VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Tigris river in central Baghdad, one of Iraq's two mighty rivers (Photo: AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE) - 

Voinews, BAGHDAD - Stricken by drought and depleted by upstream dams, Iraq's once mighty rivers the Tigris and Euphrates are suffocating under pollutants from sewage to medical waste.

In a country where half the population lacks access to safe drinking water, according to UN figures, state institutions are to blame for a man-made disaster which is turning rivers into waste dumps.

"What is strange about water pollution in Iraq is that most government institutions are responsible for it," Khaled Shamal, the ministry of water resources spokesman, told AFP.

He warned that Iraq's sewage network dumps "large quantities" of wastewater into the two major waterways, after superficial treatment or none at all.

"Most hospitals near a river dump their medical waste and sewage straight into it," Shamal added. "It is dangerous and catastrophic."

Dirty and unsafe water is a prime health threat in Iraq, where decades of conflict, mismanagement and corruption have taken a toll on infrastructure, including the water system.

Petrochemical factories, power plants and agricultural drainage that carries fertilisers and other toxins further pollute Iraq's water.

In the country known as "the land of two rivers", water pollution has become so severe that it is now visible to the naked eye.

In Baghdad's eastern suburbs, AFP filmed a pipe discharging green-coloured water with a foul odour into the Diyala river.

Ali Ayoub, a water specialist from the UN children's agency UNICEF, warned that Baghdad's two main water treatment plants are overloaded with twice their intended capacity.

The treatment facilities were built for a population of three to four million, but at least nine million live in Baghdad today.

"Inadequate infrastructure, limited regulations and poor public awareness are the main factors contributing to the significant deterioration of water quality in Iraq", Ayoub said.

In partnership with UNICEF, Baghdad's Medical City - a complex of hospitals with 3,000 beds, on the banks of the Tigris - has recently inaugurated a water treatment plant, Akil Salman, the complex's projects manager, told AFP.

The facility has started operating with three units, each capable of treating 200 cubic metres of waste a day. Four additional units with a capacity of 400 cubic metres each are expected to be completed "within two months".

Instead of directing its wastewater to Baghdad's overburdened treatment facilities, the Medical City can use the treated water for the hospitals' gardens and to fill the firefighters' tanks, Salman said.

Previously, authorities routinely opened valves to increase the river flow and dilute pollutants, but this strategy has become impossible due to a shortage of water which has forced them to look for other options.

In addition to "raising awareness" among the population, Iraqi officials say they are closely monitoring wastewater management//CNA-VOI

Vehicles drive past the logo of India's G20 summit, along a road in New Delhi on Aug 10, 2023. (Photo: AFP/Sajjad Hussain) - 

Voinews, RIO DE JANEIRO: G20 foreign ministers open a two-day meeting on Wednesday (Feb 21) in Brazil, with the outlook bleak for progress on a thorny agenda of conflicts and crises, from the Gaza and Ukraine wars to growing polarization.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both expected in Rio de Janeiro for the first high-level G20 meeting of the year - though not China's Wang Yi.

In a world torn by conflicts and divisions, Brazil, which took over the rotating G20 presidency from India in December, has voiced hopes for what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva calls "the forum with the greatest capacity to positively influence the international agenda".

But Lula's bid to make the G20 a space for finding common ground suffered Sunday when the veteran leftist ignited a diplomatic firestorm by accusing Israel of "genocide", comparing its military campaign in the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust.

The comments drew outrage in Israel, which declared him "persona non grata", and could overshadow any bid to de-escalate the conflict via the G20.

"If Lula imagined he was going to propose peace resolutions on Israel or Ukraine, that just got swept off the table," international relations specialist Igor Lucena told AFP.

More than four months after the Gaza war started with Hamas fighters' unprecedented Oct 7 attack on Israel, which has vowed to wipe out the Islamist group in retaliation, there is little sign of progress toward peace.

A new UN Security Council resolution on a ceasefire was vetoed on Tuesday by the United States, which said the text would endanger ongoing negotiations, including on the release of Hamas-held hostages.

The outlook is similarly downbeat on Russia's war in Ukraine, which also has G20 members divided.

Despite a push from Western countries for the group to condemn President Vladimir Putin's invasion, the G20's last summit, held in New Delhi in September, ended with a watered-down statement that denounced the use of force but did not explicitly name Russia, which maintains friendly ties with fellow members like India and Brazil.

Underlining the G20 stalemate, the G7 group of top economies - Ukrainian allies Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - will hold its own virtual meeting on the war Saturday, the second anniversary of Russia's invasion.

Held at a marina on the Rio waterfront, the G20 meeting will open with a session on "addressing international tensions".

The ministers will discuss global governance reform on Thursday - a favourite issue for Brazil, which wants a greater voice for the global south at institutions like the UN, IMF and World Bank.

"The number and gravity of conflicts has returned to the level of the Cold War. That brings new urgency to the issue," said Brazil's top diplomat for G20 political negotiations, Mauricio Lyrio.

"We need to adapt the international system to prevent new conflicts," he told journalists on Tuesday. "Now, we're just putting out fires."

Brazil also wants to use its G20 presidency to push the fights against poverty and climate change.

There will also be space for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the gathering - though a Blinken-Lavrov encounter looks unlikely, given the exploding tension over Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death in prison on Friday.

Blinken and Lavrov last met in person at a G20 gathering in India in March 2023//CNA-VOI

A visitor walks past Japan's Nikkei stock prices quotation board inside a building in Tokyo, Japan February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato/file photo - 

Voinews, Singapore - As Japanese stocks approach record levels last seen in the 1989 bubble-era, valuation metrics suggest they are still far from overpriced compared to historic levels and global peers.

The Nikkei share average is up nearly 50 per cent in the past year and closing in on its record high of 38,957.44 points touched on the final trading day of 1989.

Yet, on a popular price-to-earnings ratio metric, the MSCI Japan index's 12-month forward ratio stands at 14.1, below the MSCI World index's 17.4 and the MSCI United States index's 20.1.

"From a historical perspective, Japanese stocks at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15x do not look expensive versus other markets, especially at current interest rate levels," said Miyuki Kashima, head of Japan investments at Fidelity International.

More importantly, Japanese stocks trade at a low price-to-book value, meaning the shares are underpriced relative to the value of assets on companies' balance sheets.

MSCI Japan's price-to-book ratio is 1.37, much lower than 4.72 recorded in 1989, when the market last hit these highs during Japan's asset price bubble.

The Nikkei's rally over the past year has been fuelled its cheapness, corporate governance reforms and steady buying by foreigners. It has also come after a long period of stagnation since the early 1990s as companies focused more on stability than growth.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has sought to get companies to change conservative accounting practices, by pushing for better governance, share buybacks, lower cross-holdings and increased dividends.

Within its Prime Market segment, which comprises 1,657 companies with a market capitalization exceeding 100 billion yen ($666.67 million) each, 78 per cent traded at a price-to-book ratio below 1 as of December and had outlined initiatives to optimize capital use and enhance stock prices.

Foreign investors aversion to weak Chinese markets have also prompted a search into other Asian assets.

Fidelity Kashima said the TSE's decision to publish the names of companies that have complied with its call to disclose plans had improved governance.

"Ultimately, structural change driven by such reforms will help to optimise capital allocation, while a shift to moderate inflation is supportive of growth in wages and investment," he said.

LSEG data showed approximately one-third of companies in Japan's Nikkei 225 index still trade below book value, compared to a mere 3 per cent ratio for the S&P 500 index.

These reforms have meant the overall yield shareholders are getting in Japan, through buybacks in particular, is more than the headline dividend yield.

MSCI Japan's dividend yield stood at 2.23, surpassing the MSCI World's 1.9. Data from ETF manager WisdomTree shows MSCI Japan index's shareholder yield, which reflects the total returns including dividends and share buybacks, stood at 3.34, much higher than the MSCI World's 2.91.

Attractive valuations have lured foreign investors, who have pumped in about 6.3 trillion yen into Japanese equities last year. Most analysts say foreigners still remain underweight Japan.

Japan's domestic households are also allocating cash to the stock market, via a tax-exempted Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) program//CNA-VOI

Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 - First Leg - PSV Eindhoven v Borussia Dortmund - Philips Stadion, - February 20, 2024 PSV Eindhoven's Luuk de Jong celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw - 

Voinews, Berlin - Borussia Dortmund were left fuming over a penalty decision in Tuesday's Champions League round of 16 first leg that earned hosts PSV Eindhoven a 1-1 draw.

Donyell Malen had scored a superb goal for the visitors against his former side before Eindhoven's Luuk de Jong converted the spot kick in the 56th minute at the Philips Stadion.

"Zero percent penalty, zero," Dortmund defender Mats Hummels said of his challenge on Malik Tillman.

"I go in for the tackle, I clearly get to the ball first, I change its course and then I make minimal contact. But this is football, I am sorry, zero penalty.

"Tillman was cracking up laughing, (Eindhoven winger Johan) Bakayoko also cracked up laughing, they all looked at me, grinning for several minutes," Hummels added.

The Dortmund defender got a touch on the ball before making contact with German-born U.S. international Tillman but a VAR review confirmed the on-field decision by referee Srdjan Jovanovic, much to the visitors’ dismay.

"That is the second ridiculous penalty awarded against us in the Champions League after the (group game) at Paris St Germain. I don't understand the referees at the moment," Hummels said.

Dortmund lost 2-0 in Paris in September with Kylian Mbappe scoring from the spot following a hand ball incident.

"Penalties are being awarded for situations that are not even fouls when they happen in midfield," Hummels added. "No defender in the world would award this penalty."

Dortmund host the Dutch side on March 13 in the return leg.

"We asked him (referee) but for him it was a clear cut situation," Dortmund sports director Sebastian Kehl said of Eindhoven's penalty.

"You cannot change that but try to influence it through the fourth official. This is a very painful situation for us."

For coach Edin Terzic, the only thing to do was to move on.

"We cannot change it, it's part of the game," he added. "We now have the chance to make things right in three weeks. This is the only thing we control and we will focus on that."//CNA-VOI