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L'AQUILA, Italy,Thu Jul 9, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said progress on climate change at the G8 was "not enough" so far. "This is politically and morally (an) imperative and historic responsibility ... for the future of humanity, even for the future of the planet Earth," the UN chief said. BBC said, Ban criticised leaders of the G8 industrial nations for failing to make deeper commitments to combat climate change. On Wednesday, the leaders, meeting in Italy, agreed to cut emissions by 80% by 2050, but Mr Ban said big cuts were needed sooner rather than later. President Barack Obama said Thursday there was still time to close the gap with developing powers on climate change, after the UN chief criticized the G8 for not going hard enough. On the first day of a meeting of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations in L'Aquila in Italy, the G8 failed to get China and India to accept the goal of halving emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. Obama, hoping to make his mark on his first G8 summit by chairing a meeting of rich and emerging powers on the environment, said progress could still be made before talks on a new UN climate change treaty in Copenhagen in December. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that "there was still time in which they could close the gap on that disagreement in time for that important (meeting)." Obama was due to chair the 17-member Major Economies Forum (MEF), which was likely to agree to try to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) versus pre-industrial levels but not to agree on the scale of emission cuts. Progress was hampered by the absence of Chinese President Hu Jintao, who left L'Aquila to attend to ethnic clashes in China's northwest that have killed 156 people. SHARING THE BURDEN Temperatures have risen by about 0.7 Celsius since the Industrial Revolution ushered in widespread use of fossil fuels. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he hoped the temperature target would be agreed by "all the countries around the table today" -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia, plus emerging powers like China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and Mexico. But one G8 source said it was "not realistic" to expect a deal on emissions. India said developing countries first wanted to see rich nation plans to provide financing to help them cope with ever more floods, heatwaves, storms and rising sea levels. They also want to see rich nations make deeper cuts by 2020. G8 countries agreed among themselves on a goal of cutting global emissions by 50 percent by 2050, with the United States accepting this for the first time. They also set a reduction goal of 80 percent in aggregate for developed countries. But G8 member Russia immediately said it could not hit this target by 2050 and Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said 80 percent was an "aspirational goal." ECONOMY, CURRENCIES, TRADE The fragile state of the world economy dominated the first day of the summit, with rich nations acknowledging there were still significant risks to financial stability. China used the broader forum on the second day to make its argument -- backed by Russia, India and Brazil -- for long-term diversification of the global reserve currency system away from reliance on the dollar, a sensitive issue on currency markets. "We should have a better system for reserve currency issuance and regulation, so that we can maintain relative stability of major reserve currencies' exchange rates and promote a diversified rational international reserve currency regime," said State Councilor Dai Bingguo, according to aides. The G8 and G5 did hope for progress on the stalled Doha trade talks, with agreement possible on concluding them by 2010. Launched in 2001 to help poor countries prosper, the Doha round has stumbled on proposed tariff and subsidy cuts. The G5 said it was committed to addressing outstanding problems on Doha which would provide "a major stimulus to the restoration of confidence in world markets." But it urged rich nations to remove trade barriers and restore credit to poor countries.

The flattened remains of her house and those of her neighbours in Haat village lay scattered around, buried in construction waste from a nearby hydroelectric power plant. Between the village and the plant, an important Hindu temple stands surrounded by debris. "This is where the remains of my house lie, under the muck," Devi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "What kind of development is this, when you rob poor people of their homes to supply electricity to others?" Devi's family is among the more than 240 households in the village who lost their homes during the construction of the 444-megawatt (MW) hydropower project on the Alaknanda river. The World Bank-financed power plant is one of dozens of hydroelectric projects either being built or already operating across India's Himalayan states, in a bid to cut down the country's carbon emissions. The government has said hydropower, along with solar and wind, is vital to meeting India's pledge to get half of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. As countries look for ways to curb global warming, backers of hydropower note that it provides massive amounts of clean electricity and can be ramped up quickly when more weather-dependent solar and wind projects fail to meet demand. But green groups and communities affected by hydroelectric projects say the high environmental and social costs are hard to justify. Devi, 63, said that when officials from government-owned power company Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) came last year asking to buy locals' land, anyone who refused was "bundled into a truck" and taken to a police station for several hours while their homes were demolished. Those who had earlier agreed to sell up were given "nominal" compensation of 1 million Indian rupees ($12,887) each, said homemaker Devi, who now lives with her family in a nearby village. Sandeep Gupta, assistant general manager of the THDC project, said Haat residents had all agreed to voluntarily resettle themselves and were fairly compensated, adding that the project was being monitored by government agencies for any environmental damage. "No adverse impact has been reported by the agencies to date," Gupta said. UNTAPPED POTENTIAL In a June 2021 report, the International Energy Agency called hydropower "the forgotten giant of clean electricity" and urged countries to include it in their energy mix to have a chance of reaching net-zero emissions. India currently has 46 gigawatts of installed hydropower capacity - only a third of what it could potentially generate, according to government figures. To boost capacity, the government in 2019 officially declared hydroelectric projects of over 25 MW a renewable energy source, and made it obligatory for power companies to use hydro for a share of their supply. Before then, only smaller hydropower plants had been classed as renewable. Arun Kumar, a professor of hydropower and renewable energy at the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, said that expanding India's hydropower sector was about more than generating electricity. Hydroelectric dams can also provide a reliable water supply for homes, businesses and farmers, said Kumar, who sits on the board of the London-based International Hydropower Association. In addition, big projects can attract tourists and bring jobs, electricity, roads and railways to nearby communities, improving "the quality of life in backward areas", Kumar said. But building more hydropower plants makes little economic sense when India can get cheaper clean energy from solar and wind projects, said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, an advocacy group. He said installing 1 MW of hydroelectric capacity in India costs more than 100 million rupees, about double the amount for the same solar or wind-based capacity. Corruption and lax regulation, he added, are the only reasons India's authorities are so focused on hydropower. "There is huge scope for padding up the costs in the absence of credible regulatory oversight," Thakkar said. RISING DISASTER RISK As for hydropower's reputation as a green energy source, some environmentalists say the sector does more harm than good. Hydro projects can clear forests, divert rivers, slow or stop groundwater recharge and shift huge amounts of earth, all of which make nearby communities more vulnerable to the effects of increasingly destructive extreme weather, they say. S.P. Sati, who teaches environmental science at the College of Forestry-Ranichauri in Uttarakhand, pointed to devastating floods in the state in 2013 that killed about 6,000 people, according to state government estimates. A committee appointed by India's Supreme Court concluded that hydroelectric projects had exacerbated the flood damage, as the rushing water carried mountains of excavated boulders, silt and sand downstream, burying low-lying communities. The committee also noted in a report that digging and use of explosives while building the plants "can trigger landslides or slope failure". "If you don't care about the sensitivity, fragility and carrying capacity of the terrain, (hydropower) is bound to trigger big disasters," Sati said. Haat village head Rajendra Prasad Hatwal said residents would keep on holding protests and lobbying the local government until the hydropower plant developers stopped using their home as a dumping site and properly compensated displaced families. He also questioned why India is leaning so heavily into hydropower, when countries like the United States, Brazil and China have suffered huge disruptions in hydropower generation due to climate change-driven droughts in the past few years. Another concern is the clearing of thousands of trees for the power plant, he said, when "we hear so much about saving forests to fight climate change". "It is so confusing and frustrating," he added.

BEIJING, Nov 29,(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - A clutch of major emerging economies including China and India have forged a united front to put pressure on developed countries at next month's climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. Over two days of quietly arranged talks in Beijing, the countries said they had reached agreement on major issues, including the need for the West to provide finance and technology to help developing nations combat global warming. The meeting was attended by senior officials from China, India, Brazil and South Africa as well as Sudan, the current chairman of the Group of 77 developing countries. China is the world's top greenhouse gas emitter and India is the fourth largest, while Brazil is also a leading emitter, mainly through deforestation. All three, along with South Africa, have come under pressure to curb the pace of their carbon pollution and have announced plans to achieve this. They say steps by rich nations to fight climate change are, collectively, not good enough. "The purpose of the meeting was to prepare for and contribute to a positive, ambitious and equitable outcome in Copenhagen," according to a statement released after the talks, which took place on Friday evening and Saturday. "We believe that this work represents a good starting point and we will continue to work together over the next few days and weeks as our contribution towards a consensus in Copenhagen," the statement said. The meeting in Copenhagen was supposed to yield the outlines of a broader and tougher legally binding climate agreement to expand or replace the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012. But the troubled negotiations launched two years ago in Bali have failed to bridge the divide between rich and poor nations on efforts to curb emissions, how to measure and report them and who should pay. Talks host Denmark and a number of rich nations have instead backed a plan to seal a comprehensive political deal at Copenhagen and agree the legally binding details in 2010. But some developing nations are demanding a stronger outcome. CALL TO BACK KYOTO PACT Developing nations have also expressed alarm at efforts to try to ditch the Kyoto Protocol by creating an entirely new agreement or cherry-picking from the existing pact and placing the provisions into another agreement. The European Union has said Kyoto has failed in its intended aim of cutting rich nations' emissions and that a new agreement was needed. The Beijing statement said the Kyoto Protocol should remain in force, with rich countries taking responsibility to cut emissions in accordance with the protocol's second commitment period from 2013. Developing economies in return would pledge to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions. The participants, who included Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, worked off a 10-page draft negotiation strategy outlined personally by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Hindustan Times reported. The newspaper said that Beijing's top climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, would present the strategy in Copenhagen on Tuesday. Global conservation group WWF said the Beijing statement appeared to be a rejection of Denmark's proposal to aim for a political agreement in Copenhagen. "We are not surprised the emerging economies have laid down this challenge for the developed world," said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF's Global Climate Initiative, in a statement. "Quite frankly the Danish proposal is incredibly weak and the developing world governments aren't stupid."

The Commonwealth said on Saturday climate change threatened the existence of small island members faced with rising sea levels but it failed to back binding targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A statement issued on the second day of a summit of the club of mostly former British colonies said the Commonwealth was gravely concerned about climate change, which was "a direct threat to the very survival of some Commonwealth countries, notably small island states." It said the cost of inaction would be greater than taking early measures to counteract global warming. But the declaration by the Commonwealth summit (CHOGM) contained only vague language and lacked binding targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, prompting Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauvan to condemn it as inadequate. "There is a complete lack of urgency, given the need to get climate changing emissions under control ... and the disproportionate impact of climate change on the world's poorest Commonwealth members," he said. The Commonwealth secretary-general, Don McKinnon, called the agreement "quite a leap forward" although it stopped short of the major statement that many countries had said they wanted. Before the summit, Britain had called for an "unequivocal message" and had urged developed nations to make binding commitments before an environment conference in Bali next month. The Kampala declaration stopped short of that, but did say developed countries should take the lead in cutting emissions. "No strategy or actions to deal with climate change should have the effect of depriving developing countries of ... sustainable economic development," it said. BALI SUMMIT The Bali meeting will discuss an agreement to succeed the Kyoto protocol which aims to reduce emissions of the gases that cause global warming but which expires in 2012. Kyoto exempts developing nations, including major emitters India and China, from commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. Canada's conservative government said on Friday it would not sign an agreement in Kampala unless it called for all countries to reduce emissions. The Commonwealth traditionally reaches agreement by consensus and the need to compromise between Canada's position and the demands of developing nations, especially island states, may explain the vague nature of Saturday's declaration. The Commonwealth Climate Change Action Plan called for a post-Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gases but spoke only of "a long term aspirational global goal for emissions reduction to which all countries would contribute." Environmentalists sharply attacked similar non-binding language after recent summits by the G8 industrial nations and the APEC Asia-Pacific group. A British official said the statement "does what we wanted which is to continue ...to build momentum ahead of Bali." But he added: "there is a question over whether CHOGM is the right place to commit people to binding targets when we have Bali around the corner. Some participants felt Bali was the right place to discuss commitments." Australia has been one of the Commonwealth states most reluctant to combat climate change, but Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd said after winning a general election on Saturday that Australia would now sign up to Kyoto. Ex-Prime Minister John Howard government's refusal to ratify Kyoto angered Pacific island nations, including Commonwealth members, who could be submerged by rising sea levels.

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

Democrats wrested control of the US House of Representatives from Trump's Republicans in midterm elections seen as a referendum on his two-year-old presidency and closely watched around the world. The outcome gives the opposition party new powers to block Trump's domestic agenda and step up inquiries into the former real estate mogul's business dealings and suspected links between his presidential campaign and Russia. But on foreign policy Trump's ability to set the agenda remains largely intact. And while House Democrats could push for a tougher approach towards Saudi Arabia and Russia, they are unlikely to move the dial on his biggest agenda items: the trade conflict with China and hardline course with Iran. "The formidable executive powers of the president, notably in foreign policy, remain untouched," Norbert Roettgen, head of the foreign affairs committee in the German Bundestag, told Deutschlandfunk radio. "We need to prepare for the possibility that Trump's defeat (in the House) fires him up, that he intensifies the polarisation, the aggression we saw during the campaign." Peter Trubowitz, director of the United States Centre at the London School of Economics, said: "I would look for him to double down on China, on Iran, on the Mexican border." "I think that the incentive structure now has changed for him and he will invest even more time on the foreign policy front as we move forward to 2020," he added. NO REBUKE Trump's first two years in office deeply unsettled traditional US allies in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, lambasted allies like Germany for running trade surpluses and not spending more on defence, and cosied up to authoritarian leaders in North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Although few European politicians said so openly, the hope in Berlin, Paris and Brussels was that US voters would deliver a clear rebuke to Trump's Republicans in the midterms, forcing a change of tack and bolstering hopes of regime change in 2020. Some European politicians hailed Democratic gains in the House as proof of a shift. Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission, said Americans had chosen "hope over fear, civility over rudeness, inclusion over racism". But the outcome fell short of the "blue wave" some had hoped for. Republicans were able to strengthen their majority in the Senate, the chamber that has traditionally played the biggest role on foreign policy. And in several high-profile House, Senate and governor races - in states such as Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Texas - Republicans closely allied with Trump emerged victorious. Roettgen said he saw the outcome as a "normalisation" of Trump and confirmation that his "hostile takeover" of the Republican Party has been successful. One area where Democrats could rein in Trump is on Saudi Arabia, whose killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month has fuelled a backlash in Congress and threats to block arms sales. A more intense focus on Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election will limit Trump's ability to work with President Vladimir Putin. Democrats in the House could also push for more sanctions against Moscow, including measures that would punish European firms involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. "We can say with a large amount of confidence that of course no bright prospects for normalising Russian-American relations can be seen on the horizon," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. TRADE RISK Trade is one area where presidents can act without congressional approval. And several European diplomats and analysts said they expected Trump to keep the conflict with China alive, or even intensify it, as his domestic agenda stalls. Troubles at home also increase the likelihood that Trump follows through on his threats to confront Europe on trade, including punishing Germany with tariffs on car imports. A visit to the White House in June by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker brought a ceasefire. But last month, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross accused the EU of holding up progress on trade and said Trump's patience was "not unlimited". "Trump deeply believes that the EU and especially the Germans are taking US to the cleaners," said Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official who is research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "I fully expect that if he is encountering political problems at home he will look for new confrontations."

Scattered rain brought some relief to parts of the baking US Midwest on Wednesday, but most of the region remained in the grips of the worst drought in half a century as the outlook for world food supplies and prices worsened. The US Agriculture Department forecast that food prices would now out-pace other consumer costs through 2013 as drought destroys crops and erodes supplies. "The drought is really going to hit food prices next year," said USDA economist Richard Volpe, adding that pressure on food prices would start building later this year. "It's already affecting corn and soybean prices, but then it has to work its way all the way through the system into feed prices and then animal prices, then wholesale prices and then finally, retail prices," Volpe said in an interview. The USDA now sees food prices rising between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent in 2012 and another 3-4 percent in 2013. Food prices will rise more rapidly than overall U.S. inflation, the USDA said, a turnabout from the usual pattern. U.S. inflation is estimated at 2 percent this year and 1.9 percent in 2013. Food inflation was 3.7 percent last year but only 0.8 percent in 2010. On Wednesday, the USDA added another 76 counties to its list of areas designated for disaster aid, bringing the total to 1,369 counties in 31 states across the country. Two-thirds of the United States is now in mild or extreme drought, the agency said. Forecasters said that after weeks of hot, dry weather the northern Corn Belt from eastern Nebraska through northern Illinois was likely to see a second day of scattered rain. But in the southern Midwest, including Missouri and most of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, more hot, dry weather was likely. "Most of these areas need an excess of 10 inches of rain to break the drought," said Jim Keeney, a National Weather Service meteorologist, referring to Kansas through Ohio. "This front is not expected to bring much more than a 1/2 to 1 inch in any particular area. It's not a drought buster by any means." The central and southern Midwest saw more temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, with St Louis at 101 F. "There's no change in the drought pattern, just thunderstorms shifting around," said Andy Karst, a meteorologist for World Weather Inc. "There are no soaking rains seen through August 8." The outlook sent Chicago Board of Trade grain markets higher after prices had come down from last week's record highs. Chicago Board of Trade corn for September delivery closed 4-1/2 cents higher at $7.94-1/2 a bushel, compared to the record high of $8.28-3/4 set last week. August soybeans ended 45 cents higher at $16.94-1/4, compared to last week's record of $17.77-3/4. September wheat rose 24-1/2 cents at $9.03-1/4, compared to last week's 4-year high at $9.47-1/4. The prices have markets around the world concerned that local food costs will soar because imports will be expensive, food aid for countries from China to Egypt will not be available, and food riots could occur as in the past. The United States is the world's largest exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat. Major losses in the massive U.S. corn crop, which is used for dozens of products from ethanol fuels to livestock feed, have been reported by field tours this week. Soybeans, planted later than corn, are struggling to set pods, but if rain that has been forecast falls, soybeans may be saved from the worst effects of the drought. A Reuters poll on Tuesday showed that US corn yields could fall to a 10-year low, and the harvest could end up being the lowest in six years. Extensive damage has already been reflected in declining weekly crop reports from Corn Belt states. "Monday's crop ratings showed losses on par with the damage seen during the 1988 drought if these conditions persist," said Bryce Knorr, senior editor for Farm Futures Magazine. "Weather so far has taken almost 4 billion bushels off the corn crop, so a lot of demand must still be rationed." In Putnam County, Indiana, this week, crop scouts did not even stop to inspect corn fields since a glance convinced them that farmers would plow crops under rather than trying to harvest anything. On Wednesday, scouts in central Illinois reported that some corn fields were better than expected, having benefited from early planting and pollination after a warm winter and spring. Tom Womack of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture said some recent rains had helped soybean prospects, but "the damage that has been done to the corn has been done. No amount of rainfall will help us recover what we lost in the corn crop." Ohio Governor John Kasich signed an order on Wednesday that will allow farmers to cut hay for their livestock from grass growing along highways adjacent to their properties. Fire threats were growing in portions of the Plains. On Wednesday, firefighters from three north-central Nebraska counties and the National Guard battled expanding wildfires that have consumed more than 60,000 acres in the last week. On Wednesday, helicopters dumped water on wildfires, ignited by lightning, that have been burning since the weekend in the Niobrara River Valley. "We are making progress, but continued support is needed," Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman said. In Missouri, one of the nation's driest states, the highway patrol said smoke from grass and brush fires was creating "very dangerous driving conditions." Discarded cigarettes were cited as a factor in those fires. Across the Midwest, cities and towns restricted water use for gardens and lawns and tried to save stressed trees with drip bags. Reservoir and river levels were low and being carefully watched, and restrictions were placed on barge movements along the Mississippi River and recreational boating. SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME? The U.S. drought has been blamed on the El Nino phenomenon in the western Pacific Ocean, a warming of sea temperatures that affects global atmosphere and can prevent moisture from the Gulf of Mexico from reaching the U.S. Midwest breadbasket. Some scientists have warned that this year's US drought, already deemed the worst since 1956, is tied to climate factors that could have even worse effects in coming years. Dangerously hot summer days have become more common across the Midwest in the last 60 years, and the region will face more potentially deadly weather as the climate warms, according to a report issued by the Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) on Wednesday. The report looked at weather trends in Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis and smaller cities such as Peoria, Illinois, and Toledo, Ohio. The report found that the number of hot, humid days has increased, on average, across the Midwest since the 1940s and 1950s, while hot, dry days have become hotter. Finding relief from the heat has become more difficult, as all the cities studied now have fewer cool, dry days in the summer and night-time temperatures have risen. "Night-time is typically when people get relief, especially those who don't have air conditioning," said Steve Frenkel, UCS's Midwest office director. "The risks of heat-related illness and death increase with high nighttime temperatures." In Chicago, more than 700 deaths were attributed to a heat wave in July 1995. With more extreme summer heat, annual deaths in Chicago are projected to rise from 143 from 2020-2029 to 300 between 2090-2099, the report said.

More cities were inundated and crops destroyed as the severe weather spread northwards, with the official Xinhua news agency reporting direct economic losses of 1.22 billion yuan ($189 million) so far. The provincial weather bureau on Thursday raised the storm alert for four cities in the north of Henan - Xinxiang, Anyang, Hebi and Jiaozuo - to red, the highest tier of a four-step colour-coded weather warning system. The fatalities included 12 people who were killed when the subway in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, about 650 km (400 miles) southwest of Beijing, was flooded earlier this week. Eight people are listed as missing across the province. More than 73,000 people were being evacuated from the city of Anyang, on Henan's border with Hebei province, after being swamped by more than 600 mm of rainfall since Monday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Xinxiang, a small city north of Zhengzhou, recorded 812 mm of rainfall between Tuesday and Thursday, shattering local meteorological records, Xinhua reported. Seven medium-sized reservoirs in the city had overflowed, affecting scores of nearby villages and towns. As of late Wednesday, more than 470,000 people and over 55,000 hectares of crops have been affected by the Xinxiang downpours, Xinhua said, adding the local government had deployed a more than 76,000-strong search and rescue team. In neighbouring Hebei, two people were killed when a tornado struck the city of Baoding. The fatal flooding of the Zhengzhou subway prompted the government to order local authorities to immediately improve urban transit flood controls and emergency responses. Media images showed commuters immersed in chest-deep waters in lightless cabins. One underground station was reduced to a large churning pool. The Ministry of Transport said local authorities must immediately re-examine and rectify all hidden risks on rail transit. "They must take emergency measures such as suspending trains, evacuating passengers, and closing stations in atypical situations such as excessively intense storms," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Some 617.1 mm (24.3 inches) of rain fell in Zhengzhou from Saturday to Tuesday, almost the equivalent of the city's annual average of 640.8 mm (25.2 inches). Public scrutiny has also fallen on the timeliness of weather bulletins provided by local meteorological services. The provincial weather bureau told state media it had issued a report warning of the coming torrential rains two days in advance. Since Monday evening, meteorological departments from the provincial down to the county level have sent out 120 million text messages to mobile phone users warning them of the storms, the Henan weather bureau said.

All times are local (GMT). 8:15 p.m. After a last-minute drama over the words phase "down" or "out" regarding coal use, the talks ended with a global agreement that aimed to keep alive hopes of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, and so maintain a realistic chance of saving the world from catastrophic climate change. Mixed reviews over the deal rolled in. “Whether COP26 was a success will only be known some time down the road. The test will be whether Glasgow marks the transition from promises made on paper to turning those promises into reality," said Kaveh Guilanpour, Vice President of International Strategies at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. 7:40 p.m. COP26 President Alok Sharma looked like he was about to cry. India's environment minister Bhupender Yadav interrupted the adoption process for the Glasgow pact before it had barely begun, proposing new language in the deal that would request governments "phase down" coal use, rather than phase it out. Several countries expressed disappointment but said they would still support the deal to ensure the negotiations do not collapse in failure. Sharma apologised to the plenary for the way the process was handled and got choked up. 7:23 p.m. COP26 President Alok Sharma opens the formal plenary: "It is now decision time." 7:04 p.m. We have a deal. According to China, that is. Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua gave Reuters the thumbs up when asked on the plenary floor if the Glasgow pact was going to pass. Then he said "we have a deal" through his translator. He did have a critique, though. "The voice of developing countries hasn’t been heard enough," he said through his translator. 6:51 p.m. Samuel Adeoye Adejuwon, a technical adviser on Nigeria's delegation, said his country was aligned with India in its opposition to strong language targeting fossil fuels in the Glasgow pact. "This argument is about special circumstances. You cannot ask us to phase out the process of development," he told Reuters as delegates milled about on the plenary floor. He said that the US discussion with China and India about coal was an attempt to find common ground. 6:42 p.m. Observers at the UN climate talks got a bit nervous when representatives of the United States and the EU went into a meeting with their counterparts from China and India to discuss some of the deal's language around phasing out coal. They came out of the meeting about 30 minutes later. The meeting, confirmed to Reuters by a member of the Indian delegation, suggested last-minute negotiations were underway as the UK conference hosts pressed urgently for an accord. Immediately before the meeting, US special envoy John Kerry was overheard by Reuters telling his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua "You’re supposed to be phasing out coal over the next 20 years, you just signed an agreement with us." 5:36 p.m. "We will reconvene very, very shortly," COP26 President Alok Sharma says, after country delegations finish up their speeches. Once they reconvene, a vote on the deal is likely. 4:40 p.m. The United States could see not everyone was happy about the draft deal in front of the UN talks in Glasgow. "If it is a good negotiation, all the parties are uncomfortable," US special climate envoy John Kerry told the plenary. "This has been, I think, a good negotiation." He spoke after a series of poor and island nations expressed disappointment the draft did not do more to support them. Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna put it bluntly: “It will be too late for the Maldives.” India's environment and climate minister, Bhupender Yadav, had earlier also blasted the draft deal, saying he disagreed with language requesting countries unwind fossil fuel subsidies. "How can anyone expect that developing countries can make promises about phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies when developing countries have still to deal with their development agendas and poverty eradication?" he said. 4:08 p.m. Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told the plenary her country did not like the deal because of how it dealt with rules governing global carbon markets, but would live with it anyway. "We are concerned that we are leaving this COP with everybody feeling more than a little unhappy," she said. Lee White, Gabon's Minister of Water, Forests, Sea and Environment, meanwhile, told the plenary he had some unfinished business, regardless of the passage of a deal. "Before I leave, I need some more reassurance from our developed country partners - and note that I don't say donors - before boarding the electric train leaving the Glasgow COP." 3:58 p.m. "It's not perfect." That was the common refrain from poor and small island nations commenting to the plenary about the draft climate deal. Each of them said, however, they would support it. The low-lying island countries and small economy blocs had been pushing hard for more money from rich nations to help them deal with everything from transitioning to clean energy to recovering from climate-driven disasters. Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege said the existing deal did not go far enough to do that, but marked progress, and that she would back it because she could not go home to her island with nothing. 3:52 p.m. Tuvalu's climate envoy Seve Paeniu held up a photo of his three grandchildren and told the plenary he has been thinking of what he can tell them upon his return to the low-lying island nation: "Glasgow has made a promise to secure their future," he said. "That will be the best Christmas gift I could bring back to them." 3:44 p.m. EU climate chief Frans Timmermans drew a rousing round of applause for his comments to the plenary, in which he asked countries to unite around the deal for the sake of "our children, our grandchildren." "They will not forgive us if we fail them today," he said. He opened his comments by saying the conference risked "stumbling in this marathon" a few steps before the finish if country delegations demanded new changes to the texts. 3:30 p.m. In a potentially positive sign, China negotiator Zhao Yingmin tells the plenary that the current draft of the deal is not perfect but that his team has no intention to reopen it. Representatives of Tanzania and Guinea, meanwhile, said they were disappointed that the draft did not do more to ensure poor, climate-vulnerable nations like theirs were getting adequate financial help to deal with global warming issues. 3:12 p.m. COP26 President Alok Sharma opened up an informal plenary to take stock of the latest proposals, saying the conference had reached the "moment of truth for the planet, for our children, for our grandchildren". While differences on the final deal remained, Sharma appeared to be saying time was up on negotiations and that an accord needed to be finalized. 2:40 p.m. In the minutes before the official plenary was set to start, US special envoy John Kerry stood with his counterpart from China, Xie Zhenhua, holding a paper and going over it line by line together. Days earlier, the two men surprised the summit with a U.S.-China joint declaration in which China agreed to ramp up its ambition to fight climate change by phasing down coal use, curbing methane and protecting forests. 2:30 p.m. As negotiators met behind closed doors to try to overcome last-minute hurdles to a deal, delegates from three countries said they had no idea what was going on. "I don’t know, man, it’s chaos,” said one negotiator about the last minute friction over a deal. China’s No. 2 negotiator Zhao Yingmin, while entering his country’s offices, said he had no updates. Nearby, representatives from Brazil could be seen entering a meeting of the G77 group of developing countries. 1:45 p.m. After an hour and 45 minutes, Sharma finally came back up to the microphone to announce a slightly new schedule: everyone can be excused, but please return at 2:30 p.m. when the official plenary will begin. The delay was to allow parties to finalize some of their negotiations, he said. He also insisted: there will be a deal this afternoon. 1:06 p.m. COP26 President Alok Sharma, who was in the plenary room on time at noon, tried twice to get delegates from other nations to sit down. An hour later, he was still unsuccessful. Large huddles of discussions persisted on one side of the stage. US climate envoy John Kerry was working the room, going from group to group. 12:30 p.m. Delegates were anxious for updates on the negotiations, but were taking the delays in their stride. "Well, it's classic that the COP goes over time, so no surprise whatsoever," said Axel Michaelowa, an advisor to the Honduras delegation. In the cafeteria, views were mixed on what the delays meant for the final deal - did they suggest a strong accord that keeps 1.5C within reach, or a soft one that doesn't? "I think the fact that they didn't close it at 6 o'clock, 8 o'clock last night shows that they might be committed to a sort of deal that works for everybody," said Emily Wright, a representative from Save the Children International. Naja Moretro, the head of the Norwegian Church Aid Youth Organisation, had a different view: "The texts have been getting weaker and weaker when it comes to clear language." 12:02 p.m. Danish Climate Minister Dan Jorgensen, heading into the summit's plenary room, explained his support for language in a final deal pushing for a phase-out of coal. "I think it's fair to say that this isn't about shaming those countries (reliant on fossil fuels)," he said. He said the text should acknowledge that some countries need help to move away from coal. "So this is why I said one improvement in the text is that it now also refers to 'just transition'," he said. 11:35 a.m. Nellie Dokie, 37, has been taking a two-hour trip each way to the conference center to work as a chef. She has been preparing meals for VIPs and delegates and finally stepped out into the main conference area to check out the scene. Dokie lives in Glasgow but is from Liberia. "I want to be a part of history. I played a small part," she said. 11:20 a.m. US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry appeared to be in a cheery mood. "It's a beautiful day in Scotland," he said, walking alongside his top negotiators Sue Biniaz, Jonathan Pershing and Trigg Talley as reporters trailed him through the hallway. It was unclear if his assessment was fueled by the state of negotiations at the conference, or the unusually sunny weather in Glasgow. 11:02 a.m. The action shifted over the last 24 hours to "bilateral" meeting rooms scattered around the conference site. Delegates huddled in windowless rooms guarded by security. They were reviewing the draft text ahead of the noon stocktaking session. 8:53 a.m. A dozen Greenpeace staffers sat together in the COP26 conference halls, hunched over laptops and with some sitting on the floor, as they prepared a new statement on the latest draft revisions. Spanish Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera was seen rushing from her delegation's office, as the UK COP26 Presidency dropped what many hope is the final draft of an overall Glasgow agreement. Technical crews were boxing up flat-screen displays and carrying them out of meeting rooms, as they continued taking down parts of the venue. 8:21 a.m. After tense overnight deliberations, delegates were poised for the release of another draft agreement. The delegation pavilions, where countries had showcased their climate-friendly initiatives, were all dismantled, but coffee stands were still serving. Civil society groups who have been closely watching the deliberations were scouring documents released in the early morning for clues about what might go into the final deal. Friday 9:30 p.m. The UK hosts of the conference issued a statement confirming there will be no deal tonight. "I envisage formal plenary meetings in the afternoon to adopt decisions and close the session on Saturday," Alok Sharma, the UK summit president said in a statement. Delegations and the media appeared to be headed back to their hotels for some rest before what promises to be a long day tomorrow. 8:40 p.m. The COP26 conference halls grew quiet with small groups of negotiators, including a dozen or so EU delegates, moving along the halls to and from meetings. This "shuttle diplomacy," as diplomats shuttle between rooms, is how most of the work gets done in the final hours of climate negotiations, Felipe De Leon Denegri, Costa Rica's carbon markets negotiator, told Reuters. But this year may be particularly quiet as much of the shuttling is now done over the messaging app WhatsApp, he said. "One of the perhaps weird things about COP in the 21st century is that shuttle diplomacy sometimes happens on WhatsApp," De Leon said. He said the pandemic and increasingly common virtual work probably means more exchanges than ever are being held on the Facebook-owned app. "It's not that people aren't working, it's that they are working through their phone and they don't seem to be moving anywhere." 8:15 p.m. Tuvalu's Finance Minister Seve Paeniu, head of the island nation's delegation, said he was up most of last night negotiating the part of the draft agreement dealing with "loss and damage". Low-lying Tuvalu and other vulnerable countries dealing with impacts from climate change want rich countries responsible for most emissions to pay up. He said his team is working to push the United States and Australia to support a "standalone" loss and damage fund. More broadly, he said he will not be satisfied leaving Glasgow without a strong collective agreement that can keep alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C. "We do not see sufficient commitment made by countries to reduce emissions to achieve that 1.5 degree target," he said. "In terms of adaptation, there is insufficient focus on additional financing." Former UK Labour Party leader Ed Miliband stopped in the hallway to compliment Paeniu on a speech he gave earlier. 7:38 p.m. The delegation offices at the summit complex are mainly quiet. Two of China's leading negotiators were seen milling about in their office, while not far away a pair of US negotiators walked down the hall with sandwiches. All expectations were for a very long night as several major differences around ratcheting up emissions cuts pledges and how to deal with carbon markets and funding for poor countries remained.

The Maldives, one of the world's most renowned tourist destinations, installed a new president after the man credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean islands resigned, apparently under military pressure following a police mutiny. His party called it a bloodless coup. On Wednesday, just 24 hours after police joined opposition protesters in attacking the military headquarters and seizing the state TV station, the streets of the capital island, Male, were calm as people went to work and children to school. The political tumult, like most of everday Maldivian life, was far from the tourists who stream to the chain of desert islands, seeking sun-and-sand paradise at luxury resorts that can command $1,000 a night. Former President Mohamed Nasheed resigned on Tuesday and was later freed from military custody. His deputy, Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, was sworn in by the speaker of the People's Majlis, or parliament. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he hoped the "handover of power, which has been announced as a constitutional step to avoid further violence and instability, will lead to the peaceful resolution of the political crisis that has polarized the country". Nasheed's order to the military to arrest a judge, whom he accused of blocking multi-million dollar corruption cases against members of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's government, set off three weeks of opposition protests that peaked with Tuesday's police revolt. "FORCED TO RESIGN" In the end, elements of the same military marched him into his own office to order his own resignation, a close aide told Reuters in the first witness account of Nasheed's exit. "The gates of the president's office swung open and in came these unmarked vehicles we've never seen before and Nasheed came out with around 50 soldiers around him, and senior military men we'd never seen before," said Paul Roberts, Nasheed's communications adviser. Nasheed was brought to his office, met his cabinet, and then went on television to announce his resignation, Roberts said from an undisclosed location. "He was forced to resign by the military," said Roberts, a 32-year old British citizen. "He could have gone down shooting, but he didn't want blood on his hands. The security forces moved against him." Amnesty International urged the new government to avoid persecuting people based on political affiliation, amid opposition calls for Nasheed's prosecution and rumours his senior allies would not be allowed to leave the islands. The new president, Waheed, was expected to run a coalition national unity government until the presidential election in October 2013. On Tuesday, he said it was wrong to characterise the change of leadership as a coup and pledged that tourists were at no risk. Tourism is estimated to account for two-thirds of the Maldives' gross domestic product of about $1 billion. Although there were some travel advisories, including from Britain, against travel to Male, most of the Maldives' nearly 1 million annual visitors never reach the capital. Instead, they are taken straight from the airport island by speedboat or seaplane to their resorts. Flights on Wednesday were arriving as usual. "FIDELITY TO DEMOCRACY" Disparately minded opposition parties eyeing position for next year's poll found common ground against Nasheed amid the constitutional crisis and protests, and had begun adopting hardline rhetoric to criticise his Islamic credentials. The country is wholly Sunni Muslim. Analyst N. Sathiya Moorthy, writing in Wednesday's Hindu newspaper, said Nasheed would be remembered for being the Maldives' first democratically elected president but also for "avoidable constitutional and political deadlocks". "Rather than allowing events to drift towards a political or even military showdown ... Nasheed has shown great fidelity to democratic principles in a country where none existed before him by stepping down from office with grace and poise." In a sign that the era before Nasheed had returned, the state broadcaster MNBC was rebranded TV Maldives and it streamed interview after interview with opposition figures. It had that name under the 30-year reign of former president Gayoom, Nasheed's rival who was criticised for his authoritarian style. Nasheed spent a total of six years in jail, spread over 27 arrests, while agitating for democracy against Gayoom. Nasheed beat his nemesis in a 2008 poll, the first multi-party democratic election in the history of the former British protectorate, home to about 330,000 people and for centuries a sultanate. He won further acclaim for his passionate advocacy about climate change and rising seas, which threaten to engulf the low-lying nation.

French-American Duflo becomes only the second female economics winner in the prize's 50-year history, as well as the youngest at 46. She shared the award equally with Indian-born American Banerjee and Kremer, also of the United States. The Academy said the work of the three economists had shown how the problem of poverty could be tackled by breaking it down into smaller and more precise questions in areas such as education and healthcare, making problems easier to tackle. "As a direct result of one of their studies, more than five million Indian children have benefited from effective programmes of remedial tutoring in school," the Academy said in a statement. "Another example is the heavy subsidies for preventive healthcare that have been introduced in many countries." The 9 million Swedish crown ($915,300) economics prize is a later addition to the five awards created in the will of industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, established by the Swedish central bank and first awarded in 1969. Economics is the last of the awards to be announced with the winners for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace having been unveiled over the course of last week. The 2018 Nobel Economics Prize was jointly awarded to U.S. economists William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, pioneers in adapting the western economic growth model to focus on environmental issues and sharing the benefits of technology. Nordhaus' recognition has proved controversial, with critics arguing the model he created to describe the interplay between the economy and the climate seriously underestimated climate change-related risks.

Scientists are outfitting elephant seals and self-propelled water gliders with monitoring equipment to unlock the oceans' secrets and boost understanding of the impacts of climate change. Oceans regulate the world's climate by soaking up heat and shifting it around the globe. They also absorb huge amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on the pace of climate change. But scientists say they need to ramp up a global monitoring network, with the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica playing a key role. The Southern Ocean is a major "sink" of mankind's carbon emissions and an engine of the world's climate. "To understand the rate of climate change, we need to understand these ocean processes, like how fast it can sequester heat and carbon," said oceanographer Susan Wijffels, a group leader for Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System, or IMOS. "So what the ocean does affects how fast the system can move and the regional patterns of climate change," she told Reuters on Friday by telephone from a climate conference in Hobart, Tasmania. Scientists also need to better understand natural ocean cycles that affect weather on land to improve long-term forecasts for crops and water management for cities. IMOS groups researchers across Australian universities and research bodies and also links scientists in the United States, Asia and Europe. A recent funding boost means the team can outfit about 100 elephant seals to collect data from the depths around Antarctica. A small device with an antenna is attached to the heads of the seals to measure temperature, salinity and pressure as the animals dive for food. BLIND SPOT Self-propelled gliders about 2 meters (six feet) long will also be deployed in the seas around Australia to a depth of up to 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) to take measurements. Fitted with wings and a rudder, the gliders can stay at sea for months and can be controlled remotely. A key focus is the area of sea ice around Antarctica where existing self-propelled measurement devices, called Argos, can't easily function because they need to surface regularly to send data to satellites. Argos are cylinders that rise and fall to depths of up to 2 km (one mile). Thousands have been deployed globally. New types of Argos are being developed that can "sense" breaks in the sea ice to send their data. "The oceans under the ice are actually a blind spot in the global and national observing systems," Wijffels said. "We're starting to suspect the ocean is carrying heat into the sea ice zone," she added, and this could be playing a role in destabilizing the vast iceshelves of Greenland and Antarctica. Scientists say Greenland has enough ice to raise sea levels by 7 meters (23 feet) if it all melted. Rising amounts of carbon dioxide are also making oceans more acidic, affecting sea creatures' ability to make shells and there are fears increased acidity could curb the ocean's ability to mop up carbon. The programme also aims to boost monitoring of major currents around Australia that shift heat around the planet, including through the Lombok Strait near Bali in Indonesia, via deep-ocean moorings. Such measurements were more common in the North Atlantic but the Southern Hemisphere remained a major gap, Wijffels said.

When 96 people from China arrived at Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei after paying hundreds of dollars to compete in a music contest offering big cash prizes, they soon discovered they'd been swindled. A con artist had faked invitations from the city of Taipei, pocketed the contest entry fees and abandoned the "contestants" at the airport when they arrived in mid-February. Some of the musicians were so angry that they refused to return home. Such scams are expected to increase in Asia, particularly greater China, as the economic downturn motivates swindlers to prey on the down-and-out looking for a change in their luck, crime experts say. "We see more and more victims now because of the economic crisis," said Chu Yiu-kong, a criminologist at Hong Kong University. "Chinese people like money a lot, so it's easy to get trapped. Chinese people also believe in lucky opportunities, especially in difficult times." Trade-reliant Asian economies are reeling from a global slump. Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan are in recession and major companies in the region are cutting production, freezing job recruitment and laying off workers to save money. Criminologists say con artists often thrive in such desperate economic climates. Scams which police say are particularly likely to increase include job search deception, fraudulent money lending and getting people to pay hefty fees to obtain bogus lottery winnings or buy into supposedly lucrative business opportunities. In one type of scam that has recently become popular, swindlers prey on desperate job seekers in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China by posing as recruiters and asking for applicants to invest in the companies they hope to join. Those firms and the "investment" vanish by the time job seekers call back about their applications. "We don't dare go to any roadside job agencies," said Zhou Yang, 26, of the south China boomtown of Shenzhen. "They cheat you most of the time." Another creative scam artist in south China made 800,000 yuan ($117,000) last year by sending mobile phone text messages using a common Chinese name demanding repayment of a debt, local media said. Most of those who fell for the trick owed money to various people and assumed they were being pressed for repayment. Such scams add misery to those already struggling to make ends meet. "People will get desperate and morals will decline," said Chang Chin-lan, a prevention officer with Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau. RISING DECEPTION Deception crimes rose by a third in Taiwan from about 31,000 in 2007 to 41,000 in 2008, police statistics show. Hong Kong police logged a similar surge in deception crimes in the fourth quarter of 2008, from 1,071 to 1,414 cases. In Singapore, which anticipates more phone scams and other impersonation frauds this year as the economy sags, police say that "cheating and related offences" have jumped about 10 percent from 2,917 in 2006 to 3,254 last year. "Phone scams are expected to continue in these tough economic times and culprits may come up with new methods of scams designed to 'scare' or 'entice' victims into parting with their money," the Singapore Police Force warned on its website. Economic hardship aside, more sophisticated technology has also helped to fuel the growth in scams, allowing con artists to cast their nets wider and dupe people across borders. Costly hoaxes began appearing en masse in Asia around 2001 with the rise of the Internet and mobile phones, which allow anonymity and shelter away from the long-arm of the law, sometimes several countries away, said Tsai Tien-mu, a criminology professor at Taipei Police College. "It's easy for anyone to reach anyone," Tsai said. "Before, an aggressor had to meet the victim." As con artists can easily hide, police struggle to crack fraud cases. Police officers in Taiwan solve just 10 percent of their cases. In Hong Kong, police focus more on public education than tracking down individual con artists, said Chu of Hong Kong University. Often the swindlers are in China, far beyond the reach of law enforcement authorities in Hong Kong. Police in mainland China are not much use for those who are fleeced, said Zhou, the Shenzhen job seeker. "Even if you get cheated, calling the police is no use. It's rare that they actually show up and help you," said Zhou.

"Because penguins are fish eaters, the loss of the umami taste is especially perplexing," said study leader Jianzhi "George" Zhang, professor in department of ecology and evolutionary biology.Penguins eat fish so people would guess that they need the umami receptor genes -- but for some reason, they do not have them."These findings are surprising and puzzling and we do not have a good explanation for them. But we have a few ideas," Zhang added.He suspects the sensory changes are tied to ancient climate cooling events in Antarctica where penguins originated.The leading hypothesis is that the genes were lost after cold Antarctic temperatures interfered with taste perception.Vertebrates typically possess five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami.Previous genetic studies showed that the sweet taste receptor gene is absent from the genomes of all birds examined to date.For the study, Zhang and his colleagues took a closer look at the Adelie and emperor penguins data.In addition, they analysed bird tissue samples (chinstrap, rockhopper and king penguins, plus eight other closely related non-penguin bird species).They also reviewed publicly available genomes of 14 other non-penguin bird species.They found that all penguin species lack functional genes for the receptors of sweet, umami and bitter tastes.In the Adelie and emperor genomes, umami and bitter taste receptor genes have become "pseudogenes", genetic sequences resembling a gene but lacking the ability to encode proteins.The genomes of all non-penguin birds studied -- including egrets, finches, flycatchers, parrots, macaws, falcons, chickens and mallards -- contain the genes for the umami and bitter tastes but, as expected, lack receptors for the sweet taste."The results strongly suggest that umami and bitter tastes were lost in the common ancestor of all penguins, whereas the sweet taste was lost earlier," the authors wrote.Penguins originated in Antarctica after their separation from tubenose seabirds around 60 million years ago and the major penguin groups separated from one another about 23 million years ago."The taste loss likely occurred during that 37-million-year span which included periods of dramatic climate cooling in Antarctica," Zhang said.The paper is forthcoming in the journal Current Biology.

The European Union should speedily work out ways to help developing nations fight global warming to avert a "Catch 22" impasse that could brake action worldwide, the UN's top climate change official said on Monday. "This is a priority that all industrialised countries need to get moving on quickly," Yvo de Boer told Reuters of a message he would give to EU environment ministers at a meeting in Brussels later on Monday. About 190 nations agreed in Bali, Indonesia, in December to set, by the end of 2009, a global plan to fight climate change, widening the UN's Kyoto Protocol binding 37 industrialised nations to cut greenhouse gases until 2012. "As Bali indicated, we need some kind of real, measurable and verifiable additional flow of resources," de Boer said. Rich nations should step up aid to help the poor curb rising emissions of greenhouse gases. That in turn would encourage developing states to diversify their economies away from fossil fuels towards cleaner energies. Commitment by developing nations, led by China and India, is in turn a condition for many rich nations, led by the United States which worries about a loss of jobs, to curb emissions. The United States is the only rich nation outside Kyoto. "It's becoming a bit of a Catch 22 -- if you can't generate the resources to engage developing countries...then it makes it difficult for the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia and then possibly the EU to move forwards," he said. "Then things become difficult," said de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Secretariat in Bonn. ' FLOODS, HEATWAVES The EU says it is a leader in fighting climate change that the U.N. Climate Panel says will bring more heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas this century. De Boer said promising ideas for new funding include auctioning rights to emit carbon dioxide in the EU and using some of the proceeds to help developing nations. Another option was to increase a levy on a Kyoto project that allows rich nations to invest in cutting greenhouse gases in developing nations. And EU budgets for research and development could help curb climate change. De Boer said he would tell EU ministers: "If you don't generate the resources for developing countries then they won't engage and it will be difficult for you to engage." He also urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy to complete an EU package of climate measures during the French EU presidency in the second half of 2008. In January, the EU Commission outlined proposals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, raising use of renewable energy in power production to 20 percent and using 10 percent of biofuels in transport by 2020. "It's important that under the French presidency in the second half that the package is finalised so that it can go to (the European) parliament," de Boer said. France and Germany last week said that the plan might jeopardise European jobs. "The European Union has stepped into this with eyes wide open. And now it has to deliver" by sharing out the burden, de Boer said. "Signals about how the target is going to be achieved are important for (the EU's) international credibility." -- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on:

That favourite is President Emmanuel Macron, 44, who has opted to stay above the fray, delaying his decision to declare he is running until sometime close to the March deadline, yet another way to indulge his penchant for keeping his opponents guessing. Comfortable in his lofty centrist perch, Macron has watched as the right and extreme-right tear one another to shreds. Immigration and security have largely pushed out other themes, from climate change to the ballooning debt France has accumulated in fighting the coronavirus crisis. “To call your child ‘Mohammed’ is to colonise France,” says Éric Zemmour, the far-right upstart of the election who has parlayed his notoriety as a TV pundit into a platform of anti-immigrant vitriol. Only he, in his telling, stands between French civilization and its conquest by Islam and “woke” American political correctness. Like former President Donald Trump, to whom he spoke this week, Zemmour uses constant provocation to stay at the top of the news. Still, Macron has a clear lead in polls, which give him about 25% of the vote in the first round of the election on April 10. Zemmour and two other right-wing candidates are in the 12%-18% range. Splintered left-wing parties are trailing and, for now, seem like virtual spectators for the first time since the foundation of the Fifth Republic in 1958. France generally leans right; this time it has lurched. “The left lost the popular classes, many of whom moved to the far right because it had no answer on immigration and Islam,” said Pascal Bruckner, an author and political philosopher. “So it’s the unknowable chameleon, Macron, against the right.” The beneficiary of a perception that he has beaten the coronavirus pandemic and steered the economy through its challenges, Macron appears stronger today than he has for some time. The economy grew 7% in the last quarter. Unemployment is at 7.4%, low for France. The lifting of COVID-19 measures before the election, including mask requirements in many public places, seems probable, a step of potent symbolism. It is a measure of the difficulty of attacking Macron that he seems at once to embody what is left of social democracy in France — once the preserve of a Socialist Party that is now on life support — and policies embraced by the right, like his tough stand against what he has called “Islamist separatism.” “He is supple,” said Bruno Le Maire, the economy minister. Macron’s predecessor as president, François Hollande, a Socialist who feels betrayed by the incumbent’s shift rightward, put it less kindly in a recent book: “He hops, like a frog on water lilies, from one conviction to another.” The two leading candidates in the first round go through to a second Apr 24. The crux of the election has therefore become a fierce right-on-right battle for a second-place passage to a runoff against Macron. Marine Le Pen, the perennial anti-immigrant candidate, has become Zemmour’s fiercest critic, as defections to him from her party have grown. She has said his supporters include “some Nazis” and accused him of seeking “the death” of her National Rally party, formerly called the National Front. Zemmour, whose extremist view is that Islam is “incompatible” with France, has ridiculed her for trying to distinguish between extremist Islamism and the faith itself. He has attacked her for not embracing the idea of the “great replacement” — a racist conspiracy theory that white Christian populations are being intentionally replaced by nonwhite immigrants, leading to what Zemmour calls the “Creolization” of societies. The president would be confident of his chances against either Le Pen, whom he beat handily in the second round in 2017, or Zemmour, even if the glib intellectualism of this descendant of an Algerian Jewish family has overcome many of the taboos that kept conservative French voters from embracing the hard right. France is troubled, with many people struggling to pay rising energy bills and weary from the two-year struggle against the pandemic, but a blow-up-the-system choice, like the vote for Trump in the United States or Britain’s choice of Brexit, would be a surprise. Paulette Brémond, a retiree who voted for Macron in 2017, said she was hesitating between the president and Zemmour. “The immigration question is grave,” she said. “I am waiting to see what Mr Macron says about it. He probably won’t go as far as Zemmour, but if he sounds effective, I may vote for him again.” Until Macron declares his candidacy, she added, “the campaign feels like it has not started” — a common sentiment in a country where for now the political jostling can feel like shadow boxing. That is scarcely a concern to the president, who has portrayed himself as obliged to focus on high matters of state. These include his prominent diplomatic role in trying to stop a war in Ukraine through his relationship with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and ending, along with allies, the troubled French anti-terrorist campaign in Mali. If Mali has been a conspicuous failure, albeit one that seems unlikely to sway many voters, the Ukraine crisis, as long as it does not lead to war, has allowed Macron to look like Europe’s de facto leader in the quest for constructive engagement with Russia. Zemmour and Le Pen, who between them represent about 30% of the vote, make no secret of their admiration for Putin. One member of Macron’s putative reelection team, who insisted on anonymity per government practice, said the possibility of a runoff against the centre-right Republican candidate, Valérie Pécresse, was more concerning than facing either Le Pen or Zemmour in the second round. A graduate of the same elite school as Macron, a competent two-term president of France’s most populous region and a centrist by instinct, Pécresse might appeal in the second round to centre-left and left-wing voters who regard Macron as a traitor. But a disastrous performance in her first major campaign speech in Paris this month appears to have dented Pécresse’s chances, if perhaps not irretrievably. One poll this week gave her 12% of the vote, down from 19% in December. Pécresse has been pushed right by the prevailing winds in France, the European country arguably worst hit by Islamist terrorism over the past seven years, to the point that she chose to allude to “the great replacement” in her campaign speech. “Stop the witchcraft trials!” she said in a television interview Thursday, in response to an outcry over her use of a term once confined to the extreme right. “I will not resign myself to a Macron-Zemmour duel,” because “voting for Le Pen or Zemmour is voting for Macron in the end.” There have been two Macrons. The first sought a reinvention of the state-centric French model through changes to the labyrinthine labour code that made it easier to hire and fire, suppression of the tax on large fortunes, and other measures to attract foreign investment and free up the economy. Then came revolt, in the form of the Yellow Vest movement against rising inequality and globe-trotting financiers — Macron was once one — seen as blind to widespread social hardship. No sooner had that quieted, than the coronavirus struck, turning the president overnight into a “spend whatever it takes” apostle of state intervention from a free-market reformer. “We have nationalised salaries,” Macron declared in 2020, not blinking an eye. The cost of all that will come due some day, and it will be onerous. But for now the “at the same time” president, as Macron has become known for his habit of constantly changing position, seems to bask in the glow of the pandemic tamed. “He got lucky,” said the member of his campaign team. “COVID saved him from more unpopular reforms.” Anything could still happen — a European war, a new variant of the virus, another major terrorist attack, a sudden wave of renewed social unrest — but for now, Macron’s aloof-from-the-melee waiting game seems to be working. “Absent a catastrophe, I don’t see how Mr Macon is not reelected,” Bruckner said. Then again, the real campaign will only start when the incumbent descends at last into the turbulent arena. ©2022 The New York Times Company

Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a government dominated by loyalists on Monday, tightening his grip on the economy and national security after protests and limiting Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's ability to pursue market reforms. Putin, 59, opted for continuity by retaining his ally Igor Shuvalov as first deputy prime minister in charge of economic policy, while Igor Sechin will remain his energy chief in a role outside the government. Putin reeled off several new names in announcing the cabinet appointments at a Kremlin meeting but kept a core of familiar figures in place, displaying no great hunger for policy changes at the start of a six-year presidential term. The former KGB spy consolidated his hold over the "power" ministries by naming Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev as interior minister, in a sign of trust in a man who has at times used heavy force against protesters demanding Putin quit. Putin signaled continuity in international and military affairs, leaving Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in place along with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, an ally who oversees the defense industry. "Work will be difficult, given the concrete situation in the world economy - there are very many factors of uncertainty," Putin told the new cabinet, seated at the head of the table with Medvedev to his right, in a Kremlin meeting broadcast live on state television. An important test of the government will be the speed at which it implements a privatization program and a drive to reduce the dependence of the $1.7 trillion economy on oil and gas exports. Putin has also faced the biggest protests since he was first elected president in 2000, caused initially by allegations of electoral fraud but fuelled by anger and frustration that his 12-year domination of Russia has been extended by six years. The opposition, representing a civil society that is finally emerging more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, says its views are being ignored and Putin is stifling economic and political reforms in the world's largest country. His appointment of Kolokoltsev to the Interior Ministry sent a clear message that he does not intend to bow to the protesters' demands for more political choice and a reduction in the strong central control over a country sprawling from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. "This is a man who breaks up peaceful meetings with the help of cudgels," opposition leader Boris Nemtsov told Reuters. "This all fits into the logic of modern Putinism." GROWTH AGENDA Medvedev, 46, named premier after Putin returned to the Kremlin on May 7, has said he will push pro-growth policies and the privatization drive. But, even though the partners in Russia's ruling 'tandem' announced they had agreed to switch jobs last September, the long and secretive process of forming a government raised concerns of factional divisions between the two camps. "The composition of the new cabinet suggests that it is likely to focus on budget stability rather than a pro-market agenda," Moscow-based Alfa Bank said in a research note. "We also view the new cabinet as reflective of efforts to maintain a balance of power between the president and PM, which may make it difficult to deliver a united economic agenda." The line-up brought in a couple of new faces from the team of young market liberals that served in the Kremlin during Medvedev's four-year term as president, during which he promised far-reaching reforms but carried out few of them. One, Arkady Dvorkovich, was named among six deputy premiers and was expected to have responsibility for energy and industry policy - areas over which he had little influence while serving as Medvedev's economic adviser. The energy minister's job went to Alexander Novak, a former deputy finance minister, indicating that Sechin would maintain control over Russia's strategic oil and gas sector despite leaving the government. Another Medvedev aide, former power industry boss Mikhail Abyzov, missed out on an energy role and was named last on Putin's list as coordinator of an "open government" forum backed by Medvedev that has until now produced talk but little action. Putin, who stepped aside as president in 2008 because of constitutional limits, extended his influence over economic policy - traditionally the preserve of the prime minister - by ensuring that the finance and economy portfolios were taken by placemen who support his credo of state-led development. Career bureaucrat Anton Siluanov stays as finance minister, while a pro-Putin economist, Andrei Belousov, was promoted to economy minister. NO BREAKTHROUGH "This is not a breakthrough government," said former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, a fiscal hawk ousted from government last year in a power struggle with Medvedev. He is still close to Putin and has been named as a possible future prime minister. "I doubt greatly that it will be able to rise to the challenges facing Russia." Analysts said the cabinet would probably lack independence. They looked to the Kremlin team being formed by Putin for clues on the direction of policy during his six-year term, after which he could seek re-election and try to rule until 2024. "The balance of power in the decision-making process is likely to shift from the government to the presidential administration, while recent presidential statements have not revealed increased appetite for structural reforms," Alexander Morozov, chief economist at HSBC in Moscow, said in a note. Although latest figures show Russia's economy grew 4.9 percent in the first quarter, that was boosted by lavish pre-election spending that drove up the level at which the oil price needs to be for Russia to balance its budget in future. "The oil curse will get us sooner or later," said German Gref, head of Russia's largest bank, Sberbank. "The government has no option but to create a favorable climate for investment and growth." Gref's bank is at the top of a list of state assets slated for privatization, but the sale of a 7.6 percent stake planned for last September has been repeatedly delayed. Shuvalov recently vetoed a near-term sale due to poor market conditions that have since deteriorated further, reducing the value of the stake to $4.3 billion. The English-speaking lawyer is seen as one of the few officials who can mediate in the battles for power and influence between the market liberals and those, like Putin, with a background in the security services. "Shuvalov ... has been a proponent of privatization in the past," said Peter Westin, chief economist at Moscow brokerage Aton. "Whether it goes ahead and at what speed ... depends on the oil price."

She promised that the project would be implemented without any adverse impact on the Sundarbans. The issue was raised by former US vice president Al Gore at a plenary session titled ‘Leading the Fight Against Climate Change’ at the Davos Congress Centre on Wednesday. The prime minister highlighted that location of the proposed power plant as being 14km away from the extreme boundary of the Sundarbans and 70 km away from the World Heritage Site. "She also pointed out that the power plant would be using clean coal and modern technology to reduce the impact on the surrounding environment,” said Deputy Press Secretary to the PM Nazrul Islam. The prime minister also invited Gore to come to Bangladesh and see for himself the location, he said. Bangladesh has signed a deal with India to set up the 1,320-megawatt thermal power plant in Bagerhat's Rampal, 14 kilometres off the Sundarbans. Environmentalists and leftist parties have been opposing it saying that the coal-fired power plant will threaten the ecological balance of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest of the world. The government, however, maintains that proper measures will be taken to protect the environment from pollution. "The prime minister told the plenary session in Davos that some people are unnecessarily creating an issue out of it," said Deputy Press Secretary to the PM Islam. He said Hasina assured the session that she herself will not clear any project if it posed any threat to the environment. Apart from the former US vice president, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, HSBC Group CEO Stuart Gulliver and Cofco Agri CEO Jingtao Chi attended the session.

Power tools roar as an army of workmen rushes to ensure Europe's largest city-centre shopping mall opens on time, but marketing executives say the crisis in global financial markets has accelerated a trend among consumers to reject conspicuous consumption. The $3 billion Westfield centre in West London will have a strong focus on luxury when it opens on Thursday. Promotional material cites Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tiffany and Gucci among its stores but Managing Director Michael Gutman downplays these. "We have a mass-market offer here, even though a couple of the precincts have attracted particular attention," he told Reuters by telephone. Executives say other retailers are quietly dropping the term "luxury" from their marketing material in favour of phrases depicting shopping as relaxation and time shared with family and friends. With credit harder to obtain, mortgage costs rising and unemployment growing in the United States, Europe and Japan, clever advertising may not be enough to persuade those who can still afford it to part with their money. "In grim times it becomes distasteful or simply unfashionable to spend money on bling or what you might call conspicuous consumption," said Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman at advertising agency Ogilvy. "There will be a trend toward Swedish, Lutheran-style minimalism," Sutherland predicted, referring to the modest, even austere, lifestyles favoured by Lutherans and Swedes by reputation. Bentley-driving broker Scott David said people in the City of London financial district who could still afford it were hesitating before spending conspicuously. "You wouldn't turn up to meeting in a brand-new Porsche. It would be seen as bad taste," he said. "You don't want to be seen to be rubbing people's faces in it." LUXURY GOODS SLUMP After years of strong growth, luxury goods sales are expected to fall globally by 1 percent in the fourth quarter, and may drop by up to 7 percent next year, according to a study by consulting firm Bain and Co. released this month. U.S. sales of Porsche cars fell by 58 percent in September compared with September 2007, while overall car sales declined by 22 percent, according to figures from Autodata. Andy Lear, head of planning at the London office of French advertising agency Publicis said the repercussions of the financial crisis -- front-page news worldwide for weeks -- were simply accelerating a trend that already existed. "People had already been looking for something more meaningful than just chasing cash and buying things that look flashy," he said. Certainly, some in the financial services industry who had previously enjoyed a luxury lifestyle say they are starting to question the relentless pursuit of material gain. Investment banker Patrick, who did not want his surname to be used, said his working patterns had changed in recent months. "I'm going home earlier and going to work later. I took my son to school last week before coming into work -- something I never did before," he said, adding that some colleagues were doing the same. It was partly because the tough financial climate meant his employer would not be able to pay large bonuses this year, Patrick said, but it was also because the "buzz" had gone out of working long hours. "The tone has changed ... I've got different priorities now." Patrick is looking at ways to "give something back" to society, and is planning to work with a charity that offers debt counselling to the poor. BOARD GAMES Henrietta Creighton, managing director at Lifestyle Boutique which provides luxury concierge services, said business had slowed compared with last year, but clients were still spending on family celebrations. Family board games such as Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly were expected to be Christmas hits as families decided against expensive holidays, Brian Goldner, chief executive of toy maker Hasbro, told Reuters in an interview last week. The credit crisis could propel some people in firmly secular societies such as Britain towards religion, said Lord Richard Harries, a member of Britain's upper house of parliament and a former Anglican bishop. "Perhaps after the last decades of conspicuous consumption and hollow celebrity culture we are entering what we might call an era of the new seriousness," he said in a talk on BBC radio. Greater focus on family and a rise in altruism and spirituality often coincided with downturns, said Nick Wills-Johnson, Research fellow, at Curtain University Business School's centre for applied economics in Sydney. The avaricious and brash 1980s, a period typified by the film "Wall Street", was followed by a global recession and what trend-watchers called the "Caring '90s", whose tone was set by George Bush Senior's pledge to make the United States "a kinder and gentler nation". Downturns also boost anti-materialist movements, especially among the young, said David Fowler of Cambridge University, author of the book "Youth Culture in Modern Britain, 1920-1970". "These do flourish in periods of austerity ... (a recession) exposes the superficiality of consumer-driven culture," he said.

But something happened last year to shift that orbit. It started with the signs Haner saw popping up in windows as he drove to work: “Now hiring!” McDonald’s was hiring. Walgreens was hiring. Taco Bell closed early because it was short staffed. Everyone in Midland, Michigan, it seemed, needed workers. So Haner began to wonder: Why shouldn’t work revolve around people like him? “It’s absolute craziness,” said Haner, 32, who quit his job at Applebee’s last summer and accepted a fully remote position in sales at a tech company. “I decided to take a chance because I was like, ‘If it doesn’t work out, there’s 100 more jobs out there that I can find.’” More than 40 million people left their jobs last year, many in retail and hospitality. It was called the Great Resignation, and then a rush of other names: the Great Renegotiation, the Great Reshuffle, the Great Rethink. But people were not leaving work altogether. They still had to make money. Much of the pandemic stimulus aid stopped by the fall, and savings rates dropped to their lowest in nine years, 6.4%, by January. What workers realised, though, is that they could find better ways to earn a living. Higher pay. Stable hours. Flexibility. They expected more from their employers, and appeared to be getting it. Applebee’s said the safety of its workers and guests was a priority. “Aggressive behaviour of any kind is not permitted,” said Kevin Carroll, the company’s chief operations officer. Across the country, workers were flush with opportunities and could rebuff what they had once been forced to tolerate — whether rigid bosses or customer abuse. And to keep businesses running, bosses had to start listening. “People have seen this as a rejection of work, but I’ve seen it as people capitalising on an abundance of job opportunities,” said Nick Bunker, director of economic research for North America at Indeed’s hiring lab. “People do need to pay the bills.” As vaccines and stimulus money rolled out last year, and state and local governments urged a return to normalcy, businesses grew desperate for workers. Workers took advantage of the moment by recalibrating what they expected from their employers. That did not mean millions logging off forever and throwing their laptops into the sea. It meant low-wage workers hanging up their aprons and driving to another business with a “hiring” sign hanging on the door. It also meant white-collar workers, buoyed by the tight labour market, telling their employers exactly how and where they want to work. “Our employees have the power,” said Tim Ryan, US chair of PwC, which is in the midst of a three-year transition that allows for more flexible work, including allowing much of the workforce to go permanently remote, a process Ryan estimates to be a $2.4 billion investment. That workplace transition is so grand that the executive of the 55,000-employee company had to describe it with a 2003 Disney reference. “There’s a line in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ — I have six children — where one of the characters says to Elizabeth, ‘Do you believe in nightmares? You better, because we’re living in one,’” Ryan continued, with impressive but slightly off recall of Capt. Hector Barbossa’s dialogue about ghost stories. “We’re living in this amazing transformation of the workplace, and we don’t even know it because we’re showing up every day living in it.” Many of last year’s job quitters are actually job swappers, according to data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics and the census, which shows a nearly 1-to-1 correlation between the rate of quitting and swapping. Those job switchers have tended to be in leisure, hospitality and retail. In leisure and hospitality, the rate of workers quitting rose to nearly 6% from 4% since the pandemic began. In retail it jumped to nearly 5% from 3.5%. White-collar employers still struggled to hire, but they saw far fewer resignations. The quitting rate in finance, for example, declined at the start of the pandemic and is now just below 2%, and in media and technology it stayed roughly consistent, also below 2%. When workers switched jobs, they often increased their pay. Wages grew nearly 10% in leisure and hospitality over the last year, and more than 7% in retail. Workers were also able to increase their shift hours, as rates of those working part-time involuntarily declined. A slim share of people left the workforce entirely, though for the most part that was driven by older men retiring before age 65 — and some of them are now coming back to work. The mismatch between the baby boomers retiring and the smaller cohort of young people entering the workforce has also contributed to tightening labour supply. But broadly speaking, people are not done with work, and cannot afford to be. The last year brought less giving up and more trading up — to new jobs, more hours and better pay. Workers did not really change their feelings about work; they changed their expectations. “Most people have never wanted to work and they do so because they need to live,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labour studies at Rutgers. “Now workers are saying, ‘We’re going to hold our bosses accountable and demand more from them.’” Porsha Sharon, 28, still thinks about the outbursts she witnessed from customers she served last year at Buddy’s Pizza in Troy, Michigan. One woman entered the restaurant and simply ordered a pizza, to which Sharon responded, gesturing at the extensive menu: Which kind? “Did you not hear what I said?” the customer replied, according to Sharon’s recollection. “Are you dense?” Other customers mocked Sharon for wearing a mask. The eight-hour shifts ended with burning pain in her swollen feet. She got an offer in March to start working as an administrative assistant at a law firm, work she did on a temporary basis in college, and last month she quit the pizzeria. “The last generation, they were miserable in their jobs but they stayed because that’s what they were supposed to do,” Sharon said. “We’re not like that, and I love that for us. We’re like, ‘This job is overworking me, I’m getting sick because my body is shutting down, and I’m over it.’” Katy Dean, chief operating officer of Buddy’s Pizza, a Michigan restaurant chain, said abusive customers were a “challenging component” of the current climate in food service. “If a guest refuses to calm down and treat our staff with respect, we empower our managers to ask that guest to leave the restaurant,” Dean said. This workplace moment has been branded one of anti-ambition. But for many workers, frustration gave way to an explosion of ambitious calls for better jobs: for promotions, industry switches, stable hours, sick leave, bereavement leave, maternity leave, retirement plans, safety protections, vacation time. “No one wants to work anymore,” read a sign outside of McDonald’s featured in a viral TikTok. To which former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich replied, “No one wants to be exploited anymore.” Last year when millions said “I quit,” the reckoning reached far beyond the confines of the companies and industries at its centre. White-collar workers were not quitting jobs at the same rapid clip as those in hospitality and retail. But they made bold demands of their employers all the same, cognizant that unemployment is low and competition for talent is fierce. “There’s the threat of quitting rather than actual quitting,” Bunker said. “Employees realise they do have bargaining power.” They are exercising that power, in particular, where it comes to flexibility. The shutdown of offices left workers with a sense of autonomy they were not willing to relinquish. Even some of the seemingly unassailable bosses on Wall Street recognized that old norms could not hold. Citigroup, Wells Fargo and BNY Mellon, for example, told bankers that their return to the office would be hybrid, and would not mean commuting five days a week. Just 8% of Manhattan office workers are back in the office five days a week, according to data released this week from the Partnership for New York City. “My quality of life increased so much that there would be no convincing me coming into an office was worth it,” said Lyssa Walker White, 38, who switched nonprofit jobs earlier this year because of her old employer’s expectation that she return to the office. Some employers went ahead with calling their workers back to the office, at least for some of the week, and found that they faced outright resistance. Apple, for example, which required its employees to return to the office three days a week, received a recent open letter from workers detailing their fierce opposition to in-person work. “Stop trying to control how often you can see us in the office,” the Apple workers wrote. “Please get out of our way, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, let us decide how we work best, and let us do the best work of our lives.” The company declined to comment. Its hybrid RTO requirement remains in place. At other white-collar workplaces, newly formed unions took up the remote work cause. The Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, for example, grew its membership from 12 organisations and 300 workers in 2018 to roughly 50 organisations and 1,300 workers this year. One member organisation secured an agreement that managers would cover the costs of travel for workers required to commute. Another got its management to agree to provide written justification to any employee required to return to the office. At a recent industry conference, Jessica Kriegel, head of people and culture at Experience.com, a technology company, gathered with colleagues in human resources and swapped all kinds of stories about facing the requests of an emboldened staff. There were tales of people asking for raises quadruple the size of their salaries. There were tales of company strategy meetings that had once been held as closed-door retreats in Napa, California, and had now been expanded to include junior level staff in town halls. Kriegel said she had given a top performer an eye-popping raise, and seen another race through three promotions, rising from a contributor to a director to a vice president, in just one year. “They’re asking for title bumps not even associated with financial promotions in order to put it on their LinkedIn,” Kriegel said. “People who are entry level are getting the director level title.” So the human resources director raises an eyebrow when she hears colleagues say that people are over working, because she is watching her staff agitate for exactly the type of work they want to do. “We’re starting to see people feel they don’t have to live in fear,” she said. “It’s not about anti-ambition. It’s about incredible ambition.” Haner, who left Applebee’s, was recently given a raise, of 16%, putting him at an hourly pay substantially above his wages at Applebee’s. When friends ask about his new job, he waxes on about the thoughtful conversations he has with his manager. When he requested time off for his grandfather’s funeral, something he felt would have prompted a “tsk, tsk” at Applebee’s, he was told that his company offers bereavement leave. While a job is still a job, his morning alarm no longer prompts that sense of dread because of a new sensation: “They treat us with respect.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

Many have endured illness, economic upheaval, the climate crisis, grief and racial inequities. Add to that inflation, supply chain issues and the ripple effects of Russia’s war with Ukraine — three of the biggest sources of stress among people in the United States right now, according to a recent poll for the American Psychological Association. Perhaps, experts say, the arrival of spring can serve as a natural point to take stock of our mental well-being and reconnect with the things that bring us purpose and joy, offering our brains a respite when possible. “It really is — for a number of reasons — a perfect time for folks to turn their attention to taking an inventory. Where do I find myself? What have I been through?” said Paul Napper, a psychology consultant to business leaders and co-author of “The Power of Agency: The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions and Create a Life on Your Own Terms.” Creating a clear, more focused mind starts by making decisions about how we spend our time every day. When those choices are in line with our values, interests and passions, this is referred to as personal agency. “You do always have a choice,” Napper said. “It may not be a great choice,” he added, but examining your options helps you to adapt to your circumstances. Here are five ways to declutter your mind as we enter a new season. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS “Being a human, particularly right now, is stressful,” said Nkechi Njaka, a meditation guide in San Francisco with a background in neuroscience. “And when we think of how degenerative stress is, and how harmful to the body, we need something that can help mitigate it.” Mindfulness meditation, a practice that helps you remember to return to the present when you become distracted, has been shown to reduce the stress of daily life. When people notice that their mind is racing or they start to become anxious, they are typically thinking about something in the past or in the future. To refocus on the here and now, you can start by noticing the sensations in the body, Njaka said. “Can we feel the ground below us? The heat of the sun?” It is normal for the mind to wander. If this happens, gently return your awareness to your breathing and come back to the present. If you are compassionate with yourself and approach the practice with curiosity, openness and forgiveness, you will be more likely to try it again, she added. Take advantage of the transitional moments of the day to practice mindfulness — when you wake up, right before or after a meal or when you change your physical location, for example — so that you can start to form a routine. TRY THE BULLET JOURNAL METHOD Studies have found that jotting down thoughts in a journal can improve well-being. One method that has gained popularity in recent years is a practice created by digital designer Ryder Carroll and outlined in his bestselling book, “The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future.” The Bullet Journal is an organisational system but also an exercise in mindfulness — one that requires you to continually reevaluate how you are investing your time and energy and then decide whether those things are worth it. Otherwise, Carroll said, “you can be very productive working on the wrong things.” Carroll, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, initially started journaling to help him stay focused and succeed in his career, but then he began exploring how he felt about the tasks he was accomplishing. “Did it give me energy? Did it take it away?” he asked himself. Through journaling, he discovered a pattern: The experiences that gave him a sense of purpose or pride all involved helping others and performing acts of service. “If you don’t know what you want, you will never be satisfied with anything you have,” he said. REDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD We have all been inundated by a relentless news cycle, a fire hose of information coming at us in the form of breaking news notifications, social media posts and email newsletters (among other sources) that can leave us feeling anxious, angry or even helpless. “Now is the time to completely overhaul your news consumption,” said Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University and author of “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.” Choose just one or two reliable sources and read them at a specific time each day, he advised. For example, you can listen to a news roundup podcast while commuting to work or read a newspaper at breakfast, Newport said. Newport, who is 39 and has managed to avoid social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok for his entire adult life, also recommends taking a 30-day break from the technologies in your life that are optional. In his book, he described what happened when 1,600 people gave it a try. Those who lasted the full 30 days were “cheerily gung-ho and positively aggressive about trying to fill in the time,” he said. So instead of reflexively watching TikTok or scrolling through Instagram during your free time, think about what you would be doing if you weren’t on either of those platforms: Reading a novel? Taking a restorative walk in nature? Relaxing and listening to music? Set aside time for those activities. DECLUTTER YOUR PHYSICAL SPACE During the pandemic, and especially during lockdown, many people finally began to clear the junk out of their homes, a phenomenon The Washington Post referred to as the “great decluttering.” If you haven’t tackled your pile of clutter, now might be a good time to do it. “Messy spaces tend to prevent clear cognitive thinking,” said Catherine Roster, a professor at the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico and who has researched how cluttered homes affect people. “It has a distorting effect that can bleed into other aspects of a person’s life — not only their emotions but their productivity.” Hiring a professional organiser to help sort through the mess is not within everyone’s budget, so Roster suggested relying on a buddy — ideally someone who is also decluttering their home. Together, the two of you can serve as a sounding board for each other to make decisions about what to keep and stay on schedule. Listening to music while you sort and organise can also help motivate you, she said. RECONNECT WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE “What I’m seeing with my patients is that many seem to be emotionally cluttered,” said Barbara Greenberg, a clinical psychologist in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Information overload coupled with either social isolation or not getting your needs met socially or emotionally “is a really bad brew,” she added. If there are people you care about whom you have lost touch with during the pandemic, don’t be shy about getting back in touch, she said. “We need the support and levity of people who make us feel good." If it has been awhile, it might feel awkward at first to reestablish contact. But just be honest, Greenberg said. For example, you might say: “We lost touch during the pandemic, but now things are calming down and I would really love to see you. Not seeing you has been one of the things I’ve missed.” It might even inspire a “chain of positivity” where the person you contacted feels inspired to do the same with others. “Truly, everybody wants to get that call,” she said. ©2022 The New York Times Company

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WASHINGTON, Dec 1, bdnews24.com/Reuters) - US President Barack Obama's decision on a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan carries political peril as his Democratic Party gears up for tough midterm congressional elections next year. Obama will unveil the strategy on Tuesday in an address from the West Point military academy. He will significantly bolster US troop levels in Afghanistan and may also outline an exit strategy for the conflict. Republicans have urged Obama to take decisive action, while many Democrats have expressed serious doubts, making a delicate balancing act for a president already battling to deliver on his political promises. WHAT IS AT STAKE? Obama must decide whether to grant a request by his top Afghan commander, Army General Stanley McChrystal, for as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops or to side with more cautious advisers who favor a smaller deployment of 10,000 to 20,000 additional troops and a greater role for Afghan forces. Influential voices in Obama's Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates as well as military chiefs, favor a US troop increase of 30,000 or more, and the final number could reach 35,000 once US trainers are factored in. The decision is critical for the future of the US-led war in Afghanistan, where 68,000 US soldiers already anchor a multinational force of about 110,000 troops battling resurgent Taliban militants. Part of a broader campaign against al Qaeda, the conflict carries risks for neighboring countries such as nuclear-armed Pakistan as well as for US allies such as Britain, where public support for the war is flagging. It could also imperil Obama's domestic agenda from healthcare to climate change as politicians in Washington and the voters who put them there weigh the wisdom of a costly US campaign in a country long known as "the graveyard of empires." WHAT DO AMERICANS THINK? Opinion polls show Americans -- exhausted by the long war in Iraq and their own economic problems -- are deeply divided on Afghanistan. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found 46 percent of Americans supported a large influx of troops to fight insurgents and train the Afghan military, while 45 percent favored sending a smaller number of troops. The poll showed 48 percent of Americans disapproved of how Obama was handling Afghanistan, against 45 percent who approved. Most worrisome for Democrats, approval among independents -- swing voters who helped put Obama in the White House in 2008 -- fell to a new low of 39 percent. Doubts over Afghanistan coincide with widespread concern among Americans over high unemployment, huge government bailout programs, a rising federal budget deficit and a divisive debate over reforming the expensive healthcare system. The anti-incumbent mood could cut into Democrats' legislative majorities in November 2010, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the seats in the 100-member Senate are up for election. HOW ARE DEMOCRATS REACTING? Many liberal Democrats oppose a major escalation of involvement in a conflict they no longer see as central to U.S. security. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an advocate for other Obama initiatives such as healthcare reform, spoke out against upping the ante in Afghanistan, calling Afghan President Hamid Karzai an "unworthy partner" tainted by corruption who does not merit more U.S. aid. Other top Democrats have urged Obama to outline what the U.S. "exit strategy" will be for Afghanistan. McChrystal, in a briefing to a delegation of U.S. lawmakers last week, suggested the U.S. troop presence could begin to diminish after a post-surge peak by 2013, while an international conference on Afghanistan set for London in January would aim to set conditions for a gradual transfer of security responsibility to Afghan control. Several veteran Democratic lawmakers have proposed a "war tax" -- almost unthinkable in an election year -- on the richest Americans to pay for the conflict. Democrats hope that by reining in Obama on Afghanistan, they can prevent the party from becoming too closely associated with an unpopular war with no clear path to victory. They also hope to regain some credibility as fiscal managers by hitting the brakes on war spending that could rise by $30 billion to $40 billion per year. WHAT DO REPUBLICANS SAY? For Republicans, Obama's Afghanistan quandary has been an opportunity to showcase their traditionally strong views on national security and highlight what some portray as indecisiveness on the part of the Democratic president. Former Vice President Dick Cheney told a conservative talk radio host that Obama's three-month review of the options in Afghanistan had taken too long. "The delay is not cost-free," Cheney said. "Every day that goes by raises doubts in the minds of our friends in the region what you're going to do, raises doubts in the minds of the troops." Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell urged Obama to "keep the pressure on" the Taliban, while 14 House Republicans sent Obama a letter endorsing McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops. Republicans hope the debate will show them as vigilant against threats to the United States and win back voters in swing districts who have grown disillusioned with Obama. Democrats say Republicans are trying to distract Americans from the failure to defeat the Taliban in seven years of military operations under former President George W. Bush, who committed far greater forces to his war in Iraq.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles from Friday or else have their supplies cut, a move European capitals rejected and which Berlin said amounted to "blackmail". Putin’s move, via a decree signed on Thursday, leaves Europe facing the prospect of losing more than a third of its gas supply. Germany, the most heavily reliant on Russia, has already activated an emergency plan that could lead to rationing in Europe's biggest economy. Energy exports are Putin's most powerful lever as he tries to hit back against sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russian banks, companies, businessmen and associates of the Kremlin in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its Ukraine action a "special military operation". In televised remarks, Putin said buyers of Russian gas "must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow," or April 1. "If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped," he said. It was not immediately clear whether in practice there might still be a way for foreign firms to continue payment without using roubles, which the European Union and G7 group of states have ruled out. His decision to enforce rouble payments has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows after the Feb. 24 invasion. The rouble has since recovered much lost ground. Western companies and governments have rejected any move to change their gas supply contracts to change the payment currency. Most European buyers use euros. Executives say it would take months or longer to renegotiate terms. Payment in roubles would also blunt the impact of Western curbs on Moscow's access to its foreign exchange reserves. Meanwhile, European states have been racing to secure alternative supplies, but with the global market already tight, they have few options. The United States has offered more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) but not enough to replace Russia. Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Russia had not been able to divide Europe and said Western allies were determined to not be "blackmailed" by Russia. Berlin said it would continue paying for Russian energy imports in euros. FROZEN PAYMENTS France's economy minister Bruno Le Maire said France and Germany were preparing for a possible scenario that Russian gas flows could be halted. Le Maire declined to comment on technical details linked to latest Russian demands for rouble payment. The order signed by Putin creates a mechanism for payments to be made via special foreign currency and rouble accounts at Gazprombank, with the foreign money to be converted into roubles via currency auctions on a Moscow exchange. Putin said the switch would strengthen Russia's sovereignty, saying the Western countries were using the financial system as a weapon, and it made no sense for Russia to trade in dollars and euros when assets in those currencies were being frozen. "What is actually happening, what has already happened? We have supplied European consumers with our resources, in this case gas. They received it, paid us in euros, which they then froze themselves. In this regard, there is every reason to believe that we delivered part of the gas provided to Europe practically free of charge," he said. "That, of course, cannot continue." Putin said Russia still valued its business reputation. "We comply and will continue to comply with obligations under all contracts, including gas contracts, we will continue to supply gas in the prescribed volumes – I want to emphasise this – and at prices specified in existing, long-term contracts," he said. Several European companies with Russian contracts had no immediate comment or did not immediately respond as Putin's announcement sent further shivers through the market. European gas prices have rocketed higher in recent months on mounting tension with Russia raising the risk of recession. Soaring energy prices have already forced companies, including makers of steel and chemicals, to curtail production. Poland's PGNiG, which has a long term contract with Russia's gas pipeline export monopoly Gazprom that expires at the end of this year, had no immediate comment. The Polish Climate Ministry also had no immediate comment. The Polish contract with Gazprom is for 10.2 billion cubic metres of gas a year and is denominated in dollars. Italian energy firm Eni, another major European buyer of Russian gas, also had no comment. It bought around 22.5 bcm of Russian gas in 2020. Its contracts with Gazprom expire in 2035. Germany buyers of Russian gas - Uniper, RWE and EnBW's and VNG - did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In Bangladesh, water is a matter of life and death. My country is a land of great rivers, vast coastlines and resilient people. But 2020 has been a test for us like no other. In May, cyclone Amphan left a trail of devastation in its path in the south-western parts and then monsoon rains marooned one-third of the country, leaving thousands of people displaced and damaging vast tracts of crops. When water batters through your house, destroying your possessions, leaving pollution and disease in its way, it is tough. It is doubly tough in a year when Covid-19 has struck, making it difficult to access clean water vital for sanitation and pandemic prevention. As I write in Dhaka, the waters of the Brahmaputra and Padma basins are receding. My people are getting their lives back, albeit under the shadow of coronavirus. We are assessing flood defences and providing relief to those affected. As ever, they are drawing up plans to ensure we are better prepared in the future, because in Bangladesh there is always a next time. The climate crisis does not sleep. I want to warn countries that feel they are immune to the climate crisis, to bankers and financiers who feel they can escape it: you cannot. Covid-19 has shown that no country or business can survive alone. Only together can we tackle global crises. It has also demonstrated that prevention is easier than cure. That makes 2020 the year we must commit to listen to scientists. We face a planetary emergency, a triple crisis of climate, health and nature. Biodiversity loss is accelerated by climate change and exacerbates it. Bangladesh is not alone in feeling the wrath of nature. This year fires have raged in the Amazon, Australia, California and Siberia. Cyclones and hurricanes have battered the US, Caribbean and much of Asia. The UK, host of the COP26 climate summit next year, suffered floods. Climate change stems from the lack of sustainability of human activities. We are experiencing floods, rainfalls, cyclones, heatwaves, landslides and droughts in recent years with more fury and intensity, which also endangers food security. We need to recognise their gravity. A metre rise in sea level will inundate numerous small island and coastal nations. Floods from melting glaciers will bring catastrophe to mountainside countries. Millions of people will become climate refugees. The world does not have the capacity to shelter such numbers. G20 countries are responsible for about 80 per cent of emissions while the bottom 100 countries only account for 3.5 per cent. The emitters have greater responsibility and must make larger contributions through the mitigation needed to cap the global temperature rise at 1.5C. As the current president of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, Bangladesh is seeking more support from the international community and the G20 for increased finance and access to technology to speed adaptation for those countries most at risk. In that group, Bangladesh is one of the best prepared for extreme weather. We are building sea walls, planting mangrove forests, embedding resilience in all governmental work. But we cannot walk this journey alone. Sixty-four countries and the EU have this week signed the Pledge for Nature to respond to the planetary emergency. They represent around 1.4bn people and one-quarter of global gross domestic product. From there, we need to build common political will at domestic and global level. As hosts of the next COP, G7 and G20 meetings, the UK and Italy must drive this agenda, which requires a comprehensive support package for hardest hit nations. Business leaders, CEOs, CFOs and investors at all levels have a role to play. You may believe your bottom line is quarterly results. But our common bottom line is far more important: if nature is degraded to the extent it cannot protect us, we will all suffer. What happens in Bangladesh affects stocks in London and New York. No one is immune to sea level rise. The only cure is a systemic shift in government policy and business practice, from high to low carbon, from exploitation of the planet to care. A recent analysis by Vivid Economics of the response to Covid-19 suggests that its impact on climate change has been mixed. I salute the EU for prioritising a green recovery. We plan to do the same in Bangladesh, and I fervently hope my fellow government leaders as well as business leaders will as well. Jobs must be a priority, but so too are the jobs of the future and building solid foundations for decades to come. Climate change, pandemics and the destruction of nature are common threats. They should unite us in working towards a common solution: a cleaner, greener and safer world. As we say in Bangla: “Bhabia korio kaj, koria bhabio na” (think before you do, not after you’ve done), we should not do anything that cannot be reversed.

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

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd may have wowed China with his fluent Mandarin, but his obtuse, jargon-laced native English frequently leaves fellow countrymen scratching their heads in bewilderment. Australian newspapers this week took Rudd to task, calling the former diplomat "policy obsessed", and decrying his reliance on "diplo-babble" and acronyms. "Sometimes, it seems he fabricates a language all of his own. As he speaks, he does unspeakable things to the English language," said Sunday Age newspaper senior columnist Tom Hyland. Rudd won praise on Thursday for giving a speech in perfect Mandarin at an elite Chinese university, where he delivered a sometimes blunt message on human rights and Tibet. But Australian newspapers said the message in Beijing contrasted sharply with his use of the English language. Papers seized on a climate change comment by Rudd after a recent meeting with Britain's prime minister as an example of his "geek talk". "There has to be a greater synergy between, let's call it our policy leadership in this, which has been focused so much, legitimately, on targets and global architecture, almost reverse-engineered back to the means by which you can quickly deliver outcomes," Rudd told perplexed journalists. The Sydney Morning Herald said: "You can take the boy out of the bureaucracy but you cannot take the bureaucrat out of the boy", citing Rudd's frequent use of acronyms like EWS(early-warning system), RTP (right to protect) and CCS (carbon capture and storage).

The election-year call for change echoing through the 2008 presidential campaign is also being heard in U.S. House and Senate races as Democrats appear headed toward expanding their control of Congress. Polls show voters favor Democrats over Republicans on a host of issues -- including the Iraq war, the economy and energy -- and believe the country is on "the wrong track" as an unpopular President George W Bush nears the end of his term. Yet Democrats face challenges, too. Surveys show just one in five Americans approves of the closely divided Congress, where Democrats took control from Bush's Republicans in January 2007. Despite their loss, Republicans have blocked Democrats on a number of fronts, including efforts to withdraw from Iraq. "The public wants change," said Stu Rothenberg of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, which tracks presidential and congressional elections. "When voters think about who's in charge, they don't think about Congress. They think about the president. If voters are angry, they usually take it out on the party of the president," he said. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois took the lead in the Democratic presidential race by preaching "hope and change" in Washington, often tied up in knots by political fighting. Obama's "change" refrain proved so popular that Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, his Democratic rival for the White House, now uses it. So does Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In November, when voters pick a successor to Bush, they will also elect a third of the 100-member Senate and the entire 435-member House. Democrats now hold the Senate, 51-49, and the House of Representatives, 233-198 with four vacancies. Democrats are expected to gain at least a handful of seats in both chambers, with a remote shot at reaching 60 in the Senate, the number needed to end Republican procedural roadblocks known as filibusters. The last time either party held a "filibuster-proof" Senate was in 1977-78 with Democrats at the helm. "If everything goes right, Democrats could reach 60," said Jennifer Duffy of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. But she added the chances were slim. 'TOUGH CLIMATE' Twenty-three of the Senate seats up for election are held by Republicans, five of whom are retiring. A number of others face tough challenges. All 12 Senate Democrats up for re-election are favored to win. "It's a tough climate," said Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, chairman of the Senate Republican campaign committee. "A very good night for us would be to hold at 47 or 48" seats, down from the current 49, Ensign said. But he said, "I don't see any way that they (Democrats) get 60." Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, chairman of the Senate Democratic campaign committee, said, "It's moving nicely in our direction." Democrats have raised more money than Republicans, have had far fewer congressional retirements and have generally had an easier time recruiting challengers. Yet they have begun fretting about possible fallout from the bitter battle between Obama and Clinton in the Democratic nominating primaries for their party's presidential nomination. "We're increasingly concerned that you could create wounds in the Democratic primary that don't heal by November," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the House Democratic campaign committee. Van Hollen said he did not believe such damage would cost Democrats Congress, but it could hurt efforts to gain seats. Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center, which conducts political polling, said a strong showing by McCain in the White House race could help stem Republicans loses in Congress. "The top of the ticket is crucial," said Kohut. "McCain does well among independents. Independents decide elections." Democrats hope to blunt any claim that McCain or other Republicans are "agents of change" by tying them to Bush, long saddled with approval ratings of only about 30 percent. "George W. Bush is not on the ballot this year, but he casts a shadow over the elections," Van Hollen said. "House Republicans have to explain seven years of votes in favor of his failed Iraq and economic policies." Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Republican campaign committee, brushed off such talk, saying, "I think our prospects have been discounted beyond what they should be." Cole noted Democrats won control of Congress in 2006 while blaming Republicans for many woes, including the unpopular Iraq war, a struggling economy, soaring gas prices. "Now that Democrats control the House and Senate," he said, "they own a piece of the negativity toward Washington."

But the high cost of hotels, COVID-19 travel curbs and quarantine rules have left Dickson and other activists from developing countries concerned that their voices will not be heard at the COP26 conference in Glasgow from Oct 31-Nov 12. Reuters spoke with activists in countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan and Uganda. Some had secured funding, visas and vaccines to attend the summit but others gave up. Dickson is still aiming to get to COP26, where he hopes to tell delegates in person about trying to learn at school when temperatures reached 43°C. He believes developed countries need to hear the personal experiences of those most vulnerable to climate change. "I'm still looking out for funding," said the 28-year-old, who represents Nigeria’s Eco Clean Active NGO and estimates his trip would cost over $4,000 including accommodation and quarantine. "I am worried that the COP will lack representation from the African continent." The summit’s British hosts have offered some funding assistance and vaccines for delegates who could not otherwise access them. "We are working tirelessly with all our partners, including the Scottish government and the U.N., to ensure an inclusive, accessible and safe summit in Glasgow with a comprehensive set of COVID mitigation measures," a COP26 spokesperson said, adding that government-approved hotel provider MCI had offered delegates a range of fairly-priced accommodation. The United Kingdom this month scrapped quarantine requirements for 47 countries including South Africa and India, sparing delegates the 2,285 pounds ($3,150) cost of a 10-day hotel quarantine. Last month, it said it would cover quarantine costs for delegates from countries still on the UK's COVID-19 travel "red list" - currently seven states including Colombia and Venezuela. But some would-be delegates say they’ve been unable to access the help, or that it doesn’t go far enough. Others say their own governments should be doing more to ensure they can attend. "Visas and quarantines have been a nightmare," said Philippines-based activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan with youth movement Fridays for Future. The youth movement is sending around 55 delegates from regions vulnerable to climate change to COP26, but Tan said others dropped out before the UK revised its quarantine rules. OPEN FOR BUSINESS The UK government is expecting around 25,000 people to attend COP26, but has yet to release a list of delegates. As of Tuesday, prices for the few hotel rooms still available for the full 12-day conference on Booking.com began at 291 pounds per night, a total of 3,486 pounds. The cost was enough to deter Ugandan climate justice advocate Nyombi Morris, 23, who had been hoping to highlight campaigners’ concerns about the impact of EU biomass energy policies on forests. He turned down the UK’s accreditation offer because it came without financial support. "One day I'll face them, face-to-face," Morris said. Homestay groups have tried to provide more affordable accommodation, but are struggling to meet demand. The Human Hotel network said it had secured beds in local Glasgow homes for about 600 delegates. "We are aware of several thousand others who wish to come and make their voices heard at COP26, but who cannot afford the astronomical prices of hotels in Scotland," said the network’s community manager Michael Yule. For others, health risks and travel headaches caused by the pandemic were reason to skip the event. "I have not missed a COP since 2010 ... this will be the first," Li Shuo, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace China in Beijing, told Reuters. "I hope the smaller NGO presence will remind everyone that there are voices unrepresented." Government delegations without direct travel routes to Glasgow also face logistical challenges. The Cook Islands in the South Pacific will not send a delegation, and other small island nations are struggling to resolve visa issues. Nobert Nyandire, a climate activist in Nairobi, Kenya received a COVID-19 vaccine this month through the UK government scheme. He will attend COP26 to work on the technical UN negotiations for Kenya's non-profit Sustainable Environmental Development Watch, but said some colleagues are still awaiting vaccines or had been deterred by the cost. "If the same people who are affected and who actually should be able to participate in such negotiations are not going to attend, then it means that I'm not very sure of the kind of decisions that are going to be made," Nyandire said.

European Union leaders agreed on Friday to send administrators and police to Kosovo ahead of an expected declaration of independence from Serbia. In a bid to soothe Balkan tensions over Kosovo's push for independence, they also offered Serbia a fast-track route to joining the bloc once it met conditions for signing a first-level agreement on closer ties. But Belgrade bristled at suggestions that the move was designed to compensate it for the looming loss of Kosovo, the majority Albanian province. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said any such trade-off would be "an indecent proposal". EU leaders declared after a one-day summit that negotiations on Kosovo's future were exhausted, the status quo was untenable and there was a need to move towards a Kosovo settlement. They stopped short of endorsing independence. "We took a political decision to send an ESDP mission to Kosovo. This is the clearest signal the EU could possibly give that Europe intends to lead on Kosovo and the future of the region," Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, the summit chairman, told a news conference. ESDP is the European Security and Defence Policy. The 1,800-strong mission involves police, justice officials and civilian administrators. But when asked whether and when the EU would recognise Kosovo's independence, Socrates said talks on that issue were taking place at the United Nations. "The EU is not forgetting its responsibilities in this area. We are talking in terms of action and not inaction," he said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters the EU had "a difficulty with Kosovo, which everybody can see will be independent". Diplomats said Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Romania all object to recognising Kosovo's sovereignty without a UN Security Council resolution. "ON A PLANE"? A day after signing a treaty to end a long institutional stalemate, EU leaders switched focus to challenges posed by the Balkans -- a test of the EU's hopes of strengthening its foreign policy clout -- and by globalisation and immigration. On Serbia's bid to join the 27-nation bloc, the final summit communique said: "(The European Council) reiterated its confidence that progress on the road towards the EU, including candidate status, can be accelerated." Pro-EU moderates in Belgrade want EU candidate status by the end of next year, a timeframe EU Enlargement Commission Olli Rehn said last month was ambitious but feasible. Normally, it takes up to two years for Brussels to grant candidate status to an aspirant after signing a Stabilisation and Accession Agreement (SAA), the first rung on the EU ladder. The signing of an SAA with Belgrade has been held up by its failure to transfer Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic to a UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague on genocide charges. Outgoing chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte urged EU leaders in Belgium's Le Soir not to be lenient on Belgrade and to maintain firm pressure on it to deliver indictees. "I am stupefied by the attitude of France, Germany and Italy who want to soften their position. As decisions must be taken by unanimity, I am counting on Belgium and the Netherlands to remain tough," she told the newspaper. Signing the agreement requires unanimity in the EU and Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told reporters: "I want Mladic on a plane to the Hague before I will sign the SAA." Separately, EU leaders named former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez to head a new "reflection group" to discuss the long-term future of the EU on issues ranging from enlargement to climate change and regional stability, diplomats said. Ex-Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and the chairman of mobile phone company Nokia Jorma Ollila were named as two vice-chairs of the panel due to report in June 2010, they said. In addition to foreign policy issues, the leaders addressed public concern over the strain on European job markets from immigration and cheap imports, issues on which the EU hopes to focus now that the new Lisbon Treaty has been inked. Replacing the more ambitious constitution abandoned after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005, the Lisbon Treaty preserves most of the key institutional reforms but drops contentious symbols of statehood such as a flag and anthem. EU leaders hope the treaty will streamline the bloc's structures to cope with enlargement after it opened its doors to 12 mostly ex-communist states in 2004 and 2007. Critics say it will curb national sovereignty and put more power in Brussels.

This could be the first country to give the regulatory green light for the British drugmaker’s vaccine as the British medicine regulator continues to examine data from the trials. India, the world’s biggest vaccine-making country, wants to start inoculating its citizens next month and is also considering emergency use authorisation applications for vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and local company Bharat Biotech. Getting vaccines to the world’s second-most populous country with one of the highest infection rates will also be a big step in the battle against the pandemic. The AstraZeneca-Oxford shot is considered vital for lower-income countries and those in hot climates because it is cheaper, easier to transport and can be stored for long periods at normal fridge temperatures. India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) first reviewed the three applications on Dec. 9 here and sought more information from all the companies, including from Serum Institute of India (SII), which is making the AstraZeneca shots. SII, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, has now provided all the data, the two sources said. The authorities were still waiting for more details from Pfizer, a government health adviser told here a news briefing on Tuesday, while one of the sources said additional information was expected from Bharat Biotech. Both sources said Indian health officials were in direct contact with their British counterparts over the AstraZeneca shot and that there were “strong indications” an approval would come by next week. The expected approval comes after data from AstraZeneca’s late-stage trials in the UK and Brazil released earlier this month showed the vaccine had efficacy of 62% for trial participants given two full doses, but 90% for a smaller sub-group given a half, then a full dose. The Indian regulator is only considering the two full-dose regimen of the shot despite it showing a lower success rate, the sources said. “Serum is ready,” said one of the sources. “Initially, we may get around 50 million to 60 million doses.” The sources declined to be named as deliberations were ongoing and the timeline could change. CDSCO chief V.G. Somani did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bharat Biotech and Pfizer declined to comment, while SII did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. India has not yet signed a vaccine supply deal with any company, but SII has already stockpiled more than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca shot and plans to make a total of 400 million doses by July.

It warned the Socialist government that the European football tournament that opens in France on Jun 10 could be disrupted if it refused to back down. As tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, workers responded to the union call by stopping work at oil refineries, nuclear power plants and the railways, as well as erecting road blocks and burning wooden pallets and tyres at key ports like Le Havre and near key distribution hubs. Prime Minister Manuel Valls insisted the government would not withdraw the law and would break up refinery blockades, saying there could be some tweaks to the reforms but not on any of its key planks. He was backed by the country's other big trade union, the CFDT. After months of rolling protests sparked by a reform that aims to make hiring and firing easier, Thursday's stoppages and street marches were being watched closely as a test of whether the CGT-led opposition is solid or at risk of fizzling out. The street marches were joined by scores of marchers from a youth protest movement called Nuit Debout (Night Rising).  Police deployed to counter risks of the fringe violence in which 350 police and several protesters have been hurt and more than 1,300 arrested at similar rallies in recent weeks. CGT chief Philippe Martinez, asked by Reuters if his union was willing to disrupt the Euro 2016 football contest, said: "The government has the time to say 'let's stop the clock' and everything will be ok." Jean-Claude Mailly, leader of the smaller FO union that is also protesting, said as a Paris march began: "In football speak, it's time the prime minister took the red card back." No backing down "There is no question of changing tack, even if adjustments are always possible," said Valls, who flatly rejected calls to scrap the part of the law that put the CGT on the warpath. That section would let companies opt out of national obligations on labour protection if they adopt in-house deals on pay and conditions with the consent of a majority of employees. The SNCF state train company said that upwards of two-thirds of national, regional and local rail connections were operating, suggesting stoppages by railworkers were hurting less than last week when a similar strike halved the number of trains running. After police intervention in recent days to lift blockades at refineries and fuel distribution depots, Valls said 20-30 percent of fuel stations were dry or short of certain fuels. "The situation is less worrisome as of today," Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said. Deliveries of fuel from depots to the petrol pump were now improving, he said. The number of fuel stations short of petrol or diesel fell to 83 on Thursday from 140 on Wednesday in the Loire-Atlantique department of western France, the government office there said. French nuclear power capacity was cut by as much as five gigawatts due to stoppages. That is equivalent to just over six percent of the country's total production capacity. Even if power industry experts say the nuclear plant strike is unlikely to provoke major blackouts due to legal limits on strike action and power imports from abroad, the action usually raises running costs for the EDF power utility. With dockers striking at the southern port of Marseille, the number of ships waiting at sea to offload oil, gas and chemicals rose to 21 from what would normally be about five, the port authority said.  A protest over pension reform in 2010 died once police broke up pickets at supply depots and railworkers came under pressure by stoppages that hit their paycheck. Oil giant Total SA, said all but one of its fuel distribution depots were working. It warned, however, that two of its five refineries in France were at a standstill and two more set to halt in coming days. The CGT is waging a lonelier battle this time. Laurent Berger, head of the rival CFDT union and a backer of the planned labour reform, said: "The political and industrial relations climate has turned hysterical ... let's calm things down."

Germany is ruling out any substantive shift in its approach to Europe's debt crisis despite a rising chorus of opposition to Berlin's austerity policies that reached a crescendo in Sunday's elections in Greece and France. Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking in Berlin on Monday, rejected the notion that Europe was on the brink of a major policy shift after Socialist Francois Hollande defeated her fellow conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Greek voters punished ruling parties who slashed spending to secure a foreign bailout. Shunned by Merkel, who publicly backed Sarkozy's campaign, Hollande repeatedly criticized Germany's focus on budget cuts and labor law reforms as the solution to Europe's debt crisis. Many saw his victory and the outcome in Greece as heralding a shift in Europe toward higher-spending growth-oriented policies. But close Merkel allies made clear within hours that the expectation in Berlin was that it would be Hollande who would be making the lion's share of the concessions, and rowing back on policy promises made during the French campaign which the Germans view as dangerous for the entire single-currency bloc. "The position of the German government is clear. We will continue on our savings path," said Volker Kauder, parliamentary leader of Merkel's conservatives and one of her closest allies. After another bad night for her Christian Democrats (CDU) in a state election on Sunday, Merkel knows that if she is to win a third term next year she can ill afford to ignore German voters' demands that she give no more of their cash away to foreigners. "Germans could end up paying for the Socialist victory in France with more guarantees, more money. And that is not acceptable," her ally Kauder said. "Germany is not here to finance French election promises." FRENCH PROMISES Those promises appear potentially costly. Hollande has pledged to balance the French budget in five years, but he also wants to hire tens of thousands of new teachers, introduce a 75-percent tax on million-euro annual incomes and raise the minimum wage. He favors the introduction of joint euro zone bonds and a more active role for the European Central Bank in fostering growth - both taboos in Germany. Andreas Schockenhoff, a leading CDU lawmaker who heads a Franco-German parliamentary group, told Reuters he expected Hollande to commit "very quickly" to "stability policies". Pressed repeatedly at a news conference on whether the French and Greek votes might change the policy debate in Europe, Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert insisted the only way forward was growth through structural reform - such as of tax and labor rules aimed at improving trade - not debt-funded stimulus plans. Merkel herself made clear that, while there was scope to discuss tactics, the overall strategy EU leaders committed to by agreeing a compact on fiscal consolidation was "not negotiable". "We are in the middle of a debate to which France, of course, under its new president will bring its own emphasis," she said. "But we are talking about two sides of the same coin - progress is only achievable via solid finances plus growth." "OPEN ARMS" The German leader telephoned Hollande, whom she has never met, on Sunday night after his victory and the two spoke, with the help of interpreters, for nearly a quarter of an hour. Sources told Reuters the conversation was friendly and that Hollande assured Merkel he wanted very close ties. The president is expected to visit Berlin next week, most likely on May 16, the day after he takes office, on his first foreign trip. Merkel said Hollande would be welcomed with "open arms". Germany has already signaled it is ready to negotiate a "growth pact" with the new French leader. Though its terms may well be vague, that would allow Hollande to claim victory in his push for a more balanced approach to the crisis. But bold new initiatives that might give ailing economies like Greece and Spain a substantial boost are unlikely. "Boosting growth is fine, but the question is how," CDU budget expert Norbert Barthle told Reuters. "Our focus remains firmly on structural reforms." German officials have indicated they are prepared to explore a more flexible use of EU structural funds, bolster the capital of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and allow the issuance of so-called "project bonds" to fund investment in infrastructure. These steps would not require substantial new funds from Berlin and this is why they are acceptable. But launching new government stimulus programs, allowing euro members more time to cut deficits they have pledged to get down, or giving the ECB new powers to bolster growth remain anathema to Germany. "There will be no loosening of the deficit targets," one high-level German source said, pointing to Hollande's victory speech in Tulle as a sign of his readiness to work with Germany. "He mentioned cutting back the deficit as his second priority. That was significant and a signal." Hollande's chief economic adviser, former finance minister Michel Sapin, also said on Monday: "Nobody expects that we simply arrive in power and hand out money." HARD LINE ON GREECE On Greece, officials in Berlin and Brussels are also taking a hard line, making clear they see no room for the country to renege on or renegotiate the terms set out in its multi-billion euro rescues by the bloc and the IMF. The failure of the big parties that have dominated Greek politics for decades to secure a majority, and a surge in support for extreme parties from the left and right, has raised questions about whether Athens will stick to its commitments and sparked speculation it could be forced out of the euro zone. "Either they stick to the program and receive the financing from member states - or they will have to default," said a senior euro zone source before the pro-EU Greek Socialist party leader called explicitly for a renegotiated bailout deal. "What the default would lead to, I don't know," the source said. "But certainly to even more hardship for Greek citizens." At the core of the European project, formed around France and Germany to end a succession of wars, Hollande can look to the euro zone's third economy, Italy, for support. Sapped by a moribund business climate and budget cuts meant to appease wary creditors, Prime Minister Mario Monti's technocratic government endorsed the new French president's pro-growth agenda. An indication of whether Hollande is ready for confrontation with France's key partner, Germany, or will seek reconciliation will come when he names his government later this month. A leading candidate for the post of prime minister is Jean-Marc Ayrault, a German-speaker who knows the country well and who has sent conciliatory messages to Berlin in recent weeks. Choosing him over Martine Aubry, a more traditional Socialist who was responsible for introducing France's 35-hour workweek, would signal that Hollande is ready for compromise. "I will be very interested to see whether or not Hollande kicks off his presidency with a battle with Merkel," said Louis Gargour, chief investment officer of hedge fund LNG Capital. "This is a contest of Keynesian economics and a focus on growth versus an extended phase of austerity that electorates are fast becoming tired of."

A former top civil servant dubbed "Hong Kong's conscience" has won a highly symbolic by-election for a seat in the city's legislature in a vote widely seen as a referendum on democracy in the former British colony. The victory by Anson Chan, 67, former deputy to last British governor Chris Patten, was good news for the city's pro-democracy political camp, which suffered a beating in district council polls last month at the hands of the biggest pro-Beijing party. Accepting victory on Monday, a grinning Chan said the results from Sunday's election proved that Hong Kong people wanted universal suffrage by 2012, the date for the next election for the city's leader. "My experience on the campaign trail has convinced me even more that genuine democracy is the only way of ultimately safeguarding our freedoms and values and of building a compassionate, fair and more just society," she said. Britain handed Hong Kong back to Communist-ruled China in 1997, since when the territory has enjoyed sweeping autonomy in many areas, but not in political reform. The city's constitution makes universal suffrage the ultimate aim of political reform, but is vague on the timing and direction. The British themselves never pushed the idea until the dying days of colonial rule under Patten. Chan's margin over her main rival, Regina Ip, was higher than expected after opinion polls showed the gap narrowing in recent days. DEMOCRACY "I think it shows that a lot of middle class people in Hong Kong still care about democracy, even though the economy is getting better, the stock market is rising, and the economy is more dependent on China," said Ma Ngok, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "This is something that Beijing needs to think about." Since 1997, however, the democratic camp's traditional overall support rate of about 60 percent has slipped and some experts warn that it must rethink its single-issue approach to elections. Chan won about 54 percent of the vote. "This is the time for the pan-democrats to have a thorough review," said James Sung of City University. "But I'm suspicious ... since this was a clear victory for Anson I'm afraid that the pan-democratic group will not look thoroughly at the changing political climate." Despite losing, Ip's strong showing demonstrated once again, after the district council elections, that the pro-Beijing camp's election machine that backed her is formidable. It also marked the rebirth of a politician who is remembered for trying to force an unpopular anti-subversion law through the legislature in 2003 as security chief. That bid is blamed for sparking a protest that drew half a million people onto the streets, shocking leaders in Beijing. Analysts say, Ip, 57, is well positioned for a run in full Legislative Council elections next year. Currently, the chief executive is selected by an 800-seat committee under the influence of the Communist leadership in Beijing, half of the legislature is popularly elected and the other is picked by "functional constituencies" of professions and special-interest groups.

Abdur Rahim Harmachhi bdnews24.com senior correspondent Dhaka, June 8 (bdnews24.com) – The government is set to announce a budget of approximately Tk 100,000 crore for the coming fiscal year, with a proposal to allocate up to 15 percent of the amount in subsidising essential commodities, the finance adviser said Sunday. It will mark the first time in history that a caretaker government has proposed a complete budget for two successive fiscal years. Finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, who will make his second budget speech Monday, told bdnews24.com that up to Tk 15,000 crore would be proposed as allocations for fuel, food and fertiliser. This is three times greater than the outgoing fiscal year's allocation for similar subsidies. Spending on non-development sectors, including food, structural coordination and loans, will exceed Tk 70,000 crore but the overall budget deficit will not be more than five percent, the finance adviser said. Mirza Aziz said the government would not increase rates of tax in the next fiscal year but import duty on some goods might be hiked in the interests of local industry. He said the unusual fuel price hikes in the global market, the world food crisis and climate change causing natural disasters turned out to be the major challenges for Bangladesh in preparing the budget. The finance adviser said the spiralling oil prices on the international market put our economy under tremendous pressure but the government has not yet take any decision to hike fuel prices. "The price of oil has jumped to $ 139 a barrel on the global market as we are going to announce the budget; it rose by more than $ 10 in a single day. But we did not increase fuel prices in view of our overall situation," said Mirza Aziz. A barrel of fuel cost $ 62 on the global market when the government last raised fuel prices in the country in 2007, the adviser said. In the budget for fiscal 2007-08, overall deficit was projected at 4.2 percent. The finance adviser said Sunday the budget deficit was likely to increase a bit in the coming year due to higher subsidies to various sectors including fuel, fertiliser and foodstuffs. "But it will not be more than 5 percent," he added. The tax net would be widened on a large scale in efforts to increase revenue income, said the finance adviser. The projected revenue income in the next fiscal year is 17 percent. In the budget for 2008-09, Tk 43,850 crore was slated to come from NBR-controlled sources. The adviser said the tax structure in the budget would be business-friendly. "Discretionary power of tax officials will be curbed and tax realisation process will be made easier," he said. He said the target rate for gross domestic product would be 6.5 percent, and the annualised inflation rate was projected to be around 9 percent. GDP growth for the fiscal year 2007-08 was targeted to be 7 percent with an average inflation rate of 6 percent. The finance adviser said 7 percent growth in the fiscal year just ending had not been possible due to floods and cyclones. "It was earlier assumed that the growth rate in the present fiscal year would be below 6 percent. But the latest data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows that the growth rate is 6.21 percent," the adviser said. GDP growth in the previous fiscal year (2006-07) was 6.5 percent. Mirza Aziz said major concern for Bangladesh's economy was inflation. He reiterated that point-to-point inflation rate fell by three percentage points to 7.7 percent in April. Referring to data available at the Bureau of Statistics, he said the point-to-point inflation rate was 10.06 percent in March. Agriculture will receive the highest priority in the next budget. "The highest allocation has been made for the sector in the development budget," the adviser said. Mirza Aziz said the government had planned schemes to generate employment for poor people in the next fiscal year. Under the scheme, one person in a family will receive a fixed amount of money in return for 100 days of work. The number of beneficiaries of different government allowances under social safety net would also be increased. The adviser said the government would take an initiative to enhance the purchasing power of the people of fixed income groups. There will also be an announcement of a dearness allowance for government employees in order to cut the suffering caused by spiralling prices. The finance adviser's budget speech will be broadcast live by government and private-owned TV and radio channels at 3pm Monday. As it did last year, the government is inviting public scrutiny of the proposed budget by posting the budget speech, budget summary and the government's annual financial statement at www.mof.gov.bd. Hard copies will also be made available, from 3pm Monday. Any person or organisation can access any of the documents regarding the budget, download necessary information and submit comments and feedback to the government by filling in the available forms up to 5pm on June 16. Individuals or organisations may also post in comments, recommendations and criticisms in writing, which will all be considered and incorporated in the final approved budget, ensuring people's participation in the process. The following particular websites have also been listed by the government for access to the proposed budget by the public: www.bangladesh.gov.bd, www.nbr-bd.org, www.plancomm.gov.bd, www.imed.gov.bd, www.bdpressinform.org and www.cao.gov.bd. Links to the documents will also be available at other government websites under the finance ministry and at bdnews24.com.

Australia, criticised as a Kyoto Protocol holdout, on Wednesday stepped up its demands for the climate pact to be scrapped, saying 'Old Kyoto' belonged in the 'pages of climate change history'. Canberra, which signed but refused to ratify Kyoto, would meet its targets under the pact, despite warnings by Australia's Climate Institute that Greenhouse Gas emissions were set to rise sharply, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. But Kyoto should be replaced with a global agreement which included emerging heavyweights India and China, as well as the world's biggest polluter, the United States, Turnbull said. "In my view the United States will never ratify the protocol as it stands," Turnbull told Australia's National Press Club. "Whatever the accounting washup of Kyoto may be, the fact is that the protocol's first commitment period, beginning next year, is rapidly moving into the pages of climate change history." The Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions caps for many wealthy signatory countries while setting none for poorer ones such as China, will expire in 2012. Australia, the world's biggest exporter of coal, has refused to ratify the pact or set binding cuts on carbon emissions, saying the move would unfairly hurt the economy. Turnbull said on Wednesday that Canberra would spend A$18.5 million ($15.2 million) in energy-hungry China to help cut the country's emissions by capturing methane from underground mining and using it for electricity generation. China, which along with the United States, Australia, Japan, India and South Korea is a member of a rival Kyoto pact, rejected emissions caps, saying they may hurt growth. Turnbull, who champions practical measures to fight climate change rather than symbolic pacts like Kyoto, said the protocol had also ignored the need to stop deforestation in developing countries like Indonesia and Brazil. "It's no wonder Kyoto's results have been so anaemic," he said. The independent Climate Institute last week said Australia, the world's biggest polluter per capita, would pass its cap of 108 percent of 1990-level greenhouse emissions -- a charge Turnbull rejected on Wednesday with the latest 2005 figures. Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne said Turnbull was trying to bury the bad news that energy and transport emissions had risen in the last two years amid the country's mining and commodity export boom. Conservative Prime Minister John Howard argues climate change solutions need to be globally agreed rather than limited like 'Old Kyoto' to industrialised, mainly European, nations. But with the government facing re-election later in the year and opinion polls showing climate change is a major issue for 80 percent of voters, Howard has unveiled a range of environment measures to bolster his green credentials. Australia is expected to make measures to combat climate change the centrepiece of the May 8 Budget, with the government having already flagged spending A$10 billion to reform water use amid a decade of crippling drought.

- A poll of 15 nations, most of them in the developing world, including Bangladesh, finds that majorities of people want their governments to take steps to fight climate change, even if that entails high costs. The poll was carried out by the World Bank.

And then it got worse: Karachi is now plagued by swarms of flies. The bugs seem to be everywhere in every neighbourhood, bazaar and shop, sparing no one. They’re a bullying force on sidewalks, flying in and out of stores and cars and homes, and settling onto every available surface, from vegetables to people. Flies and flooding can often go together, and Karachi is no stranger to either. But Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director for the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, one of Karachi’s largest public hospitals, said this was the worst infestation of flies she had ever witnessed. “There are huge swarms of flies and mosquitoes,” she said. “It’s not just affecting the life of the common man — they’re so scary; they’re hounding people. You can’t walk straight on the road, there are so many flies everywhere.” Flies on produce at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) The city started a fumigation drive, but the flies remain, and frustrations are growing. It’s all drawing new attention, and anger, to the city’s long-standing problems with garbage and drainage — an issue that feuding political factions have wielded against each other for years, but that hasn’t gotten any better. Flies on produce at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) Experts say this infestation was probably brought on by the combination of stagnant rainwater, which stood in the city for days, with garbage on the streets and waste left behind from animals slaughtered during the recent Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. Noman Ahmed, an expert on the city’s water issues and dean of the NED University of Engineering and Technology’s architecture and management sciences faculty, said the recent rainfall wasn’t really extraordinary. But what the rains revealed, he said, was Karachi’s compounding troubles with urban development, sewage, solid waste management and water contamination, including how the city’s natural drains are used as a dumping ground for solid waste. “The kind of havoc it created — if there are a couple of more spells like this, then the city will become completely dysfunctional,” Ahmed said. Flies coat a man's hat in the Bohri Bazaar in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) Jamali said a litany of medical ailments and diseases were on the rise as a result of the unsanitary conditions: malaria, gastroenteritis, typhoid, dengue fever, the chikungunya virus, respiratory disorders and Congo fever. Flies coat a man's hat in the Bohri Bazaar in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) “As a community, we also need to blame ourselves,” she said, noting how people dumped sacrificial animals’ offal onto the streets. “We have collected these heaps of garbage.” On a Monday afternoon, vendors around Bohri Bazaar sat fanning their wares to try to keep the flies at bay. Flies flew in and out of shops, settling on displays of fabric and towels. Muhammad Ismail Siddiqui, 54, a vendor selling traditional sweets like jalebi and gulab jamun, had covered them with clear plastic for protection. “No, no, no,” Siddiqui said, when asked if the flies were just a seasonal menace. In previous years, he said, the government would organise fumigation drives that took place in the early hours of the day. “But there’s nothing now — we can’t do anything; we’re helpless. Business has completely ended,” he said. “Whoever comes just looks at the flies.” Flies in a meat market within the Empress Market in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) Plenty of blame has been aimed at the city’s politics, and the parties tussling for influence in Karachi have not failed to notice. In recent days, sanitation has again become a rallying cry — and a political weapon — for politicians. Flies in a meat market within the Empress Market in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, which holds power in the national government, is trying to assert its base in Karachi to fight the traditional provincial-level powerhouse, the Pakistan Peoples Party, or PPP. One local legislator for the PTI started a “Let’s Clean Karachi” campaign that has implicitly blamed the PPP for the garbage problem. Saeed Ghani, a PPP senator, claims that the campaign made the crisis worse with mismanaged cleanups. Truly cleaning up Karachi — where it has become common to see garbage piled up on roadsides and in empty plots — would be a tall and expensive order. The city produces about 12,000 tons of waste every day. Karachi’s resources and infrastructure have not kept up with the pressure of constant expansion, population growth and lifestyle changes among its 15 million-plus residents. And it is suffering from the same vulnerability to climate-change issues that is hitting the rest of Pakistan so intensely. Flies on produce at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) Furthermore, Karachi’s management is complex and fragmented: Waste management and municipal services are dealt with by different agencies. Buildings are constructed over drains. Large swaths of the city, including some of its most upscale neighbourhoods, are cantonment areas, which are managed separately. Flies on produce at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 28, 2019. Pakistan’s biggest city had heavy rains, bad drainage and a garbage problem — and now, bugs are everywhere. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times) “Karachi’s livability is falling,” said Ahmed, the water issues expert. “The city requires a kind of sanitation emergency,” he said — one that would mobilise provincial resources to clear the backlog of waste from streets and drains and build a new sanitation management system from scratch. That would require politicians to forge a working relationship. But the bugs don’t seem willing to observe political boundaries. “There is an abundance of flies,” said Ismail Lalpuria, a furniture trader in the Arambagh area of Saddar who was losing patience with the damage to his business. “All the political parties are just doing politics,” he said. “No one is doing any work.”c.2019 New York Times News Service

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN has launched distribution of agricultural inputs among Sidr-affected farmers at Bangladesh's coastal belt. The distribution, under the Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project (ECRRP) funded by World Bank, included packages amongst beneficiaries in 13 southern Upazilas since its start on July 13. A statement from FAO office in Dhaka said that the team was being accompanied by related government and FAO officials. "Farmers in the south need more support with modern technologies to restore their livelihood after the devastations of cyclones Sidr and Aila," announced Bangladesh's FAO representative Ad Spijkers at Kathalia Upazila on Friday. The FAO chief also said that the support for crops, fisheries and livestock will continue over the next four years. Spijkers continued to say that, despite vulnerability to climate change and recurrence of natural disasters, farm production can be boosted by introducing stress-tolerant seeds and modern machineries like power tillers and irrigation pumps. He continued to elaborate on the ECRRP project's targets including promotion of balanced use of fertilizers and other inputs, augmenting surface water irrigation, and providing the farmers and fishers with training on modern technologies and best practices through Farmers Field Schools. Spijkers also claimed that the FAO has supported 1.4 million farmers in the aftermath of Sidr and Aila through emergency inputs for crop, fisheries and livestock. The FAO representative also revealed that 12 southern districts will be covered under a recent EU funding support in crops, fisheries and livestock sectors. "Bangladesh's government is exploring the opportunities for investment in the southern delta to attain sustainable food security for the country and introducing the modern technologies and practices could be the means to achieve the goals," pointed out Ad Spijkers. He put emphasis on the necessity of an investment master plan, which will strongly coordinate between the south's agriculture and water sector to bring about sustainable development and return the southern region to its position as the country's 'bread basket'. The FAO chief also assured that his organisation will work with the country's government and development partners to develop such a plan.

Climate fund will finance building of new cyclone shelters and roads as well as carry out renovation of old shelters in the coastal area. At the first meeting of the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund's (BCCRF) governing council on Thursday, the Tk 1.87 billion project was approved for nine coastal districts. State minister for environment, Hassan Mahmud, told reporters after the meeting that primarily, 50 cyclone shelters would be built and 40 old ones renovated. A stretch of around 50 km of roads would be built in the coastal districts, he added. Donor countries and agencies will be contacted for the funds. Mahmud said Bangladesh had been promised $147 million for this project. "Also, UK has assured of $10 million and Australia $16 million." He said two other projects, building of a cross dam at Noakhali-Urirchar-Sandip to recover land from the sea' and 'coastal forestation', had also been discussed at the meeting.

Striking images taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggest the presence of liquid water on the Martian surface, a tantalizing find for scientists wondering if the Red Planet might harbor life. The orbiting US spacecraft enabled scientists to detect changes in the walls of two craters in the southern hemisphere of Mars apparently caused by the downhill flow of water in the past few years, a team of scientists announced on Wednesday. Scientists long have wondered whether life ever existed on Mars. Liquid water is an important part of the equation. On Earth, all forms of life require water to survive. Scientists previously established the existence of water on Mars in the form of ice at the poles and water vapor, and pointed to geological features that appear to have been carved by water ages ago. Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, a scientist involved in the research, said there had been a quest for "smoking gun" evidence for liquid water currently on Mars. "Basically, this is the 'squirting gun' for water on Mars," Edgett told reporters. The scientists, whose research appears in the journal Science, compared images of the Martian surface taken seven years apart and also found 20 newly formed craters left by impacts from space debris. They said water seemed to have flowed down two gullies in the past few years, even though liquid water cannot remain long on the planet's frigid, nearly airless surface because it would rapidly freeze or evaporate. That seemed to support the notion that underground liquid water may reside close enough to the surface in some places that it can seep out periodically. The images did not directly show water. But they showed bright deposits running several hundred yards (meters) seemingly left by material carried downhill inside the crater by running water, occasionally snaking around obstacles and leaving finger-shaped marks diverting from the main flow. "It could be acidic water, it could be briny water, it could be water carrying all kinds of sediment, it could be slushy, but H2O is involved," Edgett said. Edgett said each apparent flow was caused by an amount equal to "five to 10 swimming pools of water." Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said the observations provided the strongest evidence to date that water still flowed occasionally on the surface of Mars. "The big questions are: how does this happen, and does it point to a habitat for life?" Meyer said. Among the planets in our solar system, only Earth has a more hospitable climate, and some scientists suspect Mars once sheltered primitive, bacteria-like organisms. Previous missions found evidence Mars at one time boasted ample quantities of water. The scientists conceded the images were only circumstantial evidence not proof. They cited a possible alternative explanation that those features were caused by the movement of dry dust down a slope. The researchers said their findings raised many questions, including the source and abundance of the water and whether it could serve as a resource in future missions to explore Mars. The researchers reported finding those gullies in 2000, but this was the first time they revealed the presence of newly deposited material seemingly carried by liquid water. Last month, NASA said it had lost contact with the Mars Global Surveyor after a decade-long mission in which it mapped the surface of Mars, tracked its climate and searched for evidence of water.

France's president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy takes his first step into international diplomacy on Friday when he meets Tony Blair, the British prime minister preparing to bow out after a decade in power. The two leaders, both in their 50s, say they get on well and share views on many issues, including moves to introduce a slimmed-down version of the European constitutional treaty that was rejected by French voters in 2005. Important European Union and G8 meetings next month will form the core of their discussions, due to start at 1530 GMT, after Blair calls on outgoing President Jacques Chirac. "With Nicolas Sarkozy, you can anticipate the discussions will cover key forthcoming international meetings such as the EU, looking at the treaty, and obviously the G8, looking at climate change and follow-up to the Gleneagles agenda," Blair's spokesman told reporters. Blair, who will step down on June 27, took the unusual step of welcoming Sarkozy's election on Sunday with a tribute delivered in French and posted on the YouTube Web site. He said the right-winger's success presented a "fantastic opportunity for Britain and France to work together in the years ahead". Sarkozy wants a less ambitious treaty modernising the EU's institutions to be passed by parliament and has ruled out another referendum on the constitution. "I don't speak for Nicolas Sarkozy and obviously that's something they will be discussing," Blair's spokesman said. The prime minister supported an amended treaty rather than a full-blown constitution, he said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom Sarkozy will meet next week after officially assuming his functions as president, has made reviving the charter a priority of her EU presidency. Sarkozy has stressed his desire to overcome the lingering suspicions caused by France's fierce opposition to the U.S.- and British-led war on Iraq and has made improving relations with Washington and London a priority. His recognition of the importance of the traditional alliance with Germany will be marked next week when he visits Berlin on Wednesday, the day he takes office. "For the chancellor, this is an extraordinarily strong signal of Franco-German friendship," German government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina wants Bangladesh and the island nation of Maldives to join hands in battling the adverse effects of climate change as the two South Asian countries are among the worst at risk from rising seas. Hasina made the proposal when the Maldives ambassador in Dhaka, Ahmed Fareer, called on her at her office on Tuesday. The prime minister's deputy press secretary Md Nazrul Islam said the envoy informed the prime minister that the Maldives was moving to host climate change talks in Asia before the 16th United Nations climate change conference. He told reporters that Hasina called on leaders of the island country to work with Bangladesh to tackle the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather and rising sea levels, which threaten the two low lying countries. Hasina also requested the Maldives government to hire physicians and teachers, and import medicines, ready made garments and ceramic products, from Bangladesh. The prime minister assured the envoy of giving all-out support from Bangladesh to found the 'Bangladesh-Maldives University' in the Maldives, Islam added. PM's principal secretary MA Karim, PMO secretary Mollah Wahiduzzman and ambassador at large Ziauddin Ahmed were also present.

The environment state minister has criticised the developed countries for their 'hide and seek' attitude on climate funds. Speaking at a discussion on the next climate summit, Hasan Mahmud said on Saturday the rich countries resorted to trickery while promising funds to tackle climate change in poor countries. "They have not fulfilled their promise to reduce carbon emission either." The junior minister said the developed countries had pledged $30 billion to the countries vulnerable to climate change impacts, more commonly known as the Fast Start Funding, at the Copenhagen conference in December 2009. "Only eight percent of the funds, which was supposed to be cleared within 2012, was paid until November 2011," Hasan said. "There is a trick in all this," he said. "They are saying that they have already given the money. But if we observe carefully, we can see that the money given in 2008 is shown as the Fast Start Funding," he added. The roundtable was organised ahead of an international climate change conference in Durban, South Africa scheduled to begin on Nov 28. The state minister said Bangladesh had proposed a central body to distribute the money at that conference. He also said that 'need' should get priority in getting the funds. "It should not be that countries with better relations [with the donors] will get more money. It should be distributed on the basis of need," he said. On the developed countries' pledge to reduce carbon emission, Hasan said, "The developed countries have not shown any significant improvement in reducing emission…they are responsible for global warming." According to him, a person in Bangladesh emits 0.3 tonne carbon in a year. "The number is 1.6 tonne in developing countries and 15-20 tonne in the developed world." He also expressed hope that Sunday's Climate Vulnerable Forum, to be attended by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and prime minister Sheikh Hasina, will bring positive outcome. Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman chaired the roundtable.

For many devoted readers, the book, set in the 1950s and featuring multiple interreligious friendships and relationships, has endured because of its myriad relatable family dramas and also for being a kind of guide to what it means to be a secular, independent citizen. Now, after several stalled attempts, the beloved novel has been adapted into a lavish new six-part series, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair (“Salaam Bombay!,” “Monsoon Wedding”). When it debuted on BBC One in July, it was lauded in Britain as the network’s first prime-time drama filmed on location in India with an almost entirely Indian cast. In India, the reaction was more complicated: Members of the ruling Hindu nationalist party have called for a boycott over its depictions of interfaith romance, and police opened an investigation into Netflix, which distributes the show there. In the United States, where “A Suitable Boy” debuted Monday on streaming service Acorn TV, the series arrives a bit more quietly, but boycott-free. Given the show’s epic story and production, Nair, who grew up in India but is based in New York, has jokingly described it as “‘The Crown’ in Brown.” But beyond its scale and prestige, the project clearly carries deep personal and political meaning for her. “The main reason I wanted to do it was to make a mirror to the world that we were farther and farther away from,” Nair said in a recent video call from her home. “The ’50s has always been a real pull for me — 1951 was the year my parents got married,” she added. “It was a secular time and a time of real idealism, taking from the English what we had known, but making it our own.” The novel “A Suitable Boy” emerged as Hindu nationalist politics began to take centre stage in India following violent clashes over the destruction, in 1992, of a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya. Seth set the novel in the aftermath of the violent 1947 division of India by the British along religious lines, which created Pakistan. But his approach was to pen a dramatic comedy of manners, spinning a prickly mother’s attempts at Indian matchmaking into a sprawling and heartfelt saga of four upper-class families, star-crossed lovers, religious coexistence and post-Partition politics. It became the definitive novelisation of India’s founding years. After several failed attempts to have the book adapted, Seth personally chose Welsh screenwriter Andrew Davies for the job, fresh off a successful 2016 BBC adaptation of another historical epic, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” As Seth continued to work on his long-gestating sequel to the novel, he entrusted his sister, Aradhana Seth, to ensure the integrity of the adaptation. (She is credited as both a producer and an executive producer.) The BBC commissioned the series in 2017; Nair, who had expressed interest from the beginning, was brought on the next year. Humorous comparisons aside, the “Suitable” adaptation, though similar in both soapiness and sweep to “The Crown,” had nothing like the budget devoted to the House of Windsor drama, one of the most expensive shows on TV. In order to afford the locations and period detail both Nair and Vikram Seth wanted, the production was trimmed from eight episodes to six and condensed the book’s serpentine narrative. “Every time you see something that’s being adapted, you have to go in with fresh eyes and leave the book outside the viewing room,” Aradhana Seth said. Rather than spread the attention among the novel’s many central characters, the TV version focuses primarily on two young protagonists, Lata and Maan (Tanya Maniktala and Ishaan Khatter), who are coming into adulthood as India prepares for its first post-independence elections, held in 1952. While Maan aids in his father’s election campaign in the countryside, opening his eyes to the wider politics of caste and religion, Lata learns what it means to find her own way despite her mother’s comedic insistence on finding her a suitable Hindu boy. “There is so much energy to Lata,” Maniktala said. “She’s fresh out of her university; she’s yet to explore the world. She lives in a bubble where, according to her, everything will be great.” Filming was completed in India last December and Nair took a break in March from editing the show in London with a visit home to New York. Then international borders closed because of the coronavirus. In the video interview, Nair demonstrated how she toggled between multiple screens to edit with her team across the world. Even the music was scored remotely, with a full orchestra in Budapest, Hungary, and her composers, Alex Heffes and sitarist Anoushka Shankar, in Los Angeles and London. When the show premiered in Britain, it was widely praised in the mainstream press as a milestone in representation on the BBC. South Asian critics were less kind, focusing on the mannered English dialogue and overly enunciated accents, with particular focus on why an 84-year-old Welsh writer had adapted this iconic story about the birth of modern India and a young woman’s romantic awakening. As social media criticism built, Vikram Seth broke his public silence to defend his choice of Davies, saying “race should have nothing to do with it” in The Telegraph. “It’s a balance between getting someone very, very Indian to write it or someone very, very experienced at adapting long books,” Davies explained from his home in the British Midlands. (His other TV adaptations include “Bleak House” and “Pride and Prejudice.”) “I feel a little prickly and needing to defend my territory and not have it taken away from me as a writer. I would claim the right to put myself in the mind of people who are different from me.” Nair, who was raised in a secular Hindu family, pushed to return more of the novel’s political themes back into the screenplay. “Politics was front and centre for me, and that was one of the biggest things that I could do was to reshift the balance of the story,” she said. “Less from ‘will she or won’t she marry’ — ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and Mrs Bennet, that trope — to really making Lata feel like the making of India.” Nair also set out to integrate as much spoken Hindi and Urdu into the screenplay as allowable within the strictures of BBC broadcasting. Asked about balancing the twin demands of her unapologetic brown gaze and prestige British television, she laughed. “It was a charming tussle, can I say.” It’s a familiar challenge for Nair. A seasoned veteran of the sometimes bruising battles for more truthful and artful representations of South Asians on Western screens, she has made several acclaimed films about India and its diaspora. “She tends to pick topics that reflect ongoing social issues grounded in everyday realities,” said Amardeep Singh, a professor of English at Lehigh University, in Pennsylvania, who wrote the book “The Films of Mira Nair: Diaspora Vérité.” “With her attempt to take on the changes occurring in modern India, ‘A Suitable Boy’ fits very nicely into an arc that includes films like ‘Monsoon Wedding’ and ‘Salaam Bombay!’.” The series was filmed on location amid the “grandeur and the decay” of real cities, as Nair described it, where production designers laboured to hide the electrified chaos of modern life to achieve the show’s layered, midcentury Indian minimalism. An appropriated mansion in Lucknow, in northern India, was refashioned into the salon of a Muslim singer and courtesan named Saeeda Bai. Her home is the luminescent force at the centre of Nair’s adaptation, the embodiment of an aristocratic Islamic court culture and literary sensuality that was in decline by the time the story begins. Saeeda is played by one of India’s most acclaimed actors, Tabu, who made her international debut in Nair’s 2007 adaptation of the Jhumpa Lahiri novel “The Namesake.” Her character’s poetry, singing and beauty seduces the younger Maan, the dashing son of an influential Hindu politician. “Mira is very particular about how her women are shown on screen,” Tabu said. “Saeeda Bai is not integrated into the normal society of the time, and there’s almost this ethereal, untouchable quality of this world.” Khatter, who plays Maan, noted that in a country as diverse and sometimes divided as India, stories of interfaith love remain a powerful theme. “The fact that we choose to tell these stories time and again, it is that relevant to us,” Khatter said. “I myself am the son of an interreligious marriage, and it’s very much who we are.” A few days after the filming ended last December, cities erupted in protests amid the Hindu nationalist government’s passage of a law that explicitly excludes Muslim migrants from a clear path to Indian citizenship. Sadaf Jafar, who plays Saeeda’s servant, Bibbo, participated in the protests; during a brutal police crackdown, she was arrested and put in jail, where she said she was beaten by the police. Against the advice of friends, Nair started a public campaign on Jafar’s behalf until the actor was released nearly three weeks later. Looking back on the difficult decision to speak out in an increasingly hostile political climate for artists, Nair quoted revolutionary Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz: “Speak, for your lips are still free.” The optimistic multiculturalism reflected in “A Suitable Boy” may seem in many ways like a fading relic of both literary and political history. But Maniktala, who plays Lata, said she found Vikram Seth’s story of hopeful beginnings — and kindness — both resonant and relevant. Maniktala teared up over the phone as she reflected on her own grandfather’s trauma as a Hindu refugee forced by the 1947 partition to flee to India from what is today Pakistan. “I realise how important pain is, and the lessons” to be found in that, she said. “The kind of empathy people had — I feel the humanity aspect has been on the decline,” she continued. “We have to remember where we came from. We can never forget.” © 2020 New York Times News Service

Law minister Shafique Ahmed has questioned the ability of local institutions to govern development of their electorates. However, other speakers at a seminar on Thursday which included members of parliament, politicians and economists, spoke out in favour of a strong local government and advocated the idea of establishing a local government commission. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, president of the Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad and also co-chair of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, said that he expected the ruling Awami League would set up such a commission in line with its election pledge. Mujahidul Islam Selim, general secretary of the Bangladesh Communist Party, questioned the manner in which the local government ministry resorts to in retaining its control over the local government. "It is unconstitutional." The constitution obligates the government to ensure five layers of public representation of which only two are in place — at the Upazila and union levels. However, the local representatives hold that these locally elected bodies are not allowed to function without the influence of corresponding MPs. Abdul Majid, president of a platform of Upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen, said the Upazila councils were dysfunctional. "Everything is controlled by the MPs." "The Upazila chairman does exactly what the MP of that area says," he said at the meeting. Meher Afroz Chumki, an MP from Gazipur, said that it was a matter of changing one's mindset. She spoke in favour of giving more power to local government but blamed bureaucratic red tape for impeding sincere initiatives of the government. "If we begin to empower local governments, they would also learn to take on the responsibility. But our closed mindset prevents this from happening." President of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and also an MP, Hasanul Haq Inu, said there must clearly defined roles for local and central government that would spell out the scope of their work. He noted that discrimination against the local representatives was only natural in a system with pronounced dualism. He said that the public representatives should be at the heart of development plans. "Development initiatives should be local government-based." Shafique Ahmed, speaking at the end said he did not disagree with the proposition of the other speakers and was all for decentralisation. The technocrat minister said, "One must evaluate whether the local agencies are at all qualified to take on the responsibility." The seminar was organised by the Governance Advocacy Forum and presided over by Kholiquzzaman Ahmad. Over 400 chairmen and vice-chairmen organised a hunger strike in the capital's Muktangan on Jan 22, putting forth a ten-point demand for empowerment. Their demands included cancellation of a law stating that the corresponding MP be appointed as advisor to the Upazila council. The charter also calls for 70 percent budget allocation and separate budgets for the local government, and empowering the chairmen to evaluate all government employees under the council. The local leaders also demanded that they be given charge of 13 offices under 10 ministries in line with the Upazila Parishad Act, allowing the local government organisations to make their own annual and five-year plans, reforming the district councils, formation of local government commission and an integrated law for the local government organisations. The strike was deferred until March 28 following an assurance from MPs Rashed Khan Menon and Hasanul Haque Inu to fulfil the demands.

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.

He took office promising cautious reforms but almost halfway through his term, critics say Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's real agenda may be different -- to keep the Kremlin seat warm for a return by Vladimir Putin. Nearly two years after his election, analysts say there is scant evidence that Medvedev is implementing promises to open Russia's controlled political system, modernise its oil-fuelled economy, fight corruption and establish the rule of law. Local elections in October were dubbed Russia's dirtiest ever by opposition leaders. NGOs and business chiefs say corruption is as bad or worse. Kremlin-friendly regional bosses accused of unethical behaviour have been re-appointed. And abuses of police and court power are reported each day. "Medvedev has shown he doesn't want to reform," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, who served as the last independent deputy in the State Duma (Russian parliament) until changes to election law prevented him running again in 2007. "He keeps doing a few very small cosmetic things to pretend to reform but in fact there are no real reforms." Asked to list Medvedev's achievements since his March 2008 election, the Kremlin said it was preparing detailed information for the press to mark his two years in office in May this year but did not have such information available now. Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said the president would focus this year on more reforms to the political system, improving the investment climate, pacifying the troubled North Caucasus and agreeing a nuclear arms pact with Washington. State-run media has tried to boost the president's image -- an analysis by the Interfax news agency said references to Medvedev in Russian media last year outweighed those to Putin. But pollsters say rising prosperity and greater stability during Putin's 2000-2008 presidency has made him much more popular among ordinary people than Medvedev. This popularity continues now in Putin's role as prime minister. Russia's elite also respects Putin more. A typical example -- Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov referred to Putin several times in a Reuters interview last month, terming him a "very strong leader of world stature". He did not mention Medvedev. Hopes among Western powers that Medvedev would prove a more pliable and accommodating partner than Putin quickly evaporated, as Medvedev led Russia into a brief war with Georgia in 2008. Last year, Moscow raised hopes it would finally enter the World Trade Organisation, ink a nuclear arms reduction pact with the United States and agree to tough sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme -- only to disappoint on all three so far. In each case, officials say privately, Putin had the final say, not his formal superior Medvedev. This shows where power lies in Russia's ruling "tandem". Officials at the Kremlin and at the White House (Putin's prime ministerial offices) insist publicly that the "tandem" is a close and productive working relationship of two equals who respect each other's constitutional areas of competence. An example: Medvedev convened a meeting last week to discuss reforms to Russia's political system, so dominated by the Kremlin's United Russia bloc that critics compare it to the Soviet-era Communist Party. But Putin had the last word: "We should continually think about perfecting Russia's political system. But we must act...in this area with extreme caution," he said. "The political system must not wobble like runny jelly with every touch". "Putin's message was clear," said one senior diplomat. "There will be no serious political reform in Russia". Investors are also clear about where power lies. Asked how Russian markets would react to a Medvedev departure, one chief strategist replied at a Moscow bank replied: "Not a blip." When asked the same question about Putin, the answer was "mayhem". Nonetheless, the frequent differences in public tone between Putin and Medvedev have led some Russia-watchers to speculate about arguments between them, or even to suggest a power struggle might be taking place inside the elite. Promoters of Medvedev are especially keen on spreading that message to burnish his reformist credentials, diplomats say. In this version of events, Medvedev's lack of reform achievements is explained because he is moving cautiously so as not to upset Putin. Boosters of the president insist that at some unspecified future time Medvedev will move more boldly. But many close to the circles of power dismiss such talk. Opposition journalist Yulia Latynina has argued that it is impossible to have a struggle between a man who holds all the power (Putin) and a man who has none (Medvedev). Sceptics also argue that Medvedev, a consummate insider who has worked closely with Putin for 19 years, is highly unlikely to have a reform agenda which he has kept secret for so long from his boss -- a very well-informed former KGB spy. Many informed commentators believe that barring an upset such as a major financial crisis, Putin is likely to return in 2012 to the presidency, taking advantage of a constitutional reform extending the next Kremlin chief's term to six years _ the most significant political reform Medvedev has enacted. Re-election could take Putin, now 57, through to 2024 before he would be obliged by the constitution to leave office. Putin is more popular and more trusted than Medvedev, said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, an expert on the Russian elite and member of United Russia. "I'm just back from a trip to the provinces and everyone believes Putin will come back in 2012, that's the popular view. I share this view...Putin has more resources and more support".

Dhaka, Sep 9 (bdnews24.com)—Irrigation-rich Netherlands has expressed an interest in helping Bangladesh to modernise its irrigation system. Foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury had separate meetings on Monday with the Dutch foreign minister and development cooperation minister at Amsterdam, the foreign affairs ministry said Tuesday. At the meeting with development cooperation minister Bert Koenders, foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury highlighted the importance of channelling Dutch assistance through the government which now mainly routed through NGOs and multilateral agencies, a statement of the foreign ministry said. They agreed on modern irrigation systems, livestock and dairy, food processing, and agro-business development as new avenues of cooperation between the two countries. Meanwhile, the foreign adviser also met with his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen. Bangladesh expressed its view of the Netherlands as a dependable development partner at the latter meeting, the foreign ministry said. Iftekhar urged the Dutch foreign minister to extend its imports from Bangladesh beyond the ready-made garments sector, to include other areas of manufacturing such as like small and medium size ships. They also agreed to work together on common grounds like climate change issues. Verhagen assured his support to the electoral process and learnt about the preparations for the Jatiya Sangsad polls from the adviser. While briefing the Dutch minister about the current government's reform programs, Iftekhar emphasised on the need for a European Union Observer Mission during the upcoming polls. Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Mizanur Rahman, director general of the foreign ministry M Zulfiqur Rahman and the Dutch envoy to Bangladesh Bea Ten Touscher were also present at the meetings.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the growth outlook and business climate have weakened but warned of upward risks to inflation, a day before it is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold. The RBI also gave little indication that it might cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the share of deposits banks must maintain with the central bank, potentially disappointing growing market hopes it would do so. The RBI left interest rates unchanged in December after raising them 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011. "The critical factors in rate actions ahead will be core inflation and exchange rate pass-through," the RBI said on Monday in its quarterly macroeconomic and monetary review. Core inflation, which measures price changes in non-food manufactured products, has been at or above 7 percent for 11 straight months, compared to its long-term trend of about 4 percent, the RBI said. Adding to inflationary pressures, the rupee fell 16 percent against the dollar in 2011, boosting the cost of critical imports such as oil. Annual headline inflation, as measured by the wholesale price index, slowed to a two-year low of 7.47 percent in December, thanks to a sharp decline in food inflation. However, manufactured product inflation edged up from the previous month. "Upside risks to inflation persist from insufficient supply responses, exchange rate pass-through, suppressed inflation and an expansionary fiscal stance," the RBI said, adding that inflation was likely to ease to its target of 7 percent by the end of the fiscal year in March. Investment in industrial capacity that would ease supply bottlenecks in Asia's third-largest economy has been slowed by sluggish decision-making in New Delhi, while programmes that increase the spending power of rural Indians have driven up demand for items such as protein-rich foods. CRR CUT HOPES DASHED? Indian government bond yields and overnight indexed swap rates eased on Monday, before the RBI's report was released, on growing expectations that the central bank may lower the CRR. Of 20 economists polled by Reuters last week, 7 expected a CRR cut on Tuesday. None of 22 expected a cut in interest rates. The 10-year benchmark bond yield closed 1 basis point lower at 8.17 percent, the one-year swap rate settled 8 bps lower at 7.93 percent and the five-year shed 3 bps to 7.23 percent. However, some market watchers said the central bank's Monday review appeared to dampen the prospect of a CRR cut on Tuesday. While the RBI acknowledged significant liquidity tightening since November, it also said "liquidity stress was handled" through open market operations (OMOs), or buybacks of bonds by the central bank. "This probably provides a sense that the RBI could be happy to continue to conduct OMOs to infuse rupee liquidity at the margin, rather than reducing the CRR immediately, given the risks that are there to the inflation trajectory," said Indranil Pan, chief economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank. A senior trader at a foreign bank who declined to be identified said Monday's statement appeared to rule out a cut in the CRR, which he said was bearish for bonds on Tuesday. Others said a CRR cut on Tuesday was still a possibility. The central bank said that while open market operations have been its weapon of choice for addressing tight market liquidity, other measures could be considered if needed. "Enabling smooth functioning of other markets by ensuring that the liquidity deficit remains within acceptable limits is also a policy priority," it said. The RBI said it expected growth to improve in the fiscal year that starts in April, but that weak investment and external demand may keep the recovery slow. "The growth outlook has weakened as a result of adverse global and domestic factors," it said.

He made the remark at a programme in Dhaka on Sunday in the backdrop of the recent murders of two foreigners in the country. Radical group Islamic State reportedly claimed responsibilities for the murders.The president was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 44th national council of Bangladesh Scouts as the chief guest.He urged the scouts to inspire young people with patriotism and make them aware of the Bangladesh's decades-old tradition of communal harmony. “…there is no room for zealotry, fundamentalism, extremism and militancy in this country," he said. Hamid, the chief scout, appreciated the members of the organisation for their role in tackling natural disasters. He urged them to raise awareness among people about maintaining ecological balance in order to tackle impacts of climate change.He also called for building a social movement against drug addiction. The president bestowed awards Silver Tiger on nine scouts, Silver Hilsa on 17, President's Rover Scout on two and President's Scout on 122. Bangladesh Scouts President Abul Kalam Azad, who is Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, chaired the programme. The organisation’s chief national commissioner Home Secretary Md Mozammel Haque Khan also spoke.

But first, it is going to have to go on a scavenger hunt in the Australian outback. This weekend, bits of an asteroid will land in a barren region near Woomera, South Australia. These are being ferried to Earth by Hayabusa2, a robotic space probe launched by JAXA, Japan’s space agency, in 2014 to explore an asteroid named Ryugu, a dark, carbon-rich rock a bit more than half a mile wide. The success of the mission and the science it produces will raise Japan’s status as a central player in deep space exploration, together with NASA, the European Space Agency and Russia. JAXA currently has a spacecraft in orbit around Venus studying that planet’s hellish climate and is collaborating with the Europeans on a mission that is on its way to Mercury. In the coming years, Japan plans to bring back rocks from Phobos, a moon of Mars, and contribute to NASA’s Artemis program to send astronauts to Earth’s moon. But the immediate challenge will be searching in darkness for a 16-inch-wide capsule containing the asteroid samples somewhere amid hundreds of square miles in a region 280 miles north of Adelaide, the nearest large city. “It’s really in the middle of nowhere,” said Shogo Tachibana, the principal investigator in charge of the analysis of the Hayabusa2 samples. He is part of a team of more than 70 people from Japan who have arrived in Woomera for recovery of the capsule. The area, used by the Australian military for testing, provides a wide-open space that is ideal for the return of an interplanetary probe. The small return capsule separated from the main spacecraft about 12 hours before the scheduled landing, when it was about 125,000 miles from Earth. JAXA will broadcast live coverage of the capsule’s landing beginning at 11:30 am Eastern time Saturday (pre-dawn hours on Sunday in Australia). The capsule is expected to hit the ground a few minutes before noon. In an interview, Makoto Yoshikawa, the mission manager, said there is an uncertainty of about 10 kilometres (about 6 miles) in pinpointing where the capsule will reenter the atmosphere. At an altitude of 6 miles, the capsule will release a parachute, and where it will drift as it descends will add to the uncertainty. “The landing place depends on the wind on that day,” Yoshikawa said. The area that searchers might have to cover could stretch some 60 miles, he said. The trail of the fireball of superheated air created by the reentering capsule will help guide the recovery team, as will the capsule’s radio beacon. The task will become much more difficult if the beacon fails or if the parachute fails to deploy. There is a bit of a rush, too. The team hopes to recover the capsule, perform initial analysis and whisk it back to Japan within 100 hours. Even though the capsule is sealed, the worry is that Earth air will slowly leak in. “There is no perfect sealing,” Tachibana said. Once the capsule is found, a helicopter will take it to a laboratory that has been set up at the Australian air force base at Woomera. There an instrument will extract any gases within the capsule that may have been released by the asteroid rocks as they were shaken and broken during reentry. Yoshikawa said the scientists would also like to see if they can detect any solar wind particles of helium that slammed into the asteroid and became embedded in the rocks. The gases would also reassure the scientists that Hayabusa2 did indeed successfully collect samples from Ryugu. A minimum of 0.1 grams, or less than 1/280th of an ounce, is needed to declare success. The hope is the spacecraft brought back several grams. In Japan, the Hayabusa2 team will begin analysis of the Ryugu samples. In about a year, some of the samples will be shared with other scientists for additional study. To gather these samples, Hayabusa2 arrived at the asteroid in June 2018. It executed a series of investigations, each of escalating technical complexity. It dropped probes to the surface of Ryugu, blasted a hole in the asteroid to peer at what lies beneath and twice descended to the surface to grab small pieces of the asteroid, an operation that proved much more challenging than expected because of the many boulders on the surface. Small worlds like Ryugu used to be of little interest to planetary scientists who focused on studying planets, said Masaki Fujimoto, deputy director general of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, part of JAXA. “Minor bodies, who cares?” he said. “But if you are serious about the formation of planetary systems, small bodies actually matter.” Studying water trapped in minerals from Ryugu could give hints if the water in Earth’s oceans came from asteroids, and if carbon-based molecules could have seeded the building blocks for life. Part of the Ryugu samples will go to NASA, which is bringing back some rocks and soil from another asteroid with its OSIRIS-Rex mission. The OSIRIS-Rex space probe has been studying a smaller carbon-rich asteroid named Bennu, and it will start back to Earth next spring, dropping off its rock samples in September 2023. Ryugu and Bennu turned out to be surprisingly similar in some ways, both looking like spinning tops and with surfaces covered with boulders, but different in other ways. The rocks on Ryugu appear to contain much less water, for one. The significance of the similarities and differences will not become clear until after scientists study the rocks in more detail. “When the OSIRIS-Rex sample comes back, we will have lessons learned from the Hayabusa2 mission,” said Harold Connolly, a geology professor at Rowan University in New Jersey and the mission sample scientist for OSIRIS-Rex. “The similarities and differences are absolutely fascinating.” Connolly hopes to go to Japan next summer to take part in analysing the Ryugu samples. Hayabusa2 is not Japan’s first planetary mission. Indeed, its name points to the existence of Hayabusa, an earlier mission that brought back samples from another asteroid, Itokawa. But that mission, which launched in 2003 and returned in 2010, faced major technical problems. So did JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, currently in orbit around Venus, which the Japanese agency managed to restore to a scientific mission after years of difficulty. A Japanese mission to Mars failed in 2003. By contrast, operations of Hayabusa2 have gone almost flawlessly, even though it retains the same general design as its predecessor. “Actually, there are no big issues,” Yoshikawa, the mission manager, said. “Of course, small ones.” He said the team studied in detail the failures on Hayabusa and made changes as needed, and also conducted numerous rehearsals to try to anticipate any contingencies it might encounter. The Japanese missions generally operate on smaller budgets than NASA’s and thus often carry fewer instruments. Hayabusa2’s cost is less than $300 million while OSIRIS-Rex’s price will run about $1 billion. Dropping off the Ryugu samples is not the end of the Hayabusa2 mission. After releasing the return capsule, the main spacecraft shifted course to avoid a collision with Earth, missing by 125 miles. It will now travel to another asteroid, a tiny one designated 1998 KY26 that is only 100 feet in diameter but spinning rapidly, completing one rotation in less than 11 minutes. Hayabusa2 will use two flybys of Earth to fling itself toward KY26, finally arriving in 2031. It will conduct some astronomical experiments during its extended deep space journey, and the spacecraft still carries one last projectile that it may use to test that space rock’s surface. © 2020 The New York Times Company

Six months after the US invasion, Esam Pasha, a 30-year-old Iraqi artist and writer, proudly painted a mural called "Resilience" over a giant portrait of Saddam Hussein on the wall of a government building. Now he lives in the United States. Pasha is among hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been driven abroad since the war, many of them doctors, businessmen, academics and other professionals whose skills Iraq can ill-afford to lose. Pasha talks wistfully about sipping tea and chatting all day at a gallery in Baghdad: "I can still hear the sounds and the birds and almost smell the tea." His mural was a colourful celebration of Baghdad life and what he called "the ever-shining sun of Iraq". "I didn't use a single drop of black paint in it. I felt like Baghdad had enough of black burnt in its memory," Pasha said in a telephone interview from Connecticut. The mural is on a wall of the Ministry of Labour, which like all government offices in Baghdad is now surrounded by blast walls and guards, off limits to the general public. "Hopefully someday it will be safe enough to have public artworks in Baghdad that people walk by safely and enjoy," he said. "That was what I had in mind, that if other artists do as I did, Baghdad would be beautiful and clean as it once was. But if there's no security, nothing can be done." Abu Mina, a ceramic artist and university professor, still goes to the gallery Pasha remembers so fondly, but he says nobody is buying art anymore and he too is considering leaving. He hasn't been paid for a month by the university and most of his students don't come to class because it's too dangerous. "Maybe only three students will graduate this year. The other 27 never showed up," he said. "I wouldn't even recognise their faces." The Higher Education Ministry says at least 185 university teachers have been killed since April 2003, another 52 kidnapped and 41 wounded. A double bombing at a Baghdad university this month killed at least 70 people, mostly students. Abu Mina's son is studying medicine but classes are only held about once every two weeks, and many professors have moved to the safety of Damascus to teach at a private university. Finding a dentist or a specialist surgeon or consultant can take weeks and often proves impossible, driving those who can afford it to seek medical treatment abroad. Hospital emergency rooms faced with a flood of casualties from bombings and shootings are often short-staffed and overwhelmed. A United Nations report this month said there was a worrying increase in attacks on professionals such as teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, ex-military officers and journalists. "These attacks are typically perpetrated by extremists practicising conformist ideology and by militant/terror groups intent on spreading fear and intimidation," the report said, adding that a growing climate of Islamic extremism was also linked to attacks on academics. Asam Rifaat, 38, a criminal lawyer living in the upscale Mansour district of Baghdad, said he has decided to take his wife and two children out of Iraq. "I can't live in Baghdad any more. It's turned into a city for dead people and I'm not ready to have my children grow up as orphans," he said. "I can't work for justice in a country run by militias which act above the law," he said, referring to armed groups blamed for operating death squads responsible for hundreds of killings every week, many thought to work in collusion with the police. "I mean it, we are living according to the rules of the jungle," Rifaat said. "Every time I leave my home, I take a long look at (my children) Nora and Mahmoud because I always have the feeling that I'm not coming back, I'll be killed or abducted." His wife, a 35-year-old teacher, has quit her job to stay home with the children. "Every time Asam leaves for work I keep praying for his safety. And when I see urgent news on television about bombs, I start crying until he comes home." Salim al-Taie, a former army officer, 45, lives with his wife and three children aged five to 12 in Amriya in western Baghdad. "In the last four years many things have changed in Baghdad and definitely for the worse. No one respects the law any more, which is a disaster," he said. "Life in Baghdad is like living in a city run by the mafia where anybody can be killed in cold blood," he said, recalling two friends and former pilots who were killed by gunmen. "Every time I convince my wife that we mustn't give up hope, the ever-increasing blasts and sectarian killing prove I'm wrong," he said, adding that he had stopped sending his children to school and decided to move to Egypt. "When I stopped Nahida and Jumana from going to school they started crying about not seeing their friends any more," Taie said. "They broke my heart and their tears encouraged me to pack up and leave Iraq forever." "I want no more tears in my children's eyes, even if the price is never to return to Iraq."

- launched 10 years ago -- by 2015. While countries agree with the goals for slashing global poverty, rich nations struggling with high unemployment and rising debt, want the debate to focus on getting the best development results from anti-poverty progra

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, keen to show off her skills as a mediator two months before a German election, achieved her primary goal at the meeting in Hamburg, convincing her fellow leaders to support a single communique with pledges on trade, finance, energy and Africa. But the divide between Trump, elected on a pledge to put "America First", and the 19 other members of the club, including countries as diverse as Japan, Saudi Arabia and Argentina, was stark. Last month Trump announced he was pulling the United States out of a landmark international climate accord clinched two years ago in Paris. Greenpeace activists with the giant statue depicting US President Donald Trump stage a protest at the front of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. Reuters "In the end, the negotiations on climate reflect dissent – all against the United States of America," Merkel told reporters at the end of the meeting. Greenpeace activists with the giant statue depicting US President Donald Trump stage a protest at the front of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. Reuters "And the fact that negotiations on trade were extraordinarily difficult is due to specific positions that the United States has taken." The summit, marred by violent protests that left the streets of Hamburg littered with burning cars and broken shop windows, brought together a volatile mix of leaders at a time of major change in the global geo-political landscape. Trump's shift to a more unilateral, transactional diplomacy has left a void in global leadership, unsettling traditional allies in Europe and opening the door to rising powers like China to assume a bigger role. Tensions between Washington and Beijing dominated the run-up to the meeting, with the Trump administration ratcheting up pressure on President Xi Jinping to rein in North Korea and threatening punitive trade measures on steel. Trump-Putin Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in Hamburg, a hotly anticipated encounter after the former real estate mogul promised a rapprochement with Moscow during his campaign, only to be thwarted by accusations of Russian meddling in the vote and investigations into the Russia ties of Trump associates. Putin said at the conclusion of the summit on Saturday that Trump had quizzed him on the alleged meddling in a meeting that lasted over two hours but seemed to have been satisfied with the Kremlin leader's denials of interference. Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks to US President Donald Trump during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. Reuters Trump had accused Russia of destabilising behaviour in Ukraine and Syria before the summit. But in Hamburg he struck a conciliatory tone, describing it as an honour to meet Putin and signalling, through Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, that he preferred to focus on future ties and not dwell on the past. Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks to US President Donald Trump during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. Reuters "It was an extraordinarily important meeting," Tillerson said, describing a "very clear positive chemistry" between Trump and the former KGB agent. Trump satisfied with poll meddling denials: Putin In the final communique, the 19 other leaders took note of the US decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and declared it "irreversible". For its part, the United States injected a contentious line saying that it would "endeavour to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently." French President Emmanuel Macron led a push to soften the US language. "There is a clear consensus absent the United States," said Thomas Bernes, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. "But that is a problem. Without the largest economy in the world how far can you go?" Jennifer Morgan, executive director at Greenpeace, said the G19 had "held the line" against Trump's "backward decision" to withdraw from Paris. On trade, another sticking point, the leaders agreed they would "fight protectionism including all unfair trade practices and recognise the role of legitimate trade defence instruments in this regard." The leaders also pledged to work together to foster economic development in Africa, a priority project for Merkel. Violent protests Merkel chose to host the summit in Hamburg, the port city where she was born, to send a signal about Germany's openness to the world, including its tolerance of peaceful protests. It was held only a few hundred metres from one of Germany's most potent symbols of left-wing resistance, a former theatre called the "Rote Flora" which was taken over by anti-capitalist squatters nearly three decades ago. A protester throws a bottle towards riot police during demonstrations at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017. Over the three days of the summit, radicals looted shops, torched cars and lorries. More than 200 police were injured and some 143 people have been arrested and 122 taken into custody. A protester throws a bottle towards riot police during demonstrations at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017. Some of the worst damage was done as Merkel hosted other leaders at for a concert and lavish dinner at the Elbphilharmonie, a modernist glass concert hall overlooking the Elbe River. Merkel met police and security force after the summit to thank them, and condemned the "unbridled brutality" of some of the protesters, but she was forced to answer tough questions about hosting the summit in Hamburg during her closing press conference.

Kim, who is Korean American, was already disturbed by what he saw as widespread racism in classical music. He believed Asian string players were marginalised and treated “like cattle,” as he put it recently. “Like a herd of mechanical robots.” And he felt his white colleagues in San Francisco, who make up 83% of the orchestra, did not share his urgency about building a culture more welcoming to Asian, Black and Latino players. Feeling isolated and angry, Kim, 40, began to question his career. In March he resigned as the sole musician of colour on an orchestra committee focused on equity and inclusion. And after the ensemble resumed live performances in May, he took time off, feeling on several occasions too distraught to play. “I felt invisible, even though I was speaking very loudly,” Kim said. “I lost my passion for music.” By some measures, artists with roots in China, Japan, South Korea and other countries are well represented in classical music. They win top prizes at competitions and make up a substantial share of orchestras and conservatories. Stars like Chinese American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Japanese American violinist Midori and the Chinese pianist Lang Lang are among the most sought-after performers in the world. Yet the success of some Asian artists obscures the fact that many face routine racism and discrimination, according to interviews with more than 40 orchestra players, soloists, opera singers, composers, students, teachers and administrators. Asian artists encounter stereotypes that their music-making is soulless and mechanical. They are portrayed as exotic and treated as outsiders in a world with its main lineage from Europe. They are accused of besmirching cultural traditions that aren’t theirs and have become targets of online harassment and racial slurs. While artists of Asian descent may be represented in classical music, many say they do not feel seen. “You’re not always allowed to be the kind of artist you want to be,” said Nina Shekhar, 26, an Indian American composer who said her music is often wrongly characterized as having Indian attributes. “It feels very invalidating.” The number of Asian soloists and orchestra musicians has swelled in recent decades, even as Black and Latino artists remain severely underrepresented. But in other parts of the industry, including opera, composition, conducting, arts administration and the boards of leading cultural institutions, Asians are scarce. A lack of role models has exacerbated the problem, artists say, making success in these fields seem elusive. “At times, you feel like an endangered species,” said Xian Zhang, the music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Zhang is one of a small number of Asian female conductors leading major ensembles. Zhang, who is Chinese American, said she has at times had difficulty persuading male musicians to take her seriously, including during appearances as a guest conductor in Europe. “They don’t quite know how to react seeing an Asian woman on the podium telling them what to do,” she said. The recent rise in reports of anti-Asian hate has aroused calls for change. Musicians have formed advocacy groups and have called on cultural organisations to add Asian leaders and to more prominently feature Asian artists and composers. But classical music has long been resistant to evolution. Deep-seated stereotypes about Asians continue to surface. In June, eminent violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman was widely denounced after he invoked racist stereotypes about Asians during a Juilliard master class. He later apologised. Even some of the industry’s most successful artists say a climate of casual racism has affected their careers. Sumi Jo, 58, a renowned coloratura soprano from South Korea, described having several roles rescinded because stage directors thought she was not white enough. “If you’re Asian and you want to be successful,” she said, “you must work 100 times harder, that’s for sure.” Battling Stereotypes Artists of Asian descent have long been the subject of racist tropes and slurs, dating back to at least the 1960s and ’70s, when musicians immigrated to the United States from Japan, Korea and other parts of East Asia to study and perform. A 1967 report in Time magazine, titled “Invasion From the Orient,” reflected the thinking of the era. “The stringed instruments were physically ideal for the Orientals: Their nimble fingers, so proficient in delicate calligraphy and other crafts, adapted easily to the demands of the fingerboard,” the article said. Over time, Asian artists gained a foothold in orchestras and on the concert circuit. By 2014, the last year for which data is available, musicians of Asian descent made up about 9% of large ensembles, according to the League of American Orchestras; in the United States, Asians represent about 6% of the population. In renowned groups like the New York Philharmonic, the number is even higher: Asians now account for a third of that orchestra. (In Europe, it’s often a different story: In the London Symphony Orchestra, for example, three of 82 players, or less than 4%, have Asian roots, while Asians make up more than 18% of London’s population.) Yet racist portrayals of Asian artists have persisted. Some have been told by conductors that they look like computer engineers, not classical musicians. Others have been described by audition committees as too weak and youthful to be taken seriously. Still others have been told their names are too foreign to pronounce or remember. “You get written off as an automaton,” said Akiko Tarumoto, the assistant concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Tarumoto, 44, who is Japanese American, said that musicians of Asian descent in the Philharmonic are sometimes mistaken for each other, and in other ensembles she had heard fellow musicians refer to new hires simply as “Chinese girls.” Celebrated soloists have tried to turn the stereotypes on their head. Lang Lang has said that his embrace of an exuberantly expressive style may have been in part a reaction to perceptions that Asians are cold and reserved. Yuja Wang, another Chinese pianist, has tried, with mixed success, to satirise the stereotype of Asians as robots, which scholars attribute partly to misconceptions about the Suzuki method of teaching music. (It originated in Japan in the 1950s and was criticised in the West for producing homogeneous musicians, but remains in wide use, including among non-Asian students.) In 2019, Wang joined a comedy duo for a contentious concert at Carnegie Hall that was filled with crude jokes about her sexual appeal and Chinese heritage. Wang, 34, said in an interview that early in her career she faced stereotypes that she was technically adept but emotionally shallow. “I didn’t like how they just categorised us and pigeonholed us,” she said. While she said she has rarely experienced overt racism, Wang said she has at times felt like an outsider in the industry, including when others mispronounce her name or do not appear to take her seriously. Other prominent soloists have been reluctant to speak publicly about race. Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Midori and the star pianist Mitsuko Uchida declined to comment for this article. Zubin Mehta, 85, an Indian-born conductor who is a towering figure in the field, said he had never experienced racism and did not believe the industry discriminated against Asians. He said he had “complete sympathy” for those who felt they were mistreated, but that he was not aware of serious problems. Ray Chen, a Taiwanese Australian violinist who has built a wide following on social media, said that audience members have expressed surprise that he can play Mendelssohn and other composers, saying that music is not in his blood. While he believes there is less discrimination now, he said he struggled to get opportunities in Europe earlier in his career — in part, he felt, because of his Asian heritage. “People get offended that you’re not adhering to the rules, the culture,” said Chen, 32. “This is something that’s so wrong with the classical music industry: the fear of something new.” Female artists of Asian descent say they face additional obstacles, including stereotypes that they are exotic and obedient. Soyeon Kate Lee, 42, a Korean American pianist, said a conductor once described her in front of other orchestra leaders as “cheap and good” and suggested she perform a lap dance. Xenophobic suggestions that Asians are taking away orchestra jobs or spots at conservatories are also common. Yuka Kadota, a violinist for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, said Asian musicians are seen as “some sort of invasive species, like carp or murder hornets.” Kadota, 43, who is Japanese American, said she felt “self-conscious and slightly apologetic” during a recent performance of a Brahms string quintet, because four of the five players were women of Asian descent. “I don’t want people to think we’re taking over,” she said. A Dearth of Asian Artists Even as people of Asian descent make strides in orchestras, they remain underrepresented in many parts of the music industry, including conducting, composition and opera. “I try to accept rejections as part of my reality,” said the conductor Mei-Ann Chen, the music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta and the incoming leader of Recreation — Grosses Orchester Graz in Austria. Chen, 48, who is from Taiwan, said donors had canceled meetings and presenters had withdrawn performance opportunities after learning she was Asian. “I had to have a thick skin to come this far,” she said. Arts organisations have in recent years vowed to feature works by a wider range of composers. But artists of Asian descent say that, aside from concerts to celebrate holidays such as the Lunar New Year, they have largely been left out. Works by Asian composers comprise about 2% of pieces planned by American orchestras in the 2021-22 season, according to an analysis of 88 orchestras by the Institute for Composer Diversity at the State University of New York at Fredonia. The dearth of Asian artists is particularly striking in opera, which has long struggled with a lack of racial diversity. At the Metropolitan Opera, the largest performing arts organisation in the United States, 14 of 233 singers announced for principal roles next season, or about 6%, are of Asian descent. Four appear in the same production: an abridged holiday version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” (Asians make up about 14% of New York City’s population.) There are now a large number of Asians in important conservatory vocal programs; the Manhattan School of Music said that 47% of the students currently in its vocal arts department are of Asian descent. But they are not anywhere close to that well represented on opera stages. Nicholas Phan, 42, a tenor of Chinese and Greek descent, said Asians tend to be seen as technically precise yet artistically vacuous. A teacher of Phan’s once told him he should adopt a non-Chinese surname so that competition judges and casting directors would not view him as “just another dumb Asian singer.” When Asians win spots in opera productions, they are often typecast in roles such as Cio-Cio San in “Madama Butterfly” or the titular princess in “Turandot.” Those classics have been criticized for racist portrayals of Asians — though the prominent soprano He Hui, who is Chinese, said she loved singing Butterfly, one of her signature parts. Nina Yoshida Nelsen, a mezzo-soprano, said that of more than 180 performances she had given in the past decade, only nine were in roles that are not considered stereotypically Asian. “My success has been predicated on my tokenisation,” said Nelsen, 41, who is half Japanese. She wrote a Facebook post in March calling on others to “stop seeing my colour and the shape of my eyes as something different — something to ‘typecast.’” Within a week, Nelsen said, she had three offers, none of them for stereotypical roles. Pushing for Change “It’s time for us to speak up and not be afraid,” said Sou-Chun Su, 53, a Taiwan-born violinist in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1990. It was difficult, he said, to get leaders of the orchestra interested in concerns raised by Asian players until six people of Asian descent were shot and killed in Atlanta in March, which prompted widespread outcry. “It shouldn’t have taken something like that,” Su said. (In a statement, the orchestra said it was working to build a more inclusive culture, though it acknowledged “we have much more to do.”) Hyeyung Yoon, a former member of the Chiara String Quartet, last year founded Asian Musical Voices of America, an alliance of artists, because she felt performers of Asian descent had no forum to discuss issues of racism and identity. The group hosts monthly meetings on Zoom. Yoon said cultural institutions often exclude Asians from discussions about bringing more diversity to classical music because they are assumed to be adequately represented. “The Asian experience is hardly present,” she said. Some artists have taken to social media to challenge their employers. Miran Kim, a violinist of South Korean descent in the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra, recently wrote on Twitter about her “exhaustion and frustration” playing works with racist caricatures, such as “Madama Butterfly.” She also criticised the Met for selling a Butterfly-themed sleep mask described as evoking “exotic elegance” and mimicking “the alluring eyes of an Indian princess or Japanese Geisha girl.” (The mask was removed from the online store and the Met apologised.) “We’re not included,” Kim, 31, said in an interview, referring to the lack of Asians in leadership positions. “We’re not part of the conversation.” There have been some signs of progress. San Francisco Opera will next month welcome Eun Sun Kim, a South Korean conductor, as its music director, the first woman to hold such a post at a major American opera company. Yet significant challenges remain. David Kim, the violist at the San Francisco Symphony who is questioning his career, said he has grown tired of clashing with colleagues over issues like the tone of public statements on racism. He also feels the orchestra does not do enough to feature composers of colour. Kim, who has played in the ensemble since 2009, said he is grappling with a sense of loss after realising that his work as a classical musician no longer aligns with his values. “I’m not proud of being a part of an industry that is so self-unaware, that’s so entitled and has so little regard for social justice,” he said. He says he believes change will not come until classical music — “racism disguised as art,” he called it — reckons with its legacy of intolerance. “On the surface, Asians are accepted in these realms of orchestras, ensembles and as soloists,” Kim said. “But are we really accepted?” © 2021 The New York Times Company

She said this while addressing a discussion titled "Leaders Dialogue: High Level Political Forum-From Vision to Action" in the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday."The world leaders must recognise the two issues and provide visionary leadership and sincere commitment for achieving common goals for the sustenance of our world," said the Prime Minister."Our decisions must be aimed at ensuring the welfare of each and every human being and encompass all living species to have a sustainable world - a world that we would like to leave to our children and to the future generations," she added.She said Bangladesh is obliged to stress on the three pillars of sustainable development -- economic, social and environmental -- with adaptation and mitigation programmes."Sustainable development is imperative for Bangladesh for its national survival, particularly due to climate change," she said.Bangladesh is in the forefront of climate discourse due to its vulnerability to climate change as a frontline state."A major challenge of climate change for Bangladesh is global warming and an increase of one degree Celsius in temperature would result in a meter rise in sea- level submerging a fifth of its land mass and creating turmoil over 30 million "climate migrants" in a country already densely populated," she said.Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is active in the Open Working Group for Sustainable Development due to the deep concerns which prompted it to submit a set of nationally agreed targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda to the UN.The Prime Minister said the Forum, established with the mandate of Rio plus 20 to build on the strengths, experiences, resources and inclusive participation modalities of the Commission on Sustainable Development, should recognize the special needs of the LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS in realizing sustainable development goals.Most countries in these groups are lagging behind in attaining the various Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), she said."Our experience has been that expectations as well as commitments are important for sustainable development."She said Bangladesh due to efficient use of its resources, local leadership, indigenous capabilities and innovations has made notable success in some MDGs.Equally, delivery of the pledge of the developed nations to provide 0.7 percent of Gross National Product (GNP) as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and 0.2 percent of GNP as ODA for the LDCs as well as the transfer of technologies to the LDCs, and the other deprived groups, are important for development, said Hasina.The Prime Minister said how fast-paced advancements in science and technology is allowing dramatic socioeconomic progress to take place within states."They are also drawing states closer and making our world small, with its accompanying challenges," she said."The abundance of natural and technological resources is at our disposal today, however, they offer the Forum the opportunity to make right choices in the face of the new challenges of our time," she said.

The study will explore the financial gain Cambridge might have accrued from the slave trade and also investigate the extent to which scholarship might have reinforced race-based thinking between the 18th and early 20th Century. Estimates vary widely, but somewhere between 10 million and 28 million Africans are believed to have been shipped across the Atlantic between the 15th and 19th centuries. Many died on the way. Those who survived endured a life of subjugation on sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. Britain abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1807 although the full abolition of slavery did not follow for another generation. Martin Millett, the chairman of the eight-member advisory group overseeing the Cambridge study, said it was unclear what the investigation might turn up but that it was reasonable to assume that Cambridge had benefited from the slave trade. "It is reasonable to assume that, like many large British institutions during the colonial era, the University will have benefited directly or indirectly from, and contributed to, the practices of the time," said Millett, a professor of archaeology. "The benefits may have been financial or through other gifts. But the panel is just as interested in the way scholars at the University helped shape public and political opinion, supporting, reinforcing and sometimes contesting racial attitudes which are repugnant in the 21st Century." The inquiry will be conducted by two full-time post-doctoral researchers based in the Centre of African Studies. The research will examine specific gifts, bequests and historical connections with the slave trade. It is unclear what action Cambridge will take if it does find that it benefited from slavery or validated it. "CANNOT CHANGE THE PAST" Some of the West's top universities have been examining their past and the provenance of some of their wealth. In the United States, southern campuses have been rocked by arguments over the confederate flag. In 2017, Yale renamed its Calhoun College after protesters said the Ivy League school should drop the honour it gave to an alumnus who was a prominent advocate of U.S. slavery. It is now called Grace Hopper College after the computer scientist. In Britain, Oxford has been ensnared in a debate over whether to remove a statue of 19th century colonialist Cecil Rhodes from one of the university’s colleges. Last year, Glasgow University said it would launch a “programme of reparative justice” after discovering it gained up to 200 million pounds ($260 million) in today's money from historical slavery. "We cannot change the past, but nor should we seek to hide from it," said Stephen Toope, vice chancellor of Cambridge. "I hope this process will help the University understand and acknowledge its role during that dark phase of human history." But opponents say such inquiries are driven by a modern fashion for picking over historical injustices, often lack nuance and, if applied broadly, would place under question almost every aspect of the early history of such ancient institutions. Gill Evans, emeritus professor of medieval theology and intellectual history at Cambridge University, said that given the current “climate of anti-colonialism”, examining historic links with colonialism is one of the things every university now feels they have to do. "Given the norms of the day, what they thought they were doing is not what it looks like," Evans told the Daily Telegraph. "Before you start taking blame, the first task is to understand the period, look at what the people who acted at the time actually thought they were doing. Culpability isn’t transferable from age to age without some nuancing." Cambridge, one of the world's oldest universities, traces its history through more than 800 years of history to 1209 when scholars from Oxford, which traces its history back to 1096, took refuge in the city.

Democrats aimed to enact President Joe Biden’s plan to transform the nation’s infrastructure, he said, provide for paid family and medical leave, and expand health care, potentially including Medicare. The musing by Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, reflected the high hopes that Democrats have that a new ruling from the chamber’s parliamentarian will open more avenues for them to push a wide range of their priorities through a Congress where they have precariously small majorities. “The devil is in the details, and we don’t know the details yet — that’s going have to be negotiated, and better understood,” Sanders said in an interview Tuesday. “It gives us the possibility of going forward with more than one piece of legislation, and that’s obviously advantageous to what we’re trying to do.” All of it could be easier thanks to the parliamentarian’s opinion issued Monday that the budget resolution passed in February could be reopened to include at least one more round of reconciliation, which allows for measures governing taxes and spending to be protected from filibusters. That could give Democrats more chances to steer around Republican opposition and push through major budgetary legislation. The process is fraught with challenges, including strict rules that limit what can be included, and Democrats would still have to muster 50 votes for any proposal, a tall order for some of their more expansive ideas. But the newfound leeway could ultimately ease the way for some of their most ambitious endeavours. It could allow them to break down some of Biden’s proposals, including his two-part infrastructure plan to address both an ailing public works system and the economic inequities facing the nation’s workforce, into smaller, more palatable pieces. Activists have also urged Biden to consider more remote possibilities, like using reconciliation to provide a pathway to citizenship for some of the millions of immigrants living in the United States without legal permission, including farmworkers, essential workers and those brought to the country as children known as Dreamers. It remains unclear how and when Democrats might take advantage of the ruling. But pressure is mounting for them to push the boundaries of what the ruling party can do when it controls both congressional chambers and the White House. In an interview on Tuesday, Sen Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said the decision marked “an important step, and it adds an extra arrow in our quiver.” But he declined to disclose how exactly the ruling would impact his legislative strategy going forward, including passage of a massive public-works plan Biden released last week. “We’ll have to get together as a caucus and discuss things — as we always do — about the best place to use it,” he said. The initial guidance from Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian, seems to have given Biden and his congressional allies at least one more chance to use the reconciliation process before the fiscal year ends Sept 30, as well as more opportunities in the next fiscal year. MacDonough told lawmakers on Monday evening that Senate rules appear to allow a revision to the budget plan they used to pass the $1.9 trillion  mhave to return to MacDonough with additional questions about how to proceed. But for now, her decision has buoyed some activists who have pressed for Biden and Democrats to be more aggressive about using their power to force through big policy changes. They are likely to intensify pressure on the White House and leading Democrats in the coming weeks to use the newfound tool. Most immediately, Democrats believe the ruling could provide additional flexibility for winning enactment of Biden’s plans for as much as $4 trillion in new economic investments — including rebuilding electric grids, fighting climate change, reducing poverty and helping millions of women work and earn more. Since Biden won the White House, his advisers have been consumed with contingency planning to get his agenda through Congress, including trillions of dollars in new government spending at least partly offset by tax increases on corporations and the rich. When Democrats won a pair of Georgia runoff elections that handed them Senate control in January, reconciliation became the centerpiece of many of those plans. It would be a way to bypass what Biden aides worried would be entrenched Republican opposition to the amount of pandemic aid they believed was needed, and then a vehicle to carry his longer-term economic agenda of spending on roads, bridges, water pipes, clean energy, child care, education and more. But the administration has seen firsthand that the process will not work for all its priorities: MacDonough tossed a provision to raise the federal minimum wage out of Biden’s relief package because she deemed it in violation of budget rules. Activists argue that legalising some unauthorised immigrants would affect the budget by making them eligible for government benefits and increasing tax revenue, but it is not clear whether the parliamentarian would allow it as part of a reconciliation measure. Both Schumer and Sanders stressed that they had not committed to a particular strategy for reusing reconciliation. Determining how Democrats prioritise and sequence their legislative priorities, Sanders said, “is a difficult issue that we wrestle with every day.” White House officials insist, publicly and privately, that Biden is committed to pursuing a bipartisan agreement with Republicans on his infrastructure plan. Business groups are also eager to broker a deal on the issue, although they and Republicans have expressed strong opposition to Biden’s proposed tax increases. Biden continues to believe “that there is a bipartisan path forward” on the issue, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters Tuesday. But she left the door open to moving the bill through the more partisan process. “As you know, reconciliation is a mechanism for passing budgetary bills in Congress,” she said. “We will leave the mechanisms and the determination of the mechanisms to leaders in Congress. But, right now, less than a week after he announced the American Jobs Plan, our focus is on engaging with Democrats and Republicans, with staff, with committee staff, inviting members to the White House next week.” Lobbyists and congressional staff members say they expect Biden to give Senate moderates a short window to begin to build a bipartisan consensus on the plan — and to move on quickly if no such deal materialises. Psaki suggested on Tuesday that Biden wanted to see a quick start to work on Capitol Hill. “He’d like to see progress by May,” she said, “and certainly a package through by the summer.” Privately, some administration officials stress the difficulty of passing any of Biden’s agenda items without using reconciliation. To clear a Senate filibuster, any compromise would need to attract at least 10 Republican votes. A group of that size entered negotiations with Biden over his economic aid package, which Biden proposed to be $1.9 trillion. The Republicans countered with a proposal of $600 billion, which Democrats quickly dismissed as insufficient. Biden instead went ahead with his own plan, steering around Republican opposition to win passage of a $1.9 trillion bill through reconciliation. © 2021 The New York Times Company

POZNAN, Poland, Mon Dec 1, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) -UN climate talks opened in Poland on Monday with pleas for urgent action to fight global warming despite the economic slowdown, and a warning that inaction could mean water shortages for half the world by 2050. US President-elect Barack Obama also won praise at the opening ceremony of the Dec. 1-12 talks among 10,600 delegates from 186 nations for setting "ambitious" goals for fighting climate change. "Our work on the natural environment should be timeless ... irrespective of the economic situation," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said amid worries that the financial crunch is distracting from a drive to agree a new UN climate treaty. "We must understand, and let this idea be a landmark of this conference, that financial crises have happened in the past and will happen in the future," he said. The talks in the western Polish city of Poznan are the half-way point in a two-year push to agree a climate pact at the end of 2009 to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which sets 2012 goals for 37 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. "The financial crisis should not prevent the commitment to other urgent issues like climate change," said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will host a meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009 meant to agree the UN deal. Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the UN Climate Panel, said that many people had still not woken up to the risks of what could be "irreversible change" if the world failed to act. By illustration, he said the number of people living in river valleys with water stress could rise from more than 1.1 billion in 1995 to more than 4.3 billion in 2050, or "almost the majority of humanity". GREENLAND It was also possible that the Greenland icecap could melt down. Ever more species of animals and plants were at risk of extinction, he said. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said the world had to step up work to reach a deal by next year. "The clock is ticking, work now has to move into a higher gear," he said. The WWF environmental organisation handed out walnuts to delegates as they arrived at the conference centre and urged them to "crack the climate nut". Greenpeace unveiled a 3 metre (10 ft) high sculpture showing the planet threatened by a giant wave of wood and coal. Rasmussen praised Obama's policies after years of disputes with President George W Bush. "I am delighted to see that Obama is planning ambitious climate and energy policies as part of the solution to the economic slowdown," he said. De Boer also described Obama's policies as "ambitious" on Sunday. Obama plans to cut US emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. US emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels in factories, power plants and cars, are about 14 percent above 1990 levels. Bush's policies foresee a peak only in 2025. In Europe, the economic slowdown has exposed doubts about the costs of an EU goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. UN talks host Poland, which gets 93 percent of its electricity from coal, and Italy are leading a drive for concessions in a package meant to be agreed at a December 11-12 summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

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 .

Bainimarama's Fiji First party led with about 50 percent of the votes, closely followed by nearly 40 percent for opposition Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), according to the Fiji Elections Office (FEO). Bainimarama, who has been the Prime Minister of Fiji since leading a bloodless coup in 2006, has won 27 of 51 seats, according to the electoral commission. "I'm proud to become your prime minister once again," Bainimarama told FBC News from Auckland, New Zealand, where he had been attending his brother's funeral. SODELPA, which won 21 seats, and three other losing parties urged the electoral commission and the FEO to refrain from officially announcing results, saying the tally process was not transparent. Fiji went to polls on Wednesday, only the second time the country has held democratic elections since 2006. "The supervisor of elections has been in a great hurry to get the results out," Mahendra Chaudhry of the Fiji Labour Party said on Facebook Live video, along with SODELPA, National Federation Party and Unity Fiji. "He (the supervisor) has, in the process, compromised the procedures and the requirement of the law, so that should be set right if this election is to have any credibility," Chaudhry said. Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem said in response that the authorities had been open. "The people of Fiji deserve better in terms of information. And the Fiji Elections Office is giving all the information accurately in a timely manner," Saneem said, also on Facebook Live. Endorsing Saneem's claims, election monitoring body Multinational Observer Group (MOG) said in a short interim statement on Friday that the Fijian election campaign was conducted according to international standards. "We understand that there are some members of the public who have concerns about the integrity of the pre-poll ballots, and therefore we recognised the need to look closely at this process," it said. "The MOG assesses that the legal framework underpinning the electoral system complies with the fundamental international principles of universal suffrage and non-discrimination." Earlier in the week, heavy rain disrupted the election in some venues. Voting in those places was rescheduled to Saturday, Nov 17, to ensure all eligible votes were counted.

They called for urgent action to avoid ‘an existential threat to civilisation’ ahead of the COP25 climate change summit in Madrid, reports the Climate News Network. The group of seven researchers, who published a commentary in the journal Nature, said there is growing evidence to suggest that irreversible changes to the Earth's environmental systems are already taking place, and that we are now in a ‘state of planetary emergency’. A global tipping point is a threshold when the planet's systems go beyond the point of no return-- such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest, accelerated melting of ice sheets, and thawing of permafrost -- the scientists said in the commentary. Such a collapse could lead to ‘hothouse’ conditions that would make some areas on Earth uninhabitable. The scientists argue that the intervention time left to prevent tipping 'could already have shrunk towards zero, whereas the reaction time to achieve net zero emissions is 30 years at best'. File Photo: A boat and a bicycle are seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia, Dec 16, 2017. REUTERS The team led by Timothy Lenton, professor of climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter, in southwest England, identified nine areas where they say tipping points are already underway. File Photo: A boat and a bicycle are seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia, Dec 16, 2017. REUTERS These include widespread destruction of the Amazon, reduction of Arctic sea ice, large-scale coral reef die-offs, melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, thawing of permafrost, destabilising of boreal forests -- which contain vast numbers of trees that grow in freezing northern climes -- and a slowdown of ocean circulation. The scientist claimed that these events are interconnected and change in one will impact another, causing a worsening ‘cascade’ of crises. Regional warming is leading to an increased thawing of Arctic permafrost, soil that stays frozen throughout the year, which is releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. The warming has triggered large-scale insect disturbances and fires in North American boreal forests ‘potentially turning some regions from a carbon sink to a carbon source’, according to the study. Researchers said the early results from the preliminary models suggest the climate is much more sensitive than first thought and that a global tipping point is possible. File Photo: An Urus Muratos offering to Kota Mama (Mother Water) is seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia, Sep 1, 2017. REUTERS "Research last year analysed 30 types of regime shift spanning physical climate and ecological systems, from the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet to a switch from rainforest to Savanna," the study added. "This indicated that exceeding tipping points in one system can increase the risk of crossing them in others." File Photo: An Urus Muratos offering to Kota Mama (Mother Water) is seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia, Sep 1, 2017. REUTERS The idea of a climate tipping point is not new, according to the Climate News Network. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, introduced the concept 20 years ago. Back then, the UN suggested such ‘large-scale discontinuities’ would only come about when global warming exceeded 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But climate scientists said data from the two most recent IPCC reports in 2018 and September 2019, suggest tipping points can happen between 1 C and 2 C of warming. Global average temperatures are around 1 C higher now than in the pre-industrial age and continue to rise.

On Friday, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou flew home to China from Canada after reaching an agreement with US prosecutors to end the bank fraud case against her, a point of tension between China and the United States. Within hours of the news of the deal, the two Canadians who were arrested shortly after Meng was taken into custody were released from Chinese jails and were on their way back to Canada. Beijing had denied that their arrests were linked. When asked if the White House was involved in brokering a "prisoner swap," White House press secretary Jen Psaki rejected the premise. The deferred prosecution agreement with Meng was "an action by the Department of Justice, which is an independent Department of Justice. This is a law enforcement matter," she said, adding, "There is no link." But Psaki also confirmed that in a call on Sept 9, two weeks before the announcements, China's leader Xi Jinping brought up Meng's case and US President Joe Biden pressed for the release of the two Canadians, businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who had been held in China for more than 1,000 days. "These two leaders raised the cases of these individuals but there was no negotiation about it," Psaki said. Psaki said she had no information on whether Biden knew about the status of the negotiations between Meng's lawyers and the Justice Department. Meng had been arrested at Vancouver International Airport in Canada on a US warrant, and was indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC in 2013 about the telecommunications equipment giant's business dealings in Iran. The years-long extradition drama had been a central source of discord in increasingly rocky ties between Beijing and Washington, with Chinese officials signalling that the case needed to be dropped to help end a diplomatic stalemate. Psaki emphasised the deal announced on Friday did not indicate a softening of US concerns about Chinese behaviour. "Our policy has not changed, our policy toward China," Psaki said. "We are not seeking conflict. It is a relationship of competition and we are going to continue to hold the PRC to account for its unfair economic practices, its coercive actions around the world and its human rights abuses," she said, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China. BALL IN THE US COURT Earlier in September, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Biden's climate envoy John Kerry in a virtual meeting that Washington needed to take practical steps to improve relations by responding to a list of demands, which included dropping the case against Meng. "Right now, the ball is in the United States' court," Wang told Kerry, according to a Chinese statement. But US officials have rebutted any suggestion that Kerry or other administration officials had negotiated Meng's release with China for other concessions. Earlier in the week, Xi announced at the United Nations that China would not build new coal-fired power projects abroad, a pledge Kerry had been pressuring Beijing to make to help the world stay on course to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement. "We were not involved in their internal decision-making on it in any way, shape, or form," a White House official told Reuters of the Justice Department's process. "The movement on coal, number one, is, frankly, China acting in its own interest," the official said. "I think they realised that they weren't going to get anything for it. They weren't going to be able to use it as leverage." Meng arrived to a hero's welcomed in China, and official media there suggested that her release could be a chance to reboot fraught US-China ties. While some Republican senators criticised the Biden administration for giving in to Beijing's demands, analysts said that didn't add up. "I believe that the deal that the PRC made to get Meng released was on the table during the Trump administration. She had to acknowledge wrongdoing and ultimately that is what she did. I don't see capitulation," said Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank. The Justice Department says it is still preparing for trial against Huawei.

The Edelman Trust Barometer, which for two decades has polled thousands of people on trust in their governments, media, business and NGOs, conversely showed rising scores in several autocratic states, notably China. It also highlighted that business, thanks to its role developing vaccines and adapting workplace and retail practices, had retained strong levels of trust globally, albeit with reservations about its commitment to social fairness. "We really have a collapse of trust in democracies," said Richard Edelman, whose Edelman communications group published the survey of over 36,000 respondents in 28 countries interviewed between Nov 1-24 of last year. "It all goes back to: 'Do you have a sense of economic confidence?'" he added, noting high levels of concern about job losses linked either to the pandemic or automation. The biggest losers of public trust over the last year were institutions in Germany, down 7 points to 46, Australia at 53 (-6), the Netherlands at 57 (-6), South Korea at 42 (-5) and the United States at 43 (-5). By contrast, public trust in institutions in China stood at 83%, up 11 points, 76% in United Arab Emirates (+9) and 66% in Thailand (+5). The trillions of dollars of stimulus spent by the world's richest nations to support their economies through the pandemic have failed to instil a lasting sense of confidence, the survey suggested. In Japan, only 15% of people believed they and their families would be better off in five years' time, with most other democracies ranging around 20-40% on the same question. But in China nearly two-thirds were optimistic about their economic fortunes and 80% of Indians believed they would be better off in five years. Edelman said higher public trust levels in China were linked not just to economic perceptions but also to a greater sense of predictability about Chinese policy, not least on the pandemic. "I think there is a coherence between what is done and what is said...They have had a better COVID than the US for example." According to the Reuters pandemic tracker, the United States currently leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, while China has regularly been reporting no new deaths for months as it pursues strict "zero-Covid" policies. The results of the latest Edelman survey are in tune with its findings in recent years that charted rising disillusionment with capitalism, political leadership and the media. Concerns about "fake news" were this time at all-time highs, with three-quarters of respondents globally worried about it being "used as a weapon". Among societal fears, climate change was now just behind the loss of employment as a major concern. The burden of expectation on business leaders remains heavy, with strong majorities saying they bought goods, accepted job offers and invested in businesses according to their beliefs and values. Around two-fifths, however, also said that business was not doing enough to address climate change, economic inequality and workforce reskilling.

The latest measures, along with decisions by some US states to impose mandatory quarantines on health workers returning home from treating Ebola victims in West Africa, have been condemned by health authorities and the United Nations as extreme.The top health official in charge of dealing with Washington's response to Ebola warned against turning doctors and nurses who travel to West Africa to tackle Ebola into "pariahs".The Ebola outbreak has killed nearly 5,000 people since March, the vast majority in West Africa, but nine Ebola cases in the United States have caused alarm, and states such as New York and New Jersey have ignored federal advice by introducing their own strict controls.The United Nations on Monday sharply criticized the new restrictions imposed by some U.S. states on health workers returning home from the affected West African states of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone."Returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said. "They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science. Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatized."American soldiers returning from West Africa are also being isolated, even though they showed no symptoms of infection and were not believed to have been exposed to the deadly virus, officials said on Monday.In a statement, the Army said Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno ordered the 21-day monitoring period for returning soldiers "to ensure soldiers, family members and their surrounding communities are confident that we are taking all steps necessary to protect their health."The Army isolated about a dozen soldiers on their return during the weekend to their home base in Vicenza, Italy. That included Major General Darryl Williams, the commander of U.S. Army Africa, who oversaw the military's initial response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa."We are billeted in a separate area (on the base). There's no contact with the general population or with family. No one will be walking around Vicenza," Williams told Reuters in a telephone interview.The US military has repeatedly stressed that its personnel are not interacting with Ebola patients and are instead building treatment units to help health authorities battle the epidemic. Up to 4,000 U.S. troops may be deployed on the mission."From a public health perspective, we would not feel that isolation is appropriate," said Dr. Jeff Duchin, Washington State epidemiologist and chairman of the public health committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.The decision goes well beyond previously established military protocols and came just as President Barack Obama's administration sought to discourage precautionary quarantines being imposed by some US states on healthcare workers returning from countries battling Ebola.QUESTIONS OVER QUARANTINEUS federal health officials on Monday revamped guidelines for doctors and nurses returning from West Africa, stopping well short of controversial mandatory quarantines.Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called for isolation of people at the highest risk for Ebola infection but said most medical workers returning from the three countries at the centre of the epidemic would require daily monitoring without isolation."At CDC, we base our decisions on science and experience. We base our decisions on what we know and what we learn. And as the science and experience changes, we adopt and adapt our guidelines and recommendations," Frieden said.The Obama administration's new guidelines are not mandatory, and states will have the right to put in place policies that are more strict. Some state officials, grappling with an unfamiliar public health threat, had called federal restrictions placed on people traveling from Ebola-affected countries insufficient to protect Americans and have imposed tougher measures.Australia on Monday issued a blanket ban on visas from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa to prevent the disease reaching the country, becoming the first rich nation to shut its doors to the region.Australia has not recorded a case of Ebola despite a number of scares, and conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott has so far resisted repeated requests to send medical personnel to help battle the outbreak on the ground.The decision to refuse entry for anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, while touted by the government as a necessary safety precaution, was criticised by experts and advocates as politically motivated and shortsighted.Adam Kamradt-Scott, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney's Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, said the ban would do nothing to protect the country from Ebola while potentially having a negative public health impact by unduly raising fears and creating a general climate of panic.Medical professionals say Ebola is difficult to catch and is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person and not transmitted by asymptomatic people. Ebola is not airborne.There has been a growing chorus of critics, including public health experts, the United Nations, medical charities and even the White House, denouncing mandatory quarantines as scientifically unjustified and an obstacle to fighting the disease at its source in West Africa."Anything that will dissuade foreign trained personnel from coming here to West Africa and joining us on the frontline to fight the fight would be very, very unfortunate," Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Ebola Emergency Response Mission (UNMEER), told Reuters in the Ghanian capital Accra.He said that health workers returning to their own countries should be treated as heroes.

The UK’s new £40 million Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme will provide expert training, simulation drills and new disaster monitoring systems to ensure countries most at risk from natural disasters -- such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Ethiopia or Sudan -- can prepare for future shocks.UK’s International Development Secretary Justine Greening will announce the programme at the ongoing World Bank’s Spring Meeting in Washington.Under this programme funding will be awarded on a competitive basis to projects which will improve the quality and speed of humanitarian response.In a press release UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) said, at the World Bank Spring Meetings, Justine Greening will highlight the growing danger of some countries graduating from aid leaving far behind the most fragile and vulnerable countries.The release said, Greening will point out: “The humanitarian system is already stretched to breaking point. The reality is that we are facing ever more demands on the system, as we deal with the effects of a changing climate, growing population, conflict and extremism.“Our global humanitarian system does great work but the scale of the challenge means all of us need to up our game. The global investment in emergency preparedness is extremely low. We urgently need larger, sustained investment in preparedness and resilience.”Working with the START network – previously known as the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies – and the Communicating with Disaster-affected Communities Network, accredited international training programmes will be organised and run in the most at risk countries, the release said. This could include vulnerable developing countries such as Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti or South Sudan.To improve early warning system support will be awarded to innovative new systems which improve the communications and coordination of disasters, it said.This could include extending satellite or geographic data monitoring to track disasters, national communication systems to warn vulnerable communities or more detailed risk analysis in disaster-prone regions, the DFID informed in the press communiqué.The DFID will also set up a new £20 million fund forUNICEF and the World Food Programme to improve disaster planning in 11 high risk countries or regions – where 17million people are at risk of a disaster, including 14 million women and children in emergencies.This will allow agencies to preposition relief items and replenish their stocks so that humanitarian responses can start as soon as a disaster hits. The countries will include Afghanistan, Burma, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Chad, Madagascar, Central America, Central Asia, African Great Lakes and the Syria region.To show the effectiveness of this approach, it also cited how Bangladesh reduced casualties from two very comparable cyclones-- from 500,000 in 1972 to 3,400 in 2008.Apart from these, the release said, Greening will also set out DFID’s five key areas for improvement to help ease the demand on emergency assistance.The areas are: 1. Preparing for disasters: Greater investment in preparedness and resilience is needed so communities at risk of disaster can better withstand and quickly recover from shocks.1. Supporting national and local leadership: More support for local civil society organisations is needed so that they can lead humanitarian responses locally and help reduce the burden on the UN.2. Recipients driving aid: the people in need of assistance are best placed to say what they need. Responses need to be better tailored to emergencies so the specific needs of those affected are met.3. A 21st Century response: new and innovative approaches to humanitarian assistance are needed including using mobile phones, making use of advancements such as more flexible shelter kits and distributing cash instead of traditional relief supplies so people can make choices on what they urgently need.4. The development challenge: humanitarian disasters are increasingly in the places where extreme poverty is focused. Long-term planning is needed to help prevent or minimise the impact in areas that are vulnerable to regular or protracted crises such as food shortages.

Johnson had wanted to use the conference this week to turn the page on more than 18 months of COVID-19 and to refocus on his 2019 election pledges to tackle regional inequality, crime and social care. Instead, the prime minister finds himself on the back foot more than nine months since Britain completed its exit from the European Union - a departure he said would hand the country the freedom to better shape its economy. He is now faced with an outcry by those unable to fill up their cars with petrol, by retailers who fear there may be shortages of Christmas fare and by gas companies struggling with a spike in wholesale prices. In a statement released on the eve of the conference in the city of Manchester, Johnson did not refer to the ongoing crises and instead talked up what he called his government's "track record of delivering on the people's priorities". "We didn't go through COVID to go back to how things were before -- to the status quo ante. Build Back Better means we want things to change and improve as we recover," he said. "That means taking the big, bold decisions on the priorities people care about – like on social care, on supporting jobs, on climate change, tackling crime and levelling up." He repeated his mantra that the government did all it could to prop up businesses during the pandemic, to protect jobs and had successfully rolled out a mass vaccination programme. But for many critics, this often repeated statement underscores a refusal to acknowledge missteps in the early days of the pandemic when the government seemed reluctant to lockdown the economy to stop the spread of the virus. At the conference, the withdrawal of a top-up to a state benefit for low-income households and the end of a COVID jobs support scheme might also attract criticism from some lawmakers, particularly those from regions in northern and central England which have traditionally supported the opposition Labour Party.

A member of South Africa's ruling ANC has launched a legal bid to postpone the party's conference this month, citing divisions over its leadership and breaches of the bill of rights, local media said on Thursday. Infighting between supporters of President Thabo Mbeki and his party deputy Jacob Zuma ahead of the Dec 16-20 ANC conference has opened the worst splits in the history of a party whose strength was long based on discipline and unity. The Star newspaper said lawyer and ANC member Votani Majola would seek an interdict at the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday to stop the Dec 16-20 conference because "the playing fields are not level". "We can't have a conference in this unhappy climate," Majola told the paper. The Business Day newspaper quoted ANC Secretary-General Kgalema Motlanthe as confirming that the party was served with legal papers on Wednesday relating to charges of infringements of the bill of rights. The paper gave no details and Motlanthe and ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama were not immediately reachable for comment on Thursday. Zuma has taken a lead over Mbeki in the race for ANC chief, which would open the way for him assuming the state presidency in 2009, given the ANC's dominance of South African politics. Investors are nervous about Zuma's close ties with the left, but on Wednesday a top aide to Mbeki told Reuters that South Africa's economic policies are unlikely to change much whoever emerges the winner. The aide also dismissed fears of instability should Zuma emerge victorious.

The United States and France, whose relations soured over the Iraq war, underlined close links as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made her first visit to Paris since Nicolas Sarkozy became president. Sarkozy is an avowed US friend and Washington hopes Rice's two-night stay in Paris, a relatively long visit for the top U.S. diplomat, will mark a new turn in U.S.-French ties strained by former French president Jacques Chirac's opposition to the 2003 Iraq war. Rice's visit was timed to coincide with a meeting Sarkozy convened on Darfur, where U.S. officials felt that the previous French government did too little to help stop what the United States has called genocide in the western Sudan region. Rice had extensive talks with Sarkozy as well as the French foreign and defence ministers on global issues including Iran, Iraq, the Middle East and Kosovo. "The more we work together, the better things will be and the more we are together, the stronger we will be," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a joint news conference on Sunday before hosting a dinner for Rice. "On a great many topics of current events, we had a chance to see how close we are. At times, we did not see things eye to eye. It is good, among friends, to speak frankly," he added. Rice was equally effusive, offering "great congratulations" to Sarkozy on his election victory. She also praised Kouchner for his work with Medecins Sans Frontieres -- the aid group he co-founded -- which she described as "one of the finest organisations ... ever created." Analysts said the cordiality should not obscure the many areas where the two countries disagree, including French misgivings about NATO expansion, U.S. plans for a missile defence shield in Europe and U.S. support for Israel. "There is a new climate ... There is a new sense of confidence but it's more in the tone and in the style than necessarily in the content," said Dominique Moisi, senior counsellor to the French Institute of International Relations. "Psychologically, there is a sense in the United States that there is a new France with an ally of Washington at the helm. At the same time, in France, I don't think the perception of the Bush administration has changed," he added. "To confirm that change of atmosphere, you should wait for a new president in Washington and ideally one from the Democratic party." In their public dealings, however, US and French officials were nothing if not warm. Kouchner kissed Rice on each cheek as they wrapped up their news conference, giving photographers an image to accompany the idea of France and the United States kissing and making up after the Iraq war even though that process began years ago. The French foreign minister beamed when Rice went out of her way to note French support for the American revolution, telling Kouchner that "there might not have been a United States of America but for your help."

It is a global contest with huge economic consequences for automakers, small battery startups and car buyers, who in a few years will chose from a dizzying array of electric cars that use different kinds of batteries as the combustion-engine era recedes. The chemical makeup of batteries — a technical subject that was the province of engineers — has become one of the hottest topics of discussion in the corporate boardrooms of General Motors, Toyota, Ford Motor and Volkswagen, as well in the White House. With financial and technological support from the government, these giant companies are embracing startups working to remake the battery so they are not left behind by the industrial revolution unleashed by the electric car. Automakers’ ability to master battery technology could help determine which companies thrive and which are overtaken by Tesla and other electric car businesses. Batteries will help determine the price of new cars and could become the defining feature of vehicles. Like the megapixels on cameras or the processing speeds of computer chips that consumers once obsessed over, the features of batteries will be the yardstick by which cars and trucks are judged and bought. “This is going to be the new brand differentiation going forward — the battery in electric vehicles,” said Hau Thai-Tang, chief product platform and operations officer at Ford Motor. “So, we’re making a huge effort.” Batteries, of course, will also play a central role in the fight against climate change by helping to move cars, trucks and the power sector away from oil, coal and natural gas. Automakers are taking a crash course in battery chemistry because demand for electric cars is taking off. Companies have to figure out how to make batteries cheaper and better. Today, batteries can make up one-quarter to one-third of the cost of electric cars. And most of those batteries are made by a few Asian companies. Even Tesla, the dominant producer of electric cars, relies on Asian suppliers and is seeking to bring more manufacturing in house. President Joe Biden this month encouraged companies to move more of the battery supply chain to the United States. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underlined the strategic importance of such efforts. Volkswagen was forced to temporarily shut down its main electric vehicle factory in Germany after the fighting disrupted the supply of parts made in western Ukraine. Auto giants such as Stellantis, which owns Ram and Jeep, are lavishing cash on startups such as Factorial Energy, which has fewer than 100 employees in an office park in Woburn, near Boston. Factorial executives, who have stopped returning calls from automakers offering bags of money, are developing a battery that can charge faster, hold more energy and be less likely to overheat than current batteries. “Money can come and go,” said Siyu Huang, a co-founder at Factorial, who began experimenting with battery technology as a graduate student at Cornell University. “We want to deliver the safest battery and change the way people are living.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) Top Biden administration officials have said they want to help, acknowledging that the United States has done a poor job capitalizing on battery technologies created domestically. Many of those inventions have given birth to a huge industry in China. The Energy Department is considering financing companies that make batteries or supply the parts or critical minerals needed to build them. The agency already has at least 10 pending applications asking for a total of more than $15 million to support these battery-related projects, according to an agency tally. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last month that a failure to innovate hurt his hometown, South Bend, Indiana, once home to Studebaker, which went out of business in the 1960s. “Innovation is central to the past, present and future for our auto industry, and we see that right now with the opportunity for America to lead the electric vehicle revolution,” he said. Cheaper and More-Durable Batteries The most immediate change coming is in the building blocks of batteries. Most lithium ion batteries used in electric vehicles rely on nickel, manganese and cobalt. But some automakers, including Tesla and Ford, are moving to use batteries in at least some vehicles that rely on lithium iron phosphate, which is popular in China. These LFP batteries, as they are known, cannot store as much energy per pound, but they are much less expensive and last longer. Tesla plans to offer LFP batteries in shorter-range, lower-priced electric vehicles. Ford is planning to use them in some trucks sold under its Ion Boost Pro brand for fleet owners. “It could be delivery, it could be plumbers, electricians, landscapers that work in a fixed geographic zone,” said Thai-Tang, the Ford executive. Ford is teaming up with SK Innovation of Korea to make its batteries, but it hopes to bring much of that manufacturing to the United States, Thai-Tang said. “That will reduce some of the geopolitical as well as just logistics cost challenges.” But the LFP battery is not a complete solution. Teslas using these batteries can drive only about 270 miles on a charge, compared with about 358 miles for similar models powered by nickel and cobalt batteries. Also, LFP batteries can lose some of their power when the temperature drops below freezing and take longer to charge. New Designs and Ingredients Ford’s new electric F-150 pickup truck, which has not gone on sale but already has 200,000 reservations, will rely on batteries with a higher percentage of energy-dense nickel, also made by SK Innovation. Tesla in February said it had already built 1 million cells for its next-generation “4680” battery that it has started to use in its Model Y crossovers. CEO Elon Musk has said the battery will have 16 percent more range because of its distinctive honeycomb design. “It’s hard until it’s discovered, and then it’s simple,” he said in 2020. GM claims that its Ultium battery cell needs 70% less cobalt than the cells used in the Chevrolet Bolt electric hatchback. The company has added aluminum to its battery. The GMC Hummer pickup, which GM recently started selling, is the first vehicle to have this battery. GM, in partnership with South Korea’s LG Chem, is building a $2.3 billion battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio. It is one of at least 13 large battery factories under construction in the United States. Batteries are already becoming important to auto branding — GM is running ads for Ultium batteries. It adds to the imperative that they ensure these batteries are reliable and safe. GM has had to recall the Bolt to fix a battery defect that can lead to fires. Many automakers are eager to reduce their reliance on cobalt in part because it mostly comes from the Congo, where it is mined by Chinese-financed companies or by freelancers who sometimes employ children. “It’s the potential violation of human rights, the child labor or the artisan miners who are digging under very difficult circumstances — that’s the major concern that we have,” said Markus Schäfer, a senior Mercedes executive responsible for research and development. The auto industry is also concerned about nickel, because Russia is an important supplier of the metal. A team of about 25 government scientists at the Oak Ridge National Lab wants to push these innovations further still. Conventional electric car batteries have been set up next to an experimental cobalt-free alternative. Scientists spend weeks charging and discharging them, measuring how they perform. Ilias Belharouak, who runs the Oak Ridge Battery Manufacturing Center, said the goal was to cut battery costs by as much as half, increase their range beyond 300 miles and get charge times down to 15 minutes or less. (Current batteries typically take 30 minutes to 12 hours to charge depending on the car and outlet.) Some of this work will be funded by $200 million the Energy Department allocated late last year to seven national labs. The department next month will host a “virtual pitchfest” where battery designers present ideas to scientists, government officials and industry executives. The Quest for Solid-State Batteries Factorial Energy and other US startups, such as Solid Power and QuantumScape, are aiming to revolutionize the way batteries are constructed, not just change their ingredients. Batteries today rely on a liquid solution for the electrolyte that allows the flow of electricity between different components. Solid-state batteries don’t have a liquid electrolyte and, thus, will be lighter, store more energy and charge faster. They are also a lot less likely to ignite and, therefore, need less cooling equipment. Most major carmakers have placed big bets on solid state technology. Volkswagen has put its money on QuantumScape, based in San Jose, California. BMW and Ford are wagering on Solid Power, based in Louisville, Colorado. GM has invested in SolidEnergy Systems, which emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is based in Singapore. But it’s not clear how soon solid-state batteries will arrive. Stellantis has said it hopes to introduce mass-market vehicles with those batteries by 2026, but executives at other companies say the technology might not be broadly available until about 2030. Whichever carmaker offers solid state batteries first will have an enormous advantage. Huang of Factorial said it was not unusual for her and her business partner, Alex Yu, to work all night as they race to achieve technical bench marks. She is motivated, she said, by memories of the polluted air she breathed while growing up near Shanghai. “Our company’s founding mission is to strive toward a fossil free future,” Huang said. “That is what I strive for in my life.” Eventually, Factorial, which Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai have also invested in, wants to build factories around the world — an ambitious goal considering the company just moved into a second floor. In a series of laboratories, employees wearing white coats and intense expressions test prototype cells. Despite this frenzied activity, the auto industry could struggle to fill demand for new batteries because the world cannot mine and process all the raw materials needed, particularly for lithium, said Andrew Miller, chief operating officer at Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks battery makers and supplies worldwide. “All of the models that are being announced, everything those companies want to do over the next three years,” Miller said, “I don’t know where the raw materials are coming from.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

Bruce Springsteen, who narrated a television ad for Biden during the campaign, revealed the magazine’s choice at the end of an hourlong television special on NBC. Biden, 78, the former vice president under President Barack Obama, and Harris, 56, a US senator from California who became the first Black woman and the first Indian American elected to the vice presidency, will appear side by side in a portrait on the magazine’s cover on Dec 21. They edged out frontline health care workers (along with the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci), the racial justice movement and President Donald Trump for the distinction. Earlier, on the “Today” show, Time announced the four finalists for the recognition. “Time has always had a special connection to the presidency,” Edward Felsenthal, the editor-in-chief and chief executive officer of Time, said Thursday night. Felsenthal noted that it was the first time that the magazine had chosen to include the vice president as a person of the year. “Person of the year is not just about the year that was but about where we’re headed,” he said. “The next four years are going to be an enormous test of them and all of us to see whether they can bring about the unity that they promised.” Biden, appearing in a taped segment of the show, said that had Trump been reelected, it would have changed who Americans were for a long time. “This moment was one of those do-or-die moments,” he said. Harris, who began the campaign as a candidate for president, acknowledged the pressure that she and Biden would face. “We’re at a moment where we’re being confronted by many crises that have converged,” she said. At a time when weekly print magazines have struggled to remain relevant in the media landscape, the marketing hype over the purely ceremonial distinction has continued to create fanfare for Time. The tradition goes back to 1927, when Time named aviator Charles Lindbergh its first man of the year, as the honour was then called. The magazine, which began publishing in 1923, has bestowed the distinction on presidents, peacemakers, astronauts, popes and Queen Elizabeth II, on American women and the endangered Earth. But some of the newsmakers chosen turned out to be infamous; Time selected Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Josef Stalin in 1939, a distinction that was given to Stalin again in 1942. Time has noted that its selection process is not a popularity contest, however. Its choice reflects “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill,” the magazine said in 2014. Last year, Time named Greta Thunberg its person of the year, choosing her over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump, the Ukraine whistleblower and the Hong Kong protesters. The choice of Thunberg, the young climate activist who sailed across the Atlantic in an emissions-free yacht before her speech last year at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, rankled Trump. The president called the nod to Thunberg “ridiculous” on Twitter. In 2018, the magazine selected a group of journalists that included murdered Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi as its person of the year. The magazine said it wanted to underscore the threats faced by independent journalists at a time of so much disinformation. The journalists included the staff of The Capital Gazette newspapers in Maryland, where five people were shot dead in June 2018. The previous year, Time recognised “the silence breakers,” a group of women who catalysed the Me Too movement when they stepped forward to accuse powerful men of sexual harassment and assault. Before the magazine revealed its pick in 2017, Trump boasted on Twitter that he had been told he would “probably” be chosen again and claimed to have turned down the recognition. Time quickly released a statement saying that the president was incorrect. With his upset victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Trump was chosen as Time’s person of the year for 2016. The last three presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, each of whom was elected to a second term, unlike Trump — were named Time magazine person of the year twice while in office. Nine presidents have been selected more than once by the magazine, with President Dwight D Eisenhower first recognised in 1944 for helping lead the Allies to victory in World War II as an Army general. President Franklin D Roosevelt was named person of the year three times.   c.2020 The New York Times Company

The yen slid to a record low against the euro and languished near a four-year trough against the dollar on Friday as Japanese rates looked set to stay low, while oil held near a seven-week high over $61. Germany's Ifo business sentiment survey for February fell more than expected, nudging the euro down only slightly against the dollar and lifting Bunds, but did nothing to change expectations that euro zone interest rates will rise next month. Shares in Japanese exporters benefited from the weak yen and helped lift the Nikkei average to a seven-year closing high, while weakness in banking stocks and jitters over Iran's nuclear programme weighed on European stocks. The euro rose to a record high of 159.63 yen before pulling back to around 159.25 yen, but traders said it was only a matter of time before the single currency broke the 160-yen level. The dollar hovered around 121.40 yen after climbing as high as 121.63 yen for the second day running -- not far off the 122.20 yen struck in January, which was the highest since December 2002. This week's 25-basis-point rise in Japanese interest rates to a decade-high of 0.5 percent has done little to stem the yen's fall against major currencies, since Japanese rates remain much lower than elsewhere in the developed world. "The higher short-term rates in Japan will do nothing to slow the heavy buying of foreign bonds and stocks by Japanese investors, particularly households, seeking better returns abroad," Ronnie Steadman of Lloyds TSB Financial Markets wrote in a note. Investors have also build huge short positions against the Japanese currency in so-called carry trades, borrowing in yen to buy higher-yielding assets elsewhere. The high-yielding New Zealand dollar hit a 14-month high against the yen on Thursday. Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui on Friday repeated that the central bank will raise rates only gradually. Germany's Ifo research institute said its closely watched business climate index fell to 107.0 in February from last month's 107.9, but analysts said a European Central Bank rate rise to 3.75 percent was still firmly on the cards for March. At 1015 GMT the euro was about 0.1 percent lower at $1.311. Euro zone bonds erased early losses and turned positive on the Ifo reading, putting yields on the benchmark 10-year Bund 3.2 basis points lower at 4.066 percent. Oil climbed above $61 a barrel to a seven-week high on an unexpected sharp fall in US gasoline stocks and mounting anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions. US crude was 45 cents higher at $61.40 a barrel. It earlier hit $61.49, its highest level since Jan 2. Iran said it would show 'no weakness' over its nuclear programme, a day after the UN nuclear watchdog said Tehran had failed to meet a Feb. 21 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment. European shares drifted lower in early trade, as Iran worries and weakness in banking stocks offset strong results from industrials and higher commodity prices. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.16 percent at 1,537.54 points, with indexes in Britain and France down slightly and Germany's barely changed. Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.44 percent to a seven-year closing high, led partly by gains in exporters such as Canon Inc that benefit from the weak yen. The rise was tempered by a drop of as much as 29 percent in Sanyo Electric Co. after the consumer electronics firm said it was being probed by regulators and a newspaper reported it had failed to account for more than $1 billion in losses. The MSCI All-Country World Index was 0.05 percent higher at 380.93.

Global carbon emissions rose rapidly in 2007, an annual study says, with developing nations such as China and India now producing more than half of mankind's output of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming. The Global Carbon Project said in its report carbon dioxide emissions from mankind are growing about four times faster since 2000 than during the 1990s, despite efforts by a number of nations to rein in emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions from burning fossil fuels was a major contributor to the increase, the authors said in their "Global Carbon Project (2008) Carbon budget and trends 2007" report (http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbontrends/index_new.htm). India would soon overtake Russia to become the world's third largest CO2 emitter, it says. "What we are talking about now for the first time is that the absolute value of all emissions going into the atmosphere every year are bigger coming from less developing countries than the developed world," said the project's Australia-based executive director Pep Canadell. "The other thing we confirm is that China is indeed now the top emitter," he told Reuters, adding that China alone accounted for 60 percent of all growth in emissions. The United States was the second largest emitter. The project is supported by the International Council for Science, the umbrella body for all national academies of science. "DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES" The rapid rise in emissions meant the world could warm faster than previously predicted, said professor Barry Brook, director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Adelaide in Australia. He said CO2 concentrations could hit 450 ppm by 2030 instead of 2040 as currently predicted. They are just above 380 ppm at present. "But whatever the specific date, 450 ppm CO2 commits us to 2 degrees Celsius global warming and all the disastrous consequences this sets in train." The Global Carbon Project started in 2001 and examines changes in the earth's total carbon cycle involving man-made and natural emissions and how carbon is absorbed through sinks, such as oceans and forests. Canadell says the project analyses data from CO2 samples taken around the globe and national emissions figures sent to the United Nations. He called the rapid rise in emissions between 2000 and 2007 and accumulation of the gas unprecedented, and pointed out that it occurred during a decade of intense international efforts to fight climate change. At present, the Kyoto Protocol, the main global treaty to tackle global warming, binds only 37 rich nations to emissions curbs from 2008. But Kyoto's first phase ends in 2012 and the pact doesn't commit developing nations to emissions caps. The United Nations is leading talks to expand Kyoto from 2013 and find a magic formula that brings on board all nations to commit to curbs on emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. "WAKE-UP CALL" According to the report, atmospheric CO2 concentration rose to 383 parts per million in 2007, or 37 percent above the level at the start of the industrial revolution, and is the highest level during the past 650,000 years. It said the annual mean growth rate of atmospheric CO2 was 2.2 ppm per year in 2007, up from 1.8 ppm in 2006. "This latest information on rising carbon dioxide emissions is a big wake-up call to industry, business and politicians," said professor Matthew England, joint director of the University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre. Canadell said the credit crisis would most likely trim emissions growth. "There is no doubt that the economic downturn will have an influence. But unless the big players, China, India, Russia and Japan, suffer as much as the United States is suffering, we'll see a small decline only."