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April
Face-off with Russia over Ukraine lifts military spending in 2021, think tank says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Military spending in Europe and Russia surged in the run-up to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine despite the subduing effects of the pandemic on economic growth, data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed on Monday.
The war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a "special military operation", has forced a rapid rethink in Europe over defence strategies and led a string of countries to promise large increases in military budgets.
It has also paved the way for a potential expansion of NATO military alliance to include Finland and Sweden. read more
The biggest effect of increased military budgets is likely to be visible in the coming years, but spending was already on the rise in 2021 amid heightened tensions in the run up to Russia's invasion.
Global military spending topped 2 trillion dollars for the first time ever last year, reaching $2,113 billion, up 0.7% from 2020, as expenditure rose for the seventh straight year, the influential defence think tank said.
Russia lifted its military outlay by 2.9% in 2021 to $65.9 billion as it built up its forces along the Ukrainian border, SIPRI said. It was the third consecutive year of growth in Russia's military spending, which reached 4.1% of GDP in 2021.
"High oil and gas revenues helped Russia to boost its military spending in 2021," Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, Director of SIPRI's Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said in a statement.
"Russian military expenditure had been in decline between 2016 and 2019 as a result of low energy prices combined with sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014."
Russia remained in fifth spot in terms of global military spending, behind the United States, China, India and the United Kingdom.
Ukraine spent $5.9 billion on its military in 2021, less than one tenth of Russia's budget, according to SIPRI.
Total military spending in Europe amounted to $418 billion and has been rising sharply since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Military budgets rose 3.0% from 2020 and stood 19% higher than in 2012, SIPRI said.
That figure is likely to increase sharply as countries like Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden fulfil promises to boost spending to 2% of gross domestic product over the coming years.
Missile defence systems, drones and high-tech fighters are high on the shopping list of countries worried about Russia. (Reuters)
April
Iran confirms fifth round of talks held with Saudi Arabia
Written by Nur Yasmin
Regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia held a fifth round of "positive" talks in Baghdad last Thursday on normalising bilateral relations, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed on Monday.
Predominantly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran, which are locked in proxy conflicts across the Middle East, started direct talks last year to try to contain tensions.
But Iran suspended the talks in March without giving a reason after Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in its biggest mass execution in decades. Tehran condemned the executions that activists said included 41 Shi'ite Muslims.
"The fifth round of talks between Saudi Arabia and Tehran were held in Iraq and the talks were progressive and positive," Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.
On Sunday, Iraq's Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said Baghdad would host a new round of talks.
Khatibzadeh said "initial talks were underway between Tehran and Riyadh on sending 40,000 Iranian pilgrims to the haj in Mecca" this year.
Riyadh severed ties with Tehran in 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital following the execution of a Shi'ite cleric in Saudi Arabia. (reuters)
April
Voting opens in France runoff between Macron and Le Pen
Written by nuke
Presidential campaign posters of French President and centrist candidate for reelection Emmanuel Macron and French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Apr 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Bob Edme) -
France began voting in a presidential runoff election Sunday (Apr 24) in a race between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
Macron is in pole position to win reelection in the country’s presidential runoff, yet his lead over Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: Voters who could decide to stay home.
A Macron victory in this vote — which could have far-reaching repercussions for Europe’s future direction and Western efforts to stop the war in Ukraine — would make him the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.
All opinion polls in recent days converge toward a win for the 44-year-old pro-European centrist — yet the margin over his nationalist rival varies broadly, from 6 to 15 percentage points, depending on the poll. Polls also forecast a possibly record-high number of people who will either cast a blank vote or not vote at all//CNA
April
UN chief Guterres heading to Turkey ahead of Moscow, Kyiv visits
Written by nuke
File photo. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the media regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, US, on Mar 14, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Andrew Kelly) -
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Ankara before heading to Moscow next week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and then to Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a UN statement said on Saturday (Apr 23).
Guterres will visit the Turkish capital on Monday, where he will be received by President Tayyip Erdogan, the statement said. The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said on Apr 18 that Turkey was a valuable host for humanitarian talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Eri Kaneko, Guterres' associate spokesperson, told a news briefing on Friday that Guterres would head to Moscow on Tuesday and meet Putin as well as have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, hoping to discuss what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine.
The United Nations also said on Friday that Guterres would meet with Zelenskyy on Thursday, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and staff at UN agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance efforts//CNA
April
China promotes coal in setback for efforts to cut emissions
Written by nuke
Smoke and steam rise from towers at the coal-fired Urumqi Thermal Power Plant in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Apr 21, 2021. (File photo: AP/Mark Schiefelbein) -
China is promoting coal-fired power as the ruling Communist Party tries to revive a sluggish economy, prompting warnings Beijing is setting back efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source.
Official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year, according to news reports. That is equal to 7 per cent of last year’s output of 4.1 billion tons, which was an increase of 5.7 per cent over 2020.
China is one of the biggest investors in wind and solar, but jittery leaders called for more coal-fired power after economic growth plunged last year and shortages caused blackouts and factory shutdowns. Russia’s attack on Ukraine added to anxiety that foreign oil and coal supplies might be disrupted.
“This mentality of ensuring energy security has become dominant, trumping carbon neutrality,” said Li Shuo, a senior global policy adviser for Greenpeace. “We are moving into a relatively unfavorable time period for climate action in China.”
Officials face political pressure to ensure stability as President Xi Jinping prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as ruling party leader in the autumn.
Coal is important for “energy security,” Cabinet officials said at an Apr 20 meeting that approved plans to expand production capacity, according to Caixin, a business news magazine.
The ruling party also is building power plants to inject money into the economy and revive growth that sank to 4 per cent over a year earlier in the final quarter of 2021, down from the full year's 8.1 per cent expansion.
Governments have pledged to try to limit warming of the atmosphere to 2 degrees Celsius above the level of pre-industrial times. Leaders say what they really want is a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Scientists say even if the world hits the 2-degree goal in the 2015 Paris climate pact and the 2021 Glasgow follow-up agreement, that still will lead to higher seas, stronger storms, extinctions of plants and animals and more people dying from heat, smog and infectious diseases.
China is the top producer and consumer of coal. Global trends hinge on what Beijing does.
The Communist Party has rejected binding emissions commitments, citing its economic development needs. Beijing has avoided joining governments that promised to phase out use of coal-fired power.
In a 2020 speech to the United Nations, Xi said carbon emissions will peak by 2030, but he announced no target for the amount. Xi said China aims for carbon neutrality, or removing as much from the atmosphere by planting trees and other tactics as is emitted by industry and households, by 2060.
China accounts for 26.1 per cent of global emissions, more than double the US share of 12.8 per cent, according to the World Resources Institute. Rhodium Group, a research firm, says China emits more than all developed economies combined.
Per person, China’s 1.4 billion people on average emit the equivalent of 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to WRI. That is less than half the US average of 17.7 tons but more than the European Union’s 7.5 tons.
China has abundant supplies of coal and produced more than 90 per cent of the 4.4 billion tons it burned last year. More than half of its oil and gas is imported and leaders see that as a strategic risk.
China’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2060 appears to be on track, but using more coal “could jeopardise this, or at least slow it down and make it more costly", Clare Perry of the Environmental Investigations Agency said in an email.
Promoting coal will make emissions “much higher than they need to be” by the 2030 peak year, said Perry.
“This move runs entirely counter to the science,” she said.
Beijing has spent tens of billions of dollars on building solar and wind farms to reduce reliance on imported oil and gas and clean up its smog-choked cities. China accounted for about half of global investment in wind and solar in 2020.
Still, coal is expected to supply 60 per cent of its power in the near future.
Beijing is cutting millions of jobs to shrink its bloated, state-owned coal mining industry, but output and consumption still are rising.
Authorities say they are shrinking carbon emissions per unit of economic output. The government reported a reduction of 3.8 per cent last year, better than 2020′s 1 per cent but down from a 5.1 per cent cut in 2017.
Last year’s total energy use increased 5.2 per cent over 2020 after a revival of global demand for Chinese exports propelled a manufacturing boom, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Stimulus spending also might raise carbon output if it pays for building more bridges, train stations and other public works. That would encourage carbon-intensive steel and cement production.
China’s coal-fired power plants operate at about half their capacity on average, but building more creates jobs and economic activity, said Greenpeace’s Li. He said even if the power isn’t needed now, local leaders face pressure to make them pay for themselves.
“That locks China into a more high-carbon path,” Li said. “It’s very difficult to fix.”//CNA
April
North Korea boasts of 'invincible power' world cannot ignore ahead of holiday
Written by nuke
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he watches the test-firing of a new-type tactical guided weapon in this undated photo released on Apr 16, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. (Photo: KCNA via Reuters) -
North Korean state media on Sunday (Apr 24) trumpeted how the country has gained an "invincible power that the world cannot ignore and no one can touch" under Kim Jong Un, an apparent reference to its nuclear weapons, as Pyongyang prepares for a military holiday.
Monday will mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, and international monitors say North Korea may stage a major military parade or conduct other weapons displays.
North Korea has conducted an unprecedented flurry of ballistic missile tests this year, and American and South Korean officials say there are signs it could resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 2017.
A report by state news agency KCNA on Sunday listed the history of North Korea's military achievements, from its battles against the United States in the 1950-1953 Korean War and smaller skirmishes throughout the Cold War to the 2010 bombardment of South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, which hit both military and civilian targets.
The North's military is equipped with offensive and defensive capabilities that can "cope with any modern warfare," KCNA said.
It praised Kim's "genius military ideology and outstanding military command and unparalleled courage and guts", and his leadership in gaining the country's "invincible power".
For weeks commercial satellite imagery has shown thousands of North Korean troops practicing marching in formation at a parade training ground in Pyongyang, the capital.
Analysts had predicted a military parade on Apr 15, which was the 110th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the late communist founder of North Korea, and the nation's biggest holiday, but only a small, civilian "procession" was reported.
Preparations have been ongoing, suggesting a parade could now happen on or around Monday's army holiday, according to 38 North, a US-based programme, and NK News, a Seoul-based website that tracks the North.
North Korea's most recent parades have been held at night, and were used to unveil new weapons, including its largest Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)//CNA
April
World Bank readies Sri Lanka aid package, IMF calls loan talks 'fruitful'
Written by nuke
Demonstrators shout slogans against Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa near the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Apr 23, 2022, amid the country's economic crisis. (File photo: Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar) -
The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday it held "fruitful technical discussions" with Sri Lanka on its loan request, while the World Bank said it was preparing an emergency aid package for the crisis-stricken country.
Sri Lanka, an island country of 22 million people, is struggling to pay for imports amid a crushing debt crisis and sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves that has fueled soaring inflation. Prolonged power cuts and shortages of fuel and medicines have sparked nationwide protests.
Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ali Sabry has been in Washington this week talking to the IMF, the World Bank, India and others about financing help for his country, which has suspended payments on portions of its US$51 billion in external debt.
The World Bank's emergency response package includes US$10 million to be made immediately available for the purchase of essential medicines, funds shifted from its ongoing COVID-19 health preparedness project, a World Bank spokesperson said.
The global lender, which along with the IMF held its spring meetings this week, did not provide a total value for its package, but Sabry said on Friday that about US$500 million in aid was being considered.
The World Bank spokesperson said the package would leverage existing bank-financed projects and repurpose funds to quickly provide medicines, meals for school children and cash transfers for poor and vulnerable households.
Support to provide cooking gas, basic food supplies, seeds and fertilizers and other essentials is also under discussion, the spokesperson said, adding that the World Bank was "deeply concerned" about the situation in Sri Lanka.
The IMF said in a statement on Saturday that talks between its staff focused on the need for Sri Lanka to implement "a credible and coherent strategy" to restore macroeconomic stability, and to strengthen its social safety net and protect the poor and vulnerable during the current crisis.
"The IMF team welcomed the authorities' plan to engage in a collaborative dialogue with their creditors," IMF Sri Lanka mission chief Masahiro Nozaki said in a statement after the country took steps to explore a restructuring of some US$12 billion in sovereign bonds
Sabry told reporters on Friday that the talks with the IMF were focused on a more traditional Extended Fund Facility program, but that US$3 billion to US$4 billion in bridge financing was needed while this could be finalized.
The IMF has said that Sri Lanka's debt needs to be put on a sustainable path before it could make new loans to Colombo - a process that could require lengthy negotiations with China and the country's other creditors.
Sabry said on Friday that in addition to the IMF loan and World Bank assistance, Sri Lanka is discussing with India about US$1.5 billion in bridge financing to help continue essential imports, and added that he has also approached China, Japan and the Asian Development Bank for help//CNA
April
Turkey closes airspace to Russian planes flying to Syria
Written by nuke
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a press conference in Ankara on Apr 1, 2022. (File photo: AFP/Adem Altan) -
Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying on Saturday (Apr 23) by local media.
The announcement marks one of the strongest responses to date by Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with Moscow despite being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defence alliance, to Russia's two-month military assault on Ukraine.
"We closed the airspace to Russia's military planes - and even civilian ones - flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March," Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying.
Cavusoglu said that he conveyed the decision to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.
"One or two days later, they said: Putin has issued an order, we will not fly anymore," Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Turkish reporters aboard his plane to Uruguay.
Cavusoglu added that the ban would stay in place for three months.
There was no immediate response to Turkey's announcement from Russia, which together with Iran has been a crucial supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war-torn country's civil war.
Turkey has backed Syrian rebels during the conflict.
Ankara's relations with Moscow briefly imploded after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015.
But they had been improving until Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Turkey views as an important trade partner and diplomatic ally.
Turkey has been trying to mediate an end to the conflict, hosting meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul, and another between Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya.
Ankara is now trying to arrange an Istanbul summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although Cavusoglu conceded that the prospects of such talks at this point remain dim.
"If they want a deal, it's inevitable," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. "It might not happen for a long time, but it can happen suddenly."//CNA
April
Strike causes chaos at Amsterdam airport as holiday begins
Written by nuke
Travellers wait in lines at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport as an unannounced strike of ground staff caused many delays and cancellations, in Amsterdam, Netherlands April 23, 2022. REUTERS/Anthony Deutsch -
Amsterdam's Schiphol airport urged travellers to stay away for several hours on Saturday (Apr 23) as a strike by ground personnel at the start of a school holiday caused chaos at Europe's third-busiest airport.
"The terminal is too full at the moment ... Schiphol is calling on travellers not to come to the airport anymore," airport authorities said in a statement issued shortly before noon (1000 GMT).
Almost three hours later the airport said passengers were welcome again but would still face long waiting times and possible delays or cancellations.
Police closed down highway exits to the airport briefly on Saturday afternoon as lines at departure gates stretched out of the airport buildings.
A Schiphol spokesperson said the temporary closure was necessary to guarantee safety and to get as many as possible of the thousands of frustrated passengers aboard their often-delayed flights.
Baggage handlers for KLM, the Dutch arm of airline Air France-KLM, had early on Saturday gone on a previously unannounced strike to press demands for higher pay and better working conditions.
KLM ground staff handle about half of all luggage coming through Schiphol, Europe's third busiest airport after Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow.
Labour union FNV said the walkout had ended around noon//CNA
April
Germany must support Ukraine without endangering its own security: Minister
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO - Finance Minister Christian Lindner is pictured during a news conference on further aid to companies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner -
Germany must do everything in its power to help Ukraine win the war against Russia but without endangering its own security and NATO's defence capability, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Saturday (Apr 23).
"We must do everything in our power to help Ukraine win, but the limit of the ethical responsibility is endangering our own security and endangering the defence capability of NATO territory," Lindner said in a party conference speech in Berlin.
"But what is possible ... must be undertaken pragmatically and quickly, together with our European partners," he said.
Lindner said he was in favour of supporting Ukraine with heavy weapons, but that Germany must not become a party to the war.
"Ukraine needs military support, and in order to be victorious, it also needs heavy weapons," Lindner added.
He rejected criticism aimed at Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the government's apparent reluctance to deliver heavy battlefield weapons, such as tanks and howitzers.
"Olaf Scholz is a responsible leader who weighs things up carefully and makes decisions on this basis," Lindner said.
A day earlier, when asked about Germany's failure to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, Scholz said NATO must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war//CNA