aid in this destructive process,” the office of Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, warned in a notice calling for “no” votes. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of former Treasury secretaries wrote to congressional leaders in both parties to express a “deep sense of urgency” to raise the debt limit. Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, offered a similar plea in a news conference. “No one should assume that the Fed or anyone else can protect the markets and the economy, fully protect, in the event of a failure to make sure that we do pay those debts when they’re due,” he said. Beyond that issue, Democrats must find a way to salvage Biden’s agenda. They had hoped to emerge from Wednesday’s meeting with public commitments from key moderates including Manchin and Sinema to support a reconciliation bill, but by evening they still had no such statement from the two senators. Offering “COVID-safe” individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies bearing the presidential seal, Biden spent much of the day on Wednesday hosting groups of lawmakers in the Oval Office, beginning with Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate majority leader. He met with nearly two dozen senators and House members from across the ideological range of his party, including liberal leaders and some of the moderates who played key roles in negotiating the infrastructure bill. White House officials said Biden and his team would have follow-up meetings, beginning Thursday. By Monday, leaders hope to reach agreement on a total price for the reconciliation measure, which will likely fall below the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint, and an ironclad agreement on some key provisions that must be in the final package. So far, neither side is budging. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused more conservative Democrats of making “impulsive and arbitrary demands,” while setting unnecessary deadlines like the Monday infrastructure vote. “The package, the investments and the programs that we have in there are rather nonnegotiable. That’s why we are kind of at this impasse,” she said, adding, “We are at a moment, and a test of political will.” Rep Stephanie Murphy, a moderate from Florida, said it would be “really disappointing and embarrassing” if the infrastructure bill failed because of opposition from progressives. After her meeting with Biden, Rep Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that “there isn’t a lot of trust” among Democrats, reiterating that liberals would follow through on their promise to vote against the infrastructure measure on Monday. But the list of moderate objections is long and varied. Rep Kurt Schrader of Oregon wants a bill that spends less than $1 trillion over 10 years. Rep Ed Case of Hawaii has said he will not accept phasing in or phasing out of programs and tax measures to mask their true costs if made permanent. Rep Kathleen Rice of New York objects to the get-tough approach to curb prescription drug prices. And the disputes go beyond ideological differences. Rep Tom Suozzi of New York says he will not vote for any version that does not substantially reinstate the state and local tax deduction, a crucial issue for high-tax states. Rep. Alma Adams of North Carolina says she will oppose the bill if it does not include tens of billions of dollars more for historically Black colleges and minority-serving institutions. Democrats across the ideological spectrum said forging consensus would be a tall order. “We’ve got a hectic few days ahead,” Rep Josh Gottheimer, a moderate from New Jersey, said after emerging from his negotiating session with Biden and other lawmakers.   ©2021 The New York Times Company

The world's second-worst affected country by the pandemic had only Friday decided to resume international passenger flights from countries deemed "at risk" of the coronavirus, while ordering tightened border screening. But after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the new variant to be "of concern", Modi "highlighted the need for monitoring all international arrivals, their testing as per guidelines, with a specific focus on countries identified 'at risk'," the government said in a statement after he met with officials to review the COVID-19 and vaccination situation. The WHO said Omicron, initially detected in South Africa, may spread more quickly than other forms. This week, India posted the smallest rise in new cases in one and a half years, due to increased vaccinations and antibodies in a large section of its population from previous infections. The nation's daily caseload has halved since September. It reported 8,318 new cases in the last 24 hours. But the new variant, with a spike protein dramatically different from the one existing coronavirus that vaccines are based on, has raised global alarms and frightened financial markets. Modi said people must be more cautious and take proper precautions, such as wearing masks and social distancing. He "spoke about the need to be proactive in light of the new variant," the statement said. "He directed that intensive containment and active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases and required technical support be provided to states which are reporting higher cases presently." Modi told officials to accelerate second-dose coverage, it said.

The royal couple, on a five-day visit, also toured a school and a national park in the capital Islamabad where they chatted with children and admired their drawings. The trip, which focuses on climate change and access to education, has been described by palace officials as the most complex the couple have undertaken due to security issues. On Tuesday afternoon, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met Khan at his official residence. William’s mother Princess Diana, a hugely popular figure in Pakistan, visited Pakistan several times in the 1990s and helped Khan raise money for a cancer hospital. Earlier William and Kate met students at an Islamabad Model College for Girls, discussing education with a group of older students and visiting the classrooms of younger students. As they left, a group of girls sang one of Pakistan’s national songs and the couple greeted preschoolers who had lined up to chant ‘bye bye’. They then visited the Margallah Hills National Park on the edge of Islamabad, which is under threat from poaching, wildfires, invasive species and littering. For the morning events, Kate wore a periwinkle blue silk shalwar kameez, the national outfit of Pakistan consisting of a loose tunic worn over trousers. Many on social media and in the fashion industry had been hoping she would don the outfit, which Princess Diana had worn during visits. The designer, Maheen Khan said on Twitter: “It is an honor to have been asked to create this outfit for the Duchess.” The Duchess of Cambridge’s fashion choices, including a bright green tunic over white pants to meet with the Prime Minister, appeared to echo many of the colors and outfits worn by Diana. Foreign policy experts and officials have said the trip, the first by a British royal family member in more than a decade and made at the request of the British foreign office, represented a soft power push, which may help both sides further their diplomatic aims. It comes as Britain seeks to reinvigorate its foreign relationships as the deadline looms for its departure from the European Union, while Pakistan works to repair its global image to boost tourism and investment.

NATO should develop closer ties with China, India, Pakistan and Russia and become the forum for consultation on global security, the alliance's head said on Sunday, but a senior Russian politician reacted with scepticism. The four countries all had interests in stability in Afghanistan and could do more to help develop and assist the country, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. "What would be the harm if countries such as China, India, Pakistan and others were to develop closer ties with NATO? I think, in fact, there would only be a benefit, in terms of trust, confidence and cooperation," he said. NATO should become the global forum with other nations on a host of security issues extending from terrorism, cyber attacks, nuclear proliferation, piracy, climate change and competition for natural resources as well as Afghanistan, he said. "NATO can be the place where views, concerns and best practices on security are shared by NATO's global partners. And where ... we might work out how to tackle global challenges together," he told a conference in Munich ahead of discussion of a new NATO Strategic Concept due to be approved in November. Rasmussen said NATO was already working with Pakistan, and other countries stood to gain from a stable Afghanistan. "India has a stake in Afghan stability. China too. And both could help further develop and rebuild Afghanistan. The same goes for Russia," he said. RUSSIAN SCEPTCISM A senior Russian politician reacted sceptically to the proposals, saying NATO first had to think globally, and complained that Russia had not been involved in the process. "I believe the problem of NATO today is that NATO develops in reverse order -- it tries to act globally more and more but continues to think locally," said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee. "As soon as NATO starts to reach beyond its borders this is no longer just an internal matter for NATO," said Kosachev, who was also speaking the annual Munich Security Conference. Moscow still views NATO, its Cold War adversary, with deep suspicion. Ties were severely strained by the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia and by U.S.-backed plans to invite more former Soviet states to join the alliance. Kosachev accused the alliance of provoking the Georgia-Russia conflict by promising Tbilisi eventual membership and of failing to tackle the drugs problem in Afghanistan. He urged NATO to show it was serious by having proper discussions with Russia about Moscow's security concerns and proposals. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, chair of a group of experts drawing up the Strategic Concept, and Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay backed Rasmussen's vision of NATO as the preeminent forum for global security discussion. "I think we are talking about how we can have some coordinating mechanism for all the various organisations that exist in the world," Albright said, adding that the question was "which organisation can make the biggest difference." "While I am a great admirer of the United Nations, I know what it can and cannot do," she said, noting that it was NATO cooperation that halted the killing in Kosovo in the 1990s. Rasmussen said he did not see the Western military alliance, which groups 26 European nations, Canada and the United States, becoming a competitor to the United Nations. "We are talking here about a group of nations consulting, formally or informally, on security. Nothing more. "In fact, I think it would actually benefit the UN. NATO is operating almost without exception in support of UN resolutions. Allies are all strong and active UN members," he said.

It blew away buildings, swelled rivers to overflow and forced more than 7 million people to flee their homes. It cut off power, water and communications, and damaged critical infrastructure. As of Monday morning, the storm had killed 389 people, injured 1,146 others and left 65 missing, official figures show. More than half a million people were still in evacuation centers or staying with friends and relatives. The smell of death hung in the air in Bohol, where a family emerged from the wreckage to try to salvage a door festooned with Christmas decorations. An inflatable Santa Claus that had survived the lashing winds swayed forlornly in the air, its affable face a striking contrast to the destruction. Antero Ramos, 68, who is from the village of Casare in Ubay, lost his wife, Tarsila Ramos, 61, and two of his daughters, Nita, 37, and Nenita, 28, in the storm “My wife decided that we should evacuate, so we decided to shelter in the bodega we used to store rice,” he said. “But as soon as we entered, the bodega collapsed on us,” he said. The bodega’s caretaker also died. “This is a very sad Christmas,” Ramos said. “We had to bury them immediately because the funeral parlor could not get to the bodega because of the debris that was still on the roads.” Rai, the international name for the storm (the local name is Odette), was the 15th typhoon to hit the country this year. The storm made eight more landfalls in multiple regions before veering away. The Philippines sits on a typhoon belt and typically gets about 20 storms a year. After Rai’s devastation, the country’s Climate Change Commission called for urgent action at the local level “to build community resilience against extreme climate-related events and minimise loss and damage.” “As the level of global warming continues to increase,” it said in a statement last week, “these extreme weather events and other climate impacts are becoming severe, and may be irreversible, threatening to further set back our growth as a nation.” In Bohol, where many of the storm deaths were recorded, overturned vehicles were piled up on the side of the highway and in fields Monday. Trees and debris littered the terrain. Many of the deaths had occurred in coastal areas inundated by storm surges or where people had been crushed by houses that crumbled in the wind. Everywhere, people could be seen scouring the ruins of homes to salvage what was left of their old lives. On a highway leading to Ubay, near a bay in Bohol, survivors of the storm had scrawled, “Help us,” a desperate plea to passing helicopters and airplanes. Officials warned that residents in remote areas were running out of food. Countries such as the United States, Canada, China and South Korea have pledged aid. A United Nations agency called for $107.2 million “to support the government in responding to the most urgent humanitarian needs for the next six months.” Bohol Gov Arthur Yap has sought donations to purchase food and other relief items. An early appeal brought in generators, but fuel is now a coveted commodity. “Many bought generators, and that tripled the demand for gasoline,” Yap told reporters Friday. “That’s the reason why we have long lines at the gasoline stations.” Ananisa Guinanas, 27, went to get gasoline Friday in Ubay with her 3-year-old daughter. Police officers were guarding the site. “We have been lining up for the past seven hours,” she said. “I brought my daughter because I couldn’t leave her. Our house was destroyed. We desperately need gasoline for the motorcycle we would use to look for water.” After the storm, the Loboc River turned brown from mud and debris. Nilo Rivera, 34, said his and his mother-in-law’s houses were quickly swept away by the river’s rampaging waters once the storm hit. “The water reached up to the second floor of our homes,” he said, pointing to a water line beside a structure left standing after the muddy water subsided. They were living in a makeshift tent. Bohol is also no stranger to calamities. A powerful quake destroyed one of its churches in October 2013 and severely damaged infrastructure. Casualties were low because the temblor had struck on a holiday. A month later, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm to make landfall in the country’s recorded history, devastated huge swaths of the Philippines and left 6,500 dead or missing. Frederic Soupart, the owner of the Fox and the Firefly resort in Bohol, said he believes that Rai was worse than Haiyan. Rai left destruction everywhere as it exited through the Palawan Islands, in the western Philippines. Parts of his resort were buried in waist-deep muck. “I’ve never seen any flooding like this,” he said, estimating that damage from the storm would cost millions of Philippine pesos to repair. His resort is next to the Loboc River, and he and his staff had to shovel mud from the property. “It doesn’t feel like Christmas,” Soupart said. “I was buying stuff at the hardware store, and the Christmas songs annoyed me.” Cleanup operations have been slow, although the Philippine military had deployed engineering crews to help rebuild. Electricity and telecommunications had yet to be restored in Bohol and in many other areas. In Siargao, a surfing destination on the northeastern tip of Mindanao Island, east of Bohol, no structure was left standing or spared damage. The government evacuated dozens of foreign tourists and Filipinos on a military plane. But some chose to stay behind to help rebuild. Vice President Leni Robredo, who was among the first national officials to reach devastated sites, said Friday in a Christmas message, “Hope is found in togetherness.” Many Filipinos sought comfort in the church. Priests appealed for calm as the national government scrambled to get aid to residents. Worshippers in Bohol used flashlights and candles to hold Mass at dawn. Donn De Lima, 44, was among dozens from the Santo Niño Parish in Ubay who attended Mass on Christmas Eve. It was raining hard, and the roof of the church leaked. “This Christmas is sad because my home was heavily damaged,” he said. After Mass, his family planned to share a simple meal under a rechargeable flashlight. Others were not as lucky. Alicia Nemenzo, 48, and her daughter Mavel Nemenzo, 21, spent Christmas Eve sheltering in a tiny roadside store after the storm wrecked their home. Their only source of light was a flickering candle. “When it rains now, we get frightened,” she said. “I think we all were traumatized by this typhoon.”   © 2021 The New York Times Company

Alibaba promised to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 in its own direct emissions - known as "scope 1" - as well as its indirect "scope 2" emissions - derived from the consumption of electricity or heating. It also said it would reduce carbon intensity - the amount of carbon per unit of revenue - from the "scope 3" emissions - produced across its wider value chain in areas such as transportation, purchased goods and services and waste - by 50% by 2030. The company also pledged to cut overall CO2 across all its businesses by 1.5 gigatonnes by 2035. To achieve its goals, Alibaba plans to deploy new energy-saving, high-efficiency technologies, make further use of renewables and also explore "carbon removal initiatives" that could extract climate-warming greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Daniel Zhang, the company's chief executive, said the company also sought to "mobilise actions and behavioural changes among consumers, merchants and partners in China and around the world". President Xi Jinping announced last year that China would aim to become carbon neutral by around 2060, putting the country's giant corporations under pressure to draw up their own roadmaps to reach "net zero". But China's giant tech firms remain hugely dependent on the country's coal-dominated energy system, with only a small number so far committed to switching to renewable sources of electricity. In a report published earlier this year, environment group Greenpeace ranked Tencent Holdings as the best-performing Chinese cloud service provider in terms of procuring renewable energy and cutting emissions. Huawei Technologies came second, Baidu Inc third and Alibaba fourth.

Asian leaders signed an energy security pact on Monday that seeks to reduce oil dependency and greenhouse gas emissions in some of the most polluted countries on the planet, but offers no concrete targets. Southeast Asian leaders along with the heads of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand held their second East Asia summit in a more constructive atmosphere than last year as Beijing and Tokyo used the meeting to further mend ties. "This year is more focused on substance. Last year it was like a house-warming party, everybody came and got to know each other" Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), told reporters. The leaders also discussed North Korea's nuclear ambitions, financial integration, disaster mitigation and bird flu. But the centre-piece of summit was an energy security pact that seeks to reduce the region's dependence on costly crude oil and help stave off climate change. Unlike the European Union, however, which last week unveiled ambitious energy proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent, the Asian leaders, who run some of the most polluted nations on earth, offered no concrete targets. The pact calls for encouraging the use of biofuels, hydropower, or nuclear power to reduce dependence on conventional fuels. It also calls for private sector investment in energy infrastructure. The head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) urged East Asian countries on Monday to create a regional free trade bloc and to increase financial cooperation to reduce the risk of crises. "To maximise the potential benefits of free trade agreements, East Asia has to chart a clear roadmap to establish a region-wide FTA," Haruhiko Kuroda told the summit in the central Philippines. Japan proposed such a bloc last year, but it has yet to find traction among the 16-member grouping, which accounts for about a fifth of world trade and half the world's people. Officials at the East Asia summit said any such bloc is far into the future, if at all, and ASEAN's priority is to sign FTA's with individual countries represented at the summit. Asian countries have agreed or are trying to hammer out a "noodle bowl" of around 50 local FTAs. The leaders at the summit were expected to unite in support of enforcing U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea after its atomic and missile tests last year, and of the six-party talks aimed at inducing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon ambitions. Both Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China's Premier Wen Jiabao are vying to influence ASEAN as it becomes a more integrated political and economic bloc. Abe, fresh from a tour of Europe where he pitched a more assertive diplomatic stance, highlighted Tokyo's desire to play a more prominent security role in the region by agreeing to support Southeast Asian maritime security. China and ASEAN on Sunday agreed to slash barriers on trade in services such as telecoms and transport, which Wen said is a "crucial step" toward creating the world's most populous free trade area. In Cebu, riot police used batons and shields to hold back hundreds of left-wing protesters outside Arroyo's official residence in the port city. It has been the only significant incident at the summit after a series of bomb blasts last week in the south blamed on Islamic militants. The leaders, who will also endorse a birdflu prevention "road map" sharing best practices on Monday, are anxious not to develop into a talking shop. "The discussion so far has revolved around how do we give meaty stuff without bringing about more meetings. So far so good," said Ong.

This week, thousands of residents and vacationers in southeastern Australia were forced to evacuate to shorelines as bush fires encircled communities and razed scores of buildings. Military ships and aircraft were deployed Wednesday to deliver water, food and fuel to towns cut off by the fires. The hot, dry conditions that have fuelled the fires are nothing new in Australia. Here’s why this fire season has been so calamitous. What is causing the fires? Record-breaking temperatures, extended drought and strong winds have converged to create disastrous fire conditions. As a severe heat wave gripped most of the country in mid-December, Australia recorded its hottest day on record, with average highs of 107.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or 41.9 degrees Celsius. The heat wave is continuing this week in southeastern Australia, with temperatures expected to reach 105 in Canberra, the capital. A house burns near Conjola, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019. The New York Times The extreme heat has followed the driest spring on record. Most of New South Wales and Queensland have been experiencing shortfalls in rain since early 2017. The drought has hit the country’s most productive agricultural areas, including some of those now ablaze. A house burns near Conjola, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019. The New York Times How extensive are the fires? By early September, Australia started seeing ominous signs about this year’s fire season. On Sept. 9, the Binna Burra Lodge, a historic getaway in the lush mountains of Queensland, was destroyed in a bush fire. The loss, and the blazes in the surrounding rainforests, alarmed scientists, who said that such fires were extremely rare in the usually cool and wet area. The fires have burned across the country in recent months, affecting four out of six states. Australia’s east coast has been hardest hit. By early November, 1,500 firefighters were battling 70 fires in New South Wales, the southeastern state that includes Sydney. A man in Lake Conjola, Australia, tries to defend a property on Tuesday, Dec 31 2019, as fire consumes the house next door. The New York Times On Nov 11, the state issued a “catastrophic” fire danger rating for the first time in the decade that the current warning system has been in place. In Sydney, which issued a total fire ban, heavy smoke has discoloured the sky on many days, and air quality there has at times been among the worst in the world. On Tuesday, social media was filled with photos of blazing red skies and people fleeing to beaches between Sydney and Melbourne. A man in Lake Conjola, Australia, tries to defend a property on Tuesday, Dec 31 2019, as fire consumes the house next door. The New York Times What is the damage so far? About 10 million acres have burned in New South Wales, destroying nearly 1,000 homes. Around 90 fires are currently raging in the state, with about three dozen more to the south in Victoria. In total, roughly 12 million acres have been burned by the fires. By comparison, about 1.9 million acres burned in the 2018 fires in California; those fires, which were the state’s most destructive, killed about 100 people. As the blazes swept southeastern Australia early this week, the fire season’s death toll reached at least 15, and officials said it was likely to rise. At least seven people were killed Monday and Tuesday in New South Wales — including a volunteer firefighter, the third to die this season — and another person died in Victoria. Who is fighting the fires? Tens of thousands of firefighters, the vast majority of them volunteers, have worked for weeks, sometimes putting in 12-hour days. The strain on the firefighters has raised questions about the country’s reliance on a volunteer force. Tourists in Lake Conjola, a popular holiday destination in Australia, take refuge on a beach from wildfires on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019. The New York Times Australia’s federal government announced last week that volunteers in New South Wales — as well as other states, if they requested it — would receive compensation of up to about $4,000. That change in policy was initially opposed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Tourists in Lake Conjola, a popular holiday destination in Australia, take refuge on a beach from wildfires on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019. The New York Times This week, as the fires caused widespread destruction, Australia deployed its military and called on its allies for help. The Australian Defence Force said Tuesday that it would send Black Hawk and Chinook military helicopters, airplanes and naval ships to Victoria and New South Wales. The government also asked the United States and Canada to provide water tanker aircraft. Canada has pledged to send more than 30 firefighters to help the Australians. Is climate change to blame? The devastating start to the fire season confirmed what scientists have been predicting: that Australia’s bush fires will become more frequent and more intense as climate change worsens. Few if any other developed countries are as vulnerable to changing climate as Australia, according to scientific reports. A house under threat from an approaching bushfire in Conjola, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019.The New York Times Australia is normally hot and dry in the summer, but climate change, which brings longer and more frequent periods of extreme heat, worsens these conditions and makes vegetation drier and more likely to burn. A house under threat from an approaching bushfire in Conjola, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019.The New York Times The catastrophic fire conditions have put an intense focus on the Australian government’s failure to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, which traps heat when released into the atmosphere. Even as emissions continue to soar, the country, currently governed by a conservative coalition, has found it difficult to reach a political consensus on energy and climate change policy. Those politics, in part, are influenced by Australia’s long mining history and its powerful coal lobby. How does weather affect the blazes? Climate and weather are different but related concepts. Climate is a description of expected long-term weather patterns in a specific place, while weather is the mix of events occurring in the atmosphere at a particular time and place — think temperature, wind and precipitation. A changing climate has meant an increase in temperatures in the Indian and Antarctic oceans, which in turn has meant drier and hotter weather across Australia this summer. The most dangerous fire days occur when hot, dry air blows from the desert centre of the continent toward the populous coasts. A weather front — where air masses at different densities meet — can cause the direction of the wind to change rapidly. Ultimately, that means bigger fires spreading in multiple directions. Bush fires can be so large and hot that they generate their own dangerous, unpredictable weather systems. These so-called firestorms can produce lightning, strong winds and even fire tornadoes. What they do not produce is rain. The volunteer firefighter who died Monday was crushed after a fire tornado lifted a fire truck off the ground. © 2019 New York Times News Service

Redistricting and West Virginia’s shrinking population forced the state’s Republican Legislature to pit McKinley, a six-term Republican with a pragmatic bent, against Mooney, who has served four terms marked more by conservative rhetoric than legislative achievements. McKinley has the backing of much of the state’s power structure, including its governor, Jim Justice, and, in recent days, its Democratic senator, Joe Manchin. Mooney, however, may have the endorsement that matters most: Trump’s — in a state that gave the former president 69% of the vote in 2020. Neither candidate could exactly be called a moderate Republican, but McKinley thought his primary bid would be framed around his technocratic accomplishments, his support for the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was co-written by Manchin and his attentiveness to a state used to — and still in need of — federal attention. On Thursday, he and Justice were in the state’s northern panhandle, not for a campaign rally but to visit a high-tech metal alloy plant. Mooney’s campaign does not go for nuance. His is built around one thing: Trump’s endorsement. The former president sided with Mooney after McKinley voted for the infrastructure bill as well as for legislation to create a bipartisan commission to examine the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — legislation that was filibustered by Republicans in the Senate. “Alex is the only candidate in this race that has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump says in a radio advertisement blanketing the state. The former president goes on to blast McKinley as a “RINO” — “Republican in name only” — “who supported the fake infrastructure bill that wasted hundreds of billions of dollars on the Green New Deal” and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “phony narrative” on Jan 6 that went “against the interests of West Virginia.” A television advertisement also featuring Trump tells viewers that Mooney defended the former president from Pelosi’s “Jan 6 witch hunt.” Sensing that any high-minded campaign on accomplishments was simply not going to work, McKinley has hit back at “Maryland Mooney” as a carpetbagger — he once headed the Maryland Republican Party and ran for office in New Hampshire — who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for charges that he improperly used campaign dollars and staff for personal gain. Most remarkably, McKinley has turned to a Democrat, Manchin, for his closing argument. “Alex Mooney has proven he’s all about Alex Mooney, but West Virginians know that David McKinley is all about us,” Manchin says in a McKinley campaign ad. He also calls Mooney a liar for suggesting that McKinley supported the far-reaching climate change and social welfare bill that Manchin killed. All of this is somewhat extraordinary in a state where federal largess has made politicians like the now-deceased Sen. Robert Byrd and his protégé, Manchin, folk heroes. But the state has changed in the Trump era, and loyalties have hardened, said Scott Widmeyer, co-founder of the Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communications at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. “We’ve seen heated political races, but I don’t think anything has been as nasty and down and dirty as this one,” he said. “Republicans are eating their own.” Institute officials invited both candidates to a debate, but only McKinley accepted. They then suggested that the candidates come separately to town hall meetings. Only McKinley accepted. Mooney is the one evincing confidence, however. McKinley entered the race at a structural advantage. The state’s newly drawn district includes 19 of the 20 counties McKinley previously represented and only eight of the 17 counties in Mooney’s current district. Mooney’s biggest population centre, the capital in Charleston, was sent to Rep Carol Miller, the only other West Virginian in the House. But Trump is popular in every West Virginia county, and on the power of his name, Mooney has been posting polls from national and local outfits showing him up by double digits before Tuesday’s primary. Aides close to McKinley say the race will be close, and as long as Trump does not swoop into the state at the last minute for a get-out-the-vote rally, either candidate could still win a low-turnout affair. One campaign official said many voters who long ago abandoned the Democrats but not their Democratic Party registration have been re-registering as independents or Republicans to vote against Mooney. Jonathan Kott, a former spokesperson and adviser to Manchin, said the Democratic senator has “a genuine friendship and working relationship” with McKinley, a point Manchin made during a local radio interview last week. But what seems to have really pushed the Democratic senator to intervene in a Republican primary was not his friendship with McKinley but his anger over Mooney’s opposition to the infrastructure bill. “Mooney’s vote against the infrastructure bill shows he isn’t interested in what’s best for West Virginia,” Kott said. In the interview, Manchin also took a swipe at “Maryland Mooney.” “Alex came here, I think, for political opportunity. I can’t figure any other reason,” he told radio host Hoppy Kercheval. It is only one House seat in a very particular state, but the narrative of the West Virginia race has caught the attention of a wider audience trying to divine how firmly Trump has the Republican Party in his grip. “I think we’ll all be watching the returns Tuesday night,” Widmeyer said, alluding to the author JD Vance’s come-from-behind victory in the Republican Senate primary in Ohio after Trump endorsed him. “This will be the second week where we’re watching the influence of Trump on one candidate.”   © 2022 The New York Times Company

Yet the nascent effort, which took on new urgency after Germany said on Wednesday that it had evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone had been monitored, faces an uphill battle if it is to be more than a marketing gimmick. It would not work when Germans surf on websites hosted on servers abroad, such as social network Facebook or search engine Google, according to interviews with six telecom and internet experts. Deutsche Telekom could also have trouble getting rival broadband groups on board because they are wary of sharing network information. More fundamentally, the initiative runs counter to how the Internet works today - global traffic is passed from network to network under free or paid-for agreements with no thought for national borders. If more countries wall themselves off, it could lead to a troubling "Balkanisation" of the Internet, crippling the openness and efficiency that have made the web a source of economic growth, said Dan Kaminsky, a US security researcher. Controls over internet traffic are more commonly seen in countries such as China and Iran where governments seek to limit the content their people can access by erecting firewalls and blocking Facebook and Twitter. "It is internationally without precedent that the internet traffic of a developed country bypasses the servers of another country," said Torsten Gerpott, a professor of business and telecoms at the University of Duisburg-Essen."The push of Deutsche Telekom is laudable, but it's also a public relations move."Deutsche Telekom, which is 32 percent owned by the government, has received backing for its project from the telecoms regulator for potentially giving customers more options. In August, the company also launched a service dubbed "E-mail made in Germany" that encrypts email and sends traffic exclusively through its domestic servers. BUGGING Government snooping is a sensitive subject in Germany, which has among the strictest privacy laws in the world, since it dredges up memories of eavesdropping by the Stasi secret police in the former East Germany, where Merkel grew up. The issue dominated discussions at a European summit on Thursday, prompting Merkel to demand that the US strike a "no-spying" agreement with Berlin and Paris by the end of the year. As the row festers, telecom and Internet experts said the rhetoric exceeded the practical changes that could be expected from Deutsche Telekom's project. More than 90 percent of Germany's internet traffic already stays within its borders, said Klaus Landefeld, a board member of the non-profit organization that runs the DE-CIX Internet exchange point in Frankfurt. Others pointed out that Deutsche Telekom's preference for being paid by other Internet networks for carrying traffic to the end user, instead of "peering" agreements at no cost, clashed with the goal to keep traffic within Germany. It can be cheaper or free for German traffic to go through London or Amsterdam, where it can be intercepted by foreign spies. Thomas Kremer, the executive in charge of data privacy and legal affairs for the German operator, said the group needed to sign connection agreements with three additional operators to make a national routing possible. "If this were not the case, one could think of a legislative solution," he said. "As long as sender and receiver are in the Schengen area or in Germany, traffic should no longer be routed through other countries," Kremer said, referring to the 26-country passport-free zone in Europe. A spokesman for Telefonica Germany said it was in early discussions on national routing with other groups. A spokesman for Vodafone said it was "evaluating if and how" to implement the Deutsche Telekom proposal. Although Deutsche Telekom is positioning itself as a safe custodian of user data, its track record on privacy is mixed. In a 2008 affair dubbed Telekomgate, Klaus Trzeschan, a security manager at the group, was jailed for three and a half years for his role in monitoring phone calls of the firm's own management and supervisory board members, as well as business reporters. A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom said the affair was the reason why the group worked "so hard" on privacy and security issues in recent years. "We are now the leading company of our industry when it comes to customers' trust," he said. DATA CENTRES While the routers and switches that direct traffic can be programmed so data travel certain routes, the most popular online services are not built to respect borders. Web companies often rely on a few large data centers to power their entire operation, and they don't choose locations based on the location of their customers but on factors such as the availability of cheap power, cool climates, and high-speed broadband networks. For example, if a Munich resident uses Facebook to chat with a friend sitting 500 kilometers (310 miles) away in Berlin, the traffic would go through one of the company's three massive data centers 8,000 km away in Oregon or North Carolina, or one near the Arctic Circle in the Swedish town of Luleå. European users' profiles are not necessarily stored in the Swedish centre; instead the website's different functions such as games, messaging, and wall posts are distributed among the data centers to improve efficiency. Similarly, emails sent by Google's Gmail between two German residents would probably be routed through one of the company's three data centers in Finland, Belgium and Ireland. The only way to change this would be for Germany to require local hosting of websites, a drastic move according to experts that has not yet been pushed by German leaders. Deutsche Telekom declined to say whether it would lobby for such an approach. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, angered by reports that the U.S. spied on her and other Brazilians, is pushing legislation that would force Google, Facebook and other internet companies to store locally gathered or user-generated data inside the country. One solution would be for European leaders to beef up a new data-privacy law, which has been in the works for almost two years. A greatly toughened version of the law was backed by the European Parliament on Monday, but it still requires agreement by members states. France and Germany may succeed in getting member states to push ahead on talks to complete the new data rules by 2015. Deutsche Telekom's Kremer said the new law could help: "Of course customers need to be able to use any web services they like, anywhere in the world. But we need to make this safer."

The debacle was Cameron's first serious setback since he was re-elected a month ago and was all the more awkward because it concerned his flagship policy of renegotiating Britain's EU ties before holding an in-out EU membership referendum. His uncertain handling of such an important issue is likely to be interpreted as a sign of how nervous he is to keep his fractious Conservative Party united to avoid a re-run of past splits which helped topple his two immediate predecessors. Britain's EU relationship was not on the G7 agenda which was devoted to issues such as Greece, Ukraine and climate change. Yet Cameron's closing news conference was dominated by the subject with all seven questioners touching on it, forcing a visibly irritated Cameron to repeat himself. Speaking on Sunday, Cameron had moved to head off the first signs of a Eurosceptic rebellion in his party by suggesting ministers would have to back his EU strategy, which envisions Britain remaining in a reformed EU, or leave his government. "If you want to be part of the government, you have to take the view that we are engaged in an exercise of renegotiation to have a referendum, and that will lead to a successful outcome," he told reporters. "Everyone in government has signed up to the programme set out in the Conservative manifesto," he said. But on Monday, after senior Eurosceptic lawmakers lined up to criticise his stance, Cameron said he had been misunderstood, saying his warning to ministers had only applied to the EU renegotiation period not the referendum campaign itself. "It's clear to me that what I said was misinterpreted. I was clearly referring to the process of renegotiation," said Cameron. "I've always said what I want is an outcome for Britain that keeps us in a reformed EU, but I've also said we don't know the outcome of these negotiations, which is why I've always said I rule nothing out. Therefore it would be wrong to answer hypothetical questions." He declined to say whether ministers would be allowed a "free vote" in the referendum campaign. His apparent change of heart drew derision from his country's press corps who accused him of flip-flopping on a vital issue and of confused policy-making. ‘Unwise stance’ Cameron originally spoke out after a group of over 50 of his own lawmakers said they were prepared to join a campaign backing a British EU exit, or "Brexit", unless he achieved radical changes in the bloc. Cameron, who has promised to hold the referendum by the end of 2017, says he is confident he can get a deal that will allow him to recommend Britons vote to stay in the EU, which they joined in 1973. He has said he needs the EU to alter its founding treaties so that any changes he secures are safe from legal challenge. But he is vulnerable on the home front, commanding a mere 12-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons and a rebellion over Europe could derail his wider agenda. Speaking before Cameron's office tried to clarify his comments, senior Conservative lawmaker David Davis said Cameron's stance was "unwise". "There is a risk what we may end up doing is turning a decent debate into a bitter argument," Davis told BBC Radio. "This doesn't show a great deal of confidence in the outcome of those negotiations, that he has to say now: my way or the high way, stay and obey the line or leave." Eurosceptic Conservatives already feel Cameron has framed the referendum question in way a that favours a vote to stay and are angry he has decided not to impose restrictions on government campaign activity in the run-up to the vote. The Times reported campaign spending limits would be increased by 40 percent for the referendum, raising fears among those backing an exit that they will be outspent. Some Eurosceptics have suggested they feel so strongly that they might try to amend a law going through parliament to enable the referendum to take place. The law is expected to be debated in parliament on Tuesday.

The COP26 conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow opened a day after the G20 economies failed to commit to a 2050 target to halt net carbon emissions - a deadline widely cited as necessary to prevent the most extreme global warming. Instead, their talks in Rome only recognised "the key relevance" of halting net emissions "by or around mid-century", set no timetable for phasing out coal at home and watered down promises to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Their commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies "over the medium term" echoed wording used by the G20 at a summit in Pittsburgh as long ago as 2009. "Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It's one minute to midnight on that Doomsday clock and we need to act now," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the opening ceremony. "If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow." As Johnson was speaking, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg retweeted an appeal for her millions of supporters to sign an open letter accusing leaders of betrayal. "This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth," it read. "Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated -- a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. You have the power to decide." Many of those leaders were due to take to the stage in Glasgow at the start of two weeks of negotiations that conference host Britain is billing as make-or-break. DISCORD Discord among some of the world's biggest emitters about how to cut back on coal, oil and gas, and help poorer countries to adapt to global warming, will not make the task easier. At the G20, US President Joe Biden singled out China and Russia, neither of which sent its leader to Glasgow, for not bringing proposals to the table. Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country is by far the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, ahead of the United States, was due to address the conference on Monday in a written statement, according to an official schedule. President Vladimir Putin of Russia, one of the world's top three oil producers along with the United States and Saudi Arabia, dropped plans to participate in any talks live by video link, the Kremlin said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he had decided to stay away after Britain failed to meet Ankara's demands on security arrangements and protocol, the Turkish broadcaster NTV reported. Less senior delegates - many of them held up on Sunday by disruptions to the rail service between London and Glasgow - had more mundane problems. More than a thousand had to shiver for over an hour in a bottleneck outside the venue to present proof of a negative COVID-19 test and gain access, while being treated by activists to an electronic musical remix of Thunberg’s past speeches. PROMISES, PROMISES Delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 aims to keep alive a target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above - a level scientists say would avoid its most destructive consequences. To do that, it needs to secure more ambitious pledges to reduce emissions, lock in billions in climate-related financing for developing countries, and finish the rules for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries. Existing pledges to cut emissions would allow the planet's average surface temperature to rise 2.7C this century, which the United Nations says would supercharge the destruction that climate change is already causing by intensifying storms, exposing more people to deadly heat and floods, raising sea levels and destroying natural habitats. Developed countries confirmed last week that they would be three years late in meeting a promise made in 2009 to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance to developing countries by 2020. "Africa is responsible for only 3 percent of global emissions, but Africans are suffering the most violent consequences of the climate crisis," Ugandan activist Evelyn Acham told the Italian newspaper La Stampa. "They are not responsible for the crisis, but they are still paying the price of colonialism, which exploited Africa's wealth for centuries," she said. "We have to share responsibilities fairly." Two days of speeches by world leaders will be followed by technical negotiations. Any deal may not be struck until close to or even after the event's Nov 12 finish date.

French Foreign Minister Lauren Fabius, who is chairing the U.N. conference, said he still planned to issue a penultimate draft on Thursday afternoon with as few disagreements or bracketed passages as possible to pave the way for a last round of revisions. "We will now try to move towards a final agreement," he told U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as they met in the conference hall before talks resumed. Fabius has insisted that an accord to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating global warming must be finished by Friday, the meeting's official closing date, rather than overrunning in the manner of previous conferences. But ministers and negotiators from 195 countries remain divided over fundamental issues. They include which countries would be expected to shell out the hundreds of billions of dollars required to help developing countries shift from fossil fuels to lower-carbon energy sources. That sticking point has accentuated backroom tensions between US and China over what US Secretary of State John Kerry has referred to as the "minimalist" approach by countries that could make a greater financial contribution. For their part, the Chinese avoided discussing specific details but said they saw room for compromise. 1.5 degrees or 2? "There will be another draft today where more square brackets will be removed but, most importantly, we need more consultations with our colleagues," said Gao Feng, one of the Chinese negotiators. "On Friday or Saturday we may get there." The talks have also revived differences on how ambitious the deal should be in trying to control the rise in the earth's temperatures. A large block of developing nations are insisting that the agreement include the longer-term goal of keeping temperatures to a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, even though The cuts in carbon emissions that countries have pledged to make over the coming decade would not come close to that level. Many participants remain haunted by the calamitous failure to get a deal in Copenhagen in 2009, the last time the world tried to reach a consensus on dealing with climate change. This time, said Alex Hanafi, head of climate change strategy for the US-based Environmental Defense Fund, "there really is a desire to get a deal, but the open question is whether it will be a strong deal or a weak deal”. Jose Ramos-Horta, a former president of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is part of his country's negotiating team, said that no nation should expect to get all they want from an accord. "A treaty is not a Bible. We can also review," he told Reuters, suggesting that whatever is agreed in Paris could be revised and toughened in the future.

COPENHAGEN, Dec 6, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - World concern about climate change has fallen in the past two years, according to an opinion poll on Sunday, the eve of 190-nation talks in Copenhagen meant to agree a UN deal to fight global warming. The Nielsen/Oxford University survey showed that 37 percent of more than 27,000 Internet users in 54 countries said they were "very concerned" about climate change, down from 41 percent in a similar poll two years ago. "Global concern for climate change cools off," the Nielsen Co. said of the poll, taken in October. It linked the decline to the world economic slowdown. In the United States, the number two emitter after China and the only industrialised nation outside the UN's existing Kyoto Protocol for curbing emissions, the number of those very concerned fell to 25 percent from 34. President Barack Obama wants to cut US greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, and plans to join more than 100 world leaders in Copenhagen at the end of the Dec. 7-18 meeting to try to reach a new UN deal. China, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, was among few nations surveyed where the number of people very concerned rose, to 36 from 30 percent. The survey indicated the highest levels of concern were in Latin America and Asian-Pacific countries, topped by the Philippines on 78 percent which was struck by Typhoon Ketsana in September. The poll did not cover most of Africa. Those least concerned by global warming, blamed on human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, were mainly in eastern Europe. Estonia was bottom with just 10 percent saying they were very concerned. Jonathan Banks, Business Insights Director Europe of the Nielsen Co., said that worries about climate change may now be picking up with the focus on Copenhagen. "Economic woes temporarily knocked the climate change issue off the top line agenda, but as the recession is now beginning to recede, we expect the Copenhagen summit to push this important issue to the front again," he said. Worldwide, air and water pollution followed by climate change were the top three environmental concerns for the world population, the survey found.

Environment ministers lack power to lead a fight against global warming at a time when ever more governments portray climate change as one of the biggest threats to the planet, experts say. Environment ministers are sometimes rising stars -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a stint in the 1990s -- but are often far less experienced than cabinet colleagues in charge of issues such as defence, health or education. "I don't think they are too junior to get things done but the portfolio doesn't cover all of the essential issues" such as energy or competition policy, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Secretariat, told Reuters. He met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York on Monday to press his call for a summit of about 20 world leaders to spur stalled talks on widening the UN's Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming beyond a first period ending in 2012. "Heads of state and government...are in a position to say 'this is the direction in which things should go'," he said. More and more government leaders are making apocalyptic warnings about climate change. Many scientists say a build-up of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels will bring more floods, heatwaves, desertification and raise world sea levels. "The excessive exploitation of natural resources is upsetting the climate and will endanger mankind, if we don't react right now," French President Jacques Chirac, for instance, said in a New Year address. "In many countries the environment minister doesn't have the bureaucratic tools or power," said Paal Prestrud, head of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo. "Either the prime minister or the minister of finance has to take on the role or you strengthen the environment ministry." One UN official noted the Kyoto Protocol, binding 35 nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, seeks to promote investments in clean energies such as wind or solar power in poor nations -- and development ministers often have more access to funds than environment ministers. Still, in a sign that the environment may be becoming more of an issue with voters, Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper made sweeping changes to his cabinet on January 4 largely to bolster a fight against climate change. Harper picked John Baird to take over from Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, widely criticized for doing too little to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Harper praised Ambrose but said: "We recognise that, particularly when it comes to clean air and climate change, that Canadians expect a lot more." President George W Bush pulled the United States out of Kyoto in 2001, saying the plan would cost too much and wrongly excluded developing nations such as China and India. Unlike most nations, Washington does not have an environment minister. Stephen Johnson heads the Environmental Protection Agency while Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, heads the US delegation at UN talks.

Britain's Labour Party gave itself four months on Tuesday to elect a new leader who will face the task of rejuvenating a party out of power for the first time since 1997. The position became vacant when Gordon Brown stepped down a week ago as prime minister and party leader. A Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance, the first coalition since World War Two, came to power after the May 6 election. "(The leadership contest) is going to be a very important opportunity for us to reflect on the result of the general election, to renew the Labour Party and to re-engage with the British people," interim leader Harriet Harman told reporters. The frontrunner is David Miliband, 44, who was foreign minister in Brown's government. A former adviser to Brown's predecessor Tony Blair, the cerebral Miliband is seen as the candidate of the party's "Blairite" or centrist wing. The only other candidate to come forward so far is his brother Ed Miliband, 40, the former energy and climate change minister. His supporters say he is a unity candidate who would end years of tension between the so-called "Blairite" and "Brownite" wings of the party. Former schools minister Ed Balls, 42, a close Brown confidant who is popular with the more left-leaning elements of the party, will announce his candidacy on Wednesday, according to the Guardian newspaper. Left-wing backbencher John McDonnell, who made an unsuccessful challenge to Brown for the Labour leadership in 2007, will also enter the race on Wednesday, the paper said. "The contest is David Miliband's to lose. He's the odds-on favourite with the bookmakers, he's seen as the intellectual heavyweight candidate within the party," said Jonathan Tonge, head of politics at Liverpool University. "FOUR MONTHS FOR THINGS TO GO WRONG" But Tonge said the decision to have such a long leadership contest could harm David Miliband's prospects. "It's like a horse race. When you've got a leadership contest this long, it's rare for the horse that's out in front to stay out in front all that distance. It's four months for things to go wrong for David Miliband's campaign," he said. Labour said leadership candidates would declare themselves from May 24 to 27, hustings would take place in June and July and balloting would run from Aug. 16 to Sept. 22. The winner will be announced at the annual party conference on Sept. 25. Interim leader Harman dismissed suggestions that such a long process could allow divisions to fester, inflicting further damage on the party at a time when it should be adapting to the new political landscape of a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. "I don't think there will be instability. One of the ways in which members will judge the candidates is how responsibly they play their part in the leadership election," she said.

UNITED NATIONS Fri Mar 20, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he would press world leaders at a financial summit next month to keep their pledges of aid to poor nations, but expressed concern the global crisis would sap their resolve. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, the UN secretary-general said that although he had been encouraged by the promises from wealthy countries not to reduce their development assistance, he was worried that might not last. "As the situation is deteriorating ... I am concerned that this may inevitably affect the political will and available resources for the developing countries," he said. "My role ... is to keep world leaders on their committed path." Ban said he would not accept any delay to agreed targets for sharply improving life for the world's poor, despite a suggestion by at least one prominent UN adviser that the Millennium Development Goals may not be met in time. The eight MDGs, announced in 2000, set targets for slashing poverty, hunger and disease by 2015. Most of them were behind schedule even before the financial crisis set in last year. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, who advises Ban, said in Tanzania last week the date might have to be pushed back. Ban said: "We cannot move this target date. 2015 is the deadline and target. We must be able to keep the target." He said he would write to all heads of state and government attending the Group of 20 summit in London on April 2 to urge them to not to lose sight of the plight of the poor as they seek ways out of the financial crisis. "That will be my strong message to the leaders of the G20," said the UN chief, who will be at the summit that brings together the world's top economies and major developing nations such as India and Brazil. GREEN GROWTH Ban said he was heartened by pledges by U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to protect poorer nations and promote ecologically viable "green growth," which Ban sees as one way out of the financial crisis. "I am encouraged by President Obama's very engaging and proactive policy on climate change, unlike the previous administration. This is very important," he said. Obama has made combating climate change a major plank of his policy. His predecessor, George W Bush, refused to ratify the existing Kyoto Protocol on emissions targets, saying it would put the United States at an economic disadvantage. Ban, who met Obama in Washington last week, said he understood the Obama administration would try to convene next month a Major Economies Meeting, or MEM, grouping 16 nations that account for most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. "The biggest emitter countries will get together, including China and India. They will have to agree on their emission targets. That will help and will be very much complementary to ongoing (UN) negotiations," he said. White House officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Ban, who also met members of Congress during his Washington visit, said he urged them to pass legislation to commit the United States to the battle against climate change. "The whole world is looking to the American leadership, and I am reasonably encouraged by what the United States is going to do," Ban said. A series of UN-led meetings this year will culminate in a two-week gathering in Copenhagen in December that is intended to produce a successor to Kyoto and set goals for the substantial reduction of emissions in future. Ban stopped short of saying he was certain Copenhagen would achieve its task, but said, "That's my goal, my target and I'm working very hard."

Each weekday Raden Roro Hendarti rides her three wheeler with books stacked up at the back for children in Muntang village to exchange for plastic cups, bags and other waste that she carries back. She told Reuters she is helping inculcate reading in the kids as well make them aware of the environment. As soon as she shows up, little children, many accompanied by their mothers, surround her "Trash Library" and clamour for the books. They are all carrying trash bags and Raden's three-wheeler quickly fills up with them as the books fly out. She's happy the kids are going to spend less time on online games as a result. "Let us build a culture of literacy from young age to mitigate the harm of the online world," Raden said. "We should also take care of our waste in order to fight climate change and to save the earth from trash," Raden said. She collects about 100 kg (220 lbs) of waste each week, which is then sorted out by her colleagues and sent for recycling or sold. She has a stock of 6,000 books to lend and wants to take the mobile service to neighbouring areas as well. Kevin Alamsyah, an avid 11-year-old reader, scours for waste lying in the village. "When there is too much trash, our environment will become dirty and it's not healthy. That's why I look for trash to borrow a book," he says. Jiah Palupi, the head of the main public library in the area, said Raden's work complemented their efforts to combat online gaming addiction among the youth and promote reading. The literacy rate for above-15-year-olds in Indonesia is around 96 percent, but a September report by the World Bank warned that the pandemic will leave more than 80% of 15-year-olds below the minimum reading proficiency level identified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Group of 20 rich and developing nations promised to give rising powers such as China more say in rebuilding and guiding the global economy, and declared their crisis-fighting efforts a success on Friday. Leaders pledged to keep emergency economic supports in place until sustainable recovery is assured, launch a framework for acting together to rebalance economic growth, and implement tougher rules governing banks by 2012. "Here in Pittsburgh, leaders representing two thirds of the planet's population have agreed to a global plan for jobs, growth and a sustained economic recovery," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after a two-day summit. US President Barack Obama's first turn hosting a major summit ended on an upbeat note, with leaders claiming victory in stopping the recession from turning into a depression. "It worked," they said in the final communique. "Our forceful response helped stop the dangerous, sharp decline in global activity and stabilize financial markets." Obama said, "We cannot tolerate the same old boom-and-bust economy of the past. We can't wait for a crisis to cooperate. That's why our new framework will allow each of us to assess the other's policies, to build consensus on reform, and to ensure that global demand supports growth for all." The Pittsburgh gathering was the third summit in a year for the G20, which said it would now be the "premier forum" for economic cooperation, supplanting the Western-dominated G7 and G8 that were the primary international forums for decades. "This is a symbolic act of inclusion of immense importance to international politics," said Colin Bradford, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "There is tremendous significance to the history being made today that this decision does not enlarge the G7 but replaces it." Others were more skeptical. "I think the G7 is something of a zombie -- very hard to kill," said Simon Johnson, a former IMF chief economist. "They have a lot of inter-connections ... but obviously at the summit level, they are gone." The move was a clear acknowledgment that fast-growing countries such as China and India now play a much more important part in world growth. "This movement to the G20 and away from the G7 is recognizing economic realities. You can't talk about the global economy without having the major dynamic emerging economies at the table," John Lipsky, the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told Reuters Television. Disclosure of a second Iranian uranium enrichment plant gave Obama, with the leaders of Britain and France at his side, an opportunity to press for united action against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. Obama said Iran was "on notice" that it must choose when it meets with world powers in Geneva on October 1 whether it would "continue down a path that is going to lead to confrontation". JOB NOT DONE Tough economic tasks remained for the group. The G20 vowed not to return to the "reckless behavior" blamed for triggering the financial crisis, which exploded two years ago when failing U.S. mortgage loans caused catastrophic losses at financial firms around the world. "A sense of normalcy should not lead to complacency," the G20 leaders said in their summit communique. "We want growth without cycles of boom and bust and markets that foster responsibility not recklessness." In addition to the regulatory reforms, which are supposed to be developed by the end of 2010 and put in place two years later, the G20 took aim at lavish pay packages for bankers. The leaders agreed that firms should be able to claw back or reclaim pay and bonuses in certain instances. The measure was aimed at making sure bankers don't get huge payouts for making risky bets that later go bad. The leaders agreed to shift some voting power at the International Monetary Fund to underrepresented countries such as China from rich ones, another sign that the developed world had accepted the changing balance of economic power. In the statement, the G20 endorsed a plan to phase out fossil fuel subsidies as a way to combat global warming, and to step up efforts to complete the Doha round of trade talks. REBALANCING GROWTH World leaders also backed a U.S.-led push for reshaping the global economy to smooth out huge surpluses in exporting powerhouses such as China and large deficits in big importing countries such as the United States. Obama wants to ditch the U.S. borrow-and-spend mold and embrace saving and investment but that means countries such as China that rely on exports for growth must also adjust. G20 leaders agreed to work together to assess how domestic policies mesh and to evaluate whether they are "collectively consistent with more sustainable and balanced growth." Countries with sustained, significant surpluses -- a description that could fit China -- pledged to strengthen domestic sources of growth, according to the communique. By the same token, countries with big deficits -- such as the United States -- pledged to support private savings. Economists have warned for years that these large imbalances could destabilize the global economy, and previous attempts to correct them have fallen flat. The United States thinks the effort will succeed this time because China and other big exporters suffered severe slumps when global trade collapsed during the recession, showing their economies were vulnerable to outside shocks. CLIMATE CHANGE Despite the show of solidarity, there were some sources of friction. Many Europeans were frustrated that little was agreed on how to pay for fighting climate change, particularly with a December climate summit in Copenhagen fast approaching. "I do not hide my concern at the slow rate of progress...It's time to get serious now, not later," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement. Kept at a distance from the G20 convention center, about 10,000 protesters marched against capitalism and the G20's agenda, some of them chanting "You're sexy, you're cute, take off that riot suit" to the police. There was only one arrest on Friday and the mood was buoyant, in contrast to protests on Thursday when there were clashes with police and dozens of arrests.

A report, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), played down the fact temperatures have risen more slowly in the past 15 years, saying there were substantial natural variations that masked a long-term warming trend.It said the Earth was set for further warming and more heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising sea levels as greenhouse gases built up in the atmosphere. The oceans would become more acidic in a threat to some marine life."It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century," according to the summary issued after a weeklong meeting in Stockholm and meant to guide policymakers in shifting towards greener energies from fossil fuels."Extremely likely" means a probability of at least 95 percent, up from 90 percent in the panel's last report in 2007 and 66 percent in 2001.The report, compiled from the work of hundreds of scientists, will face extra scrutiny this year after its 2007 report included an error that exaggerated the rate of melting of Himalayan glaciers. An outside review later found that the mistake did not affect its main conclusions.Sceptics who challenge evidence for man-made climate change and question the need for urgent action have become emboldened by the fact that temperatures have risen more slowly recently despite rising greenhouse gas emissions.The IPCC reiterated from the 2007 report that a warming trend is "unequivocal". And some effects would last far beyond the lifetimes of people now alive."As a result of our past, present and expected future emissions of carbon dioxide, we are committed to climate change and effects will persist for many centuries even if emissions of carbon dioxide stop," co-chair Thomas Stocker said.The UN's top climate official, Christiana Figueres, said the report underscored a need for urgent action to combat global warming. Governments have promised to agree a UN deal by the end of 2015 to restrict emissions."To steer humanity out of the high danger zone, governments must step up immediate climate action and craft an agreement in 2015 that helps to scale up and speed up the global response," she said.The report said that temperatures were likely to rise by between 0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius (0.5 to 8.6 Fahrenheit) by the late 21st century. The low end of the range would only be achieved if governments sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions.And it said world sea levels could rise by between 26 and 82 cm (10 to 32 inches) by the late 21st century, driven up by melting ice and an expansion of water as it warms, in a threat to coastal cities from Shanghai to San Francisco.

Climate change and its threat to Asia-Pacific economies grabbed attention at a regional trade summit in Vietnam where some leaders pressed for urgent action against greenhouse gas emissions. According to a draft of their final communique, the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting will pledge to accelerate the development of new technologies and alternative energy sources. The statement echoed a call from leaders such as New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who said on Friday climate change should be a top priority for the trade-focused group. The video game industry's own clash of the titans reboots this week with the midnight launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Sunday's debut of Nintendo's Wii. "The dire economic effects of unchecked climate change should be addressed by APEC because of the organisation's primary concern for growth and development," she told an audience of business leaders on Friday. "Without a commitment to sustainability, we will likely get neither in future," Clark said. APEC members account for nearly half of the world's global trade and include some of its top polluting nations -- the United States and China -- as well as major energy suppliers such as Canada and Australia. In the draft statement, the group "encouraged member countries to transition to low-carbon energy systems and called for rapid transfer of low-carbon technologies to lower-income economies." They also asked APEC energy ministers to assess how the group could promote cleaner energy and address climate change in 2007. The Hanoi summit is being held a day after global talks in Nairobi to widen the fight against climate change ended in gridlock. Those talks stalled on setting steps to extend the UN's Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 to rein in emissions mainly from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars widely blamed for heating the planet. Australia, which refuses to sign Kyoto because it would hurt the country's fossil-fuel reliant economy, is using the APEC summit to push for Asia-wide emissions trading as part of a planned "new-Kyoto" pact. With climate change shaping up as a key issue in elections next year, Prime Minister John Howard recently overturned his blanket opposition to carbon trading to fight global warning. The video game industry's own clash of the titans reboots this week with the midnight launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Sunday's debut of Nintendo's Wii. He has set up a task force with business to look at how Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter, could be part of a global trading scheme. Howard told business leaders on Saturday he did not believe everything that is said about climate change. "I am, nonetheless, of the view that the accumulation of sensible scientific opinion suggests that the level of greenhouse gas emissions is potentially dangerous," Howard said. "And even if, at a minimum, we adopt the insurance principle, it's important that the world do something about it," he added. In Hanoi, Howard has pressed his case for a six-nation alliance of the world's biggest polluters -- China, India, the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan -- to promote new technologies to tackle climate change. Howard said he and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed during their talks on Friday to establish a joint working group on clean coal technology. The Australian leader also won support from President George W Bush. "John has got some very strong ideas about the use of technologies to enable countries like our own and the rest of the world to be able to grow, and at the same time, protect the environment," Bush said after their meeting on Friday. "I share those views," Bush said, pointing to his government's funding of research on alternative fuels and clean coal technology.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives, urged on by President Barack Obama, announced progress on Tuesday toward quick passage of legislation to fight global warming by reducing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide. At a midday White House press conference, Obama said the "historic" climate change bill moving through the House would "transform the way we produce and use energy in America." With incentives to encourage utilities, manufacturers and other companies to switch from higher-polluting oil and coal to cleaner energy alternatives, Obama said the legislation would spark a "transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet." Hours after Obama's remarks, House Democrats announced they had reached a deal on difficult agriculture issues in the legislation, clearing the way for a vote and probable passage in the chamber this week. Representative Henry Waxman, a main proponent of the climate change bill in the House, told reporters that farmers won several of the demands they had been holding out for in exchange for supporting the climate bill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was cautiously optimistic, telling reporters, it is "quite possible and maybe even probable" the bill will be debated on Friday and pass. With House passage, the climate change debate would shift to the Senate, which has not yet crafted its own bill and where passage is more complicated than in the House because Republicans could use delaying tactics. As Obama was leading the charge for climate change legislation cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 (from 2005 levels), his administration acted on another clean energy front. HELP FOR AUTOMAKERS Nearly $8 billion in Energy Department loans were announced to help automakers retool plants so they can build more fuel efficient vehicles, including electric cars and autos with improved gasoline engines. In pushing companies to reduce their carbon emissions, the climate change bill would encourage the use of alternative energy such as solar and wind, while promoting technologies to capture and store emissions from coal-burning plants. Supporting that effort, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the government had awarded its first leases for offshore wind development off the Atlantic Ocean coasts of New Jersey and Delaware. While large U.S. companies such as Duke Energy, Dow and Alcoa, have embraced the broad goals of the House climate bill, other industries criticized it. The American Petroleum Institute, representing major U.S. oil companies, called the House legislation "fundamentally flawed" and said it would "cost Americans billions of dollars in higher costs, kill jobs and will not deliver the environmental benefits promised." This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the House Democrats' climate bill could cost households an average $175 a year in added costs, while the poor would enjoy a $40 annual benefit from rebates and other breaks. Republicans had warned of $3,100 in price increases yearly and severe job losses. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency estimated an average household cost per year of $80-$111, or 22 cents to 30 cents a day. Meanwhile, Republican Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, an outspoken critic of the Democratic climate change bill, asked the Justice Department to investigate whether General Motors and Chrysler can legally lobby in favor of global warming legislation because of the government bailouts of those firms. GM is a member of the United States Climate Action Partnership, which has advocated climate legislation along the lines of the House bill. Farm-state lawmakers already have succeeded in adding help for rural electricity companies and talks reportedly were continuing on farmer land-use issues. Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner, said that even with the new concessions to rural areas, "the core of this legislation remains the same: a job-killing tax increase that will hit every single American, especially middle class families in the heartland of America."

A rapidly growing population, climate change and degradation of land and water resources are likely to make the world more vulnerable to food insecurity and challenge the task of feeding its people by 2050, the United Nations' food agency said. The world would have to boost cereals output by 1 billion tons and produce 200 million extra tons of livestock products a year by 2050 to feed a population projected at 9 billion people, up from 7 billion now, according to UN estimates. Intensive farming of the past decades has helped to feed millions of hungry people but it has often led to degradation of land and water systems on which food production depends, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday. "These systems at risk may simply not be able to contribute as expected in meeting human demands by 2050. The consequences in terms of hunger and poverty are unacceptable. Remedial action needs to be taken now," FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said. A quarter of the earth's land is highly degraded, another 8 percent is moderately degraded, while 36 percent is stable or slightly degraded and 10 percent ranked as improving, the FAO said in its report - State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture. Water scarcity is growing as salinisation and pollution of groundwater, as well as degradation of water bodies and water-related ecosystems, rise, the report said. In many large rivers, only 5 percent of former water volumes remain in-stream and some rivers such as China's Huang He (Yellow River) no longer reach the sea year-round. Large lakes and inland seas have shrunk and half the wetlands of Europe and North America no longer exist, the Rome-based FAO said. With the increasing competition for land and water for food and feed in agriculture as well as industry and urban development uses, the challenge of providing sufficient food for everyone has never been greater, it said. Almost 1 billion people are now undernourished, with 578 million people in Asia and 239 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the FAO said. In developing countries, even if agricultural output doubled by 2050 as expected to feed the world, one person in 20 would still risk being undernourished, an equivalent to 370 million hungry people, most of whom would be in Africa and Asia, it said. STEPS TO TAKE Future agricultural production would have to rise faster than population growth for nutrition to improve and for food insecurity and hunger to recede, the FAO said. That would have to occur largely on existing farming land with improvements coming from sustainable intensification that uses land and water efficiently without harming them, it said. There have been warning signs of a slowdown of agricultural output growth rates in many areas to only half of what they were during the green revolution, it said, referring to a period in the 1960s and 1970s when farm yields got a boost through intensive practices and new seed varieties. Innovative farming practices such as conservation agriculture, agro-forestry, integrated crop-livestock systems and integrated irrigation-aquaculture systems can help boost food production while limiting impacts on ecosystems, it said. Most irrigation systems across the world perform below their capacity, so improving the efficiency of water use by farmers with improved management of resources and modern technology would be crucial, the FAO said. Gross investment needs between 2007 and 2050 for irrigation development and management are estimated at almost $1 trillion, while land protection and development, soil conservation and flood control would require around $160 billion in the same period, the report said.

"The escalation of military operations by the Russian Federation in Ukraine is leading to escalating human rights violations," Guterres said in a recorded speech at the opening of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. "We must show all people in Ukraine that we stand by them in their time of need." In the same speech, Guterres said that a report due to be published later on Monday by a U.N. panel on adaptation to climate change represented "another death knell for the world we know", and urged compliance with the 2015 Paris accord.

To derive an answer, every aspect of Venus requires examination. That includes the way its face has metamorphosed over time. Earth has plate tectonics, the gradual migration of continent-size geologic jigsaw pieces on its surface — a game-changing sculptor that crafts an exuberance of diverse volcanoes, giant mountain ranges and vast ocean basins. Venus doesn’t have plate tectonics. But according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it may possess a quirky variation of that process: Parts of its surface seem to be made up of blocks that have shifted and twisted about, contorting their surroundings as they went. These boogying blocks, thin and flat slices of rock referred to as campi (Latin for “fields”), can be as small as Ireland or as expansive as Alaska. They were found using data from NASA’s Magellan orbiter mission, the agency’s last foray to Venus. In the early 1990s, it used radar to peer through the planet’s obfuscating atmosphere and map the entire surface. Taking another look at these maps, scientists found 58 campi scattered throughout the planet’s lava-covered lowlands. These campi are bordered by lines of small mountain ranges and grooves, features that have also been warped and scarred over time. What made them? According to Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at North Carolina State University and the study’s lead author, there is only one reasonable explanation: Essentially dragged around by the flowing mantle below, the campi “have been shimmying around the place, just like pack ice.” Campi moving toward immobile land would cause the ground to crumple up, forming mountains. One moving away would have stretched the land, opening grooves. And along these boundaries, campi moving side-to-side would have left strain marks and etchings. That this deformation took place in the lowlands of Venus is significant. The lava smothering them is anywhere between 750 and 150 million years old, making these landscapes some of the planet’s youngest. That means the tectonic two-step of these campi happened relatively recently in the solar system’s history. But is this dance still happening today? NASA’s VERITAS and Europe’s EnVision missions will find out. Equipped with their own advanced radar systems, these orbiters will examine these campi in high-resolution, allowing scientists to ascertain if any have shimmied about since the days of Magellan. If they have, then it will further evidence a long-harboured notion: Venus is tectonically active, if not as hyperactive or as dynamic as Earth. Long ago, Venus had an ocean’s worth of water, for potentially billions of years. This could have made plate tectonics possible, as liquid water permits plates to break, bend and flow. This process also regulates the climate by burying and erupting carbon, preventing worlds from undergoing runaway global warming that would render them uninhabitable. But one of several possible apocalypses — perhaps multiple volcanic cataclysms — turned Venus into an arid hellscape, and its plate tectonics would have shut down. Consequently, for the past billion years or so, the entire planet’s surface was a solitary, stagnant and largely static plate. But that doesn’t mean the planet has become quaver-free. Thanks to missions like Magellan, scientists have previously spotted fault networks, rift zones and mountain ridges — the scar tissue left by both ancient and somewhat more contemporary movement. If this new study is correct, and entire swaths of Venus have been recently jiggling about, then the planet’s surface “is more mobile than people have conventionally assumed,” said Joseph O’Rourke, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University who wasn’t involved with the work. Explaining why Venus has this surprising tectonic tempo would have hefty implications. There are countless Earth- and Venus-size worlds in the cosmos, and their tectonic activity will also determine their fates. But “we can’t claim to understand any rocky world in the solar system or beyond if we can’t understand Earth and its nearest neighbour,” O’Rourke said. Venus, and its myriad surprises, certainly isn’t making that task easy. © 2021 The New York Times Company

In a statement to media, Scholz highlighted the countries' common aims, such as fighting climate change, and the importance of cooperation between democracies. However, his comments on Russia's invasion of Ukraine contrasted with those of Modi, who has called for a ceasefire but resisted western calls to condemn the Kremlin's actions, which they describe as a "special military operation". A week after agreeing for the first time to send heavy weapons to Ukraine to support its fight, Scholz appealed once more to Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops. Modi, whose government procures most of its military hardware from Russia, said dialogue was the only way to a reach a solution. “We believe that there will be no winner in this war, everyone will lose. We are in favour of peace,” said Modi, whose visit to Europe will also take him to Denmark and France. Modi, who has not held a single press conference in India since becoming prime minister in 2014, did not take questions after reading out from prepared statements. His visit comes days after Scholz's first trip to Asia, when, in a departure from his predecessors, he went to Japan and not China as German foreign policy shifts to focusing on strengthening alliances with democratic allies. Germany is also seeking to diversify its trade relations in Asia to reduce its reliance on China, which it has recognised as a strategic rival. German trade with India, the world's second-most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people, was less than 10% of its trade with China in 2021. India is one of the guest countries Germany will invite to attend the G7 summit it is hosting in June, a German government spokesman said earlier on Monday. ($1 = 0.9510 euros)

One proof of that victory is that it’s hard to define what “technology” even is. Tech is more like a coat of new paint on everything than a definable set of products or industries. Health care is tech. Entertainment is tech. Schools are tech. Money is tech. Transportation is tech. We live through tech. Technology is also in a liminal phase where the promise of what might be coming next coexists with the complicated reality of what is happening now. We’re grappling with the benefits and the drawbacks of the still relatively recent popularity of smartphones in billions of pockets, online shopping and the social media megaphones that both help us build community and tear us apart. Many people are also leapfrogging ahead to a future in which computers might increasingly predict cancer, beam internet connections from space, control weapons and blur the line between what’s real and virtual. The “ugh, now what?!” stage of technology is colliding with the “what’s next?!” phase. It’s both exciting and unsettling. It’s confusing to know how to shape technology that exists today to best serve human needs, and also do the same for an imagined future that may never come. Package deliveries by drone and driverless cars were among the technologies that insiders predicted would be relatively common by now. (They’re still both far from that.) It’s reasonable to expect that some of today’s promised innovations will take a while to go mainstream, if they ever do. What may be most unusual about this “what’s next” moment in technology is that it’s happening relatively out in the open, with billions of people and power brokers watching or involved. Steve Jobs and Apple dreamed up the first modern smartphone mostly in secret — although, people gossiped about the iPhone long before it was introduced in 2007. Today’s Apple and a zillion other companies are testing driverless cars on public roads and with regulators and the public peering over their shoulders. This is one example of what happens when technology is no longer confined to shiny gadgets or pixels on a screen. When technology is woven into everything, it doesn’t sneak up on us. Once, perhaps, technology felt like things that magical tech elves invented in their workshops and handed over for humans to adore. No more. Technology is normal, not magic. And — like everything else in the world — it can be good and bad. That can sometimes feel disappointing, but it’s also healthy. We have all grown a little savvier about the nuanced effects of technology in our lives. Technology is neither the cause of nor the solution to all of life’s problems. (Yes, “Simpsons” nerds, I see you.) Uber and similar on-demand ride services are handy to both passengers and people who want a flexible job. Those services also helped clog roads despite early promises that they would ease traffic, and might have helped popularise a form of perilous work. Technology in our homes helped us muddle through work, school and a social life during the past couple of years. And yet it’s so hard to make a stupid printer work. Technology didn’t cause the coronavirus pandemic, nor did it invent vaccines and distribute them to billions of people. Social media has contributed to social divisions in the US, but it’s just one of the forces of polarisation. Technology is probably not the magical answer to climate change, nor to climbing rates of violence in parts of the US Technology can assist us in finding the community that we need, but it can’t do the difficult work of sustaining those connections. I hope that we’ve become sceptical but not cynical about the forces of technology. We can believe that tech can help, and we can also keep in mind that sometimes it can do harm. And sometimes tech doesn’t matter much at all. Technology alone does not change the world. We do. ©2021 The New York Times Company

The comments by presidential spokesman Rego Barros came after governors of states in the Brazilian Amazon told President Jair Bolsonaro that they needed the money to help fight the record wildfires in the world’s largest tropical rainforest. “The Brazilian government, through its president, is open to receiving financial support from organisations and countries. This money, when it enters the country, will have the total governance of the Brazilian people,” Barros said. Separately, a diplomatic source in Brasilia told Reuters the Brazilian government had also accepted 10 million pounds from Britain to fight the fires. Bolsonaro’s press office was not immediately available to comment on the information. Earlier on Tuesday, Bolsonaro had said he would only consider accepting a $20 million offer of aid from the Group of Seven wealthy nations if French President Emmanuel Macron withdrew the “insults” against him. Bolsonaro and Macron have been embroiled in a deeply personal and public war of words in recent days, with Bolsonaro mocking Macron’s wife and accusing the French leader of disrespecting Brazil’s sovereignty. Macron has called Bolsonaro a liar and said Brazilian women are “probably ashamed” of him. The office for the French president declined to comment. Brazil’s president is finding himself increasingly isolated on the global stage over his response to the blazes, which threaten what many view as a key bulwark against global climate change. The far-right government’s response could threaten Brazil’s trade deals and powerful agribusiness sector, which is a crucial driver of its recession-plagued economy. “We think that it’s not the moment to turn down money,” Flávio Dino, the governor of Maranhao state, told reporters after a meeting in which Bolsonaro pledged to agree on a package of legislative measures with the states by Sept. 5 to help prevent the surge in forest fires happening again. “The anti-environment rhetoric could expose Brazil to international sanctions,” Dino said. The number of blazes in Brazil has skyrocketed 80% in the year to date compared to the same period in 2018, according to data from space research agency INPE. About 90 km (55 miles) from Porto Velho, in the Amazon state of Rondonia, a Reuters witness saw houses abandoned due to the fierce forest fires. There were isolated patches of rain on Tuesday, but not enough to put out the fires, he said. Widespread rain that could snuff the fires out are likely weeks away, according to weather data and two experts. A local farmer, who declined to give his name, said he expected the fires to worsen next week when the forest is usually at its driest. PUBLIC SPAT G7 leaders pledged the $20 million after discussing the fires ravaging an area often dubbed “the lungs of the world”. The offer, which was made at a summit in France on Monday, has stirred up emotions within Bolsonaro’s nationalist government. Some officials are grateful for the much-needed help, and others view it as a colonial gesture that undermines Brazil’s control of its lands. Bolsonaro raised Macron’s ire on Sunday when the Brazilian leader responded to a Facebook post that compared the looks of his wife Michelle, 37, with Macron’s 66-year-old wife Brigitte. “Do not humiliate the man hahahah,” Bolsonaro wrote. Macron, who has accused Bolsonaro of lying about climate change policy, called the remarks “extremely disrespectful” to his wife. On Tuesday morning, Bolsonaro said he would only countenance accepting G7 money if Macron retracted his earlier comments. “First of all, Macron has to withdraw his insults. He called me a liar. Before we talk or accept anything from France ... he must withdraw these words then we can talk,” Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasilia. “First he withdraws, then offers (aid), then I will answer.” Barros, the president’s official spokesman, told reporters later that Brazil was open to accepting international aid if it could decide how the money is spent. INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE US President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted his support for Bolsonaro, an ideological ally on the environment, China and trade. The Brazilian president “is working very hard on the Amazon fires and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil - Not easy. He and his country have the full and complete support of the USA!” Trump tweeted. Bolsonaro responded, also on Twitter: “We’re fighting the wildfires with great success. Brazil is and will always be an international reference in sustainable development.” The fires are not limited to Brazil, with at least 10,000 sq km burning in Bolivia, near its border with Paraguay and Brazil. Neighbours Peru and Colombia on Tuesday asked Bolsonaro to attend a meeting on Sept 6 to discuss the disaster and come up with a long-term coordinated plan to stop deforestation. Norway’s environment minister on Tuesday urged representatives of oil firm Equinor, fertiliser-maker Yara and aluminium producer Norsk Hydro to make sure their supply chains in Brazil are not linked to deforestation.

Measuring 610 square miles, D28 is slightly larger than Oahu, Hawaii, and some are worried that its fracture from the Amery Ice Shelf is a signal of climate change. “This is normal behaviour for an ice sheet to lose mass like this,” said Helen Amanda Fricker, a glaciologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Fricker is part of the team that helped identify the calving event, the technical term for the split. She said such events happen roughly every 60 or 70 years. “The danger with this event is that it shouldn’t be interpreted out of context.” It is true that atmospheric warming as a result of the greenhouse gasses emitted from burning fossil fuels has contributed to the melting of glaciers and ice sheets around the world, including in Antarctica. Between 2012 and 2016 Antarctica lost 219 billion tons of ice, according to the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. But most of that loss occurred in West Antarctica. D28, by contrast, is in East Antarctica. Ice shelves are floating extensions of glaciers, some of which can cover more than 20,000 square miles of land. Those glaciers shed ice periodically as a way of balancing the weight they gain when snow falls on their centres. Absent that behaviour, they would “just grow and grow and grow — like not cutting your hair,” said Daniela Jansen, a geophysicist with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. An ice shelf “acts like a cork to hold in the flow of the ice that’s inland of the ice sheet,” said Robert L. Hawley an associate professor of earth sciences at Dartmouth College. If too much of the ice shelf is removed during a calving event, it can’t hold back the rest of the sheet anymore, potentially setting it up for a series of collapses. “It is like you are removing a cork from a champagne bottle,” Jansen said. In the case of D28, which gets its name from a classification system used by the US National Ice Centre, there’s no indication that the ice shelf left behind is unstable. And as for sea level rise, “The ice has already been afloat for decades so there will be absolutely no impact on sea level,” Adrian Luckman, chairman of the geography department at Swansea University in Wales, said by email. Geographic events of this scale “are fascinating reminders of big things happening in remote corners of the planet, even though they are a natural part of the growth and calving cycle of ice shelves,” said Luckman, who added that we are in “the golden age of satellite earth observation.” Being able to track events like this in real time has transformed what we know about the most remote parts of Antarctica, he said, “as well as the rapidity with which these big calving events can be detected and reported upon.”       © 2019 New York Times News Service

Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - From a Greek nunnery turned into a marijuana farm by two men posing as gardeners to a South African man with a gunshot wound told by a doctor to "walk the pain off," the world was full of weird news in 2007. A Moscow woman set fire to her ex-husband's penis as he sat naked watching television and drinking vodka. The couple divorced three years ago but continued to share a small flat. "I was burning like a torch," the wounded ex-husband told Tvoi Den newspaper. "I don't know what I did to deserve this." In another unusual living arrangement, a German man left his dead mother seated in her favorite armchair at their shared home for two years after her death of natural causes at age 92. Yet not everything that smelled like a corpse was really dead in 2007. In the German town of Kaiserslautern, police broke into a darkened flat expecting to find a corpse after neighbors complained of a nasty smell seeping out into the hallway. But instead they found a tenant with very smelly feet asleep in bed next to a pile of extremely foul-smelling laundry. There were sadly many deaths in 2007 that were hardly noticed, such as in Zagreb, where a Croatian man who boarded a night tram and died in his seat rode through the city for more than six hours before the driver discovered he was dead. CORGI MEAT BALLS? Unusual diets made headlines in 2007 -- such as: "No more crispy duck at Beijing toilets." Food stalls attached to Beijing's public toilets were banned ahead of the Olympics after complaints over toilets with poor sanitation. Also in China, 66-year-old Jiang Musheng said 40 years of swallowing live tree frogs and rats helped him avoid intestinal pain and made him strong. British artist Mark McGowan ate a meal of meatballs made from a dead corgi dog in a protest against animal cruelty. He said the corgi, which died from natural causes, tasted terrible. Criminals filled odd news headlines around the world. In the United States, two Colorado men were accused of plotting to kill a man with rattlesnakes in a dispute over a $60,000 poker debt. "It's a story out of the Wild West -- there's poker, rattlesnakes and unsavory characters," said Lance Clem, of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. "You've got a bunch of snakes becoming involved with a bunch of snakes." In Sarajevo, two armed men disguised as Muslim women in burqas held up a bank and escaped with $40,000. A Zimbabwe man stole a bus because he needed transport to get his driving license. A German bus driver threw a 20-year-old off because he said she was too sexy for his bus. "He opened the door and shouted 'Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic'," the woman said. In La Paz, the winner of a Bolivian beauty contest was stripped of her title moments after her coronation when judges noticed she was wearing false hair plaits. Climate change found its way into weird news. A Hummer owner in Russia's St. Petersburg gave activists the green light to pelt his oversized vehicle with rotten eggs and tomatoes. A 60-year-old German man stunned lawyers during his appeal hearing on a flashing conviction by stripping off in court. Every story needs a happy ending and Bangkok delivered for this one. A 76-year-old Malay Muslim woman from southern Thailand got on the wrong bus 25 years ago and got lost, ending up living as a beggar at the other end of the country. But in 2007 she was finally reunited with her family.

Back in the 1990s, Gao received a letter from an old friend who was living in the United States. The letter included a photo clipped from a newspaper, showing President Bill Clinton as he announced a plan to outfit 1 million homes with solar power. “It was like a lightbulb,” Gao recalled, as we were sitting in his office in Changzhou, about 100 miles northwest of Shanghai. Clinton’s initiative caused Gao — a chemist by training — to think that he should start a company to meet the coming demand for solar equipment. That company, Trina Solar, has since made Gao a billionaire. For the inspiration, Gao is grateful to the United States. But he is also befuddled by the American approach to climate change. “There is really conflicting policy,” he said. He rattled off the names of recent presidents — Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump — and moved his hand back and forth, to describe the sharp policy changes from one to the next. Those changes, he added, had hurt the solar industry and other clean-energy efforts: If the United States took a more consistent approach, the global struggle to slow climate change would be easier. Many Americans have come to believe a different story — namely, that US climate policy hardly matters compared with the actions of China, India and other countries that account for a growing share of emissions. As some congressional Republicans have been asking this week, why should the United States act to slow climate change unless other countries do so first? But that view is not consistent with history, either the recent history of climate diplomacy or the broader history of American influence. “There aren’t many other areas of policy where we say, ‘Why don’t we let everyone else lead, and we’ll follow?’” as Nathaniel Keohane of the Environmental Defence Fund says. The United States, for all its problems, remains the world’s most powerful country. When it wants to influence the policies of other countries, it can often do so, especially when those countries see it as being in their own interests to change. Climate is just such an issue. Leaders of many other countries understand that climate change and extreme weather can cause problems for them. The United States can’t simply dictate terms. Both China and India, for example, will remain more reliant on coal than Biden administration officials wish. But the United States can often have an effect. Relative to many other issues, in fact, climate diplomacy is sometimes easier: President Xi Jinping has largely rejected US entreaties on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea, but he has been willing to deal on climate change. President Barack Obama and Xi came to multiple agreements that involved both countries moving to reduce emissions. They started small, with the relatively narrow topic of refrigerants, and expanded from there. As my colleague Brad Plumer says, “There’s a reasonable argument the Obama administration’s and China’s joint agreement on climate change in 2014 helped set the table for the Paris climate agreement.” Crucial to these efforts was a United States willing to act at home: It’s much easier to agree to take economic risks when your main global competitor is doing the same. And the United States still leads the world in per-person emissions, about 75% above China, according to recent numbers. The Trump administration slowed global efforts on climate change by dismissing it as a threat and allowing more pollution at home. A Chinese official last week mocked the United States for “the lost four years.” The Biden administration is now trying to reverse course, with an emissions-reduction goal that’s larger than many advocates expected. The cynical view — that the United States can only follow, not lead, on climate policy — has it backward. As Gao told me, one of the biggest obstacles to progress on climate change has been the lack of consistent American leadership. © 2021 New York Times News Service

Dhaka, Jan 27 (bdnews24.com)—Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said climate change will not only disrupt the lives of millions of people on Asia and the Pacific region, but also harm the national and regional stability. Terming natural disasters and shortage of fuel large barriers to development of the region, she said: "Global warming has put us all at serious risk." The prime minister was speaking at the inaugural session of the CIRDAP second ministerial meeting on 'Rural development in Asia and the Pacific' at Dhaka Sheraton hotel on Wednesday. Representatives from 14 member states of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development in Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) and a few non-member countries are taking part in the meeting, being held 23 years after the first one in 1987. Hasina said urbanisation process is intensifying and pressure on fuel mounting because of the influence of globalisation. She urged the leaders of the region to look at the problems, resulting from climate change and globalisation, and said: "Otherwise, rural development and poverty eradication programmes will not bring any sustainable result." The prime minister said an increasing number of natural disasters and the current economic meltdown have put food security of the poor people at stake. "We have to use our wisdom maintaining our united stance to find out practical solutions to the common problems," she told the ministers. The prime minister emphasised boosting investment and exports to offset the negatives of globalisation and said: "We have to identify new challenges and potentials of globalisation from regional perspective." She mentioned that threats of climate change on low-lying countries have already been identified. Hasina listed her government's poverty reduction measures, including formulation of a poverty reduction strategy paper, expansion of social safety net, increase in agriculture subsidy, and measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply for irrigation. She said the government is going to implement the 'one-house one-farm' programme from this year. CIRDAP chairperson and local government and rural development minister Syed Ashraful Islam, state minister Jahangir Kabir Nanok, rural development and cooperatives division secretary Rokeya Sultana, and CIRDAP director general Durga P Paudyal also spoke on the occasion.

The first UN special session on climate change focused on the world's rich countries on Tuesday, as policy-makers urged long-standing polluters to shoulder much of the burden for cutting greenhouse gases. British economist Nicholas Stern said poor and developing countries also need to participate in a "global deal" to curb the human-made emissions that swaddle the planet like a blanket. Stern, author of a path-breaking report last year on the economic consequences of climate change, said the global target for reducing greenhouse gases -- notably the carbon dioxide released by coal-fired electric plants and petroleum-powered vehicles -- should be a cut 50 percent by 2050. "Because of reasons of past responsibility and better access to resources, the rich countries should take much bigger objectives than that 50 percent," he said. "They should be looking for around 75 percent cuts." That responsibility could extend to financing cuts in emissions in other countries, said Stern, formerly head of the British government's economic service and now at the London School of Economics. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sounded a similar note in earlier remarks at the United Nations. "We know that the gains from global prosperity have been disproportionately enjoyed by the people in industrialized countries and that the consequences of climate change will be disproportionately felt by the poorest who are least responsible for it -- making the issue of climate change one of justice as much as economic development," Brown said. "The rich world has to reduce emissions far more drastically than it has done so to date," said Sunita Narain, director of India's Center for Science and Environment. "The political leadership is very high on rhetoric but very low on real action when it comes to delivering the goods on climate change." Global climate change has been blamed for droughts, floods, rising seas and more intense storms, and these cannot be explained by natural climate variability, John Holdren, an environmental scientist at Harvard University, told the gathering. The United States, one of the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, made no statement at Tuesday's sessions, and has repeatedly rejected firm targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, maintaining this would hurt the US economy. Instead, Washington has called for voluntary rather than mandatory emissions cuts. President George W. Bush agreed with other leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations in June to make "substantial" but unspecified reductions in climate-warming emissions and to negotiate a new global climate pact that would extend and broaden the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. The two-day climate meeting at the United Nations, which concludes on Wednesday, is the first of its kind in substance and in style. The gathering is carbon-neutral, with all emissions from air travel and the operation of the UN Headquarters building in New York being offset by investment in a biomass fuel project in Kenya.

The new settlement, a tight cluster of squat homes made of drywall, was built without electricity and tucked between a noisy highway and a river. Officials acknowledged the flood risk but promised residents that within three months, they would be moved into permanent houses, recalled Themba Lushaba, who was resettled with his girlfriend. Thirteen years and four devastating floods later, Lushaba, 34, remains in the settlement, still waiting for that permanent dwelling. The most recent flooding, which followed torrential rain last week, was the worst yet. Water rose past his belly button in the pitch black, forcing him and his neighbours to take refuge in a distant field, shivering beneath umbrellas all night. South Africa suffered one of the worst natural disasters in its recorded history when last week’s storms in the Durban area killed at least 448 people, destroyed thousands of homes and left behind shocking scenes of devastation. Shipping containers were toppled like Lego blocks onto a major highway. Vacation houses, their support pillars washed away, dangled from mud-streaked hillsides. Tin shack homes were buried. Some scientists attribute the intensity of the storms to climate change. But the catastrophe has underscored an often overlooked reality of the fight against extreme weather: Protecting people is as much about tackling social issues as environmental ones. The failure of government leaders in South Africa to resolve a long-standing housing crisis — fuelled by poverty, unemployment and inequality — played a major role in the high death toll from last week’s storms, activists and scholars said. “Very often, not just in South Africa, but in many other developing countries as well, there simply isn’t the money, there’s not the expertise, and there isn’t the government will to invest properly in protecting the poorest in society,” said Jasper Knight, a professor of physical geography at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Much of the destruction occurred in makeshift settlements of flimsy structures that were washed away. Poor South Africans often settle in these communities because they are close to job opportunities that do not exist in their far-flung hometowns. Many also cannot afford more stable, permanent housing. So they end up building tin shacks wherever they can find land, usually in locations unsuitable for housing. In the case of Durban and the surrounding area, those locations are often in low-lying valleys next to rivers or on the loose dirt of steep slopes — among the most dangerous places to be when severe rainstorms strike, as they did a week ago. Even many planned communities across the region occupy environmentally unsafe terrain, in part the legacy of the apartheid government forcing the Black majority to live in neglected areas. South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, during an address to the nation Monday night, acknowledged the fatal shortcomings of the government’s housing policy. The process of recovering from the devastation, he said, “will also involve the construction of houses in suitably located areas and measures to protect the residents of these areas from such adverse weather events in the future.” While heavy rains are common this time of year, Durban is one of several cities on Africa’s southeast coast that has seen an increase in rainfall that some scientists attribute to climate change. In just about two days, eThekwini, the municipality that includes Durban and surrounding communities, experienced the equivalent of a month’s rainfall, scientists at the University of Cape Town said. That drenching weather came as the region was still drying off from destructive rain and flooding in 2017 and 2019 — and as hundreds of residents displaced by floods back then were still languishing in transit camps. In 2019, more than 70 people were killed. Rebuilding after 2017 was slowed by a complicated process for obtaining government contracts to build new homes, said Mbulelo Baloyi, the spokesperson for the housing department in KwaZulu-Natal, the province that includes Durban. When areas that were still recovering from those floods were flattened again in 2019, the national government stepped in, and the process was streamlined, Baloyi said. The government is already erecting modest, prefabricated homes for transit camps for some of the estimated 40,000 people who have been displaced by this year’s flooding. In 2018, the city of Durban identified growing informal settlements as a significant challenge in the city’s response to climate change. And after the 2019 floods, the city introduced a plan calling for creating more renewable energy sources, reducing car transportation and making informal settlements climate-resilient. Despite these commitments, city officials still have not done enough to tackle the devastating consequences of climate changes through economic and social development, said Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, a professor in climate, water and food systems at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Creating job opportunities in various parts of the country could alleviate the desperation that leads some people to stay in informal settlements, which are often the only places they can find accommodation in crowded cities where most of the jobs are, he said. Lushaba’s family owns a compound in Uzumbe, a rural community an hour south of Durban, with three rondavels standing next to a four-room home made of concrete blocks. But with no job prospects in the area, he left in 2008 to move into a tin shack in Durban, where his mother had lived since 1996 to do domestic work. Like so many people in a country where the unemployment rate is now over 35%, Lushaba has been unable to find a steady job. He occasionally works security in a nearby community. In 2009, Lushaba was resettled when local leaders used a provincial law to remove shack settlements from the view of visitors for the World Cup. He is desperate for a job so that he can rent a permanent home, and he is losing hope that the government will follow through on its commitment to provide one. “They only tell us that we must wait our turn,” he said. “The government is always making a lot of promises but is never coming back to do it.” The land under Lushaba’s transit camp, in the Isipingo township, was once a wetland buffer for the neighbouring Sipingo River, he said. The boxlike, low-slung structures have a maze of muddy alleyways between them. Black wires carrying the unsanctioned power connections that residents hooked up for themselves are splayed about the pavement. In 2011, within two years of moving to the camp, it flooded for the first time, Lushaba said. It happened again in 2017, 2019 and now last week. Each time, the residents go through the same ritual: They head for higher ground, allow the water to subside, then have to rake the mud out of their single-room homes and take stock of which belongings can be saved and which must be thrown out. Scenes like that were playing out across the area this week. In Inanda township, north of Durban, in a neighbourhood of concrete block homes beneath a collapsed bridge, a heap of mud, broken trees, mattresses and other furniture were all that remained of a home where four family members were believed to have been buried. On Tuesday, Lushaba and his girlfriend propped a light blue mattress on top of a sofa they were drying in front of their home. Shoes, a fan and other items sat drying atop the corrugated tin roof of their home. “It hurts me to stay here,” he said. “It’s dirty all over.” Ravi Pillay, the provincial executive in charge of economic development, said Lushaba’s grievances were understandable. “I think it was poorly located, in a bit of a low-lying area,” he said of the Isipingo transit camp. “At that time, there wasn’t the kind of appreciation of the flooding risk that we have now.” Some wonder, though, whether government officials even now have it in them to move with the necessary urgency. About one-quarter of eThekwini’s population lives in informal settlements, according to Hope Magidimisha-Chipungu, an associate professor in town and regional planning at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Local planning authorities have been unable to keep up with the increasing demand for housing, she wrote in an email response to questions. “The port city is heading towards a very bleak and catastrophic future,” she said, “if measures are not put in place to reduce the impacts of flooding in the future.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

“We want to go too fast,” said Jean-Pierre Door, a conservative lawmaker with a lot of angry constituents. “People are being pushed to the limit.” Three years ago, Montargis became a centre of the Yellow Vest social uprising, an angry protest movement over an increase in gasoline taxes that was sustained, sometimes violently, for more than year by a much broader sense of alienation felt by those in the outlying areas that France calls its “periphery.” The uprising was rooted in a class divide that exposed the resentment of many working-class people, whose livelihoods are threatened by the clean-energy transition, against the metropolitan elites, especially in Paris, who can afford electric cars and can bicycle to work, unlike those in the countryside. Now as Door and others watch the global climate talks underway in Glasgow, where experts and officials are warning that immediate action must be taken in the face of a looming environmental catastrophe, the economic and political disconnect that nearly tore apart France three years ago remains just below the surface. There are plenty of people in the “periphery” who understand the need to transition to clean energy and are already trying to do their part. But if the theme of COP26, as the Glasgow summit is known, is how time is running out to save the planet, the immediate concern here is how money is running out before the end of the month. Household gas prices are up 12.6% in the past month alone, partly the result of shortages linked to the coronavirus. Electric cars seem fancifully expensive to people encouraged not so long ago to buy fuel-efficient diesel automobiles. A wind turbine that will slash property values is not what a retired couple wants just down the road. “If Parisians love wind turbines so much, why not rip up the Bois de Vincennes and make an attraction of them?” asked Magali Cannault, who lives near Montargis, alluding to the vast park to the east of Paris. For President Emmanuel Macron, facing an election in April, the transition to clean energy has become a delicate subject. He has portrayed himself as a green warrior, albeit a pragmatic one, but knows that any return to the barricades of the Yellow Vests would be disastrous for his election prospects. Each morning, at her farm a few miles from town, Cannault gazes from her doorstep at a 390-foot mast built recently to gauge wind levels for proposed turbines. “Nobody ever consulted us on this.” The only sounds as she spoke on a misty, damp morning were the honking of geese and the crowing of roosters. Claude Madec-Cleï, the mayor of the nearby village of Griselles, nodded. “We are not considered,” he said. “President Macron is courting the Greens.” In fact, with the election looming, Macron is courting just about everyone and is desperate to avoid a return of the Yellow Vests. The government has frozen household gas prices. An “energy check” worth $115 will be sent next month to some 6 million people judged most in need. An “inflation indemnity” for the same amount also will be sent to about 38 million people earning less than $2,310 a month. Gasoline inflation has been a main driver of these measures. Sophie Tissier, who organized a Yellow Vest protest in Paris in 2019, said a heavy police response made it “very hard to restart the movement,” despite what she called “a grave social crisis and rampant anger.” She added that inequalities were so extreme in France that “it prevents us making an ecological transition.” The president touts the realism of his energy proposals. These combine the development of new small-reactor nuclear power with the embrace of wind power and other renewables. To his left, the Green movement wants nuclear power, which accounts for 67.1% of France’s electricity needs, phased out, an adjustment so enormous that it is derided by conservatives as heralding “a return to the candlelight era.” To Macron’s right, Marine Le Pen favours the dismantling of the country’s more than 9,000 wind turbines, which account for 7.9% of France’s electricity production. In the middle, millions of French people, buffeted between concern for the planet and their immediate needs, struggle to adjust. Christine Gobet drives her small diesel car about 90 miles a day from the Montargis area to her job at an Amazon warehouse on the outskirts of Orléans, where she prepares packages and earns about $1,600 a month. Sitting at the wheel outside a garage where her diesel engine had just been replaced at a cost of about $3,000, she mocked the notion of switching to an electric car. “For people like me, electric is just out of the question,” she said. “Everything’s going up, there’s even talk of more expensive baguettes! We were pushed to diesel, told it was less polluting. Now we are told the opposite.” At the start of the Yellow Vest movement, she joined demonstrations in Montargis. It was not just financial pressure that pushed her. It was a sense that “we are not listened to, that it’s those elites up on high who decide and we just suffer the consequences.” She dropped out of the movement when it became violent. At a traffic circle on the edge of Montargis, known as the “peanut roundabout” because of its shape, traffic was blocked for two months, and stores ran out of stock. Today, she feels that little has changed. In Paris, she said, “they have everything.” Anne Hidalgo, the Paris mayor and a socialist candidate for the presidency, wants “no more cars in the city and has no time for people from the provinces who go there to work.” For working-class people like Gobet, who was mentioned in a recent 100-part series called “Fragments of France” in the newspaper Le Monde, calls in Glasgow to stop using fossil fuels and close nuclear power stations appear wildly remote from their daily lives. At 58, she illustrates a generational chasm. The world’s youth led by Greta Thunberg is on one side, convinced that no priority can be more urgent than saving the planet. On the other are older people who, as Door put it, “don’t want the last 20 years of their lives ruined by environmental measures that drive energy prices up and the value of the house they put their money in down.” The area around Montargis has attracted many retirees who want to be close to Paris without paying Paris prices, as well as many immigrants who live on the outskirts of town. Gilles Fauvin, a taxi driver with a diesel Peugeot, was at the same garage as Gobet. He said most of his business comes from taking clients with medical needs to hospitals in Orléans and Paris. The combination of plans to ban diesel cars from the capital by 2024 and pressure to switch to expensive electric cars could ruin him. “Diesel works for me,” he said. But of course, diesel cars produce several pollutants. The question for Yoann Fauvin, the owner of the garage and the taxi driver’s cousin, is whether electric cars are really better. “You have to mine the metals for the batteries in China or Chile, you have to transport them with all the carbon costs of that, you have to recycle the batteries,” he said. In front of him a classic green 1977 Citroen 2CV was being reconditioned and a diesel Citroen DS4 repaired. “This business lives from diesel,” he said. “Around here energy transformation is laughed at. It’s wealthy people who move to electric cars, the people who don’t understand what goes on around here.” Magalie Pasquet, a homemaker who heads a local association against wind power called Aire 45, said her opposition to about 75 new turbines planned for the area has nothing to do with dismissing environmental concerns. She recycles. She is careful about traveling. She composts. She wears two sweaters rather than turn up the heat. She finds the environmental idealism of the young inspiring. But the world, she believes, has put the cart before the horse. “Why destroy a landscape that attracts people to this area when the real energy issue is overconsumption?” she asked. “Local people are not consulted, and even mayors are powerless to stop these ugly turbines.” A friend, Philippe Jacob, a professor of management and marketing also involved in the movement against the turbines, said the Yellow Vest movement had stemmed from rising gasoline prices, falling purchasing power, deteriorating public services, and widespread dissatisfaction with top-down decision-making. “The same is true today, and the situation is very dangerous,” he said. “People have invested their life savings here, and nobody listens when they say planned turbines and biogas plants will mean the region is ruined.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Britain said on Saturday it deplored the escalating violence against opposition supporters in Zimbabwe a month after elections there and called for a United Nations mission to inspect human rights abuses. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is seeking an arms embargo on President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, said Britain would step up diplomatic efforts ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the former British colony. "The coming days will be critical. We will intensify international action around a UNSC discussion on Tuesday. We will press for a UN mission to investigate the violence and human rights abuses," he said in a statement. "The whole international community must speak up against the climate of fear in Zimbabwe." The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has said it won the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections, and a partial recount ordered by Mugabe confirmed it had pushed ZANU-PF into second place in parliament for the first time in 28 years. However, the official results of the presidential vote have still not been released despite the fact Mugabe has called for a re-run. "If there is a second round, the international community will insist that there are international monitors deployed and SADC and AU principles upheld," Brown said. "I welcome the positions taken by the UN Secretary General, by African leaders, by Europe, by the US and by all those who want to see a return to democracy in Zimbabwe. "We, and others, stand ready to help rebuild Zimbabwe once democracy returns. I pledge that Britain will be in the vanguard of this effort."

After announcing the lockdown on Jan 23 - two days before China started its Lunar New Year holiday - authorities cut most transport links to Wuhan and told people not to leave the central city in a bid to quarantine the respiratory virus. Coronavirus, which experts think originated in a seafood market in Wuhan that was illegally trading wildlife, has infected more than 20,000 people across China since the illness was first detected in late December. With more than 170 confirmed cases in about 24 other countries and regions - including Australia, Britain and the United States - the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Here is how authorities go about closing a city, and what it means for the people who live there. WHY WAS WUHAN SHUT DOWN? David Alexander, a professor of risk and disaster reduction at University College London, said curbing people's movements is "essential" to slow down the virus, given that China has the biggest and one of the densest populations in the world. Trains and other public transportation have been suspended, roads have been sealed off and checkpoints established at toll gates around the city. The special measures have been extended to other cities in the surrounding Hubei province. Chinese authorities have also shut down flights into and out of Wuhan. But even with strict limitations on travel, Alexander added, the government is unlikely to be able to completely contain the pathogen. "People have ingenious ways of moving around and defying authorities," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. WHAT HAPPENS DURING A SHUTDOWN? Pandemics tend to change people's behaviour as most will not risk going outside or sending their children to school if they can avoid it, said Alexander. The coronavirus outbreak is yet to be declared a pandemic, but with public gatherings banned, residents are reporting an eerie calm on the streets as people choose to stay inside their homes. Of those who do venture out, many wear surgical masks in an attempt to protect themselves from the virus. The lockdown in Wuhan prompted people to rush to supermarkets to stock up on instant noodles, vegetables and whatever else they could get their hands on. Meanwhile, across China some businesses have suspended operations while others have instructed employees to work from home. HOW COMMON ARE CITY LOCKDOWNS? While the Wuhan lockdown is unprecedented in scale, other cities have experienced shutdowns and partial closures. In 2009, authorities in Mexico City closed bars, cinemas, churches, offices and other public places to try to stop the H1N1 pandemic, also known as swine flu, from spreading. But shutdowns mainly occur in response to extreme weather events, like floods and storms, which are set to become more common with the intensifying effects of climate change, say emergency response experts. In such cases, transport suspensions are also common, albeit for different reasons. In 2012, New York City shut down train and subway services and implemented bridge and tunnel closures as it hunkered down for Hurricane Sandy. During environmental hazards, authorities generally focus on getting people out of harm's way first, said Mark Kammerbauer, an urban and architectural researcher at the Nuremberg Institute of Technology who studies disaster recovery. But, he noted, residents could be told to stay put when there is not enough time to evacuate, like in the case of a flash flood. "Essentially that means you are confined within the city," he said. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR AUTHORITIES? In Wuhan, as in other city lockdowns, it is key for authorities to anticipate the demand for goods - say, face masks or food - and keep essential services running despite many workers being afraid to leave their homes, said Alexander. Chinese authorities have told farmers to step up vegetable production, opened roads for delivery trucks and are cracking down on cases of price hiking in order to keep feeding Wuhan residents. Authorities also have to keep a close eye on residents and react quickly to any sign of infection, added Alexander. But keeping tabs on millions of people is a daunting task, especially given the virus' relatively long 14-day incubation period, said Clare Wenham, a global health policy expert at the London School of Economics (LSE). Some people carrying the virus might have left Wuhan before the quarantine was imposed, she explained. People have been spotted leaving and entering Hubei province by foot over a bridge spanning the Yangtze river, showing gaps in enforcement. WILL MORE CITIES FOLLOW WUHAN'S LEAD? While Wuhan and other Chinese cities are in virtual lockdown, replicating such measures elsewhere would be challenging, say health experts. For one thing, the costs to the economy of a complete shutdown are very high, said Alexander. With some factories halting operations and consumers staying home, efforts to contain the virus risk slowing economic growth in China. The virus impact prompted Goldman Sachs to cut its estimate for first-quarter growth to 4% from 5.6%. Another reason the Wuhan lockdown is unlikely to be replicated outside China is that similar measures are harder to implement in Western democracies, noted Wenham at the LSE. "I don't think other countries have ... the political ability to do it," she said. "Can you imagine if they try to shut down London? I just can't see the UK population being ok with that."

The United States gathered China, India and the world's other top greenhouse gas polluters in Washington on Monday to "make up for lost time" and lay the groundwork for a UN deal to fight climate change. The meeting, which US President Barack Obama called last month, groups countries representing some 75 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions to find ways to help seal a global warming pact this year. "The United States is fully engaged and ready to lead and determined to make up for lost time both at home and abroad," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told delegates from 16 major economies as well as the European Union and the United Nations. "Climate change is a clear and present danger to our world that demands immediate attention." The two-day meeting, while not expected to produce specific results, is meant to jump-start climate talks before an international meeting in Copenhagen in December to forge a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which limits climate-warming greenhouse emissions and expires in 2012. Obama's goal is to cut US emissions by about 15 percent by 2020, back to 1990 levels. The European Union and many environmentalists want the United States to go further. The major economies forum relaunches a process that began under Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, whose initiative drew skepticism from participants out of fear that it would circumvent the UN process. Bush opposed the Kyoto Protocol, saying it would hurt the US economy and unfairly exempted fast-growing economies such as China and India. Obama, who took over in January, said on Monday: "Our future on this planet depends on our willingness to address the challenge posed by carbon pollution." POSITIVE START Obama, who aims to cut US carbon emissions by more than 80 percent by 2050, announced a new scientific program called the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, modeled on the US push to succeed in the 1950s space race. Clinton touched on one sticking point in international talks -- the role that big developing countries should play -- by admitting US mistakes. "As I have told my counterparts from China and India, we want your economies to grow ... We just hope we can work together in a way to avoid the mistakes that we made that have created a large part of the problem," she said. Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said Clinton's words "erased all doubts" about the willingness of the Obama administration to support the climate fight. She told reporters that China, too, had shown a more positive approach in the meeting. "Usually the attitude of China was more the attitude of a country asking for something," she said. "This time (there) was...a willingness to give a contribution to the process." Environmentalists see a US commitment to cut emissions as essential to a global pact and welcome Obama's desire to lead after what they view as eight years of lost time under Bush. But much of Obama's ability to move forward in international talks rests with the US Congress, where getting support for a domestic climate bill in the Senate -- which requires 60 votes out 100 for passage -- may be difficult. "By working with China and India towards common goals on climate change, President Obama is sending a clear signal to Congress that his administration is committed to addressing global warming," Kevin Curtis, deputy director of the Pew Environment Group, said in a statement. Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee said they will postpone this week's planned hearings to modify existing energy and climate change legislation so panel members can continue their "productive discussions." The major economies represented at the meeting include Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States. Delegates at Monday's meeting hoped it would set the stage for success in Denmark. "We count on these meetings to make progress toward Copenhagen," said Joao Vale de Almeida, representing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the talks.

With the U.S. Capitol encircled by thousands of armed troops two weeks after a mob laid siege to it, Biden took the oath of office administered by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and became the oldest U.S. president in history at age 78. "To overcome these challenges to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity," he said in his inauguration speech. "We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this - if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts." The scaled-back inauguration ceremony was stripped of much of its usual celebratory spirit. The National Mall, typically packed with throngs of supporters, instead was filled with U.S. flags in a reminder of the pandemic Biden will confront as chief executive. Speaking on the steps of the Capitol, where supporters of then-President Donald Trump clashed with police in a chaotic assault that left five dead and stunned the world on Jan.6, Biden cast his ascension as proof that the attackers had failed to disrupt the underpinnings of American democracy. The violence prompted the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Trump last week for an unprecedented second time, accusing him of incitement after he exhorted his backers to march on the building amid false claims of election fraud. "Here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work on our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground," Biden said. "It did not happen; it will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever." Jennifer Lopez sang “America the Beautiful” and “This Land Is Your Land” during the inauguration ceremony for President Joe Biden. https://t.co/EXPUFixUPD pic.twitter.com/9GAJnvSZgw— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 20, 2021   Jennifer Lopez sang “America the Beautiful” and “This Land Is Your Land” during the inauguration ceremony for President Joe Biden. https://t.co/EXPUFixUPD pic.twitter.com/9GAJnvSZgw Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, became the first Black person, first woman and first Asian American to serve as vice president after she was sworn in by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's first Latina member. The norm-defying Trump flouted one last convention on his way out of the White House when he refused to meet with Biden or attend his successor's inauguration, breaking with a political tradition seen as affirming the peaceful transfer of power. Trump, who never conceded the Nov. 3 election, did not mention Biden by name in his final remarks as president on Wednesday morning, when he touted his administration's record and promised to be back "in some form." He then boarded Air Force One for the last time and flew to his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. Top Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence and the party's congressional leaders, attended Biden's inauguration, along with former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Biden takes office at a time of deep national unease, with the country facing what his advisers have described as four compounding crises: the pandemic, the economic downturn, climate change and racial inequality. He has promised immediate action, including a raft of executive orders on his first day in office. After a bitter campaign marked by Trump's baseless allegations of election fraud, Biden struck a conciliatory tone rarely heard from his predecessor, asking Americans who did not vote for him to give him a chance. Breaking News: Kamala Harris became the first woman — and the first woman of color — sworn in as vice president of the United States. https://t.co/tO2Vbn92S7 pic.twitter.com/qjvP31HMSr— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 20, 2021 Breaking News: Kamala Harris became the first woman — and the first woman of color — sworn in as vice president of the United States. https://t.co/tO2Vbn92S7 pic.twitter.com/qjvP31HMSr "I pledge this to you: I will be a president for all Americans," he said. "And I promise you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did." Although his remarks were directed primarily at problems at home, Biden delivered what he called a message to those beyond America's borders, promising to repair alliances frayed by Trump, lead and be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security. He made no specific mention of high-stakes disputes with North Korea, Iran and China. 'SOUL OF AMERICA' Biden's inauguration is the zenith of a five-decade career in public service that included more than three decades in the U.S. Senate and two terms as vice president under Obama. But he faces calamities that would challenge even the most experienced politician. The pandemic in the United States reached a pair of grim milestones on Trump's final full day in office on Tuesday, reaching 400,000 U.S. deaths and 24 million infections - the highest of any country. Millions of Americans are out of work because of pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions. Biden has vowed to bring the full weight of the federal government to bear on the crisis. His top priority is a $1.9 trillion plan that would enhance jobless benefits and provide direct cash payments to households. At President Biden’s inauguration, Lady Gaga performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” https://t.co/4gGKCue25u pic.twitter.com/rwUUtb7ICa— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 20, 2021 At President Biden’s inauguration, Lady Gaga performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” https://t.co/4gGKCue25u pic.twitter.com/rwUUtb7ICa But it will require approval from a deeply divided Congress, where Democrats hold slim advantages in both the House and Senate. Harris was scheduled to swear in three new Democratic senators late on Wednesday, creating a 50-50 split in the chamber with herself as the tie-breaking vote. Biden will waste little time trying to turn the page on the Trump era, advisers said, signing 15 executive actions on Wednesday on issues ranging from the pandemic to the economy to climate change. The orders will include mandating masks on federal property, rejoining the Paris climate accord and ending Trump's travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries. Although Biden has laid out a packed agenda for his first 100 days, including delivering 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations, the Senate could be consumed by Trump's upcoming impeachment trial, which will move ahead even though he has left office. The trial could serve as an early test of Biden's promise to foster a renewed sense of bipartisanship in Washington. Trump issued more than 140 pardons and commutations in his final hours in office, including a pardon for his former political adviser, Steve Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he swindled Trump supporters as part of an effort to raise private funds for a Mexico border wall. But Trump did not issue preemptive pardons for himself or members of his family, after speculation that he might do so.

More than 50 people were killed and 20 injured in Sudan's worst floods in living memory which have partially or completely destroyed 18,000 homes, the head of civil defence said on Thursday. Hamadallah Adam Ali told Reuters major roads to some parts of the country had been flooded and police helicopters and government planes were flying in emergency aid and tents to affected areas in Sudan's east, southeast and around Khartoum. "It seems more than 50 have been killed, but less than 75. There are more than 20 injured in the hospitals," he said, adding these numbers could rise. Ali said these were the worst floods he had seen in Sudan. "One man who was about 90 years old told me he had never seen waters like these in his entire life," Ali added. He said 18,000 houses had been affected. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement from Geneva the floods could affect some 2.4 million people across 16 of Sudan's 26 states. "With the season expected to run until mid-October, meteorological organisations in the region are predicting that as many as 2.4 million people across 16 states could be affected, with areas in the north and east expected to bear the brunt of the damage," the Federation said. It appealed for 2.1 million Swiss francs ($1.75 million) to help some 40,000 Sudanese whose homes have been destroyed in flash floods. Rains, flash floods and overflowing rivers forced hundreds of families to seek main roads, often the highest ground around, as they watched houses and possessions get washed away. Sudan's Ali blamed climate change and countries who have been polluting the environment for worsening rains. Aid workers have said with better monitoring and planning Sudan's authorities could prevent deaths. The civil defence authority said people build in high-risk areas close to river banks or in flood-prone plains, ignoring government warnings. Rainy season from around June to September each year in Sudan causes floods, especially in the east. Sudan is mostly desert at other times of the year and uses little of the river Nile waters allocated to it under an east African treaty for agriculture. Levels of the Nile in Khartoum last year were higher than in 1988 and 1946 when the worst floods of last century hit Sudan. Last year some 10,000 houses were destroyed during about four months of rains.

L'AQUILA, Italy, Jul 10, (bdnews24.com/Reuters)—G8 leaders pledged $20 billion in aid on Friday to help poor nations feed themselves, surpassing expectations of a summit that made little ground on climate change and may spell the end of the G8 itself. U.S. President Barack Obama and the summit's Italian host Silvio Berlusconi reflected growing consensus that the Group of Eight industrial powers, long criticised as an elite club, does not reflect the shifting patterns of global economic power. Tackling global challenges "in the absence of major powers like China, India and Brazil seems to be wrongheaded", Obama said, adding that he looked forward to "fewer summit meetings". Begun in 1975 with six members, the G8 now groups the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia and Canada. The Italians made it a "G14" with emerging powers on the second day, then added 15 more on the third. That enabled Obama, travelling to Ghana on his first trip to Africa as president, to use the L'Aquila summit to push for a shift towards agricultural investment from food aid. Washington will make $3.5 billion available to the 3-year programme. "There is no reason Africa should not be self-sufficient when it comes to food," said Obama, recalling that his relatives in Kenya live "in villages where hunger is real", though they themselves are not going hungry. KEEP WORD ON AFRICA Obama said Africa had enough arable land but lacked seeds, irrigation and mechanisms for farmers to get a fair price for their produce -- issues that the summit promised to tackle. Africa told the wealthy powers they must honour their commitments, old and new -- mindful that some in the G8 had fallen well short of their 2005 promise to increase annual aid by $50 billion by 2010, half of which was meant for Africa. South African President Jacob Zuma said the new funding will "go a long way" to helping Africa, adding: "We can't say it's enough, but at least it begins to do very concrete things." Nigerian Agriculture Minister Abba Ruma said the new pledge was "very commendable in view of the current global recession". But he cautioned that it must be "disbursed expeditiously. It is only then we will know that the G8 is living up to its commitment and not just making a pledge and going to sleep". The United Nations says the number of malnourished people has risen in the past two years and is expected to top 1.02 billion this year, reversing decades of declines. The global recession is expected to make 103 million more go hungry. Aid bodies like the World Food Programme said a last-minute surge of generosity at the summit in L'Aquila resulting in the $20 billion pledge was "greeted with great happiness". That amount over three years may compare unfavourably with the $13.4 billion the G8 says it disbursed between January 2008 and July 2009, but aid groups said the new pledge in Italy was more clearly focused. Japan and the European Union were also championing a code of conduct for responsible investment after growing farmland acquisition or "land grabs" in emerging nations. G14 THE WAY AHEAD The summit was held in the central Italian town of L'Aquila, devastated by an earthquake in April which killed some 300 people. That may explain why the usual anti-G8 protests were on an unusually small scale and without the violence that marred Italy's last G8 summit, held in Genoa in 2001. But environmentalists were disappointed that the G8 failed to get major developing nations China and India to sign up to the goal of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The 17 biggest emitters in the Major Economies Forum chaired by Obama could only get China and India to agree temperature rises should be limited to 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). But Obama, also suffering a delay to his own global warming bill in the U.S. Congress, said the talks had created momentum for a new U.N. climate change pact in Copenhagen in December. G8 leaders said the global financial crisis still posed serious risks to the economy. Further stimulus packages for growth might still be required and it was dangerous to implement "exit strategies" from emergency measures too early, they said. "Reaching the bottom of the slump is not when you start with exit strategies," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

With the ascent to power of young Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the kingdom has seen an expansion in women's rights including a decision to allow women to attend mixed public sporting events and the right to drive cars from this summer. The changes have been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend towards modernisation in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom, although the gender-segregated nation continues to be criticised for its continued constraints on women. "The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of sharia (Islamic law): that women wear decent, respectful clothing, like men," Prince Mohammed said in an interview with CBS television aired late on Sunday. Women run during an event marking International Women's Day in Old Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Mar 8, 2018. Reuters "This, however, does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover. The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear." Women run during an event marking International Women's Day in Old Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Mar 8, 2018. Reuters A senior cleric said last month that women should dress modestly, but this did not necessitate wearing the abaya. It remains unclear if these statements signal a change in the enforcement of women's dress code in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has no written legal code to go with the texts making up sharia, and police and judiciary have long enforced a strict dress code requiring Saudi women to wear abayas and in many cases to cover their hair and faces. But the kingdom has witnessed a cautious new climate of social freedoms with the rise of the 32-year-old crown prince to power after decades of elderly rulers. With the ascent to power of young Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the kingdom has seen an expansion in women's rights. Reuters Saudi women have started wearing more colorful abayas in recent years, the light blues and pinks in stark contrast with the traditional black. Open abayas over long skirts or jeans are also becoming more common in some parts of the country. With the ascent to power of young Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the kingdom has seen an expansion in women's rights. Reuters On March 8, a group of women in the Saudi city of Jeddah marked International Women's Day by exercising one of their newly acquired freedoms: the right to go for a jog, paying no heed to bemused onlookers. However, activists have blasted the country’s continued guardianship system requiring a male family member to grant permission for a woman to study abroad, travel and other activities. Last week, a UN rights watchdog called on Saudi Arabia to end discriminatory practices against women including male guardianship, and give them full access to justice.

In all, 22 animals and one plant should be declared extinct and removed from the endangered species list, federal wildlife officials planned to announce Wednesday. The announcement could also offer a glimpse of the future. It comes amid a worsening global biodiversity crisis that threatens 1 million species with extinction, many within decades. Human activities like farming, logging, mining and damming take habitat from animals and pollute much of what’s left. People poach and overfish. Climate change adds new peril. “Each of these 23 species represents a permanent loss to our nation’s natural heritage and to global biodiversity,” said Bridget Fahey, who oversees species classification for the Fish and Wildlife Service. “And it’s a sobering reminder that extinction is a consequence of human-caused environmental change.” The extinctions include 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish, a bat and a plant. Many of them were likely extinct, or almost so, by the time the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973, officials and advocates said, so perhaps no amount of conservation would have been able to save them. “The Endangered Species Act wasn’t passed in time to save most of these species,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Centre for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit group. “It’s a tragedy.” Since the passage of the act, 54 species in the United States have been removed from the endangered list because their populations recovered, while another 48 have improved enough to move from endangered to threatened. So far, 11 listed species have been declared extinct. A 60-day public comment period on the new batch of 23 begins Thursday. Scientists and members of the public can provide information they would like the Fish and Wildlife Service to consider before making a final ruling. Without conservation, scientists say, many more species would have disappeared. But with humans transforming the planet so drastically, they add, much more needs to be done. “Biodiversity is the foundation of social and economic systems, yet we have not managed to solve the extinction crisis,” said Leah Gerber, an ecologist and director of the Centre for Biodiversity Outcomes at Arizona State University. Next month, talks will ramp up on a new global biodiversity agreement. One proposal that has gained traction recently is a plan, known as 30x30, to protect at least 30% of Earth’s land and oceans by 2030. Scientists do not declare extinctions lightly. It often takes decades of fruitless searching. About half of the species in this group were already considered extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global authority on the status of animals and plants. The Fish and Wildlife Service moved slower in part because it is working through a backlog, officials said, and tends to prioritise providing protection for species that need it over removing protection for those that don’t. Many of the final confirmed sightings were in the 1980s, though one Hawaiian bird was last documented in 1899 and another in 2004. No animal in the batch has been sought more passionately than the ivory-bill, the largest woodpecker in the United States. Once inhabiting old growth forests and swamps of the Southeast, the birds declined as European settlers and their descendants cleared forests and hunted them. The last confirmed sighting was in Louisiana in 1944. But in 2004, a kayaker named Gene Sparling set off a flurry of searching when he saw a woodpecker that looked like an ivory-bill in an Arkansas swamp. Days after hearing about it, two experienced birders, Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison, flew in to join him on a search. On Day 2, paddling in their kayaks, they were getting ready to stop for lunch when suddenly a big bird flew right in front of them. “Tim and I both yelled ‘Ivory-bill!’ at the same time,” Harrison recalled. In doing so, they scared the bird away. But the men are adamant that they got a crystal-clear look at the distinctive wing markings that distinguish an ivory-bill from its most similar relative, the pileated woodpecker. “It was unmistakable,” Gallagher said. A host of Cornell University ornithologists, several more searches, a few reported sightings and a blurry video later, a 2005 paper in the journal Science declared “Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America.” Controversy ensued. Some experts argued that the footage was of pileated woodpeckers. Repeated attempts by state and federal wildlife agencies to find the bird have been unsuccessful, and many experts have concluded that it is extinct. When Amy Trahan, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service, completed the most recent species assessment for the woodpecker, she said, she had to make her recommendation based on the best available science. At the end of the report, she checked a line next to the words “delist based on extinction.” “That was probably one of the hardest things I’ve done in my career,” she said. “I literally cried.” Islands, where wildlife evolved in isolation, have been especially hit hard by extinctions caused by humans introducing foreign species into the ecosystem, and 11 of the species in the delisting proposal are from Hawaii and Guam. Pigs, goats and deer destroy forest habitat. Rats, mongoose and brown tree snakes prey on native birds and bats. Mosquitoes, which did not exist on Hawaii until they arrived on ships in the 1800s, kill birds by infecting them with avian malaria. Hawaii was once home to more than 50 species of forest birds known as honeycreepers, some of them brightly coloured with long, curved beaks used to drink nectar from flowers. Taking into account the proposed extinctions in this batch, only 17 species are left. Most of the remaining species are now under heavier siege. Birds that lived higher in the mountains were once safe from avian malaria because it was too cold for mosquitoes. But because of climate change, the mosquitoes have spread higher. “We’re seeing very dramatic population declines associated with that increase in mosquitoes that’s a direct result of climate change,” said Michelle Bogardus, the deputy field supervisor for the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office. Only a couple of species have shown resistance to avian malaria, she said, so most are likely to face extinction unless mosquitoes can be controlled over the whole landscape. Freshwater mussels are among the most imperilled groups in North America, but scientists don’t know enough about the eight species on the list to say for sure why they disappeared. The extinctions are likely connected to the reservoirs that humans built over the past 100 years, federal biologists said, essentially turning the mussels’ rivers into lakes. Did the change in habitat affect some aspect of their carefully choreographed life cycle? Were the filter feeders also injured by sediment or pollution in the water? Freshwater mussels rely on jaw-dropping adaptations developed over untold years of evolution. Females lure in fish with an appendage that looks like a minnow, crayfish, snail, insect or worm, depending on the species. The mussels then squirt out their larvae, which attach to the fish, forcing it to shelter and ultimately distribute them. Perhaps the mussels went extinct because their host fish moved or disappeared itself. “I don’t think we fully understand what we lost,” said Tyler Hern, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service whose work includes freshwater mussel recovery. “These mussels had secrets that we’ll never know.”   © 2021 The New York Times Company

As global leaders and top scientists in Copenhagen debate how to deal with climate change, farmers in flood-prone areas of northern India are taking it into their own hands to adapt to shifts in the weather. For decades, people of Uttar Pradesh, whose population is more than half that of the United States, have been witnessing erratic weather, including increasingly intense rainfall over short periods of time. The rain, combined with heavy mountain run-off from nearby Nepal, which is also seeing heavier-than-usual rains, has inundated villages, towns and cities in the region. Such floods have destroyed homes, crops and livestock, highlighting the fact that the poorest in countries such as China and India are most at risk from climate change. While world leaders in Copenhagen argue over who should cut carbon emissions and who should pay, experts say low-cost adaptation methods, partly based on existing community knowledge, could be used to help vulnerable farmers. In the fields of Manoharchak village, where terms such as "global warming" are unknown, such experiments are bearing fruit, changing the lives of poor farmers who outsmart nature using simple but effective techniques to deal with rising climate variability. "For the last three years, we have been trying to change our ways to cope with the changing weather," said Hooblal Chauhan, a farmer whose efforts have included diversifying production from wheat and rice to incorporate a wide variety of vegetables. "I don't know what those big people in foreign countries can do about the weather, but we are doing what we can to help ourselves," said the 55-year-old from Manoharchak, situated 90 km (55 miles) north of the bustling city of Gorakhpur. IMPROVISATION Villagers here have raised the level of their roads, built homes with foundations up to 10 feet above ground, elevated community hand pumps and created new drainage channels. Supported by the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group -- a research and advocacy group -- farmers are also planting more flood-tolerant rice, giving them two harvests a year where they once had one, and diversifying from traditional crops to vegetables such as peas, spinach, tomatoes, onions and potatoes. The diversity of crops, they say, is particularly beneficial when their wheat and rice fail. And the vegetables give them not only a more varied and nutritional diet, but also help in earning an income when excesses are sold. Increasingly, intense rain means farmers in the region also have to contend with silt deposition from long periods of water-logging in their farms. But 50-year-old widow Sumitra Chauhan, who grows about 15 different vegetables as well as rice and wheat on her two-acre plot, says she has learned ways to overcome the problem. "We plant our (vegetable) seedlings in the nurseries and then when the water drains, we transfer them to the land so there are no delays," she said, standing in her lush green plot packed with vegetables including mustard, peas, spinach and tomatoes. CLIMATE REFUGEES Farmers have also started using "multi-tier cropping" where vegetables like bottle gourd and bitter gourd are grown on platforms raised about 5-6 feet above the ground and supported by a bamboo frame. Once the water-logged soil drains, farmers can plant the ground beneath the platforms with vegetables and herbs such as spinach, radish and coriander. Warmer temperatures and an unusual lack of rain during monsoon periods in eastern Uttar Pradesh have also led to dry spells. To cope, villagers have contributed to buying water pumps for irrigation, lowering their dependence on rain. According to Oxfam, which is supporting the action group's work in Uttar Pradesh, millions of people in India have been affected by climate-related problems. Some have been forced into debt. Others have migrated to towns and cities to search for manual labor or have had to sell assets such as livestock to cope. "It is true that developing countries need a lot of investment to adapt to the effects of climate change, but small and marginal farmers, who are some of India's poorest, can make a start by using simple, cheap techniques to help themselves," said Ekta Bartarya of the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to arrive in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon on a two-day official visit to discuss bilateral issues with Bangladesh. She is scheduled to land at 4:10 pm at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport where foreign minister Dipu Moni will receive her. The foreign ministers will have their formal talks in the afternoon followed by a joint press briefing and later they would sign a declaration on Bangladesh-US Partnership Cooperation. Clinton will also meet prime minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia. She will also meet Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and Brac chairman Fazle Hasan Abed and members of the civil society. BANGLADESH INTEREST Bangladesh will vigorously push for duty-free market access of its garment products to the US market. Being a least developed country, Bangladesh has the legitimate right to get duty-free access to all rich countries including US, officials say. The other important issues that Bangladesh will discuss are membership of Millennium Challenge Corporation fund and extradition of Bangabandhu killer Rashed Chowdhury who lives in the US. US INTEREST In Muslim-majority Bangladesh the US has strategic interests. The importance of Bangladesh increased significantly after the March verdict by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) that awarded Bangladesh a vast area in the Bay of Bengal. It is also a partner of all four global initiatives of president Barack Obama - global food security, global health, climate change and engagement with Muslim country. The other US interests here include protection and promotion of US investment, better security ties and opportunity for more exports. US company ConocoPhilips is currently exploring gas and oil at blocks 10 and 11 in the Bay of Bengal and seeking another six blocks for exploration. Bangladesh and US had its first ever security dialogue in April to continue cooperation in the area.

President-elect Barack Obama's new "green dream team" is committed to battling climate change and ready to push for big policy reforms, in stark contrast with the Bush administration, environmental advocates said on Monday. "If this team can't advance strong national policy on global warming, then no one can," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, referring to Obama's picks for the top energy and environment jobs in his administration, which takes office on Jan. 20. "This caliber of scientists in any administration would be a major headline," Knobloch said by telephone on Monday. "But in contrast to the eight years of the Bush administration, where political appointees ran roughshod over science at a terrible cost to the truth, they stand out even more." Last week, Obama picked a Nobel physics laureate, Stephen Chu, to head the Energy Department; former environmental lawyer and US Sen. Ken Salazar as Interior secretary; former New Jersey environment chief Lisa Jackson to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The president-elect tapped Carol Browner, who headed the Clinton administration's EPA, to take a new White House position coordinating policy on energy, environment and climate change. For White House science adviser, Obama chose John Holdren, a Harvard University expert on climate change. For the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which deals with weather and climate among other matters, Obama named Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist who has been sharply critical of that agency for allowing overfishing. 5 MILLION GREEN JOBS "Each one of them is not only experienced and capable ... but also very, very committed to doing something on climate," said Tony Kreindler of advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund. "They really get the connection between climate change and economic growth and how pursuing renewable energy can create jobs." Obama has pledged to create 5 million green jobs and break U.S. dependence on foreign oil, investing $150 billion in the next decade to build an energy economy that relies on renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal energy. "None of this will be easy, because some of the powerful special interests and their allies still have their heads in the sand," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. However, Karpinski said that with Obama's "great new green dream team" and more members in the US Congress who support action to curb climate change, a law to limit greenhouse gas emissions is more likely, as is a global agreement to succeed the current phase of the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol. Even most of those who disagree with Obama on climate change accept the qualifications of his appointees, but Myron Ebell of the pro-business Competitive Enterprise Institute criticized Holdren and Lubchenco as being "on the scientific fringe of global warming alarmism." Environmental groups have clashed repeatedly with the Bush White House on science policy, especially when that was at odds with energy policy. President George W. Bush vowed to regulate carbon emissions when he campaigned for the White House in 2000, but changed course soon after taking office in 2001, and for most of his tenure voiced skepticism that cutting back on human-generated carbon dioxide emissions would solve the problem. Under his stewardship, the United States has been alone among major industrialized nations in rejecting the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol. Bush has refused to impose economy-wide limits on carbon emissions, maintaining that this would hamper US competition with fast-growing, big-emitting economies like China and India. Bush's Environmental Protection Agency chief has balked at limiting climate-warming carbon emissions, even after the US Supreme Court ruled that the agency has the power to do this.

Free trade in agricultural markets can hurt attempts to ease poverty in developing countries and harm the environment, according to a report from a United Nations and World Bank sponsored group issued on Tuesday. "Opening national markets to international competition...can lead to long term negative effects on poverty alleviation, food security and the environment without basic national institutions and infrastructure being place," the report said. Sixty governments, including Brazil, China, France and India, have approved the report. The US, Australia and Canada are due to submit reservations later this week while Britain has not yet officially responded. The report, from the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, aimed to set the agenda for hunger and poverty reduction in the next 50 years when demand for food is expected to rise sharply. Food prices have already started to climb in response to rising demand linked to population growth and changing diets in countries such as China, sparking widespread concern about the impact on the world's poor. There have been food-related riots in Haiti as well as protests in Cameroon, Niger and Burkina Faso in Africa, and in Indonesia and the Philippines. Robert Watson, Director of the IAASTD's Secretariat, told reporters that the rise in food prices had been driven by increased demand, unfavourable weather, export restrictions, commodity market speculators, increased land use for biofuels, particularly in the U.S., and rising energy costs. RISING PRICES "It is a combination of those factors that clearly have had an influence on the short-term price (of food)," he said. Top finance and development officials from around the world called this week for urgent steps to stem rising food prices, warning that social unrest would spread unless the cost of basic staples was contained. The IAASTD, whose co-sponsors include the World Bank, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation, said the benefits of increases in agricultural production were unfairly distributed with the current system often increasing the gap between rich and poor. The IAASTD also called for a careful study of the environmental impacts on genetically modified crops and biofuels without taking a clear overall stance on either issue. "The U.S. objection (to the report) was primarily around the trade issue...They also felt we were not as positive as they would have liked on some of the new forms of biotechnology and transgenetics. They have a less nuanced perspective than us," Watson said. GMO crops are widely grown in several key producing countries including the U.S., Brazil and China and supporters believe the technology can help crops adapt to changing climatic conditions as well as reduce carbon-based inputs. Opponents, however, are sceptical of such claims and cite environment and food safety concerns which have sparked consumer wariness of GMO foods in the European Union.

Now, researchers have compiled the first global database of glacial lakes and found that they increased in volume by nearly 50% over the past few decades. That growth, largely fuelled by climate change, means that such floods will likely strike more frequently, the team concluded in a paper published Monday in Nature Climate Change. Dan Shugar, a geomorphologist at the University of Calgary, and his colleagues did not set out to take a global census of glacial lakes. They had originally planned to focus on only a few dozen concentrated in the Himalayas and neighbouring mountain ranges in East and South Asia. But when the team finished writing computer programs to automatically identify and outline water in satellite images, they realised they could easily expand their study to include most of the world’s glacial lakes. “It wasn’t that much of a bigger leap,” Shugar said. The researchers collected more than 250,000 Landsat images of the Earth’s surface and fed that satellite imagery into Google Earth Engine, a platform for analysing large Earth science data sets, to assemble the most complete glacial lake inventory to date. “We mapped almost the whole world,” Shugar said. This study demonstrates cloud computing’s capabilities, said David Rounce, a glaciologist at Carnegie Mellon University who was not involved in the research. “Being able to churn through over 200,000 images is really remarkable,” Rounce said. The global coverage also makes it possible to pick out large-scale patterns and regional differences that other studies might miss, said Kristen Cook, a geologist at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, who also was not part of the research team. Shugar and his collaborators measured how the number and size of glacial lakes evolved from 1990 through 2018. The team found that the number of lakes increased to over 14,300 from roughly 9,400, an uptick of more than 50%. The volume of water in the lakes also tended to swell over time, with an increase of about 50%. Lakes at high latitudes exhibited the fastest growth, the researchers found. That makes sense, Shugar and his colleagues proposed, because climate change is warming the Arctic faster than other parts of the world. All this growth is troubling, Shugar and his research team members suggest, because glacial lakes, by their very nature, can pose significant danger to downstream communities. Some glacial lakes sit in bowl-shaped depressions bordered by glacial moraine, the often unstable rocky rubble left behind by a retreating glacier. When moraine collapses, glacial lake water can course downslope in an outburst flood. These events, which have occurred from Nepal to Peru to Iceland, can be devastating. “They are a very real threat in many parts of the world,” Shugar said. Some countries have made significant investments to mitigate the risk of such floods. In 2016, Nepalese officials lowered the water level in Imja Lake, a glacial lake near Mt. Everest, by more than 11 feet. This global census can help identify other lakes in need of monitoring or remediation, Shugar said. “We hope that it allows governments to see where the hot spots might be for glacial lakes growing in the future,” he said. c.2020 The New York Times Company

Democrats in the Senate on Tuesday began a drive to advance climate change legislation, a top Obama administration priority, amid warnings that a bill recently passed by the House of Representatives to reduce carbon emissions would have to be changed. Among changes that could be sought to win broader Senate support for the bill are less ambitious carbon emission reduction goals, the inclusion of nuclear power as an alternative energy source, and tougher regulation of the pollution permits that companies could trade to each other. President Barack Obama sent four Cabinet secretaries to Capitol Hill to testify at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as it tries to build support for legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. While Congress grapples with ways to control US carbon emissions, Obama also wants the United States to play a significant role in global efforts. Currently, the United States and China are the world's leading carbon polluters. "Clean energy is to this decade and the next what the space race was to the 1950s and '60s, and America is behind," testified Lisa Jackson, Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Flanked by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Jackson said a climate change bill narrowly passed by the House on June 26 was "the right start." But signaling the administration's willingness to consider changes, she added, "You all in the Senate have work to do." Many view the House legislation as the most sweeping environmental bill ever attempted by Washington. It would force companies to reduce their carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, from 2005 levels. But a tougher fight is expected in the Senate, where some moderate Democrats, especially from coal-producing states, could team up with many Republicans to oppose a climate bill. HISTORIC EFFORT "Today's hearing is the kickoff of a historic Senate effort" on climate change legislation, Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer said. Left unchecked, global warming will lead to more "droughts, floods, fires, loss of species" and other problems, she added. The California Democrat wants her committee to finish its work on a bill before a month-long congressional recess begins in early August. Several other panels also could weigh in by September 18, the deadline Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set for them to finish. Speaking to reporters outside the Senate chamber, Reid said he wants the full Senate to debate a climate bill in September or October. But Republicans on Boxer's committee warned against establishing the complicated "cap and trade" system embraced by the House-passed bill and favored by Boxer. Under cap and trade, US industries would receive permits to release less and less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the next four decades. Meanwhile, utilities, steel mills, oil refineries and a range of manufacturers could sell those permits to each other on an as-needed basis. Boxer has not yet released details of the bill she will pursue. But the senior Republican on the committee, Senator James Inhofe, warned of rising consumer prices if companies are forced to switch to more expensive alternative fuels. "Once the American public realizes what this legislation will do to their wallets, it will be soundly rejected," Inhofe predicted. Another Republican, Senator Lamar Alexander, continued his push for including nuclear power as one of the industries that would get breaks in the climate change bill, an idea rejected by House Democrats. Some Democrats and environmentalists oppose new help for the nuclear industry. "Nuclear waste is highly toxic," said Senator Bernard Sanders, an Independent. "To the best of my knowledge, no state in the union wants it." Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said he was troubled that the House version "fails to chart a course toward lowering emissions in the transportation sector," a shortcoming he said the Senate bill should address.

New Delhi's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 456 on a scale of 500, indicating "severe" pollution conditions that can affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases. The AQI measures the concentration of poisonous particulate matter PM2.5, which can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, in a cubic metre of air. On social media, some residents complained about the hazardous conditions in Delhi, which has the worst air quality of all world capitals, with an annual spike often early in the winter. "The pollution in Delhi makes it very difficult to live in this city. Or at least live here for too long," resident Pratyush Singh said on Twitter. "We're breathing smoke everyday. Media will talk about it. Leaders will say they are fixing it. It'll go away and come back next year." Toxic air kills more than a million people annually in India and takes an economic toll on the country's populous northern states and the capital city of 20 million people. The current pollution levels in Delhi were the result of fireworks on the night of the Hindu festival of Diwali on Thursday and from stubble burning in the surrounding farm belt, according to the federal Ministry of Earth Sciences' SAFAR monitoring system. Farmers in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana set alight the stubble left after harvesting at this time of the year to prepare their fields for the next crop. The situation is expected to improve in Delhi from late Sunday onwards, but the AQI will remain in the "very poor" category, which can trigger respiratory illness on prolonged exposure, SAFAR said in a statement on its website.

Beneath a towering canopy in the heat of the Amazon jungle, Brazilian Indians and officials urged U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday to rally international support to protect the world's largest rain forest. "We need the Secretary to help convert international good will into concrete mechanisms that benefit the residents of the Amazon," Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva told Ban under a century-old Samauma tree 30 minutes upriver from Belem, the Amazon's largest city. Ban was on the last stop of a South American tour that focused on the potential impact of global warming and included a visit to Antarctica last week. "I kindly ask you to help create incentives so we and other forest dwellers can make a living here," Amazon Indian Marcos Apurina told Ban, who received a necklace made of native plant seeds and saw other forest products from honey to handicrafts. Ban, who hiked a short jungle trail on Combu island on the Guama River, said: "The United Nations will stand beside you. This is a common asset of all humankind." Earlier Ban petted a three-toed sloth and planted two native trees at a botanical garden in Belem. Ban is preparing for a UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December, which should start talks to curb carbon emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. FOREST DESTRUCTION Brazil produces the world's fourth-largest amount of carbon emissions, due mostly to the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, according to international environmental groups. Ban did not comment on Brazil's refusal to adopt targets to reduce deforestation and carbon emissions. Instead, he commended Brazil for its efforts to curb forest destruction by 50 percent over two years, even though the rate has risen again since August. The Amazon releases stored carbon dioxide when trees are burnt or decompose, contributing to global warming. Advancing farmers and loggers clear country-sized chunks of the forest every year -- more when grain, beef or timber prices are high, less when they fall. Silva, a former rubber tapper and activist, urged Ban to help overcome opposition by some Western countries to a proposal within the international Convention on Biodiversity that would force pharmaceutical companies to pay for drugs derived from Amazon medicinal plants. "He listened and said he would study the proposal," Silva said after a meeting with Ban late on Monday. Scientists say global warming could turn part of the Amazon into semi-arid savanna within a few decades. Extreme weather has caused droughts in some parts and flooding in others. Ban's planned trip along an Amazon tributary near the port city of Santarem was canceled because the river was too shallow. Ban praised Brazil for its leadership in developing low-emission biofuels but said more international research was needed to study the possible impact of their large-scale production on food supplies. On the weekend, he visited one of the plants in Sao Paulo state that make Brazil one of the largest and cheapest producers of ethanol. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government has increased police raids on illegal loggers and expanded protected areas. But it is also building roads and hydroelectric plants which conservationists fear could increase deforestation in the long term.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visit their ancestral homeland this week to press China to join with the United States in stepped-up efforts to fight global warming. The two Chinese-American cabinet officials arrive in Beijing on Tuesday to talk with senior Chinese leaders and highlight how working together to cut greenhouse gas emissions would benefit both countries and the entire planet. The trip also sets the stage for a visit by President Barack Obama to China later this year that many environmental experts hope will focus on the need for joint US-China action before a meeting in Copenhagen in December to try to forge a global deal on reducing the emissions. They believe cooperation, perhaps even a bilateral deal, between the world's largest developed country and the world's largest developing country is vital if efforts to forge a new global climate treaty are to succeed. "The potential is very large and the need is very serious," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute, a US think tank. "It's not one of those things where one side benefits and the other side pays." In recent years, China has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming, although its per capita emissions are still far lower. Chu, a Nobel physicist who has devoted years to climate change issues, is expected to make the case for US and Chinese action to rein in rising global temperatures in a speech on Wednesday at Tsinghua University in Beijing. "We face an unprecedented threat to our very way of life from climate change," Chu told US senators last week, warning the world could experience a climatic shift as profound as the last Ice Age but in the opposite direction. Locke, a former governor from the export-oriented state of Washington, is eager to showcase opportunities for China to reduce carbon dioxide emissions using US solar, wind, water and other renewable technology. "There's a huge need in China which creates huge market opportunities for our companies. At the same time, there are big challenges," a Commerce Department official said. PUSH BEIJING China relies on coal, the most carbon-intensive fuel, for over two-thirds of its energy needs and that dependence is expected to continue for decades to come. The United States has the world's largest coal reserves and relies on coal for about 22 percent of its energy needs, creating a big incentive for the two countries to collaborate on technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions and inject them far underground instead of into the air. "That's at the top of the list," David Sandalow, assistant energy secretary for policy and international affairs, told Reuters in a pre-trip interview. "We believe we can do more working together than separately." China's drive to build new nuclear power plants also has caught the attention of US companies. As Obama pushes Congress to complete work on a bill to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions, he is under tremendous pressure to get China to agree to a quantitative emissions cap at December's meeting in Copenhagen. Without such a commitment, a new climate change treaty is unlikely to pass the US Senate, said Stuart Eizenstat, who was lead US negotiator for the December 1997 Kyoto climate treaty, which was never ratified by the United States. Although Chu and Locke are not going to Beijing for talks on a bilateral climate deal, the United States hopes closer cooperation with China will contribute to a favorable outcome in Copenhagen, Sandalow said. China joined with 16 other major world economies last week in setting a goal of holding the global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. But it has refused to set a short-term target for cutting emissions. Beijing argues it has been industrializing for only a short time and that strict caps now would hamper growth and urbanization efforts in a country where most people live in much poorer conditions than in the West. Still, the country's latest five-year plan set a goal of reducing energy intensity by 20 percent by the end of 2010. China has also set a target of using renewable energy to meet 15 percent of total demand by 2020. The Obama administration should push Beijing to translate such goals into binding international commitments as "a first step," Eizenstat said. Eventually, China will have to agree to emission caps but that is unlikely this December in Copenhagen, he said.

China's greenhouse gas pollution could double or more in two decades says a new Chinese state think-tank study that casts stark light on the industrial giant's role in stoking global warming. Beijing has not released recent official data on greenhouse gas from the nation's fast-growing use of coal, oil and gas. Researchers abroad estimate that China's carbon dioxide emissions now easily outstrip that of the United States, long the biggest emitter. But in a break with official reticence, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other major state-run institutes have concluded that, without dramatic counter-steps, their nation's emissions will tower over all others' much sooner than an earlier government forecast. The projected leap in emissions underscores the pressures that China will face in looming climate change negotiations, and the immense challenges it would face in meeting any commitments. By 2020, China's burning of fossil fuels could emit carbon dioxide equal in mass to 2.5 billion metric tonnes of pure carbon and up to 2.9 billion tonnes, depending on varying scenarios for development and technology. By 2030, those emissions may reach 3.1 billion tonnes and up to 4.0 billion tonnes. That compares with global carbon emissions of about 8.5 billion tonnes in 2007. Emissions are also often estimated in tonnes of Co2, which weighs 3.67 times as much as carbon alone. The report does not give its own estimate of China's current Co2 emissions, but cites data from a U.S. Department of Energy institute that put them at 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon in 2004. The U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimated that the United States emitted about 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon in 2007, compared to China's 1.8 billion tonnes. The "China Energy Report" for 2008 warns of drastic risks from inaction in the face of this projected growth, and yet also says economic development must not be hobbled. "No matter how historical responsibility is defined, our country's development path cannot repeat the unconstrained emissions of developed countries' energy use," states the Chinese-language report, which recently went on public sale without fanfare. "Therefore, we must soon prepare and plan ahead to implement emissions reduction concepts and measures in a long-term and stable energy development strategy." The main author, Wei Yiming, has participated in a U.N. scientific panel to assess global warming. He was not immediately available for comment on the findings and why they appeared now. BUILDS PRESSURE The study may add to contention over China's response to global warming at a time of accelerating international negotiations. Beijing will be at the heart of efforts to forge a treaty next year to succeed the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. The European Union this week said developing countries should accept a 15-30 percent cut in their greenhouse gas emissions from "business-as-usual" levels. But under the Protocol, a U.N.-led pact, poor nations do not assume targets to cap emissions. And Washington has refused to ratify Kyoto partly because it says the treaty is ineffective without Beijing's acceptance of such mandatory caps. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap solar radiation, heating the atmosphere and threatening to stoke worsening drought, disrupted rainfall and more wild weather. But China points out that per capita emissions of its 1.3 billion people are much lower than rich countries' and says the developed countries bear overwhelming responsibility for the dangerous accumulation of greenhouse gases. The new study backs that argument. Beijing officials have also often said they will not sacrifice hard-won economic development to greenhouse gas caps. For China, "relative to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, economic development is even more important," the study says.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it had responded to 24 climate-linked crises this year in the world's most disaster-prone region - up from 18 in 2019 - including floods, typhoons, extreme cold and drought. "COVID-19 has of course aggravated these impacts, with a taste of the compound shocks we're expecting in a changing climate," Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The pandemic has not only complicated evacuations and disaster response, but also aggravates the economic impact of disasters, especially for the poorest people," he added. Southeast Asia was the IFRC's busiest region in 2020, with 15 emergency responses to disasters including severe floods, storms and landslides in the Philippines and Vietnam that affected more than 31 million people. Jess Letch, the IFRC's emergency operations manager, said the challenge had been to help communities with relief aid while also taking the steps needed to halt the spread of COVID-19. Mary Joy Gonzales, a resilience project manager with CARE in the Philippines, said her aid agency had worked to provide additional shelter to enable social distancing after one person contracted COVID-19 in an evacuation centre it was supporting. Women have suffered a triple blow, she added, with the pandemic fuelling violence at home just as many lost their jobs and had to look after out-of-school children and elderly relatives while the country was pummelled by destructive storms. The agency expected that such impacts "will get worse due to climate change", she told journalists earlier this month. "We have seen the trend in the past 10 years: typhoons have been becoming stronger and we have lost thousands of lives already," she said. Last year, more than 94 million people in the Asia-Pacific region were hit by climate-related disasters, with the area experiencing twice as many emergencies as the Americas or Africa, according to the IFRC's latest World Disasters Report. The total number of people affected in 2020 has not yet been released. INCOMES SUFFER Home to about 60% of the world's population, the Asia-Pacific region has borne the brunt of climate disasters, with many people living in vulnerable conditions due to poverty and poor urban planning. Van Aalst said countries had become better prepared and equipped to save lives but were still failing to protect the livelihoods of vulnerable communities struck by disasters. He cited the example of Cyclone Amphan that battered India and Bangladesh in May. Mass evacuations before the storm made landfall prevented a large number of deaths. But the impact on economic well-being was harsh, especially for the poorest, he noted, with total damages estimated at more than $13 billion. In Vietnam, CARE's country director Le Kim Dung said the pandemic had made it harder to bounce back, particularly in rural areas, from widespread floods that had inundated many provinces hit by heavy rains and a series of typhoons since early October. COVID-19 restrictions also prevented some farmers from selling their produce, while migrants in cities - many of them care workers or street traders - lost their jobs and could not send money back home to keep their families afloat, she added. "People are used to storms and floods right across Asia, but this year has tested the resilience of tens of millions of people to breaking point," said the IFRC's Letch.

BERLIN, Thu Jul 24, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Presidential candidate Barack Obama travels to Berlin on Thursday to give the only public speech of a week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands. Highly popular in Germany, where he is often likened to former President John F. Kennedy, the Democratic senator will also meet for the first time Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed his initial plan to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. Instead, Obama will give his evening address at the "Victory Column" in Berlin's central Tiergarten park, down the road but still within sight of the Gate, a landmark that stood behind the Berlin Wall for decades as a potent symbol of the Cold War. "Hopefully (the speech) will be viewed as a substantive articulation of the relationship I'd like to see between the United States and Europe," Obama told reporters in Israel shortly before leaving for Germany. "I'm hoping to communicate across the Atlantic the value of that relationship and how we need to build on it." Relations between the United States and Germany reached a post-war low under Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, who strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. But the conservative Merkel, who grew up behind the Wall in the communist East, has worked hard to repair ties and emerged as one of President George W. Bush's closest allies in Europe. She said on the eve of Obama's visit that she expected to discuss NATO cooperation, climate change and trade issues with the Illinois senator during a morning meeting at the Chancellery that German officials have said will last about an hour. They are also expected to discuss Afghanistan and Iraq, the countries where Obama started his Middle East and European tour. In Kabul on Sunday, Obama described the situation in Afghanistan as precarious and urgent. LIMITS He and his Republican challenger for president John McCain have both said Europe must step up its efforts there, but Merkel told reporters on Wednesday that she would tell Obama there were limits to what Germany could do. The Obama visit has dominated the newspaper headlines in Germany for weeks, even sparking sharp exchanges between Merkel and her foreign minister over whether a speech at the Brandenburg Gate was appropriate. Merkel has said the landmark -- where President Ronald Reagan famously urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" -- is a place for presidents, not candidates to speak. Her advisers tried to convince the Obama campaign to hold the speech at a university or other low-key location. Asked if he had read the Cold War speeches delivered by Reagan and Kennedy in Berlin to prepare for his own trip, Obama said unlike the two presidents, he was just "a citizen". "Obviously, Berlin is representative of the extraordinary success of the post-war efforts to bring the continent and to bring the West together," he said. Around 700 policemen will be in place for the visit and city workers have been setting up barriers around the "Siegessaeule", a 230 foot (70 meter) high column built to celebrate 19th century Prussian military victories over Denmark, France and Austria, since Monday. Crowd forecasts vary widely, ranging from 10,000 to nearly a million. German public television station ARD will broadcast the full 45-minute speech, which starts at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), live. A Pew Research Center poll showed Germans favored Obama over McCain by a 49 point margin. Influential weekly Der Spiegel dedicated its weekend issue to the visit, putting a picture of Obama on the cover and the title "Germany meets the Superstar".

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp, along with Toshiba and IHI Corporation, is building the Matarbari power plant in Moheshkhali near the southeastern coastal town of Cox's Bazar, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Climate campaigners said the project contradicts Japan's commitment, made with other wealthy G7 nations last May, to end funding for "unabated" coal power overseas by the end of 2021. Coal is considered unabated when it is burned for power or heat without using technology to capture the resulting emissions, a system not yet widely used in power generation. The power plant under construction at Cox's Bazar, along the world's longest beach, puts the lives and livelihoods of locals at risk and will add to broader climate woes, activists said. Bangladeshi officials said all possible measures were being taken to reduce the negative consequences of the fossil-fuel power plant. Kentaro Yamamoto, an activist with student movement Fridays for Future Japan, said international support for such energy infrastructure was being offered to Asian countries as "development assistance" but was "destroying the environment". Launching a campaign to demand that Sumitomo and JICA stop work on the project, activists and environmental scientists from the region said Japan should stop investing in dirty energy, in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with internationally agreed climate goals. "This project is hurting the people of Bangladesh and this planet. About 20,000 people will lose land, homes and jobs, flooding will get worse and about 14,000 people could lose their lives due to the toxic waste," Yamamoto told an online event. The Bangladesh power plant is at odds with global efforts to curb climate change, and Sumitomo's own commitment to become carbon neutral, activists said. "Achieving net-zero targets by 2050 does not mean burning coal until the last minute. It is far too late to construct new coal power plants now," said Roger Smith, Japan project manager at Mighty Earth, an advocacy organisation. A spokesman for Sumitomo, which began building Matarbari in 2017, said it was fulfilling its contract, adding the project was not at odds with the firm's own net-zero emissions goal as it would be operated by the Bangladesh government and retired before mid-century. GROWING ENERGY NEEDS About 8% of Bangladesh's electricity supply comes from coal. Last year it cancelled 10 out of 18 coal-fired plants it had planned to set up, amid rising costs for the polluting fuel and growing calls from activists to source more of the nation's power from renewable energy sources. Mohammad Hossain, head of Power Cell, a technical arm of the Bangladesh energy ministry, said the government had not received a petition from climate activists to stop the Matarbari project. "We have already cancelled power plants with an intention to cut down emissions but this is an ongoing project and there is no question to cancel it," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The state-run plant - which is expected to be operational by 2024 - would use new technologies to limit emissions, minimise water intake and reduce fly ash to avoid environmental harm, he added. "Our country is growing fast - its energy demand is growing. This project has been taken up looking at the demands of 2030," Hossain said. Activists said funding fossil fuel use put economic concerns ahead of people's safety in a country whose low elevation, high population density and weak infrastructure make it highly vulnerable to climate change. "We have the capacity to transition to renewable energy and (we) need the support of Japan to make this transition but not for a coal power plant that is aimed at their profit," said Farzana Faruk Jhumu of the Bangladesh arm of Fridays for Future. JICA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A "perfect storm" of drought, conflict and rising costs has increased the ranks of the chronically hungry by millions of people, and forced aid workers to find and fund longer-term solutions to the food crisis. As the world marked World Food Day on Tuesday, the United Nations said the number of chronically hungry people around the globe rises by an average of 4 million each year. At the same time global fuel prices have soared, pushing up road transport costs and global maritime shipping rates. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says the cost of cereals has risen 50 percent over the past five years, which experts say is due to the world's growing population -- particularly in non-food producing urban areas -- combined with bad harvests and an increased demand for cereal products in previously rice-eating India and China. Conflict in some of the world's poorest regions has created refugee crises and experts warn climate change may promote more fighting over resources, demolishing coping strategies and pushing already vulnerable families over the edge. "It is a perfect storm," said WFP Africa spokesman Peter Smerdon. "They all feed into each other." Worst affected is sub-Saharan Africa, home to 21 of the 36 states worldwide requiring food assistance. WFP says it is most concerned about Somalia where drought and conflict have coincided to produce what some say is the country's worst humanitarian crisis. Violence has restricted handouts and fighting between the transitional government, its Ethiopian allies and insurgents has forced thousands to flee Mogadishu to makeshift camps. The closure of the capital's main market -- a food and job lifeline which has been the scene of repeated fighting and was recently burned -- has also hit supplies and buying power. LONG TERM SAVINGS? In southern Africa, food crises in Zimbabwe and the kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland share two causes: drought, which has also hit regional producer South Africa and driven up prices, and AIDS, which has killed farmers and in turn cut output. Zimbabwe's situation is exacerbated by the seizure of white commercial farmland for landless blacks which has hit output, critics say, and hyperinflation and economic collapse. West and southern Africa are largely at peace, making access relatively easy but in East and Central Africa's war zones, many of the neediest are out of reach. New fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left WFP unable to reach a third of 300,000 new displaced, while in Ethiopia's Ogaden region government restrictions and a crackdown on rebels are seen blocking aid and trade shipments. "Populations in these areas are reportedly consuming wild foods and, in the most food-insecure households, slaughtering livestock -- their main source of income -- for consumption," said famine early warning service FEWS NET. "If trade restrictions continue, these negative coping strategies will lead to destitution." But while conflict continues to drive food shortages from Sri Lanka to Colombia, hunger is more often caused by deepening poverty. "If our planet produces enough food to feed its entire population, why do 854 million people still go to sleep on an empty stomach?," the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Director-General, Jacques Diouf, said in Rome. Pope Benedict said the world should consider the right to food a universal right for all human beings, without distinction or discrimination. Increasingly, aid workers say it is time to move beyond handing out food as crises bite. They say simply speaking, longer-term programmes could save money. Aid group CARE International says its programmes in West Africa's Niger, aimed at reducing poverty and building sustainable agriculture, cost only around $30 a person -- half the price of providing food at the peak of a 2005 food crisis. While some government donors are being won over to that idea, obtaining funding for sustainable development lacks the draw of an urgent emergency appeal. "With an emergency response, it is very easy to say who you helped and where," Africa food security expert for CARE International UK Vanessa Rubin told Reuters. "It is not that simple when you stop a crisis."

Booming demand for food, fuel and wood as the world's population surges from six to nine billion will put unprecedented and unsustainable demand on the world's remaining forests, two new reports said on Monday. The reports from the U.S.-based Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) said this massive potential leap in deforestation could add to global warming and put pressure on indigenous forest dwellers that could lead to conflict. "Arguably we are on the verge of the last great global land grab," said Andy White, co-author of "Seeing People Through the Trees," one of the two reports. "Unless steps are taken, traditional forest owners, and the forests themselves, will be the big losers. It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone." RRI is a global coalition of environmental and conservation non-government organizations with a particular focus on forest protection and management and the rights of forest peoples. White's report said that unless agricultural productivity rises sharply, new land equivalent in size to 12 Germanys will have to be cultivated for crops to meet food and biofuel demand by 2030. Virtually all of it is likely to be in developing countries, principally land that is currently forested. The second report, "From Exclusion to Ownership", noted that governments still claim ownership of most forests in developing countries, but said they had done little to ensure the rights and tenure of forest dwellers. It said people whose main source of livelihood is the forests were usually the best custodians of the forests and their biodiversity. RRI said governments were failing to prevent industrial incursions into indigenous lands. Its report noted that cultivation of soy and sugar cane for biofuels in Brazil is expected to require up to 128 million hectares of land by 2020, up from 28 million hectares now, with much of it likely to come from deforestation in the Amazon. "We face a deficit of democracy plagued by violent conflict and human rights abuses," said Ghanaian civil rights lawyer Kyeretwie Opoku, commenting on the reports. "We must address underlying inequalities by consulting and allowing forest peoples to make decisions the themselves regarding the actions of industry and conservation," he added.

The US-based World Resources Institute think-tank and four Dutch research groups estimated that some 21 million people worldwide were affected by river flooding in a typical year. "That number could increase to 54 million in 2030 due to climate change and socio-economic development," their report said. People living in 15 emerging nations, led by India, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Pakistan, accounted for almost 80 percent of all those affected by floods in an average year, it said. In India alone, almost five million people were at risk. The United States had 167,000 people exposed to floods in a average year, the most for any developed nation, putting it 18th on a ranking of more than 160 nations. The UN panel of climate scientists said last year that global warming would lead to more risks of floods, heatwaves, storms, downpours, landslides, air pollution, water scarcity, sea level rise and storm surges. Thursday's study estimated that $96 billion of annual global gross domestic product was exposed to river floods every year, led by India on $14 billion and Bangladesh on $5.4 billion. This amount could rise to $521 billion by 2030. it said. "There will be a huge increase in risk, especially in South East Asia," Hessel Winsemius, an author of the study at Dutch independent research institute Deltares, told Reuters. Such flooding can also impact multinational companies which spread their production capacity -- monsoon floods in Thailand in 2011 killed more than 800 people and closed many factories -- including some making parts for firms such as Intel and Apple. Many cities on flood plains were expected to expand in coming years, putting more people and businesses at risk. Multinational companies should think more about flood risks, including back-up suppliers or insurance from vulnerable areas. Developing nations are working to adapt. Thailand, for instance, is experimenting with floating homes that can rise up above the waters on pontoons filled with styrofoam.

The Puja began Tuesday at the famous Durgabari temple, located in front of the 113-year-old Ujjayanta Palace, eastern India's biggest such.A part of the fortress and mansion continues to be the abode of the former princely rulers and the remaining served as the Tripura assembly until 2009.It has now been turned into northeast India's biggest museum conserving the history, life and culture of northeast India."Tripura is the only Indian state where the state government, be it ruled by Left or non-Left parties, is at the forefront of funding such a Hindu religious festival. The tradition has been going on since Tripura's merger with the Indian union and has been on during Communist rule in the state," Panna Lal Roy, a writer and historian, told IANS.At the end of 517-year rule by 184 kings, on Oct 15, 1949, the erstwhile princely state came under the control of the Indian government after a merger agreement signed between Kanchan Prabha Devi, then regent maharani, and the Indian governor general.The merger agreement made it mandatory for the Tripura government to continue the sponsorship of temples run by the Hindu princely rulers. This continues even after six- and-a-half decades.A full-fledged division - Debarchan Vibhag - under district magistrates in four of Tripura's eight districts now bears this responsibility and the entire expenditure of several temples, including that of Durgabari."Before starting the five-day long worshiping of Durga and her four children, a procession led by the head priest, escorted by the Tripura Police, goes to the palace to seek the consent of the former royal family to begin the puja to the deities at Durgabari," said Nagendra Debbarma, a senior official of the west district.He said that many ancient traditions are not followed nowadays."A young buffalo, several goats and pigeons are sacrificed during the five-day festival at Durgabari in the presence of thousands of devotees - all at government expense," Debbarma told IANS.People For Animals (PFA) chairperson Maneka Gandhi, currently union minister of women and child development, in a letter to the district magistrates asked them to stop "cruel killing of animals in the temples" during religious festivities."The district magistrate of West Tripura earlier has to report in writing about the preparations at Durgabari to the former royal family and submit a final report after completion of the mega puja. Now this practice has been discontinued."Dulal Bhattacharjee, the octogenarian chief priest of Durgabari temple, said it is on the final day of Dashami that the real splendour of the festival comes to the fore."The idols of Durgabari that lead the Dashami procession are the first to be immersed at Dashamighat with full state honours, with the police band playing the national song."Historian Roy, who wrote many books on the history of royal era, said: "The over 200-year-old Durga Puja is unique in the sense that the prasad (holy offering) includes meat, fish, eggs and, of course, fruits."Though the Durgabari temple's Durga Puja celebration remains the main attractions due to numerous reasons, community pujas organised by clubs and families also vie for much attention.Traditional themes, prevailing issues and events continue to dominate pandals with Indian temples and historical happenings forming part of the decorations.India's mission to Mars and climate change will come alive in pandals through colourful lighting.Global warming, protection of the environment, crime against women, ancient India's epics, folk and traditional life and culture of Hindu Bengalis and tribals, conventional handicraft work, Tripura's royal palace, Kolkata's Birla Planetarium, Guwahati's Kamakhya Temple, Konarak's Sun Temple, Kashmir's snow-capped hills and Dal Lake, Bombay High and a Buddhist temple in China are also being depicted through puja marquees.According to the Tripura Police, 2,335 community and family pujas have been organised all across Tripura, bordering Bangladesh.Of these, 1,023 are in urban areas and 1,312 in rural areas. Around 550 pujas are being held in and around Agartala alone.

He blamed large-scale poultry farmers who carried out a mass cull after their birds fell sick, flooding the market and sending prices tumbling. "We were a small player fighting tooth and nail every day," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "When it all came crashing down, I was really depressed and didn't know what I then wanted to do with my life." Instead of turning his back on farming, the 26-year-old decided to help others struggling financially by setting up CROWDE, a mobile crowdfunding platform that allows users to invest as little as $1 in thousands of farms across Indonesia. Most of Asia-Pacific's 422 million farms are run by smallholders with less than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land each. The majority of farmers in the region face an uphill battle to access credit, leaving them unable to modernise, boost yields, diversify into new crops, or stay afloat when hit by extreme weather fuelled by climate change. CROWDE's app aims to change that by making it easier for people to invest in Indonesian farmers - whether producers of beef, poultry, fish, rice or chilli - and share in the profits. Agents for CROWDE go into villages across the sprawling archipelago to persuade farmers to sign up. To date, the scheme has attracted about 14,000 farmers and 22,000 investors who have pledged $4 million-$5 million, said Sugihtononugroho. CROWDE farmers do not receive cash, but instead get equipment like tools, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, which CROWDE buys at a lower rate from agricultural suppliers. When crops are harvested or animals slaughtered, CROWDE links farmers with buyers and suppliers to get them the best deals, and already has agreements with major supermarkets. "I know the farmers I'm helping," said Sugihtononugroho, whose startup takes a 3 percent share of all money invested to run the app. "I'm going to every village - from west to east Java - talking to farmers." INFORMAL LOANS Asia-Pacific is home to 4.3 billion people and more than half depend on agriculture for a living, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Because agriculture is seasonal, farmers often have to wait until harvest time before their work generates any revenue. Many are subsistence farmers whose incomes cannot stretch to cover emergencies - like school fees, a sick family member or losses caused by disasters. The bulk of investment in the region's farms comes from small, private and domestic lenders, including family savings, friends, buyers, traders and loan sharks. But that informal system leaves poor farmers vulnerable to indebtedness after crop losses. "In India you have horror stories of farmers who end up committing suicide," said Akmal Siddiq, head of rural development and food security at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila. As well as holding farmers back, informal lending can also hinder growth in the value chain because traders and buyers who offer loans cannot invest that money in their own businesses. Less than 10 percent of investments in agriculture in Asia-Pacific come from formal financial service providers like banks, experts say. Banks tend to have fewer branches in rural areas and lending to farmers with no collateral is seen as too risky, driving interest rates higher than for urban loans. Without access to financial services, Asian farmers struggle to pay premiums for crop insurance, join certification schemes that open up new markets, use the latest technologies or buy hardier seeds - dampening yields as a result. Farmers cannot afford to upgrade their practices to supply higher-paying markets for export and big retailers, said Eva Galvez Nogales, an agriculture officer at the FAO in Bangkok. "They cannot increase the quality of their products or make investments required for that," she said. GOVERNMENT HELP In developing countries, supply and demand for agricultural products is often badly managed by governments, leading to price fluctuations, said the ADB's Siddiq. In addition, post-harvest losses due to spoilage caused by poor packing, long transport times or inadequate cooling range between 25 and 45 percent, he said. After reaching market, Asian farmers tend to receive only about 30 percent of a food's sale price, he added. With such high risks, policy makers must take the lead and introduce state-backed crop insurance schemes and regulation to boost formal lending and banking services, food experts said. Supportive measures could include lending quotas for the agriculture sector, interest rate caps for farmers and rules requiring banks to expand into rural areas, they added. Alongside credit, they urged banks to offer farmers insurance, financial management, savings accounts and technical assistance by creating partnerships spanning the value chain. Bangladesh has had some success in promoting private-sector micro-finance institutions, which offer small loans and do not ask for collateral in many cases, experts said. India - which has a third of Asia-Pacific's farms - has made strides in federal schemes for weather-based crop insurance, while China is using apps to get financial services to farmers. Alibaba Group, China's biggest e-commerce firm, meanwhile has devised a system that uses big data and artificial-intelligence algorithms to provide loans to Chinese farmers. The FAO's Galvez Nogales said formal lenders must also offer products targeting women farmers because they contribute the most labour but often lack access to farming income and assets. At Indonesian startup CROWDE, the initial target is to get 100,000 farmers to join the scheme and then foster their growth. "We want to help and empower every farmer," said Sugihtononugroho.

Corporate moguls, policy experts and US senators spoke with one voice about global warming on Wednesday, telling a world forum the United States must take a lead role in cutting greenhouse gases if it wants to encourage China and India to do the same. At a Capitol Hill meeting that included representatives from the Group of Eight industrialized nations plus China, India, South Africa, Brazil and the European Union, Sen. John McCain put the case for action on climate change bluntly. "The debate is over, my friends," the Arizona Republican said. "Now the question is what do we do? Do we act, do we care enough about the young people of the next generation to act seriously and meaningfully, or are we going to just continue this debate and this discussion?" McCain said the push to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that spur global climate change was a national security issue, and that voluntary efforts to limit those emissions from vehicles, power plants and other human sources "will not change the status quo." McCain and Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, have pushed legislation that would set limits on the emission of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, and allow those that exceed them to trade with others that are under the limit, a plan known as cap-and-trade. Lieberman, who also addressed the group in the ornate Senate Caucus Room, noted growing momentum for US action "after many years of denial and inaction" on global warming. "I want to make a prediction, which is that the Congress of the United States will enact a nationwide law mandating substantial reductions in greenhouse gases before the end of this Congress or early in the next," Lieberman said. This session of Congress ends in late 2008. The Bush administration has rejected calls for mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, maintaining that such caps would harm the US economy. Jim Rogers, the chief of Duke Energy, applauded the mandatory cap-and-trade approach, and stressed that if the United States did not act soon to cut greenhouse emissions, fast-developing China and India probably would not participate in any global emissions-cutting program. In one of his first speeches that addresses climate change, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz called on countries to agree on a post-Kyoto global regulatory framework for reducing carbon emissions that does not punish the poor. The Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions expires in 2012. He said the challenge was to cut greenhouse gases while meeting energy demands that can help people escape poverty. "We cannot penalize countries escaping from poverty for what is the result of a fossil-dependent growth pattern in rich countries," he told delegates at a dinner on Wednesday hosted by the World Bank. Richard Branson, chief of Virgin Airlines and other ventures, said leadership and sacrifice were required to tackle global warming, but credited the United States for growing markets for renewable energy and green technologies. Branson announced last week in London a $25 million prize for the first person to find a way to scrub greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

For years, Norway has been the world leader in shifting away from traditional cars, thanks to government benefits that made electric vehicles far more affordable and offered extras like letting electric car owners skip some fees for parking and toll roads. Still, electric car enthusiasts are stunned by the speed at which the internal combustion engine has become an endangered species in Norway. “It has surprised most people how quickly things have changed,” said Christina Bu, the secretary-general of the Norwegian EV Association. In 2015, electric cars were about 20% of new car sales, and now they are “the new normal,” Bu said. (Her organisation is like AAA for electric vehicle drivers.) Americans might view Norwegians as environmental die-hards who were eager to ditch gas cars. But Bu and other transportation experts told me that Norwegians started with much of the same electric vehicle scepticism as Americans. That changed because of government policies that picked off the easier wins first and a growing number of appealing electric cars. Over time, that combination helped more Norwegians believe electric cars were for them. Bu wrote recently that if Norway could do it, the United States and other countries could, too. Transportation is the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions, and climate scientists have said that moving away from combustion engine vehicles is essential to avoiding the worst effects of a warming planet. US electric car sales are increasing fast, but, at about 3% of new passenger vehicles, percentages are far lower than those in most other rich countries. So what did Norway do right? Bu said that the country’s policies focused first on what was the least difficult: nudging people who were considering a new car to go electric. Norwegians who bought new electric cars didn’t have to pay the country’s very high taxes on new vehicle sales. That made electric cars a no-brainer for many people, and it didn’t hurt people who already owned conventional cars or those who bought used ones. Bu also said that Norway didn’t become paralysed by the reasonable objections to electric vehicles — What about places to charge them? Are electric car subsidies a government benefit for the rich? In other words, Norway didn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Not every country has a tax system that is as well suited to encourage electric vehicle purchases. (Gas taxes are also very high in Norway.) But Bu suggested that for this to work in the United States, we could impose higher taxes on the most polluting new car models and use that money to subsidise electric vehicle purchases. The US federal government and many states already offer tax breaks on some electric cars. We don’t tend to tax gas guzzlers, partly because Americans don’t love using higher taxes to discourage behaviours. Subsidies for electric cars aren’t enough on their own to boost electric vehicle ownership, although they did help create momentum in Norway. As more new electric cars hit the road, it made it more palatable to build more places to charge them. Car companies started to devote more of their marketing to electric vehicles and released more models at a range of prices and features. That’s just starting to happen in the United States. These are no easy policy choices in Norway or anywhere else, said Anders Hartmann of Asplan Viak, a Norwegian planning and engineering consulting firm. Letting electric vehicle drivers skip parking or toll fees was manageable when few were on the roads, Hartmann told me, but some local governments more recently said they were losing out on money they used to fund public transportation. Norway’s legislature has discussed scaling back the tax breaks for electric vehicles, but it’s difficult because they are popular. Bu told me that the biggest change in Norway is that most people came to believe that electric cars were for them. “What really surprised me was the shift of mentality,” she said. Her father was once one of those people who said they would never buy an electric car, she said. Now her parents own one, too. © 2022 The New York Times Company

The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) looked set to consolidate its position in the alpine nation's parliamentary election on Sunday after a campaign marred by rare violence over immigration. The country's approximately 4.5 million voters cast their ballots to fill 200 seats in the National Council, the lower house, on a proportional basis. They also elect 46 cantonal representatives to the Council of States, the upper house. Polling booths in Switzerland closed at midday (1000 GMT). A large proportion of Swiss ballots are cast by mail in advance of election day. The first estimated national result is due at around 1900 local time (1700 GMT). According to the last opinion poll conducted before the election, the People's Party are expected to win 27.3 percent of the vote, a slight increase over 2003 when they raced to the top of the polls amid accusations of xenophobia. The SVP has again run a controversial campaign calling for the extradition of foreigners who commit serious crimes. It has been criticised by opponents and has roiled the usually smooth waters of Switzerland's consensus-based politics. Opposition to the SVP's campaign, which used posters calling for the "black sheep" of Swiss society to be booted out, spilled over into a rare outburst of violence on the streets of Berne earlier this month when police and left-wing activists clashed. The SVP's nearest rivals, the Social Democrats, are expected to take around 21.7 percent of the vote, a decline from 2003, with the Christian Democrats seen winning 15.4 percent and the Free Democrats on 15.5 percent. PROGRESS FOR GREENS? Pollsters Gfs.bern said in their last survey the true winners of the election would be the Green party, whose share of the vote is expected to rise by 2.5 percent to 10 percent amid concerns about the environment and climate change. Swiss newspapers on Sunday dampened speculation the SVP and its leader Christoph Blocher could use its showing in Sunday's election to call for a change in the composition of the Federal Council, the seven-seat National Executive. The NZZ am Sonntag newspaper said the SVP no longer expected a 'massive increase in votes'. SVP President Ueli Maurer told party officials the SVP would support the current power-sharing agreement across the four main parties, the paper said. Under a deal known as the 'magic formula', the seats are shared out according to party support. Those with two seats on the Council, which is elected by parliament in the December following a general election, are the SVP, the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats. The Christian Democrats have one seat.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday his 2008 priority would be dealing with the global credit crunch and steering a stable course through the financial turbulence. "The global credit problem that started in America is now the most immediate challenge for every economy and addressing it the most immediate priority," he said in a New Year's message setting out his goals for next year. "Our strong economy is the foundation. And with unbending determination, in 2008, we will steer a course of stability through global financial turbulence," he said. Six months after succeeding Tony Blair, Brown's popularity has slumped due to government blunders and growing economic clouds, including a crisis at mortgage lender Northern Rock that led to the first run on a British bank in more than a century. Northern Rock, Britain's highest profile casualty of the credit crisis, has had to borrow at least 25 billion pounds ($50 billion) from the Bank of England. Brown and finance minister Alistair Darling have come under fire for their handling of the crisis but Brown expressed confidence the economy would not be pushed off course. The economy has enjoyed solid growth since Brown's Labour Party came to power in 1997, but weakening house prices and sliding consumer morale have raised fears of a slowdown next year. "I promise that we will take no risks with stability," said Brown, finance minister for 10 years under Blair, and he vowed to keep interest rates low by keeping inflation low. Brown has invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to London for a meeting on financial market stability, expected in the first half of January. After an early honeymoon with voters, Brown's popularity quickly wore off and Labour lags the opposition Conservatives by up to 13 points in opinion polls. An uproar over the tax agency's loss of computer discs containing half the population's personal data and a storm over secret donations to Labour have embarrassed Brown. Brown, who has been under pressure to set out his vision, attempted to do so in his New Year's message, pledging 2008 would be a year of "real and serious changes" for Britain. New laws would bring long-term changes in energy, climate change, health, pensions, housing, education and transport, he said, while Britain would continue to work to counter the threat of global terrorism.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday, Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), wrote that the CPC will soon release a plan for some actions like lowering costs, protecting the health of families, and tackling climate action. "The Progressive Caucus will continue to work toward legislation for Build Back Better, focused on keeping it as close to the agreed-upon framework as possible", she wrote in the newspaper. Manchin, a conservative Democratic senator, rejected the president's "Build Back Better" plan last Sunday in a move that imperils the legislation. Manchin's move prompted investment bank Goldman Sachs to lower its forecasts for US economic growth. Manchin's rejection of the bill threatened to scuttle hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for measures to fight climate change and meet the Biden administration's climate goals. "Taking executive action will also make clear to those who hinder Build Back Better that the White House and Democrats will deliver for Americans", Jayapal wrote. Manchin has expressed concerns about a number of proposals in Biden's signature domestic policy bill, including multiple climate proposals and extending monthly child tax credit payments. "I think the stakes are too high for this to be, in any way, about any specific individual", Vice President Kamala Harris said in a CBS News interview aired on Sunday, when asked about Manchin. Harris said the White House was not giving up on the legislation. Manchin's support is crucial in the Senate chamber where the Democrats have the slimmest margin of control and Republicans are united in their opposition to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the chamber would vote on a package in early 2022. The White House said on Wednesday that conversations with Manchin's office will continue. Biden said on Tuesday that he and Manchin were "going to get something done" on the legislation.

Paris is gone for now, its lifeblood cut off by the closure of all restaurants, its nights silenced by a 6 pm curfew aimed at eliminating the national pastime of the aperitif, its cafe bonhomie lost to domestic morosity. Blight has taken the City of Light. Taboos fall. People eat sandwiches in the drizzle on city benches. They yield — oh, the horror! — to takeout in the form of “le click-and-collect.” They dine earlier — an abominable Americanisation. They contemplate with resignation the chalk-on-blackboard offerings of long-shuttered restaurants still promising a veal blanquette or a boeuf bourguignon. These menus are fossils from the pre-pandemic world. Gone the museums, gone the tourist-filled riverboats plying the Seine, gone the sidewalk terraces offering their pleasures at dusk, gone the movie theatres, gone the casual delights of wandering and the raucous banter of the most northern of southern cities. In their place, a gray sadness has settled over the city like fog. “Parisian gloom is not simply climatic,” Saul Bellow wrote in 1983. “It is a spiritual force that acts not only on building materials, on walls and rooftops, but also on your character, your opinions and your judgment. It is a powerful astringent.” Bellow, however, could still stop for a sauvignon blanc and a plate of charcuterie when the “Parisian grisaille” — that depthless monochrome that can envelop even the Eiffel Tower — gave him the January blues. Not in this damp Parisian winter, as the toll of COVID-19 mounts and the city’s ghostly streets follow one another like TS Eliot’s “tedious argument.” I have seen sunlight three or four times since arriving from New York about seven weeks ago. A glimmer, a summons to life, gone soon enough to leave doubts as to whether it was real. New York does not do drizzle or weeks of uninterrupted gray skies. So my adaptation has been harsh, particularly to a Paris with its soul torn out. “It’s of an absolute sadness,” Alain Ducasse, the celebrated chef, said when I asked how Paris felt these days. “It’s a terrible imprisonment. The French are not accustomed to life without its social side — a drink at a cafe, a touch, a kiss.” Yes, even the “bisou,” the little kiss on both cheeks that is a rite of greeting or farewell, is gone. With more than 74,000 people dead across France from the pandemic, everyone understands the restrictions imposed. Almost all major cities across the world have had to endure lost lives, lost jobs, lost ways of life. Paris is far from alone in its deprivations. But each city changes in its own way. In New York, the absence that feels most acute is of the energy that defines it. In Paris, the hole in its heart is the absence of the sensual conviviality that makes people dream. It is the disappearance of pleasures the French have spent centuries refining in the belief there is no limit to them. Life is monotonous. There is really nowhere to go. “We’ll only have Paris,” a friend feeling claustrophobic grumbled the other day. He has bought a dog because he is allowed to walk it after the curfew. Frédéric Hocquard is responsible for tourism and nightlife in the mayor’s office. He told me the number of tourists in Paris was down about 85% last year. Visits to the Louvre and Versailles, both now closed, were down about 90%. “It’s catastrophic,” he said. Hotel occupancy is running at about 6%. One bright spot: The number of Parisians going up the Eiffel Tower last year doubled. “One of the characteristics of a true Parisian is that he or she has never ascended the Eiffel Tower,” Hocquard said. “We started to change that.” All it took was the elimination of alternatives. There are other upsides to this Parisian misery. Traffic flows. Markets are unbowed with their gleaming-eyed oyster shuckers, their butchers taking five minutes to truss each quail, their oozing Camembert cheeses prompting debate about ripeness, their rum baba cakes with little syringes to inject the rum. The city’s islands still point their prows toward the low-slung bridges of subtle fulcrums. The 19th-century wrought-iron lampposts down the deserted Rue de Rivoli cast a dreamlike procession of light, as if in a film noir. (With a press pass it is possible to go out after the curfew). Paris quieted is also Paris in a reverie. “One hundred days,” Ducasse said. Then, he insisted, the revival would begin. I asked if he had travelled. Only to Bologna in Italy, he said, to recruit a master maker of gelato. After starting a successful chocolate business a few years ago, his next venture will be ice cream. Hocquard is also eyeing April and May, planning concerts and other outdoor activities in parks, on the banks of the Seine, even at underused airports. Such optimism leaves the problem of dealing with the present. One recent snowy Sunday, I went to the Tuileries in search of distraction. I have always liked the formality of this garden, the gravel paths, the pollarded trees, the geometric patterns. One attraction was still functioning: a carousel! Round and round went colourful horses, an ostrich, a car, a plane, a ship and a couple of Cinderella carriages. My partner and I chose horses. The music was North African. There were a couple of children. The carousel, a little miracle, spun me down my intermittent Paris years stretching back to the mid-1970s. Paris would be back — if not this spring, someday. I watched a crow advance, wedge a discarded French fry in its beak and fly off to perch on a bench. I gazed at a wall with plaques for French fighters killed during the liberation of Paris in 1944. The youngest, Jean-Claude Touche, was 18. The pandemic has, in some ways, imposed conditions of war in time of peace. It, too, will end. With his famous wartime line from “Casablanca” — “We’ll always have Paris” — Humphrey Bogart was also telling Ingrid Bergman to leave him, stay with her husband and console herself with memories of the city of their love. It was an invitation to the imaginary. Now more than ever, Paris must be imagined. © 2021 The New York Times Company

If such people prove that they face the right sort of danger, and meets the host country’s conditions for staying, then that country is obligated to welcome them. This ideal has never been perfectly observed, even in its origins after World War II, when it was seen as both a moral and a practical imperative, to rebuild shattered societies for the common good. But the very Western powers that championed this compact have been steadily eroding it in recent years — chipping away at their own, and therefore the world’s, obligations toward a responsibility they once characterised as crucial to global stability. That assault, experts say, reached a new extreme last week, as Britain’s government announced a new plan for thousands of foreign citizens in the country who had applied for asylum. Rather than hear their claims, it would ship them to Rwanda, a faraway quasi dictatorship in which most had never set foot, to become someone else’s problem. Britain did not invent the practice of shutting refugees and asylum-seekers in faraway facilities. European governments have been paying foreign despots and warlords, in countries like Sudan and Libya, to detain migrants on their behalf for years. Australia outsources this work to a string of island nations sometimes described as its gulag archipelago. The United States effectively pioneered the practice in 1991, when it diverted boats full of Haitians to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. A rise in right-wing populist politics, the backlash in Europe against a surge of migration in 2015 and then the coronavirus pandemic have accelerated this practice and others like it: walls, armed patrols and “deterrence” policies that deliberately make the journey more dangerous. The result is not exactly that the global refugee system is dead. European governments are taking in millions of Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion, for example. Rather, Britain’s policy highlights that this system, once held up as a universal and legally binding obligation, is now treated as effectively voluntary. “It’s pretty bold to, within a month, offer housing to Ukrainians and then announce you’re sending all the other migrants 4,000 miles away,” said Stephanie Schwartz, a scholar of migration politics at the University of Pennsylvania. “The brazenness of the double standard seems like an implicit announcement,” Schwartz added, “that governments should just take refugees when they want to and don’t when they don’t.” The consequences of this shift, which in many ways have already arrived, are likely to accelerate in the coming months, amid what is expected to be a significant summertime rise in refugee arrivals — along with, perhaps, more of the backlash that has animated clampdowns like Britain’s. AN ERODING IDEAL The world’s commitment to refugees and asylum-seekers has always been more conditional and self-interested than it was presented to be. In the years after World War II, even as Western leaders pledged to resettle Europe’s refugees where they would be safe, they forcibly returned 2.3 million Soviet citizens to the Soviet Union, many against their will. One in five were subsequently executed or sent to the gulag, according to estimates by historian Tony Judt. Still, as the Cold War hardened, Western governments increasingly emphasized their respect for refugee rights, and pressured their allies to do the same, as a way to position their bloc as superior to communist governments that sometimes barred citizens from fleeing. Western compliance remained spotty, privileging refugees from communist countries or others who offered some political gain. But the real shift came at the Cold War’s end, in 1991, when Western countries lost this political incentive. Global refugee populations soared in the early 1990s, to 18 million, according to one United Nations metric, nearly nine times as many as when the world formally enshrined refugee rules in a 1951 convention. The US policy of diverting Haitian refugees began in 1991. It was a kind of loophole: If the refugees did not arrive at US shores, the United States was not technically obligated to hear their claims. Though no one was fooled, it kept Washington in compliance with US law, which had been written to match international obligations, as in many countries. Years later came another surge in refugees worldwide, to 20 million in 2017, a figure that has risen slightly since then, though it remains smaller, as a share of global population, than the 1992 peak. The current refugee crisis is almost certainly smaller than the one following World War II, which forced tens of millions from their homes across Europe and Asia and devastated whole societies, all but forcing world powers to act. But by the 2010s, as refugee outflows rose mostly from poorer countries, the response was very different. The United States applied similar policies to people from Central America as it had to Haitians, negotiating deals with governments, particularly in Mexico, to prevent refugees and other migrants from reaching the border. Europe and Australia pursued similar strategies. The result: concentric rings of detention centres, some notorious for brutality, just beyond the borders of the world’s richest countries. Most are along refugees’ paths, or near the borders they had hoped to reach, allowing governments a fig leaf of compliance. Britain’s new proposal, by shipping people to the far reaches of another continent, takes this a step further, underscoring how the new system really works. Some argue that enshrining new international agreements, or scrapping the old ones altogether, might more sustainably distribute global responsibility, particularly as a rise in climate refugees scrambles the boundaries between economic migrant and political refugee. World leaders, though, have expressed little interest in such plans. And if the problem is that governments do not want refugees and cannot be made to take them, replacing one half-ignored agreement with another would change little. THE EMERGING ORDER Europe’s seeming double standard — as its governments welcome Ukrainians but continue going to extraordinary lengths to keep out migrants from the Middle East — has laid the unwritten norms of the new refugee system especially bare. Increasingly, governments apply ostensibly universal refugee rights selectively and often on the basis of which demographic groups are expected to meet domestic political approval. Even as Britain announced its expulsion of asylum-seekers already in the country, for instance, it apologised for not bringing in more Ukrainians. For all of the revulsion at President Donald Trump’s statement in office that the United States should welcome arrivals from countries like Norway and bar populations he considered undesirable, the sentiment reflects an increasingly common practice. The Biden administration last week granted protected status to the 40,000 Cameroonian citizens in the United States, meaning that they do not have to return to Cameroon amid that country’s civil war. Last month, the United States extended protected status to 30,000 Ukrainians. At the same time, the administration has been divided over whether to maintain a Trump-era rule that allows the country, on public health grounds, to outright reject most refugees who arrive at the border. Though the rule is set to be lifted May 23, many in the administration fought to keep it. The pandemic, Schwartz said, “broke the seal on things that were once considered extreme,” like near-total border closures. As a result, restrictions that might have once seemed shocking now feel more normal, easing governments’ way. Governments have also learned that, as long as they do not hold one another to account for breaking international norms, there is no one other than their own citizens to stop them. And it is their own citizens who often demand these policies. Right-wing populist parties saw their support surge in the past decade, in part by championing a backlash to immigration and portraying refugee rules as a plot to dilute traditional national identities. While some establishment parties pushed back — Germany welcomed 1 million refugees amid the rise of the country’s far right — others concluded that curtailing nonwhite immigration was necessary to save their parties, maybe their democracies. Would-be refugees, fleeing wars or famines, were made to pay the price. It was hardly the founding intentions of the global refugee compact that cycle-by-cycle domestic politics would determine which families, displaced by disaster, found a new life abroad and which were condemned to squalid camps or mass graves. Still, if that is how it is to be, then the British public’s response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s proposal, and its unusually brazen defiance of that compact, may prove revealing. “It’s inhumane, it’s morally reprehensible, it’s probably unlawful, and it may well be unworkable,” David Normington, previously the top civil servant in Britain’s Home Office, told the BBC. But whether the plan is truly workable, in the eyes of the British government or others, may ultimately depend less on laws or morality than on what the British public will tolerate. © 2022 The New York Times Company

The revised Clean Power Plan will seek to slash carbon emissions from the power sector 32 percent from 2005 levels in 2030, a 9 percent increase over a previous proposal. The regulation will usher in a sweeping transformation of the US electricity sector, encouraging an aggressive shift toward more renewable energy away from coal-fired electricity. Industry groups and some lawmakers from states that have relied on coal-based energy have said they will challenge it in the courts and through Congressional maneuvers, accusing the administration of a regulatory assault that will drive up energy prices. The White House was defiant, and said the release of the plan was "the starting gun for an all-out climate push" by the president and his cabinet. "My administration will release the final version of America's Clean Power Plan, the biggest, most important step we have ever taken to combat climate change," Obama said in a video posted by the White House Sunday at midnight. He said there have been no federal limits to date on carbon pollution from power plants, the biggest source of US greenhouse gas emissions. The plan will be central to the United States' contribution to a United Nations agreement to tackle climate change, in which the Obama administration has vowed to play a leadership role. Each state will be required to submit a plan to the Environmental Protection Agency next year, spelling out how it will meet an emission-cutting goal assigned to it. Five governors who have opposed the rule have already said they will not comply. "CUTTING BILLS" The final version will accelerate the deployment of renewable energy based on updated projections that the share of renewable energy generation capacity in 2030 will be higher at 28 percent, compared to 22 percent in last June's version. The Obama administration also changed its projection about the share of natural gas in the U.S. power mix in 2020, avoiding what it said would be an "early rush to gas" away from coal. "Instead, the rule drives early reductions from renewable energy and energy efficiency, which will drive a more aggressive transformation in the domestic energy industry," according to a senior administration official.  The revised rule contains two new measures the administration said will "cut energy bills for low-income families" and drive down renewable energy technology costs, pre-empting arguments by opponents that plan will be too costly. It will create a Clean Energy Incentive Program to reward states that take early action to deploy renewable energy project before the regulation kicks in 2022. It will also reward states that invest in energy-efficiency projects in low-income communities in 2020 and 2021.

China on Tuesday executed a British citizen caught smuggling heroin, the British Foreign Office said, in a move quickly condemned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Akmal Shaikh's family and the British government had appealed for clemency, arguing the former businessman suffered from bipolar disorder. The Chinese supreme court rejected the appeal saying there was insufficient grounds. "I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted," Brown said in a statement issued by the British Foreign Office. "I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken." China had yet to publicly confirm Shaikh had been executed in the western city of Urumqi at the time Brown made the statement. Shaikh had been due to be executed on Tuesday morning. Shaikh was still "hopeful" when relatives met him in Urumqi this weekend, his cousin Soohail Shaikh told reporters at Beijing airport late on Monday night. "We beg the Chinese authorities for mercy and clemency to help reunite the heartbroken family," Soohail Shaikh had said. Brown last week asked China not to execute Shaikh, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Britain as a boy. While not leading to any diplomatic rift, the case could harden public opinion in Britain against China, and also rile Chinese public opinion. The two countries recently traded accusations over the troubled Copenhagen climate change negotiations. Shaikh's defenders, including British rights group Reprieve which lobbies against the death penalty, say he was tricked into smuggling the heroin by a gang who promised to make him a pop star. Arrested in 2007, a Chinese court rejected his final appeal on Dec. 21. Reprieve posted on the Internet a recording Shaikh made of a song, "Come Little Rabbit", which it described as "dreadful" but which Shaikh believed would be an international hit and help bring about world peace. He would be the first European citizen to be executed in China since 1951, Western rights groups say. Shaikh's family says he suffered from bipolar disorder, and was tricked into becoming a mule by a smuggling gang who promised him a music recording contract. "This is not about how much we hate the drug trade. Britain as well as China are completely committed to take it on," the British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, said in a statement emailed to reporters. "The issue is whether Mr Shaikh has become an additional victim of it."

Countries must learn to share water fairly if they are to avoid warring over the vital resource as population growth and climate change make it ever more scarce, the head of the UN farming agency said on Thursday. Farming consumes 70 percent of the fresh water taken from the world's lakes, rivers and aquifers and demand from farms is set to increase by 14 percent in the next 30 years, said Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "Water conflicts can arise in water stressed areas among local communities and between countries," he told a conference marking World Water Day. "The lack of adequate institutional and legal instruments for water sharing exacerbates already difficult conditions. In the absence of clear and well-established rules, chaos tends to dominate and power plays an excessive role," he said. While humans drink between two and five litres of water a day (0.4-1.1 imperial gallons), it takes 1,000-2,000 litres to produce a kilogram (2.2 lb) of wheat and up to 15,000 litres to produce a kilo of grain-fed beef, according to the FAO. "The effective daily consumption of water per person is a thousand times more than the apparent consumption through drinking," Diouf said. Already 1.1 billion people lack access to adequate clean water and, with the world's population set to grow from the current 6.5 billion to 8 billion by 2025, 1.8 billion people will face water scarcity by then, the FAO estimates. Global warming will exacerbate the problem, especially in poor, arid areas, Diouf said. To improve cross-border cooperation on water use, the 10 countries on the Nile are negotiating a water sharing agreement which the FAO hopes will be a model for other areas where the scarce resource can be shared out peacefully.

The Strategic Dialogue is a forum led by Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Md Shahidul Haque and Permanent Under Secretary of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Sir Simon McDonald. The UK side will have a delegation of 15-20 members comprising the representatives from Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department of International Development, Department of Trade, UK Home Office/ UK Border Agency, Department of Transport, and Ministry of Defence, the foreign ministry said. Bangladesh side is expected to consist of the delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, Ministry of Defence, Economic Relations Division, Security Services Division, Special Branch of Bangladesh Police, and Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. The two-day dialogue is expected to discuss entire gamut of bilateral relations between the countries, along with other regional and multilateral issues including Rohingya, countering terrorism and violent extremism. They will also discuss the growing focus on trade and investment relations, new areas of cooperation, regional connectivity and stability, and wide range of global issues including climate change, migration, cooperation in UN peacekeeping, Sustainable Development Goals, and Development partnership in the LDC gradation process. McDonald is expected to give a talk on UK-Bangladesh relations during the times of Brexit at the Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies. He is also likely to meet young leaders and diplomats during the visit. The UK secretary will have a private meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart. Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem will attend the dialogue.

Fire all male teachers at girls’ schools, Halimi said he was told. Replace them with women — men should not teach girls, the militants said. The government did as it was told. “We didn’t want to give them an excuse” to shut down the schools by force, Halimi said. But Farah’s schools were not spared. Last month, on two successive nights, armed men on motorcycles set fire to two girls’ schools just outside Farah city, the provincial capital. Both were badly damaged and the teaching materials inside were destroyed, ending classes indefinitely for nearly 1,700 girls. Graffiti on a nearby wall read, “Long live the Islamic Emirate” — the Taliban’s name for their movement. Four other girls’ schools in the province have been attacked in the past several months, said Muhibullah Muhib, a police spokesman. Besides terrifying teachers, students and their families, the attacks have renewed larger fears of a return to the repressive days of Taliban rule, as the militants and the United States try to negotiate a peace deal. Until the Taliban government was toppled in 2001, girls’ education was outlawed and women were confined to their homes. Today, more than 3.6 million Afghan girls are enrolled in school and 100,000 women attend universities, according to education ministries. But about 400 schools for both boys and girls have closed over the past several months for “security reasons,” including armed conflict and Taliban threats or attacks, the ministry said. The Farah bombings came after Taliban leaders in Qatar, where the talks with the Americans have been held, said they were committed to women’s rights under Islamic law, including the right to education. But in Farah, the school attacks underscored deep misgivings among Afghan women that any future government that included the Taliban would once again ban or limit education for girls. Sosan Aubi, 38, a teacher at one of the schools that were burned last month, said she and other teachers had been optimistic about the chances for peace because of the Qatar talks. “But after this explosion all of us have lost our hope,” she said. Nayab Khan, a village grocer whose sisters and daughters had attended one of the burned schools, said he didn’t trust the Taliban’s promises. “They say they have changed for the good, but we see them blowing up schools and preventing girls from getting education,” Khan said. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, denied responsibility for the attacks and said the militants would investigate and punish those involved. If the schools reopen, “there won’t be any threat from our side,” Mujahid said. But angry local residents pointed out that the schools were in areas controlled by the Taliban. They also said government officials had been unable to reach the schools to inspect the damage. Dadullah Qani, a member of the Farah provincial council, said the attacks demonstrated that the government was losing control of the province. “The security situation here is deteriorating day by day,” Qani said. “There is no difference between the government and ordinary people — both are helpless to prevent such attacks.” Provincial government officials and village elders said the attacks exposed a split among the militants, with many Taliban civil authorities willing to tolerate girls’ education but some military commanders opposed. The Taliban operate so-called shadow governments in areas controlled or contested by the militants, taxing residents and establishing offices that govern day-to-day affairs. “Some of them are OK with girls’ education and some of them are against it,” said Halimi, the deputy education director. Village elders said a delegation met with government officials in Farah city to demand they rebuild the schools, but were told that the government was powerless to intervene. They said they were advised to contact local Taliban leaders. Halimi said a group of about 50 villagers was considering temporarily resuming classes in tents. Local residents said Taliban education officials had contacted provincial school leaders to discuss the reopenings, but asked for time to reach an accommodation with Taliban military commanders. Mohammad Azimi, the provincial education director, said he had asked parents and students to help reopen the schools. At Sher Ali Khan school in the village of Naw Deh, about 8 miles from Farah city, the windows had been blown out and the walls had buckled. Inside, burned desks and school papers were strewn around. At the school entrance was a plaque engraved with Afghan and American flags and a message saying the U.S. Agency for International Development had helped build the school in 2005. Someone had tried to scratch out the U.S. flag. (The agency’s office in Kabul said it did not currently fund the school but that it may have been a past project.) Abdul Rahman, the school principal, said armed five men wearing masks tied up the night watchman, splashed fuel inside the school and set it alight on the night of April 15. They also detonated a small explosive device inside the school office. School records, student supplies and academic textbooks were burned, but the attackers spared Islamic religious texts, Rahman said. “Now all the girls are scared,” Rahman said. “Even if we reopen the school, maybe they won’t come anymore.” Abdul Hamid Haidari, 45, a shopkeeper, said his three daughters attended Sher Ali Khan school. He said his daughter Roya, 18, was scheduled to graduate this year and pursue a career as a teacher, but that it was now unlikely to happen because her school transcripts had been destroyed. Haidari said Roya and her sisters burst into tears when told about the attack. He said he was determined to educate his children — his daughters and his four sons — and had sacrificed to place them in schools despite the precarious security climate. “I was hoping the peace talks would change the situation,” he said. “But now that our school has been blown up, I’m not so hopeful anymore.” Qani, the provincial council member, described a climate of fear and mistrust in the wake of the school attacks. He said they may have had the desired effect: Even if the schools reopen, many parents are afraid to send their girls back to them. “Today they blow up school buildings,” Qani said. “Tomorrow will they attack students?”   c.2019 New York Times News Service

The UK government is to launch an environmental study on marine energy projects in England and Wales, paving the way for commercial wave and tidal devices to be deployed. Lord Hunt, Climate Change Minister, told a conference the government would start screening for the Strategic Environmental Assessment for marine energy in the two countries, required for all major infrastracture projects by the EU. It is to be completed by late 2011. "It's a signal really that we are very serious about marine (energy)," he told reporters. The government wants Britain to become a world leader in wave and marine technologies, creating renewable energy jobs. It was one of the sectors where the government had identified Britain had an advantage and it was to support. "We have to make everything to support that sector. That's what we are doing with marine." Last week, the government announced it would provide 405 million pounds ($600 million) to support emerging low-carbon technology, such as marine and tidal energy, as part of its efforts to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. But the government's Marine Renewable Development Fund (MRDF) has been criticized for being too strict in selecting projects to spur sector growth. Only full-scale projects that have collected data from three-months operating at sea qualify for support from the 50-million pound ($74.19 million) fund which was set up three years ago. Commercial scale wave and tidal devices were only put into operation for the first time last year and there none with a full 3-months of data because of bad sea conditions. The British Wind Energy Association(BWEA) welcomed the government move. "It will open Britain's coast line and estuaries to clean, green energy that will help power a low carbon economy," it said.

Developing nations might get help to build nuclear power plants under proposals at 170-nation climate talks in Bonn for expanding a fast-growing UN scheme for curbing greenhouse gases. Nuclear power is the most contentious option for widening a U.N. mechanism under which rich nations can invest abroad, for instance in an Indian wind farm or a hydropower dam in Peru, and get credit at home for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "It's one of the issues that needs to be considered," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said on Thursday of suggestions by countries including India and Canada at the June 2-13 talks of aid for atomic energy. Other proposals at the talks include giving credits for capturing and burying carbon dioxide, for instance from coal-fired power plants, or to do far more to encourage planting of forests that soak up carbon as they grow. Many nations and environmentalists oppose expanding the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to include nuclear power. The CDM is part of the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol for curbing emissions of greenhouse gases running until 2012. "Nuclear power is not the energy of the future," said Martin Hiller of the WWF conservation group. "It should not be in the CDM. The CDM should be about renewable energy." He said nuclear power was too dangerous although it emitted almost none of the greenhouse gases associated with burning coal, oil and gas and which are blamed for heating the planet. KYOTO No decisions on overhauling the CDM will be taken at the Bonn talks, part of a series of negotiations meant to end with a new long-term U.N. climate treaty by the end of 2009 to succeed the existing Kyoto Protocol. "I think nuclear power in the CDM is a non-starter for most delegations," one European delegate said. The debate reflects wide uncertainty about whether to turn to nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels in a fight to avert rising temperatures that could bring heatwaves, droughts, rising seas and more powerful cyclones. De Boer projected that the CDM could channel up to $100 billion a year towards developing nations in coming decades if industrialised countries agreed sweeping cuts in emissions and made half their reductions abroad. That was also based on the assumption that credits for averting greenhouse gas emissions would average $10 a tonne. So far the CDM has projects approved or under consideration that would avert a combined total of 2.7 billion tonnes of emissions by 2012, roughly equivalent to the combined annual emissions of Japan, Germany and Britain. De Boer rejected criticisms that the CDM was badly flawed, for instance for handing huge profits to carbon traders and companies in China that destroy HFC 23, a powerful greenhouse gas that is a waste product from making refrigerants. "The fact that people have found a way to remove a powerful greenhouse gas and make a profit is not morally wrong," he said. "We've created a market mechanism and, guess what, it's working." Other criticisms of the scheme focus on whether or not funding has led to emissions cuts, or whether these would have happened anyway -- for example because of existing state support for wind power in China or India.