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November
Good omens hard to find as global climate talks open
Written by Nur Yasmin
World leaders began arriving on Monday at a U.N. conference critical to averting the most disastrous effects of climate change, their challenge made even more daunting by the failure of major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments.
The COP26 conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow opens a day after the G20 economies failed to commit to a 2050 target to halt net carbon emissions - a deadline widely cited as necessary to prevent the most extreme global warming.
Instead, their talks in Rome only recognised "the key relevance" of halting net emissions "by or around mid-century", set no timetable for phasing out coal at home and watered down promises to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg asked her millions of supporters to sign an open letter accusing leaders of betrayal.
"As citizens across the planet, we urge you to face up to the climate emergency," she tweeted. "Not next year. Not next month. Now."
Many of those leaders take to the stage in Glasgow on Monday to defend their records and in some cases make new pledges at the start of two weeks of negotiations that conference host Britain is billing as make-or-break.
"Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It's one minute to midnight and we need to act now," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell the opening ceremony, according to advance excerpts of his speech.
"If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow."
DISCORD
Discord among some of the world's biggest emitters about how to cut back on coal, oil and gas, and help poorer countries to adapt to global warming, will not make the task easier.
At the G20, U.S. President Joe Biden singled out China and Russia, neither of which is sending its leader to Glasgow, for not bringing proposals to the table.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, on board Air Force One with Biden, said Glasgow could put pressure on those who had not yet stepped up, but that it would not end the global effort.
"It is also critical for us to recognise that the work is going to have to continue after everyone goes home," he told reporters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country is by far the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and ahead of the United States, will address the conference on Monday in a written statement, according to an official schedule.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, one of the world's top three oil producers along with the United States and Saudi Arabia, has dropped plans to participate in any talks live by video link, the Kremlin said. read more
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will also stay away. Two Turkish officials said Britain had failed to meet Ankara's demands on security arrangements and protocol. read more
PROMISES, PROMISES
Delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 aims to keep alive a target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels - a level scientists say would avoid its most destructive consequences.
To do that, it needs to secure more ambitious pledges to reduce emissions, lock in billions in climate-related financing for developing countries, and finish the rules for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries.
Existing pledges to cut emissions would allow the planet's average surface temperature to rise 2.7C this century, which the United Nations says would supercharge the destruction that climate change is already causing by intensifying storms, exposing more people to deadly heat and floods, raising sea levels and destroying natural habitats.
Developed countries confirmed last week that they would be three years late in meeting a promise made in 2009 to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance to developing countries by 2020. read more
"Africa is responsible for only 3% of global emissions, but Africans are suffering the most violent consequences of the climate crisis," Ugandan activist Evelyn Acham told the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
"They are not responsible for the crisis, but they are still paying the price of colonialism, which exploited Africa's wealth for centuries," she said. "We have to share responsibilities fairly."
Two days of speeches by world leaders starting Monday will be followed by technical negotiations. Any deal may not be struck until close to or even after the event's Nov. 12 finish date. (Reuters)
November
Japan to compile 'large-scale' stimulus package in mid-Nov, says PM Kishida
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday the government would compile a "large-scale" stimulus package around mid-November and aim to pass through parliament an extra budget by the end of this year.
In a news conference, Kishida also said Japan would seek to play a leadership role in promoting carbon-neutral policies in Asia such as by offering aid to the region and investing in clean energy. The steps would be part of the government's stimulus package, he added. (Reuters)
October
Japan coalition projected to keep majority, PM's party battered: Report
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: In this photo, Japanese Prime Minister and governing Liberal Democratic Party President Fumio Kishida (left) speaks during a debate session with other leaders of Japan's main political parties ahead of the Oct 31, 2021 lower house election at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Oct 18, 2021. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP, File) -
Japan's ruling coalition is projected to stay in power but the party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is forecast to take a drubbing in an election on Sunday (Oct 31), public broadcaster NHK said, a blow that could mean political instability in the world's third-biggest economy.
It was too close to call whether Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) would maintain its majority in the lower house of parliament as a single party, according to exit polls, but its coalition with junior partner is forecast to maintain control.
The LDP was expected to win between 212 to 255 seats, NHK said, with 233 needed for the majority//CNA
October
UN envoy to Sudan discusses mediation options with ousted PM after major protests
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold flags and chant slogans as they march against the Sudanese military's recent seizure of power and ousting of the civilian government, in the streets of the capital Khartoum, Sudan October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin -
A senior UN official discussed mediation options and possible next steps for Sudan with its ousted prime minister on Sunday (Oct 31), a day after hundreds of thousands of protesters hit the streets to demand an end to military rule.
The large outpouring of popular dissent posed the biggest challenge to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since he toppled Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's cabinet on Monday and arrested key politicians. The streets were largely calm on Sunday.
"We discussed options for mediation and the way forward for Sudan. I will continue these efforts with other Sudanese stakeholders," Volker Perthes. the UN Special Representative for Sudan, said on Twitter.
Perthes said Hamdok was "at his residence where he remains well but under house arrest".
Mediation efforts by the international community and within Sudan had been announced before Saturday's protests, with no outcome reported.
Hamdok has demanded the release of detainees and a return to the pre-coup power-sharing arrangement, sources close to him said. One of several sources of tension had been a push by civilians to take over leadership of the transition from the military at a not-yet-agreed point in the coming months.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said three protesters were shot dead by security forces in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on Saturday. Sudanese police denied shooting protesters during the demonstrations, saying on state TV that one policeman sustained a gunshot wound.
Life returned to a near standstill in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday. Residents of central Khartoum said continued strikes and security measures were causing paralysis.
Banks and most markets were closed, with only a few small stores and stalls open.
"You can't do anything - everything is shut down. We need to work every day to make money," said a fruit and vegetable seller in the city centre.
People were unable to cross into Khartoum from Omdurman and the capital's other twin city, Khartoum North, because security forces had closed the Nile river bridges.
With Saturday's deaths, at least 14 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces this week.
Unions of doctors, bankers, teachers and other groups have been on strike since last week and have said they will continue until demands are met, while resistance committees have barricaded neighbourhoods and created schedules of protests.
Demands range from a return to the pre-coup power-sharing arrangement to criminal charges against coup leaders.
The Sudanese Lawyers Union condemned the arrests of activists and political leaders. The union "warns that the Sudanese people are in front of an oppressive military movement paving the way for dark totalitarianism"//CNA
October
UK, French leaders declare truce in fishing row: Paris
Written by nuke
A French fisherman repairs a fishing net at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France, on Friday, Oct 15, 2021. France wants more fishing licences from London, but the UK is holding back. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) -
The French and British leaders agreed on Sunday (Oct 31) to defuse days of sniping over post-Brexit fishing rights, according to Paris, potentially averting a full-blown trade war that would embroil the entire EU.
President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Boris Johnson met for about 25 minutes on the margins of a G20 summit in Rome, aides said, a day after Johnson complained to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen that French threats to trigger reprisals over the row were "completely unjustified".
They agreed to work on "practical and operational measures" to resolve the dispute in the coming days, Macron's office said.
They were united on the need for a "de-escalation" with concrete action to come "as soon as possible", it said.
There was no immediate comment from Downing Street.
Johnson has been stressing at the G20 that all sides must focus on the bigger picture of climate change as he prepares to host more than 120 world leaders at the COP26 summit from Monday.
But both the UK and French governments had been intensifying their angry rhetoric, and France last week detained a British trawler that was allegedly fishing illegally in its waters.
The two sides have also been at loggerheads over a nuclear submarine alliance involving Australia, Britain and the United States, dubbed AUKUS, that left France in the cold.
France is incensed that Britain and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey have not issued some French boats licences to fish in their waters since Brexit took full effect at the start of 2021.
Paris had vowed that unless more licences are approved, it would ban UK boats from unloading their catches at French ports from Tuesday, and even impose checks on all products brought to France from Britain.
On Friday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said in a leaked letter to von der Leyen that Britain should be shown "it causes more damage to leave the EU than to stay in".
The letter drew a withering response from British officials, and Johnson warned that London could activate a Brexit dispute tool for the first time, exposing all of the EU to potential UK trade measures.
For his part, Macron warned Friday that Britain's "credibility" was on the line, accusing London of ignoring the Brexit trade deal agreed with Brussels after years of tortuous negotiations.
"When you spend years negotiating a treaty and then a few months later you do the opposite of what was decided on the aspects that suit you the least, it is not a big sign of your credibility," he told the Financial Times//CNA
October
A Tunisian farmer harvests wheat in the Jedaida region, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of the capital Tunis -
Tunisian farmers are turning to the past to ensure a future by planting indigenous seeds as the North African country suffers at a time of drought, disease and climate change.
Traditional seeds come from a genetic heritage best suited to the environment, said Maher Medini, from Tunisia's National Gene Bank, which promotes the development of sustainable agriculture in the country.
"They are reservoirs of genes hundreds, if not thousands of years old," Medini said, adding that the seeds are more resistant to the ever-growing dangerous impacts of global warming.
Climate change is causing challenging variations in rainfall, temperature and humidity, creating disease in the crops, he said.
"The foundation of adaptation is diversity," Medini said.
Wheat varieties developed in the 1980s are being blighted by disease in Tunisia, but farmers say that traditional varieties appear to be more resistant.
In the past, using indigenous seeds, Tunisian farmers set aside a small part of the harvest to sow in the next season.
But the development of hybrid or genetically modified seeds resulted in better harvests, and native varieties largely fell out of use.
One problem is that seeds from the new varieties cannot be replanted, and farmers have to buy in more seed every year.
Now some farmers are looking at the methods used by their forebears.
Mohamed Lassad ben Saleh farms in the agricultural region of Jedaida, some 30km northwest of the capital Tunis.
Eight years ago he switched to planting a traditional variety of wheat, known as Al-Msekni. On his farm, the harvest is now in full swing.
The wheat harvested from each hectare is weighed separately, so each plot's productivity can be calculated.
"The results are good," Ben Saleh said.
The national average in recent years has been 1.4 to two tonnes a hectare, while Ben Saleh says his yield has been five tonnes.
With most farmers buying new seeds every season, the country currently imports 70 per cent to 80 per cent of its seeds each year.
"A return to local or native seeds is one of the conditions needed to reach food sovereignty," said Aymen Amayed, a researcher in agricultural policies.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has warned against the increased use of hybrid seeds, and considers it a threat to indigenous varieties and to local genetic heritage.
The FAO estimates that over the past century, around three-quarters of the diversity in world crops has disappeared.
But Tunisia's gene bank is working to "reclaim its genetic heritage".
Since 2008, it has been collecting traditional seeds from farmers, and also working to recover indigenous Tunisian seeds stored in gene banks around the world.
So far, it has been able to repatriate more than 7,000 samples of seeds from fruit trees, cereals and vegetables out of over 11,000 located worldwide.
These seeds are once more being planted in Tunisian soil.
M'barek Ben Naceur, head of the national gene bank, says that more than 400 farmers have been persuaded to use these seeds, and old varieties such as Al-Msekni and Al-Mahmoudi are being sown again.
"These seeds are the descendants of this land, and they know it," said Ben Naceur.
"Our varieties have been accustomed to rises in temperature and drought for thousands of years, so they will resist climate change and temperature rises," he added.
A report last month by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed unequivocally that the climate is changing faster than previously feared, and because of human activity.
August saw record-breaking temperatures: in Tunis the mercury reached 48 degrees Celsius at midday (118 Fahrenheit), smashing the capital's previous record high of 46.8 degrees in 1982.
"Between now and 2050, temperatures in the world will rise between 1.8 and two degrees," Ben Naceur said.
"And 2050 is tomorrow - it's not so far away. Varieties that are not resistant will disappear."//CNA
October
New Zealand to cut greenhouse emissions by 50% by 2030 as COP26 starts
Written by nuke
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. (Photo: Reuters/Fiona Goodall) -
New Zealand pledged on Sunday (Oct 31) to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, toughening at the start of the United Nations COP26 climate conference its previous ambitions to limit global warming.
Leaders of the 20 richest countries are expected to acknowledge the existential threat of climate change and take steps to limit global warning at the COP26 summit starting on Sunday evening in Glasgow, Scotland.
"While we are a small contributor to global emissions, as a country surrounded by oceans and an economy reliant on our land we are not immune to the impact of climate change, so it's critical we pull our weight," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement.
Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw said in their joint statement that the previous target was not consistent with global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.
New Zealand's previous target was to bring emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The 2015 Paris Agreement committed signatories to keeping global warming to "well below" 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5 degrees, but carbon levels in the atmosphere have since grown.
"This decade is make or break for the planet," Shaw said in the statement.
"To stand a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius, the science shows we now have about eight years left to almost halve global greenhouse gas emissions."
The New Zealand government has introduced several policies to lower emissions during its second term including promising to make its public sector carbon-neutral by 2025 and buy only zero-emissions public transport buses from the middle of this decade//CNA
October
G20 leaders face tough climate talks on second day of summit
Written by nuke
World leaders pose for photo on G20 Summmit 2021 in Rome, Italy -
Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies sit down for a second day of talks on Sunday (Oct 31) faced with the difficult task of bridging their differences on how to combat global warming ahead of a crucial United Nations summit on climate change.
The first day of the Rome summit - the leaders' first face-to-face gathering since the start of the COVID pandemic - focused mainly on health and the economy, while climate and the environment is front and centre of Sunday's agenda.
Climate scientists and activists are likely to be disappointed unless late breakthroughs are made, with drafts of the G20's final communique showing little progress in terms of new commitments to curb pollution.
The G20 bloc, which includes Brazil, China, India, Germany and the United States, accounts for an estimated 80 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions which scientists say must be steeply reduced to avoid climate catastrophe.
For that reason, this weekend's gathering is seen as an important stepping stone to the UN's COP26 climate summit attended by almost 200 countries, in Glasgow, Scotland, where most of the G20 leaders will fly directly from Rome.
"The latest reports are disappointing, with little sense of urgency in the face of an existential emergency," said Oscar Soria of the activist network Avaaz.
"There is no more time for vague wish-lists, we need concrete commitments and action."
A fifth draft of the G20's final statement seen by Reuters on Saturday did not toughen the language on climate action compared with previous versions, and in some key areas, such as the need to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, it softened it.
This mid-century target date is a goal that United Nations experts say is needed to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, seen as the limit to avoid a dramatic acceleration of extreme events such as droughts, storms and floods.
UN experts say even if current national plans to curb emissions are fully implemented, the world is headed for global warming of 2.7C.
The planet's largest carbon emitter China, is aiming for net zero in 2060, while other major polluters such as India and Russia have also not committed to the mid-century deadline.
G20 energy and environment ministers who met in Naples in July failed to reach agreement on setting a date to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and end coal power, asking the leaders to find a resolution at this weekend's summit.
Based on the latest draft, they have made little progress, pledging to "do our utmost" to stop building new coal power plants before the end of the 2030s and saying they will phase out fossil fuel subsidies "over the medium term".
On the other hand, they do pledge to halt financing of overseas coal-fired power generation by the end of this year.
Some developing countries are reluctant to commit to steep emission cuts until rich nations make good on a pledge made 12 years ago to provide US$100 billion per year from 2020 to help them tackle the effects of global warming.
That promise has still not been kept, contributing to the "mistrust" which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday was blighting progress in climate negotiations.
The draft stresses the importance of meeting the goal and doing so in a transparent way//CNA
October
Mexico receives 6 million COVID-19 vaccines as pressure grows to up jabs
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: People sit after receiving a dose of AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine during a mass vaccination in Monterrey, Mexico August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril -
Mexico's health ministry said it had on Saturday (Oct 30) received nearly 6 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses against COVID-19 as pressure grows on the government to widen its vaccination roll-out to include children.
The shipment of 5,993,700 doses followed the arrival of almost 6.5 million Sputnik V vaccine doses on Tuesday, easily the two biggest vaccine consignments Mexico has received, according to data on the ministry's website.
Mexico has fully vaccinated against COVID-19 around 56 million people, or over 43 per cent of the population, according to Our World in Data, a research group at Oxford University.
The government has yet to undertake a broad inoculation program for children, saying only that it would vaccinate up to a million aged between 12 and 17 deemed to be at high risk.
However, media reported this week that a court had ordered health authorities to give more vaccinations to children aged 12-17 just as other countries do so.
Separately, the health ministry reported 3,478 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 325 more fatalities, bringing Mexico's overall death toll from the pandemic to 288,276 and the total number of cases to 3,805,765.
Officials have said the ministry's figures likely represent a significant undercount of both COVID-19 cases and deaths//CNA
October
World Bank's Malpass says G20 must speed up work on debt of poor countries
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: President of the World Bank David Malpass arrives for the G20 leaders summit in Rome, Italy October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane -
World Bank President David Malpass on Saturday (Oct 30) called on leaders of the Group of 20 rich nations to speed up work on debt restructuring for low-income countries, including a freeze on debt payments and mandatory participation of private creditors.
Malpass told G20 leaders meeting in Rome that progress on dealing with the debt of the poorest countries has stalled and urgent efforts are needed to jumpstart the process.
G20 leaders pledged to step up their efforts to implement the Common Framework on Debt Treatments and stressed the importance of private-sector participation, but failed to include any language on a new debt standstill, according to the text of their communique, which was seen by Reuters.
Several countries including China - the world's biggest creditor, accounting for 65 per cent of official bilateral debt - have opposed a new freeze in debt service payments.
Malpass, who this month called for adding a freeze in debt-service payments to the Common Framework, said developing nations face problems disrupting economic recovery including the COVID-19 pandemic and the scarcity of vaccines, as well as inflation, energy shortages and a breakdown of the supply chain.
"The multiple problems are causing devastating reversals in development," Malpass said, citing rising poverty rates and increasing fragility in dozens of countries including Sudan, even as the debt of low-income countries rose 12 per cent during the pandemic, reducing their ability to invest in anything else.
"Progress on debt has stalled," Malpass said. "I urge you to explicitly accelerate the implementation of the Common Framework, request transparency and reconciliation of debt, and require the participation of private creditors."
Malpass said International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva also favors a debt-payment standstill, but additional steps also are needed to balance the legal relationship between creditors and sovereign debtors//CNA