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Bhupesh Baghel, chief minister of the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, said the government plans to teach local women to produce and sell clean energy, as the mineral-rich state looks to transition away from coal. "Globally there is a shift towards green energy," Baghel said, adding that coal remains key to meeting the energy needs of his state but the goal is to find alternative sources. "In deciding to move away slowly (from coal), we have kept the future of our people in mind, particularly the indigenous population. We want to create a framework to protect them, our forests and biodiversity," he said in an interview. India is the world's second-biggest importer, consumer and producer of coal, and has its fourth largest reserves, with a large share of them in Chhattisgarh. At the COP26 climate summit last year, India announced plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions in 2070 and to boost the share of renewables in its energy mix from about 38% last year to 50% by 2030. In keeping with that, and to improve the lives of the more than 40% of Chhattisgarh residents living below the poverty line, Baghel's government put in place a circular economy plan in 2020. It aims to generate more jobs, boost incomes and create a sustainable rural economy by setting up industrial parks and helping women's groups to produce and sell natural products. Last month, energy from cow dung was added to the list. Under Baghel's flagship programme, villagers are paid 2 rupees ($0.03) for every kilogramme of dung they collect, which is then processed into products like organic compost, fuel for fires and herbal colours used in local festivals. "It (is) about many things - from reducing stray cattle on the streets to livelihoods and going green," Baghel said, during a break in proceedings at the legislative assembly in Raipur, the state capital. "We have set up 8,000 gouthans (community spaces) in villages, where cow dung is collected and processed into products - and the next thing will be generating power." DOORSTEP POWER While India pushes to expand coal mining to meet its energy needs, at least until 2024, Baghel - who took office in late 2018 - has resisted pressure to open new mines in the Hasdeo Arand region, one of central India's largest intact forests. He admits coal dependency will not end overnight, but the 61-year-old feels the need for a master-plan for the future. The state has signed an agreement with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to install 500 biogas plants in the gouthan spaces, with each producing enough power to light up more than 2,500 homes every day. Depending on how much cow dung is collected, the plants will either be permanent or small mobile units. "We will literally generate (power) at their doorstep," said Baghel. While the state is awaiting approval for proposed solar power projects, Baghel said energy from cow dung would be produced round-the-clock, with women being trained to run and maintain the digesters that make biogas from the animal waste. The gas will be used for cooking and also to produce electricity, distributed through a micro-grid to the local area. The power will be supplied to rural industries and households, and used for street lighting, with any surplus fed into the state electricity grid. Decentralising the generation and distribution of power will enable easy access for everyone, including indigenous people who normally struggle to get electricity, while at the same time creating green jobs and improving lives, Baghel added. "Cash from cow dung is the goal," he said. Drawing on sacred Hindu scriptures and his childhood memories of growing up in a village, Baghel said "self-reliance" and "giving back to nature" were central to his plan. G V Ramanjaneyulu, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, said the approach would both extend energy access to all and deal with agricultural waste. "Decentralised energy is always a good idea," he said, adding that using dung as a source "is both practical and profitable". In line with the Indian government's first plan for a fair shift away from coal in areas where mines have been shut, Baghel's administration also wants to help workers acquire new skills so they can run eco-tourism or fish-farming businesses. "We are showing people how profitable alternate jobs can be. We give them incentives and they are adapting. Changes will follow," said Baghel.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will seek Moscow's support for a new global initiative to curb greenhouse gases on Saturday when he has his first meeting with Russia's outgoing and incoming presidents. Japanese officials said a territorial dispute over four islands in the Pacific -- a running sore in relations since World War Two -- will be touched on only briefly. Japan will host this year's Group of Eight summit on its northern island of Hokkaido and has placed finding a more effective replacement for the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which expires in 2012, at the top of the summit agenda. Fukuda is to have talks on Saturday with president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who will be sworn in as head of state on May 7, and with President Vladimir Putin, who is stepping down but will stay on as prime minister and remain an influential player. The main aims of Fukuda's visit are to "establish a personal relationship of trust with President Putin and president-elect Medvedev, and second, to prepare for the upcoming G8 summit," said a Japanese foreign ministry official. Tokyo hopes the G8 summit will help draft a climate change agreement that would embrace the biggest polluters such as the United States, China and India. None of these has signed up to the Kyoto Protocol's limits on emissions. Russia, a G8 member, was one of the biggest emerging economies to sign up to Kyoto commitments. Japanese officials hope Moscow will support a successor agreement in Hokkaido. The disputed islands, known in Russia as the Southern Kuriles and in Japan as the Northern Territories, lie just north of the G8 summit venue in Hokkaido. PERSONAL RELATIONS They were seized by Soviet troops in the last days of World War Two, and since then neither side has recognised the other's sovereignty over them. The issue has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a treaty ending wartime hostilities. Fukuda will urge the Russian leaders to accelerate talks aimed at resolving the territorial row, a senior Japanese government official said. "Prime Minister Fukuda is expected to tell them that it is indispensable for the two countries to advance negotiations in a concrete fashion in order to elevate bilateral ties to a higher dimension," the official said. Russia has said it is ready to talk about the dispute, but has given no sign it is prepared to give up the islands. "There is no change in our position. We do not expect any breakthroughs (in the talks with Fukuda)," said a Kremlin official. Trade between Russia and Japan was worth $20 billion in 2007, fuelled by automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp which has set up a factory to tap into the booming Russian market. But trade is far smaller than the volumes between Russia and its biggest trading partner, the European Union. Japan says it is a natural partner to help Russia achieve its ambition of developing its Far East region, a huge and sparsely-populated area of largely untapped energy resources. Japanese firms have taken stakes in vast oil and gas projects on Russia's Pacific Sakhalin island, and a pipeline is under construction that will eventually deliver oil from eastern Siberia to the Pacific coast.

Ian Shippen is something of a rural prophet on the arid salt plains 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) west of Sydney. A thoughtful 42-year-old with spiked hair, Shippen believes the drought shrivelling Australia's food bowl will forever change agriculture on the world's driest settled continent. "We are going back to our natural way of farming, we are going back to the way it was 100 years ago, growing good broadacre areas and running sheep," the former rice farmer told Reuters at his property near the rural hamlet of Moulamein. "We will have big areas of country that are pretty bloody useless, running one sheep to 5 or 6 acres. This drought is going to knock it all around." Shippen, like thousands of others, is searching for ways to beat the drought and is gambling everything on a gradual shift from irrigated cropping. Nine years ago he grew rice on 2,000 acres of once-desiccated land opened up by water piped from the eastern Australian alps, a full day's fast drive away. He and wife Camilla, a city doctor's daughter, saw change coming as a decade dry began and water prices began to creep upwards, changing the economics of irrigation. "The price of water is just getting more expensive. Water is a liability, not an asset anymore. Farmers will sell their water and they will just have a big dry block," Shippen says. A local councillor, Shippen has enormous respect from other farmers who are closely watching his strategy of selling precious water licences and using the money to buy ever more land. Starting with a few thousand acres, he now owns more than 180,000 acres, carrying 45,000 sheep and lambs, 8,000 cattle and A$10 million ($8.2 million) in bank debt, demanding A$900,000 a year in interest payments alone as the drought shreds incomes. "Debt focuses the mind. We are going 100 miles an hour just to pay the bankers," he tells Reuters on the verandah of a sprawling home fenced by white flowers. But where others see drought gloom, Shippen also sees opportunity, although like everyone he is nervous of the summer ahead with crops dying and stock sales around the corner. "For those who hang on there are going to be some cheap farms around. That's the thing about farmers. We are so-called united, but if somebody can make a quick buck out of another farmer we will," he quips. The biggest change, Shippen says, is not drought but offshoot water politics as Australian governments become aware of the need to better conserve a precious resource in the face of possible permanent climate shift. Shippen bemoans that the current commodities boom and sale of Australian resources to China means farmers have lost the political clout to argue for national projects like turning coastal rivers westwards to possibly beat future droughts. "We are only 2 percent of the population, we're irrelevant, We're expendable," he says. "We are just going to sell stock down, cut our wheat for hay, any crops that are half good we'll bail for food, get rid of a couple of people who work for us - we'll have to sack people - and hope to God we can just ride this out."

The journalists of Ukraine were also awarded a special citation for coverage of the Russian invasion, as the Pulitzer board paid homage to the 12 journalists who have been killed covering the Ukraine war this year. The annual Pulitzers are the most prestigious awards in US journalism, with special attention often paid to the public service award. This year that award went to the Washington Post for its coverage of the siege of the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, when a violent mob disrupted the congressional count of electoral votes that unseated Trump and officially made Joe Biden president. The Washington Post won "for its compellingly told and vividly presented account of the assault on Washington on January 6, 2021, providing the public with a thorough and unflinching understanding of one of the nation's darkest days," Pulitzer Prize Administrator Marjorie Miller announced. The events of that day also resulted in a breaking news photography Pulitzer for a team of photographers from Getty Images. In feature photography, a team of Reuters photographers including the late Danish Siddiqui, who was killed last July while on assignment covering the war in Afghanistan, won the Pulitzer for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic's toll in India. Reuters, which was also named as a feature photography finalist for images of climate change around the world, won for "images of COVID's toll in India that balanced intimacy and devastation," Miller said. Besides Siddiqui, the Reuters photographers honoured were Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo and Amit Dave. "A world largely preoccupied with its own suffering was jolted awake to the scale of India's outbreak after Reuters photographers documented it," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement. "To have Danish's incredible work honored in this way is a tribute to the enduring mark he has left on the world of photojournalism," Galloni said of Siddiqui, who was also part of the Reuters photography team to win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis. The Pulitzer was the 10th for Reuters, a unit of Thomson Reuters, and the seventh in the last five years. With three more Pulitzers this year, the New York Times has won 135 since the awards were first presented in 1917. The Times took one for national reporting for its coverage of fatal traffic stops by police; another for international reporting for its examination of the failures of the US air war in the Middle East; and a third for criticism for Salamishah Tillet, a contributing critic at large, for her writing on race in arts and culture. Besides winning the international reporting award, the Times was named as a finalist in the category twice more: for the fall of Afghanistan and the assassination of Haiti's president. In addition, New York Times reporter Andrea Elliott won a Pulitzer Prize in the general nonfiction category for her book "Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City," which started with a 2013 series published by the newspaper. The Pulitzer board made note of the "challenging and dangerous times for journalists around the world," noting 12 journalists killed covering the Ukraine war, eight Mexican journalists murdered this year, and other cases of assault and intimidation against journalists in Afghanistan and Myanmar. The special citation for journalists of Ukraine applauded their "courage, endurance and commitment to truthful reporting during Vladimir Putin's ruthless invasion of their country and his propaganda war in Russia." The prizes, awarded since 1917, were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911 and left money to help start a journalism school at Columbia University and establish the prizes. They began with four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and five travelling scholarships. Today they typically honour 15 categories in media reporting, writing and photography plus seven awards in books, drama and music. A board of mostly senior editors at leading US media and academics presides over the judging process that determines the winners.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Amid a fresh outbreak of political violence in Kenya, the United States on Thursday alerted Americans to the risk of traveling to the troubled East African nation. Political and ethnic violence has killed 850 people in Kenya since the disputed Dec. 27 re-election of President Mwai Kibaki. The killing of an opposition legislator on Thursday sparked new protests and fatal clashes. The State Department said the situation in Kenya was volatile and subject to change on short notice, adding that some U.S. officials had been temporarily moved from the western port city of Kisumu to the capital, Nairobi. "A recent outbreak of protests in Nairobi and violent civil unrest in Kisumu, Nakuru, and Naivasha demonstrates the potential for spontaneous violence in the current political climate," the State Department said in a travel alert. The alert urged US citizens to avoid travel to those cities and other areas outside Nairobi. It also warned American travelers to be prepared for a sudden outbreak of clashes between police and demonstrators or rival groups of demonstrators. "Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can become violent," the alert warned. "Americans should therefore avoid all demonstrations, protests and large public gatherings."

Shehabuddin Kislu writes from New York New York, Sept 27 (bdnews24.com)—Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has tabled a five-pronged set of recommendations to raise a hunger-free world. She put out the recommendations at a seminar on a hunger-free world and global approach to food security on Saturday afternoon at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The member countries expect the UN to provide more effective assistance while they combat floods, droughts and other natural calamities, Hasina said at the seminar hosted by the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Hasina demanded that the UN provide its associate nations with necessary support in coping with the recurrent natural disasters as well as strengthening their health and education services. She acknowledged her full support to the food security proposal developed by the UN Task Force. The prime minister's food autarky recommendations include carrying out operations based on integrated planning, raising multinational funds, keeping financial commitments, ensuring equitable food distribution at national and international levels. She also suggested launching and running food security activities involving different organisations including the private sector and civil society. Bangladesh had attained food autarky in 1996 when the Awami League was running the government, she said and the goal of her government remains the same this time too. Hasina reiterated that it was a high priority of her administration to ensure food security for all. Recurrent droughts, tidal surges, tropical storms caused by the gradually changing climate regime hinder the achievement of our food security goal again and again, she said. The government, she said, however, is doing its best to ensure food security through providing a number of subsidies. Bangladesh has already earned the UN medal for attaining food autarky, she reminded the assembly. Ban in his welcome address said a thousand million people are hungry in today's world, while distribution of food across the globe remains skewed. "Now is the time to demonstrate to food-insecure nations and communities that we want to build on these principles, develop a roadmap for action and secure tangible results." said Ban. The UN chief said this situation is highly deplorable and expressed the hope that the task force will address the issue effectively. Clinton welcomed the gathering at the UN as an opportunity to exchange ideas and join forces against one of today's major challenges, stating that "this is an issue that affects all of us." She said the efforts by the US, which has pledged a minimum of $3.5 billion over the next three years to strengthen agriculture worldwide, will be guided by five principles, among which are addressing the underlying causes of hunger and improving coordination at the country, regional and global levels. She underscored that the issues of global food security and peace keeping are inseparably linked.

But as publication approached, something nagged at them. Their findings illustrated two drastically different outcomes for ocean life over the next three centuries depending on whether greenhouse gas emissions were sharply curbed or continued apace. Somehow it seemed the study’s name conjured only doom. “We were about to send it in and I thought, ‘Gee, it sounds like a title that only has the dark side of the result,’” said Curtis Deutsch, a professor of geosciences at Princeton University who studies how climate change affects the ocean. “Not the bright side.” So he and his co-author, Justin L Penn, added an important word they hoped would highlight their finding that the grim scenario outlined by their results could still be, well, avoided. On Thursday they published “Avoiding Ocean Mass Extinction From Climate Warming” in Science. It is the latest research that crystallises the powerful yet paralyzed moment in which humanity finds itself. The choices made today regarding greenhouse gas emissions stand to affect the very future of life on Earth, even though the worst effects may still feel far away. Under the high emissions scenario that the scientists modelled, in which pollution from the burning of fossil fuels continues to climb, warming would trigger ocean species loss by 2300 that was on par with the five mass extinctions in Earth’s past. The last of those wiped out the dinosaurs. “It wasn’t an ‘aha’ moment per se,” said Penn, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton, recalling the first time he looked at a graph comparing those past extinctions with their grim forecast. “It was more of an ‘oh, my God’ moment.” On the other hand, reining in emissions to keep within the upper limit of the Paris climate agreement would reduce ocean extinction risks by more than 70%, the scientists found. In that scenario, climate change would claim about 4% of species by the end of this century, at which point warming would stop. “Our choices have huge impacts,” Deutsch said. While there is broad consensus that a shift away from coal and toward expanded wind and solar energy make the worst-case scenario unlikely, oil and gas use continues to increase, and the world is not on track to meet the lower-emissions scenario modelled by the scientists. The new study builds on Deutsch and Penn’s earlier work: creating a computer simulation that detailed the worst extinction in Earth’s history some 252 million years ago. Often called “the Great Dying,” it claimed more than 90% of species in the oceans. The cause was global warming, triggered by volcanic eruptions. The oceans lost oxygen, and fish succumbed to heat stress, asphyxiation or both. The computer model found more extinctions at the poles compared with the tropics, and the fossil record confirmed it. To forecast the effects from global warming that is now driven by human activity, the scientists used the same model, with its intricate interplay among sunlight, clouds, ocean and air currents, and other forces like the chemical dances among heat and oxygen, water and air. They also took into account how much fish habitats could shift, estimating thresholds for survivability. “It’s a lot of time spent on the computer,” Penn said. While the study focused on the effects of warming and oxygen loss, ocean acidification and other snowball effects could worsen the species loss it predicted. The ocean has long acted as a quiet safeguard against climate change, absorbing vast amounts of the carbon dioxide and trapped heat as people burned fossil fuels and razed forests. But that service has come at a cost. Last year, the ocean reached its highest temperature and lowest oxygen content since humans started keeping track. Changes to the ocean’s chemistry are already threatening fish. Coral reefs are in steep decline. “‘How screwed are we?’ I get that all the time,” Deutsch said. “If we don’t do anything, we’re screwed.” Nations are still far from taking the necessary steps to prevent catastrophic climate change. Last month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that a critical goal — restricting average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times — was “on life support.” The International Energy Agency, a group created to ensure a stable worldwide energy market, said last year that countries must immediately stop approving new fossil fuel projects. They have not stopped, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to calls for more drilling in the name of energy security. Deutsch and Penn said they feel like the ignored scientists in “Don’t Look Up,” a recent movie in which a comet hurtling toward Earth is a metaphor for climate change. As in the film, the planet is at a pivotal moment, giving people living today outsized power in determining the future. “Great power brings great responsibility,” Deutsch said. “And we’re learning about our power, but not about our responsibility — to future generations of people, but also to all the other life that we’ve shared the planet with for millions of years.” Pippa Moore, a professor of marine science at Newcastle University in England who studies the effects of climate change on the ocean and was not involved with the study, called it comprehensive. “This paper adds to the huge body of evidence that unless more is done to curb our greenhouse gas emissions, our marine systems are on course to see a massive shift in where marine species live and, as shown in this paper, significant extinction events that could rival previous mass extinction events,” she said. Brad Plumer contributed reporting. ©2022 The New York Times Company

As they prepare to welcome President Joe Biden, the simple fact that he regards Europe as an ally and NATO as a vital element of Western security is almost a revelation. Yet the wrenching experience of the last presidential administration has left scars that some experts say will not soon heal. “Don’t underestimate the Trump years as a shock to the [European Union],” said Rosa Balfour, director of Carnegie Europe. “There is the shadow of his return and the EU will be left in the cold again. So the EU is more cautious in embracing US demands.” And there are serious issues to discuss, ranging from the Afghanistan pullout to military spending, Russia and China, from trade disputes and tariff issues to climate and vaccine diplomacy. Yet as much as the Europeans appreciate Biden’s vows of constancy and affection, they have just witnessed how 75 years of US foreign policy can vanish overnight with a change in the presidency. And they fear that it can happen again — that America has changed, and that Biden is “an intermezzo” between more populist, nationalist presidents, said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, vice president of the German Marshall Fund. They know that Biden’s policies will have price tags discreetly attached. They are not sure, for example, how his commitment to a “foreign policy for the middle class” differs from Trump’s “America first.” They also know that the electoral clock is ticking, with Germany set to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel in September, May’s French presidential election and the US midterms only 17 months away, which could limit Biden’s room to maneuver. Still, Biden’s visits to NATO on June 14 and then the EU for brief summits, after his attendance at the Group of 7 in Britain, will be more than symbolic. The meetings are synchronised so that he can arrive in Geneva on June 16 with allied consultation and support for his first meeting as president with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. “The hopeful, optimistic view is that Biden is kicking off a new relationship, showing faith in Brussels and NATO, saying the right words and kicking off the key strategic process” of renovating the alliance for the next decade, said Jana Puglierin, Berlin director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “But Biden also wants to see bang for the buck, and we need to show tangible results. This is not unconditional love, but friends with benefits.” François Heisbourg, a French defense analyst, sees only positives from the Biden trip. “The US is back, Biden’s back; there’s nothing cynical here,” said Heisbourg, a special adviser to the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. “Biden has some strong views, and he is determined to implement them. International affairs are not his priority, but his basic positioning is ‘Let’s be friends again, to reestablish comity and civility with allies.’” But eventually, Heisbourg said, “policy reviews have to become policy.” Ivo Daalder, who was US ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama, sees the whole trip as “part of ‘We’re back,’ and important to show that alliances and partners matter, that we want to work with other countries and be nice to our friends. Even the G-7 will be like that.” But he and others note that Biden has not yet named ambassadors to either NATO or the EU — or to most European countries, for that matter — let alone had them confirmed. For now, officials insist, that absence is not vital, and many of the most likely candidates are well known. Daalder said allies, at some point, need ambassadors who they know can get on the phone immediately with the secretaries of state and defense and, if necessary, Biden. The NATO summit meeting of 30 leaders will be short, with one 2 1/2-hour session after an opening ceremony, which would leave just five minutes for each leader to speak. The leaders will agree on a communique now being negotiated, discuss the Afghanistan withdrawal and sign off on an important yearlong study on how to remodel NATO’s strategic concept to meet new challenges in cyberwarfare, artificial intelligence, antimissile defense, disinformation, “emerging disruptive technologies” and numerous other issues. In 2010, when the strategic concept was last revised, NATO assumed that Russia could be a partner and China was barely mentioned. The new one will begin with very different assumptions. NATO officials and ambassadors say there is much to discuss down the road, questions such as how much and where a regional trans-Atlantic alliance should try to counter China, and what capabilities NATO needs and how many of them should come from common funding or remain the responsibility of member countries. How to adapt to the EU’s still vague desire for “strategic autonomy” while encouraging European military spending and efficiency and avoiding duplication with NATO is another concern. So is the question of how to make NATO a more politically savvy institution, as French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded, perhaps by establishing new meetings of member states' key officials, including state national security advisers and political directors. More quietly, leaders will begin to talk in bilateral sessions about replacing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, whose term was extended for two years to keep matters calm during the Trump presidency. His term ends in September 2022. The other main issues for this brief NATO summit meeting will be topical: how to manage Afghanistan during and after withdrawal, Putin’s Russia, Xi Jinping’s China and Aleksandr Lukashenko’s Belarus. Anyone interested in trains running on time will find the NATO summit compelling, said the ambassador of a NATO country. Those who are more interested in trains that collide will be disappointed. The same will be true of Biden’s June 15 meeting, which is grandly called a summit with the European Union. Biden is scheduled to meet with two of the EU's presidents, Charles Michel of the European Council, who represents the leaders of the 27-member states, and Ursula von der Leyen, who runs the European Commission, the bloc’s powerful bureaucracy. Biden will have met 21 of the 27 EU leaders the previous day at NATO, since there is considerable overlap in the two organizations. Key exceptions are Turkey, a NATO member that is troublesome in its effort to balance relations with Russia and its enmity toward Greece, and Cyprus, an EU member that blocks most coordination with NATO because of its enmity toward Turkey. The bloc has a wide range of issues to discuss, including tariff and trade disputes stemming from Airbus and Boeing, and steel and aluminium; and new issues such as how to enforce a new a minimum global corporate tax rate under an important agreement reached Saturday by the G-7 finance ministers. Other issues include data transfer; military spending and procurement; military mobility; transition to a carbon-neutral economy, including carbon pricing; how to regulate global technology giants and social media companies; how to reform key multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organisation and the World Health Organisation; and, of course, how best to deal with a rising China and an aggressive Russia. There is wariness, too, and not just about the possibility that another Trump-like president could follow Biden. Despite warm words of consultation, German officials in particular believe that Biden’s decision to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan by Sept 11 was made unilaterally in the old pattern, with Washington deciding and the allies following along, Puglierin said. Similarly, European leaders were angered and embarrassed by Biden’s decision to support the waiver of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines. That move, after mounting domestic criticism, was done without warning to allies, let alone consultation. Europeans do not see China as the peer rival that Washington does and remain more dependent than the United States on both China and Russia for trade and energy. And some worry that Biden’s effort to define the world as a competition between democracy and authoritarianism is too black-and-white. “Touching base with allies before the Putin summit is important and goes beyond symbolism,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of Italy’s International Affairs Institute. “But Europeans are deluding themselves that things can go back the way they were.” Europeans need to step up, she said, and work with Biden to get agreements on key issues such as climate, vaccines and trade “that can create a Western critical mass that spills into a broader, global multilateral agreement.” That is the best way, she said, to show that “democracy delivers.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

The decision came less than a month after an independent inquiry commissioned by the World Bank concluded that she played a central role in meddling with its 2018 Doing Business survey. The findings raised questions about her judgment and ability to continue leading the IMF. But ultimately its executive board decided that the investigation into Georgieva’s actions “did not conclusively demonstrate” that she had acted improperly. “Having looked at all the evidence presented, the executive board reaffirms its full confidence in the managing director’s leadership and ability to continue to effectively carry out her duties,” the IMF’s executive board said in a statement. “The board trusts in the managing director’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of governance and integrity in the IMF.” Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist, maintained strong support from many of the IMF’s shareholders, including France, which had lobbied hard for her to get the job in 2019. The United States, which is the fund’s largest shareholder, declined to express public support for her following the allegations but ultimately did not call for her removal. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke with Georgieva on Monday and told her that the World Bank investigation into her actions “raised legitimate issues and concerns,” the Treasury Department said. Yellen said, however, that absent “further direct evidence” regarding Georgieva’s role in data manipulation at the World Bank, there was no basis for a change in leadership at the fund, according to a readout of the call. The outcome could lead to political blowback for the Biden administration. Republicans and Democrats in Congress had urged Yellen to insist on “full accountability” after it emerged that Georgieva had instructed staff to find a way to ensure that China’s ranking did not fall in its annual report on national business climates. The Biden administration and lawmakers from both parties have been concerned about China’s growing economic clout and influence in multilateral institutions. Treasury Department officials debated the gravity of the revelations for weeks, insisting publicly that the process of reviewing Georgieva’s actions at the World Bank should be allowed to play out. The World Bank’s Doing Business report assessed the business climate in countries around the world. Developing countries, in particular, cared deeply about their rankings, which they used to lure foreign investment. At the time of the reported manipulation, World Bank officials were concerned about negotiations with members over a capital increase and were under pressure not to anger China, which was ranked 78th on the list of countries in 2017 and was set to decline in the 2018 report. According to the investigation, the staff of Jim Yong Kim, then the bank’s president, held meetings to find ways to improve China’s ranking. Georgieva also got involved, working with a top aide to develop a way to make China look better without affecting the rankings of other countries. The investigation found that Georgieva was “directly involved” in efforts to improve China’s ranking and at one point chastised the bank’s China director for mismanaging the bank’s relationship with the country. Last week, the IMF’s executive board spent hours interviewing officials from the law firm of WilmerHale, which conducted the World Bank’s investigation. They also interviewed Georgieva, who criticized the process of that investigation and insisted that she had acted appropriately. “The WilmerHale Report does not accurately characterise my actions with respect to Doing Business 2018, nor does it accurately portray my character or the way that I have conducted myself over a long professional career,” Georgieva said in a statement to the board; it was obtained by The New York Times. Georgieva was a longtime World Bank employee who rose through the ranks to become its chief executive. She previously served on the European Commission — the European Union’s executive body — and she has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she also taught. Georgieva said in a statement Monday night that the episode had been difficult for her personally and that she was grateful the IMF board had expressed confidence in her leadership. “I am pleased that after a comprehensive, impartial review of the facts, the IMF board agrees that the allegations were unfounded,” Georgieva said. “Trust and integrity are the cornerstones of the multinational organizations that I have faithfully served for more than four decades.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

It is an illustration of the kind of bargain long made by some employees of the Kremlin propaganda machine — people who valued the steady work and the creative challenge, even if they did not agree with the mission of their workplace. It was only this month, after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, that Likin resigned as the longtime art director for Channel 1, the Russian state television network that is a major player in the Kremlin’s sprawling propaganda apparatus. He insisted that he was “not a politician,” but that the invasion meant he was now part of an operation with a “life-exterminating” agenda. “In Russia, television is made for people who for one reason or another are too lazy to use alternative sources of information,” Likin said in a phone interview, reflecting on his audience. “These are simply people who lack education or who lack the habit of analysis.” Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has led some Russians who long worked for the government to cut ties with it, a sign of how the Kremlin is struggling to keep society fully unified behind the war. Thousands have been arrested protesting the invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands have fled the country, and on Wednesday, Putin’s climate envoy, Anatoly Chubais, became the first senior government official reported to have quit since the invasion began Feb 24. There have been at least four high-profile resignations at Russia’s state television channels, a crucial pillar of Putin’s dominance over the country’s domestic politics. Marina Ovsyannikova, a Channel 1 staff member who interrupted a live news broadcast last week to unfurl an anti-war poster that said “They’re lying to you here,” offered the most striking act of protest. Others, including Likin, have gone more quietly, providing a glimpse of the ferment inside Putin’s system — and a reminder of the immense power of television in shaping how most Russians see the war. “People are just depressed — clinically depressed,” Zhanna Agalakova, a Channel 1 correspondent who resigned this month, said of some of her colleagues left behind. “Many thinking people are sensing their own guilt. And there is no exit, you understand? Simply asking for forgiveness is not enough.” All of Russia’s national television networks are controlled by the Kremlin, and although their influence has declined with the rise of YouTube and social media, they remain the public’s single main source of news. About two-thirds of Russians relied on state television last year to get their news, down from 90% in 2014, according to surveys by the Levada Center, an independent Moscow pollster. During the war, the state television channels have delivered to Russians a picture of the conflict that is the polar opposite of what people see in the West: The Russians are the good guys, as they were when fighting Nazi Germany in World War II, bringing liberation to Ukrainian lands seized by neo-Nazis funded by the hegemonic West. Pictures of dead civilians and destroyed homes are falsely branded either fake or the consequence of the Ukrainians shelling themselves. “Local residents are saying that the Ukrainian military is deliberately shooting at residential buildings,” a Channel 1 reporter said in a segment broadcast Wednesday from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the target of some of the fiercest Russian bombardment of the war. “Others are saying the nationalists were ordered to destroy the city as much as possible before retreating.” Most Russians, pollsters say, buy into the message beamed into their living rooms — especially since the war is being presented as a logical extension to the narrative of enmity and grievance toward the West that Russian television has been promoting for years. And most state television journalists have, for now, stayed in their jobs, amping up to a fever pitch the message of Russia struggling for its right to exist. Liliya Gildeyeva, an anchor who quit the state-run channel NTV, told the Russian outlet The Insider this week that she could not judge her colleagues who had stayed behind — and acknowledged that she herself had made compromise after compromise, realising only when the war started how far she had gone. “When you gradually give in to yourself, you do not notice the depth of the fall,” she said. The shock of the war appears to be what pushed tens of thousands of Russians into a historic exodus in recent weeks, packing planes to destinations that were still accepting flights from Russia, including Turkey and Armenia. Although some were journalists and activists fleeing possible arrest, many others were tech workers and other young professionals who suddenly no longer saw a future for themselves in Russia. Some members of Russia’s elite, too, have headed for the exits. News of the most high-profile departure so far came on Wednesday when Bloomberg News reported that Chubais, the Kremlin’s climate envoy, had quit over the war in Ukraine and left the country. The Kremlin confirmed that Chubais had stepped down. He was seen as one of the few liberal-minded officials remaining in Putin’s government, and his leading role in Moscow’s 1990s economic reforms made him unpopular in much of Russian society. It is far from clear if the grumblings among some of the elite could in any way destabilise Putin’s government. Likin, the former Channel 1 art director, said he believed that people like him who were willing to resign over their principles made up a “tiny minority” of Russia’s populace. “A lot of people don’t work for an idea,” Agalakova, the former Channel 1 correspondent, said of her ex-colleagues who stayed behind. “People have a family, have loans and have some kind of need to survive.” Those who quit state television jobs, and especially those who speak out, face an uncertain future. Agalakova spoke by phone from Paris, where she had been based as a correspondent, and said some of her acquaintances stopped communicating with her after she quit. Likin said he planned to stay in Russia and continue his parallel career as an architect. He said he could imagine returning to television if it “changes its agenda from a life-exterminating one to a life-affirming one.” Government-sponsored polls claim that most Russians support Putin’s invasion, although analysts caution that people are even less likely to answer surveys truthfully at a time of war. Years of propaganda on Russian television, Agalakova now recognises, prepared the ground for war, in particular by subverting Russians’ remembrance of their country’s World War II sacrifice into support for the Kremlin’s current policies. “Of course, when the concept of Nazism is thrown into society, as though it is literally in our backyard in Ukraine, everyone reacts instantly,” Agalakova said, referring to the Kremlin’s false claims that Russia is fighting Nazis in Ukraine. “This is a shameless game. This is a fraudulent game.” Amid the propaganda barrage, Russians who distrust television have found ever fewer places to turn for more accurate news. Since the start of the war, the liberal Echo of Moscow radio station has been shut down, the TV Rain independent television channel has gone off the air for the security of its staff, and access to Facebook and Instagram has been blocked by the government. On Tuesday, Russian authorities announced that a popular journalist, Alexander Nevzorov, was under criminal investigation for posting about the Russian bombing of Mariupol on his Instagram page. It was the latest effort to sow fear among critics of the war by trumpeting the enforcement of a new law that hands out as many as 15 years in prison for any deviation from the official narrative about what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Denis Volkov, director of the Levada polling centre, said the real test for Russian public opinion is still to come as the economic hardships touched off by Western sanctions filter through society. Still, he said he thought the Kremlin’s narrative of a West subverting Ukraine in order to destroy Russia and of Russia’s waging a noble fight to protect its people abroad has become so strongly ingrained in the television-viewing public that it was unlikely to be dislodged anytime soon. “What seems to fit is accepted, what doesn’t fit is simply rejected,” Volkov said of how many Russians perceive the news to agree with the television narrative. “What is true or not true doesn’t matter.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

It is an illustration of the kind of bargain long made by some employees of the Kremlin propaganda machine — people who valued the steady work and the creative challenge, even if they did not agree with the mission of their workplace. It was only this month, after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, that Likin resigned as the longtime art director for Channel 1, the Russian state television network that is a major player in the Kremlin’s sprawling propaganda apparatus. He insisted that he was “not a politician,” but that the invasion meant he was now part of an operation with a “life-exterminating” agenda. “In Russia, television is made for people who for one reason or another are too lazy to use alternative sources of information,” Likin said in a phone interview, reflecting on his audience. “These are simply people who lack education or who lack the habit of analysis.” Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has led some Russians who long worked for the government to cut ties with it, a sign of how the Kremlin is struggling to keep society fully unified behind the war. Thousands have been arrested protesting the invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands have fled the country, and on Wednesday, Putin’s climate envoy, Anatoly Chubais, became the first senior government official reported to have quit since the invasion began Feb 24. There have been at least four high-profile resignations at Russia’s state television channels, a crucial pillar of Putin’s dominance over the country’s domestic politics. Marina Ovsyannikova, a Channel 1 staff member who interrupted a live news broadcast last week to unfurl an anti-war poster that said “They’re lying to you here,” offered the most striking act of protest. Others, including Likin, have gone more quietly, providing a glimpse of the ferment inside Putin’s system — and a reminder of the immense power of television in shaping how most Russians see the war. “People are just depressed — clinically depressed,” Zhanna Agalakova, a Channel 1 correspondent who resigned this month, said of some of her colleagues left behind. “Many thinking people are sensing their own guilt. And there is no exit, you understand? Simply asking for forgiveness is not enough.” All of Russia’s national television networks are controlled by the Kremlin, and although their influence has declined with the rise of YouTube and social media, they remain the public’s single main source of news. About two-thirds of Russians relied on state television last year to get their news, down from 90% in 2014, according to surveys by the Levada Center, an independent Moscow pollster. During the war, the state television channels have delivered to Russians a picture of the conflict that is the polar opposite of what people see in the West: The Russians are the good guys, as they were when fighting Nazi Germany in World War II, bringing liberation to Ukrainian lands seized by neo-Nazis funded by the hegemonic West. Pictures of dead civilians and destroyed homes are falsely branded either fake or the consequence of the Ukrainians shelling themselves. “Local residents are saying that the Ukrainian military is deliberately shooting at residential buildings,” a Channel 1 reporter said in a segment broadcast Wednesday from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the target of some of the fiercest Russian bombardment of the war. “Others are saying the nationalists were ordered to destroy the city as much as possible before retreating.” Most Russians, pollsters say, buy into the message beamed into their living rooms — especially since the war is being presented as a logical extension to the narrative of enmity and grievance toward the West that Russian television has been promoting for years. And most state television journalists have, for now, stayed in their jobs, amping up to a fever pitch the message of Russia struggling for its right to exist. Liliya Gildeyeva, an anchor who quit the state-run channel NTV, told the Russian outlet The Insider this week that she could not judge her colleagues who had stayed behind — and acknowledged that she herself had made compromise after compromise, realising only when the war started how far she had gone. “When you gradually give in to yourself, you do not notice the depth of the fall,” she said. The shock of the war appears to be what pushed tens of thousands of Russians into a historic exodus in recent weeks, packing planes to destinations that were still accepting flights from Russia, including Turkey and Armenia. Although some were journalists and activists fleeing possible arrest, many others were tech workers and other young professionals who suddenly no longer saw a future for themselves in Russia. Some members of Russia’s elite, too, have headed for the exits. News of the most high-profile departure so far came on Wednesday when Bloomberg News reported that Chubais, the Kremlin’s climate envoy, had quit over the war in Ukraine and left the country. The Kremlin confirmed that Chubais had stepped down. He was seen as one of the few liberal-minded officials remaining in Putin’s government, and his leading role in Moscow’s 1990s economic reforms made him unpopular in much of Russian society. It is far from clear if the grumblings among some of the elite could in any way destabilise Putin’s government. Likin, the former Channel 1 art director, said he believed that people like him who were willing to resign over their principles made up a “tiny minority” of Russia’s populace. “A lot of people don’t work for an idea,” Agalakova, the former Channel 1 correspondent, said of her ex-colleagues who stayed behind. “People have a family, have loans and have some kind of need to survive.” Those who quit state television jobs, and especially those who speak out, face an uncertain future. Agalakova spoke by phone from Paris, where she had been based as a correspondent, and said some of her acquaintances stopped communicating with her after she quit. Likin said he planned to stay in Russia and continue his parallel career as an architect. He said he could imagine returning to television if it “changes its agenda from a life-exterminating one to a life-affirming one.” Government-sponsored polls claim that most Russians support Putin’s invasion, although analysts caution that people are even less likely to answer surveys truthfully at a time of war. Years of propaganda on Russian television, Agalakova now recognises, prepared the ground for war, in particular by subverting Russians’ remembrance of their country’s World War II sacrifice into support for the Kremlin’s current policies. “Of course, when the concept of Nazism is thrown into society, as though it is literally in our backyard in Ukraine, everyone reacts instantly,” Agalakova said, referring to the Kremlin’s false claims that Russia is fighting Nazis in Ukraine. “This is a shameless game. This is a fraudulent game.” Amid the propaganda barrage, Russians who distrust television have found ever fewer places to turn for more accurate news. Since the start of the war, the liberal Echo of Moscow radio station has been shut down, the TV Rain independent television channel has gone off the air for the security of its staff, and access to Facebook and Instagram has been blocked by the government. On Tuesday, Russian authorities announced that a popular journalist, Alexander Nevzorov, was under criminal investigation for posting about the Russian bombing of Mariupol on his Instagram page. It was the latest effort to sow fear among critics of the war by trumpeting the enforcement of a new law that hands out as many as 15 years in prison for any deviation from the official narrative about what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Denis Volkov, director of the Levada polling centre, said the real test for Russian public opinion is still to come as the economic hardships touched off by Western sanctions filter through society. Still, he said he thought the Kremlin’s narrative of a West subverting Ukraine in order to destroy Russia and of Russia’s waging a noble fight to protect its people abroad has become so strongly ingrained in the television-viewing public that it was unlikely to be dislodged anytime soon. “What seems to fit is accepted, what doesn’t fit is simply rejected,” Volkov said of how many Russians perceive the news to agree with the television narrative. “What is true or not true doesn’t matter.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

Its embassy in Dhaka in a statement said they would also increase aid to the Palestinians following the recognition on Thursday.The decision drew praise from the Palestinian president and criticism from Israel, according to Reuters.Sweden is the first long-term EU state to recognise the State of Palestine.The move came nearly a month after the newly elected Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s announcement that his government wanted to bolster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Announcing the decision, Sweden said it considered that “the international law criteria for the recognition of Palestine have been satisfied” and that its recognition would facilitate the peace talks.“The purpose of Sweden’s recognition is to contribute to a future in which Israel and Palestine can live side by side in peace and security,” read the statement.“Sweden hopes that its decision will facilitate a peace agreement by making the parties less unequal, supporting the moderate Palestinian forces and contributing to hope at a time when tensions are increasing and no peace talks are taking place.”The Palestinians have long sought to establish an independent, sovereign state in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem as its capital, and the Gaza Strip - occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1988 declared a Palestinian state within the pre-June 1967 lines.This won recognition from about 100 countries, mainly Arab, Communist, and non-aligned states including Bangladesh.Decades of peace talks, however, have failed to produce a permanent settlement.In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a "non-member observer state".“Our decision comes at a critical time because over the last year we have seen how the peace talks have stalled, how decisions over new settlements on occupied Palestinian land have complicated a two-state solution and how violence has returned to Gaza," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters in Stockholm.“By making our decision we want to bring a new dynamic to the stalled peace process,” she said, according to Reuters, rejecting accusations that Sweden was taking sides.She hoped other EU countries would follow Sweden's lead.Seven EU members in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean have already recognised a Palestinian state, namely Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Romania.But they recognised it before joining the EU bloc, according to media reports.The foreign minister Wallström of the Social Democratic Party said their move was also aimed at giving hope to young people on both sides.The Swedish government also adopted a five-year aid strategy including substantially increased support to Palestinian state-building.Bilateral aid to Palestine will increase by Swedish krona 500 million to 1.5 billion over the next five-year period, in addition to Sweden’s substantial humanitarian assistance.“Sweden’s contribution aims among other things to make it easier for Palestinians to support themselves and to continue living where they are, to strengthen women’s empowerment and strengthen resilience to environmental and climate changes.“This increased assistance means support to all moderate and non-violent forces in Palestine promoting democracy, human rights and gender equality,” Minister for International Development Cooperation Isabella Lövin of the Green Party said.

Italian police on Tuesday arrested dozens of Mafia suspects in Sicily, the latest in a series of roundups that the government said were crippling the organised crime group. "We're exerting a state presence in Sicily that is changing the climate there and eradicating the clans," said Interior Minister Giuliano Amato. Police said they were executing 70 arrest orders, including one for Enzo Santapaola, the son of an infamous mob boss in the Sicilian city of Catania, Benedetto "Nitto" Santapaola. The suspects are accused of extortion, drug trafficking and other crimes. The operation follows a series of high-profile sweeps targeting the Sicilian Mafia, including last month's arrest of "boss of bosses" Salvatore Lo Piccolo after nearly a quarter century on the run. Magistrates believe Lo Piccolo assumed command of the Cosa Nostra following the capture in 2006 of Bernardo Provenzano. Another important Mafia leader, who was one of Italy's 30-most wanted men, was shot and killed by police on Monday as he tried to escape arrest.

Trade wars, migration, energy supplies, climate change and the eradication of poverty underpin the basic themes of the 193-member General Assembly agenda. But the actions of the Trump administration, which has sometimes expressed disdain for international institutions like the United Nations, have created a common denominator. “All of the major topics that I think people will be talking about in the corridors are related to: What is US policy?” said Jeffrey D Feltman, a veteran US diplomat and former UN undersecretary-general for political affairs. Some leaders are not coming, notably Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, as well as Benjamin Netanyahu, the embattled prime minister of Israel. Also not expected is President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, regarded by the Trump administration and about 50 other governments as an illegitimate leader. But one prominent figure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine, will attend. The Ukrainian leader plans to meet with President Donald Trump amid growing concerns that Trump had pressured him over US domestic political issues. Some of the biggest moments and confrontations could happen early in the week. Here is what to expect: LIKE-MINDED LEADERS: BOLSONARO, TRUMP, EL-SISSI, ERDOGAN Trump, whose penchant for bombast, scaremongering and diplomatic bombshells are well known, will be surrounded by like-minded company on Tuesday when the speeches begin. Trump will be preceded by President Jair M Bolsonaro of Brazil, sometimes called the mini-Trump, a polarising figure at home who, like Trump, dismisses fears about climate change and ridicules critics on Twitter. After Trump comes President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, the former general who has come to symbolise the repression of the Arab Spring revolutions — although his appearance was thrown into doubt this past weekend as protests erupted at home. Then comes President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, an autocrat who has bullied critics and whose government is a leading jailer of journalists. US AND SAUDI ARABIA WILL PRESS THEIR CASE AGAINST IRAN Until recently, speculation abounded that Trump would make history by meeting with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran. But the Sept 14 attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which US and Saudi officials blame on Iran, has made such a meeting unlikely at best. US officials are expected to present what they have described as evidence that Iran carried out the attack with drones and cruise missiles. Iran has denied the accusation. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran in their fight against a Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing their country for more than four years, have claimed responsibility. Rouhani speaks on Wednesday, and he will almost certainly assert that Trump ignited the cycle of conflict by withdrawing last year from the 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers and reimposing onerous sanctions that are crippling its economy. The United States is trying to build a coalition to deter Iran, even if it is unclear what form such deterrence would take. The General Assembly gives the administration an opportunity to “continue to slow walk a military response in favor of more coalition-building and political and economic pressure,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. AT A CLIMATE CHANGE MEETING, WASHINGTON WILL BE ABSENT The climate crisis is at the top of the General Assembly’s agenda. About 60 heads of state plan to speak at the Climate Action Summit on Monday, and officials aim to announce initiatives that include net-zero carbon emissions in buildings. The United States has no such plans — Trump announced in 2017 that he was withdrawing the country from the Paris Agreement on climate change. But some state governors who have formed the US Climate Alliance said they would attend the summit and meet with other delegations. US AND CHINA WILL TALK Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was expected to meet with his Chinese counterparts on the sidelines, suggesting that the administration was seeking to create a more productive atmosphere for resumed trade negotiations after weeks of acrimony. The two governments recently paused their escalating tariff battle. But some administration officials are pushing for Trump to address other issues considered sensitive by China, including the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the repression of Tibetans and the detentions of more than 1 million Muslims, mostly ethnic Uighurs. One official said Trump should at least criticise China for trying to intimidate Uighur-American activists. Trump has never spoken strongly about human rights, and he has openly expressed admiration for Xi and other authoritarian leaders. But lawmakers in both parties of Congress are pressuring Trump to act. Bills on the Uighurs, Tibet and Hong Kong are aimed at compelling Trump and the administration to take harder stands. LEADERS OF JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA ARE NOT ON SPEAKING TERMS A protracted feud between Japan and South Korea, rooted in the legacy of Japan’s wartime occupation, has led to downgraded trade relations and the end of an intelligence-sharing agreement. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea are not expected to meet with each other. Whether Trump can induce them into a three-way conversation remains unclear. And an objective shared by all three — North Korea’s nuclear disarmament — may see little or no progress. While Moon is expected to urge Trump to renew his push for diplomacy with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, no senior North Korean official plans to attend the General Assembly. EUROPE WILL BE PRESSURED TO PENALISE VENEZUELA’S GOVERNMENT Foreign ministers from 18 nations in the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, planned to meet on Monday to discuss what can be done regarding Maduro, who has presided over the biggest economic collapse in Venezuela’s history and a regional crisis caused by the exodus of millions of his people. The push will focus on convincing the European Union to expand economic sanctions against Maduro’s loyalists, including freezing assets they have in Europe. The Europeans may also be pressed to penalise smugglers of Venezuelan gold into Europe. Maduro, who claimed victory in disputed elections last fall, has retained power despite nine months of demands to resign by a stubborn opposition movement led by the president of Venezuela’s Parliament, Juan Guaidó. Negotiations between the Venezuelan rivals collapsed last week. FRICTIONS VEX AMERICA AND TURKEY Trump and Erdogan are expected to meet on the sidelines, but the outcome is unclear at best. A range of difficult issues has pit their governments against each other. The Trump administration is considering sanctions to punish Turkey, a fellow NATO member, for buying a Russian S-400 missile defense system instead of US-made Patriots. And Erdogan has expressed growing anger at the United States over their joint operations in the northern part of war-ravaged Syria that borders Turkey. He says the Americans have failed to establish a safe zone large enough to keep Kurdish fighters out of Turkey, which regards them as terrorist insurgents. On Saturday, Erdogan warned that his forces would take “unilateral actions” along the border if the United States did not act by the end of the month. LAST, BUT NOT LEAST — AFGHANISTAN Someone has to speak last in the list of national delegations addressing the General Assembly. This year, that place falls to Afghanistan, just a few weeks after the collapse of talks between the Taliban and the United States that were aimed at ending the 18-year-old war. With national elections slated for next Saturday, President Ashraf Ghani was not expected to attend. Instead, Afghanistan’s delegation will be led by Hamdullah Mohib, Ashraf’s national security adviser. Mohib infuriated the Trump administration in March, when he predicted the peace talks would not end in peace. ©2019 The New York Times Company

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) said Thursday it commended several of the reforms put forth in the budget, especially lifting the FDI cap in insurance, as well as policy reforms to reduce transfer pricing challenges and encourage infrastructure investment.USIBC is the largest bilateral trade association in the US comprising 300 of the top-tier US and Indian companies."We commend the finance minister for his leadership and welcome these pragmatic, business-friendly policies," said Diane Farrell, acting president of the USIBC. "US companies remain committed to being a long-term partner in India's growth story."USIBC said it hailed the announcement of the insurance composite FDI cap being lifted to 49 percent without any voting rights restrictions as a "sea change" indicator to the global business community of the new government's resolve to improve the investment climate and create jobs.Maintaining that any retrospective taxation is harmful to India's business climate, USIBC said the industry was eager for further positive clarifications on this matter to provide imperative tax certainty for investors.USIBC also welcomed India's decision to lift the FDI cap in defence from 26 to 49 percent as an incremental step forward in bolstering India's defence manufacturing capability while leveraging international industrial cooperation.On infrastructure, USIBC applauded the announcements "made on bolstering Smart City development and public-private partnerships in airports -- both of which American businesses stand ready to support with capital and expertise".Meanwhile, the US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), described as the political voice of Indian-Americans, also welcomed the increase in FDI cap in defence and insurance sectors."Increased FDI in defence means not only more equity investments coming into India, but more importantly the technology transfer that will accompany such investments," Sanjay Puri, USINPAC chairman,said."Both of these developments are indeed commendable and global investors, including from the Indian diasporas, will now be encouraged to participate in the development of the defence and insurance industries of India," he said.

With his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, Biden took the presidential oath of office administered by US Chief Justice John Roberts just after noon (1700 GMT), vowing to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Biden, 78, became the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that was largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus and security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump. The norm-defying Trump flouted one last convention on his way out of the White House when he refused to meet with Biden or attend his successor's inauguration, breaking with a political tradition seen as affirming the peaceful transfer of power. Trump, who never conceded the Nov. 3 election, did not mention Biden by name in his final remarks as president on Wednesday morning, when he touted his administration's record and promised to be back "in some form." He boarded Air Force One for the last time and headed to his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. Top Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence and the party's congressional leaders, attended Biden's inauguration, along with former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, became the first Black person, first woman and first Asian American to serve as vice president after she was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's first Latina member. Harris used two Bibles, including one owned by Thurgood Marshall, the first Black US Supreme Court Justice. Biden takes office at a time of deep national unease, with the country facing what his advisers have described as four compounding crises: the pandemic, the economic downtown, climate change and racial inequality. He has promised immediate action, including a raft of executive orders on his first day in office. The ceremony on Wednesday unfolded in front of a heavily fortified US Capitol, where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building two weeks ago, enraged by his false claims that the election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. The violence prompted the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives to impeach Trump last week for an unprecedented second time. Thousands of National Guard troops were called into the city after the siege, which left five people dead and briefly forced lawmakers into hiding. Instead of a throng of supporters, the National Mall on Wednesday was covered by nearly 200,000 flags and 56 pillars of light meant to represent people from US states and territories. 'SOUL OF AMERICA' Biden, who has vowed to "restore the soul of America," will call for American unity at a time of crisis in his inaugural address, according to advisers. His inauguration is the zenith of a five-decade career in public service that included more than three decades in the US Senate and two terms as vice president under former President Barack Obama. But he faces calamities that would challenge even the most experienced politician. The pandemic in the United States reached a pair of grim milestones on Trump's final full day in office on Tuesday, reaching 400,000 US deaths and 24 million infections - the highest of any country. Millions of Americans are out of work because of pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions. Biden has vowed to bring the full weight of the federal government to bear on the crisis. His top priority is a $1.9 trillion plan that would enhance jobless benefits and provide direct cash payments to households. But it will require approval from a deeply divided Congress, where Democrats hold slim advantages in both the House and Senate. Harris was scheduled to swear in three new Democratic senators late on Wednesday, creating a 50-50 split in the chamber with herself as the tie-breaking vote. Biden will waste little time trying to turn the page on the Trump era, advisers said, signing 15 executive actions on Wednesday on issues ranging from the pandemic to the economy to climate change. The orders will include mandating masks on federal property, rejoining the Paris climate accord and ending Trump's travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries. Although Biden has laid out a packed agenda for his first 100 days, including delivering 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations, the Senate could be consumed by Trump's upcoming impeachment trial, which will move ahead even though he has left office. The trial could serve as an early test of Biden's promise to foster a renewed sense of bipartisanship in Washington. Trump issued more than 140 pardons and commutations in his final hours in office, including a pardon for his former political adviser, Steve Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he swindled Trump supporters as part of an effort to raise private funds for a Mexico border wall. But Trump did not issue preemptive pardons for himself or members of his family, after speculation that he might do so.

TEHRAN,Oct 28 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Iran wants major amendments within the framework of a UN nuclear fuel deal which it broadly accepts, state media said, a move that could unravel the plan and expose Tehran to the threat of harsher sanctions. The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday there was no need to rework the UN draft and he and France's foreign minister suggested Tehran would rekindle demands for tougher international sanctions if it tried to undo the plan. Among the central planks of the plan opposed by Iran -- but requested by the West to cut the risk of an Iranian atom bomb -- was for it to send most of its low-enriched uranium reserve abroad for processing all in one go, state television said. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for power plant fuel, not for nuclear warheads. But its history of nuclear secrecy and continued restrictions on UN inspections have raised Western suspicions Iran is latently pursuing nuclear weapons capability. Citing an unnamed official, the Iranian state Arabic-language satellite television station al Alam said on Tuesday Iran would present its response to the proposed agreement within 48 hours, a week after a deadline set by its author, UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei. Al Alam said Iran would "agree to the general framework of the draft proposal but will request some important amendments." It did not elaborate on the changes Tehran would seek to the draft agreement ElBaradei hammered out in consultations with Iran, Russia, France and the United States in Vienna last week. But senior lawmakers have said Iran should import foreign fuel rather than send abroad by the end of this year much of its own low-enriched uranium (LEU) stock -- a crucial strategic asset in talks with world powers -- as the proposal stipulates. Iran's foreign minister said on Monday it may want to do both under the deal, hinting Tehran could ship out much less LEU than the amount big powers want to delay by at least a year the possibility of Iran "weaponizing" enrichment. The draft pact calls for Iran to transfer around 75 percent of its known 1.5 tonnes of LEU to Russia for further enrichment by the end of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates. These would be returned to Tehran to power a research reactor that produces radio-isotopes for cancer treatment. HIGH-LEVEL UNDERSTANDINGS IN GENEVA Understandings on the fuel plan and U.N. monitoring of a newly-disclosed enrichment site under construction were forged at Geneva talks on October 1 between Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain. A team of U.N. inspectors arrived in Iran early on Sunday to visit the new site 160 km south of Tehran. Western diplomats said Iran was forced to reveal the plant to the IAEA last month after learning that Western spy services had detected it. Iran's pledges in Geneva won itself a reprieve from sanctions targeting its oil sector but Western powers stressed they would not wait indefinitely for Tehran to follow through. They see the two deals as litmus tests of Iran's stated intent to use refined uranium only for civilian energy, and a basis for more ambitious negotiations on curbing enrichment by Tehran to resolve a standoff over its nuclear aspirations. The parties tentatively agreed in Geneva to reconvene toward the end of October but the hold-up in the fuel proposal and the ongoing inspector trip seemed to rule out fresh talks this week. "It's not a good sign ... it is a bad indication," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, referring to the latest, ambiguous Iranian statements. "Time is running out for the Iranians... This (Middle East) region is inflammable. It's an explosive circle and I do not think that in such a context the Iranians can play for time. That is very dangerous," he said. "If there is the necessity -- but we might not see it until the end of the year -- we would start work on new sanctions," Kouchner added. Diplomats said the EU ministers had already asked the EU executive to look into further sanctions that could be imposed. ElBaradei said Iran could not evade shifting most of its LEU abroad if it expected to allay mistrust. "That's important, absolutely. Our objective is to reduce tension and create a climate of confidence. Removing this material would provide a year for negotiating in peace and quiet," he told the French weekly l'Express. "This would allow the Iranians to show that they are speaking the truth, if this is the case, that they are indeed enriching uranium for peaceful purposes," he said. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday Iran would announce its decision on the pact in the next few days. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's Foreign Affairs and National Security committee, said that if any LEU went abroad, it should be only in small, staggered batches. That is a non-starter for Western and UN officials since there would be no net drawdown of Iran's LEU stockpile.

Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovich was sworn in as president on Thursday and immediately pledged to fight corruption and poverty, and restore political stability to win back foreign support for the struggling economy. Yanukovich took the oath of office in a low-key ceremony which reflected a bitterly-contested election -- still disputed by his rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko -- and which highlighted deep divisions in the country. All the same, his inauguration marked a comeback from humiliation in 2004 when mass protests, called the Orange Revolution, overturned an election that had been rigged in his favour. Speaking to a gathering of officials, lawmakers and foreign dignitaries after accepting the traditional trappings of office, the 59-year-old Yanukovich said the country faced "colossal debts", poverty, corruption and economic collapse. "Ukraine needs a strategy of innovative movement forward and such a strategy has been worked out by our team," he said. Turning to the paucity of foreign investment in the ex-Soviet republic of 46 million, and its notoriously unpredictable business climate, he said he sought to restore political stability, end corruption and set out rules governing links between the state and business. These were all "necessary conditions for investors and international financial institutions to establish trust in Ukraine," he said. Ukraine's economy has been hit hard by the global downturn which hurt its vital exports of steel and chemicals and halved the hryvnia's value to the dollar over the past 18 months. The country is dependent on a $16.4 billion International Monetary Fund bail-out programme, but lending was suspended late last year and is only likely to resume when stability returns. The finance ministry said on Thursday that an IMF technical mission would visit on April 7. This usually leads to full-blown visit from IMF officials who may later decide whether to restart the programme. TIES WITH RUSSIA A burly former mechanic backed by wealthy industrialists, Yanukovich had a deprived childhood in eastern Ukraine and as a young man was convicted twice for petty crime including assault. He is expected to improve ties with Russia, Ukraine's former Soviet master, after five years of estrangement under the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko. He has hinted at possible concessions to Moscow over the future of Russia's Black Sea fleet forces in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and has proposed the creation of a consortium including Russia to run the country's gas pipelines. However, he says he wants to change a 10-year-old agreement on supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine which was negotiated by Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He also says he will pursue a balanced foreign policy and has vowed to push for closer ties with the European Union. In his speech on Thursday, he kept all his options open, saying his foreign policy would be one of "equal and mutually-advantageous ties" with Russia, the EU and the United States which would reap "maximum results" for Ukraine. His web site later quoted him as confirming he would go to Brussels next week, a visit which EU officials say will take place on Monday. He is also intending to visit Moscow in the first 10 days of March, his Regions Party said. Yanukovich beat Prime Minister Tymoshenko by 3.5 percentage points but won the support of only a third of the 37 million-strong electorate. The voting pattern highlighted a sharp split between Russian-speaking voters in the industrial east and south who backed him, and Ukrainian-speakers in the west and centre who voted for Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko dropped her legal challenge to Yanukovich's election only last Saturday. But she maintains he was not legitimately-elected and she and most of her bloc in parliament stayed away on Thursday, giving the ceremony a hollow ring. Despite Yanukovich's call for the establishment of a "competent executive power", Tymoshenko is still resisting attempts to oust her as prime minister, signalling continued political tension at least in the short-term. She is trying to persuade her allies to close ranks round her in parliament, while his party and its powerful backers are seeking to draw deputies away from her coalition and forge a new one. Forging a coalition requires some tricky horse-trading and could be a lengthy process. If Yanukovich fails to secure a new coalition, he will reluctantly have to call new parliamentary elections, further prolonging uncertainty.

As his global teleconference broke up in disarray on Sept 11, 2001, a top economist at a US investment bank began to ponder what the attacks on the United States might tell him about the future shape of the world. His conclusions had little to do with Al Qaeda. Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs had been at a meeting in the World Trade Center only two days before, and flew home to London just hours before airliners slammed into New York's twin towers. About to become head of the bank's global economics team, he was looking for a "big idea" to put a stamp on his leadership. Soon, he had it: the decade after September 11 would be defined not by the world's sole superpower or the war on terror but by the rise of the four biggest emerging market economies - China, Russia, India and Brazil. O'Neill nicknamed them the "BRICs" after the first letter of their names. "I'll never forget that day," O'Neill told Reuters. "It was right at the core of how I dreamt up the whole thing... Something clicked in my head that the lasting consequence of 9/11 had to be the end of American dominance of globalisation... that seems to be exactly what happened." O'Neill, who now heads Goldman's global asset management business, launched the BRIC phrase in a pamphlet published in November 2001. The numbers from the past decade suggest the trend he identified will resonate more in world history than the strikes and their aftermath. When O'Neill dreamed up the BRIC acronym, the four big emerging powers made up eight percent of the world economy. The top five world economies were, in order, the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain and France. Ten years later, the BRICs have grown faster than even O'Neill expected to constitute nearly 20 percent of the global economy. China is the world's number two economic power, while Britain - the closest ally of the US in the decade-long war on terror -- has dropped out of the top five, overtaken by Brazil. India and Russia are not far behind. Within days of the attacks on New York and Washington, the US had launched a costly and attention-sapping global "war on terror" and was plotting retaliation against not just Al Qaeda but also other members of what it saw as a wider "axis of evil", including Saddam Hussein's Iraq. At first sight, the US and its allies appear to have won their war. The Al-Qaeda network is badly damaged, Osama Bin Laden and other key leaders are dead and the group has not pulled off a major terror strike in the West for years. What is less obvious is the cost of that apparent victory, both financially and diplomatically. "For most of the first decade of the century, as the world economy gradually shifted its centre of gravity towards Asia, the United States was preoccupied with a mistaken war of choice in the Middle East," said Joseph Nye, a former US under-secretary of state and defence as well as ex-chair of the National Intelligence Council and now a Harvard professor of international relations. US actions, he says, critically undermined its "soft power" in diplomacy, values and culture, while diverting and ultimately weakening its military and economic "hard power". COSTLY OVERREACTION? The day before the attacks, the US national debt stood at a sliver under $5.8 trillion. A decade on, it has skyrocketed to $14.7 trillion. Unfunded tax cuts, post-financial crisis stimulus and other increased domestic spending account for much of that. But America's post-9/11 conflicts added heavily to the burden. One recent estimate, from Brown University in the US, put the cost of America's wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan at up to $4.4 trillion - nearly a third of the total. "It was pretty immediately obvious that the Americans were going to lash out and probably going to overreact," says Nigel Inkster, a former deputy head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and now head of transnational threats and political risk at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). "In the overall scheme of things, I suspect the impact of 9/11 and rise of Al Qaeda is going to be seen as not much more than a blip". The United States was not the only Western power to take drastic measures. Like then-US president George W Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair saw the September 11 attacks as a defining moment. "I was very, very clear from the outset that this was not just a terrorist attack of extraordinary magnitude but one that had to change global politics" says Blair in a television interview to be published this weekend on www.reuters.com. "... I don't think we were clear on what exactly had to be done but I do think we were clear that the calculus of risk had changed." That belief helped send Blair and his country to war in Iraq and later Afghanistan, costly military adventures that ultimately may have made far less difference to Britain than the threats it faced from a fast-changing world economic order -- as well as its own internal financial problems. The Iraq war ended up seriously tarnishing Blair's premiership and his reputation, after it emerged Britain went to war based on a faulty assessment of the risks posed by weapons of mass destruction. Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German deputy foreign minister appointed ambassador to the US in 2001, says September 11 "burst the bubble" of any illusion that one superpower could rule the world. "But in terms of importance for the global power situation, for global governance, I think the rise of the BRICs will have the more enduring effect. 9/11 created such a lot of confusion that it took us the better part of a decade to figure out what conclusions we should draw from it and the wrong turns some countries took." LESS A TURNING POINT THAN FINANCIAL CRISIS? On a flight into Houston, Texas for a meeting between Jordan's King Abdullah and Bush when Al Qaeda struck, Jordan's ambassador to Washington Marwan Muasher's initial worries were over an anti-Muslim backlash in the United States. He believes Washington did well to avoid that, but misjudged its broader reaction and should never have launched the Iraq war. "But there have been other developments since then such as the financial crisis that in some ways, overshadow much of 9/11," says Muasher, who later became foreign minister and is now a vice president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US think-tank. "It is not a matter just of US decline, it is a matter of the emergence of other powers. The age of the unipolar power of the United States was very short in part because it was ultimately never sustainable." Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, says the world has already moved on from September 11. "With hindsight, 2008 was the seminal moment," Bremmer told Reuters. "Not only did we have the financial crisis, we also had the Beijing Olympics. Before that, China was seen simply as an emerging market, a backwater. Suddenly we saw them coming into their own." China paraded brash self-confidence at the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony, showing off spectacular new buildings in its capital and brushing aside Western concerns at human rights abuses. The country's growing financial and economic weight - it now holds $1.2 trillion of US government debt, by far the biggest foreign investor in these securities - means the West can ill afford to question it. When a government debt crisis hit Europe this year as buyers shunned the most indebted countries, leaders begged China to come to their help by buying up euro-zone securities - a scenario unimaginable in the 20th century. August 2008 also saw fellow BRIC Russia swiftly win a war with US-backed neighbour Georgia, the first time Moscow had sent troops outside its borders since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. That more muscular approach from emerging powers -- particularly in their own backyard - could in future be adopted by the likes of China or India. HASTENING THE WEST'S (RELATIVE) DECLINE? Reflecting broader changes to investment patterns, Stephen Jennings, the CEO of Moscow-based investment bank Renaissance Capital, says he sees more and more big "south-south" business deals now struck in developing nations, funded by BRIC banks on behalf of emerging market investors - and at which there is not a single face from London or New York. "The traditional financial centres and Western economic model are losing their pre-eminence," Jennings said in a speech to investors in Moscow in June. "There is a gravitational shift of business, capital and ideas towards emerging market economies fast-growing economies, including Russia, are becoming the leaders of the new economic order". The diplomatic order has also changed. When it came to salvaging a deal at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, US President Barack Obama went into a room not with the other G8 developed states but with the leaders of the emerging world: China, India, Brazil and South Africa, the latter increasingly keen to position itself as part of a wider "BRICS" grouping to counterweight older powers. The uprisings of the so-called "Arab Spring" across the Middle East and North Africa -- which blindsided not only regional leaders but also Western intelligence agencies and apparently Al Qaeda -- were seen by some as a wake-up call for more authoritarian BRICs like China. But critics said the uprisings also pointed to double standards on the part of the US and its allies. The West, they charged, backed authoritarian Arab rulers when they needed their business or support in the "war on terror", then abandoned them when their positions became untenable. Now, Britain and the United States have been embarrassed by documents found in Libya suggesting that their intelligence services were cooperating closely with Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime. "In many ways, it shows the whole hypocrisy of the approach that said you had to embrace the dark side to defeat terror," says Jan Egeland, Europe head of Human Rights Watch and United Nations global humanitarian chief between 2003 and 2006, a role in which he became a frequent critic of US Policy. "It was devastating for the reputation of the West -- and it happened at the same time as the emerging economies were already closing the gap in other ways." A CHANGED WORLD In many ways, much of what has happened since September 11, 2001 was precisely the opposite of what conventional opinion expected. Whilst the US and allies spent much of the following decade at war in the Middle East, in much of the rest of the globe the number of conflicts fell sharply. Whilst development economists such as Jeffrey Sachs say the billions spent on Western wars represent a lost opportunity to tackle poverty and hardship in the poorest countries, BRIC economic growth in particular has lifted millions from poverty - despite a growing internal wealth gap in many states. Now, following a long-standing historical pattern, the growing economic power of the BRICs is starting to translate into greater military strength - and the West's financial decline is mirrored in ever more drastic cuts to its defence spending. London's International Institute for Strategic Studies highlighted in its annual survey of global military power this year a key theme: while Western military budgets are being pruned, those in Asia and the Middle East are growing sometimes by double digits every year. "There is persuasive evidence that a global redistribution of military power is under way," it said. This year, Britain replaced China as the only member of the UN Security Council without an aircraft carrier, scrapping the Royal Navy's flagship "Ark Royal" just as China launched its first such vessel. Goldman's O'Neill believes the dramatic economic growth of the BRICs will dwarf the long-term impact of September 11. His bank is now touting the merits of what they term the "N-11" - the next 11 big emerging market economies after the BRICs, including such powers as Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey. He also believes the attack and its aftermath may have played a part in shaping the BRICs' newly assertive approach in the world. "What it may have done at the margin was to sow the seeds of doubt about the power of America and therefore the need for them to stand more on their own two feet," he says. With the West's single-minded focus on the Middle East, Al Qaeda and its allies, some worry that the old powers missed their chance to help shape the new world order that is emerging. But even had they been paying more attention, perhaps it would have made little difference. "The focus on the Islamic world meant that shift (to emerging powers) took us by surprise," says former British spy Inkster. "But it probably would have done so in any case."

No non-government organisation (NGO) has been awarded allocation from the Climate Change Trust Fund, the environment state minister says. "For the disbursement, 53 NGOs have been given nod in principle by the technical committee, but it's not finalised yet," Hassan Mahmood said on Wednesday. His comments came following a report in a national daily on Wednesday, which said 53 NGOs would get Tk 213.4 million from the fund. He said that the technical committee's decision would be scrutinised. After an inter-ministerial meeting at his ministry, the junior minister told reporters that so far Tk 5.48 billion were disbursed from the fund in 48 projects. "The remaining Tk 2 billion will be allocated within the year," he added. From the fund, 1.2 percent would be allocated to the NGOs, he said, adding that "most of the 4,000 NGOs applying for the fund have no experience in climate change mitigation".

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

The partnership will be formally launched later on Tuesday. Methane is the main greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. It has a higher heat-trapping potential than CO2 but breaks down in the atmosphere faster - meaning that cutting methane emissions can have a rapid impact on reining in global warming. The Global Methane Pledge, which was first announced in September, now includes half of the top 30 methane emitters accounting for two-thirds of the global economy, according to the Biden administration official. Among the new signatories that will be announced on Tuesday is Brazil - one of the world's five biggest emitters of methane. China, Russia and India, also top-five methane emitters, have not signed on to the pledge. Those countries were all included on a list identified as targets to join the pledge, previously reported. Since it was first announced in September with a handful of signatories, the United States and European Union have worked to get the world's biggest methane emitters to join the partnership. There were roughly 60 countries signed up only last week, after a final diplomatic push from the United States and EU ahead of the COP26 summit. While it is not part of the formal UN negotiations, the methane pledge could rank among the most significant outcomes from the COP26 conference, given its potential impact in holding off disastrous climate change. A UN report in May said steep cuts in methane emissions this decade could avoid nearly 0.3 degree Celsius of global warming by the 2040s. Failing to tackle methane, however, would push out of reach the Paris Agreement's aim to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 C above preindustrial levels and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The 30 percent methane cut would be jointly achieved by the signatories, and cover all sectors. Key sources of methane emissions include leaky oil and gas infrastructure, old coal mines, agriculture and landfill sites. If fulfilled, the pledge is likely to have the biggest impact on the energy sector, since analysts say fixing leaky oil and gas infrastructure is the fastest and cheapest way to curb methane emissions. The United States is the world's biggest oil and gas producer, while the EU is the biggest importer of gas. The United States is due to release oil and gas methane regulations this week. The EU and Canada both plan to unveil methane legislation addressing the energy sector later this year.

He has also called for “transformation” of the seven-nation grouping that unites Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka from South Asia with Myanmar and Thailand, in Southeast Asia into a dynamic body. He made the appeal at the 16th BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kathmandu on Wednesday ahead of the fourth summit beginning on Thursday. Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali chaired the meeting. Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali said the meeting took stock of the progress made since the 3rd BIMSTEC held in Myanmar in 2014 and the BIMSTEC Leaders’ pledge made at Goa Retreat in October 2016 in India. He reiterated Bangladesh’s commitment to the BIMSTEC cooperation. He called upon BIMSTEC foreign ministers to review the structure of BIMSTEC, in particular in its areas of cooperation, strengthen the Secretariat. He urged for concluding BIMSTEC Free Trade Area and its constituent MoUs and protocols for its early implementation. Bangladesh stressed cooperation in certain key areas such as connectivity, energy, poverty alleviation, climate change, and people-to-people contact. The meeting also finalised the agenda for the summit. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for Kathmandu on Thursday morning to attend the two-day summit.

A mounting US deficit could pose a much greater threat to the survival of President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms than either the Supreme Court or 2012 elections. Many health experts say innovations in delivering medical care and the creation of state health insurance exchanges for extending coverage to the uninsured are likely to continue in some form even if Obama's 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is struck down or repealed. But former top healthcare policymakers from Democratic and Republican administrations warn that some of the most promising measures for controlling costs, while improving quality and access to care, could run aground as early as 2013 if a new Congress and administration respond to the fiscal pressures with arbitrary spending cuts. "If the plan is what's on the table now, which is cut, cut, cut - shift the burden to poor people and taxpayers, take away benefits, take away Medicaid coverage - things will get worse," said Dr. Don Berwick, who left his temporary post as Obama's head of Medicare and Medicaid this month after Republicans blocked his Senate confirmation. The Affordable Care Act is designed mainly to extend healthcare coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans by expanding Medicaid for the poor and establishing state exchanges where people with low incomes who do not qualify for Medicaid can buy subsidized private insurance. It also calls for innovations that could guide America's $2.6 trillion healthcare system, the world's most expensive, toward incentives to contain costs. The law faces fierce Republican opposition and is heading into a period of unprecedented turmoil. Next spring the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, the law's lynchpin provision that requires all Americans to buy insurance. Months later, voters will deliver another verdict by deciding whether Republicans or Democrats control the White House and Congress. Current and former healthcare officials have great hopes for changes that reward doctors and other providers for how well patients progress rather than compensating them according to the number of tests and procedures they perform. For a panel discussion on the subject moderated by Reuters at Harvard School of Public Health, go to: www.ForumHSPH.org "These reforms really have the potential for a longer term impact on healthcare costs," said Dr. Mark McClellan, who oversaw Medicare, Medicaid and the Food and Drug Administration under President George W. Bush. GAINING MOMENTUM Some innovations, like "bundled payments," set cost targets for specific conditions that teams of doctors must meet. Others reward healthcare providers for keeping patients healthy or for delivering successful outcomes while saving money. The innovations were already taking hold in the private market before Obama signed the healthcare bill into law in March 2010. Their momentum has gained pace sharply across the United States as a result of the law's efforts to apply them to Medicare and Medicaid, which combined spend about $900 billion annually to provide care to 100 million beneficiaries. The year-old Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has about two dozen innovation models that it intends to develop with private partners over the next few years. Experts say innovations in delivering care are durable because they offer providers a way to cope with growing cost pressure from employers who sponsor health insurance and from government agencies forced to cut spending. "This is a response to market realities, not just reformist interests," said Don Moran, a Washington-based healthcare consultant who served in President Ronald Reagan's Office of Management and Budget. The climate for innovation could change dramatically after Election Day in November if Washington responds to deficits with across-the-board cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that reinforce the traditional fee-for-service approach to healthcare. Innovations are vulnerable because they have yet to established a cost-cutting track record to which the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office can assign tangible dollar values for deficit reduction. Gail Wilensky, who headed Medicare and Medicaid under President George H.W. Bush, worries that Congress will opt for the standard practice of cutting payments to doctors and other healthcare providers, who may react by dropping Medicare patients. "That's the only thing Congress will get credit for and so that's what they'll do. We know this is not our future if we want to do well by our seniors," she said at the Harvard School of Public Health forum on Friday. Some analysts say deficit pressures could encourage the Obama administration to delay segments of the healthcare law, including state health insurance exchanges and the requirement for each individual citizen to have health insurance. Such a move could save tens of billions of dollars in government spending, while giving state and federal officials more time to set up exchanges that have taken shape slowly amid uncertainties posed by the Supreme Court case and the election. An administration official said there are no plans to delay the law's implementation. "That idea has never been discussed and is not under consideration," the official said. The election also is unlikely to decide the law's fate unless Obama loses re-election, according to analysts who say Congress is unlikely to overcome partisan gridlock even if Republicans eke out a slim majority in the Senate. McClellan said sections of the law including state insurance exchanges could go forward even if the individual mandate were overturned in court, repealed after the election or weakened by political and budgetary pressures. Instead of a legal requirement for purchasing insurance, McClellan said the government could design effective voluntary rules that encourage people to participate in exchanges . He said an obvious model would be Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit that offers rewards for people who enroll early and penalties for those who show up late. McClellan acknowledged that state exchanges would not be as robust without the individual mandate but said that fact could result in deficit savings. The administration official said there are currently no plans or conversations taking place about using Part D enrollment restrictions in place of the individual mandate.

WASHINGTON, Thu Feb 19, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Barack Obama will seek to quell Canadian concerns about US protectionism when he makes his first foreign trip as president on Thursday to the United States' biggest trading partner and energy supplier. Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will discuss trade, clean energy technology, the global economic crisis and the war in Afghanistan, officials said, but the president's tight schedule on the one-day trip to Ottawa leaves little time for substantive talks. Trade will dominate the discussions, and Harper has said he will seek assurances that the "Buy American" clause in the $787 billion US economic recovery package signed by Obama this week will not discriminate against firms in Canada, which sends about 75 percent of its exports to the United States. US officials, in turn, have said Obama will seek to allay those fears. The president said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this week that Canadians should not be concerned, noting that history showed that "beggar thy neighbor" protectionist policies could backfire. The "Buy American" provision imposes a requirement that any public works project funded by the stimulus package use only iron, steel and other goods made in the United States. While Obama has stressed that the United States will comply with its international free trade obligations, Harper said last week he was still concerned about the language in the clause. Canada is also alarmed by Obama's stated desire to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, to which Canada, the United States and Mexico are signatories, fearing that it could lead to new tariff barriers. Obama has said he wants to strengthen environmental and labor provisions. U.S. and Canadian labor unions called for changes in agriculture, energy, investment and other NAFTA provisions on the eve of Obama's meeting with Harper. "We need to address the worsening economic crisis in a coordinated manner, reopen and fix the flaws with the North American Free Trade Agreement and move on a range of complementary policies dealing with energy, climate change and green jobs, industrial policy, migration and development," the AFL-CIO labor federation and the Canadian Labour Congress said in a joint letter to the two leaders. Three-way trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada has tripled to nearly $1 trillion since NAFTA went into force in 1994, and together Canada and Mexico buy more than one-third of US exports. But the agreement is often blamed for US job losses, especially in big Midwestern manufacturing states. US administration officials this week sought to downplay the issue, saying that while Obama would raise it in his talks with Harper, the fragile state of the world economy meant he would not be pushing hard for NAFTA to be reviewed now. Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said the president would underscore his commitment to boosting trade between the neighbors, which amounts to $1.5 billion a day, the largest trading partnership in the world. CLEAN ENERGY Obama, who wants the United States to take the lead in the fight against climate change, will also discuss clean energy technology with Harper, US officials said, while stressing the importance of Canada as a key US energy supplier. Environmentalists want Obama to press Canada to clean up its "dirty" tar sands in the western province of Alberta, from which oil is extracted in a process that spews out vast amounts of greenhouse gases. In his CBC interview, Obama said he wanted to work with Canada on new technologies to capture greenhouse gases, a statement analysts interpreted as recognition that the United States cannot afford to adopt a tougher stance right now against its main energy supplier. Obama said he would also discuss Canada's role in Afghanistan, where it has 2,700 soldiers as part of a NATO-led force tackling a worsening insurgency. Obama ordered 17,000 more troops there this week to try to arrest the violence. But with Canada due to withdraw its troops in 2011, and Obama saying he was not going to Ottawa with an "ask in my pocket" for them to stay beyond that date, the talks are expected to focus on other ways the Canadians can help. US officials have billed Thursday's visit, which comes a month after Obama took office, as an opportunity for Obama to deepen a personal relationship with Harper, a conservative who had a natural affinity with former President George W. Bush.

"AZD1222 (AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, and the changes to the genetic code seen in this new viral strain do not appear to change the structure of the spike protein," an AstraZeneca representative said in an email. Drugmakers are scrambling to test their COVID-19 vaccines against the new fast-spreading variant of the virus that is raging in Britain, the latest challenge in the breakneck race to curb the pandemic. "Through vaccination with AZD1222, the body's immune system is trained to recognise many different parts of the spike protein, so that it can eliminate the virus if it is later exposed," the AstraZeneca representative added. The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70% more infectious and more of a concern for children. It has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country. 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 refrigerator temperatures. 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. Reuters reported late on Tuesday that India is likely to approve AstraZeneca's vaccine for emergency use by next week.

Four years ago, the joint programme of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), referred to the United States as Germany's "most important friend" outside of Europe. The 2013 programme also described the "friendship" with Washington as a "cornerstone" of Germany's international relations and talked about strengthening transatlantic economic ties through the removal of trade barriers. But the words "friend" and "friendship" are missing from the latest election programme - entitled "For a Germany in which we live well and happily" - which Merkel and CSU leader Horst Seehofer presented on Monday ahead of a Sep 24 election. Instead, the United States is described as Germany's "most important partner" outside of Europe. CDU officials were not immediately available to comment on the change in wording. The change in wording underscores how relations between Berlin and Washington have deteriorated since US President Donald Trump entered the White House in January. During his campaign for the presidency, Trump said that Merkel was "ruining" Germany with migration policies he described as "insane". He has repeatedly denounced Germany's trade surplus with the United States, accused Berlin and other European partners of owing "massive amounts of money" to NATO, and unsettled western partners with his decision last month to pull out of the Paris climate accord. A survey by the Pew Research Centre last week showed that just 35 percent of Germans have a favourable view of the United States, down from 57 percent at the end of President Barack Obama's term. Merkel is due to host Trump and other leaders at a G20 summit in Hamburg later this week. In place of the 2013 passage about strengthening economic ties, the 2017 programme refers to historical US support for Germany after World War Two and in the run-up to German reunification. The new CDU/CSU election programme also repeats a line that Merkel used in a speech in Munich in late May after a difficult summit of G7 leaders, where Trump resisted pressure from six other nations to stay in the Paris agreement. "The times in which we could fully rely on others are, to a certain extent, in the past. We Europeans must take our fate into our own hands more decisively than we have in the past," the program reads. While affirming Germany's commitment to the NATO military alliance, the programme says that the EU must be in a position to defend itself independently if it wants to survive in the long run. It also adds a special section entitled "Germany and France as the Motor of Europe" which vows to "reinvigorate the friendship" between the two countries. "We are ready, together with the new French government, to further develop the euro zone step by step, for example through the creation of its own monetary fund," it reads. But it also rules out the mutualisation of debt in Europe and says that "solidarity" will only be possible if EU countries stick to the rules of the bloc's Growth and Stability Pact.

Here are 10 celebrities who took a stand in the past year in efforts to make a positive impact on the world: 1. Meghan Markle: Since marrying into Britain's royal family in May, the US actress has vowed to shine a light on women's rights. She was also snapped wearing "slave-free" jeans from Outland Denim in Australia, which sparked a run to buy the trousers, and collaborated with survivors of London's Grenfell Tower fire to produce a community led cookbook. 2. Emma Watson: Best known as Hermione in the Harry Potter films, Watson used 2018 to campaign for the #MeToo movement, donating one million pounds ($1.3 million) to a fund that supports charities fighting sexual abuse. In October, Watson wrote an open letter to end restrictive abortion laws from India to Ireland, while she was also photographed wearing earrings fashioned from shrapnel and undetonated bombs from Laos. 3. David Attenborough: The nonagenarian broadcaster of nature documentaries used 2018 and the annual United Nations' climate talks in Poland to stand with young people and voice the need for urgent progress on climate action. 4. Amitabh Bachchan: Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan cemented his popularity in India when he spent more than 40 million rupees ($560,000) to clear the loans of farmers after an agricultural crisis left many of them in extreme poverty. 5. Elton John: The British singer-songwriter, a long-time advocate for LGBT+ rights, called for more to be done to support those living in poverty to gain better access to HIV/AIDS medical treatment, describing the lack of access a "disgrace." 6. Millie Bobby Brown: The teen star of hit Netflix series "Stranger Things" became the United Nations children's agency UNICEF's youngest goodwill ambassador this year, vowing to raise issues around children's rights, education, poverty and work to end bullying. "It's a dream come true," Brown said. 7. Michelle Obama: The former US first lady has been promoting her memoir globally and speaking up for women's rights and girls' education. Obama, who grew up in a working class household in Chicago, said she wanted to empower women to seek hope in a difficult political and social climate. 8. David Beckham: The former English soccer captain joined a campaign to reinvigorate the global fight against malaria, launched by charity Malaria No More UK. The retired athlete starred in a short film in which he was swarmed by mosquitoes to highlight that malaria continues to kill about 445,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). 9. Cate Blanchett: Australian actress and United Nations' refugee goodwill ambassador spoke out about the Rohingya crisis, urging nations to do more to support refugees fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh. Blanchett, who has won two Oscars, warned of a "race against time" to protect Rohingya refugees. 10. Princess Beatrice: The British princess, eighth in line to the throne, campaigned to tackle online abuse and cyber-bullying, especially against young women and girls. Beatrice is part of a wider anti-bullying movement promoted by celebrities such as Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne to "Be Cool Be Nice."

"KKK Bitch” The racially charged graffiti appeared in mid-October on cars, homes and telephone poles in the small city of Kokomo, Indiana. Many victims, like Peters, were African American, though some were not. Many also had lawn signs for Democratic candidates in this week’s presidential election, and the signs at several homes were painted over with the Ku Klux Klan’s notorious initials. “I think it’s a political thing; it’s getting out of hand,” said Peters, who believes the heated tenor of the presidential campaign – and especially the aggressive, nativist rhetoric of Republican candidate Donald Trump – has emboldened extremists. “When you have (candidates) saying ignorant things, maybe other people think it’s ok to do this stuff, and that’s pretty doggone sad ... It seems like our country is going backwards.” Police have no suspects in the attacks. Democrats, including the mayor and local party officials, believe they were politically motivated. Local Republicans are sceptical, suggesting the damage is the work of ignorant hooligans with no place in the party.    Across the United States, the inflammatory and confrontational tone of political rhetoric is creeping into public discourse and polarising the electorate. It’s hard to quantify the impact; there is no national data that tracks politically motivated crimes or incendiary speech. However, the percentage of voters who believe insulting political opponents is “sometimes fair game” has climbed over the campaign season, from 30 percent in March to 43 percent in October, according to surveys by the non-partisan Pew Research Center. A majority of voters for both parties have “very unfavorable” views of the other party – a first since Pew began asking the question in 1992 – and trust in government is hovering near all-time lows. “These indicators reflect inter-group tensions that can translate into everything from coarse discourse or low levels of aggression all the way up to extremist acts,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University. While much of the venom has been aimed at immigrants, African Americans and other groups typically aligned with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Republicans also have faced vitriol and hostility. Much of the debate over extremism has focused on the so-called Alt-Right, a loose-knit movement of white nationalists, anti-Semites and immigration foes that has emerged from the political shadows to align itself with the Trump campaign. A supporter of the Ku Klux Klan is seen with his tattoos during a rally at the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina Jul 18, 2015. Reuters. Trump’s vows to build a wall on the Mexican border, deport millions of illegal immigrants and scrutinise Muslims for ties to terrorism have energised the Alt-Right community. A supporter of the Ku Klux Klan is seen with his tattoos during a rally at the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina Jul 18, 2015. Reuters. Such rhetoric has helped legitimise the Alt-Right’s concerns about an erosion of the country’s white, Christian majority, said Michael Hill, a self-described white supremacist, anti-Semite and xenophobe who heads the League of the South, a “Southern Nationalist” group dedicated to creating an independent “white man’s land.” “The general political climate that sort of surrounds his campaign has been very fruitful, not only for us, but for other right-wing groups,” Hill said. Similar nationalist undercurrents have stirred other countries, from Russia to Japan to Britain. Last summer, as Britain’s debate over leaving the European Union reached a fever pitch, Jo Cox, a pro-EU lawmaker, was shot and stabbed in the street. Murder suspect Thomas Mair proclaimed “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.” In the United States, reports of hostile political displays, vandalism and violence are cropping up regularly. In Mississippi, a black church was burned and painted with “Vote Trump.” In North Carolina, a county Republican office was set ablaze last month and a nearby building spray painted with “Nazi Republicans leave town.” In Ohio, a truck load of manure was dumped at a Democratic campaign office. In Utah, a man displaying Trump yard signs found KKK graffiti on his car. In Wisconsin, a fan at a college football game wore a President Barack Obama mask with a noose on his neck. Neither the Trump nor the Clinton campaigns responded to requests for comment. Extremism goes mainstream Trump's positions are consistent with the Alt-Right goal of “slowing the dispossession of whites,” said Jared Taylor, a white nationalist whose website, American Renaissance, is a movement favourite. But the media is over-hyping his support within the Alt-Right “in an attempt to discredit him,” Taylor added. Trump has been criticised by both Democrats and some Republicans for being slow to condemn the more extreme elements of the political right. But when a leading KKK newspaper ran a pro-Trump story on its front page last week, his campaign immediately issued a statement rejecting the “repulsive” article. Taylor, Hill and other Alt-Right figures say they don’t advocate or condone vandalism or violence. They dismiss the notion that their rhetoric constitutes hate speech, arguing that their vilification by the left is far more hateful. Left-wing extremists do have a history of aggressive confrontation with people or groups seen as fascist or racist, says Heidi Beirich, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organisation that monitors extremist movements. “There’s usually more violence from the anti-racists than the racists,” she said. The free speech provisions of the US Constitution’s First Amendment grant broad protections for inflammatory rhetoric. But state and federal statutes do give law enforcement agencies authority to investigate and prosecute “hate crimes” motivated by bias against a race, ethnicity, religion, disability or sexual orientation. A 6 percent increase in hate crimes documented last year by the California State University researchers showed relatively little underlying change in attacks against most minority groups. But crimes against Muslims rose 86 percent. Some who study and work in the political arena believe there has been a general erosion in civility that began long before the start of the current presidential race. Craig Dunn, Republican party chairman for Howard County, Indiana, which includes Kokomo, says that a minority of extreme voices are being amplified over the Internet and social media, fueling “a general breakdown in civility.” Local officials worry about how their community is being affected. "The atmosphere is “more volatile, there’s more tension,” said Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, a Democrat. The graffiti attacks were deeply troubling, he adds. “I don’t remember anything like this ever happening here.” Monica Fowler, 43, who had “KKK” sprayed on her Democratic yard signs, is struggling with the attacks. “It’s okay to disagree,” she says. “But if what you’re doing is going to scare or harm another person, how dare you.”

At the outset of the pandemic, the CDC moved at its accustomed pace. But this time, with a novel virus moving so quickly, the country paid a price: Testing and surveillance lagged as the agency tried to implement dated approaches with creaky infrastructure. Officials were late to recommend masking, in part because federal scientists took too long to recognize that the virus was airborne. Now the contagious omicron variant is pushing the CDC into uncharted territory. Because decisions must be made at a breakneck pace, the agency has issued recommendations based on what once would have been considered insufficient evidence, amid growing public concern about how these guidelines affect the economy and education. The agency’s director, Dr Rochelle Walensky, has sometimes skipped much of the traditional scientific review process, most recently in shortening the isolation period for infected Americans. After the Trump administration’s pattern of interference, President Joe Biden came to office promising to restore the CDC’s reputation for independence and rigorous science. The challenge now for Walensky is figuring out how to convey this message to the public: The science is incomplete, and this is our best advice for now. For a bureaucracy staffed primarily by medical professionals, the change has not been easy. In recent interviews, some officials at the CDC privately described the decisions as demoralizing, and worried about Walensky’s increasing reliance on a small group of advisers and what they saw as the White House’s heavy political influence on her actions. Yet others outside the agency commended Walensky for short-circuiting a laborious process and taking a pragmatic approach to managing a national emergency, saying she was right to move ahead even when the data was unclear and agency researchers remained unsure. There are policy considerations in a pandemic that are “not the sole purview of CDC,” said Dr Richard Besser, who served as interim chief of the agency during the H1N1 influenza virus outbreak of 2009. But, he added, “I think we need some more clarity” when policy and economics drive agency recommendations. As of Sunday, more than 800,000 Americans on average are infected daily, according to data gathered by The New York Times. Many schools and businesses are struggling to remain open; hospitals in nearly two dozen states are nearing capacity. At the end of December, Walensky announced that infected Americans would need to isolate for only five days, not 10, if they were no longer experiencing symptoms, and that a negative test result would not be required to end the isolation period. Critics complained that the virus might spread as contagious people were allowed to return to offices and schools. Many pointed out that the research supporting a shortened isolation period for omicron infections was scant. But the recommendation had an important advantage: It could help keep hospitals, businesses and schools afloat through the worst of the omicron surge. The recommendations for isolation are “basically correct,” said Dr Thomas Frieden, who led the agency under President Barack Obama. “The problem is, they were not explained.” Walensky and the CDC declined requests for comment on new tensions in the agency’s decision-making. But the director has frequently cited rapidly evolving science as justification for recommendations that proved to be confusing or unpopular. Testifying before the Senate on Tuesday, Walensky said the agency’s new recommendations for shortened isolation periods represent “swift science-based action to address the very real possibility of staffing shortages.” It is has been something of a mantra for Walensky. In March, the CDC said schoolchildren could safely sit 3 feet apart in classrooms, instead of 6 feet, although there was virtually no research to back up the recommendation. But the move did make it easier for administrators to consider opening schools. In May, Walensky cited scientific data when she told vaccinated people that they could take off their masks and mingle freely, much to the consternation of experts who said that the move ignored the possibility of breakthrough infections. (Those arrived with the delta variant.) In August, Walensky joined Biden in supporting booster shots for all Americans, well before scientists at the Food and Drug Administration or at her own agency had a chance to review the data on whether they were needed. The most recent example — the isolation advice — left turmoil within the agency over the way in which it was established and announced. On the Sunday night after Christmas, Walensky called an emergency meeting of the agency’s COVID response leaders. She told them the agency would shrink the recommended isolation period and would drop a negative test result as a requirement for leaving isolation, according to an official familiar with the video call who spoke on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak on the matter. The new guidance would be made public the next day, Walensky said, and officials were not to discuss it until then. Stunned, the scientists scrambled to gather the limited data to support the recommendations and to rewrite the hundreds of pages on the agency’s website that touch on quarantine and isolation. Before publishing a new recommendation, federal researchers normally pore over data, write a draft and fine-tune it based on comments from others. There was so little evidence for shortened isolation — and even that was based mostly on the delta variant — that the “science brief” that typically accompanies guidance was downgraded to a “rationale” document. Some researchers bristled at being left out of the decision-making process and were enraged by the agency’s public statement the next day that the change was “motivated by science.” Although some believed the new five-day cutoff was arbitrary, they also knew of data suggesting that rapid tests might miss some omicron infections, and so mostly agreed with Walensky’s decision not to require a negative test result before ending isolation. But when Walensky informed staff of the new recommendations in the emergency meeting Dec 26, they were far from ready. Over the next week, CDC scientists struggled to adjust hundreds of guidance documents on the agency’s website. About 2,000 health officials, public health lab directors and public health researchers at the state and city levels join a weekly call with CDC officials. On the call Dec 27, just hours before the CDC released its statement, state and local officials peppered agency scientists with questions about the plans for isolation guidance for the general public. Under strict orders to not talk about the new recommendations, CDC staff members were silent. “We would have appreciated more opportunity for input and heads up,” said Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories. Walensky’s supporters said the pivot by the CDC was inevitable and that she had made the right calls. The agency is a behemoth, filled with researchers accustomed to taking their time, and the pandemic needed more urgent solutions. “There are people at CDC who really don’t get it,” Frieden said. During his tenure, he said, he was frequently confronted with “in some ways charming, but in some ways problematic, cluelessness on the part of CDC staff that their recommendations, their guidance, their statements could have big implications.” Several outside experts said Walensky had become a scapegoat for people who were weary and frustrated by a virus that seemed repeatedly to have retreated only to return in a horrific new form in short order. Leading the CDC is challenging even at the best of times, they said. But Walensky took the reins in the middle of a pandemic, in a politically charged climate and at a low point in the agency’s credibility and staff morale. And agency researchers are still working remotely — “almost an unthinkable hurdle to overcome,” Besser said. “I am concerned about CDC. I am concerned about the nation’s trust in public health,” Besser said. “But I think it’s really unfair to put that on the shoulders of Dr. Walensky.” Walensky has explained the rationale for her decisions at news briefings held by the White House. But last week, responding to wide criticism about muddled messaging, she and other agency scientists held a briefing of their own, answering questions from reporters about the isolation guidance, the rising rate of hospitalizations among young children and the agency’s plans for a fourth shot of the coronavirus vaccine. The briefing was a welcome step toward rebuilding trust in the CDC and clarifying its decisions, some experts said. “Separating out public health considerations from political considerations is very important,” Besser said. “And by doing briefings from CDC, she’ll be able to lift up CDC scientists and experts.” Some of the current conflict at the CDC predates the pandemic and Walensky’s leadership. Tension between the agency and the National Institutes of Health, represented by Dr Anthony Fauci, festered even during previous public health crises, some health officials noted. In the most recent instance, Fauci and Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy gave assurances on television that the CDC would revisit its recommendations for isolation — when the agency had no plans to do so — and irritated senior CDC scientists. Ideally, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra should smooth things over, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. In a rare appearance, Becerra last week defended Walensky in a CNN interview, saying she had “a medical license and a degree in public health. She doesn’t have a degree in marketing.” © 2022 The New York Times Company

COPENHAGEN, Dec 18, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - A UN summit is considering a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius, backed by a new fund of $100 billion a year to aid developing nations, according to a draft text pulled together on Friday morning hours before world leaders met. "Deep cuts in global emissions are required," according to the draft, seen by Reuters. It had blanks still to be filled in for commitments by rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. This latest draft had not moved on significantly from a text produced during the night. "Recognising the scientific view that the increase in global temperatures ought not to exceed 2 degrees...parties commit to a vigorous response through immediate and enhanced national action based on strengthened international cooperation," it said. Many major economies have already adopted a goal of limiting warming to 2 Celsius over pre-industrial times, seen as a threshold for "dangerous" changes such as more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels. "The parties support the goal of mobilising jointly $100 billion by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries," it said. "This money will come from a wide variety of sources." The phrasing echoed U.S. Secrtary of State Hillary Clinton's speech to the Copenhagen meeting on Thursday. The text also outlined a goal of providing $10 billion a year in quick start funds for developing nations from 2010-12, rising until the $100 billion goal by 2020. The text said developing nations would agree to some monitoring of their promised emissions curbs, including reporting back to the UN Climate Change Secretariat every two years. The United States is insisting on international verification as part of a deal. Negotiations on full legal texts -- of one or more new climate treaties -- would have to be wrapped up by the end of 2010, the draft said. The text would not be legally binding. The text said nations would continue talks "with a view to adopting one or more legal instruments ... as soon as possible and no later than COP 16", the next UN meeting due in Mexico in November 2010. Many developing nations want two pacts -- an extended Kyoto Protocol that now obliges rich nations to cut emissions until 2012 and a new deal outlining actions by the poor. Developed nations prefer a single treaty. The overall text was titled the "Copenhagen X" -- reflecting disagreement about what to call it. "I'd call it the Copenhagen catastrophe," said one environmental activist, saying it was too weak.

Leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada -- also known as "the three amigos" -- begin a summit on Sunday in Mexico to talk about simmering trade issues and the threat of drug gangs. President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon are gathering in Guadalajara for dinner Sunday night followed by three-way talks on Monday. At the top of their agenda is how to power their economies past a lingering downturn, keep trade flowing smoothly and grapple with Mexican gangs dominating the drug trade over the US border and up into Canada. Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, doubted the leaders would announce major agreements, predicting the annual summit "is going to be a step in the continuing dialogue from which agreements will undoubtedly come." Obama is expected to get some heat from Calderon to resolve a cross-border trucking dispute. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexican trucks are supposed to be allowed to cross into the United States, but American trucking companies charge Mexican trucks are not safe. The issue has festered for years. Mexico imposed retaliatory tariffs of $2.4 billion in US goods in March after Obama signed a bill canceling a program allowing Mexican trucks to operate beyond the U.S. border zone. US business groups have been pressing the White House to resolve the dispute, saying the ban threatens to eliminate thousands of US jobs. "We would like to see a final closure and a final solution to the issue of trucking," said Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan. He said he would like an agreement by year's end. A top White House official, Michael Froman, told reporters the Obama administration is "quite focused" on the issue and was working with the US Congress to resolve safety issues. CARTEL VIOLENCE Canadian officials are expected to raise their concerns about "Buy American" elements of a $787 billion economic stimulus bill that they fear could shut out Canadian companies from US construction contracts funded by the stimulus. Canada is the United States' largest trading partner. Froman said the Obama administration was talking to Canada and other nations "to try and implement the 'Buy American' provision in a way consistent with the law, consistent with our international obligations, while minimizing disruption to trade." Obama took a potential sore point off the table ahead of his trip: That he might be willing to unilaterally reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) treaty as he had talked about on the campaign trail last year. Given the weakened economies of the three nations, he told Hispanic reporters on Friday, it is not the time to try to add enforceable labor and environmental protections to the treaty as some in his Democratic Party would prefer. "In terms of refining some of our agreements, that is not where everyone's focus is right now because we are in the middle of a very difficult economic situation," Obama said, although he added that he was still interested in learning how to improve the treaty. Another top issue at the summit is what to do about Mexican drug gangs who are killing rivals in record numbers, despite Calderon's three-year army assault on the cartels. The death rate this year from the violence is about a third higher than in 2008, and police in the United States and as far north as the western Canadian city of Vancouver have blamed the Mexican traffickers for crime. Obama is backing Calderon's efforts. "He is doing the right thing by going after them and he has done so with tremendous courage," Obama said. Obama promised full support to Calderon during a visit in April, but Mexico complains that anti-drug equipment and training are taking too long to arrive and hopes the summit will move things ahead. The leaders also promise a statement on H1N1 swine flu and will jointly address climate change as they prepare for major international talks in Copenhagen in December.

The Dhaka City Corporation has around 250 dumpsters, overflowing with waste all over the capital, clearly not enough for a city of millions.So, as wastes pile up, a youth-based organisation is looking to offer help by ‘privatising transcans’.Footsteps, with its project ‘WECan’, plans to sell commercial trash cans to business organisations and set them up in front of corporate offices for use of pedestrians.“Corporate bodies have an image to maintain and do their bit as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility,” it said.The trash cans will account for a part of a company’s CSR responsibility.Footsteps said it would sell steel trash cans, 3.6 feet in height with 2 x 2 feet base, for Tk 5000.The lime-green cans will bear the company’s logo along with a ‘social, eye-catching message’ – such as ‘Our City Our Responsibility or ‘What’s trash to you is treasure to me.”Metal chains are to be included with every purchase, so that the cans can be fastened to office main gates and avoid being stolen.The trashcans, however, will need to be cleared by vehicles that usually collects waste from the offices. Any additional revenue earned will be allocated to provide winter clothes to the poor and needy, says Footsteps.It also encourages that interested companies buy more than one can to ‘ensure effectiveness’.Maintenance of the cans will be the sole responsibility of the company.“The funding of a trashcan by a corporate body will not only benefit the environment but also the company itself,” it said.The companies, it said, will contribute to decreased littering around their office through what will be an ideal advertisement campaign.Footsteps started in 2012 with an aim to involve Bangladesh youth in issues such as development, pollution, education, poverty and climate change. Teams of volunteers have been pitted against one another to spur sales of cans, says Zahin Shuhrat Islam, 16, a volunteer."So I am asking just anyone I know in the corporate world," says Zahin.

China should cut its carbon intensity every year by 4 or 5 percent if it wants to achieve a goal of low-carbon development by 2050, state media on Thursday cited a thinktank report as saying. In September, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised to put a "notable" brake on the country's rapidly rising carbon emissions, but dashed hopes he would unveil a hard target to kickstart stalled climate talks. Hu, the leader of the world's biggest emitter, told a UN summit China would pledge to cut "carbon intensity", or the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each dollar of economic output, over the decade to 2020. The official China Daily said the China Council of International Cooperation on Environment and Development would submit a report to the central government on cutting carbon intensity. "If China is to meet the target of year-on-year emissions cuts of between 4 and 5 percent, it will need to reduce energy intensity by between 75 and 85 percent by 2050," the newspaper wrote, paraphrasing the report. "In addition, the proportion of manufacturing industry within the national economic structure would need to be cut from the current 50 percent to around 30 percent by the middle of the century," it added. "By 2030, more than half of new energy demand should be met by low-carbon energy and by 2050, all new energy should be clean energy," the newspaper said. "In addition, carbon capture and storage technology should be promoted by 2030." The China Daily said the report was the first time a high-level think-tank had made concrete proposals to cut emissions since Hu's September address. The think tank said China should reform its environmental tax system. "It says the time is ripe for the country to begin to collect taxes from companies that emit pollutions and carbon dioxide because of the burning of fossil fuels." The report comes ahead of a major UN climate gathering in Denmark in December. The United Nations wants the Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen meeting to yield a broader, and tougher, legally binding agreement by all nations to fight climate change but negotiations have largely stalled, dimming hopes of success.

Half a century after the first atomic power plant opened at Obninsk near Moscow, climate change is widening the environmental appeal of nuclear power despite a lack of final storage for the most toxic waste. The world's 439 nuclear power plants emit almost no greenhouse gases and so avert the equivalent of the emissions of Japan every year, according to some studies, compared with the average for electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. But risks of accidents, such as at Chernobyl in 1986 in what is now Ukraine, mean anguished decisions for governments attracted by nuclear power as a weapon to fight global warming. "Nuclear is not a straightforward choice," said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN Climate Panel that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore. "You can't ignore it, it accounts for 16 or 17 percent of the electricity generated in the world," Pachauri told Reuters. "But you need institutions in place to handle it, places for disposal...I think it's a sovereign decision for each country." Some waste will be toxic for thousands of years and no permanent repositories exist for high-level waste, more than five decades after the Obninsk reactor opened in June 1954. Nevertheless, Britain decided to invest in a new generation of nuclear power stations this month, Finland and France are building new plants, while companies in the United States have begun filing licence applications. Thirty-four plants are under construction worldwide. While some people are warming to nuclear power, partly because of climate change, security of supply and oil prices close to $100 a barrel, others say opposition is undimmed. RENAISSANCE "There's a big hype about a 'nuclear renaissance', saying that countries are looking more positively at nuclear power, arguing about climate change and security of supply," said Jan Beranek of the Greenpeace environmental group. "It's a dead end," he said, arguing that nuclear energy was soaking up investment that could otherwise go to renewable energies such as wind, hydro, solar or tidal power. "There are huge storage problems with nuclear power," said Norwegian Environment Minister Erik Solheim, whose country has never had nuclear power. Oslo favours a drive for technology to bury carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power plants. Still, Pachauri's U.N. climate panel said in 2007 that "nuclear power is an effective greenhouse gas mitigation option". The panel quoted a study saying that nuclear power already avoids 1.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year compared with the world average emissions for electricity generation. By comparison, Japan's greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 were 1.4 billion tonnes. Other studies put emissions from nuclear higher because of factors such as ore processing and decommissioning. And there are public doubts about the environmental impact, alongside fears of terrorist attacks on plants or that states might use the technology to make bombs. "With nuclear the first reaction is still: 'Oh, Chernobyl'," said Ferenc Toth, senior energy economist at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA says the leak at Chernobyl is likely to kill 4,000 people from radiation-induced cancers among the 600,000 people nearest the plant and perhaps another 5,000 further away. Toth said that environmental benefits of nuclear power such, as cutting greenhouse gas emissions, were less known. Even for developing nations, nuclear power could be an attractive environmental option, he said. It could help countries such as China to curb smog in cities including Beijing. In India, one IAEA study indicated that nuclear power could compete more than 800 kms (500 miles) from coal mines, because of high transport costs, Toth said. And he noted that big developing nations were also looking at ways to curb their rising greenhouse gas emissions in the long term, even though they have no curbs under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol meant to slow climate change until 2012. There are temporary storage sites for waste but no permanent repositories "yet exist for high-level waste such as spent light-water reactor fuel," the UN Climate Panel said. "The closest to...implementing deep geological storage are Finland and Sweden," said Toth. The Yucca Mountain (storage site) in the United States may take 10 to 15 years." But he added that future technologies might allow recycling of the waste before it needed to be buried forever.

Marguerite Hanley, a native Californian who lives in Amsterdam, is one of those travellers. “After a year of being forced to look inward, we have all realized the value and impact of our actions, both globally in terms of COVID, as humans infringing on habitat, and how we treat people in our community,” said Hanley, who recently decided to decelerate an ambitious honeymoon in Africa planned for next March. Instead of a whirlwind trip that included a Botswana safari, a visit to Cape Town and an exploration of South African wine country, she scaled down to concentrate on a few camps in Botswana that support conservation and local communities. “It made sense to stay longer, bring our euros to a couple of communities and reduce our carbon footprint, too,” she said. Slow travel grew out of the slow food movement, which emphasizes sustainable, local and organic food, and prizes artisanal traditions. It isn’t new — the appeal of walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain, for example, has endured for centuries. But it’s attracting more travellers now for a variety of reasons: as a salve to social distancing, a response to flight-shaming, a meditative breather or an exercise of pandemic-inspired caution. These more mindful trips involve visiting fewer places and sometimes transiting slower, whether by car, train, bike, foot or canoe. “While typical travel is all about what you do, slow travel emphasizes how you do it,” Kyle Kowalski, the founder of Sloww, a website devoted to slow living, wrote in an email. “Instead of a jam-packed itinerary, slow travel is about intentionally choosing where you will do less in order to experience more. Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, slow travel is about balance and pace, leaving open time to create space and spontaneity.” A pandemic-inspired pace Whether they wanted to or not, many people have experienced a slower life during the pandemic, which has fed the slow travel movement. The environmental gains witnessed during the pandemic as travel ebbed persuaded Julia Douglas, a social media manager in Los Angeles, to walk whenever possible rather than order an Uber. On a recent trip from New York City to Buffalo, New York, she took an eight-hour train ride rather than fly as part of an effort “to make small changes that would prolong the improvement in pollution, which the world saw when travelling by plane almost completely stopped,” she said. While commuter train ridership has suffered during the pandemic, long-distance train travel has shown signs of resurgence. Amtrak Vacations, a tour operator that bundles hotels, excursions and travel by train, said bookings were up 47 percent this year to date compared to 2019. In Europe, where 2021 has been designated the European Year of Rail by the European Union to highlight sustainable transportation, long-distance train travel has been revived. Night train networks have made a comeback and one startup, Midnight Trains, plans to launch luxury sleeper cars on routes from Paris to more than 10 cities beginning in 2024. Work-from-anywhere policies, born of the pandemic, enabled many to stretch their trips. Airbnb said its stays of 28 days or more had increased 10 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. Exclusive Resorts, a membership home rental service, said bookings of 21 days or more grew 550 percent in 2021 compared to 2019. The time-consuming requirements of travel today, such as testing or applying for entry, also tend to slow things down. “In the before times, it was common for travellers to pack in as many destinations and countries as possible, and a Southern Africa safari could include two, three or four countries,” said Jeremy Townsend, the marketing director for Next Adventures, based in Berkeley, California. “Today, with required COVID tests for entry and spotty flight connections, our clients are opting for single-country safaris to places like Kenya, Uganda or Zambia that offer a wide variety of experiences with the convenience of reliable international access.” Getting a COVID-19 test 72 hours before returning to the United States from abroad, as required, is a natural brake. “Traveling is complicated right now, and we’re recommending that clients add on a few days at the end of their vacation near to their departure point, in order to more easily deal with the requirements for testing before getting onto a flight home,” said Simon Scutt, the director of On Foot Holidays, which specializes in European walking tours. Anti-checklist travel But it’s not just practicalities pumping the brakes. There’s a calming appeal to travellers who may feel overwhelmed after more than a year of nervous coexistence with the coronavirus. In anticipation of Norway’s recent opening to vaccinated American travellers, Up Norway, a bespoke travel company, began selling the concept of “kos,” a Norwegian term for peace, harmony and gratitude cultivated “when one takes their time travelling, soaking in the simple joys of culture and natural beauty,” according to a news release touting 28-day stays in remote areas of the country. It’s a far cry from seeing Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Roman Colosseum — the package-trip hit parade — in a week. “We used to book a lot of Europe and Asia where people just wanted to check spots off their list,” said Denise Ambrusko-Maida, a travel adviser and the owner of the travel agency Travel Brilliant in Buffalo, New York. “People are pulling away from tourist hot spots. They don’t want to be crammed in and shuffling along in lines.” Rebecca Werner, a Chicago-based travel adviser with Protravel, recently booked a summer train trip to Glacier National Park for a Wisconsin family of four who are fans of the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit.” It was a “good way to catch up with their kids and see some good scenery, plus play some chess on the train,” she said. For these travellers, pursuing personal passions has supplanted the bucket list. Working with the bespoke travel agency Untold Story Travel, David Demers of Naples, Florida, is organizing two nearly month-long trips next year to Israel and the Mediterranean with ample time to pursue his interests in history, theatre, food and art. “In the past, travel was about packing in as much as you can, running around checking boxes, which becomes mechanical,” said Demers, who recently sold his health care company. “The pandemic taught us all that it’s OK to not go fast, to focus on what’s important.” With that in mind, the travel company Sojrn recently launched monthlong trips staying in one destination, each with an educational theme such as philosophy in Athens, wine in Italy or Spanish language in Colombia. Travellers stay in local apartments and participate in weekly dinners and events, leaving lots of unstructured time to work and explore. “I’m trying not to plan everything out to the minute like I have done in the past,” said Cara Wright, of Apple Valley, Minnesota, who plans to continue working for a nonprofit while in Italy in October with Sojrn. A sustainable speed For others, like Donna Hetrick, a potter based in Pittsburgh who is bound for Africa, slow travel is about reducing their environmental impact. “I couldn’t justify a two-week safari,” said Hetrick, who instead plans to spend several months biking in Africa beginning in 2022 with TDA Global Cycling. In addition to amortizing her carbon footprint and seeing a place in-depth, the long trip offers connection. “When you’re on a bicycle, you are accessible to people,” she said. As a form of tourism that espouses treading lightly, going off the beaten path, connecting with community and patronizing locally owned businesses — all tenets of sustainable travel — slow tourism is also being championed as a correction to overtourism, the kind of overcrowding that plagued destinations such as Dubrovnik before the pandemic. “Slow tourism is more sustainable because people tend to spend more time in a destination and spread out,” said Martha Honey, the former executive director of the Center for Responsible Travel and co-editor of the book “Overtourism: Lessons for a Better Future." She describes slow travel as a “win-win” for both the traveller, who engages more deeply in a destination, and the destination, which sees the benefits of travel dispersed, and credits the recent buy-local movement, forged in the pandemic as communities pulled together to keep local businesses afloat, for popularizing slow principles. “It’s less disruptive and more economically beneficial,” Honey added. As indicated by the popularity of destinations such as Alaska and Montana this summer, travellers continue to avoid densely populated places. In a recent survey of more than 800 travellers in five countries, including the United States, by Flywire, a payment-processing service, three-quarters said they would look for an uncrowded destination when they travel. For eco-conscious explorers who cling to Phileas Fogg-like ambitions of circumnavigating the globe, but fret over their impact, the sustainable tour operator Responsible Travel recently introduced an 11-week trip — roughly 80 days — around the world by train and cargo ship, crossing Europe to Central Asia, following the Silk Road to China, then shipping out across the Pacific for North America. “The journey becomes part of the travel experience rather than just a way of getting from A to B,” said Anna Rice, a manager at Responsible Travel who spent a year beginning in 2011 travelling around the world by train and ship, and discovering, among other things, that Vietnam, China, Russia and Poland all had a similar dumpling with a different name. “You become much more aware of your surroundings and how countries are connected in subtle ways in terms of culture and their environments.” Moving at the speed of humans For those to whom trains and freighters are too mechanized, human-powered travel, such as hiking, biking and paddling, allow for maximum exposure to nature and the small details blurred at higher speeds. “You get to see things you don’t see in a car because you’re going slow,” said Kristi Growdon, a personal golf trainer based in Seattle who took a cycling trip to Utah in April with VBT Bicycling Vacations. The company has nearly sold out all domestic departures this year. At the Maine Island Trail Association, which manages a route across more than 200 undeveloped islands along the Maine coast, membership, which includes access to trail information, jumped 23 percent last year. A sea kayak “takes you into a place other boats cannot go, the intertidal zone,” said Michael Daugherty, the co-owner of Sea Kayak Stonington, which offers boat rentals and guided trips to some of the islands on the trail. “There’s tide and swell and it’s dynamic, and you’re much more aware of that in a small boat.” He runs the business with his wife, Rebecca Daugherty, an artist, and together they have paddled 625 miles along the Maine coast, producing the 2020 illustrated book “Upwest & Downeast.” “I’m a painter, and it takes a while to see a place,” Daugherty said. “I felt on that 55-day trip, it wasn’t slow enough.” New ways to slow down Where there’s a trend in travel, tour operators follow, as indicated by a new wave of relaxed vacation packages. The active travel company Backroads, launched a division this year called Dolce Tempo, offering a less ambitious pace. Nearly all 2021 trips are sold out; in 2022, it plans to add 100 new Dolce Tempo departures at home and abroad, including Scandinavia, England and along the Danube River. Motorists can drive from Denver to Moab, Utah, in about 5 1/2 hours. But beginning in August, riders of the Rocky Mountaineer train can cover the route in two days on a scenic ride with an overnight stay in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The new Rockies to the Red Rocks route has been so popular the company has added capacity and extended its inaugural season to Nov 19. Notably, there is no Wi-Fi onboard. In southern Utah, the new Aquarius Trail Hut System stations five backcountry huts — fashioned from recycled shipping containers and powered by solar energy — across a 190-mile bicycling route from Brian Head Peak to the town of Escalante. Cyclists pedal in the Dixie National Forest through the hoodoos of Red Canyon and skirt Bryce Canyon National Park. Jared Fisher, who owns the Las Vegas-based cycling outfitter Escape Adventures, developed the Aquarius Trail Hut System over five years to make “bike-packing” — or backpacking via bike — accessible by including food and bedding, which reduces the amount of gear and planning required. An avid bike-packer, Fisher has ridden across the United States three times. “Personally, I enjoy the freedom and headspace” of travelling by bike, he said. “I love to be out in nature and feel it, smell it, taste it.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Pakistani comedian Alamzeb Mujahid had bad news for his fans after being freed by Islamist militants who kidnapped him in Peshawar city last month. "I'm retiring from showbiz," Mujahid, whose stage name is Janaan, told a news conference without going into details about either the kidnapping or his reasons for quitting the stage. Friends and colleagues were less circumspect. They say Mujahid, an ethnic Pashtun, was kidnapped by Islamist vigilantes hell-bent on imposing Taliban-style values in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), a volatile region bordering Afghanistan. A veteran of hundreds of theater and television plays, the slim, clean shaven 38-year-old actor has begun growing a beard for his life after comedy. Reluctant to speak about his life-changing experience, Mujahid told Reuters he was joining Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim missionary group, to preach religion. "God has fed me before and will continue to feed me now," he said solemnly. Mujahid was lucky. Others who have fallen foul of militant morality squads, didn't get a second chance. Catalog OF MURDER In January, a woman dancer, Shabana, was dragged onto the street and shot in the center of Mingora, a town in Swat, a valley about 130 km (80 miles) north of the capital Islamabad where militants are virtually in complete control. Gunmen tried to kill Pashtun singer Sardar Yousafzai in Dir district as he returned home after performing at a wedding party in December. He escaped but his harmonium player, Anwar Gul, was killed and four other people were wounded in the attack. The climate for anyone associated with the entertainment industry in the region turned hostile after Islamist parties rode to power in NWFP on a wave of anti-American sentiment following the US-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001. The disapproving Islamist parties banned music on public transport and had movie posters featuring women torn down. Militants went a lot further. At first, music shops in tribal areas such as Waziristan were blown up and then attacks spread across the northwest as the Islamist tide radiated outwards, toward cities and towns. Last June, gun-totting Taliban fighters roamed Peshawar, the provincial capital, in pick-up trucks, warning music shop owners to close their businesses or face the consequences. The sight of them sent a shock wave through Pakistan three months after a civilian government had come to power, and security forces were ordered to launch an operation. Since then more tribal regions and districts of the NWFP have become the stomping grounds of militants. The army has conducted offensives in tribal regions such as Bajaur and Mohmand. While advances are made in some areas insecurity worsens in others. Peshawar is no exception. WORTH DYING FOR? The defeat of Islamist parties in NWFP following an election a year ago raised hopes that the northwest would again become a safe place to sing, dance and make people laugh. But the secular Pashtun party now heading the provincial government has been unable to deliver despite good intentions. Syed Aqil Shah, provincial minister for sports and culture, said everyone needs to stand up against the militants. "It's wrong to assume that only the government can handle it," said Shah. "The entire population and the civil society have to confront these threats." People don't want to wind up dead, though. Several singers and musicians have already fled abroad, and others plan to follow. "I'm scared of leaving my home. Even if I go out, my wife keeps calling to check on me," said one singer, who asked for his name to be withheld for fear of reprisal by militants. "We are very scared. That's why I am planning to go abroad." Others have simply found safer ways to earn money for their families. "Ninety percent of the music is dead," said a musician, reduced to selling fruit and vegetables for a living. Beside him lay his harmonium gathering dust.

LONDON, Nov 16, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Agreement in Copenhagen next month on a new pact to fight climate change will encourage long-term investors to move into firms better placed to cope with a likely and eventual rise in the cost of carbon emissions. A strong political deal including targets for emission cuts at the Dec 7-18 summit might be just enough to accelerate moves by investors such as pension funds or sovereign wealth funds to adjust portfolios to better reflect long-term risks from climate change, asset managers reckon. It is also likely to boost growth rates of firms which are either energy self-sufficient or engage in alternative energy such as wind or solar, while pressuring emission-intensive industries such as utilities, aluminium or car makers. And a more concrete deal -- such as a legally binding target to cut emissions -- would likely to prompt funds to start to change their asset allocation now to protect portfolios from the impact on companies hit by a rising cost of emissions. "It's effectively a global treaty to control pollutants. You are intervening in the economy to control and internalise the cost of carbon," said Bruce Jenkyn-Jones, managing director of listed equities at Impax Asset Management. "The idea that... people will pay for carbon right across the economy will have an impact on products and services. Big energy producers, utilities and industrials will be affected." Impax manages a total of 50 million pounds in global equities for the UK Enviornmental Agency's Active Pension Fund. The strength of a Copenhagen deal is still very uncertain. At a preparatory UN meeting in Barcelona last week, developed countries played down expectations of agreement on a legally binding text, saying that would take an additional 6-12 months. But developing countries are suspicious of backtracking on commitments from rich nations which have promised to lead in the fight against climate change. They insisted on a legally binding deal in December. "Politicians have done a good job of lowering expectations. That's exactly why there's real opportunity here. Decisions made in Copenhagen will dramatically influence growth rates of companies you are investing in," said Simon Webber, fund manager at Schroders. He reckons immediately affected industries from a concrete deal included power generation, utilities and transport, citing that some utilities -- such as Germany's RWE -- could face higher carbon costs that are equal to almost a third of operating profits in the next few years. He added the $26 billion deal in November by Warren Buffett to buy railway firm Burlington Northern Santa Fe highlighted the long-term viability of rails. "(An aggressive deal) will mean nuclear power and solar growth rates will take off in these industries. There will be a major shift from combustion engine cars to electric vehicles. There's no other way of meeting tough initial targets," he said. Malcolm Gray, portfolio manager at Investec Asset Management, says energy self-sufficient industries such as sugar can better cope with emission reductions and will attract flows. Some utilities in the traditional thermal space and aluminium producers that are not diversified will be exposed. As the cost of goods will be adjusted to take into account the increased cost of production as a result of high carbon prices, consumers with less disposable income and some high-volume low-margin retail business might also be losers. "We are faced with a world which has a lot more embedded inflation than people currently realise. You could be caught up with a slightly more aggressive inflation cycle globally compared with the deflating world we're currently in," he said. RISK MITIGATION AND OPPORTUNITIES The outcome of Copenhagen talks would enable investors to mitigate portfolio risks by better forecasting the likely pace of the rise in the cost of carbon emissions, and seek new investment in industries which benefit from alternative energy. Long-term investors, such as sovereign funds, are already getting increasingly active in environmental investing, at a time when private sector involvement has been somewhat slow. Norway's $400 billion-plus oil fund, the biggest owner of European stocks, is investing more than $3 billion over five years into firms engaged in environmental technologies. It is also pushing companies it holds to tackle climate change harder. "We're best served by promoting good standards of corporate behaviour. This is something very consistent with pursuing long-term investment objectives," Martin Skancke, director general of Norway's Ministry of Finance Asset Management Department, told Reuters last month. Rabobank says the Copenhagen outcome will clarify the framework for the unlisted Dutch bank which is already taking into account the cost of carbon emissions as a risk factor in granting credit facilities. "We will deal with risk mitigation and business opportunities will come in time," said Ruud Nijs, head of corporate social responsibility at Rabobank. "If the costs of climate change were taxed -- suddenly we will look at the credit portfolio in a different way. If one of our customers now has to pay for the price for climate, then the risk factor to that customer will change dramatically." The bank has been investing in renewables in deals worth over 4 billion euros, with its investments in its credit investment portfolio in the past 18 months all in clean technology. It is a sole debt provider to the Belfuture solar project, worth a couple of hundreds of million euros. It has given project financing of senior debt and equity financing worth 620 million euros for the Belwind offshore wind farm project. "Copenhagen brings us a better framework to do business with. The positive outcome will automatically generate big cleantech deals, investment in solar, wind and biomass technologies. The pipeline will also increase," Nijs said.

Trump, a Republican, whom Democrats have accused of stoking racial divisions, said Americans must "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy," a day after Texas officials said racial hatred was a possible motive in the killings of 22 people in the southern border city of El Paso. A 21-year-old white man has been charged with capital murder in Saturday's shooting spree at a Walmart store. Police in El Paso cited a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto posted online shortly before the shooting, which they attributed to the suspect, Patrick Crusius. Trump did not address accusations that his own anti-immigrant and racially charged comments have contributed to a rise in race tensions, nor did he call for broad gun control measures. "These sinister ideologies must be defeated," he said in remarks at the White House. "Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul." Democrats, who have long pushed for stricter gun control, quickly accused Trump of hiding behind talk of mental health reform and the role of social media instead of committing to laws aimed at curbing gun violence in the United States. 'WE NEED TO HEAL' Trump plans to visit El Paso on Wednesday, Mayor Dee Margo said on Monday. Former congressman and El Paso native Beto O'Rourke, now seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said Trump should stay away from the southwest Texas border city. "This president, who helped create the hatred that made Saturday's tragedy possible, should not come to El Paso," O'Rourke tweeted on Monday. "We do not need more division. We need to heal. He has no place here." Several other Democrats vying to face Trump in the November 2020 presidential election likewise blamed him for the attack in Texas, citing his rhetoric on immigrants. Five of the Democrats were in San Diego on Monday for the annual conference of UnidosUS, the biggest Hispanic advocacy group in the United States. The group's president, Janet Murguia, called Trump the "radicalizer-in-chief." Current Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, who was vice president under former President Barack Obama, directed his opening remarks at the gun attacks. "Mr President, it's long past time you called it out: It's hatred pure and simple fueled by rhetoric that's so divisive it's causing people to die," Biden said. Obama himself, who fought unsuccessfully for gun restrictions while in office, did not mention Trump by name when he urged Americans to reject divisive rhetoric. "We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments," Obama said in a statement. Trump began his presidential campaign in 2015 by characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug smugglers, and he has repeatedly likened illegal border-crossings from Mexico as an "invasion," calling such migrants "very bad thugs and gang members." Eight Mexican citizens were among the 22 people killed at the El Paso Walmart on Saturday by a man who authorities say drove from his home in the Dallas suburb of Allen, 660 miles (1,062 km) away, to El Paso, authorities said. Just 13 hours later, another gunman killed nine people in downtown Dayton, Ohio, before he was shot to death by police. His motive was not clear. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, speaking on Fox News, confirmed that Trump would travel to both El Paso and Dayton but did not give a date for either trip. RED FLAGS AND BACKGROUND CHECKS? Mass shootings by lone attackers in recent years have heightened concerns about gun violence and the threat posed by racist and white-supremacist ideologies. Trump, who has been accused of failing to aggressively tackle domestic extremist groups, said he would direct the US Justice Department to investigate domestic terrorism and would propose legislation to ensure that those who commit hate crimes and mass murder face the death penalty. He also said the country needs to reform mental health laws to identify disturbed individuals and to work with social media companies to detect potential mass shooters. "We must make sure those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do those firearms can be taken through rapid due process," he said, an apparent reference to "red flag" laws. US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican and Trump ally, said he has spoken with Trump about legislation he plans to introduce in September with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. It would direct federal grant money to states seeking to adopt such laws. "Red flag" bills make it easier for police to confiscate weapons from someone found to pose a threat of violent behavior. In a Twitter post earlier on Monday, Trump called for "strong background checks" on gun buyers, but he did not elaborate on the idea and it was not the central part of his White House statement. "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun," he said in the address. That comment drew immediate criticism. Another Democratic presidential candidate, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, accused Trump of trying to dodge the issue of gun control. "There's mental illness&hate throughout world, but US stands alone w/high rate of gun violence," she said on Twitter. After a gunman killed 58 people at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, Trump proposed a ban on attachments called bump stocks that give semi-automatic weapons the capability of a machine gun. The ban went into effect in March. But Trump stepped back from sweeping gun law changes. In a morning Twitter post, Trump called for bipartisan measures to strengthen background checks, possibly in combination with "desperately needed immigration reform." But Democrats, who have fought Trump's immigration crackdown, rejected such a linkage. Lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Capitol Hill from summer recess until September. The Democratic-led US House of Representatives already has passed a bill calling for universal background checks for gun buyers. Top Democrats have urged Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene the Senate to vote on the bill. Instead, McConnell encouraged bipartisan efforts to address mass murders in a statement that lacked the word "gun" but condemned "partisan theatrics and campaign-trail rhetoric."

The all-but-assured confirmation of Judge Brett M Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court will cap a week that also saw the president seal an ambitious and elusive new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, one of his top campaign promises. And the latest jobs report out on Friday put unemployment at its lowest since 1969. None of this necessarily changes the fundamentals of an often-chaotic presidency that has defied norms and struggled with scandal, but it gives Trump a fresh narrative to take on the campaign trail just a month before critical midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. With the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, turning quiet during campaign season, Trump has an opportunity to redirect the conversation onto more favourable territory. “From his standpoint, it’s been a good week after many bad ones,” said David Axelrod, who was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “For a self-proclaimed perpetual ‘winner,’ he will have had some big wins to tout. The jobs figure, other than wages, and the after-NAFTA agreement are positive.” Still, in Trump’s scorched-earth presidency, even victories come at a cost. The relationship with Canada was deeply scarred by his brutal negotiating tactics, while America has been ripped apart by the battle over Kavanaugh’s nomination, fraught as it was with gender politics that Trump seemed eager to encourage and anger on the left and the right. “The impact of Kavanaugh is more of a mixed bag, further inflaming both sides, which could help him retain or even expand his Senate margin but further imperil the House,” Axelrod said. Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative hold his notes as   President Donald Trump speaks about the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Oct 1, 2018. The New York Times Trump is the first president in American history never to have held public office or served in the military, and his inexperience has shown at times. Unfamiliar with the workings of government, legislation or diplomacy, he has often been stymied in his efforts to achieve goals like repealing Obama’s health care law, toughening immigration regulations, building a wall along the Mexican border or bringing peace to the Middle East. Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative hold his notes as   President Donald Trump speaks about the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Oct 1, 2018. The New York Times Until recent days, he proved more effective at blowing up agreements than reaching new ones. He pulled out of an Asian-Pacific trade pact, a global accord on climate change and a nuclear deal with Iran, but he has made no progress in negotiating replacements, as he suggested he would. His most significant legislative achievement was last year’s tax-cutting package, which was forged in large part by Republican congressional leaders who had their own reasons for pushing it through. The past couple weeks, however, saw Trump seal a revised trade agreement with South Korea and replace the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which not long ago seemed as if it might be beyond his reach. The continuing fall in unemployment to 3.7 percent was built on the recovery he inherited from Obama — something he refuses to acknowledge — but the booming economy has become one of his strongest political assets. And with Kavanaugh nearing confirmation Saturday, he showed he could push through an important nomination that many predicted was likely to fail after allegations of sexual misconduct. “It’s a wonderful week. We’re thrilled,” Kellyanne Conway, his counselor, said in an interview. “It shows that his perseverance and his tenacity and his adherence to campaign promises and principles are paying dividends.” Some Republican activists said Trump had shown that defying conventional wisdom could work. “President Trump has made a ton of gambles,” said Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist, a conservative news site. “Most of them have paid off. Even a bad gambler can get on a hot streak. The measure of a good gambler is what happens when the dice cool down.” The cause for celebration in the White House, of course, was cause for mourning among his opponents. In the view of his critics, he will be putting a man credibly accused of sexual assault on the nation’s highest court, he blew up friendships with America’s neighbours for a new trade deal whose actual impact has been exaggerated, and he has appropriated credit for the economy from Obama while ballooning the deficit in a way that conservatives have until now always condemned. James J. Blanchard, an ambassador to Canada under President Bill Clinton, attended the groundbreaking of a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, on Friday and said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada “was upbeat” after the new trade deal. Trump was right to update the trade agreement, he said, although “it probably could have been done six months ago without the cheap theatrics,” and now “everyone knows we need to repair relations, but no one expects  Trump to do that.” Whether the string of success for Trump will translate into support on the campaign trail could be the defining test of the next few weeks. Trump’s own approval ratings remain mired at just over 40 percent in most polls, a historically low level for a president that usually signals losses for his party this close to an election. “Independents especially are tired of the chaos and the uncertainty,” said Patti Solis Doyle, who was Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in 2008. “Yes, the economy is good; yes, Trump got two conservative judges on the court; and, yes, he is doing what he promised on the campaign trail” in terms of trade, tax cuts and tougher immigration enforcement. “But at what cost?” she asked. “Tariff wars, separating children from their mothers, huge deficit. I can go on and on.” Trump plans to take his case on the road with a frenetic burst of campaigning in the weeks to come. He heads to Kansas on Saturday and will be on the road six of the next eight days, mainly for boisterous arena rallies where he rouses his conservative base with red-meat speeches. Midterm elections are about turnout, and Democrats have been more energised for months, intent on stripping Trump of his party’s control of the House and possibly the Senate. While conservatives had grown more animated over the battle for Kavanaugh, once he is confirmed, Democrats may be more motivated to vote out of anger at the outcome, especially women who are upset that allegations of sexual assault were disregarded. And it is not at all clear that when it comes to promoting his strongest political points, Trump can stay on message. Even this week, as he highlighted the new trade agreement, which he is calling the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, he drifted off to other subjects, as he is wont to do. One truism of the Trump presidency has been how quickly the story line changes from week to week, or day to day. New tales of palace intrigue or flare-ups of international tension or revelations stemming from various investigations could easily swamp a message of progress by the Nov 6 election. As Axelrod said, it is not clear “how any of this will factor in a month from now, which is an eternity in the Age of Trump.” © 2018 New York Times News Service

The renaming of India's tech hub and other cities coincided with Karnataka's 59th formation day.An official told IANS here: "The state government late Friday notified that Bangalore and 11 other cities across the state will be pronounced and spelt in Kannada from Nov 1, following approval by the central government to rename them in the local language."As the fifth largest city in the country, Bangalore drew global attention over the last decade, riding on the success of its resilient IT industry, talent pool, salubrious climate and cosmopolitan culture of its nine million denizens.Other well-known cities like Mysore will be pronounced and spelt Mysuru, Mangalore as Mangaluru, Belgaum as Belagavi, Bellary as Ballari, Hubli as Hubballi and Gulbarga in the state's northern region as Kalaburgi.The remaining five cities - Bijapur became Vijayapura, Chikmagalur Chikkamagaluru, Hospet Hosapeta, Shimoga in Malnad region as Shivamogga and Tumkur Tumakuru.Heralding the Karnataka Rajyotsava Day at a colourful cultural event in the city centre, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the gathering that it was a proud moment for the 60-million people of the state to pronounce names of a dozen cities in Kannada and use them officially hereafter.He said: "We propose to rename other cities and towns in the state in due course after assessing the impact of changes to the 12 cities with a population of 0.5-1 million."Though old timers and majority of citizens, including locals speak and write Bengaluru in Kannada, they use Bangalore when conversing or writing in English.N Mahadevappa, a college teacher, told IANS: "Bangalore has been Bangalored! Renaming has robbed the city's charming Anglican name and fame. It's official. We have no choice but follow and get used to it."US Secretary of State John Kerry was the first politician who coined or used "Bangalored" in the run-up to the 2008 presidential poll to highlight how low-cost Indian software firms were taking away thousands of tech jobs from his country due to increasing outsourcing of services.The official said: "Renaming states and cities is not new. We are behind other states like Maharashtra which made the historical Bombay into Mumbai, while Madras became Chennai, Calcutta Kolkata, Poona Pune, Baroda Vadodara and Orissa Odisha. We have done to popularise our cities' original names and respect the people's sentiments."The renaming exercise began in 2006 when the state's first coalition government between Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proposed to mark the state's golden jubilee (50 years) in response to the demand by social, cultural and political organisations. It was also endorsed by the state legislature during the former BJP rule.The state government will Monday direct corporations, departments and institutions to change their nameplates and stationery accordingly.Chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said: "Private firms or organisations will not be compelled to change their registered names if there is reference to any of the 12 cities."

Sisi - whose smiling face, framed in sunglasses and capped by a beret, appears across Egypt on posters, t-shirts and even chocolates - inspires fear in his opponents that the country will soon have a military man as its president once again.But to investors, and many Egyptians, Sisi offers the hope of relief from three years of political turmoil that began with the Arab Spring uprising, even though he was the man who toppled Egypt's first freely-elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi."I think most investors would say it doesn't appear all that democratic, but it's more stable, so my investment will be safer," said Gabriel Sterne of Exotix, a frontier market bank in London which handles investments in Egypt.Sisi deposed Mursi last July after mass protests against his Muslim Brotherhood government and unveiled a political roadmap that includes presidential elections. Given his strong popularity he is widely expected to run and win, albeit after probably giving up his army position.Once in office, he will need to deliver on the economy which he has acknowledged presents huge "challenges", without saying publicly how he intends to tackle them.Sisi is regarded as a decisive figure who can take bold decisions. After two changes of government in three turbulent years, Egyptians crave economic and political calm, and Sisi is seen as the man who can deliver.Western investors appear to agree. "He does seem to have support that has been absent from any single politician. Whatever it is, it's a sign of stability," said Sterne."Strongman"Egyptian industry and investment minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour says he realises Western governments are wary of Sisi's change from camouflage fatigues to a president's business suit, but he believes investors will thank him for it."In the West, a candidacy and maybe the election of an army officer or an ex-officer to the presidency of a developing, third world country would raise eyebrows and call to mind the image of a Pinochet rather than a George Washington, ... a dictator rather than a reformer," he said."(But) this country as it stands today needs a strongman that can pull it together ... Law and order is good toward investment and toward the economy," he added at Cairo's ornate 19th century bourse.Generals-turned-politicians have earned varying reputations across history. Washington, who led American forces in the war of independence and became the first US president, is widely regarded as a statesman. Strongman Augusto Pinochet, who ousted an elected Chilean government in 1973, oversaw economic reforms but was accused of major human rights abuses during his dictatorship.Security forces killed hundreds of pro-Brotherhood activists protesting against Mursi's overthrow and have gained the upper hand in stamping out the Islamist movement, partly through curbs on dissent and public gatherings.However, Sinai-based Islamist militants have claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks, including an assassination attempt on the interior minister last year.Gulf aid pours inSerious progress on the economy remains elusive. Massive debt, a weak Egyptian pound and political uncertainty had scared away much foreign direct investment (FDI).However, billions of dollars in aid from the military-backed government's allies in the Gulf have improved prospects for infrastructure growth and bought time for economic reforms.The current account ran a $757 million surplus between July and September last year, driven by a massive increase in official transfers from Gulf monarchies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Egyptians' household spending climbed last year. Analysts say Samsung of South Korea is likely to pour tens of millions of dollars into its local assembly plant, and Coca-Cola announced a half-billion dollar investment in Egypt last week."Strong business and strong communities go hand-in-hand and our investment not only helps to create good jobs, opportunity and a better tomorrow for Egyptians but also sends a strong signal about Egypt's future," said Curt Ferguson, President of Coca-Cola's Middle East and North Africa Business Unit.Overall, FDI remains sluggish. It edged up to $1.25 billion between July and September last year from $1.16 billion in the same period of 2012. FDI totalled $3 billion in the year ending June 2013, when Egypt was in turmoil, almost $1 billion less than in the previous year.Before the 2011 revolution which toppled autocratic president Hosni Mubarak, a former air force commander, Egypt was attracting net FDI of around $8 billion annually, according to central bank data.But with Egypt's stock market hitting a five-year high and the global economy in a much better state than in Mubarak's last years in office, Sisi should enjoy an easier investment climate.A report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch last month described a Sisi presidential bid as "market-friendly in the near term", saying that keeping up the Gulf aid or agreeing a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was crucial.But it sounded a warning over Sisi's holdover of officials and policies from the Mubarak era. Mubarak enjoyed some economic successes, but his rule was widely seen as corrupt and inept."The Egyptian political transition is likely to be complete in 2014 but could result in a watered down version of the pre-revolution regime ... This will likely weigh on growth and keep fiscal and external financing vulnerabilities high," it said.Stating the obviousThough Sisi has been omnipresent on Egyptian television, he has offered few pointers on economic policy beyond stating the obvious in a speech last week: "I am saying it with the utmost sincerity. Our economic conditions are so, so difficult."More interestingly, he broached the issue of fuel subsidies that cost the government $15 billion a year, a fifth of the state budget, but gave no clear prescription.The subsidies, in place for half a century, drain foreign currency that could be used to pay off debts to overseas energy companies and improve payment terms to encourage investment.Investment minister Abdel Nour hinted that Sisi may be able to absorb the public anger that major cuts to the subsidies are likely to provoke. "I think he will be able and probably willing to draw on his popularity to take the difficult and often painful decisions to reform the Egyptian economy and face the fiscal problems," he said.Lifeline from the GulfDubai firm Arabtec signed a $40 billion deal this week to build a million homes in Egypt, a possible sign of politically-inspired Gulf investment in the country's infrastructure. Arabtec's CEO said the UAE would provide initial financing, signalling that Gulf companies' Egyptian investments will enjoy government backing and protection.Because many Gulf firms are partly state-backed or family-run, their more cohesive base of shareholders may be more easily convinced to plunge into Egypt when Western firms would hesitate."They've got a different variety of people they have to answer to, and not all of them work in conjunction in the West," said Angus Blair, chairman of business and economic forecasting think-tank Signet.Western investors, worried by repeated spasms of violence in recent years, are more sensitive and shareholders have a more short-term outlook, according to Blair.Analysts agree that the flood of cash and confidence from the Gulf into Egypt has encouraged Western investors to follow, but are split on whether long-lapsed negotiations for an IMF loan, which would demand tough budget reforms, are the answer."In the end there's nothing like a good old-fashioned IMF-type fiscal adjustment to put the position on the straight and narrow to provide long-lasting confidence, because you never know when these (Gulf) gifts finish," said Sterne of Exotix.But legal obstacles, not a binding international agreement to curb Egypt's rampant corruption and soaring subsidies, may be what holds Western companies back. "Legislation is as badly needed as subsidy reform, it is just not in the spotlight," said Moheb Malak, Cairo-based economist at Prime Securities.A draft investment law aims to prevent third parties from challenging contracts made between the government and an investor, a move designed to attract investment.The clauses are intended to reassure investors unnerved by previous legal challenges to such deals, some of which have left companies sold by the government in legal limbo. "Yes, Egypt needs a strongman but it needs a lot more than just a strongman, it needs to correct its investment policy," Malak added.

China is producing far more carbon dioxide (CO2) than previous estimates and this will frustrate global aims to stabilise atmospheric greenhouse gases, a group of US economists said. China is the world's second-largest emitter of C02 and some studies suggest it might already have overtaken the United States last year. The report could add to calls for China to sign up to binding cuts, something it has refused to do. Writing in the May issue of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Diego said China's CO2 emissions will grow at least 11 percent annually between 2004 and 2010. Previous estimates, including those used by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, say the region that includes China will see a 2.5 to 5 percent annual increase in CO2 emissions during the same period. The release of the article comes as energy and environment ministers from the world's 20 major greenhouse gas emitting nations prepare to meet in Japan from Friday to discuss climate change, clean energy and sustainable development. The G20, ranging from top polluters the United States and China to Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, emit about 80 percent of mankind's greenhouse gases. Pressure is growing on these nations to hammer out a pact to halt and reverse growing emissions of CO2, the main gas blamed for global warming. In the journal report, the U.S. researchers said that by 2010, there will be an increase of 600 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions in China over levels in 2000. They said that figure from China alone would overshadow the 116 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions reductions pledged by all the developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol during the pact's 2008-2012 first commitment phase. China is not obliged under Kyoto to cut greenhouse gas emissions during 2008-12. But it joined nearly 190 nations in Bali in December in agreeing to launch two years of U.N.-led talks to create a global emissions-fighting pact to replace Kyoto from 2013. The authors used pollution data from 30 provinces and China's official waste gas emissions data to get a more detailed picture of CO2 emissions up to 2004. "It had been expected that the efficiency of China's power generation would continue to improve as per-capita income increased, slowing down the rate of CO2 emissions growth," said Maximillian Auffhammer, UC Berkeley assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics. "What we're finding instead is that the emissions growth rate is surpassing our worst expectations, and that means the goal of stabilising atmospheric CO2 is going to be much, much harder to achieve." Part of the problem was also a shift to give provinces more say in building power plants after 2000, the report said. "Wealthier coastal provinces tended to build clean-burning power plants based upon the very best technology available, but many of the poorer interior provinces replicated inefficient 1950s Soviet technology," said Richard Carson, UC San Diego professor of economics. "The problem is that power plants, once built, are meant to last for 40 to 75 years," said Carson. "These provincial officials have locked themselves into a long-run emissions trajectory that is much higher than people had anticipated. Our forecast incorporates the fact that much of China is now stuck with power plants that are dirty and inefficient."

Israel said on Wednesday it was prepared to make "painful concessions" to achieve peace with the Palestinians, working via an Arab initiative drawn up earlier this year and supported by Egypt and Jordan. But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, writing in Britain's Guardian newspaper, said any talks must take the form of discussion rather than an ultimatum. "I take the offer of full normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab world seriously; and I am ready to discuss the Arab peace initiative in an open and sincere manner," Olmert wrote. "Working with our Jordanian and Egyptian partners, and hopefully other Arab states, we must pursue a comprehensive peace with energy and vision.... But the talks must be a discussion, not an ultimatum." His remarks were published a day after the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, when Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan and Syria within a week, capturing the Sinai peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem. The Arab peace plan, endorsed at a summit in March, offers Israel normal relations with the Arab world in return for a Palestinian state and full withdrawal from the land seized in the 1967 war. Olmert has previously said he is willing to sit down and discuss the Arab initiative, but there has been little progress towards that goal, with Israeli-Palestinian tensions at a peak in recent weeks thanks to increased violence in Gaza. Israel said on Wednesday that a summit between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas scheduled for Thursday and expected to discuss aspects of Palestinian statehood had been postponed at the Palestinians' request. Palestinian officials said several agreements had to be settled before talks convened. Writing in a column published alongside Olmert's, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said if Israel was serious about peace, it had to recognise "the basic rights of our people", including the right of refugees who fled or were driven out by Israel when it was founded in 1948 to return. "In the 1967 war, Israel conquered the land of Palestine but it did not conquer the people... The 1967 war has over 40 years engendered successive wars and destabilisation of the Middle East," Haniyeh wrote. For the climate to change, he said, Israel had to withdraw from all lands occupied in 1967, dismantle all the settlements in the West Bank, where around 250,000 Jews live among 2.4 million Palestinians, free all 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and recognise the right of refugees to return. "If Israel is serious about peace, it has to recognise these basic rights of our people," Haniyeh said. "Nothing will stop our struggle for freedom and to have all our children reunited in a fully sovereign state of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital."

India said on Monday its existing energy policy would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by over 25 percent by 2020, but warned pressure to set mandatory targets to curb global warming would hurt economic growth. Currently contributing around three percent of global carbon emissions, India is already among the world's top polluters, along with the United States, China, Russia and Japan. Despite pressure from industrialised nations and environmental groups to cut emissions, India is not required under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions -- said to be rising annually by 2-3 percent -- presently. Prodipto Ghosh, environment secretary, told a news conference that India was an environmentally responsible country which actively enforced programmes on energy efficiency and promotion of renewable energy, which were paying off. "Our modelling approaches show the effect of many of our policies taken together that the year 2020 will result in a more than a 25 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions," said Ghosh. Booming economies India and China are likely to face more pressure at next week's summit of the Group of Eight in Germany to do more to cut emissions. Ghosh said India was spending 2.17 percent of GDP annually on addressing the variability of climate change through projects in agriculture, coastal zones and health and sanitation. Experts say the Indian subcontinent will be one of the most affected regions in the world, with more frequent natural disasters of greater severity, more diseases such as malaria and greater hunger. Ghosh said global warming was the fault of industrialised nations who should set higher cuts in emissions targets for themselves, rather than pressuring developing countries. The world's richest countries, including the United States, contributed about 60 percent of total emissions in 2004 and account for 77 percent of cumulative emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution, a U.S. study reported this month. "Developing countries like India have not historically, are not now and will not in the foreseeable future be a significant contributor to emissions," said Ghosh. "Any legally mandated measures for reducing emissions are likely to have significant adverse impacts on GDP growth and this will have serious implications for poverty alleviation efforts." He urged the West to do more to help developing countries adapt to the impact of climate change. "Climate change impacts will largely affect the poor and their livelihoods and lives will be at risk," he said.

Big business is officially going solar. This month, several of the world's biggest technology and manufacturing companies -- including Intel Corp and International Business Machines Corp -- made major moves into the burgeoning solar power business. That could be the start of a trend as corporate giants look to capitalize on the growing demand for cleaner energy sources. "These announcements are a great indication of where the solar industry is going," Rhone Resch, president of industry trade group the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy Finance Forum conference in New York this week. "This is the beginning of both high-tech and energy companies getting into solar." Solar power still makes up a tiny fraction of the world's energy consumption, but the makers of panels that transform sunlight into electricity are enjoying supercharged growth due to heightened concerns about climate change and rising prices on fossil fuels. In the last few years alone, solar companies including San Jose, California-based SunPower Corp and Germany's Q-Cells AG have grown from small technology-focused start-ups into businesses with multibillion-dollar market capitalizations. Now, other companies want a piece of that fast-growing market. A few tech companies, such as chip equipment maker Applied Materials Inc and SunPower stakeholder Cypress Semiconductor Corp, got into the solar business earlier this decade, recognizing the similarities between their own industries and technology-driven solar power. With their proven successes, others are following. "What the strategic players bring is that ability to bring large-scale manufacturing," said Kevin Genieser, who heads Morgan Stanley's renewable energy investment banking practice. "We're expecting to see merger and acquisition activity ramp up in the solar space," he said at the conference. 'THE REAL DEAL' This week, the world's largest maker of semiconductors, Intel, said it would spin off solar technology it developed into a start-up called SpectraWatt Inc, and IBM said it had joined forces with semiconductor process company Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co Ltd to develop more efficient solar power technologies. Intel is leading a $50 million investment round in SpectraWatt, which will begin shipping its solar cells next year, while IBM and TOK plan to license their copper-indium-gallium-selenide thin film solar technology in the next two to three years. Those moves came on the heels of Robert Bosch GmbH's announcement earlier this month that it would buy German solar cell maker Ersol for 1.08 billion euros ($1.67 billion). Privately owned Bosch is the world's biggest automotive supplier. Finally, also this month Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's biggest computer maker, said it would license its clear transistor technology to Livermore, California-based solar power company Xtreme Energetics. Many said the interest from corporate stalwarts lends new credibility to solar power, proving that it is far from a fad. "Intel, IBM and HP announcements of new solar initiatives (on the heels of Bosch acquisition of Ersol) validate solar's long-term opportunity," Piper Jaffray analyst Jesse Pichel said in a note to clients this week. Even Tom Werner, chief executive of SunPower, agreed that with Intel and IBM in the business, financiers and others can't help but see solar as "the real deal." Werner said IBM and Intel would certainly raise the competitive bar, but he added that SunPower's well-established business has a significant advantage. "For us, it just makes us sharpen our sword a little bit more," Werner said in an interview. "The Intel thing, they are breaking ground now. We've been shipping for several years now, so if we can't stay in front of that, shame on us." Resch and Pichel also said new entrants into the market, however large, were unlikely to hurt established players given that demand for solar panels far outpaces supply. Still, there are some who say the big companies now coming into the solar fold may just be too late to the party. "Today it may be a day late and a dollar short," said CRT Capital Group analyst Ashok Kumar. "Most of the domestic and overseas players have already built up scale."

an epithet which came to define the lacklustre latter years of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the 1970s and early 1980s, but is now increasingly used of Putin. Despite years of government promises, Russia has yet to build a modern pensions saving system, improve regulation to create a viable financial market trading centre to compete with Dubai or invest in its crumbling infrastructure. Already weighed down by the cost of hefty public sector pay rises ahead of this year's presidential election, the Russian government's latest budget envisages spending $620 billion by 2020 re-equipping the country's military, while cutting spending on infrastructure and education. These priorities have upset business leaders, who are desperate for improvements to the creaking road network. And despite repeated Putin's pledges to cut the economy's dependence on oil and gas exports, the oil price required by the Kremlin to make its budget sums add up has more than doubled over the pasts five years to $110. In foreign policy, Medvedev's much-vaunted plan to reset relations with the United States on a more constructive track has stalled. Instead Moscow has confronted the West over Syria and given priority to pursuing a free trade area with former Soviet neighbours Belarus and Kazakhstan. Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, says Russia wants to be an "independent centre of attraction" for nations in its neighbourhood and adds: "The West made a major mistake wanting Russia to be like the West - Russia wants to be Russia". PUNISHING PUSSY RIOT One of the clearest signs of divergence between Russia and the West is the treatment of Pussy Riot - a punk feminist band who staged a protest song in Moscow's main cathedral this year imploring the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin. Three of its members were jailed for two years - one later released on a suspended sentence - for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". Putin said the women had "got what they deserved" because their performance amounted to a vulgar act of group sex and threatened the moral foundations of Russia. Western governments and human rights groups were outraged at what they saw as a grossly disproportionate punishment. Yet the harsh treatment meted out to Pussy Riot may signify something deeper than moral indignation. Many analysts see the jail terms as a sign of something deeper - Kremlin insecurity amid rising popular discontent. While the street protests which swept Moscow last winter have now abated, political analysts say the urban, educated population is increasingly unhappy with Putin's leadership. Far from the grandeur of Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence, its wrought-iron gates topped with the double-headed Russian eagle, to the north of Moscow lies the featureless dormitory town of Krasnogorsk. Inside a small, noisy McDonald's restaurant there, a diminutive 30-year-old woman energetically explained her prediction for Russia's future under Putin, as a snowstorm swirled outside. "The system itself is crumbling," said Yekaterina Samutsevich, the released Pussy Riot member. "It's becoming more repressive ... those in power have very strong fears and their behaviour is more and more wild. We could end with a total collapse like the Soviet Union." Whether the vision of the strong, stable, great power projected by Putin or the apocalyptic prediction of the young punk rocker come to pass remains to be seen. But in the meantime Russia's people and its business elite are voting with their feet and their wallets. And Putin is not winning.

She made the remarks in her address to the 76th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) via video conference on Thursday. The theme of the session was "promoting economic, social and environmental cooperation on oceans for sustainable development”. Hasina was scheduled to attend the meeting in Bangkok and deliver the keynote speech but the session had to be held on a virtual platform for the first time due to global the COVID-19 pandemic. Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand and Permanent Representative to the ESCAP Nazmul Quaunine was elected as the chair of the 76th Commission of UNESCAP. Addressing the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, Hasina said, "The world is facing unprecedented challenges of the century due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Along with the health issues this virus has severely affected our economy." "However, the pandemic is also showing some silver linings on the change of global efforts to deal with climate change and growing competition for natural resources. We need to tackle this pandemic together. In her message, Hasina stressed on regional cooperation for capacity building of developing countries for sustainable use of marine resources. Hasina highlighted Bangladesh's commitment to promoting the growth of the blue economy as part of the long-term national development strategy. Oceans and seas constitute a last resource frontier for the world and can help alleviate poverty and offer employment opportunities, the premier noted. "Environmental pollutants are the major hurdles of the marine food-web and require an integrated response for the world economy towards a sustainable, inclusive and resource-efficient path of using resources of the oceans," she said. "In view of this, my government has given utmost importance on promoting the growth of the blue economy as part of our long-term national development strategy." The prime minister underscored the conservations programmes that Bangladesh has been implementing along with the use of sustainable and eco-friendly technologies, among others, to protect freshwater and marine resources. She also laid out some "fundamental ocean issues" that must be addressed in order to strengthen the economic cooperation among member countries of the ESCAP. "We need enhanced support for capacity building through sharing of knowledge, expertise and transfer of technology from advanced countries on Blue Economy," said Hasina. The Bangladesh leader emphasised the need for joint research among member countries on fisheries development with a view to increasing regional fish production and establishing common platform network to deter, combat and eliminate "illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Hasina urged ESCAP to initiate mapping and management of resource identification while taking steps to protect critical coastal habitat and biodiversity. Besides Hasina, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Fiji Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and Prime Minister of Tuvalu Kausea Natano also sent their video messages to the Commission. In the session, the Asia Pacific nations agreed to cooperate in addressing the socio-economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemics and adopted a resolution.

Southern African leaders will hold an emergency meeting in Swaziland's capital Mbabane on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe, officials said. Earlier, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai urged the United Nations to isolate President Robert Mugabe and said a peacekeeping force was needed in Zimbabwe. Mugabe has shrugged off Monday's unprecedented and unanimous decision by the U.N. Security Council to condemn violence against the opposition and declare that a free and fair presidential election on Friday was impossible. The Mbabane meeting has been called by the leading regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), amid mounting international pressure on Mugabe to resolve his country's political turmoil and economic meltdown. The leaders of Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland would attend the meeting in their capacity as the SADC's troika organ on politics, defense and security, the Tanzanian government said in a statement. "Others who have been invited to attend the meeting are the current SADC chairman, (President) Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, and the SADC mediator for Zimbabwe, (President) Thabo Mbeki of South Africa," said the statement. "The meeting will discuss how the SADC and its troika organ on politics, defense and security can help Zimbabwe to get out of its current state of conflict." Tsvangirai, who has withdrawn from the election and taken refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare since Sunday, said Zimbabwe would "break" if the world did not come to its aid. "We ask for the U.N. to go further than its recent resolution, condemning the violence in Zimbabwe, to encompass an active isolation of the dictator Mugabe," Tsvangirai wrote in an article in Britain's Guardian newspaper. "For this we need a force to protect the people. We do not want armed conflict, but the people of Zimbabwe need the words of indignation from global leaders to be backed by the moral rectitude of military force," said Tsvangirai. "Such a force would be in the role of peacekeepers, not trouble-makers. They would separate the people from their oppressors and cast the protective shield around the democratic process for which Zimbabwe yearns." INCREASED PRESSURE Pressure has increased on Mugabe from both inside and outside Africa over Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, blamed by the West and the opposition on the 84-year-old president who has held power for 28 years. The United States has urged SADC to declare both the election and Mugabe's government illegitimate. Angola's state-run ANGOP news agency quoted SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao as saying foreign ministers agreed at a meeting on Monday that a "climate of extreme violence" existed in Zimbabwe and that the government must protect the people. Friday's vote was meant to be a run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. The opposition leader won a first round in March but official figures did not give him an outright victory. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change won a parallel parliamentary election in March, sending Mugabe's ZANU-PF party to its first defeat since independence from Britain in 1980. Both Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress said Friday's election must be postponed after Tsvangirai's withdrawal. Zuma, who rivals Mbeki as South Africa's most powerful man, called for urgent intervention by the United Nations and SADC, saying the situation in Zimbabwe was out of control. South Africa under Mbeki has been an advocate of "quiet diplomacy" with Mugabe and has resisted calls to use its powerful economic leverage over landlocked Zimbabwe. But Zuma, who toppled Mbeki as ANC leader last December, has become increasingly outspoken over Mugabe. On Tuesday, Mugabe dismissed the pressure and told a rally in western Zimbabwe that Friday's election would go ahead. "The West can scream all it wants. Elections will go on. Those who want to recognize our legitimacy can do so, those who don't want, should not," said Mugabe. Mugabe has presided over a slide into economic chaos, including 80 percent unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of at least 165,000 percent. He blames Western sanctions for his country's economic woes.

The UN Security Council will debate climate change for the first time on April 17, the result of a British campaign to force it onto the agenda of a body that deals with matters of war and peace. "The traditional triggers of conflict are likely to be exacerbated by the effects of climate change," Britain's UN ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told a news conference on Wednesday at which he outlined Security Council business for April, when Britain holds the rotating presidency. Britain considers the topic so important to global security that Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett will preside over the debate. Countries on the 15-member Security Council normally have their ambassadors take part in debates but reserve the right to have foreign ministers or heads of state or government address the council on issues of greater importance. Britain invited other countries to send foreign ministers as well, Jones Parry said. In March Britain announced its intention to bring climate change to the Security Council, but it had to be agreed by the council's 15 members including the five permanent members who have veto authority. Permanent members China and Russia expressed some opposition to the holding the debate, diplomatic sources from two countries said. Meanwhile, the United States, which has declined to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol, had no opposition. Behind Prime Minister Tony Blair and Beckett, a former secretary of state for environment, Britain has taken a leading role in urgent action against global warming in other international forums such as the European Union, which last month agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 20 percent by 2020. Anticipating that some UN member states will argue that climate change should remain a matter for the General Assembly or agencies dealing with environment, Britain circulated a so-called concept paper arguing that climate change could provoke new wars, change borders, disrupt energy supplies and force mass migration. It outlines six areas where climate change could affect global security: border disputes, migration, energy supplies, other resource shortages, societal stress and humanitarian crises. Melting ice and rising sea levels could alter the world's physical landmass, leading to potential changes in political or maritime borders, and mass migration could also result, with some estimates that up to 200 million people could be displaced by the middle of the century, the paper says.

Australia's former anti-immigrant politician, Pauline Hanson, is to become an immigrant herself, moving to Britain to escape lingering controversy over her warning that Australia was being swamped by Asians. Hanson, who went from fish-and-chip shop owner to form the One Nation party and turn it into a political force more than a decade ago, told Australia's Woman's Day magazine that she is selling her Queensland home and moving to the UK to find "peace". "I'm going to be away indefinitely. Its pretty much goodbye forever," she said. "I've really had enough. I want peace in my life. I want contentment, and that's what I'm aiming for." Hanson won fame in 1996, entering national parliament as an independent calling for cuts to Aboriginal welfare and immigration from Australia's regional neighbours. Her nationalist One Nation party drew a million votes at its 1998 peak, but she lost her seat and was later convicted of electoral fraud and briefly went to jail. Released in 2003 after her conviction was overturned, the red-headed mother of four left politics and became a minor celebrity, at one time entering a TV dancing competition. Hanson said Australia has changed too much for her liking, even though some political analysts had speculated in recent weeks that the mood of the country ahead of elections later this year once again favours her views. "Sadly, the land of opportunity is no more applicable," she told the magazine. A surge in asylum seekers arrivals over the past year has again divided Australians and threatens to become an issue for elections later this year which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is on track to win, despite recently slipping opinion poll support. Immigration is expected to push Australia's population from 22 million to around 35 million by 2050, with Rudd backing a "big Australia" that would be more economically self-sustaining, but which critics say would be unable to cope with accelerating climate shift and ageing infrastructure.

Ideas that fail to gain donors' support do not interest policymakers, the outgoing Director General of CIRDAP said on Monday. Dr Durga P Paudyal shared the bitter truth as he reminisced about his eight-year tenure in Bangladesh where the 15-nation institute is headquartered. "We generate new policies, new ideas, and ask the governments to act. But it's difficult to convince policymakers (with ideas) without money (to implement)," Dr Paudyal said replying a question. He was briefing journalists about the Center on Integrated Rural Development in Asia and the Pacific's 33rd founding anniversary celebration on Thursday. At the initiative of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and the UN's FAO, CIRDAP came into being on July 6, 1979 with six initial members for cooperation in the field of rural development and poverty alleviation. The number of member states rose to 15 as of 2010, with Fiji becoming the latest entrant. The body comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Fiji. "Our aim is south-south cooperation," Dr Paudyal said, "it's easy to learn from a neighbouring or developing countries than a developed one." He said they organised regional dialogues and meetings on sharing best practices among the member states. "It helped governments in many ways that you may see or you may not see," he said as questions were asked about the visibility of CIRDAP's activities in Bangladesh. "When we talk about climate change and rural development in this region, we do not talk about Bangladesh only; we have to talk about 15 countries who are the members of the institution." "Programmes organised in Iran may not be known here (Bangladesh)," he explained, "we (CIRDAP) work at policy level, not at grassroots." The Director General said Bangladesh's current system of monitoring and analysing poverty was being developed by CIRDAP. He, however, extolled the incumbent government for its interest on CIRDAP as 'a way of regional cooperation'. "We got over USD 2 million (from Bangladesh) for building international conference centre here," he said. Like every founding anniversary, the Director General said, this year they would also organise a 'Founding Day' lecture where former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam will speak on sustainable development system in the Asia-Pacific. Dr Cecep Effendi from Indonesia will replace Dr Paudyal on Jul 6, according to CIRDAP's official release.

BEIJING, Thu Oct 23, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - China is committed to seeking a climate change pact at key talks next year, the prime minister of Denmark said on Thursday, urging countries not to use global economic upheaval as a reason for delaying a deal. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is among the European leaders in Beijing for an Asia-Europe meeting. And with Copenhagen to host end-game talks late next year on a new climate change pact, he has been courting China, with its bulging output of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas behind global warming. Rasmussen said on Thursday he had emerged from talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao the previous day with a commitment that China is "committed to reaching agreement in Copenhagen." "The two sides ... affirmed the common goal to reach an agreed outcome and adopt a decision at the climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009," he told a small group of reporters, citing an agreement the two countries sealed on Wednesday. The negotiations, culminating late next year, aim to create a treaty building on the current Kyoto Protocol climate pact that expires at the end of 2012. Its host role has given Denmark an unusual prominence in seeking agreement. With the world preoccupied with the financial crisis and its fallout, and with many issues dividing rich countries from poor ones over how to combat global warming, Rasmussen said China's commitment was an encouraging sign to others. He said other countries should not use the economic downturn as a reason to delay or stymie a new pact. "No doubt, the financial crisis will be used as an excuse to water down the climate change agenda," said Rasmussen, adding that he believed increased spending on environmentally friendly technology could help stimulate an economic rebound. STAY ON TRACK European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said later that delaying tackling climate change because of the crisis was not acceptable, and called on China to join in the fight. "Yes, there is a cost to reducing emissions. But the cost of climate change is going to be far higher, including for China," he said in a speech. "It is important that efforts to combat climate change stay on track, despite the financial crisis we are facing." Under the current Kyoto pact, China and other developing nations do not have to agree limits on their output of the greenhouse gases from industry, vehicles and land-use that are dangerously warming the atmosphere. But China's fast-rising emissions, which experts believe now far outstrip the United States', have driven other countries to say it must accept firmer limits. EU environment ministers this week said developing countries should commit to keep emissions 15 to 30 percent below unconstrained "business as usual" levels. Rasmussen said the EU proposal, which would not set an absolute ceiling on poorer countries' emissions but oblige them to take measurable steps, could be the way to draw China and other developing countries into the commitments. "The contributions from the industrialized countries will not be enough," he said. "We need engagement from the big emerging economies." At the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) opening on Friday, the 27 EU member states and the European Commission will also discuss climate change policy with Japan, China and India and 13 other Asian countries. Rasmussen said he also hopes that meeting will agree on aiming for a pact in Copenhagen.

WASHINGTON, Sun Jul 27,(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - What if cutting greenhouse emissions could also save the lives of soldiers in Iraq, where fuel-laden convoys make them targets? The US Army says it is happening now in a push to reduce its carbon 'bootprint.' From forward areas like Iraq and Afghanistan to training ranges in the United States, the Army has been working to limit its use of fossil fuels and make its operations more environmentally sustainable. The goal is to bring Army emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide down by 30 percent by 2015, said Tad Davis, deputy assistant secretary for environment, safety and occupational health. "What I'm interested in doing is finding out what the greenhouse gas emissions, this carbon bootprint, are for the Army in two to three years at the latest," Davis said by telephone. "We want to emit less that do that, hand in hand with reducing energy consumption from fossil fuels." The Army has pushed for environmental sustainability at all of its bases, starting with the giant Fort Bragg in North Carolina in 2001, Davis said. In practice, that meant changing the way training ranges were set up. Fort Bragg has long been the site of mock towns and villages used for combat training. Each village used to cost up to $400,000 to build. Now they are made of recycled truck-sized shipping containers at a cost of about $25,000, Davis said, and the shipping containers stay out of the solid waste stream. In the first years of the Iraq war, the long supply chain stretching from Kuwait to the battlefield put convoys at risk from makeshift bombs called IEDs. Much of the cargo was fuel, Davis said. LESS FUEL, LESS RISK The more vehicles in the convoy, the more soldiers were vulnerable so it made sense to cut down on the amount of fuel required on the front line. "If we can reduce consumption on our forward operating bases by using renewable energy, let's say wind or solar instead of a diesel generator outside the tent ... then we can reduce the number of these supply convoys that need to come forward that are getting hit by these IEDs," Davis said. A recent survey of U.S. forward bases in Djibouti, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan showed that 85 percent or more of the power was used for air conditioning to provide comfort for sleeping but also to keep communications equipment cool. Poorly insulated tents and temporary buildings are the norm in these areas, Davis said, and keeping them cool was a challenge. The solution? Foam insulation sprayed directly on tents cut the loss of energy by 45 percent. Limiting greenhouse emissions from Army vehicles presents a different challenge, since making a Humvee or Bradley fighting vehicle more lightweight to save fuel would offer less protection for troops. But this could change, Davis said. "There's emerging technology that is providing lighter-weight armor, so I think at some point ... you're going to see more hybrid vehicles in the tactical military fleet," he said. Davis questioned the notion that the US military is among the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. The numbers are hard to pin down but the Army is starting to do just that, starting in June with an online program to track carbon emissions at Fort Carson in Colorado. The system shows Fort Carson emits 205,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, about the same as a town of 25,000 people. Eventually this system, produced by California-based Enviance, is to be used on all Army bases. It is also in use at corporations and utilities in 45 countries to track compliance with environmental and safety regulations, Enviance's president Lawrence Goldenhersh said.

Hasina will also have bilateral talks with her Austrian counterpart, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told the media on Sunday. Leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe, South America and the Caribbean will attend the conference in Vienna called  “International Conference on the Technical Cooperation Programme: Sixty Years and Beyond – Contributing to Development”. A special Biman Bangladesh flight carrying Hasina and her entourage will take off from Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9am. Ali said the prime minister’s participation will reaffirm Bangladesh’s commitment to world peace. Her participation will also “brighten” the country's image, he said, as Bangladesh always pursues peaceful use of atomic power. Bangladesh became member of the IAEA in 1972. The prime minister’s husband, late nuclear scientist Dr MA Wazed Miah played a key role to get the membership. Ali said the prime minister in her speech will highlight how the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme is helping Bangladesh in enhancing atomic energy capabilities, socio-economic development and sustainable development. She will also highlight the use of science, technology in ‘digital Bangladesh’. The foreign minister said Austria is one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh in 1972. The then Austrian Federal Chancellor Bruno Kriesky supported Bangladesh. Hasina awarded him with the ‘Friends of Liberation War Honor Award’ in 2012. Bangladesh opened a resident mission in Vienna in 2014. Ali said part of the government’s ‘broader engagement with Europe Policy,’ they had taken steps to enhance bilateral relations and cooperation with Austria also. Hasina is also expected to have a bilateral meeting with Austrian Federal Chancellor Christian Kern. Agriculture and livestock cooperation and starting direct flight and holding regular diplomatic consultations would be some of the areas the prime minister will discuss, apart from trade, investment and sustainable development, said Foreign Minister Ali. Global terrorism, migration, refugee crisis, climate change and post-Brexit Europe situation are some of the international issues they will also discuss. A MoU on foreign office consultations will also be signed during the visit, the foreign minister said. Hasina will also have a courtesy call on Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen Ali hoped that the bilateral relations will be “strengthened” further during the visit. The prime minister is scheduled to leave Vienna on Tuesday evening and return Dhaka on Wednesday morning. Apart from the foreign minister, the minister for science and technology will accompany the prime minister during her visit.

Tokyo,Sun Jun 29,(bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Anti-G8 summit protesters danced to blaring music and marched down the streets of Tokyo in heavy rain on Sunday, accusing the Group of Eight rich nations of causing poverty and world instability. The protests, which have become a fixture at Group of Eight summits, came as Japan tightened security ahead of this year's July 7-9 gathering in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Two separate rallies in the nation's capital gathered over 1,000 people, including anti-capitalists, labor union members and protesters from abroad, such as Spain and South Korea. Security was heavy with hundreds of anti-riot police guarding the streets as protesters walked down Tokyo's central shopping districts, carrying signs proclaiming various agendas such as "shut down G8 summit" and "G8=hunger". Some protesters scuffled with the police. Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi said two people were arrested. Police could not confirm the report. "Issues like environmental destruction and poverty in Africa, these are all caused by the G8 governments," said Yu Ando, a 31-year-old working for a municipal government in western Japan. "I can't stand that they are proclaiming to solve these issues." For the summit at Lake Toya, about 760 km (470 miles) north of Tokyo, domestic and international NGOs such as Oxfam plan to protest a range of topics including globalization, the food crisis and wars. Protests are expected near the summit venue -- where protesters are expected to gather at three camp sites -- as well as in Tokyo and Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido. But tight security and the sheer cost of travel to the vicinity of the remote summit site could dampen turnout. Human rights lawyers have said Japanese immigration authorities are making it tough for some activists to get visas by complicating the application process, and media reports said some activists were detained for hours at immigration. At last year's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, an estimated 30,000 protesters flocked to the area and entered a restricted zone set up for the summit, as well as blocking land routes into the area. At Lake Toya, leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States will discuss soaring food and oil prices, along with climate change and African development. Japan has also invited eight other nations, including Brazil, China and India, to hold talks on climate change on the sidelines.

The additional forms, customs charges and health safety checks needed for goods to cross Britain’s border are particularly arduous for businesses moving small quantities. That includes specialist food importers buying from small suppliers across the European continent who have helped make London one of the world’s best cities for dining. It has “minimised our ability to discover and import unusual products,” said Yannos Hadjiioannou, the owner of Maltby & Greek, which for the past decade has imported food and wine from Greece and its islands, prising itself on products rarely found in Britain. On Saturdays, under the arches, customers can peruse goat-milk butter; Mastelo cheese, a kind of halloumi made from cow’s milk from the island of Chios; bunches of mountain tea; and pale Gigantes beans from Feneos, in the northern Peloponnese. Getting each of those items here became more complicated just over two weeks ago. After a yearlong delay, on Jan. 1, Britain stepped up its enforcement of customs requirements for goods coming from the European Union, which in 2020 accounted for half of all imports into the country. Now, the goods must be accompanied by customs declarations. (Last year, British importers could delay reporting by about six months.) And businesses importing animal and plant products — most food, for example — must notify the government of shipments in advance. At the border, the introduction of the new rules has gone relatively smoothly. DFDS, a Danish logistics company that runs ferry services to Britain, said some customers had incorrectly filled out the paperwork, and some food shipments were stopped. On one day, shipments from the Netherlands had to be halted to deal with a backlog from the previous day. “Everybody involved tried to learn from what happened a year ago,” said Torben Carlsen, the chief executive of DFDS. Last year, the European Union introduced customs rules as soon as Brexit went into effect and immediately the problems piled up: deliveries were delayed; trucking companies stopped serving Ireland; and food spoiled in ports. It took more than a month before most of the problems were resolved. Britain couldn’t afford the same import issues this year. About a quarter of the country’s food is imported from the European Union, according to data from 2019, a figure that jumps substantially in winter for fresh fruit and vegetables. But there are challenges — unseen, away from the border. Some British businesses are taking on the export costs of their European suppliers to avoid losing them. Others are just importing less, reducing the choices for customers. Still others are restricting purchases to bulk orders and forgoing trying new products. The decline was noticeable even before the latest import rules began. In the first nine months of 2021, food and drink imports fell by about 11% from 2019, according to the Food and Drink Federation. After Britain left the EU’s customs union at the start of 2021, Hadjiioannou kept business going as normal, he said. Within six months, however, the additional customs costs and associated price increases became prohibitive. He stopped getting weekly deliveries of anthotyro, a soft fresh sheep’s milk cheese from Crete, and traditionally strained sheep or goat yoghurt, leaving the popular products regularly out of stock. Sausages from Crete now come frozen instead of fresh, so they can be sent in larger, less frequent deliveries. “Most of the perishable products have suffered, particularly the ones which were small volume but important for a lot of the restaurateurs and delis,” Hadjiioannou said. The biggest disruption from Brexit has been the loss of flexibility, he added. Maltby & Greek’s warehouse is at Spa Terminus, a long strip of railway arches housing food producers, wholesalers and wine importers. At this time of year, fresh produce at its markets includes Sicilian citrus, Italian leafy greens and French root vegetables. At the opposite end to Maltby & Greek, Rachel Sills sells cheese made in Switzerland and the Netherlands. While her experience exporting from Switzerland softened the blow of Brexit’s trade rules, it hasn’t insulated her from the extra cost. She buys cheese from four small producers in the Netherlands — so small that not all of them have an email address. Now each one is required to have an Economic Operator’s Registration and Identification number, as well as customs agents to do export and tax paperwork, and they must complete more detailed invoices, which include tariff codes. Sills said she had taken on the extra costs for export clearances for the cheesemakers. Recently she was able to combine the orders to pay only 65 euros ($74.50) for each invoice, on top of her own import fees. “So they, to this stage, haven’t started paying for the real costs of the export charges,” she said. “I have.” “It’s not that the paperwork or the cost is actually that onerous,” Sills said. But for companies with lots of suppliers, “when you add up the cost of each one, then it becomes insane,” she said, especially if buying small volumes. And that is so far what Brexit has boiled down to for these businesses: extra costs. “We are past the point of having wild shortages,” said David Henig, a trade policy expert based in London. The customs systems work, but the damage will be more like a “slow boiling frog.” The extra costs will eat away at Britain’s economy, with independent forecasts indicating a long-run shortfall of about 4% of gross domestic product. For customers, the overall effect is likely to be less choice, Henig added. It also continues to diminish the incentives for companies to invest in Britain. “We are less U.K.-centric than we were a couple of years ago,” said Franco Fubini, the founder of Natoora, which began in London in 2004 and now supplies fresh produce from hundreds of small farms in Europe and North America to about 1,600 restaurants globally and shops including Selfridges and Whole Foods, with outposts in the United States. Natoora reorganised its internal processes so that the British arm of the company no longer imports anything directly from the farms in Italy, France, Spain and Greece. Instead more employees were hired in Paris and Milan so the produce could be bought by the hubs in the continent and then sold to the London office. This consolidation means there is only one invoice, saving money on trucks and customs. Even though Natoora found a workaround, Fubini said Brexit had dented Britain’s international reputation, making him reconsider his company’s future. “For the first time in 15 or 16 years, I really started to question how much we should continue to invest in the U.K,” he said. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new trade deal with the European Union on Christmas Eve 2020, he said the agreement “if anything, should allow our companies and our exporters to do even more business with our European friends.” In reality, it has made it harder, not easier. Brexit might free Britain from Brussels bureaucracy but it has tied businesses up in other red tape. While the promises of Brexit were varied — from opening up new markets and deregulation — the slowness in realising the benefits has frustrated even its supporters. The other fresh produce market at Spa Terminus, Puntarelle & Co, is run by Elena Deminska, who said Brexit could be a great opportunity for British farmers to produce some of the food that is mostly imported from the European Union. The country has the climate for bitter winter lettuce or broccoli raab or, “with a little bit of effort,” apricots, Deminska said. Instead she complains that the farmers are “not flexible.” About four years ago, with great foresight, Deminska outsourced her customs work to an external company. Still she despairs at the Brexit-induced paperwork. “It’s just not helpful,” she said. “There is already enough paperwork.” For all of these businesses there are more hurdles ahead. Beginning in July, food imports will need to be accompanied by health certificates signed off by inspectors in the European Union, and could be picked for spot checks at the border. Those changes “are just going to add complexity, add cost,” Fubini said. “It is disruptive.” ©2022 The New York Times Company

The European Union and the United States agreed on Monday that global warming is an 'urgent' priority, and President George W Bush conceded he must work to convince Russia of the need for a missile shield in Europe. At a White House summit, Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said they were firmly dedicated to reaching agreement on a global trade pact under the often-stalled Doha round of talks. They kept up pressure on Iran to forswear nuclear weapons given Tehran's refusal to stop uranium enrichment despite US-EU pressure. Bush said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's message to Iran, should she meet Iran's foreign minister at a regional summit this week on Iraq in Egypt, would be to repeat the offer that Washington would join European talks with Iran if Tehran would suspend uranium enrichment. It was Merkel's first visit to Washington since she took over the rotating EU presidency, and she pushed global climate change in hopes of making it a big part of the agenda at a Group of Eight summit she is hosting in Germany in June. At a joint news conference in the Rose Garden, the European side said it felt progress was made on the issue, despite an absence of concrete steps the EU and the United States can take together to address the problem. "I really welcome the fact that there was progress in this meeting," said Barroso. "We agree there's a threat, there's a very serious and global threat. We agree that there is a need to reduce emissions. We agree that we should work together." Bush, who critics charged was late to recognise climate change as a problem, made clear he felt any agreement between the United States and Europe would have a limited impact as long as developing countries like China are not included. "The United States could shut our economy and emit no greenhouse gases, and all it would take is for China in about 18 months to produce as much as we had been producing" to make up the difference, he said. But Merkel retorted that the developed world must lead the effort to reduce carbon emissions. "If the developed countries with the best technologies do nothing, then it will be very tough to convince the others. Without convincing the others, worldwide CO2 emissions won't go down," she said. The US and EU leaders met against a backdrop of Russian criticism of US plans to deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe and a vow from Russian President Vladimir Putin to take 'appropriate measures' to counter the system. Bush said Merkel had previously expressed to him German and European concerns about the missile shield and that he should explain what he envisions to Putin. As a result, Bush said he sent Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Moscow last week to meet Putin to offer Russia the opportunity to be included in a shield that Washington sees aimed at countering the threat of terrorist attack and not a resurrection of the Cold War. "Therefore, we have started a dialogue...that hopefully will make explicit our intentions, and hopefully present an opportunity to share with the Russians, so that they don't see us as an antagonistic force but see us as a friendly force," Bush said.

Dhaka, July 7 (bdnews24.com)—Finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam said Monday that nobody could give any assurance regarding a fall in commodity prices. "No one can guarantee that the prices of commodities will come down as the market price is dependent on a number of factors such as economic policy, monetary policy and international market situation," the adviser told reporters after a meeting at the Secretariat. Mirza Aziz said the media had only partially quoted one of his remarks made last Saturday, in which he alluded to Shayesta Khan to describe the real scenario of current market prices. "I won't say that the allusion was explained wrongly. But the remark was published only partially. I wanted to say that we have to consider the related issues in any given economic situation." "It is unreal to expect a fall in market prices. We are continuing all possible efforts to control or curb prices." The adviser said that the government had taken three approaches—including waiving of import duty on food commodities, cutting the prices of ingredients for the production of food, to help curb production costs, and curtailing corporate taxes. But even after those steps, prices are not falling due to the global market situation, Mirza Aziz said. The government has therefore initiated three separate welfare projects in hand to tackle the situation. They are creation of 100-day work programmes for rural people, pregnancy allowances and stipends for male students. "All the projects will help families increase their purchase power," the adviser said. On the fuel price hike, he said: "The government will still have to provide Tk 10,000 crore in subsidy to the energy sector. If prices were not increased the amount of subsidy would have been Tk 17,000 crore." "The increase is relatively low comparing to prices in the international market," the finance adviser said. Mirza Aziz had earlier held a meeting on the use of budget allocation to protect the country from the impact of climate change. The government has decided to create a foundation or trust to disburse the Tk 300 crore, allocated for the 2008-09 fiscal year in this regard. The board of trustees, however, will not be allowed to spend more than two-thirds of the allocation. The remaining money will be kept on account and any interest will be deposited to the trustees, who can also take foreign assistance if necessary, the adviser said. The World Bank and UNDP have already given positive response to the initiative, he added. A steering committee will also be formed with representatives of different ministries as members.

The revision, which has been in the works since 2009, involves all of section six of the Church's Code of Canon Law, a seven-book code of about 1,750 articles. It is the most extensive revision since the current code was approved by Pope John Paul in 1983. The pope reminded bishops that they were responsible for following the letter of the law and that one aim of the revisions was to "reduce the number of cases in which the imposition of a penalty was left to the discretion of authorities". The new section, involving about 80 articles concerning crime and punishment, incorporates some changes made to Church law since 1983 by the popes and introduces new categories. Monsignor Filippo Iannone, head of the Vatican department that oversaw the project, said there had been "a climate of excessive slack in the interpretation of penal law," where mercy was sometimes put before justice. Sexual abuse of minors was put under a new section titled "Offences Against Human Life, Dignity and Liberty," instead of the previously vague "Crimes Against Special Obligations". That section was expanded to include new crimes such as "grooming" minors or vulnerable adults for sexual abuse and possessing child pornography.

Backers of a global pact banning nuclear tests said on Tuesday they would seize on US President Barack Obama's disarmament initiatives to further their agenda at the United Nations this month. Obama has voiced his support for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which has yet to take force because his nation is among nine with significant nuclear activities that have not ratified it. "The time has arrived, even more than ever, to push ahead the non-proliferation regime," Omar Zniber, Morocco's ambassador to international organisations in Vienna, where the CTBT agency is based, told a news conference. Morocco and France are coordinating the drive to get nuclear states such as India, Pakistan and North Korea to sign the treaty. Others yet to ratify include Egypt, Iran and Israel. Senior officials of states in the CTBT as well as the UN Security Council will meet on Sept. 24-25 at the United Nations in New York to debate the pact -- the first time in a decade that the United States will join such talks on the treaty. Obama's predecessor George W. Bush gave short shrift to nuclear diplomacy and arms control, although the US Senate's failure to ratify the treaty dates back to 1999, during the Clinton administration. U.S. politicians said at the time there was no foolproof way to verify compliance with the treaty. But supporters say verification technology has since improved dramatically. Obama has vowed fresh efforts to secure Senate ratification. His administration and Russia have highlighted the need to rid the world of nuclear arsenals starting in their own backyards. The UN talks will coincide with a special meeting of the Security Council on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament to be chaired by Obama. Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the CTBT implementing agency, said that while the US-Russian commitment to gradual disarmament was an important step, a global test ban pact was also an achievable goal given the changed diplomatic climate. "I think a new licence for life has been given to multilateralism and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. There is a need to have a return for the investment," he said. "This is the treaty which comes the closest to delivering something meaningful." Some 180 countries have signed the treaty and around 150 have ratified it. It cannot take force until the outstanding nine nuclear states sign and ratify. If the United States gets on board, supporters say it will provide a strong impetus for the others to follow.

My favoured theory is that the Oscars are declining because the movies they were made to showcase have been slowly disappearing. The ideal Oscar nominee is a high-middlebrow movie, aspiring to real artistry and sometimes achieving it, that’s made to be watched on the big screen, with famous stars, vivid cinematography and a memorable score. It’s neither a difficult film for the art-house crowd nor a comic-book blockbuster but a film for the largest possible audience of serious adults — the kind of movie that was commonplace in the not-so-distant days when Oscar races regularly threw up conflicts in which every moviegoer had a stake: “Titanic” against “L.A. Confidential,” “Saving Private Ryan” against “Shakespeare in Love,” “Braveheart” against “Sense and Sensibility” against “Apollo 13.” That analysis explains why this year’s Academy Awards — reworked yet again, with various technical awards taped in advance and a trio of hosts added — have a particular sense of an ending about them. There are 10 best picture nominees, and many of them look like the kind of Oscar movies that the show so desperately needs. “West Side Story”: Steven Spielberg directing an update of a classic musical! “King Richard”: a stirring sports movie lifted by a bravura Will Smith performance! “Dune”: an epic adaptation of a science-fiction classic! “Don’t Look Up”: a big-issue movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence! “Drive My Car”: a three-hour Japanese film about the complex relationship between a widowed thespian and his young female chauffeur! OK, maybe that last one appeals to a slightly more niche audience. But the point is that this year’s nominees offer their share of famous actors, major directors and classic Hollywood genres. And yet, for all of that, almost nobody went to see them in the theatres. When the nominees were announced in February, nine of the 10 had made less than $40 million in domestic box office. The only exception, “Dune,” barely exceeded $100 million domestically, making it the 13th-highest-grossing movie of 2021. All told, the 10 nominees together have earned barely one-fourth as much at the domestic box office as “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Even when Hollywood tries to conjure the old magic, in other words, the public isn’t there for it anymore. True, this was a COVID-shadowed year, which especially hurt the kinds of films that older moviegoers frequent. Remove the delta and omicron waves from the equation, and probably “West Side Story” and “King Richard” would have done a little better. And many of the best picture nominees were released on streaming and in theatres simultaneously, while “Don’t Look Up” was a big streaming hit for Netflix after a brief, pro forma theatrical release. But an unusual crisis accelerating a technological transformation is a good moment to clarify where we stand right now. Sure, non-superhero-movie box office totals will bounce back in 2022, and next year’s best picture nominees will probably earn a little more in theatres. Within the larger arc of Hollywood history, though, this is the time to call it: We aren’t just watching the decline of the Oscars; we’re watching the End of the Movies. A long time coming … That ending doesn’t mean that motion pictures are about to disappear. Just as historical events have continued after Francis Fukuyama’s announcement of the End of History, so, too, will self-contained, roughly two-hour stories — many of them fun, some of them brilliant — continue to play on screens for people’s entertainment, as one product among many in a vast and profitable content industry. No, what looks finished is The Movies — big-screen entertainment as the central American popular art form, the key engine of American celebrity, the main aspirational space of American actors and storytellers, a pop-culture church with its own icons and scriptures and rites of adult initiation. This end has been a long time coming — foreshadowed in the spread of television, the invention of the VCR, the rise of cable TV and Hollywood’s constant “It’s the pictures that got small” mythologization of its own disappearing past. But for decades these flights of nostalgia coexisted with continued power, and the influence of the smaller screen grew without dislodging the big screen from its commanding cultural position. TV in the 1960s and ’70s was incredibly successful but also incredibly disposable, its endless episodes standing in relation to the movies as newspaper opinion pieces stand to best-selling books. The VHS tape created a different way to bond with a successful movie, a new life for films neglected in their initial run, a new source of revenue — but the main point of all that revenue was to fund the next Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts vehicle, with direct-to-video entertainment as the minor leagues rather than The Show. There have been television stars since Milton Berle, and the ’80s and ’90s saw the slow emergence of what we now think of as prestige TV. But if you wanted true glory, real celebrity or everlasting artistic acclaim, you still had to put your work up in movie theatres, creating self-contained works of art on a larger-than-life scale and see how critics and audiences reacted. If you succeeded, you were Robert Altman (who directed small-screen episodes of shows like “Bonanza” and “US Marshal” for years before his big-screen breakthrough) or Bruce Willis (who went from “Moonlighting” to “Die Hard”). If you tried to make the leap and failed — like Shelley Long after “Cheers” or David Caruso leaving “NYPD Blue” — you were forever a cautionary tale and proof that the movies still stood alone, a mountain not just anyone could climb. The late 1990s were this cultural order’s years of twilight glow. Computer-generated effects were just maturing, creating intimations of a new age of cinematic wonder. Indie cinema nurtured a new generation of auteurs. Nineteen ninety-nine is a candidate for the best year in movies ever — the year of “Fight Club,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Election,” “Three Kings” and “The Insider,” so on down a roster that justifies not just a Top 10 but a Top 50 list in hindsight. Tellingly, Oscar viewership actually rose from the late 1980s onward, peaking in 1998, when “Titanic” won best picture, which (despite its snobbish detractors) was also a victory for The Movies as a whole — classic Hollywood meeting the special-effects era, bringing the whole country to the multiplex for an experience that simply wouldn’t have been the same in a living room. To be a teenager in that era was to experience the movies, still, as a key place of initiation. I remember my impotent teenage fury at being turned away from an R-rated action movie (I can’t recall if it was “Con Air” or “Executive Decision”) and the frisson of being “adult” enough to see “Eyes Wide Shut” (another one of those 1999 greats — overhyped then, underrated now) on its opening weekend. And the initiation wasn’t just into a general adulthood but into a specific lingua franca: There were certain movies you simply had to watch, from “Austin Powers” to “The Matrix” (1999 again!), to function socially as a college student, to understand the jokes and references that stitched together an entire social world. Just another form of content? What happened next was complicated in that many different forces were at work but simple in that they all had the same effect — which was to finally knock the movies off their pedestal, transform them into just another form of content. The happiest of these changes was a creative breakthrough on television, beginning in earnest with “Sopranos”-era HBO, which enabled small-screen entertainment to vie with the movies as a stage for high-level acting, writing and directing. The other changes were — well, let’s call them ambiguous at best. Globalisation widened the market for Hollywood productions, but the global audience pushed the business toward a simpler style of storytelling that translated more easily across languages and cultures, with less complexity and idiosyncrasy and fewer cultural specifics. The internet, the laptop and the iPhone personalised entertainment and delivered it more immediately, in a way that also widened Hollywood’s potential audience — but habituated people to small screens, isolated viewing and intermittent watching, the opposite of the cinema’s communalism. Special effects opened spectacular (if sometimes antiseptic-seeming) vistas and enabled long-unfilmable stories to reach big screens. But the effects-driven blockbuster, more than its 1980s antecedents, empowered a fandom culture that offered built-in audiences to studios, but at the price of subordinating traditional aspects of cinema to the demands of the Jedi religion or the Marvel cult. And all these shifts encouraged and were encouraged by a more general teenage-ification of Western culture, the extension of adolescent tastes and entertainment habits deeper into whatever adulthood means today. Over time, this combination of forces pushed Hollywood in two directions. On the one hand, toward a reliance on superhero movies and other “presold” properties, largely pitched to teenage tastes and sensibilities, to sustain the theatrical side of the business. (The landscape of the past year, in which the new “Spider-Man” and “Batman” movies between them have made over a billion dollars domestically while Oscar hopefuls have made a pittance, is just an exaggerated version of the pre-COVID dominance of effects-driven sequels and reboots over original storytelling.) On the other hand, toward a churn of content generation to feed home entertainment and streaming platforms, in which there’s little to distinguish the typical movie — in terms of casting, direction or promotion — from the TV serials with which it competes for space across a range of personal devices. Under these pressures, much of what the movies did in American culture, even 20 years ago, is essentially unimaginable today. The internet has replaced the multiplex as a zone of adult initiation. There’s no way for a few hit movies to supply a cultural lingua franca, given the sheer range of entertainment options and the repetitive and derivative nature of the movies that draw the largest audiences. The possibility of a movie star as a transcendent or iconic figure, too, seems increasingly dated. Superhero franchises can make an actor famous, but often only as a disposable servant of the brand. The genres that used to establish a strong identification between actor and audience — the non-superhero action movie, the historical epic, the broad comedy, the meet-cute romance — have all rapidly declined. The televised serial can establish a bond between the audience and a specific character, but the bond doesn’t translate into that actor’s other stories as easily as the larger-than-life aspect of movie stardom did. The great male actors of TV’s antihero epoch are forever their characters — always Tony Soprano, Walter White, Don Draper, Al Swearengen — and recent female star turns in serial entertainment, like Jodie Comer in “Killing Eve” or Anya Taylor-Joy in “The Queen’s Gambit,” haven’t carried their audiences with them into their motion-picture follow-ups. It is important not to be ungrateful for what this era has given us instead — Comer and Taylor-Joy’s TV work included. The surfeit of content is extraordinary, and the serial television drama has narrative capacities that even the most sprawling movies lack. In our most recent week of TV viewing, my wife and I have toggled between the ripely entertaining basketball drama “Winning Time” and a terrific Amanda Seyfried turn as Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout”; next week we’ll turn to the long-delayed third season of Donald Glover’s magical-realist serial “Atlanta.” Not every stretch of new content is like this, but the calibre of instantly available TV entertainment exceeds anything on cable 20 years ago. But these productions are still a different kind of thing from The Movies as they were — because of their reduced cultural influence, the relative smallness of their stars, their lost communal power, but above all because stories told for smaller screens cede certain artistic powers in advance. First, they cede the expansive powers inherent in the scale of the moviegoing experience. Not just larger-than-life acting but also the immersive elements of the cinematic arts, from cinematography to music and sound editing, which inherently matter less when experienced on smaller screens and may get less attention when those smaller screens are understood to be their primary destination. Just to choose examples among this year’s best picture nominees: Movies like “Dune,” “West Side Story” and “Nightmare Alley” are all profoundly different experiences in a theatre than they are at home. In this sense, it’s fitting that the awards marginalised in this year’s rejiggered Oscars include those for score, sound and film editing — because a world where more and more movies are made primarily for streaming platforms will be a world that cares less about audiovisual immersion. Second, the serial television that dominates our era also cedes the power achieved in condensation. This is the alchemy that you get when you’re forced to tell an entire story in one go, when the artistic exertions of an entire team are distilled into under three hours of cinema, when there’s no promise of a second season or multiepisode arc to develop your ideas and you have to say whatever you want to say right here and now. This power is why the greatest movies feel more complete than almost any long-form television. Even the best serial will tend to have an unnecessary season, a mediocre run of episodes or a limp guest-star run, and many potentially great shows, from “Lost” to “Game of Thrones,” have been utterly wrecked by not having some sense of their destination in advance. Whereas a great movie is more likely to be a world unto itself, a self-enclosed experience to which the viewers can give themselves completely. This takes nothing away from the potential artistic advantages of length. There are things “The Sopranos” did across its running time, with character development and psychology, that no movie could achieve. But “The Godfather” is still the more perfect work of art. Restoration and preservation So what should fans of that perfection be looking for in a world where multiplatform content is king, the small screen is more powerful than the big one and the superhero blockbuster and the TV serial together rule the culture? Two things: restoration and preservation. Restoration doesn’t mean bringing back the lost landscape of 1998. But it means hoping for a world where big-screen entertainment in the older style — mass-market movies that aren’t just comic-book blockbusters — becomes somewhat more viable, more lucrative and more attractive to audiences than it seems to be today. One hope lies in the changing landscape of geopolitics, the current age of partial deglobalisation. With China becoming less hospitable to Western releases in the past few years and Russia headed for cultural autarky, it’s possible to imagine a modest renaissance for movies that trade some potential global reach for a more specifically American appeal — movies that aspire to earn $100 million on a $50 million budget or $50 million on a $15 million budget, instead of spending hundreds of millions on production and promotion in the hopes of earning a billion worldwide. The more important potential shift, though, might be in the theatrical experience, which is currently designed to cram as many trailers and ads as possible in front of those billion-dollar movies and squeeze out as many ticket and popcorn dollars — all of which makes moviegoing much less attractive to grown-ups looking for a manageable night out. One response to this problem is the differential pricing that some theatre chains have experimented with, which could be part of a broader differentiation in the experience that different kinds of movies promise. If the latest Marvel spectacle is packing theatres while the potential “West Side Story” audience waits to see it on TV at home, why not make the “West Side Story” experience more accessible — with a low-cost ticket, fewer previews, a simpler in-and-out trip that’s more compatible with, say, going out to dinner? Today’s struggling multiplexes are full of unsold seats. Why not see if a streamlined experience for non-Marvel movies could sell more of them? But because these hopes have their limits, because “West Side Story” making $80 million domestically instead of $40 million won’t fundamentally change the business of Hollywood, lovers of The Movies have to think about preservation as well. That means understanding their position as somewhat akin to lovers of theatre or opera or ballet, who have understood for generations that certain forms of aesthetic experience won’t be sustained and handed down automatically. They need encouragement and patronage, to educate people into loves that earlier eras took for granted — and in our current cultural climate, to inculcate adult tastes over and above adolescent ones. In the case of movies, that support should take two overlapping forms. First, an emphasis on making it easier for theatres to play older movies, which are likely to be invisible to casual viewers amid the ruthless presentism of the streaming industry, even as corporate overlords are tempted to guard classic titles in their vaults. Second, an emphasis on making the encounter with great cinema a part of a liberal arts education. Since the liberal arts are themselves in crisis, this may sound a bit like suggesting that we add a wing to a burning house. But at this point, 20th-century cinema is a potential bridge backward for 21st-century young people, a connection point to the older art forms that shaped The Movies as they were. And for institutions, old or new, that care about excellence and greatness, emphasising the best of cinema is an alternative to a frantic rush for relevance that characterises a lot of academic pop-cultural engagement at the moment. One of my formative experiences as a moviegoer came in college, sitting in a darkened lecture hall, watching “Blade Runner” and “When We Were Kings” as a cinematic supplement to a course on heroism in ancient Greece. At that moment, in 1998, I was still encountering American culture’s dominant popular art form; today a student having the same experience would be encountering an art form whose dominance belongs somewhat to the past. But that’s true as well of so much else we would want that student to encounter, from the “Iliad” and Aeschylus to Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel and beyond. Even if the End of the Movies cannot be commercially or technologically reversed, there is cultural life after this kind of death. It’s just up to us, now, to decide how abundant it will be. ©2022 The New York Times Company

This was November 2018, and the Camp Fire, the most destructive wildfire in California history, was making swift and smoky headway through the Sierra Nevada foothills. It took less than four hours to rip through this town of 26,000 residents, reducing schools, businesses and 11,000 homes into piles of smoldering ash. When Singer got the evacuation order, he thought it was another false alarm. But he peeled out of his driveway as flames licked his yard, making it out of town with minutes to spare. Paradise was lost. Eighty-five people died, and more than 90% of its population was driven out. Two years later, about 4,000 residents have returned to its scorched earth to lay new foundations and test fate once again. Singer is among them. Now he is having second thoughts. For decades in this chaparral-covered ecosystem, it has been a ritual: After the burn comes the rebuild. But as the nation’s most populous state stares down a seething climate crisis, one that cranked temperatures into triple digits last fall and set off a series of infernos that exploded into bone-dry air, the rebuilding process is beginning to look different. California has battled dual crises, with the largest wildfire season on record breaking out in the midst of the pandemic. At the close of 2020, as millions of Californians were put under a second lockdown in a bid to quell a massive second surge in COVID-19 cases, more than 4.2 million acres of the state had been scorched by nearly 10,000 fires. But in many ways, the crises have split the state into two: Northern California continues to reel from multiple megafires, including the August Complex Fire and the SCU Lightning Complex Fire that exploded in late summer. And in Southern California, Los Angeles is now the epicentre of the pandemic, leading the nation both in confirmed cases and number of deaths. In the midst of this, a historic housing shortage and low interest rates have pushed California’s home prices to record highs. In August, the median cost of a single-family home in the state crossed $700,000; in September it climbed further. And while the cost of new homes is on the rise, many homeowners are finding the cost of rebuilding after a fire is even higher. Home rebuilds are on the decline across the entire state, triggered by a combination of contractor shortages, pressures on the rental market and an ever-escalating climate crisis that has become impossible to ignore. California, which remains mired in an affordable-housing crisis, has seen new construction permits dwindle for the past two years after more than a decade of rebounding steadily after the 2008 recession. New home construction permits reached 120,000 in 2018, then dipped to 110,000 in 2019. A home destroyed in a wildfire in Malibu, Cali, Dec 30, 2020. As the nation’s most populous state stares down a seething climate crisis, one that cranked temperatures into triple digits last fall and set off a series of infernos that exploded, into bone dry air, the rebuilding process is beginning to look different. Beth Coller/The New York Times The California Industry Research Board, which monitors construction and permit activity statewide, will publish its 2020 numbers in February but estimates that only 103,670 total housing units were issued last year. A home destroyed in a wildfire in Malibu, Cali, Dec 30, 2020. As the nation’s most populous state stares down a seething climate crisis, one that cranked temperatures into triple digits last fall and set off a series of infernos that exploded, into bone dry air, the rebuilding process is beginning to look different. Beth Coller/The New York Times The board doesn’t track when permits are issued for fire-related losses. And “analysing the effect of California’s wildfires on homebuilding has historically been difficult, as wildfires typically do not enclose themselves in one municipality alone,” Marissa Saldivar, the board’s data journalist intern, wrote in a recent report. But the statewide decline in rebuilds, coupled with the increase and intensity in fires, points to a clear trend: Faced with the choice of rebuilding or starting afresh, more homeowners than ever before are choosing to cut their losses. A critical piece of the puzzle? The state is also short on contractors, which means homeowners looking to rebuild can find themselves in limbo for four or even five years. “Even after the Camp Fire, you’d think we would have seen a spike in the number of permits, and yet we haven’t,” said Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive of the California Building Industry Association. “Most big insurance companies will just cut you a big check, and you can be sitting there looking at a check for $900,000. And you talk to contractors and they say: ‘Sure, I can build you a home, but I’m backed up for a year and a half.’ So we’re seeing a lot people just cut and run.” There is one exception: Rebuilds are holding steady where the land is particularly valuable, as it was in 2018 when the devastating Woolsey Fire tore through Malibu, one of the Los Angeles area's most exclusive cliffside hideaways. Three people were killed. The entire city was evacuated, and 650 of its multimillion-dollar homes, including those belonging to Miley Cyrus, Gerard Butler and Robin Thicke, were vanquished, but today more than one-third of those homes have rebuild permits (in Paradise, the number stands at just over 10%). “Rebuilding after a fire is sort of like someone who gets a shark bite and still goes back and surfs,” said Michael Nourmand, president of the Los Angeles real estate brokerage Nourmand & Associates. “But people in LA have a short memory. Most people are planning to rebuild.” It’s always easier to indulge an urge to rebuild, however, if you have deep pockets. California in 2008 enforced strict fire-safe building codes, which require reinforced roofs made of brick, masonry or concrete; walls that can withstand high temperatures; and landscaping that is free of highly flammable flora. In 2011, the state also required all single-family homes to be equipped with sprinkler systems. These codes can increase costs by $20,000 or more for homeowners looking to rebuild a pre-2008 home. Homeowners who do choose to rebuild must enter the rental market while waiting it out, putting pressure on a housing system where prices are already inflated and demand far outstrips supply. And the state’s most vulnerable residents inevitably suffer the domino effects. California’s homelessness numbers rose 16% in 2019 and have now swelled to more than 150,000 of its residents. Because of COVID-19, those numbers are expected to rise. “When thousands of homes burn down, those people are pushed elsewhere, which pushes rental prices up. That means affordable housing also goes up and housing insecurity goes by the wayside,” said James Ryan, president of Time for Homes, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating chronic homelessness. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s eviction moratorium, meant to protect tenants from losing their homes because of hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, expires Feb 1. But some reports point to evictions rising during the pandemic, despite the moratorium. “There are always people who get lost in the shuffle,” Ryan said. “There are forced evictions, and those people will be looking for other housing, just as people who have lost homes from fire will be looking for temporary housing too. You have more and more people looking for fewer and fewer homes.” The crunch is causing a population shift to California’s more rural enclaves. In tiny El Dorado County, east of Sacramento, sales in 2020 were up 28% (compared with a small decline in Sacramento). But it’s the Inland Empire, the swath of Riverside and San Bernardino counties that sits inland and adjacent to Los Angeles, that is the fastest-growing sector of the state, and it has largely been spared the megafires that have raged through many of the state’s major metropolitan areas, including San Diego, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, over the last two decades. COVID-19, which has prompted an upsizing, exurban surge, has only increased this trend. The median home price in Riverside County in November was $490,000; in San Bernardino County it was $380,250. That’s a fraction of Orange County’s median, which was $930,000; Los Angeles County, meanwhile, saw a median of $664,160. And in the Inland Empire, job growth is strong — for fire-stricken families staring at insurance checks and weighing their options, Dunmoyer said, heading east presents an appealing option. But it’s also impossible to pinpoint cause and effect. “We’ve been seeing a lot of movement toward areas like the Inland Empire, and also out in Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. It’s difficult to say how much is flight away from fire risk and how much is just movement toward affordability. It’s been happening since about 2010,” Dunmoyer said. But moving away from fire risk isn’t a viable option for everyone, especially not in a state already facing an extreme housing shortfall. Since the Camp Fire, Singer and his wife, Shannon, have been renting an apartment in Chico, about 20 miles away, while navigating the various headaches — insurance, zoning, construction, planning — to rebuild their home. They have also started a nonprofit, Paradise Stronger, which utilizes their background in fitness coaching to bring mental health care to residents coping with trauma from the disaster. At first, they were committed to being part of Paradise’s ambitious recovery plan to rebuild the entire city from scratch, which includes more parks and green space, fire-safe landscaping, and improved evacuation routes and warning systems. But then came the 2020 fire season, which pushed new hellish vocabulary into the lexicon — “megafires,” “hot drought.” Fire-whipping winds, which force preventive power shut-offs, are now standard practice. In October, the Singers found themselves once again evacuating their land, except this time, the fire was both on its way and had already had its feast. “This time around, the area that got evacuated first was exactly where our home would have been,” Singer, 43, said. “All you could see was smoke. The PTSD was rampant.” His wife decided she had had enough. “She turned to me and said, ‘I’m not sure I want to rebuild. I’m not sure this is where I want to be anymore,’” Singer said. For his part, he says, he would be willing to stick it out — but not at the expense of his relationship. “I see the vision of this town, and I want to be a part of that, but not if it means my marriage,” Singer said. For now, the couple have hit the pause button on their rebuild plans. If they do move forward, they’re also looking at spending $100,000 out of pocket. Their rebuild plans are for a smaller but more fire-safe home on the same property, and the estimated cost is $250,000. They received $145,000 for the structure that burned; like nearly 60% of American households, they learned after the fact that they were vastly underinsured. Many insurers have also abandoned policies altogether in areas deemed too high a risk: The California Department of Insurance in October reported that refusals from home insurers to renew policies rose by 31% statewide in 2019, and that percentage jumped to 61% in ZIP codes with an elevated fire risk. A handful of new developments have responded by incorporating new resilience protocols into their building strategies in areas well acquainted with wildfire. In Southern California, Rancho Mission Viejo, which is in the southern part of Orange County and is the largest new community in the state, has been in development since 2001 on 23,000 acres of open space. When completed, it will provide 14,000 homes (including 6,000 homes for 55-plus residents), and its development plans stipulate that 75% of that open space be preserved. Fire resilience is a tenet of the construction, and the community implemented many wildfire resistance tactics long before they became state and local requirements. The community was recently highlighted in a report by the Urban Land Institute (as was the entire town of Paradise, whose rebuild, the report said, could serve as a template for other wildfire-affected communities). Each neighbourhood in Rancho Mission Viejo is surrounded by a 110-foot-wide fuel modification zone — a strip of land where combustible vegetation has been replaced with fire-resistant plants. Certain plant species are prohibited. Construction materials are noncombustible; automatic fire sprinklers were mandatory in every home well before the California law changed in 2011. And the added cost is now negligible; when construction began, those fire-safe modifications were adding between $4,000 and $10,000 to the bottom line of each home, compared with a comparable-size new home in the area, but have since dipped to as low as $1,000. Jay Bullock, Rancho Mission Viejo’s vice president for planning and entitlement, said that is because fire-safe methods, once considered radical, have become more commonplace. “The market has caught up,” he said. And in a state where livable space is at a premium, building safely in high fire hazard zones is the key to a sustainable future, said Mike Balsamo, Rancho Mission Viejo’s senior vice president for governmental relations. “There is a playbook,” he said. “We can create the most fire-safe community possible.” © 2020 New York Times News Service

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

On weekends, jazz bands played on the corners. Friends reunited on the median. Children zigged and zagged on their bikes as diners sat at bistro tables atop asphalt. The faint sound of cars could be heard in the distance.Just as the early days of the coronavirus forced New Yorkers inside, it eventually pushed them outdoors — for fresh air, for exercise, for eating, for relief — in what became an organic takeover and reimagining of the city’s streets across its five boroughs.City officials handed over 83 miles of roadway to cyclists, runners and walkers, allowed nearly 11,000 restaurants to stretch onto sidewalks and streets and let retailers expand their storefronts beyond their front doors. People reclaimed the pavement and are, by and large, unwilling to give it back.Mayor Bill de Blasio has heralded the programs — known separately as Open Streets, Open Restaurants and Open Storefronts — as a bright spot in an otherwise dark moment for the city. Once a skeptic, de Blasio believes that some of these pandemic-era experiments will be woven permanently into the fabric of New York.But how exactly will the city look?The New York Times asked people who have taken advantage of Open Streets what they want to see endure. The Times also asked a noted urban planner and architect, Claire Weisz of WXY Studio, to explore what would be realistic but also to offer a more ambitious vision and share what has worked elsewhere.The Times selected three streets that were part of the Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs and that represent possibilities applicable to all parts of the city. While the Open Restaurants program has been made permanent, the city has said less about the future of Open Streets, most of which recently ended because of colder weather, beyond that the mayor wants to see it stay in some form.There is Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, a grand mixed-use, European-style boulevard. There is 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, a wide street lined with apartment buildings and townhouses. And there is Avenue B on the Lower East Side, which, like other Manhattan residential neighborhoods, is anchored by a park.THE EUROPEAN BOULEVARDVanderbilt Avenue, BrooklynVanderbilt Avenue could become a destination for the surrounding areas by taking advantage of the existing median, expanding it with curves that force drivers to slow down and building a performance stage.What New Yorkers ThinkOn Halloween morning, Dayna Rosen stood in the middle of the major thoroughfare connecting Fort Greene to the north and Prospect Park to the south, snapping photos of Monty, her Boston terrier mix. Monty wore a jean jacket and a magenta mohawk.Rosen, 40, felt for a moment as if she had been whisked away to another continent.“It reminds me of all the squares in Europe,” she said.Until Thanksgiving, Vanderbilt Avenue — which stretches 60 feet curb to curb — was transformed into a central hub in the Prospect Heights neighborhood. Restaurants stretched into the street. One block of the avenue has a concrete median with a few planted trees, a splash of greenery in the middle of the two-way street.The transformation started on Saturday mornings with volunteers moving blue barricades onto the avenue, blocking all cars except emergency vehicles.“Since we live right on this block, we are able to bring our chairs,” Molly Marcotte said as she carried a barricade.When we asked people who have flocked to Vanderbilt what it needs most, almost everyone mentioned more benches and tables. The existing bike lane should be more clearly marked and improved to try to separate faster cyclists from others, especially children, who are traveling more slowly.Above all, local residents said they wanted to be able to dictate the future of Vanderbilt and not cede decision making to City Hall.Jaykuan Marrero, who has cut hair at two barbershops on the street, said he would love to see Vanderbilt converted into an ambitious events space, with a stage for musical and theatrical performances.Andy Bachman, a rabbi who was getting his hair cut by Marrero, agreed.“This is a borough of writers, painters and poets,” Bachman said.What’s PracticalThe future of a road like Vanderbilt, Weisz said, begins with the median — a 10-foot-wide by 300-foot-long elevated concrete block broken up by nine Japanese zelkova trees.On many city streets, the median is “purely a kind of visual safety barrier and nothing else,” she said.Weisz said Vanderbilt’s median could be extended along additional blocks and expanded outward, becoming a small park.The islands in the middle of Vanderbilt, she said, could also provide something sorely needed across the entire city: public bathrooms, which make places more welcoming and allow people to linger longer.In some countries, users of public bathrooms pay a small fee — 25 cents in U.S. currency, for instance — with the proceeds used to hire workers to keep bathrooms clean and stocked with supplies. (The city has five public, climate-controlled restrooms that cost 25 cents to use for 15 minutes.)Medians could also be used as loading and unloading zones for deliveries. New kinds of bike lanes — one dedicated to fast bicyclists, commuters and delivery workers — could be added next to the median. There could be a separate lane for leisurely riders.That is a model embraced by Copenhagen, the cycling-friendly city in Denmark, which has nine so-called supercycle highways crisscrossing the city and its metropolitan area.THE RESIDENTIAL PROMENADE34th Avenue, QueensIn Queens, 34th Avenue could become a long pedestrian promenade by expanding the existing median, which would allow space for features like a workout area and gardens, and would move the existing bike lane away from traffic.What New Yorkers ThinkTwice a day, Laurie Gold takes her pit bull mix, Shani, on a long walk — more than 2 miles along 34th Avenue. The straight roadway, whose lanes are separated by an elevated median with plants and trees, is full of people day and night, running, walking or biking.“I love it,” Gold, 29, said about the Open Streets portion, which extends more than a mile from near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to Junction Boulevard. “I wouldn’t change anything.”During the pandemic, the avenue has become a family destination. Neighbors stop to chat. Parents push strollers, while children bounce basketballs or zip around on bicycles. Ashley Cedeno, 8, loves playing tag or hide-and-seek.The street, Ashley said, is “for having fun and playing together.”A gathering area on the western half is Travers Park, a 2-acre playground and green space surrounded by apartment buildings and schools. While wanting to maintain the avenue’s residential appeal, some people said they would like more commercial activity, like fairs, food trucks and sidewalk vendors.On some weekends, farmers and winemakers have set up tents to sell goods. Edwin Cordero, who has lost 5 pounds in the past month walking his yellow Labrador retriever, Lucy, said there should be more choices.“We don’t get street festivals up here at all,” Cordero said.What’s PracticalA street like 34th Avenue is ripe with opportunities, Weisz said. The roadway stretches about 55 feet across from curb to curb, enough room for the median to be extended to the sidewalk on one side and create a one-way road on the other.The extended area would create a large section for pedestrians and for more greenery, she said.While the avenue has a bike lane, it runs between the roadway and parked cars. Weisz said it would be safer to move it next to the sidewalk to prevent drivers from hitting cyclists with the door when they get out of their vehicles.“It does feel dangerous,” she said.Travers Park could serve as an anchor, a place to add public bathrooms as well as carve out space for vendors and a workout area.New York could take inspiration from the Tokyo Toilet, architecturally appealing and wheelchair-accessible restrooms found across Shibuya, a major commercial center in Tokyo.“You need some sort of public facilities here,” Weisz said.THE NEIGHBORHOOD SIDE STREETAvenue B, ManhattanAvenue B could be made more inviting to pedestrians by converting the road into a one-way strip near Tompkins Square Park, which would lose its fencing but gain public bathrooms.What New Yorkers ThinkHolding a paintbrush lathered in red wood stain, Darrin Arremony knelt on Avenue B on a recent Sunday, applying the first coat on a newly built outdoor dining structure at Barnyard, his wife’s cheese restaurant.As he spread the stain, Arremony kept an eye on the narrow lanes behind him, watching for traffic. He said it might be safer to convert the open street section of Avenue B, between East Sixth and East 14th streets, into a one-way street.Today, with parked cars and some restaurants operating on the roadway, there is roughly a 20-foot wide gap on the street for people, bicyclists and some vehicles. Only local car traffic is allowed through.“We definitely need automobile traffic here,” Arremony said. “The businesses will need the support of deliveries.”The focal point of the neighborhood is Tompkins Square Park, developed into a landscaped oasis more than 150 years ago on former swampland.Many residents said the park’s best features — a place to sit or relax amid greenery — should be adopted along Avenue B. Debora Williams, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years, said the sidewalks should have more trees and plants.Converting Avenue B into a permanent open street, she added, would allow schools to use it as a big playground.“Just more greenery would be great,” Williams said.What’s PracticalThe park is 10.5 acres but most of it is off limits to people. Fences ring its perimeter, except for paved entryways into the park. Benches line the paths but are not surrounded by trees and shrubs, which are protected by more fencing within the park.Weisz said the fences were a relic of a different era when residents worried about farm animals roaming into the parkland. Then, “it turned into a weird 1970s security thing,” she said. But imagine, she said, what the area would look like without fences.It would be easy to enter the park with paths weaving amid the trees and landscapes, allowing people to escape in the greenery and stay socially distanced.A template for Avenue B could be Barcelona, Spain, which has superblocks — islands of car-free streets. The avenue could be made one-way as an open street, while reverting to a two-way elsewhere.A wider street would also make room for public bathrooms, she said.Breaking up the flow of traffic would force drivers to slow down, increasing safety. Avenue B would also benefit from bike lanes and discrete areas for deliveries.“It looks like the perfect shared street,” Weisz said.   © 2020 The New York Times Company

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."

SINGAPORE, Tue Jun 9, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Many Asian firms do not fully understand the potential earnings impacts of carbon pricing in the region nor are they prepared for the risk of carbon import duties on their goods, a senior UBS analyst said on Tuesday. Airlines, cement and steel firms, computer makers and shipping lines were among the sectors likely to be hit depending on margins, ability to pass on costs and exposure to the United States and Europe, said Simon Smiles, Asian thematic analyst for UBS in Hong Kong. He said a major climate meeting in December in Denmark could be a catalyst for wider introduction of carbon pricing in Asia and that a carbon tax or emissions trading would affect many companies across every Asian market within three years. "Investors in Asia don't focus on this issue at all. They are very short-term focused, they look at climate change and think this isn't something governments in India and China really have front-of-mind," he told Reuters from Hong Kong. Smiles is author of major UBS report "How could carbon pricing impact Asian company earnings?", published recently. He looked at three scenarios: domestic carbon pricing in Asian countries; "equalising" carbon import duties between richer and poorer nations and harsher climate change carbon import duties. He said the second option was the most likely in the medium term and pointed to signals from the United States and the European Union about the possible introduction of duties on goods from countries that don't have greenhouse gas caps. The Waxman-Markey climate bill, yet to be voted on in Congress, proposes the introduction of an international reserve allowance programme. This would involve US firms buying energy-intensive goods from nations that do not have the same emissions targets as the United States. The US firms would have to buy the allowances to offset the carbon implied in the foreign products, such as cement or steel. CARBON DUTIES Smiles said marine transport firms, airlines, steel makers and computer companies would be affected under the second scenario because exporters would pay for the carbon based on the amount of CO2 they emitted. Domestic firms did not. "When the US introduces carbon pricing, nations comprising over 50 percent of global private consumption will have carbon pricing. They'll be in a better position to potentially introduce carbon-related import duties." According to the report, Taiwan's Eva Airways would be the most-affected Asian airline, with earnings per share falling 34.3 percent under this scenario, based on 2010 earnings projections and a carbon price of US$9 per tonne. Thailand's Siam City Cement's EPS would fall 10.6 percent, while South Korean Hyundai Merchant Marine's EPS would drop 51.4 percent. Under the first scenario in which domestically focused firms and exporters pay for the CO2 they emit, airlines, power utilities, marine transport and cement makers are among the worst hit, he said. The study assumed countries in Asia introduced domestic carbon taxes or carbon trading schemes targeting a 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. China Airlines, for instance would see its estimated 2010 EPS plunge catastrophically because of the high exposure to the United States and EU, 30 percent fuel cost exposure and slightly negative earnings margin. Singapore Airlines' EPS would fall only 8.6 percent because of its 9.5 percent net profit margin and slightly smaller fuel cost exposure, according to the report. Smiles said the third scenario in which exporters of manufactured goods directly or indirectly paid for the CO2 their home countries emitted looked less likely at present. Under this scenario the primary motivation was to force the hand of China, India and other developing nations to join world efforts to fight global warming. "The assumption in the report is to have a look at broadly what we think a domestic carbon pricing regime would cost (for these countries)," Smiles said. It was then assumed that the entire cost for every country was imposed by the US and Europe on all manufactured exports from those countries by way of a flat tax. For China, the implied carbon cost was $55 billion in 2007 terms, while for India it was $9 billion.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Instead of sidelining the fight against climate change, the global credit crisis could hasten countries' efforts to create 'green growth' industries by revamping the financial system behind them, the UN climate chief said on Friday. But that would depend on governments helping poor countries -- who are key to saving the planet's ecology -- tackle their problems, instead of spending most available money on rescuing the financial world, Yvo de Boer told reporters. De Boer said the financial "earthquake" that has seen markets plunge worldwide in recent weeks could damage UN-led climate change talks, but only "if the opportunities that the crisis brings for climate change abatement are ignored." "The credit crisis can be used to make progress in a new direction, an opportunity for global green economic growth," de Boer, who heads the Bonn-based U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference. "The credit crunch I believe is an opportunity to rebuild the financial system that would underpin sustainable growth ... Governments now have an opportunity to create and enforce policy which stimulates private competition to fund clean industry." De Boer said a successful outcome to climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 would create new markets, investment opportunities and job creation. But he warned that "if available global capital is used primarily to refloat the financial world, we literally will sink the futures of the poorest of the poor. "And I hope that the credit crunch will not mean that people in the South will have to wait for those in the North to have repaid their credit card debts and mortgages before attention is again turned to the South." Without reaching out a hand to developing countries, it would be very difficult to make advances on the rest of the environmental agenda, De Boer said. Environment ministers will meet in two months' time in Poznan, Poland, to prepare for the Copenhagen summit, which is due to agree on a new global-warming accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Ministers in Poznan must make clear they were "willing to put financial resources, the architecture, the institutions in place that will allow developing countries to engage in a global approach on both mitigation and adaptation," he said. Funding did not have to all come from governments and he foresaw "an approach where we very much use the market". De Boer said the financial crisis had not so far affected the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, which allows rich countries to offset their carbon footprints by investing in clean energy projects in developing countries.

Kamran Reza Chowdhury Thimphu, April 28 (bdnews24.com)--The 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation starts Wednesday in the Bhutanese capital as the regional grouping turns 25 since its inception in Dhaka in 1985. Afghan president Hamid Karzai, the Maldivian president Mohamed Nashid, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksha, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Indian premier Manmohan Singh, Nepalese prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Pakistan's prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani will deliver their speeches at the opening session. Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley, the Prime minister of Bhutan, which for the first time is hosting South Asia's biggest gathering of top leaders, will chair the session. Besides, the Thimphu declaration, the two-day summit will adopt a SAARC statement on climate change, the central theme of the event. Despite 25 years of its existence, critics say the regional grouping has so far failed to achieve anything substantial that would have cut poverty and improve the life of more than 1.5 billion people of the region. The widely-held impression about SAARC in the member countries is that it is a forum for an annual gathering of top leaders, where they make bold promises but fail to implement them. "The SAARC summit gives the South Asian top leaders an opportunity to meet face to face without the presence of media and bureaucrats," Bhutanese foreign secretary Daw Penjo told bdnews24.com Sunday night at the Bangladesh embassy. He said the face to face interaction of the leaders contributes to the improvement of relations. "The 16th SAARC summit will chart out a 25-year road map as per the aspiration of people of the region," said the secretary. Meanwhile, the SAARC foreign ministers have finalised the drafts of the two agreements for approval at the summit - the convention on cooperation on environment and the convention on trade in services. The council of ministers and the standing committee also prepared the Thimphu declaration and the Thimphu statement on climate change, the central theme of the 16th summit. The member states will announce a common SAARC position on climate change, though the declaration will not include a text on legally binding emission cut targets for the polluters. As per the proposal of Bangladesh, the declaration will include a SAARC charter for democracy with a view to promoting democracy in all eight countries, foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes told bdnews24.com Tuesday. Meanwhile, all the heads of states and governments other than Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh have reached Thimphu, a beautiful hilly city. Singh will arrive Wednesday morning before the summit starts at 2.30 pm. The summit will also see the inauguration of the headquarters of the SAARC Development Fund in Thimphu.

Egyptians vote on Saturday in a referendum on constitutional changes that are designed to allow free and fair elections but have splintered the reform movement that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The vote has divided Egypt between those who say much deeper constitutional change is needed and others who argue that the amendments will suffice for now. A high turnout is expected. The Muslim Brotherhood, a well organised Islamist group, has come out in favour of the amendments, setting it at odds with secular groups and prominent reform advocates including Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa, both candidates for the presidency. The military council to which Mubarak handed power on Feb. 11 is hoping the amendments will pass so it can move along the path it has set towards parliamentary and presidential elections that will allow it to cede power to an elected government. "This will be a watershed vote," said Ahmed Saleh, an activist now coordinating ElBaradei's presidential campaign. "People's appetite for voting is high now and change is in the air". The military council to which Mubarak handed power on Feb. 11 called for a strong turnout. "The goal of this referendum is to create an adequate climate for parliamentary and presidential elections but more important than the outcome is that Egyptians participate and give their voice," it said. The council asked a judicial committee to draft the amendments, which include a two-term limit on the presidency, restricting to eight years the time a leader can serve in the office Mubarak held for three decades. Rejection of the amendments will force the council to rethink its strategy and prolong a transitional period that it wants to keep as short as possible. But the reforms fall far short of the demands of reformists who want the constitution completely rewritten. Youth groups who organised the protests against Mubarak said the amendments were an attempt to "abort the revolution". TIGHT TIMETABLE More broadly, they are worried that a tight timetable set by the military for elections will not give enough time for parties to recover from years of oppression and give an advantage to the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak's administration. General Ismail Etman, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, said this week that amending the constitution was "the best and not the most ideal solution". In an interview with Al Gomhuria newspaper published on Thursday, he said approval of the amendments would lead to new laws that would open up political life, including an end to restrictions of political party formation. Newspapers, television stations and social networking sites have been alive with debate over how to vote. The "No" camp pressed its campaign on Friday in a full-page advert in Al Masry Al Youm, a popular Egyptian newspaper. "How can I agree to a historic decision without time or adequate information?" was one of the objections listed alongside pictures of actors, politicians, religious figures and businessmen who are urging voters to reject the amendments. On the next page, a Muslim Brotherhood leader gave the opposing view: "Supporting the constitutional amendments is a step towards realising the demands of the revolution ... the ones who reject them have not offered a clear alternative." Up to 45 million of Egypt's population of 80 million are eligible to vote and a high turnout is expected from voters accustomed to elections marred by violence and vote-rigging under Mubarak. "Of course I will vote. I never felt my vote would count as much as it will on Saturday," said Ahmed Adel, 35, who added he would vote for the amendments to help get his country back on track. "We need a parliament and president as soon as possible". Activist Ziad el-Elemi disagreed: "We are holding workshops across the country to raise awareness among citizens that constitutional amendments are not enough."

Heckling is something Trudeau has always faced, but this time the attacks have new bite. After six years in office, a prime minister who promised “sunny ways” and presented himself as a new face is now the political establishment, with a track record and missteps for opponents to criticise. Even if the Liberal Party clings to its hold on Parliament, as observers expect, this bruising election campaign has done him no favours. Ben Chin, the prime minister’s senior adviser, said that no politician could have sustained Trudeau’s initial popularity. “If you’re in power for six years or five years, you’re going to have more baggage,” Chin said. “You have to make tough decisions that not everybody’s going to agree with.” For much of his time in office, opposition party leaders have accused Trudeau of putting his personal and political interests before the nation’s good — of which the snap election being held Monday is the most recent example. They also have had rich material to attack him on over controversies involving a contract for a charity close to his family, and a finding that he broke ethics laws by pressing a minister to help a large Quebec company avoid criminal sanctions. And for every accomplishment Trudeau cites, his opponents can point to unfulfilled pledges. Anti-vax protesters have thronged his events, some with signs promoting the far-right People’s Party of Canada, prompting his security detail to increase precautions. One rally in Ontario where protesters significantly outnumbered the police was shut down over safety concerns, and at another in the same province, the prime minister was pelted with gravel as he boarded his campaign bus. A local official of the People’s Party later faced charges in that episode of assault with a weapon. Trudeau has many achievements since 2015 to point to. His government has introduced carbon pricing and other climate measures, legalised cannabis, increased spending for Indigenous issues and made 1,500 models of military-style rifles illegal. A new plan will provide day care for 10 Canadian dollars a day per child. Although his popularity has diminished, Trudeau’s star power remains. When he dropped by the outdoor terrace of a cafe in Port Coquitlam, an eastern suburb of Vancouver, for elbow bumps, quick chats and selfies with voters, a crowd soon swelled. “We love you, we love you,” Joy Silver, a 76-year-old retired schoolteacher from nearby Coquitlam, told Trudeau. But as Election Day nears, many Canadians are still asking why Trudeau is holding a vote now, two years ahead of schedule, with COVID-19 infections on the rise from the delta variant, taxing hospitals and prompting renewed pandemic restrictions in some provinces or delaying their lifting in others. Also criticised was that he called the vote the same weekend Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, when Canadian troops were struggling to evacuate Canadians as well as Afghans who had assisted their forces. “They’ve been struggling with answering that question the whole campaign,” said Gerald Butts, a longtime friend of Trudeau’s and a former top political adviser. “And that’s part of why they’re having trouble getting the message across.” Trudeau has said that he needs to replace his plurality in the House of Commons with a majority to deal with the remainder of the pandemic and the recovery that will follow — although he avoids explicitly saying “majority.” The Liberal Party’s political calculation was that it was best to strike while Canadians still held favourable views about how Trudeau handled pandemic issues, particularly income supports and buying vaccines. “We’re the party with the experience, the team and the plan to continue delivering real results for Canadians, the party with a real commitment to ending this pandemic,” Trudeau said at a rally in Surrey, another Vancouver suburb, standing in front of campaign signs for candidates from the surrounding area. “Above all, my friends, if you want to end this pandemic for good, go out and vote Liberal.” During much of the 36-day campaign, the Liberals have been stuck in a statistical tie with the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Erin O’Toole, each holding about 30% of the popular vote. The New Democrats, a left-of-center party led by Jagmeet Singh, lies well behind at about 20%. Kimberly Speers, a political scientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said that Trudeau’s personality and celebrity may be working against him. “The messaging, from the NDP and the Conservatives especially, is that it’s a power grab and it’s all about him,” she said. “And that message has just really seemed to stick with voters.” Some scandals during Trudeau’s tenure have helped the opposition, too. In 2019, Trudeau’s veterans affairs minister, an Indigenous woman, quit amid allegations that when she was justice minister, he and his staff had improperly pressured her to strike a deal that would have allowed a large Canadian corporation to avoid a criminal conviction on corruption charges. Despite his championing of diversity, it emerged during the 2019 election that Trudeau had worn blackface or brownface three times in the past. And last year a charity with deep connections to his family was awarded a no-bid contract to administer a COVID-19 financial assistance plan for students. (The group withdrew, the program was cancelled, and Trudeau was cleared by the federal ethics and conflict of interest commissioner.) His opponents have also focused on promises they say he has fallen short on, including introducing a national prescription drug programme, creating a new electoral structure for Canada, lowering debt relative to the size of the economy, and ending widespread sexual harassment in the military and solitary confinement in federal prisons. The Centre for Public Policy Analysis at Laval University in Quebec City found that Trudeau has fully kept about 45% of his promises, while 27% were partly fulfilled. Singh has been reminding voters that Trudeau vowed to bring clean drinking water to all Indigenous communities. There were 105 boil-water orders in effect at First Nations when Trudeau took power, with others added later. The government has restored clean water to 109 communities, but 52 boil-water orders remain. “I think Mr Trudeau may care, I think he cares, but the reality is that he’s often done a lot of things for show and hasn’t backed those up with real action,” Singh said during the official English-language debate. O’Toole, for his part, has sought to portray the vote as an act of personal aggrandizement. “Every Canadian has met a Justin Trudeau in their lives: privileged, entitled and always looking out for No. 1,” he said at a recent event in rural Ottawa. “He was looking out for No. 1 when he called this expensive and unnecessary election in the middle of a pandemic.” Security and secrecy have increased at Trudeau’s campaign stops after several of them were disrupted by protesters angry about mandatory COVID-19 vaccination rules and vaccine passport measures that the prime minister has imposed. At the rally outside a banquet hall in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, Trudeau, sleeves rolled up and microphone in hand, gave an energetic speech before diving into a mostly South Asian crowd eager to pose for pictures with him. In a change from previous practice, the crowd had been gathered by invitation rather than by public announcement, partly to keep its size within pandemic limits, and no signs promoted the event on the formidable gate to the remote location. Up on the hall’s roof, two police snipers in camouflage surveyed the scene. After an earlier rally in Ontario was canceled, Trudeau was asked if US politics had inspired the unruly protests. His answer was indirect. “I think we all need to reflect on whether we do want to go down that path of anger, of division, of intolerance,” he said. “I’ve never seen this intensity of anger on the campaign trail or in Canada.” Translating wider poll results into precise predictions of how many seats the parties will hold in the next House of Commons is not possible. But all of the current polling suggests that Trudeau may have alienated many Canadians with an early election call and endured abuse while campaigning, for no political gain. The most likely outcome is that the Liberals will continue to hold power but not gain the majority he sought. If that proves to be the case, Butts said, “it’s going to end up pretty close to where we left off, which is a great irony.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Palep’s 9-year-old daughter, Aviana Campello-Palep, in contrast, approaches the topic with zero self-consciousness or hesitation. “When my friends talk about getting their period, they just talk about it,” Aviana said. “It’s just normal in a girl’s life.” These frank conversations have led Palep and her daughters, Aviana and Anaya, who is 8, to create Girls With Big Dreams, a line of undergarments for tweens, which includes reusable period underwear that offers an environmentally friendlier alternative to disposable pads and tampons; their brand will launch in early February and be sold online. “I’m hopefully going to make a difference in somebody’s life so they’re not embarrassed at some point by something that’s so normal,” Aviana said. The Campello-Palep girls are representative of two emerging trends that have become clear to period advocates, and anyone who casually follows #PeriodTok: Members of Gen Z and beyond are more forthcoming about their periods than generations past, and they are more likely to care whether the products they use are environmentally sustainable. The convergence of the two ideals may signify a cultural shift in how young people are approaching menstruation. More options for reusable period products like absorbent underwear, menstrual cups, cloth pads and panty liners, and applicator-free tampons are on the market now than ever before — some made just for teens and tweens. “This whole movement is youth-driven,” said Michela Bedard, executive director of Period Inc., a global nonprofit focused on providing access to period supplies and ending period stigma. “Young menstruators are having a completely different experience in terms of managing their periods with reusables throughout their life.” Reusable products represent only a fraction of menstruation supplies purchased in the United States — Americans spend $1.8 billion on pads and $1 billion on tampons yearly, which dwarfs sales of all other products combined. But the market share for reusable products is expected to grow through the next decade, according to forecasters, largely fueled by the wider acceptance and availability of menstrual cups in Western countries. Still, the average menstruator can use thousands of tampons in their lifetime. And single-use plastic menstrual products take about 500 years to decompose, a 2021 report from the United Nations Environment Programme found. Members of Gen Z, who studies find are more likely to get involved in climate change and sustainability efforts than previous generations, are teaching their parents about new ways to handle their monthly cycle openly and sustainably. “I used to have conversations about how to hide your tampon or pad up in your sleeve or in your shorts or in your pants,” said Dr Cara Natterson, who is a pediatrician; the author of American Girl’s best-selling “The Care and Keeping of You” series; and founder of Oomla, a gender- and size-inclusive line of bras and puberty products. “I do not have that conversation anymore because the kids go, ‘Why should I hide my tampon and my pad?’ They are 100 percent right.” Natterson’s 18-year-old daughter has educated her about new products in the marketplace, some of which she discovers from Instagram influencers or #PeriodTok videos. “Teens are looking for conversations around people’s experiences, not five-star Amazon reviews,” she said. Natterson recently considered using cloth pads again after a failed experiment with them years ago, at her teenager’s behest. “They didn’t work super well when they were first being invented and iterated,” she said. “My daughter said, ‘You got to try them again.’” Environmental sustainability and menstruation may be having a moment, but it’s not the first time, said Lara Freidenfelds, a historian of health, reproduction and parenting, and author of “The Modern Period: Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America.” Homemade menstrual rags were the norm through the turn of the 20th century, up until Kotex became the first successfully mass-marketed pad in 1921. Modernity equaled disposability, and the brand was aspirational, she said. The first robust discussions of sustainability in menstrual care started in the 1970s as people experimented with cloth pads and sponges. “There have always been young people who were idealistic and thought about these things but did not find the products available to be practical,” she said. Sustainability has historically been sacrificed for the sake of convenience, she added. Today, parents of Gen Zers benefit from improvements in menstrual technology: The cloth pads of yore are not the cloth pads of today; and period underwear, for example, is made of highly absorbent fabric without being bulky. New menstruators often turn to a parent for products and advice — now parents can hand over more than a disposable pad or tampon, potentially rerouting some of the more than 15 billion disposable products that end up in landfills every year in America. “The world we’re going to have when these progressive Gen Zers become parents in 20 years — that’s going to be fascinating,” said Nadya Okamoto, a former executive director of Period Inc. and co-founder of the sustainable menstrual products brand August. Despite these cultural shifts and advances in technology, there are significant barriers to widespread use of reusable or recyclable products. “When you first get your period, pads are the easiest thing to find and buy,” said Anaya Balaji, who is 13. “If you go into the school bathrooms, they’re stocked with Always,” she added, referring to the disposable brand’s ubiquitous presence in her California high school. As an online community leader for the Inner Cycle, a virtual forum for the August brand, Anaya connects with her peers on social media to provide education and awareness. “You can find the products out there that fit your body and that work good for you and good for the environment,” she said. Still, some young people can’t afford reusable products, especially in communities where period poverty — or the lack of access to menstrual products — is an issue. “Even though the investment in a $25 pair of underwear or a $60 cup would save you money, a lot of people don’t have that money every month,” said Bedard, whose organisation serves the economically disadvantaged. Like disposable products, reusable and recyclable products are also subject to a “tampon tax” — a tax that is levied on products that are deemed nonessential — in many states. Activists argue that such taxes are sexist and discriminatory and have fought to repeal them nationwide through legislative action. In 2021, several states, including Louisiana, Maine and Vermont, nixed the tax. The cultural stigma that plagues menstruation also stubbornly persists, despite the best efforts of young people to normalize periods. Patriarchal taboos around virginity, purity and “dirtiness” in many cultures and religions quash conversation and can impede the use of internal menstrual products, such as tampons or cups. Corporate messaging still largely emphasizes discreetness and cleanliness, which makes periods seem dirty or bad, said Chella Quint, a menstrual activist, educator and author of “Own Your Period: A Fact-filled Guide to Period Positivity.” “For a long time, the disposable menstrual product industry was hugely responsible for propagating and perpetuating the sort of negative taboos that keep people down and frightened,” she added. Menstrual health is a public health issue and has no gender, Natterson said. To combat taboos around the subject, anyone, even those who don’t menstruate, should be able to speak freely about periods too, she said. Natterson said she’s made sure her 16-year-old son knows to hand his sweatshirt to a classmate who has a blood stain on their pants, and to have a tampon or pad to share. “Teaching everyone to respect other people’s bodies — everyone needs to be part of that conversation,” she said. © 2022 The New York Times Company

Between 1990 and 2014, harvested wine grape acreage in the growing region around Paso Robles nearly quintupled to 37,408 acres, as vintners discovered that the area's rolling hills, rocky soil and mild climate were perfect for coaxing rich, sultry flavours from red wine grapes. Wines from the region, located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, have won the kind of international acclaim once reserved for California's more famous growing areas of Napa and Sonoma. And in 2010, a red blend from Paso Robles' Saxum Vineyards was awarded one of winemaking’s highest honours when Wine Spectator magazine named it the worldwide "wine of the year." But in the last few years, California's ongoing drought has hit the region hard, reducing grape yields and depleting the vast aquifer that most of the area’s vineyards and rural residents rely on as their sole source of water other than rain. Across the region, residential and vineyard wells have gone dry. Those who can afford to – including a number of large wineries and growers – have drilled ever-deeper wells, igniting tensions and leading some to question whether Paso Robles' burgeoning wine industry is sustainable. "All of our water is being turned purple and shipped out of here in green glass," said Cam Berlogar, who delivers water, cuts custom lumber and sells classic truck parts in the Paso Robles-area community of Creston. Unlike other states that treat groundwater as a shared resource subject to regulation and monitoring, California's Gold Rush-era rules have generally allowed property owners to drill wells on their land and suck out as much water as they want. "It's a matter of who has the longest straw at the bottom of the bucket," said Berlogar. The water level in his own 57-foot well has dropped 40 feet over the last six to seven years.  Richard Sauret walks in his vineyard, which he said he irrigates with very little water, in Paso Robles, California April 20, 2015. Reuters In August 2013, in response to the crisis, San Luis Obispo County supervisors passed a moratorium on new vineyards and other water-dependent projects. But the two-year ban, which will expire this summer, did not apply to projects already in the works, and so grape acreage has continued to expand. Richard Sauret, a long-time resident who grows award-winning Zinfandel grapes, has a reputation for conserving water in his hilltop Paso Robles vineyards. Still, he relies on water pumped from the aquifer when he needs to irrigate, and he worries about that resource running out. "There is way too much demand. I blame a lot of vineyards like other people do," said Sauret. "There are a lot of farmers who are going to have to farm with a hell of a lot less water." Change is coming Spurred by the drought, California Governor Jerry Brown last year signed a package of bills requiring groundwater-dependent areas to establish local water sustainability agencies by 2017. The agencies will then have between three and five years to adopt water management plans, and then another two decades to implement those plans. Some residents worry that Paso Robles can't wait that long. Aquifer depletion is difficult to model, but one report for the county of San Luis Obispo projected that, even with no additional growth, the water drawn from the basin would exceed that going in by 1.8 billion gallons annually between 2012 and 2040. "If it goes on unmanaged for another 10 years, it could reach a point where we couldn't correct it," said Hilary Graves, who makes wine under the Mighty Nimble brand. Graves is a fourth-generation farmer whose ancestors came to California as migrant workers after losing everything during the Dust Bowl. "I would like to not have to retrace my family's footsteps back to Oklahoma and Arkansas," said Graves. Water fight If most residents agree that there is a crisis, they are far from agreeing on how to address it. In a divisive 3-to-2 vote, county supervisors recently decided to move forward on creating a new water district that will be governed by an elected nine-member board. But many long-time residents and some of the region’s winemakers worry that large, well-funded newcomers will spend freely to get sympathetic board members elected and then stick local landowners with huge bills for infrastructure projects that disproportionately benefit the larger players.  Richard Sauret demonstrates the irrigation system in his vineyard, which uses very little water, in Paso Robles, California April 20, 2015. Reuters Susan Harvey, a rural homeowner and president of the non-profit North County Watch, called the model for the proposed district "we pay, they pump." The residents are particularly concerned about politically connected and deep-pocketed new arrivals, including Harvard University, which has invested more than $60 million of endowment funds in the purchase of about 10,000 acres in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, and Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the Beverly Hills billionaires behind FIJI Water and the Wonderful brand of pomegranate, citrus and nut products. The Resnicks’ company bought Paso Robles' Justin Vineyards & Winery in 2010 and two years later purchased a 740-acre ranch that had been dry-farmed before it was converted to irrigated vineyards. Jennifer George, a spokeswoman for Justin's parent company, Wonderful, said the winery's new vineyards have been planted with grapes that take less water, and that the company will eventually transition to dry farming the land. Harvard declined to comment for this story. 'Pick your poison' Fifth-generation farmer Cindy Steinbeck, of Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery, helped found Protect Our Water Rights (POWR), one of several groups that have sprung up around the region’s water issues, and is deeply sceptical about a new water agency. Her group is urging land-owners to join a quiet title action to protect their water rights, and would rather see the courts oversee any plan to manage the basin’s water. "We are fighting the big boys," said Steinbeck, who says her goal is to prevent family farmers from being pushed out of Paso Robles. The region will be "an important test case for how other highly-stressed groundwater basins might introduce new regional oversight," said Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Paso Robles Agricultural Alliance for Groundwater Solutions (PRAAGS) has been the driving force behind the district. Its board includes a representative from J Lohr Vineyards & Wines, and at least one director affiliated with Harvard's property interests in the area. Other district supporters include Justin Vineyards and County Supervisor Frank Mecham, who voted to establish the new agency. Mecham says he understands residents’ concerns about it, but he also understands the need for water management. Mecham’s great, great grandfather lost his cattle ranch in the area to a drought. "This is the cold, hard reality: You will be managed one way or another. You’ve got to pick your poison," he said. Richard Sauret walks in his vineyard, which he said he irrigates with very little water, in Paso Robles, California April 20, 2015. Reuters Richard Sauret demonstrates the irrigation system in his vineyard, which uses very little water, in Paso Robles, California April 20, 2015. Reuters

Dr David Nabarro concluded his short visit in Dhaka on Sunday, as part of his global campaign, when he met with health minister Mohammed Nasim and senior government officials. He also interacted with a group of journalists, including bdnews24.com, at the British High Commission in Dhaka. The election of the WHO’s eighth director-general will take place in May when its 194 member states convene in Geneva for the annual general meeting, the World Health Assembly. Former Ethiopian foreign minister as well as health minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and former Pakistan’s health minister Dr Sania Nishtar are the other two candidates selected as finalists in the competition to replace Dr Margaret Chan, whose second term of office ends June 30. The recent spate of global outbreaks including Ebola virus and the health challenges posed by climate change, an ageing population and non-communicable diseases and the shortage of new drugs are some of the issues of global concerns for the candidates taking part in the election process. The WHO has been severely criticised for the way it dealt with the Ebola virus outbreak and some experts also raised the question of the relevance of this UN body during that period. The 2014 outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 11, 000 people. Dr Navarro, since Sep 2014, has served as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Ebola, providing strategic and policy direction for the international response. Replying to a question, the British doctor explained why Bangladesh should vote him? He said based on his past experiences he would be able “to get WHO into the right place on its work”. And because of his work experiences in South Asia including Bangladesh, he is also familiar with the issues of health and healthcare in the region. He also said of his professional experience in this region, his works on SDGs and climate change over the last two years as a special envoy of the UN Secretary were also “relevant” to Bangladesh. “I love this country. I worked here in 1982 in the Save the Children. Many great things are done here. I am keen to encourage Bangladesh vote for me. If Bangladesh supports me, others will pay attention,” he said. He has more than 30 years of experience in public health, nutrition and development work at the national, regional and global levels, and has held positions in NGOs, universities, national governments and the UN system. He also served as a Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Coordinator of the Movement to Scale Up Nutrition, and also Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Food Security and Nutrition, a position he will continue to hold. During Ebola outbreak, he said, the UN Secretary General brought him in when the virus was “advancing a dramatic way”. After taking the responsibility, he said, he saw that there was “problem” and with the support of all they were able “to help WHO get back on track and after some months it was able to perform the role it should play”. “It showed me there are changes needs in WHO so that it can pick up potential outbreaks more quickly, respond effectively, and make more noise when raising the alarm”. “And so, in the second half of the 2O15, the Director General of WHO asked me to chair a group to advise her on how to reform WHO, so it could better help countries respond to outbreaks. David Nabarro “Our advisory group made some recommendations to create a more robust response capacity and the reason why I then decided I wanted to become Director General of WHO and it’s because I wanted to see this through,” he said, explaining his candidature. David Nabarro “It’s something I believe in. It’s something that it's necessary because there is no alternative to WHO for dealing with those outbreaks and it’s something I understand I dealt with avian influenza; I dealt with SARS. I worked on cholera, and I am familiar of outbreak managements”. “I believe by my past experiences that I have the expertise, the courage and the strategic skills and the management ability to get WHO into the right place on this work,” he said, adding that his primary offer was to make WHO “dependable and effective” in the outbreak situation. “I am a person with a very clear and open track record of work on food, nutrition, on infectious disease, on climate change, on SDGs,” he said, adding that previously he raised money and delivered results in different fields. “I believe this is what the WHO needs”. “WHO under my direction will be a fully transparent and auditable organisation by everyone because that’s the one way to run public services in this modern era,” he said. Election process The process to elect the next Director-General started last year on Sep 23 with the announcement of names of candidates nominated by the Member States. Then, member states and candidates interacted in a password-protected web forum hosted on the WHO website. In Nov, a live forum was held, at which candidates presented their vision for the WHO Member States and were also be able to answer questions about their candidacy. In Jan, WHO’s Executive Board prepared a short list of five candidates. The Board members then interviewed them and selected three of them for the final voting which will take place in the World Health Assembly in May. The new Director-General will take office on July 1 this year. Meet the other candidates The three candidates are one each from Africa, Asia and the Europe region. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia topped the vote of the executive members and is a candidate of African Union. According to his campaign page, Ghebreyesus is a “visionary leader, and he guided Ethiopia and numerous global health organisations to achieve game-changing results and increase their impact”. “I envision the world where everyone can lead healthy and productive lives, regardless of who they are or where they live,” he said in his campaign vision. Dr Sania Nishtar from Pakistan made 1O pledges in her campaign featuring issues to achieve “a renewed and reinvigorated” WHO. “This requires bringing reforms to rapid fruition, embracing meaningful and timely transparency, institutionalising real accountability, ensuring value for money, and driving a culture based on results and delivery,” she said on her campaign page.

Kim Jong Un gave instructions for measures aimed at more inter-Korean engagement after his younger sister Kim Yo Jong led a three-day visit to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, North Korea’s state media reported on Tuesday. It did not specify what those instructions were. The United States has appeared to endorse deeper post-Olympics engagement between the two Koreas that could lead to talks between Pyongyang and Washington. South’s President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday the United States is open to talking with North Korea, Moon’s spokesman told a briefing. “The United States sees inter-Korean dialogue in a positive light and has expressed its openness for talks with the North,” Moon told Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis, according to the spokesman. US officials also want tough international sanctions to be ramped up to push North Korea to give up its nuclear program. That sentiment was repeated by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, who said Moon had agreed it was necessary to keep up maximum pressure on North Korea. Last year, North Korea conducted dozens of missile launches and its sixth and largest nuclear test in defiance of UN resolutions as it pursues its goal of developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the United States. Japanese officials took pains to stress there was no daylight between Japan, the United States and South Korea on their approach to dealing with North Korea. The United States’ “fundamental policy” aimed at denuclearization of the Korean peninsula has not changed, said a senior Japanese diplomat in a briefing to lawmakers. “The goal is denuclearization and the process is dialogue for dialogue, action for action, so if North Korea does not show actions, the United States and Japan will not change their policies,” he said. A senior military official stationed at the border between North and South Korea told Reuters North Korea has lowered the volume of its border propaganda broadcasts since the Olympics’ opening ceremony on Feb. 9. “I still hear it, but it is much less than before,” said the official who is stationed on the southern side of the border and spoke on condition of anonymity. Moon, who was offered a meeting with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang via his sister, has been pushing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Seoul is planning to push ahead with its plans for reunions of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in order to sustain the dialogue prompted by the North Korean delegation’s visit. Meanwhile, Trump urged Russia to do more in urging North Korea to scrap its nuclear program, the White House said on Monday, aimed at intensifying the pressure campaign on Pyongyang. Talk of an inter-Korean summit, which would be the first since 2007 if it happened, come after months of tension between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington. As with North Korean media over the weekend, the KCNA report again made no mention of the summit offer made to Moon. Rather, Kim Jong Un gave his gratitude to Seoul for their “sincere efforts” to prioritize the delegation’s visit, which were “very impressive”, KCNA said. Moon and his administration hosted several meetings and meals for the delegation during their stay at the presidential Blue House and luxury five-star hotels while Moon personally accompanied Kim Yo Jong for events at the Olympics as well as an orchestra concert. In addition to the high-level delegation, hundreds of North Koreans including an orchestra and cheer squad have visited South Korea for the Winter Olympics. The cheerleading team will be attendance at the united women’s ice hockey team’s final game in the Olympics on Wednesday, facing old rival Japan to conclude preliminary round play.

Biden also chose Tom Vilsack, who served as the secretary of agriculture for eight years under former President Barack Obama, to lead that department again, according to two people familiar with the president-elect’s deliberations. Vilsack, 69, a former governor of Iowa, is the seventh member of his Cabinet Biden has now chosen. If Fudge, 68, is confirmed by the Senate, she would join retired Gen. Lloyd Austin of the Army, who would be the first Black defense secretary, and Xavier Becerra, a son of Mexican immigrants and nominee for secretary of health and human services, as the embodiment of Biden's campaign pledge to assemble an administration that will “look like America.” But even as he rolls out his picks for the Cabinet and key White House jobs, Biden is under increasing pressure from a variety of interest groups, liberal activists and Democratic lawmakers who have different opinions on what it means to make good on that promise. For Biden and his transition team, the selection of key jobs has become a constantly shifting puzzle as they search for candidates who are qualified, get along with the president-elect, and help create the ethnic and gender mosaic that would be a striking contrast with President Donald Trump’s administration. Allies of Fudge, including Rep. James Clyburn, D-SC, one of Biden’s most prominent Black supporters during the 2020 campaign, had urged the president-elect to put Fudge at the Agriculture Department, where she had hoped to shift the agency’s focus away from farming and toward hunger, including in urban areas. Instead, Biden settled on Vilsack, who is white and from an important rural farming state. But the decision to instead put Fudge at HUD, which is viewed by some advocacy groups as a more traditional place for a Black secretary, has the potential to disappoint those pushing for her, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, of which she is a former chairwoman. The current housing secretary, Ben Carson, is Black. Just hours after Biden made official his historic choice of Austin for defence secretary, a group of Black civil rights activists urged Biden to nominate a Black attorney general and to make civil rights a higher priority. “He said if he won, he would do something about criminal justice, police reform and specifically mass incarceration,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader and talk show host, said in an interview on Tuesday before a meeting with Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. “He flew to Houston to meet before I did the eulogy for George Floyd. He made specific commitments. I’m saying, promises made, let’s see if promises are kept.” Biden has not said whom he will pick to lead the Justice Department, though he is considering Sen. Doug Jones, who lost his bid for reelection in Alabama; Sally Yates, a former deputy attorney general; and Judge Merrick Garland, whom Obama unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court. But Jeh Johnson, who served as Obama’s secretary of homeland security, and is Black, took himself out of consideration to be attorney general on Tuesday, according to people familiar with his discussions. In an interview with CNN last week, Biden noted that “every advocacy group out there is pushing for more and more and more of what they want. That’s their job.” He defended his picks as “the most diverse Cabinet anyone in American history has ever announced.” But advocates are not leaving anything to chance. The meeting that the president-elect and vice president-elect held with Sharpton and other civil rights leaders lasted close to two hours and was an opportunity to make their case. In a news conference following the meeting, Sharpton said he told the president-elect that the only way to respond to the “most racist, bigoted administration in memory” was to appoint an attorney general “that has a background in civil rights.” He added, “My preference is to have a Black attorney general.” And during the meeting, Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, pressed Biden to create a civil rights envoy position in the West Wing that would report directly to the president. “He appointed John Kerry to be the climate envoy, reporting directly to him,” Johnson said in an interview before the meeting. “We believe a national adviser on racial justice should be something equivalent.” During the Democratic primary season, Biden benefited from Sharpton’s decision to stay neutral rather than endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. During the general election campaign, Harris was aided by Sharpton’s decision to advocate more generally a Black woman on the ticket, rather than to publicly endorse Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader, as he had been set to do. That has given Sharpton some leverage with the Biden-Harris transition team as it fills out the administration. Also on Tuesday, a group of more than 1,000 high-profile Black women signed a letter to Biden saying they were “deeply troubled” by the small number of Black women mentioned as possible candidates for top jobs in his administration. They urged him to do better. “It is long past time that the effective, accomplished leadership of Black women currently serving in areas of significant policy that impacts our nation are recognised and given full consideration for the statutory positions in your administration’s Cabinet,” the women wrote in the letter. Fudge, who has been in the House since winning a special election in 2008, was among the officials the women recommended and had openly campaigned to become Biden’s agriculture secretary, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer she would put her experience working on farm bills “against almost anybody’s.” But Fudge, a former mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, told reporters after news of her selection at HUD leaked out, that “if I can help this president in any way possible, I am more than happy to do it. It’s a great honour and a privilege to be a part of something so good.” In 2018, Fudge mulled a challenge to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, before ultimately dropping the idea and endorsing her. Fudge said she had changed her mind after Pelosi gave her the opportunity to play a key role in safeguarding voting rights and assured her that Black women would “have a seat at the decision-making table” in Congress. Now, she will leave to lead the nation’s sprawling housing agency instead. Her departure will add to another puzzle: how to maintain the Democratic Party’s slim majority in the House, which has shrunk to just a handful of seats since the elections in November. Biden’s decision to pick Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Black Democrat from Louisiana, to be a senior adviser in the White House, already meant the party would have to defend that seat. Biden’s decision to pluck Fudge for his Cabinet means Democrats must win another special election to fill her seat.   © 2020 New York Times News Service

At New York's Del Posto, diners can share a $130 entree of wild branzino fish with roasted fennel and peperonata concentrato and a $3,600 bottle of Dom Perignon. They cannot share a bottle of Perrier or San Pellegrino water. The Italian restaurant backed by celebrities Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich is one of several shunning bottled water, along with the city of San Francisco and New York state. "The argument for local water is compelling and obvious," said Bastianich, who is phasing out bottled water across his restaurant empire, which stretches to Los Angeles. "It's about transportation, packaging, the absurdity of moving water all over the world," he said. As environmental worries cut into sales from traditionally lucrative bottled water, beverage companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle and SABMiller are becoming more attuned to the risks of negative consumer environmental perceptions. Water is becoming scarcer, raising a fear that so-far manageable price increases could spike and leading drink companies to take action to maintain access to water and fight their image as water hogs. "Water is the new oil," said Steve Dixon, who manages the Global Beverage Fund at Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, repeating what has become a mantra as climate change and population growth tax water supplies. "As an investor, I'm not concerned about the reality," Dixon said, guessing there will always be enough water overall. "But I'm aware of the perceptions ... and you can't totally shrug it off because perceptions are important." About a third of the world's people now live in areas of water stress, said Brooke Barton, manager of corporate accountability for Ceres, a network of environmental groups and investors seeking to address sustainability challenges. By 2025, she said it will be more like two-thirds. COST Water is still cheap, but that is changing. "(Water) is currently not a very big cost. The issue is where it will it go in the future," said Andy Wales, head of sustainable development for brewer SABMiller, which used 94.5 billion liters of water in its latest fiscal year. That works out to 4.5 liters for every liter of beer it made. Water and energy combined only made up 5 percent of its costs, overshadowed by brewing ingredients, bottling materials and labor. Still the brewer said water costs at a Bogota, Colombia plant are rising some 12 percent a year from increased soil being washed into the river as cattle grazing upstream causes deforestation. New water pricing schemes are emerging, such as the European Union's Water Framework Directive that will tax water from 2010 to encourage more sustainable use. Some 70 percent of the water the world uses is for agriculture, while industry uses 20 percent. But any industry reliant on agriculture -- from meat to jeans -- has more to wade through than its own use. SABMiller is one of a few companies, including Coke and Pepsi, calculating "water footprints." It found that water used throughout its supply chain, such as to grow barley and hops, can be 34 times more than its use alone. With 139 breweries on six continents, the brewer's total water use can range from about 40 liters for a liter of beer in Central Europe to 155 liters in South Africa. Using the smaller ratio as a proxy, SABMiller's entire "water footprint" was roughly 8.4 trillion liters of water last year, more than double what the small nation of Iceland used in 2004. "In the long term we do see it as a risk," Wales said. REPUTATION As they face criticism, multinational drink companies are setting water conservation targets, building community wells and more efficient factories, working with locals on sustainable farming, water harvesting and reforestation and looking for new technologies to reduce their water consumption even as they make more drinks. "For our type of business, or any that have a very direct link to water ... We've got to play that role," said Greg Koch, Coke's managing director of global water stewardship. Within their own walls, nonalcoholic drink makers use one out of every 3,300 gallons, or 0.03 percent, of the groundwater used in the United States, according to the American Beverage Association. But its symbolism as a visible user puts the sector at the forefront of the fight over water resources, said Kim Jeffery, chief executive of Nestle Waters North America. "Picking on our industry is like a gnat on the elephant," said Jeffery, whose 2003 contract to build a bottling plant in McCloud, California has been derailed by opposition from residents and groups concerned about the environmental impact and the threat of water privatization. Nestle just began a 3-year study of the area's resources, but Jeffery said there is a good chance the project will never happen, due to changing economics and cold feet on both sides. "At the end of the day, if they don't want us there, we won't be there," he said. Tom Pirko, president of consulting firm Bevmark LLC, said it is key for companies to act in line with consumers' mindsets on such issues, since it is hard in such a crowded marketplace to regain support once it evaporates. Coca-Cola learned that the hard way, after a drought in the Indian state of Kerala led to the closure of its bottling plant there amid criticism that it was sucking the water table dry. Coke said its plant did not fuel the shortages, but an outcry still spread across the globe, with students in Britain and North America urging boycotts. Massachusetts' Smith College even severed a five-decade relationship with the company by refusing to let it bid for its soft drink contract. "What we lost there was the social license to operate," Koch said. Environmental and community groups are still fighting to kick Coke out of other villages in India.

Nay Pyi Taw, Dec 11 (bdnews24.com)--The seven-nation BIMSTEC grouping on Friday adopted a convention to combat terrorism and insurgency. The step is expected to add teeth to India's action against militancy, particularly in its northeast, reports the Press Trust of India. Foreign ministers of India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Thailand and Nepal signed the Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Trans-National Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking at the 12th BIMSTEC Ministerial meeting in the Myanmar capital. The ministers also agreed to include climate change as a key area of cooperation for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries. Inaugurating the ministerial meet, Myanmar prime minister Thein Sein stressed cooperation in combating terrorism and trans-national organised crime. "As you heard the Prime Minister of Myanmar in his inaugural address did stress on terrorism. I think terrorism has become a hot issue for discussion." Regional connectivity was to be high on the agenda of Friday's summit of BIMSTEC foreign ministers. "Connectivity will be one of the main issues to be discussed at the meeting in Myanmar," a director general of the foreign ministry told bdnews24.com on Thursday. "BIMSTEC will devise a route plan for the connectivity in the region at subsequent meetings of transport ministers of the member countries," said the DG. The economic bloc was established by member states -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanks and Thailand -- in 1997. Its connectivity plan will link six South Asian countries with South East Asian countries such as Thailand and Myanmar. The plan is an alternative approach for integrating the South Asian region, without Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Lack of employment opportunities is India’s biggest problem, said more than three-quarters of those polled, and that had not changed through most of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure, the survey found. The survey published on Monday said concerns about terrorism and Pakistan loomed large even before last month’s crisis triggered by an attack on a security convoy in Indian Kashmir that Pakistan claims as its own. Three-quarters of Indians believe Pakistan to be a threat and 59 percent said terrorism had become worse. “But despite these worries, most Indian adults are satisfied with the direction of their country and the economic prospects of the next generation,” Pew said, summing up the survey result. Of those polled, 54 percent said they were satisfied with the way democracy is working in India. But satisfaction had declined 25 percentage points from 2017, when 79 percent voiced approval. Men are more likely than women to give Indian democracy a thumbs-up, though one in five women decline to offer an opinion, it said. There were 2,521 respondents in the Pew Survey run from May 23 to July 23, 2018, the final year of Modi’s term before the election, at which about 900 million people are eligible to vote. Modi is considered the frontrunner to win the election that begins on April 11, but his lead is narrowing and several polls have suggested his Hindu nationalist-led group may fall short of a clear majority required to rule. Renewed tension with arch foe Pakistan has shifted attention somewhat from bread-and-butter issues to national security over the past month, to the advantage of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Critics have accused the BJP of creating a climate of fear among India’s Muslim minority by promoting a Hindu-first agenda and targeting it for the slaughter of cows they consider sacred and have sometimes questioned its allegiance to India. The BJP denies bias but says it opposes appeasement of any community. Muslims make up about 14 percent of India’s population of 1.3 billion.

Trump used his annual address to the United Nations to attack Iran's "corrupt dictatorship," praise last year's bogeyman North Korea and lay down a defiant message that he will reject globalism and protect American interests. But much of his 35-minute address was aimed squarely at Iran, which the United States accuses of harboring nuclear ambitions and fomenting instability in the Middle East through its support for militant groups in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. "Iran's leaders sow chaos, death and destruction," Trump told the gathering in the green-marbled hall. "They do not respect their neighbors or borders or the sovereign rights of nations." Rouhani, addressing the assembled world leaders later, sharply criticised Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran. He said he had "no need for a photo opportunity" with Trump and suggested the US president's pull back from global institutions was a character defect. "Confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength. Rather it is a symptom of the weakness of intellect - it betrays an inability in understanding a complex and interconnected world," he said. Trump's address was met largely by silence from world leaders still not comfortable with go-it-alone views that have strained US relationships with traditional allies worldwide. His speech, while delivered in a low-key fashion, was nonetheless a thunderous recitation of his "America First" policies. He has disrupted the world order by withdrawing the United States from the nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, and threatened to punish NATO nations for not paying more for their common defense. "We will never surrender America's sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy," Trump said, in language popular with his political base. "America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism." Besides calling out Iran, Trump also criticized China for its trade practices but made no mention of Russia's interference in Syria's war or its suspected meddling in US elections. Rouhani was defiant in his speech to the world body. "What Iran says is clear: no war, no sanctions, no threats, no bullying; just acting according to the law and the fulfillment of obligations," Rouhani said. MACRON'S ALTERNATIVE VIEW Offering an alternative view when it was his turn at the podium, French President Emmanuel Macron told the delegates that the law of the survival of the fittest, protectionism and isolationism would only lead to heightened tensions. Defending multilateralism and collective action, he said nationalism would lead to failure and if countries stopped defending basic principles, global wars would return. "I do not accept the erosion of multilateralism and don't accept our history unraveling," Macron told the assembly, at times raising his voice. "Our children are watching." Macron, citing the example of Iran, said that this unilateralism push would lead directly to conflicts. Trump, who begins his political rallies with boasts about his economic record in less than two years in office, used the same rhetoric before the crowd of world leaders and diplomats, telling them he had accomplished more than almost any previous US president. The remark led to some murmuring and laughter in the crowd, taking the president slightly aback. "I didn’t expect that reaction, but that's OK," he said. Trump attempted to drive a wedge between Iran's leadership and its people, days after an attack in southwestern Iran on a military parade killed 25 people and unsettled the country. In remarks to reporters on his way to his speech, Trump said he would not meet the Iranians until they "change their tune." Though he held out the possibility of a better relationship in the future, he made clear economic pressure on Iran would not abate. Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, addressing a group called United Against a Nuclear Iran, called the 2015 accord "the worst diplomatic debacle in American history" and had a warning for "the mullahs in Tehran." "If you cross us, our allies, or our partners; if you harm our citizens; if you continue to lie, cheat, and deceive, yes, there will indeed be HELL to PAY," he said. In May, Republican Trump withdrew the United States from the deal to put curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions. France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union were part of the accord with Iran. Foes for decades, Washington and Tehran have been increasingly at odds since May. The accord with OPEC member Iran was negotiated under Democratic US President Barack Obama. "Additional sanctions will resume November 5th and more will follow and we are working with countries that import Iranian crude oil to cut their purchases substantially," Trump said. He said the United States would help create a regional strategic alliance between Gulf nations and Jordan and Egypt, a move the United States sees as a bulwark against Iran. Trump compared US relations with Iran to what he called improved ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who Trump had met in Singapore in June as part of a still-unfulfilled drive to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. In his address last year to the UN, Trump insulted Kim as a "rocket man" bent on nuclear destruction. On Tuesday, Trump praised Kim for halting nuclear and missile tests, releasing Americans held prisoner and returning some remains of US soldiers killed in the 1950s Korean War. The two leaders are trying to arrange a second summit. Trump has said sanctions on North Korea would remain for now. Delivering a harsh message to OPEC members, Trump called on them to stop raising oil prices and to pay for their own military protection. He threatened to limit US aid only to countries that are friendly to the United States. Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said oil prices were driven only by markets, by supply and demand. "These are not things that can be manipulated by a decision here or there," said Gargash, whose country is an OPEC member. Crude oil prices shot to a four-year high on Tuesday, catapulted by imminent US sanctions on Iranian crude exports and the apparent reluctance of OPEC and Russia to raise output to offset the potential hit to global supply.

- Manchester United want to bring in one more player for next season but are not planning major changes to their squad despite losing the Premier League title, manager Alex Ferguson said on Tuesday. "There may be one signing," he told a news conference pr

The world's top tobacco groups fear if new rules on plain packaging take hold in Australia and Britain they may spread to higher growth and potentially more lucrative emerging markets and put a curb on their future profits growth. Health campaigners are pushing for tobacco companies to package their cigarettes in plain packs displaying the product name in a standard typeface and with graphic health warnings as a way of discouraging youngsters from taking up smoking. Australia aims to become the first nation in the world to force tobacco groups to sell cigarettes in these plain, brand-free packets by December this year, while Britain this week launched a three-month consultation over the issue. "It seems inevitable that should Australia succeed in easily implementing plain packs, that other regulators will explore the potential to do likewise," said analyst Chris Wickham at brokers Oriel Securities. Analysts say that if Australia adopts these plans then the next battlegrounds are likely to be Britain, Canada and New Zealand, and will cause concern to tobacco companies which have seen their shares performed strongly so far in 2012. "With tobacco stocks back on high relative valuations and fears of a plain packaging contagion spreading from Australia, we see a risk that the sentimental climate on tobacco once again becomes more questioning and skeptical," said analyst Martin Deboo at brokers Investec Securities. Analysts say the real risk from plain packaging to industry profits would be if it spreads to emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and Indonesia and so slow the process of smokers moving to more pricey and profitable cigarette brands. Emerging market smokers aspire to westerns brand such as Marlboro, Lucky Strike and Camel, which confer status on the individual, and these mean bigger margins to the cigarette makers than the local brands that smokers are abandoning. Smokers in mature markets like Western Europe and North America are more fixed in their habits and reluctant to change brands and so changes to packaging are likely to have a relatively low impact on smoker's choices, analysts added. With falling smoking levels in these mature markets the world's big four tobacco groups Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco have offset this by looking to fast-growing emerging markets to drive overall growth. This growth has been helped by tobacco groups introducing innovative packaging to attract consumers, and if this avenue is closed by plain packaging rules, the cigarette companies will find it harder to push smokers towards more expensive products. The industry is fighting against the proposed plain packaging legislation in Australia taking its battle to the high court and have been giving evidence over the last three days as analysts say tobacco groups are fearful that many other governments are looking to Australia as a test case. Australia has some of the toughest anti-smoking rules in the world banning tobacco advertising, smoking in public places and the public display of cigarettes in shops, while in some states it is illegal to smoke in a car with children present. Under these tough Australian rules only around 15 percent of adults smoke compared with 23 percent a decade ago, while in Britain the current figure is around 22 percent, analysts said. The British market is in slow decline like many other mature ones but Britons still smoke around 56 billion cigarettes a year, which the government says is responsible for over 100,000 deaths a year and puts pressure on the public health system. This is why Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced his consultation process to run for 12 weeks up to July 10, and Lansley has insisted that he is keeping an open mind.

After weeks of closed-door negotiations, Biden strode to the cameras on the White House driveway on Thursday, flanked by an equal number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, to proudly announce an overall infrastructure agreement totalling $1.2 trillion over eight years that could cement his legacy as a bipartisan dealmaker. Biden and his top aides had successfully struck a limited agreement with key centrist senators to rebuild roads and bridges while carefully signalling to liberals that he still intended to embrace a measure — likely to gain only Democratic support — to spend trillions more on climate, education, child care and other economic priorities. It was an “I told you so” moment for a president who is supremely confident in his ability to navigate legislative negotiations. But in a stray comment during a news conference an hour later, the president blurted out that he would not approve the compromise bill without the partisan one. “If this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it,” he said, answering a question about the timing of his legislative agenda. “I’m not just signing the bipartisan bill and forgetting about the rest.” It may not seem like much, but it was enough to upend Biden’s proud bipartisan moment. On the one hand, he was saying out loud what liberals in his party wanted to hear. But to the centrist senators and Republicans, it made explicit a notion that had only been hinted at before — that Biden not only intended to sign a second, more ambitious package, but that he would also go so far as to veto their bipartisan plan if the larger bill did not materialise. “We never had an inkling that there would be any kind of linkage,” Sen Susan Collins, a key negotiator, said in an interview. “We always knew that there’d be another bill, but not that the success of the infrastructure package was going to be in any way dependent on the other bill.” For more than 24 hours, the White House engaged in damage control, with top advisers calling senators from both parties. On Friday, the president’s spokeswoman gently tried to distance the administration from his comments. It was not enough. And on Saturday, as lawmakers and aides continued to stew and the prospects of a legislative victory seemed to fade, Biden conceded that he had misspoken. The drama does not appear to have sunk the deal, but Biden admitted that his comments on Thursday left “the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to.” That was “certainly not my intent,” he added. TEMPERS, THEN A DEAL The agreement Biden heralded on Thursday initially looked like an unfettered triumph for a president who promised voters he could deliver legislation that was both boldly progressive and widely bipartisan. It was weeks in the making. By late May, Sens Rob Portman and Kyrsten Sinema had cobbled together eight other centrist colleagues to discuss the possibilities of a bipartisan framework that could replicate the success that led to the passage of a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill in December. “The easy stuff, I could just put a check mark on it and move on to the next one,” Sinema said in an interview. “The hard stuff is where you spend your time.” Looming over the talks was the likelihood that liberal Democrats would use a fast-track process known as reconciliation to bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Meetings grew ever more tense, and the senators invited Steve Ricchetti, a top adviser to Biden; Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council; and Louisa Terrell, director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. For days, they crisscrossed the Capitol — including Sinema, who broke her foot running a marathon, on a crutch — to haggle in back rooms, often ordering in pizza, salads and wine. Portman’s hideaway grew so cramped with the additional staff that an aide to Sen Mitt Romney, braved the Senate bureaucracy to secure a fan for the room. During one late-night session, Ricchetti took it upon himself to walk around the table and pour wine for each senator, according to two people familiar with the moment. Tempers flared, senators and aides acknowledged in interviews, as the senators clashed over how to finance the framework amid a Republican refusal to increase taxes and the White House’s objections to user fees for drivers. On Wednesday, many of the centrist senators joined Biden at a funeral for former Sen John Warner of Virginia, before returning to the Capitol for what would be a final round of meetings with his legacy of striking bipartisan accords on their minds. “What would John Warner do?” said Sen Mark Warner, who is of no relation, but who considered him a friend. “John Warner would have hung in. I think probably almost everybody in that room went through some level of that reflection.” Around 7 pm, the 10 senators began to emerge with a unified message: They had a framework and they would be going to the White House the next day. THE PLAN: GO IN TANDEM After weeks of closed-door negotiations, it appeared to be a moment of validation for a president certain in his ability to navigate difficult legislative negotiations, after months of talks that his own party had begun to worry were turning into a quagmire for his economic ambitions. Biden’s team believed that by winning a bipartisan agreement, they would secure the support of centrist Democratic senators for the larger bill to provide paid leave, fight poverty and climate change and address a host of other liberal priorities, funded by tax increases on corporations and the rich. Some Republicans, egged on by business leaders, hoped to stop the larger bill by arguing to moderate Democrats that the more limited infrastructure bill was all that was needed. Both lawmakers and Biden agreed it was also a significant moment to prove that the government could still function. (Sen Jon Tester, contended that failure would show “we’re really, really, really dysfunctional.”) “The message it sends to the American people, and also to our friends and adversaries around the world, is so important,” Warner said. “In a post-Jan 6 world, it shows that people who come from different political views can still come together on national priorities.” Progressive lawmakers had long sounded alarms, worried it was insufficient and would close off a larger bill. On Thursday morning — even as the president and the lawmakers prepared to make their deal public — Sen Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, took to the Senate floor to defuse their concerns by underscoring the plan that he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi had worked out with the president. “These two efforts are tied together. Let me make that clear,” Schumer said. “Speaker Pelosi agrees that we cannot do one without the other. All parties understand that we won’t get enough votes to pass either unless we have enough votes to pass both.” In his prepared remarks Thursday in the East Room, soon after celebrating with the senators in the White House driveway, Biden echoed that strategy. “I’m going to work closely with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer to make sure that both move through the legislative process promptly and in tandem,” he said. “Let me emphasise that — and in tandem.” ADMITTING A MISTAKE Democrats had expected a statement of that sort. They did not expect what Biden did moments later. During the news conference in the East Room, a reporter sought clarification: “Mr President, you said you want both of these measures to come to you ‘in tandem.’ Did you receive any assurances that that would happen?” Biden said he expected that Congress would work on passage of both the bipartisan infrastructure measure and the bigger Democratic bill at the same time, echoing Schumer’s earlier comments. But then he went even further again. “But if only one comes to me, I’m not — and if this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it,” he said. “It’s in tandem.” With senators leaving Washington on Thursday afternoon for a two-week recess for Fourth of July, it was not until later in the evening that some in the group of negotiators saw Biden’s comments, which Republicans in particular interpreted as an implicit veto threat. Senators and their staff members began texting and calling one another and the White House. Liberal Democrats scoffed at the Republican frustration and accused their counterparts of looking for an excuse to oppose the deal, even though the Democrats’ pursuit of reconciliation had long been public. On Saturday, Biden finally acknowledged his mistake as lawmakers and aides signalled they would move forward with writing text and securing support. “The bottom line is this,” he said. “I gave my word to support the infrastructure plan, and that’s what I intend to do. I intend to pursue the passage of that plan, which Democrats and Republicans agreed to on Thursday, with vigour. It would be good for the economy, good for our country, good for our people. I fully stand behind it without reservation or hesitation.”   ©2021 The New York Times Company

Reuters has placed the director of International Centre for Climate Change and Development or ICCCAD on the 208th position on the list. Dr Huq is the only Bangladeshi scientist to get this recognition on Earth Day, Apr 20. The ranking recognises Dr Huq's and IUB’s ongoing efforts to propel Bangladesh as a crucial contributor to global knowledge on climate change, the institution said in a media release. The Reuters Hot List identifies world’s 1,000 most influential climate scientists on the basis of research papers, citations of the papers, and references to the papers. Dr Huq is an expert on adaptation to climate change in the most vulnerable developing countries and was one of the principal authors of the third, fourth and fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC. He also advises the least developed countries in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under his leadership, ICCCAD at IUB has recently won a six-year project from Norway Higher Education under NORAD on “Co-creating knowledge for local adaptation to climate change in the LDCs” with four other partners – the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Pokhara University in Nepal, the University of Eduardo Mondlane of Mozambique the Makarere University of Uganda. The project proposal was submitted under the LDC Universities’ Consortium on Climate Change LUCCC, which is now an official programme of the 47 LDC governments. IUB is a founding member of LUCCC.

- Climate change is the outcome of global corruption, but its worst victims are the least developed countries like Bangladesh, speakers have told a seminar. "The industrialised nations are largely responsible for the rapid climate change, harming the coun

“How can a party win if its leadership is in such a state?” the prime minister said, responding to a question at a media briefing organised on Monday to highlight her recent visit to the US. “One of them is convicted of stealing money from orphans, while another is accused in the 2004 grenade attack and has emigrated outside the country.” "Why would the people vote for such a party?" Hasina asked. “They can’t even contest the elections.” The opposition party has lost its confidence because it knows there is no way for them to gain power, Hasina said. As there is no possibility of victory, the BNP seeks to undermine the election and cast aspersions on it to court controversy and divide the people, Hasina said. The prime minister started the press conference at 4 pm on Monday from her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka. Hasina was in the US for a two-week visit, her first overseas trip after the coronavirus pandemic began. She attended the UNGA and other high-profile events from Sept 19-23. The prime minister attended the UNGA virtually last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She delivered a speech at the UNGA on Sept 24, calling on the international community to act together on global common issues and create space for new partnerships and solutions to tackle emergencies. In her address, Hasina said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the inadequacy of the global response to emergencies. It has also put a spotlight on the 'critical need' for global solidarity and collaboration, according to her. She joined a high-level meeting on climate change in New York on Sept 20 at the invitation of her British counterpart Boris Johnson and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. She planted a sapling at the UN Headquarters the same day to mark the birth centenary of Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The same day, the prime minister joined a virtual event titled ‘Sustainable Development Solution Network’. On Sept 21, Hasina joined the inaugural session of the general debate in the UN Headquarters. She also joined the event ‘Business Roundtable: US-Bangladesh Business Council’ that day. The prime minister addressed the ‘White House Global COVID-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better’. She joined an event on imperatives for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis on the sidelines of the UNGA. She held bilateral meetings with Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and UN chief Guterres, and many other leaders in New York.

A Reuters/Ipsos online poll this month asked 2,809 Americans to rate how much of a threat a list of countries, organizations and individuals posed to the United States on a scale of 1 to 5, with one being no threat and 5 being an imminent threat. The poll showed 34 percent of Republicans ranked Obama as an imminent threat, ahead of Putin (25 percent), who has been accused of aggression in the Ukraine, and Assad (23 percent). Western governments have alleged that Assad used chlorine gas and barrel bombs on his own citizens. Given the level of polarization in American politics the results are not that surprising, said Barry Glassner, a sociologist and author of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are afraid of the wrong things." "There tends to be a lot of demonizing of the person who is in the office," Glassner said, adding that "fear mongering" by the Republican and Democratic parties would be a mainstay of the US 2016 presidential campaign. "The TV media here, and American politics, very much trade on fears," he said. The Ipsos survey, done between March 16 and March 24, included 1,083 Democrats and 1,059 Republicans. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans saw the Democratic Party as an imminent threat to the United States, and 22 percent of Democrats deemed Republicans to be an imminent threat. People who were polled were most concerned about threats related to potential terror attacks. Islamic State militants were rated an imminent threat by 58 percent of respondents, and al Qaeda by 43 percent. North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un was viewed as a threat by 34 percent, and Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by 27 percent. Cyber attacks were viewed as an imminent threat by 39 percent, and drug trafficking was seen as an imminent threat by a third of the respondents. Democrats were more concerned about climate change than Republicans, with 33 percent of Democrats rating global warming an imminent threat. Among Republicans, 27 percent said climate change was not a threat at all. The data was weighted to reflect the US population and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points for all adults (3.4 points for Democrats and 3.4 points for Republicans.)

Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna travels to China next week to consolidate ties, recently improved by a trade boom and cooperation over climate change that shifted the focus away from a border dispute. The world's two most populous nations are putting the global financial crisis behind them more quickly than developed countries and want to build on a decade of commercial growth that has pushed China to the top of India's list of trade partners. While Beijing is deep into a spat with the United States over the strength of the yuan currency and Google's battle with Chinese censors, Indian analysts say India and China have much to gain from keeping each other onside. A turning point seems to have been last December's climate conference in Copenhagen, where India and China helped patch together a deal while facing accusations that they were obstructing a more ambitious agreement. "The climate did change in Copenhagen. There is a new warmth in China's tone towards India," Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to India's prime minister, wrote in the Business Standard. The largest and fourth-largest emitters, China and India want rich nations to take the lead to slow global warming, and will not let their own climate commitments stifle economic growth. Krishna starts his four-day visit on Monday -- scant months after tempers flared over reports of border incursions and a row over the Dalai Lama's visit to the disputed frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh. MISTRUST OVER BORDER Nearly half a century after war broke out between them, mistrust persists, especially over the 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq. miles) of land in Arunachal Pradesh state claimed by Beijing. China was incensed when the Dalai Lama visited the state last year and saw it as proof of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's separatist machinations. "After the brinkmanship of 2009, on Arunachal Pradesh and Dalai Lama, both sides seem to want to return to a more normal template of pragmatic engagement," Baru wrote. Ahead of his trip, Krishna said only that India had "some concerns" about its border. "There's a sense I get, of both sides trying not to escalate the war of words," said Siddharth Varadarajan, strategic affairs editor of The Hindu newspaper. Trade Minister Anand Sharma has called the Chinese currency a concern for Indian industry. But unlike Washington, New Delhi has refrained from putting pressure on China, the world's fastest growing economy, to let the yuan strengthen. The bilateral trade boom has been a mixed blessing for India, now grappling with a deficit in China's favour which ballooned from $1 billion in 2001-2 to $16 billion in 2007-8, according to Indian central bank data. They can still cross swords over tariffs and perceived protectionist barriers, with India of late initiating more anti-dumping investigations against China than any other country. But both sides say bilateral trade and investment lag far behind their potential and have agreed to even out trade flows. The two countries are expected to lead a 9.5 percent expansion in global trade volumes projected by the World Trade Organisation in 2010. Lurking in the background will be Indian suspicions over China's growing military clout. Underscoring Indian jitters, the outgoing National Security Adviser earlier this year said his computers had likely been targeted by Chinese hackers. Also on the list of talking points could be Afghanistan, where India worries it might be losing a struggle for strategic influence with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan.

Noah's Ark, built to save humanity and the animal kingdom in the face of a great flood, is being reconstructed in model form on Mount Ararat as a warning to mankind to act now to prevent global warming. Environmental activists are behind the initiative in the lush green foothills of the snow-capped mountain in eastern Turkey, where the Bible says the vessel came to rest after a flood had wiped out corrupt humanity. Volunteers are racing to complete the wooden vessel under bright sunshine by end-May, to coincide with a summit of leading countries next month in Germany where climate change will be high on the agenda. "This is directed mainly at the politicians of this earth, to world leaders who are primarily responsible for the climate catastrophe which is taking place and for the solution," said Wolfgang Sadik, campaign leader for Greenpeace, which is behind the project. "The aim is to put on Mount Ararat a memorial, a warning sign that also gives hope, to shake up the world and to say that if we don't react now it is too late," he said, as carpenters hammered away at the Ark's bow at an altitude of 2,400 metres. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned carbon dioxide emissions should at least be halved by 2050 to avoid climate changes which the European Union says would be dangerous. Rising seas are a central concern of climate change. The UN climate panel says seas are set to rise 18-59 cms this century, up from 17 cms in the 20th century. But there are deep divisions on ways to tackle the threat. Germany wants G8 countries at next month's meeting to agree to the IPCC target and promote carbon trading as a way to penalise greenhouse gas emissions. But US chief climate negotiator Harlan Watson said last week the United States will continue to reject emissions targets or cap-and-trade schemes, and will fight climate change by funding clean energy technologies. PUNISHMENT In the Biblical Noah's Ark story -- well-known to Jews, Christians and Muslims -- God decides to punish humanity's sins by destroying life on Earth with a flood. He chooses righteous Noah to preserve life by saving his family and pairs of all the world's animals -- which board the boat two by two. Such a menagerie would strain the model Ark, which at just 10 metres long and four metres high would barely house Noah's family. The Bible says the original ark was 300 cubits (about 140 metres) long -- longer than a soccer pitch. The model will even be a tight fit for climbers if, as planned, it ultimately becomes a mountain hut. Timber for the boat was hauled by horse up the mountain last week and the volunteers face logistical problems working at high altitude in a remote place. They are also working against the clock for a May 31 ceremony, when doves will be released from the boat and an appeal made to world leaders to counter global warming: Noah sent a dove out from the Ark to see if the flood had subsided. "A boatbuilding master said they would not have the courage to do this given the short period of time," said German carpenter Rainer Brumshagen. "But I had the feeling that it could work." "It all feels very good with the energy people are bringing here, uniting those from different countries to work together." The political wrangling feels a world away from the idyllic slopes of Mount Ararat, where shepherds graze their sheep and swallows circle the brightly coloured tents of the two dozen activists involved in the Greenpeace project. "But", one of Brumshagen's carpenter colleagues said of the model Ark, "I am not so sure that it will float."

In broken English, he presented himself as a Syrian refugee. He said he had crossed half the continent by foot and lost his papers along the way. Officers photographed and fingerprinted him. Over the next year, he would get shelter and an asylum hearing, and would qualify for monthly benefits. His name, he offered, was David Benjamin. In reality, he was a lieutenant in the German army. He had darkened his face and hands with his mother’s makeup and applied shoe polish to his beard. Instead of walking across Europe, he had walked 10 minutes from his childhood home in the western city of Offenbach. The ruse, prosecutors say, was part of a far-right plot to carry out one or several assassinations that could be blamed on his refugee alter ego and set off enough civil unrest to bring down the Federal Republic of Germany. The officer, Franco A, as his name is rendered in court documents in keeping with German privacy laws, denies this. He says he was trying to expose flaws in the asylum system. But his elaborate double life, which lasted 16 months, unravelled only after police caught him trying to collect a loaded handgun he had hidden in an airport bathroom in Vienna. “That was really a shocking moment,” said Aydan Ozoguz, a lawmaker who was commissioner for refugees and integration at the time. “The asylum system should identify cheaters, no doubt. But the bigger story is: How could someone like this be a soldier in Germany?” The arrest of Franco A in April 2017 stunned Germany. Since then his case has mostly slipped off the radar; will likely change when he goes to trial early next year. When he does, Germany will go on trial with him — not only for the administrative failure that allowed a German officer who did not speak Arabic to pass himself off as a refugee for so long, but for its long-standing complacency in fighting far-right extremism. A meeting of Uniter, a private network that organises tactical defence training workshops, in Paderborn, Germany, March 8, 2020. The New York Times Franco A’s case spawned a sprawling investigation that led German authorities into a labyrinth of subterranean extremist networks at all levels of the nation’s security services — a threat that, they acknowledged only this year, was far more extensive than they had ever imagined. A meeting of Uniter, a private network that organises tactical defence training workshops, in Paderborn, Germany, March 8, 2020. The New York Times One group, run by a former soldier and police sniper in northern Germany, hoarded weapons, kept enemy lists and ordered body bags. Another, run by a special-forces soldier code-named Hannibal, put the spotlight on the KSK, Germany’s most elite force. This summer, after explosives and SS memorabilia were found on the property of a sergeant major, an entire KSK unit was disbanded. I interviewed many members of these networks over the past year, Franco A. included. But the story of his double life and evolution — from what superiors saw as a promising officer to what prosecutors describe as a would-be terrorist — is in many ways the tale of today’s two Germanys. One was born of its defeat in World War II and reared by a liberal consensus that for decades rejected nationalism and schooled its citizens in contrition. That Germany is giving way to a more unsettled nation as its wartime history recedes and a long-dormant far right rousts itself in opposition to a diversifying society. Germany’s postwar consensus teeters in the balance. When I first met Franco A more than a year ago at a restaurant in Berlin, he came equipped with documents, some of them notes, others extracts from the police file against him. He seemed confident then. A Frankfurt court had thrown out his terrorism case for lack of evidence. But several months later, the Supreme Court restored the case after prosecutors appealed. Franco A called me on my cellphone. He was shaken. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Even as his trial was pending, he agreed to a series of exclusive recorded interviews and invited me and two New York Times audio producers to his childhood home, where he still lives, to discuss his life, his views and aspects of his case. I went back several times over the next year, most recently the week before Christmas. Sometimes he’d show us videos of himself in refugee disguise. Once, he led us down a creaky stairwell, through a safe-like metal door, into his “prepper” cellar, where he had stashed ammunition and a copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” before they were confiscated by the police. Franco A denies any terrorist conspiracy. He says he had posed as a refugee to blow the whistle on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow more than 1 million refugees to enter Germany, which he considered a threat to national security and identity. The system was so overwhelmed that anyone could come in, he said. If anything, he insisted that he was upholding the Constitution, not undermining it. He never planned to do anything violent — and he didn’t, he said. “If I had wanted it, why wouldn’t I have done it?” he would tell me later. Prosecutors would not speak on the record, but their accusations are outlined in the Supreme Court decision. They point to the loaded gun Franco A. had hidden at the Vienna airport, to an assault rifle they say he kept illegally and to a trip to the parking garage of a presumed target. Then there are the numerous voice memos and diaries Franco A. kept over many years that they have used as a road map for his prosecution. I have read those transcripts in police reports and evidence files. In them, he praises Hitler, questions Germany’s atonement for the Holocaust, indulges in global Jewish conspiracies, argues that immigration has destroyed Germany’s ethnic purity, hails President Vladimir Putin of Russia as a role model and advocates destroying the state. Military uniforms in Franco A’s ‘‘prepper’’ basement in Offenbach, Germany, July 9, 2020. The New York Times Franco A, now 31, says these are private thoughts that cannot be prosecuted. The most extreme views in his recording are no doubt shared by neo-Nazis and are popular in far-right circles. But his baseline grievances over immigration and national identity have become increasingly widespread in the Germany of today, as well as in much of Europe and the United States. Military uniforms in Franco A’s ‘‘prepper’’ basement in Offenbach, Germany, July 9, 2020. The New York Times In his generation, which came of age after Sept 11, 2001, during the wars that sprang from it and in an era of global economic crisis, the distrust of government, far-right messaging and the embrace of conspiracy theories not only entered pockets of the security services. They also entered the mainstream. “Far-right extremist messages have shifted increasingly into the middle of society,” Thomas Haldenwang, the president of the domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told me in an interview. They can even be heard in the halls of Parliament, where the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, leads the opposition. Haldenwang’s agency considers the AfD so dangerous that it may place the entire party under observation as early as January — even as the AfD, like Franco A., claims to be the Constitution’s true defender. Such is the tug of war over Germany’s democracy. Over the time I’ve interviewed Franco A., senior defence officials have gone from humouring my queries about extremist networks to publicly sounding the alarm. It was March 2019 when I first asked a defence ministry official how many far-right extremists had been identified in the military. “Four,” he said. Four? Yes, four. “We don’t see any networks,” he said. Until this year, German authorities had turned a blind eye to the problem. Franco A.’s superiors promoted him even after he detailed his views in a master’s thesis. He became a member of extremist networks containing dozens of soldiers and police officers. And he spoke publicly at least once at a far-right event that was on the radar of the security services. But none of that tripped him up the way a janitor at the Vienna airport would. An Obscure Plot It was the janitor who found the gun. Black, compact and loaded with six bullets, it was hidden inside a maintenance shaft in a disabled restroom in the Vienna airport. The Austrian officers had never seen a gun like it: a 7.65-caliber Unique 17 made by a now-defunct French gunmaker some time between 1928 and 1944. It turned out to be a pistol of choice for German officers during the Nazi occupation of France. To find out who had hidden it, the police set an electronic trap. Two weeks later, on Feb 3, 2017, they got their man. Within minutes of Franco A. trying to pry open the door to the wall shaft using the flat end of a tube of hair gel, a dozen police officers swarmed outside the restroom door, guns at the ready. Two officers in civilian clothes walked in and asked him what he was doing. “I said, ‘Yes, I hid a weapon here,” Franco A. recalled. He said he had come to retrieve it and take it to the police. “And I think someone started laughing,” he said. The story he told Austrian police that night as he was questioned was so implausible that he hesitated to retell it when we met. But in the end he did. A photo of Franco A. at a ceremony at the Saint-Cyr military academy in France, at his home in Offenbach, Germany, July 9, 2020. The New York Times It was ball season in Vienna. He had been there two weeks earlier for the annual Officer’s Ball, his story went. Barhopping with his girlfriend and fellow soldiers, he had found the gun while relieving himself in a bush. He put it into his coat pocket — only to remember it in the security line at the airport. He hid it to avoid missing his flight and then decided to return to hand it in to the police. A photo of Franco A. at a ceremony at the Saint-Cyr military academy in France, at his home in Offenbach, Germany, July 9, 2020. The New York Times “I feel so ridiculous by telling this,” he told us. “I know no one believes it." Franco A was released that night. But officers kept his phone and a USB stick they had found in his backpack. They took his fingerprints and sent them to German police for verification. The match that came back weeks later startled officers who thought they were doing a routine check on Franco’s identity. He had two. His ID had said that he was a German officer based with the Franco-German brigade in Illkirch, near Strasbourg. But his fingerprints belonged to a migrant registered near Munich. Investigators were alarmed. Had Franco A. stashed the gun to commit an attack later? He was caught the night of the annual fraternity ball, hosted by Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which tended to attract militant counterdemonstrators. One theory was that Franco A. had planned to shoot someone that night while pretending to be a leftist. Once German authorities took over the investigation, they found two documents on his UBS stick: the “Mujahedeen Explosives Handbook” and “Total Resistance,” a Cold War-era guide for urban guerrilla warfare. His cellphone led them to a sprawling network of far-right Telegram chat groups populated by dozens of soldiers, police officers and others preparing for the collapse of the social order, what they called Day X. It also contained hours of audio memos in which Franco A. had recorded his thoughts over several years. On April 26, 2017, in the middle of a military training exercise in a Bavarian forest, Franco A. was arrested again. Ten federal police officers escorted him away. Ninety others were conducting simultaneous raids in Germany, Austria and France. In a series of raids, the police found more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. They also discovered scores of handwritten notes and a diary. When they started reading, they began to discover a man who had harboured radical thoughts from the time he was a teenager. In our interviews with Franco A., he went back further in time, recounting his childhood and a family history that grafts almost perfectly onto Germany’s own. Echoes of History Franco A was 12 or 13 when he bought his first German flag, he said. It was a small tabletop banner he picked up in a souvenir shop during a family holiday in Bavaria. The purchase would be innocuous in any other country. In postwar Germany, where national pride had long been a taboo because of the nation’s Nazi past, it was a small act of rebellion. “Germany has always been important to me,” Franco A said as he showed us photos of his childhood bedroom, the flag in the foreground. He did not see many German flags growing up in his working-class neighbourhood, which was home to successive waves of guest workers from southern Europe and Turkey who helped rebuild postwar Germany, and who transformed its society as well. Franco A’s mother, a soft-spoken woman who lives upstairs from him, recalled having only a handful of children with a migrant background in her class as a student in the 1960s. By the time Franco A went to school, she said, children with two German parents were in the minority. Franco A’s own father was an Italian guest worker who abandoned the family when he was a toddler. He refers to him only as his “producer.” “I wouldn’t say it’s my father,” he said. In one of his audio memos, from January 2016, Franco A would later describe the guest worker program as a deliberate strategy to dilute German ethnicity. He himself, he said, was “a product of this perverse racial hatred." He told me that his grandfather was born in 1919, the year of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which sealed Germany’s defeat in World War I. The treaty gave rise to the “stab in the back” legend — that Germany had won the war but was betrayed by a conspiracy of leftists and Jews in the governing elite. The propaganda helped fuel anti-democratic cells in the military that hoarded arms, plotted coups and eventually supported the rise of Nazism — much the same things prosecutors accuse Franco A of today. He said his grandparents often cared for him, serving him soup after school and telling him stories about the war. His grandfather regaled him about his adventures in the Hitler youth. The copy of “Mein Kampf” that the police confiscated once belonged to him. He said his grandmother was 20 when she and her sister fled the advance of the Red Army in what is now Poland. She told the boy a story of how their wooden cart had broken down, forcing them to rest in a field outside Dresden. That night, she said, the sisters watched the city burn in a devastating shower of bombs that killed as many as 25,000 civilians and has since become a symbolic grievance of the far right. Years later, Franco A would record himself enacting a fictional conversation in which he raises the “bomb terror in Dresden” and asks whether Jews had the right to expect Germans to feel guilty forever. His teachers encouraged him to challenge authority and think for himself. They came of age during the 1968 student movement and sought to transmit the liberal values that sprung from it — a distrust of nationalism and atonement for the war. None of his teachers that I spoke to detected any early hints of extremism but rather recalled loving his contrarian and inquisitive nature. What they didn’t know was that around that time he had entered a boundless world of online conspiracy theories that would influence him for years to come. Those views began to take shape — in the privacy of his teenage diary. Franco A described the entries as experimenting with ideas, not evidence of a hardened ideology or any intention. They included musings on the ways he could change the course of German history. “One would be to become a soldier and gain an influential position in the military so I can become the head of the German armed forces,” he wrote in January 2007. “Then a military coup would follow.” Unheeded Warnings In 2008, just as Lehman Brothers imploded and the world descended into the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, Franco A joined the army. He was 19. In no time, he was selected as one of only a handful German officer cadets to attend the prestigious Saint-Cyr military academy in France, founded in 1802 by Napoleon. His five years abroad included semesters at Sciences Po in Paris and King’s College London as well as at Sandhurst, one of the British army’s premier officer training schools, and a summer session at the University of Cambridge. In 2013, he wrote a master’s thesis, “Political Change and Strategy of Subversion.” Over 169 pages, Franco A argued that the downfall of great civilizations had always been immigration and the dilution of racial purity brought about by subversive minorities. Europe and the West were next in line if they did not defend themselves, he said. Ethnically diverse societies were unstable, he wrote, and nations that allow migration were committing a form of “genocide.” His final section posits that the Old Testament was the foundation of all subversion, a blueprint for Jews to gain global dominance. It might be, he said, “the biggest conspiracy in the history of humanity.” The French commander of the military academy was aghast. He immediately flagged it to Franco A’s German superiors. “If this was a French participant on the course, we would remove him,” the commander told them at the time, according to German news media reports. The German military commissioned a historian, Jörg Echternkamp, to assess the thesis. After just three days, he concluded that it was “a radical nationalist, racist appeal.” But it was also combined with “an insecurity due to globalization" that made it socially more acceptable, he said — and therefore “dangerous.” But Franco A was not removed from service. Nor was he reported to Germany’s military counterintelligence agency, whose remit is to monitor extremism in the armed forces. Instead, on Jan 22, 2014, he was summoned to a branch office of the German military in Fontainebleau, near Paris. An officer from the military’s internal disciplinary unit told him that his thesis was “not compatible” with Germany’s values, according to the minutes. Franco A defended himself by saying that as the No 2 student in his year he had felt pressure to create something “outstanding” and had gotten carried away. “I isolated myself completely in this newly created world of thoughts and no longer looked at it from the outside,” Franco A. told the interviewer. After three hours of questioning, the senior officer concluded that Franco A “had become a victim of his own intellectual abilities.” He was reprimanded and asked to submit a new thesis. When Franco A returned to Germany later in 2014, it was as if nothing had happened. His superior in Dresden described him as a model German soldier — “a citizen in uniform.” In November 2015, he received another glowing report, noting how he’d been placed in charge of ammunition, a responsibility he fulfilled with “much joy and energy.” Prepping for Action? Prominently displayed on Franco A’s bookshelf is “The Magic Eye,” a volume containing colourful images that, if stared at long enough, give way to entirely different ones. Franco A is like that. Throughout our interviews, he cast himself as a peace-loving critical thinker who had become a victim of a political climate in which dissent was punished. But records and interviews with investigators and other people familiar with his case portrayed a very different person. After he returned from France, Franco A. gravitated toward soldiers who shared his views. As it turned out, they were not hard to find. A fellow officer and friend introduced him to a countrywide online chat network of dozens of soldiers and police officers concerned about immigration. The officer who had set up the network served in Germany’s elite special forces, the KSK, based in Calw, and went by the name of Hannibal. Hannibal also ran an organisation called Uniter, which offered paramilitary training. It has since been put under surveillance by the domestic intelligence service. Franco A attended at least two Uniter meetings. Badges of the group were found among his belongings. He was “known as intelligent” on the KSK base, police interviews suggest. “Several soldiers knew him,” one soldier said in a witness statement. Many of the chat members were “preppers” anticipating what they believed would be the collapse of Germany’s social order. Franco A himself began stockpiling a “prepper” cellar with food rations and other supplies. He also began obtaining guns and ammunition illegally, prosecutors say. Russia had recently invaded Ukraine. A febrile period of Islamist terrorism had just begun in Europe. In August, Merkel welcomed hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim asylum-seekers from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The threat of war or civil unrest within Germany felt real, Franco A recalled. At this point, prosecutors say, he began contemplating violence. The fight of the state against terrorism was a “fight against us,” he said, according to the indictment against him. But the “gift of truth” would have to be “well-packaged.” To lead people to it, a “trigger event” was necessary. That was when he started his search for a number of possible triggers, or targets, prosecutors say. He denies this. But at the end of his Christmas break in 2015 — 10 days before he would take up his first assignment in the Franco-German brigade near Strasbourg — he donned his refugee disguise. The Phony Refugee As he sat waiting at the police station for his first interview as David Benjamin, his refugee alter ego, Franco A studied a world map on the opposite wall. He was trying to decide whether Damascus or Aleppo would make a more credible birthplace. Over time, he would invent a sprawling family history. Fluent in French after his military training in France, he told his interviewers that he was a Syrian Christian of French descent. He said he had attended a French high school and then worked as a fruit farmer in Tel al-Hassel, a small village outside Aleppo. “I tried to be prepared the best I could,” Franco A recalled. “But in the end, it was not necessary at all.” He said his story was never questioned by German authorities, overwhelmed at the time. Two days after showing up at the police station, he registered as an asylum-seeker and was then bused to a series of temporary group shelters. Eventually he was assigned to a small residence in Baustarring, a Bavarian hamlet 250 miles west of his army base. Franco A filmed several videos of his shelters on his cellphone camera. He was clearly unconvinced of how needy the asylum-seekers were. Many of the Syrians, in particular, had fled formerly middle-class lives in cities destroyed by fighting. They looked “more like tourists” than refugees, he said. “I decided to take a bad telephone, because I didn’t want to stand out with a good telephone," he said. “In the end, I had the worst.” The system was overly generous and conspicuously forgiving, he said. Even as he turned down job offers, he continued to receive his monthly stipend. He showed up at the shelter perhaps once a month, and missed two dates in a row. In Franco A’s view, Merkel’s government had helped create its own humanitarian crisis by joining wars in the Middle East. It was like a case study from his disgraced master’s thesis materialising before his eyes. “Millions of people came from a destabilised region that in my eyes could have been kept stable,” he said. The Moroccan interpreter in his asylum hearing later testified that she had doubts he spoke Arabic. But because of his Jewish-sounding name she did not dare speak up. As a Muslim, she worried about sounding anti-Semitic. Franco A was ultimately granted “subsidiary protection,” a status that allows asylum-seekers with no identity papers to stay and work in Germany. Parallel to his refugee life, his reputation in far-right circles grew. Franco A said he attended debating events in bars. After one such event, he was invited to speak. On Dec 15, 2016, he said, he spoke at the “Prussian Evening,” an event organized at Hotel Regent in Munich by a publisher run by a Holocaust denier. His topic that night: “German conservatives — diaspora in their own country.” Throughout that year, his voice memos sounded increasingly urgent. Those who dared to voice dissent had always been murdered, he said in one from January 2016, three weeks after registering as a refugee. “Let’s not hesitate, not to murder but to kill,” he said. “I know you will murder me,” he added. “I will murder you first.” A Possible Target Franco A had been living his double life for almost seven months when, in the summer of 2016, he travelled to Berlin, prosecutors say. On a side street near the Jewish quarter, he went to take four photos of car license plates in a private underground parking garage, they say. Investigators later retrieved the images from his cellphone. The building housed the offices of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, an organization founded and run by Anetta Kahane, a prominent Jewish activist. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, she has been the target of far-right hatred for decades. Judging from notes they confiscated, prosecutors believe that Kahane, now 66, was one of several prominent targets Franco A. had identified for their pro-refugee positions. Others included Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who was justice minister at the time, and Claudia Roth, a Green lawmaker who was then Parliament’s vice president. Kahane’s name appears at least twice in the notes, once at the end of a bullet-pointed list of seemingly mundane items such as “fridge” and a reminder to call the bank where his refugee alter ego had an account. Franco A showed them to me. He said it was an ordinary to-do list. On one page, he noted Kahane’s background, age and work address. He also drew a detailed map of the location of her parking garage. On the same piece of paper, he wrote: “We are at a point where we cannot yet act like we want to.” Before the trip to Berlin and in the days after, prosecutors say, Franco bought a mounting rail for a telescopic sight and parts for a handgun, and was seen at a shooting range trying out the accessories with an assault rifle. He also travelled to Paris, where he met the head of a pro-Putin Russian think tank with links to France’s far right and is believed to have bought the French handgun that was later found in Vienna. In all, prosecutors say there is “probable cause” that Franco A was preparing a killing. Franco A disputes virtually every part of the accusations. None of what the prosecutors say amounts to an intention to harm Kahane, he said. “There are pictures on my phone, but then this doesn’t prove I was there,” he said during a tense six-hour interview one night. “I can’t talk about this at all,” he said, citing his upcoming trial. But then he did anyway, in “hypothetical terms.” If he had gone, it would have been to have a conversation, Franco A said. He would have rung the bell but found that Kahane was not there. Then he might have gone to the parking garage, thinking, “OK, maybe you can find out something out about the car.” “And then you could maybe find, through whatever lucky circumstance, find this person,” he said. Even if he had planned to kill Kahane — which he asserted was “definitely” not true — and even if he had visited the garage, “at worst it would be the preparation of an assassination” and not terrorism, he argued. How does this endanger the state? he asked. “This person’s not even a politician.” I visited Kahane to ask what she thought. The day we met, another neo-Nazi threat had just landed in her email box. She gets them all the time. “We will cut a swastika into your face with a very sharp ax,” the message read. “Then we will cut your spine and leave you to die in a side street.” But scarier almost than the threats, she said, was the naiveté of German authorities. She recalled the day the police came to tell her they had caught a neo-Nazi soldier who planned to kill her. They were referring to Franco A. and two of his associates. She had laughed and said, “So you got them all, all three of them?” “They always think it’s just one or two or three Nazis,” she said. Whose Constitution? There is a provision in the German Constitution, Article 20.4, that allows for resistance. Conceived with Hitler’s 1933 enabling act in mind, in which he abolished democracy after being elected, it empowers citizens to take action when democracy is at risk. It is popular among far-right extremists who denounce Merkel’s administration as anti-constitutional. That Constitution has pride of place in Franco A’s library. He quotes from it often. The week before Christmas, I went to see him one more time. He was upset that I had transcripts of his voice memos. I challenged him on some of the things he had said — for example, that Hitler was “above everything.” How could he explain that? He had meant it in an ironic way, he said, and played that section of the recording for me. The tone is casual and banter-like, two voices chuckle. But it is not obvious that it is all a joke. I asked him about another recording, from January 2016. Anyone who contributes to destroying the state, was doing something good, Franco A had said. Laws were null and void. How could he say that and say he defends the Constitution, too? There was a long silence. Franco A. looked at his own transcript. He leafed through his lawyer’s notes. But he did not have an answer.   c.2020 The New York Times Company

The projections, based on new computer models and reviewing what the scientists said was an "exceptional number of extreme heatwaves" in the past decade, are more alarming than the conclusions of the UN panel of climate scientists last year.That report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the UN body that collates scientific research from around the world - merely said of heatwaves: "It is very likely that the length, frequency, and/or intensity of warm spells or heatwaves will increase over most land areas" this century.Monthly heat extremes in summer - such as the heatwaves in Australia this year, parts of the United States in 2012 or Russia in 2010 - now affect five percent of the world's land area, the report said."This is projected to double by 2020 and quadruple by 2040," the scientists wrote of their new study in the journal Environmental Research Letters.The tropics would be most affected by increased heatwaves, followed by areas including the Mediterranean, Middle East, parts of western Europe, central Asia and the United States."In many regions, the coldest summer months by the end of the century will be hotter than the hottest experienced today," unless emissions of greenhouse gases are curbed, said Dim Coumou, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.The IPCC says heat-trapping gases, mostly from burning fossil fuels, are nudging up temperatures, and are likely to cause more severe downpours, heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels.Almost 200 governments have agreed to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times and plan to agree, by the end of 2015, a deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.Global average surface temperatures have risen by 0.8C (1.4F) since the Industrial Revolution.

Britain is pushing the UN security council to discuss climate change in an attempt to highlight its potential threat to global stability, government officials said on Thursday. Britain takes over the presidency of the United Nations in April and ministers believe the time is right, with the topic already top of the agenda at European Union and G8 summits, to take it to the highest level of the international forum. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, both keen advocates of action on climate change, are pushing the initiative. "Climate change is one of the Prime Minister's top priorities," a Downing Street spokeswoman said. A Foreign Office official added: "We want to embed climate security as a foreign policy issue. We believe that climate change has the potential to exacerbate many of the global insecurities that underlie global tension and conflict." The official declined to comment on newspaper reports that Britain, currently sounding out other member states on the idea, had met resistance from the United States and South Africa. Many government ministers are encouraged by the way climate change's potential impact is becoming "the received wisdom" and by the intended aims of this week's EU summit, where leaders aim to set ambitious goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, a former environment minister, has repeatedly said countries must tackle climate change or risk famine, water shortages and failing energy infrastructures thereby threatening global security. In a speech to the UN general assembly last September, Beckett said the next 10 years would be crucial for developed countries to take action. Experts warn that by drastically diminishing resources in some of the most volatile parts of the world, climate change risks creating potentially catastrophic tensions in regions already at breaking point such as the Middle East. International Alert, a leading conflict resolution charity, warned last month that global warming could tip whole regions of the world into conflict. "Various habitats are going to become unviable for people and they are going to move," IA head Dan Smith said. "If the places they are going to move to are already suffering inadequate resources...that will put pressure on an already fragile situation," he added. There has already been fighting in Kenya's Rift Valley over water rights as the arid area dries further. Deforestation has led to conflicts in several regions including South East Asia.

Nearly three-fourths of oil from the BP spill is gone from the Gulf of Mexico, with 26 percent remaining as a sheen or tarballs, buried in sediment or washed ashore, US scientists said on Wednesday. "It is estimated that burning, skimming and direct recovery from the wellhead removed one quarter (25 percent) of the oil released from the wellhead," the scientists said in the report "BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Budget : What Happened to the Oil?" Another 25 percent naturally evaporated or dissolved and 24 percent was dispersed, either naturally or "as the result of operations," into small droplets, the report said. The rest of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude spilled into the Gulf after the April 20 rig explosion that triggered the leak is either on or just beneath the water's surface as "light sheen or weathered tarballs," has washed ashore where it may have been collected, or is buried in sand and sediments at the sea bottom. The report found 33 percent of the oil has been dealt with by the Unified Command, which includes government and private efforts. "This includes oil that was captured directly from the wellhead by the riser pipe insertion tube and top hat systems (17 percent), burning (5 percent), skimming (3 percent) and chemical dispersion (8 percent)," the report found. The rest of the 74 percent that has been removed by natural processes. "The good news is that the vast majority of the oil appears to be gone," Carol Browner, energy and climate change adviser to President Barack Obama, said on ABC's "Good Morning America" show. "That's what the initial assessment of our scientists is telling us." "We do feel like this is an important turning point," she said.

The International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) global carbon offseting system, the first such scheme for a single industry, is expected to slow the growth of emissions from commercial flights, costing the industry less than 2 percent of revenues. Governments from individual countries must still act on their own to put the agreement's limits into effect. The system will be voluntary from 2021 to 2026 and mandatory from 2027 for states with larger aviation industries. Airlines will have to buy carbon credits from designated environmental projects around the world to offset growth in emissions. "It's a document arising from compromises and consensus," said Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, president of ICAO's governing council at a press conference. Aliu said objections by a small number of countries would not derail the plan. With 65 countries covering more than 80 percent of aviation activity in the voluntary first phases, participation surpassed the agency's expectations, he said, and will continue growing. Tensions were centered around developed nations, responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions in the past, and emerging and developing countries that fear added costs could curb growth. Russia and India have said they will not participate in the voluntary phases, and said Thursday the deal puts an unfair burden on emerging countries. China has said it plans to join the voluntary phase. Brazil, which had previously expressed concerns, voiced support for the deal, but did not say whether it would join the first phases. Citing ICAO figures, industry estimates the deal will cost airlines between $1.5 billion and $6.2 billion in 2025, depending on future carbon prices, and no more than 1.8 percent of industry revenues by 2035. Airlines' margins are slim and the average for the past decade was 4 percent, according to figures from the International Air Transport Association, an industry trade group. However, IATA has said the deal is far less costly than a patchwork of national and regional climate deals. "Even though it's a cost and the industry doesn't like additional costs, we believe it's a manageable cost," said Paul Steele, an IATA vice president. The US Department of State, which long pushed for a deal, said it "puts the industry on a path toward sustainable, carbon-neutral growth." But because of the voluntary phase and exceptions protecting smaller markets, environmentalists argued the scheme would not meet its own goals. The International Council on Clean Transportation estimated the agreement would require airlines to offset only about three-quarters of growth after 2021, or one-quarter of total international traffic. Others were critical of the deal's reliance on offsets. "Taking a plane is the fastest and cheapest way to fry the planet and this deal won't reduce demand for jet fuel one drop," said Transport and Environment director Bill Hemmings. Talks will now continue on the technical details of the deal, especially what types of offset credits will be considered acceptable. A Montreal assembly of ICAO's 191 member states approved the deal, which will apply to international passenger and cargo flights, and business jets that generate more than 10,000 tonnes of emissions annually. Previous negotiations came close to provoking a trade war ahead of the 2013 ICAO assembly as the European Union, which was frustrated with slow progress, ordered foreign airlines to buy credits under its scheme. China and other countries said that violated their sovereignty. The deal comes a day after the Paris accord to fight climate change entered into force. Aviation was excluded from that accord, though the industry produces about 2 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, an amount larger than generated by some industrialized nations. With industry expecting passenger numbers to double to 7 billion by 2034, rising aircraft pollution must be curbed to achieve Paris's temperature targets, said Lou Leonard, a World Wildlife Fund vice president.

President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, arrived in Dhaka on Friday to attend a symposium on "Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia." The Iceland president landed at Zia International Airport at 8:15pm and was greeted by President Iajuddin Ahmed. President Grímsson will attend the concluding ceremony of the symposium at Hotel Sonargaon on Saturday. The six-day international symposium began Monday. The University of Dhaka and the Ohio State University of the USA have jointly organised the symposium in cooperation with World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP). The Icelandic president was to arrive in Dhaka Tuesday, but his trip was deferred.

China will complete a new research station in the interior of Antarctica next year, state media said on Sunday, expanding its presence on the continent. The official Xinhua news agency cited Sun Bo, head of the Chinese Antarctic expedition team, as saying that an expedition to start in November would build the main structure of the new station situated on Dome A, the highest point on the continent at 4,093 metres above sea level. The country's third scientific research station on the continent, it is expected to be finished by next January, Xinhua cited Sun as saying after returning from the country's 24th scientific expedition there. "Scientists will ... search for the ice core dating from 1.2 million years ago on Dome A, and study the geological evolution under the icecap, the global climate changes and astronomy there," Sun said. Several nations claiming a part of Antarctica have been outlining their case before the United Nations in what some experts are describing as the last big carve-up of territory in history. Some areas of the continent are disputed by Chile, Argentina and Britain. The claims come amid growing interest in the potential for mineral exploitation at both the North and South Poles. For now, though, all such claims are theoretical because Antarctica is protected by a 1959 treaty which prevents mineral exploitation of the continent except for scientific research.

China wants rich economies to back a fund to speed the spread of greenhouse gas-cutting technology in poor nations as it seeks to persuade delegates at global warming talks the focus of responsibility belongs on the West. At talks in Bali to start crafting an international agreement to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, some rich countries have said a new pact must spell out greenhouse gas goals for all big emitters. China is emerging as the planet's biggest source of carbon dioxide from industry, vehicles and farms that is trapping more atmospheric heat and threatening disastrous climate change. Under Kyoto, it and other poor countries do not shoulder fixed goals to control such pollution. While Beijing fends off calls for targets, it will press its own demands, especially that rich nations back a big boost in funds to encourage the spread of clean technology, Chinese climate policy advisers told Reuters. "We want to see a substantial fund for technology transfers and development," said Zou Ji of the People's University of China in Beijing, a member of his country's delegation to Bali. "There's been a lot of talk about developing and spreading clean coal-power and other emissions-cutting technology, but the results have been puny, and we want the new negotiations to show that developed countries are now serious about it." That fund could come under a "new body to promote technology transfers," he said, adding that it would take some time for negotiations to settle on specifics. China's demand for clear vows on technology, as well as a big boost in funds for adaptation to droughts, floods and rising sea levels caused by global warming, is real enough. It also part of Beijing's effort to keep a united front with other developing countries and shine the spotlight back on rich nations, especially the United States, the world's biggest emitter, which has refused to ratify Kyoto. "The real obstacle is the United States," said Hu Tao of Beijing Normal University, who previously worked in a state environmental think tank. "China must surely be part of any solution. But the answer has to start what the developed countries do to cut their own emissions and help us cut ours." China says it is unfair to demand that it accept emissions limits when global warming has been caused by wealthy countries' long-accumulated pollution. CLEAN POWER TECHNOLOGY The United Nations recently issued data showing that Americans produced an average 20.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide each in 2004, versus 3.8 tonnes each for Chinese people. A senior Chinese climate change policy-maker, Gao Guangsheng, last week told Reuters that China's hopes to obtain clean power-generation equipment had been frustrated by foreign politicians' and companies' worries about intellectual property theft, foregone profits and sensitive technology. The adviser Zou said a technology transfer body could pair government support with private investors, easing worries about commercial returns and intellectual property safeguards. China has set itself ambitious domestic targets to increase energy efficiency and replace carbon-belching coal with renewable energy sources, but it failed to meet its efficiency target in 2006. An influx of funds could underwrite joint research projects and help developing countries create their own energy-saving devices, said Zhang Haibin, an expert on climate change negotiations at Peking University. "The point is that we don't just want to buy fish. We want to learn how to fish for ourselves," Zhang said. "But if you want to keep selling fish for high prices, you won't teach me."

Russian voters have dealt Vladimir Putin's ruling party a heavy blow by cutting its parliamentary majority in an election that showed growing unease with his domination of the country as he prepares to reclaim the presidency. Incomplete results showed Putin's United Russia was struggling even to win 50 percent of the votes in Sunday's election, compared with more than 64 percent four years ago. Opposition parties said even that outcome was inflated by fraud. Although Putin is still likely to win a presidential election in March, Sunday's result could dent the authority of the man who has ruled for almost 12 years with a mixture of hardline security policies, political acumen and showmanship but was booed and jeered after a martial arts bout last month. United Russia had 49.94 percent of the votes after results were counted in 70 percent of voting districts for the election to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Exit polls had also put United Russia below 50 percent. "These elections are unprecedented because they were carried out against the background of a collapse in trust in Putin, (President Dmitry) Medvedev and the ruling party," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal opposition leader barred from running. "I think that the March (presidential) election will turn into an even bigger political crisis; disappointment, frustration, with even more dirt and disenchantment, and an even bigger protest vote." Putin made his mark restoring order in a country suffering from a decade of chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He moved quickly to crush a separatist rebellion in the southern Muslim Chechen region, restored Kremlin control over wayward regions and presided over an economic revival. He has maintained a tough man image with stunts such as riding a horse bare chested, tracking tigers and flying a fighter plane. But the public appears to have wearied of the antics and his popularity, while still high, has fallen. Many voters, fed up with widespread corruption, refer to United Russia as the party of swindlers and thieves and resent the huge gap between the rich and poor. Some fear Putin's return to the presidency may herald economic and political stagnation. PUTIN SAYS OPTIMAL RESULT Putin and Medvedev, who took up the presidency in 2008 when Putin was forced to step down after serving a maximum two consecutive terms, made a brief appearance at a subdued meeting at United Russia headquarters. Medvedev said United Russia, which had previously held a two thirds majority allowing it to change the constitution without opposition support, was prepared to forge alliances on certain issues to secure backing for legislation. "This is an optimal result which reflects the real situation in the country," Putin, 59, said. "Based on this result we can guarantee stable development of our country." But there was little to cheer for the man who has dominated Russian politics since he became acting president when Boris Yeltsin quit at the end of 1999 and was elected head of state months later. His path back to the presidency may now be a little more complicated, with signs growing that voters feel cheated by his decision to swap jobs with Medvedev next year and dismayed by the prospect of more than a decade more of one man at the helm. "It's the beginning of the end," political analysts Andrei Piontkovsky said. "It (the result) shows a loss of prestige for the party and the country's leaders." COMMUNIST GAINS Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the communists were the main beneficiaries, their vote almost doubling to around 20 percent, according to the partial results. "Russia has a new political reality even if they rewrite everything," said Sergei Obukhov, a communist parliamentarian. Many of the votes were cast in protest against United Russia rather than in support of communist ideals because the Party is seen by some Russians as the only credible opposition force. "With sadness I remember how I passionately vowed to my grandfather I would never vote for the Communists," Yulia Serpikova, 27, a freelance location manager in the film industry, said. "It's sad that with the ballot in hand I had to tick the box for them to vote against it all." Opposition parties complained of election irregularities in parts of the country spanning 9,000 km (5,600 miles) and a Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their sites had been shut down by hackers intent on silencing allegations of violations. The sites of Ekho Moskvy radio station, online news portal Slon.ru and the watchdog Golos went down at around 8 a.m. even though Medvedev had dismissed talk of electoral fraud. Police said 70 people were detained in the second city of St Petersburg and dozens were held in Moscow in a series of protests against alleged fraud. Opposition parties say the election was unfair from the start because of authorities' support for United Russia with cash and television air time. Independent political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said a separate analysis showed that United Russia fell even further in cities -- where it had between 30-35 percent of the votes and the Communist have 20-25 percent. "This is a bad climate for Putin. He has got used to the fact that he controls everything, but now how can he go into a presidential campaign when United Russia has embittered people against their leader?" he asked. Putin has as yet no serious personal rivals as Russia's leader. He remains the ultimate arbiter between the clans which control the world's biggest energy producer. The result is a blow also for Medvedev, who led United Russia into the election. His legitimacy as the next prime minister could now be in question. ($1 = 30.8947 Russian roubles)

What it found was astonishing in its scope. Journalists from countries as tiny as Guinea-Bissau had been invited to sign agreements with their Chinese counterparts. The Chinese government was distributing versions of its propaganda newspaper China Daily in English — and also Serbian. A Filipino journalist estimated that more than half of the stories on a Philippines newswire came from the Chinese state agency Xinhua. A Kenyan media group raised money from Chinese investors, then fired a columnist who wrote about China’s suppression of its Uyghur minority. Journalists in Peru faced intense social media criticism from combative Chinese government officials. What seemed, in each country, like an odd local anomaly looked, all told, like a vast, if patchwork, strategy to create an alternative to a global news media dominated by outlets like the BBC and CNN, and to insert Chinese money, power and perspective into the media in almost every country in the world. But the study raised an obvious question: What is China planning to do with this new power? The answer comes in a second report, which is set to be released Wednesday by the International Federation of Journalists, a Brussels-based union of journalism unions whose mission gives it a global bird's-eye view into news media almost everywhere. The group, which shared a copy with me, hired an author of the first report, Louisa Lim, to canvass journalists in 54 countries. The interviews “reveal an activation of the existing media infrastructure China has put in place globally,” Lim, a former NPR bureau chief in Beijing who is now a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, wrote in the report: “As the pandemic started to spread, Beijing used its media infrastructure globally to seed positive narratives about China in national media, as well as mobilising more novel tactics such as disinformation.” The report, which was also written by Julia Bergin and Johan Lidberg, an associated professor at Monash University in Australia, may read to an American audience as a warning of what we have missed as our attention has increasingly shifted inward. But it is less the exposure of a secret plot than it is documentation of a continuing global power shift. China’s media strategy is no secret, and the Chinese government says its campaign is no different from what powerful global players have done for more than a century. “The accusation on China is what the US has been doing all along,” a deputy director general of the Information Department at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, told me in a WeChat message after I described the international journalists’ report to him. The report found that a new media push accompanied the intense round of Chinese diplomacy in the pandemic, providing protective equipment initially and then vaccines to countries around the world, all the while scrambling to ensure that things as varied as the pandemic’s origin and China’s diplomacy was portrayed in the best possible light. Italian journalists said they’d been pressed to run President Xi Jinping’s Christmas speech and were provided with a version translated into Italian. In Tunisia, the Chinese embassy offered hand sanitiser and masks to the journalists’ union, and expensive television equipment and free, pro-China content to the state broadcaster. A pro-government tabloid in Serbia sponsored a billboard with an image of the Chinese leader and the words, “Thank you, brother Xi.” Both the media and vaccine campaigns are intertwined with China’s “Belt and Road” global investment campaign, in which Chinese support comes with strings attached, including debt and expectations of support in key votes at the United Nations. China is fighting what is in some ways an uphill battle. Its growing authoritarianism, its treatment of the Uyghurs and its crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong damaged global views of China, according to other surveys, even before the pandemic began in Wuhan. And some governments have begun to make it harder for Chinese state media to function in their countries, with Britain’s media regulator revoking the license of the main Chinese state broadcaster. But much of China’s diplomacy is focused on places that, while they may not have the cultural or financial power of European countries, do have a vote at the UN And while they appear often to be improvisational and run out of local embassies, China’s efforts are having a global impact. “Beijing is steadily reshaping the global media landscape nation by nation,” Lim found. Along with two other New York Times reporters, Lima-based Mitra Taj and Emma Bubola in Rome, I spoke to journalists on five continents who participated in the report. Their attitudes ranged from alarm at overt Chinese government pressure to confidence that they could handle what amounted to one more interest group in a messy and complex media landscape. In Peru, where the government is friendly to China and powerful political figures got early access to a Chinese-made vaccine, “what really stands out is such a frequent presence in state media,” said Zuliana Lainez, the secretary-general of the National Association of Journalists of Peru. She said that the Peruvian state news agency and the state-controlled newspaper El Peruano are “like stenographers of the Chinese embassy.” Meanwhile, she said, China’s embassy has paid to modernise some newsrooms’ technology. “Those kinds of things need to be looked at with worry,” she said. “They’re not free.” Not all the journalists watching China’s growing interest in global media find it so sinister. The deputy director of the Italian news service ANSA, Stefano Polli, said he has seen China increasingly use media to “have greater influence in the new geopolitical balance.” But he defended his service’s contract to translate and distribute Xinhua — criticised in the international journalists report — as an ordinary commercial arrangement. China has also cracked down on foreign correspondents inside its borders, making international outlets increasingly dependent on official accounts and denying visas to American reporters, including most of the New York Times bureau. Luca Rigoni, a prominent anchor at a TV channel owned by the Italian company Mediaset, said his news organisation had no correspondent of its own in the country but a formal contract with Chinese state media for reporting from China. The cooperation dried up, though, after he reported on the theory that the virus had leaked from a Chinese lab. But Rigoni, whose company is owned by Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he didn’t think China’s mix of media and state power was unique. “It’s not the only country where the main TV and radio programs are controlled by the government or the parliament,” he said. And the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, Anthony Bellanger, said in an email that his view of the report is that while “China is a growing force in the information war, it is also vital to resist such pressures exerted by the US, Russia and other governments around the world.” But there’s little question of which government is more committed to this campaign right now. A report last year by Sarah Cook for the Freedom House, an American nonprofit group that advocates political freedom, found that Beijing was spending “hundreds of millions of dollars a year to spread their messages to audiences around the world.” The United States may have pioneered the tools of covert and overt influence during the Cold War, but the government’s official channels have withered. The swaggering CIA influence operations of the early Cold War, in which the agency secretly funded influential journals like Encounter, gave way to American outlets like Voice of America and Radio Liberty, which sought to extend American influence by broadcasting uncensored local news into authoritarian countries. After the Cold War, those turned into softer tools of American power. But more recently, President Donald Trump sought to turn those outlets into blunter propaganda tools, and Democrats and their own journalists resisted. That lack of an American domestic consensus on how to use its own media outlets has left the American government unable to project much of anything. Instead, the cultural power represented by companies like Netflix and Disney — vastly more powerful and better funded than any government effort — has been doing the work. And journalists around the world expressed scepticism of the effectiveness of often ham-handed Chinese government propaganda, a scepticism I certainly shared when I recycled a week’s worth of unread editions of China Daily sent to my home last week. The kind of propaganda that can work inside China, without any real journalistic answer, is largely failing to compete in the intense open market for people’s attention. “China is trying to push its content in Kenyan media, but it’s not yet that influential,” said Eric Oduor, the secretary-general of the Kenya Union of Journalists. Others argue that what journalists dismiss as amateurish or obvious propaganda still has an impact. Erin Baggott Carter, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Southern California, said her research has found that American news organisations whose journalists accepted official trips to China subsequently “made a pivot from covering military competition to covering economic cooperation.” In talking to journalists around the world last week about Chinese influence, I was also struck by what they didn’t talk about: the United States. Here, when we write and talk about Chinese influence, it’s often in the context of an imagined titanic global struggle between two great nations and two systems of government. But from Indonesia to Peru to Kenya, journalists described something much more one-sided: a determined Chinese effort to build influence and tell China’s story. “Americans are quite insular and always think everything is about the US,” Lim said. “Americans and the Western world are often not looking at what is happening in other languages outside English, and tend to believe that these Western-centric values apply everywhere.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

The Tigrayans, who have been fighting the government for the past year, have joined forces with another rebel group as they advance on the capital, Addis Ababa. Foreign officials monitoring the fighting said there were signs that several Ethiopian army units had collapsed or retreated. The state of emergency reflected the rapidly changing tide in a metastasizing war that threatens to tear apart Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country. It also marked another dismal turn in the fortunes of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose international reputation has been battered by a war that has led to reports of human rights violations, massacres and famine. One year ago, in the early hours of Nov 4, Abiy launched a military campaign in the northern Tigray region, hoping to vanquish the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, his most troublesome political foe. But after promising a swift, even bloodless campaign, Abiy was quickly drawn into a military quagmire. The Ethiopian military suffered a major defeat in June when it was forced to withdraw from Tigray, and several thousand of its soldiers were taken captive. Now the fighting is rapidly moving toward Abiy. In recent days, Tigrayan rebels took the towns of Dessie and Kombolcha, just 160 miles to the northeast of the capital. A United Nations official said the Tigrayan forces were seen moving farther south from Kombolcha on Tuesday. Under the state of emergency, Abiy has sweeping powers to arrest and detain critics, impose curfews and restrict the news media. Any citizen over 18 could be called into the fight, Justice Minister Gedion Timothewos told a news conference. “Those who own weapons will be obliged to hand them over to the government,” he said. The state of emergency will last six months, the government said. Hours earlier, the city administration in Addis Ababa had called on citizens to use their weapons to defend their neighbourhoods. House-to-house searches were being conducted in search of Tigrayan sympathizers, it said in a statement. The announcements added to a growing sense of trepidation in the city, where tensions have been building for days as news filtered in of Tigrayan military advances. A taxi driver named Dereje, who in the capital's tense climate refused to give his second name, said he intended to join in the fight. “I am not going to sit in my house and wait for the enemy,” he said. “I will fight for my kids and my country.” But a teacher, who declined to give his name, said he had lost faith in the Ethiopian government. “They lied to us that TPLF have been defeated,” he said, referring to the Tigray People's Liberation Front. “I am terribly worried about what is going to happen. May God help us.” President Joe Biden, who has threatened to impose sanctions on Ethiopia unless it moves toward peace talks, said Tuesday he would revoke trade privileges for Ethiopia, including duty-free access to the United States because of “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights.” In a separate briefing, Jeffrey Feltman, the Biden administration’s envoy to the Horn of Africa, told reporters that the deepening conflict could have “disastrous consequences” for Ethiopia’s unity and its ties to the United States. Defeated Ethiopian soldiers are marched through Mekelle after the regional capital fell to the Tigray Defence Forces, June 25, 2021. The New York Times Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson for Abiy, did not respond to a request for comment. Defeated Ethiopian soldiers are marched through Mekelle after the regional capital fell to the Tigray Defence Forces, June 25, 2021. The New York Times Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration said in a statement that the decision to revoke trade privileges would reverse economic gains in Ethiopia “and unfairly impact and harm women and children.” Ethiopia is committed to bringing perpetrators of serious rights abuses to justice, it added. The deteriorating situation in Ethiopia has sent alarm across the region, with fears that the fighting could spill into neighbouring countries such as Kenya, or send waves of refugees across borders. A darling of the West after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, Abiy has grown increasingly defensive in the past year as the war spilled out of Tigray, and once-close allies have subjected him to withering criticism. That criticism has recently focused on Ethiopia’s punishing blockade of Tigray, which has prevented most supplies of food and medicine from reaching a region where the United Nations estimates that 5.2 million people urgently need help and 400,000 are living in famine-like conditions. After the United States threatened Abiy’s government with sanctions in September, he accused the West of neocolonial bias and expelled seven senior UN officials, including a humanitarian aid coordinator in Tigray. Last month, the Ethiopian military launched an offensive against Tigrayan forces that expanded to include airstrikes against the region’s besieged capital, Mekelle. In recent days, Abiy has blamed his losses on unidentified foreigners he says are fighting alongside the Tigrayans. “Black and white nationals of non-Ethiopian descent have participated in the war,” he said. In Addis Ababa, the security forces started a new roundup of ethnic Tigrayans, stoking fears of ethnically based reprisals in the capital as the rebels draw near. International efforts to coax the sides to the negotiating table have come to nothing. Abiy has pushed ahead with military operations, despite mounting evidence that his army has come under crushing strain. The Tigrayans, for their part, say they are fighting to break a siege that is strangling their region and starving their people. Western pressure on Abiy has amounted to little more than “drips,” Gen Tsadkan Gebretensae, the rebels’ top strategist, told The New York Times last month. “We need more than drips.” Human rights groups have also accused Tigrayan fighters of abuses, including the killing of Eritrean refugees, although not on the same scale as Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopian government accused Tigrayan fighters of killing “youth residents” in Kombolcha in recent days, but provided no evidence. They have been pushing south, into Amhara region, since July, in a grinding battle that has unfolded largely out of sight as a result of internet blackouts and reporting restrictions. The breakthrough came with the capture this weekend of Dessie and Kombolcha, strategically located towns on a highway running from north to south that has become the spine of a war that could determine the future of Ethiopia. As they push south, the Tigrayans have linked up with the Oromo Liberation Army, a far smaller rebel group fighting for the rights of the Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group. After years of battle in the bush, the OLA appears to be moving into Ethiopia’s towns. Odaa Tarbii, an OLA spokesperson, said Tuesday it had captured a town 120 miles north of Addis Ababa and expected to start moving south, alongside the Tigrayans, in two or three days. For much of the war Abiy enjoyed staunch support from neighbouring Eritrea, whose fighters entered Tigray in the conflict’s early weeks in late 2020, and were accused of many of the worst atrocities against civilians. But in recent weeks, for reasons that are unclear, the Eritreans have been nowhere to be seen in the latest fighting, Tigrayan and Western officials said. Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, said the Ethiopian military was falling into disarray as it retreated south, leaving behind bands of heavily armed ethnic militias. “The command and control structure has collapsed,” he said, in an account that was broadly confirmed by two Western officials who could not be identified because of diplomatic sensitivities. If the Tigrayans continue to push south, the officials added, Abiy is likely to face immense pressure from inside his political camp, as well as on the battlefield. © 2021 The New York Times Company