Month: October 2021

G-20 Leaders Pledge to End Financing for Overseas Coal Plants 

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

G-20 leaders meeting in Rome have agreed to work to reach carbon neutrality “by around mid-century” and pledged to end financing for coal plants abroad by the end of this year.

The final communique was issued Sunday at the end of a two-day summit, ahead of talks at ahead of a broader U.N. climate change summit, COP26, this week in Glasgow, Scotland.

Leaders in Rome addressed efforts to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with a global commitment made in 2015 at the Paris Climate Accord to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5 degrees.

“We recognize that the impacts of climate change at 1.5°C are much lower than at 2°C. Keeping 1.5°C within reach will require meaningful and effective actions and commitment by all countries,” the communique said, according to Reuters.

The group of 19 countries and the European Union account for more than three-quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Two dozen countries this month have joined a U.S.- and EU-led effort to slash methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

Coal, though, is a bigger point of contention. G-20 members China and India have resisted attempts to produce a declaration on phasing out domestic coal consumption.

Climate financing, namely pledges from wealthy nations to provide $100 billion a year in climate financing to support developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change, is another key concern. Indonesia, a large greenhouse gas emitter that will take over the G-20 presidency in December, is urging developed countries to fulfill their financing commitments both in Rome and in Glasgow.

Also on Sunday, the U.S. and EU announced an end to tariffs on EU steel imposed by the Trump administration, ending a dispute in which the EU imposed retaliatory tariffs on American products including whiskey and power boats.

 

“Together the United States and the European Union are ushering in a new era of transatlantic cooperation that’s going to benefit all of our people both now, and I believe, in the years to come,” Biden told reporters on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. 

Global supply chain 

Biden will hold a meeting at the summit’s sidelines to address the global supply chain crisis. The group of 20 countries in the summit account for more than 80% of world GDP and 75% of global trade. 

“The President will make announcements about what the United States itself will do, particularly in respect to stockpiles, to improving… the United States’ capacity to have modern and effective and capable and flexible stockpiles,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA aboard Air Force One en route to Rome, Thursday. “We are working towards agreement with the other participants on a set of principles and parameters around how we collectively manage and create resilient supply chains going forward.”

Addressing global commerce disruptions has been a key focus for the Biden administration, which is concerned that these bottlenecks will hamper post-pandemic economic recovery. To address the nation’s own supply chain issues, earlier this month the administration announced a plan to extend operations around the clock, seven days a week, at Los Angeles and Long Beach, two ports that account for 40% of sea freight entering the country. 

“Whether it’s you’re talking about medical equipment or supplies of consumer goods or other products, it’s a challenge for the global economy,” said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Some of the concrete measures to alleviate global supply chain pressure points may need to be longer term, such as shortening supply chains and rethinking dependencies, said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and the Americas program at Chatham House.

“Those are not quick fixes,” she said. “But the G-20 is historically set up really to be dealing with short-term crises. So, I think that there will be considerable effort made to really discuss and come to terms with that.” 

While global supply chain issues are a key concern for the leaders in Rome, Goodman said he doubts the meeting will result in tangible solutions. 

“It’s a very difficult group — the G-20 to get consensus to do very specific things. And this may be one area in which it’s going to be particularly difficult,” he added. 

President Xi Jinping of China, considered to be the “world’s factory,” is not attending the summit in person. In his virtual speech to G-20 leaders, Xi proposed holding an international forum on resilient and stable industrial and supply chains, and welcomed participation of G-20 members and relevant international organizations. 
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G-20 Gets Climate Agreement, But Activists Fear Deal Not Big Enough

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

Pope Francis called on world leaders Sunday to hear “the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor,” while urging them to develop efficient responses to global warming and give hope to younger generations.

The pope made his appeal in Rome, where leaders attended their first in-person G-20 summit since the coronavirus pandemic swept the planet. The politicians, however, struggled to secure a climate breakthrough, a likely harbinger of the difficulties a United Nations climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland will face in the coming days, some diplomatic observers warn. The Glasgow event, known as COP26, runs from October 31 through November 12.

The G-20 leaders from the world’s major economies finally agreed on a communique closely mirroring pledges made in Paris in 2015, namely, to “hold the global average temperature increase well below 2° C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels.”

After all-night wrangling by officials, there were no agreed concrete steps on how to do this, to the disappointment of some climate action campaigners. They did strike agreement on developed countries ending public funding of coal-fired power stations in developing nations, a key aim of the Biden administration; but they did not set a target for phasing out public financing of coal production by governments in their own countries, something China and India oppose.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the G-20 summit host, urged his fellow leaders in the final hours of the two-day event in Rome to set both long and short-term goals. “We also need to make sure that we use available resources wisely, which means that we should become able to adapt our technologies and also our lifestyles to this new world,” he said.

Draghi had hoped to get a commitment on the specific target date of 2050 to achieve net zero carbon emissions — a deadline scientists say is vital to stave off disastrous climate change and disruption. But in their final document ahead of the COP26 talks, G-20 leaders agreed on climate neutrality “by or around mid-century.”

The G-20 countries, which produce around three-quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, also agreed to scale up their commitment to provide $100 billion annually to help poorer countries cope with the impact of climate change and to adapt to changing weather. In 2009, wealthy governments agreed to increase climate financing for vulnerable countries to $100 billion annually by 2020. Under the Paris climate agreement, they said they would negotiate a higher amount that would kick in from 2025. They have so far not reached the $100 billion goal.

Britain’s Prince Charles addressed the G-20 Sunday morning and urged leaders to listen to young people who are inheriting the warming Earth, warning, “It is quite literally the last-chance saloon.”

A longtime environmental activist, Charles said public-private partnerships were the only way to achieve the trillions of dollars in annual investment needed to transition to clean energy sources.

Officials at the G-20 summit, though, said they believe the gathering had achieved enough to maintain momentum going into COP26. “The decisions we are making today will have a direct impact on the success of COP26 and our ability to address the climate crisis,” Draghi told the attendees.

Climate activists said they remained disappointed by the G-20 meeting. In a BBC interview Sunday, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg complained of world leaders making climate statements “because it makes them popular, it makes them sound good.”

Thunberg was speaking as the first of 25,000 diplomats, climate activists, scientists and politicians from nearly 200 countries started arriving in Glasgow Sunday for COP26. Alok Sharma, the president of the COP26 climate summit, called on global leaders to “banish ghosts of the past” and step up with new pledges to lower emissions.

Sharma told British broadcasters he could not say with certainty that the two-week gathering would end with a deal to keep alive the prospect of maintaining a global average temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius.

“We know from the IPCC [the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] that we are already at global warming of 1.1C above pre-industrial levels. At 1.5C, there will be countries in the world that will be under water and that’s why we need to get an agreement here on how we tackle climate change over the next decade,” he said.

British officials say they expect a fierce debate at COP26 among advanced and developing nations over the funding poor countries say they should get to help them introduce green technologies needed to replace their coal- and oil-burning power stations. Arab states are also expected to come under pressure over continued drilling for oil.

Abdulla Shahid, president of the United Nations General Assembly, told COP26 delegates in Glasgow Sunday, “We are facing an existential crisis. We are simply not doing enough. We must be honest about this with ourselves, with each other and with the rest of the world.”

British officials say they hope to get an early groundbreaking deal on stopping the destruction of the world’s forests — an agreement that would see poor nations paid not to fell trees and developed nations halting the importing of food grown on illegally cleared land. “We are seeking to get an agreement to halt the loss of forestry around the world by 2030 and get as many countries as possible committed to that,” according to George Eustice, Britain’s environment minister.

Eustice told reporters in London that success is within reach with dozens of countries already agreeing to sign up in what could be one of the big surprises from the summit. He told The Times newspaper that on Tuesday he hopes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to announce a historic agreement on deforestation. Details, however, are still being debated. “We think we’ve done really well to get good engagement,” Eustice said. “But it’s not in the bag.” 
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Biden Meet Erdogan amid Simmering Tensions

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

White House officials say U.S. President Joe Biden had “very constructive talks” with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome Sunday amid simmering tensions and strategic disagreements between Washington and Ankara.

“The President made clear his desire to have constructive relations with Turkey and to find an effective way to manage our disagreements,” a senior Biden administration told reporters.

The official said topics of discussion included Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, the South Caucuses, climate, human rights as well as Turkey’s request to purchase U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

On the subject of the jets, Biden was “very clear that there was a process underway that we had to go through,” the official said.

In 2019, during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the Pentagon kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program because of its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. Now Ankara wants to buy 40 F-16 fighter jets made by U.S. company Lockheed Martin and nearly 80 modernization kits for its air force’s existing warplanes.

U.S. lawmakers have urged the Biden administration not to sell F-16s to Turkey, saying Ankara has “behaved like an adversary.”

“This meeting is important for President Biden to send some messages to Turkey about what is and is not acceptable behavior from a NATO ally,” said Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said Biden will convey his expectations for Turkey as a partner in a range of issues including security challenges following U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, its role in the Black Sea region and performance in NATO.

Bilateral relations between the two NATO allies have also been strained over human rights. As president, Biden has pledged to restore human rights and democracy as pillars of U.S. foreign policy. In August of last year, before taking office, then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden advocated for a new U.S. approach to the “autocrat” Erdogan. Ankara slammed the comment as “interventionist.”

Since then, the two leaders have taken a more pragmatic approach to maintaining a relationship. Biden is keen to avoid another escalating flashpoint in the region following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Erdogan is embattled politically at home.

“The Turkish economy is faltering, he [Erdogan] is actually losing in popularity,” Ellehuus said. “Whether he’ll admit it or not, I think he needs to be perceived as having at least a cooperative relationship with President Biden.”

This is the second in-person discussion between the leaders under the Biden presidency, following a June meeting in Brussels, on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
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UK, France Urged to Cool Down Escalating Fishing Spat

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

Britain and France faced calls Saturday to sort out their post-Brexit spat over fishing rights in the English Channel, which threatens to escalate within days into a damaging French blockade of British boats and trucks.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the dispute is testing the U.K.’s international credibility, while each country accused the other of being in breach of the post-Brexit trade agreement that Britain’s government signed with the European Union before it left the bloc.

As the war of words intensified, Britain said it was “actively considering” launching legal action if France goes through with threats to bar U.K. fishing boats from its ports and slap strict checks on British catches.

“If there is a breach of the (Brexit) treaty or we think there is a breach of the treaty then we will do what is necessary to protect British interests,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told British broadcasters in Rome, where he and Macron are both attending a Group of 20 summit.

At stake is fishing — a tiny industry economically that looms large symbolically for maritime nations like Britain and France. Britain’s exit from the economic rules of the 27-nation bloc at the start of this year means the U.K. now controls who fishes in its waters.

France claims some vessels have been denied permits to fish in waters where they have long sailed. Britain says it has granted 98% of applications from EU vessels, and now the dispute comes down to just a few dozen French boats with insufficient paperwork.

But France argues it’s a matter of principle and wants to defend its interests as the two longtime allies and rivals set out on a new, post-Brexit relationship.

The dispute escalated this week after French authorities accused a Scottish-registered scallop dredger of fishing without a license. The captain was detained in Le Havre and has been told to face a court hearing next year.

France has threatened to block British boats crossing the English Channel and tighten checks on boats and trucks from Tuesday if the licenses aren’t granted. France has also suggested it might restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands — British Crown dependencies that lie off the coast of France and are heavily dependent on French electricity.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex appealed to the EU to back France in the dispute, saying the bloc should demonstrate to people in Europe that “leaving the Union is more damaging than remaining in it.”

U.K. Brexit Minister David Frost called Castex’s comments “troubling” and accused France of a pattern of threats “to our fishing industry, to energy supplies, and to future cooperation.”

He said if France acted on the threats it “would put the EU in breach of its obligations under our trade agreement,” and said Britain was “actively considering launching dispute settlement proceedings,” a formal legal process in the deal.

He urged France and the EU to “step back.”

Many EU politicians and officials regard Frost, who led negotiations on Britain’s divorce deal, as intrinsically hostile to the bloc.

Macron, who is scheduled to meet Johnson on Sunday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, defended France’s position and said the fishing dispute could hurt Britain’s reputation worldwide.

“Make no mistake, it is not just for the Europeans but all of their partners,” Macron told the Financial Times. “Because 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.”

Macron said he was sure that Britain has “good will” to solve the dispute. “We need to respect each other and respect the word that has been given,” he said.

Johnson said the fishing issue was a distraction from fighting climate change — top of the G-20 leaders’ agenda at their meeting, which comes before a U.N. climate conference in Scotland next week.

“I am looking at what is going on at the moment and I think that we need to sort it out. But that is quite frankly small beer, trivial, by comparison with the threat to humanity that we face,” Johnson added.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president and chairman of the northern French ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, said the spat was “ridiculous” and urged both sides to resolve it.

He told BBC radio that the dispute was over just 40 boats — “a drop in the ocean” — and that there would be “terrible” consequences if France carried out its threat of blocking British trawlers from French ports.

“If no agreement can be found, it will be a drama, it will be a disaster in your country because the trucks will not cross,” he said. 

 
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Biden Meets Erdogan Amid Simmering Tensions

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome Sunday amid simmering tensions and strategic disagreements between Washington and Ankara.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters in Rome Saturday that the leaders would discuss a range of regional issues, including Syria and Afghanistan, and defense issues including Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense system and its request to purchase U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

The official said in the Sunday meeting Biden would warn Erdogan that the two countries will need to work to avoid crises such as Ankara’s recent threat to expel the U.S. and nine other countries’ ambassadors who pushed for the release of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala.

“Precipitous action is not going to benefit the U.S.-Turkey partnership and alliance,” a senior administration official told reporters in Rome Saturday. “I’m not actually even sure we would have had the meeting if he [Erdogan] had gone ahead and expelled.”

In 2019, during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the Pentagon kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program because of its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. Now Ankara wants to buy 40 F-16 fighter jets made by U.S. company Lockheed Martin and nearly 80 modernization kits for its air force’s existing warplanes.

U.S. lawmakers have urged the Biden administration not to sell F-16s to Turkey, saying Ankara has “behaved like an adversary.”

“This meeting is important for President Biden to send some messages to Turkey about what is and is not acceptable behavior from a NATO ally,” said Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said Biden will convey his expectations for Turkey as a partner in a range of issues including security challenges following U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, its role in the Black Sea region and performance in NATO.

Bilateral relations between the two NATO allies have also been strained over human rights. As president, Biden has pledged to restore human rights and democracy as pillars of U.S. foreign policy. In August of last year, before taking office, then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden advocated for a new U.S. approach to the “autocrat” Erdogan. Ankara slammed the comment as “interventionist.”

Since then, the two leaders have taken a more pragmatic approach to maintaining a relationship. Biden is keen to avoid another escalating flashpoint in the region following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Erdogan is embattled politically at home.

“The Turkish economy is faltering, he [Erdogan] is actually losing in popularity,” Ellehuus said. “Whether he’ll admit it or not, I think he needs to be perceived as having at least a cooperative relationship with President Biden.”

This is the second in-person discussion between the leaders under the Biden presidency, following a June meeting in Brussels, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. 

 
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Blinken Raises Concerns about Taiwan with China 

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as part of the Group of 20 summit on Sunday — an outreach designed to ensure that the intensely competitive relationship between the world’s two largest economies doesn’t veer into open conflicts. 

Senior State Department officials described the conversations as candid, constructive and productive, saying that Blinken was clear about U.S. concerns during the roughly hourlong meeting. The officials insisted on anonymity to discuss the exchanges.

One of the U.S. goals is to maintain an open line of communication with China and set a virtual meeting later this year between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Blinken said at the meeting that China has increased tensions with regard to Taiwan and that America wants to continue its “one-China policy,” which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.

During China’s National Day weekend in early October, China dispatched 149 military aircraft southwest of Taiwan in strike group formations, causing Taiwan to scramble aircraft and activate its air defense missile systems. Biden alarmed China shortly after by saying that the U.S. has a firm commitment to help Taiwan defend itself in the event of a Chinese attack. 

Asked in a CNN town hall whether the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s defense, Biden said, “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.” U.S. officials immediately moved to clarify that there had been no change to U.S. posture toward Taiwan. 

China and Taiwan separated during a civil war in 1949. The U.S. cut formal diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 in order to recognize Beijing. The U.S. does not openly contest China’s claim to Taiwan, but is committed by law to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats toward it as matters of grave concern. 

Blinken noted that the G-20 summit is being followed by the United Nations climate summit in Scotland, saying that the U.S. expects China to curbs its greenhouse gas emissions as a responsible global power for the good of the world. 

Trade issues did not come up in any detail, as the conversation largely stayed in the political realm. Nor was China’s recent test launching of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile discussed by the two leaders. 

 
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European MPs Meet with Taiwan Envoy Despite China Risks

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

As Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Wu made an unprecedented trip to Brussels on Friday, it remained unclear whether Europe will face repercussions from China for displaying closer ties with the self-ruled East Asian island claimed by China.

China previously imposed sanctions on EU parliamentarians after the EU sanctioned Chinese officials linked to Xinjiang, a far western Chinese province where millions of ethnic minority Muslims have been detained in internment camps.

Now, as Wu’s travels take him to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania and Belgium, it is possible China could use the same tactics again, according to Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.

“Beijing could impose sanctions on EU officials who met with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. It could also postpone a planned meeting between Xi Jinping and European Council President Charles Michel, and a 27+1 meeting that has been broached,” she said, referring to a summit between China and EU leaders.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a wayward province that will one day be united with the mainland. Under Xi, Beijing has taken a more aggressive policy of squeezing Taiwan out of international space and is quickly angered when its government or officials are treated as though they are independent.

After news of Wu’s trip was reported last week, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin urged Europe not to “undermine the political foundation of bilateral relations” with China, according to Reuters.

Undeterred, Charlie Weimers, a Swedish member of the European Parliament and its EU-Taiwan relations rapporteur, shared updates about meeting with Wu on Twitter, as did Belgian politician Els Van Hoof, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the country’s Chamber of Representatives, one of the Belgian houses of Parliament, and member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

 

While Wu has previously visited Europe, his meetings in the administrative capital of the EU are unprecedented. The trip comes as Taiwan publicizes its growing ties with EU member states such as Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The three countries together donated more than 850,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan after earlier receiving face masks and other medical supplies donated by Taiwan.

At the same time, Europe has become more wary of China’s expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, prompting the bloc to include China as a potential security threat in its first Indo-Pacific strategy report released this year. Germany, France and the Netherlands all have separate strategies for the region as well, which include concerns about China, while NATO is also publicly discussing the Asian superpower.

“There is a tangible push for the EU to upgrade ties with Taiwan, largely shaped by the [European Parliament],” said Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, a doctoral research fellow at the European Union Centre in Taiwan at National Taiwan University.

The push, she added, is not for the EU to recognize Taiwanese sovereignty but instead to disconnect EU-Taiwanese cooperation from EU-China relations.

Pushing trade deal

Wu called Friday for a bilateral investment deal that could see Taiwan invest more in Europe in a speech at an Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China conference in Rome, which he attended by video link, according to Taiwanese media.

While China has major investments from Western Europe and to Serbia, Hungary and Poland, promises of large projects from China elsewhere in the Baltics, Eastern and Central Europe have not been as fruitful as some nations once hoped.

Earlier this year, Lithuania pulled out of the 17+1 regional cooperation bloc of Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Estonia and Latvia, aimed at promoting closer business ties with Beijing. China had invested on an estimated $94.7 million in Lithuania — a relatively small amount — in projects since 2015, according to findings from the Central and Eastern European Center for Asian Studies.

China halted trade with the tiny Baltic state in retaliation for its actions. China has also showcased the economic benefits of a closer relationship as seen last week in Greece, where China’s state-owned company COSCO raised its investment stake in Greece’s Piraeus Port Authority to 67%, according to Nikkei Asia.

The carrot-and-stick approach from Beijing “serves to send a message to member states who might be on the fence that there would be consequences to their ‘mistakes,'” said Ferenczy. “But it also has a domestic consideration, to show that China doesn’t allow countries, for example Lithuania, to disrespect it, but that China is generous, and its generosity is respected, for example in Greece.”

Earlier this week, however, Wu himself warned European nations to “think twice” about Chinese investments.

“If you think that you are dependent on China, your foreign policy may become skewed,” Wu told RFE/RL in an exclusive interview in Prague on Oct. 27. “If you think that you depend on China, your actions, or your policies, your behaviors need to be [cautious] because you don’t want to jeopardize your business opportunities.”

Part of Wu’s diplomatic pitch, RFE/RL reported, is to offer Taiwan as a small, open, and democratic alternative to Beijing’s authoritarian politics, “wolf warrior” tactics, and so-called “debt-trap diplomacy” that has become associated with Chinese investment across the world, from Africa to Central Asia.

For smaller countries with fewer strategic interests in China, there might be very little Beijing can do in retaliation — especially if the EU states back each other up. Lithuania, for example, is not expected to suffer major economic consequences from fewer economic links to China than a country like Poland or Serbia. 

 

 
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‘Candyman’ Remake Explores Horrors of Chicago Racial Injustice

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

Candyman, the latest film by Jordan Peele and director Nia da Costa, is a remake of the 1992 original of the same title, by Bernard Rose. The reimagined Candyman addresses the racial divide, gentrification, and police brutality in Chicago. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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G-20 Leaders to Discuss Climate Change

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

The G-20 heads of state from the world’s major economies will discuss climate change Sunday on day two of their meeting in Rome.

Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi welcomed the heads of state, including U.S. President Joe Biden, to the Italian capital, where they discussed issues of mutual concern, including the pandemic recovery.

The G-20 leaders supported a sweeping global tax deal agreed to by 136 finance ministers earlier this month, including a minimum 15% global corporate tax rate for companies with annual revenues of more than $870 million. It still needs to be implemented within each member country’s legal framework.

On COVID-19, G-20 health and finance ministers announced the formation of a new panel to improve future pandemic preparedness, proposed by the United States and Indonesia, but did not specify funding for it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met on the sidelines with Biden and said they support Biden’s pledge to return the United States to full compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, so long as Tehran does the same. Talks are scheduled for November.

This year’s meeting is the the first face-to-face G-20 meeting in two years. Notably absent were Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who joined virtually, citing pandemic concerns at home.

“Despite the G-20 decisions, not all countries that need them can have access to vaccines,” Putin said. “This happens partly because of dishonest competition, protectionism and because some states, especially those of the G-20, are not ready for mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccination certificates.”

Activists marched Saturday through the streets of Rome protesting the lack of action by G-20 leaders in tackling climate change, before the leaders move on the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 
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Climate Change Threatens Russia’s Permafrost and Oil Economy

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

Parts of the planet that were once thought to be permanently frozen are starting to thaw – posing problems for countries like Russia where permafrost covers vast areas of its territory. The thaw is threatening Russia’s oil economy as Oleksandr Yanevskyy tells us in this report narrated by Amy Katz.
Camera: Oleksandr Yanevskyy
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Day One of G-20 Summit Focuses on Global Minimum Tax, Pandemic Preparedness

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

The G-20 Summit hosted by Italy in Rome this weekend brought together leaders from the world’s major economies. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report from Rome.
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March of Millions

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

Thousands of Sudanese from across the US attended a march in DC on Oct. 30, 2020, to protest a recent military coup in Sudan. VOA’s Nabeel Biajo was there.
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US, EU End Trump-Era Steel, Aluminum Tariffs

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

The United States and European Union have agreed to end a festering dispute over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, removing an irritant in transatlantic relations and averting a spike in EU retaliatory tariffs, U.S. officials said on Saturday. 

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that the deal will maintain U.S. “Section 232” tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminum, while allowing “limited volumes” of EU-produced metals into the United States duty free. 

It also ends one of the biggest areas of friction between the allies and allows them to focus on negotiating new global trade agreements to address global excess steel and aluminum capacity mainly centered in China and reduce the industries’ carbon emissions. 

U.S. officials did not specify the volume of duty-free steel to be allowed into the United States under a tariff-rate quota system agreed upon with the EU. Sources familiar with the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told Reuters that annual volumes above 3.3 million tons would be subject to tariffs. 

The deal grants an additional two years of duty-free access above the quota for EU steel products that won Commerce Department exclusions in the past year, U.S. officials said. 

The deal requires EU steel and aluminum to be entirely produced in the bloc — a standard known as “melted and poured” — to qualify for duty-free status. The provision is aimed at preventing metals from China and non-EU countries from being minimally processed in Europe before export to the United States. 

“The agreement ultimately to negotiate a carbon-based arrangement on steel and aluminum trade addresses both Chinese overproduction and carbon intensity in the steel and aluminum sector,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. “It shows that we can solve the climate crisis while at the same time better protecting our workers — that we don’t have to pick between climate or the economy.” 

President Joe Biden has sought to mend fences with European allies following Trump’s presidency to more broadly confront China’s state-driven economic practices that led to Beijing building massive excess steelmaking capacity that has flooded global markets. 

Raimondo said the deal will reduce costs for steel-consuming U.S. manufacturers. Steel prices have more than tripled in the past year to records topping $1,900 a ton as the industry has struggled to keep up with a demand surge after COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns, contributing to inflation. 

Europe exported around 5 million tons of steel annually to the United States before Trump’s imposition of the “Section 232” tariffs in March 2018 on national security grounds. 

The deal also eliminates Europe’s retaliatory tariffs against U.S. products including whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles that were set to double on December 1, the U.S. officials said. 

The United States allows imports of steel and aluminum duty free from North American trade deal partners Mexico and Canada, with a mechanism that allows tariffs to be reimposed in the event of an unexpected surge in import volumes. 
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US, EU Agree to Resolve Trump-Era Steel, Aluminum Tariffs, Sources Say

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

The United States and European Union are expected this weekend to announce a deal to resolve a dispute over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs imposed in 2018 by former President Donald Trump, easing a major transatlantic trade irritant, six people familiar with the agreement said.

Three of the sources said the agreement, details of which were still being finalized, would allow EU countries to export duty free some 3.3 million tons of steel annually to the United States under a tariff-rate quota system.

“An agreement on steel has been reached and will be announced soon,” said one source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to mend fences with European allies following Trump’s presidency to more broadly confront China’s state-driven economic practices that led to Beijing building massive excess steelmaking capacity that has flooded global markets.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi raised the need to resolve trade issues during a meeting Friday with Biden as a G-20 leaders summit got underway in Rome, a source familiar with the meeting said.

The deal may ease record-high U.S. steel prices that have topped $1,900 a ton as the industry has struggled to keep up with a demand surge after COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns. This has contributed to rising price inflation for manufactured products in the United States including cars.

Steel volumes above the 3.3-million-ton quota would be subject to tariffs, but additional duty free-status would be extended for about 1 million tons of EU steel products that had previously won Commerce Department tariff exclusions, three sources said.

The agreement leaves intact Trump’s global tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum but on a practical basis exempts a substantial portion of Europe’s steel exports to the United States.

Europe exported about 5 million tons of steel annually to the United States prior to Trump’s imposition of the “Section 232” tariffs in March 2018 on national security grounds.

The Commerce Department, U.S. Trade Representative’s office and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is scheduled to address American steel industry executives Tuesday in Washington. The industry and the United Steelworkers union have been pressing Biden’s administration to maintain the steel tariffs to protect a resurgence in new investment since 2018.

Industry officials also have said they were pushing for a requirement that any EU steel imported duty free be melted and poured in the trade bloc, a provision aimed at keeping Chinese steel from being minimally processed in Europe and exported to the United States.

The metals deal would allow officials about a month to implement it before a late-November deadline for a doubling of EU retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. products, including motorcycles and whiskey.

Details were not immediately available on terms of the aluminum portion of the deal. An industry source said a resolution is expected to be included as part of an overall metals dispute agreement.

The United States allows imports of steel duty-from North American trade deal partners Mexico and Canada, with a mechanism that allows tariffs to be reimposed in the event of an unexpected “surge” in import volumes.
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COVID Memorial Creators Reflect as World Nears 5 Million Deaths

Posted by Worldcrew On 31/10/2021

As the world nears the milestone of 5 million COVID-19 deaths, memorials large and small, ephemeral and epic, have cropped up around the United States.

In New Jersey, one woman’s modest seaside memorial for her late brother has grown to honor thousands of lost souls. In Los Angeles, a teen’s middle school project commemorating her city’s fallen through a patchwork quilt now includes the names of hundreds more from around the world. 

Here’s a look at what inspired some U.S.-based artists to contribute to the growing collection of memorials honoring the nearly 5 million dead worldwide from COVID-19.

Washington, DC

Back in June, Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg purchased more than 630,000 small white flags in preparation for staging a massive temporary memorial on the National Mall. 

It would be more than enough, she thought, to represent all the Americans who would have succumbed to the virus as the pandemic seemed to be on the retreat. 

She was wrong. By the time “In America: Remember” opened Sept. 17, more than 670,000 Americans had died as the virus’ delta variant fueled a deadly resurgence. At the end of the exhibit’s two-week run, the number was more than 700,000. 

Firstenberg was struck by how strangers connected in their grief at the installation, which ended Oct. 3.

“I was blown away by the willingness of people to share their grief and by the willingness of others to lessen it, to honor it,” she said. “So when I looked out on those flags, I saw hope. I really believe humanity is going to win out.”

The installation was the second monumental exhibit to remember virus victims that the Maryland-based artist has staged. Firstenberg previously planted nearly 270,000 white flags outside Washington’s RFK Stadium last October to represent the national death toll at the time. 

“For the first one, my motivation was outrage that the country could let something like this happen,” she said. “This time it was really to cause a moment of pause. The deaths have been relentless. People have become fully inured to these numbers.

Wall Township, New Jersey

On Jan. 25, Rima Samman wrote her brother Rami’s name on a stone and placed it on a beach in her hometown of Belmar, New Jersey, surrounded by shells arranged in the shape of a heart. It would have been Rami’s 41st birthday, had he not died from COVID-19 the previous May.

A makeshift memorial quickly grew up after Samman, 42, invited others in an online support group to contribute markers memorializing their own loved ones. By July there were more than 3,000 stones in about a dozen hearts outlined by yellow-painted clam shells. 

Samman and other volunteers decided to preserve the memorial because it was located on a public beach and exposed to the elements. They carefully disassembled the arrangements and set them in display cases.

“I knew if we just demolished it, it would crush people,” she recalled. “For a lot of people, it’s all they have to remember their loved ones.”

The displays are now the centerpiece of the Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial, which opened in September at Allaire Community Farm in nearby Wall Township. It includes a garden, walking path and sculptures, and honors more than 4,000 virus victims and growing. 

Maintaining the memorial has been both rewarding and tough, as she is still mourning the loss of her brother. 

“It’s a double-edged sword because as much as working on the memorial helps, every day you’re exposed to this grief,” Samman said. “It’s a lot of pressure. You want to make sure it’s done right. It can be draining.

Los Angeles, California

Madeleine Fugate’s memorial quilt started out in May 2020 as a seventh grade class project.

Inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which her mother worked on in the 1980s, the then-13-year-old encouraged families in her native Los Angeles to send her fabric squares representing their lost loved ones that she’d stitch together. 

The COVID Memorial Quilt has grown so big it covers nearly two dozen panels and includes some 600 memorial squares honoring individuals or groups, such as New Zealand’s more than two dozen virus victims. 

The bulk of the quilt is currently at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a smaller portion on permanent display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and another featured at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Fugate, her mother and a small, dedicated band of volunteers meet Sundays to sew and embroider panels. Fabric and other materials are donated by victims’ families.

Now a high school freshman, she plans to keep the project going indefinitely. 

“I really want to get everyone remembered so that families can heal and represent these people as real people who lived,” she said. 

Fugate would like to see a more formal national memorial for COVID-19 victims one day, and perhaps even a national day of remembrance. 

“It would be amazing to see that happen, but we’re still technically fighting the war against this virus,” she said. “We’re not there yet, so we just have to keep doing what we’re doing. We are the triage. We’re helping stop the bleeding.”
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Greece Bids Merkel Bittersweet Farewell

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

Angela Merkel has completed her final trip as German chancellor to Greece, a country where she was not overly welcome in the past because of the strict austerity measures she backed to keep Greece’s economy afloat.

Sticks, stones, gas bombs and heated demonstrations gripped Greece on Merkel’s first visit to Athens in 2012.

But now, a decade later, the outgoing chancellor got an almost indifferent public reception, walking freely along streets bare of any public protest or threat for the European politician many people here had dubbed an enemy.

Resentment, though, was obvious, and President Katerina Sakellaropoulou tapped into the nation’s mood, bidding Merkel farewell with criticism of the austerity policies she advocated for Greece, recalling the tough times the two countries faced during Greek financial crisis. 

There were times of difficulty and tension, she told Merkel with a stern face. Greeks had to pay a heavy price. And, Sakellaropoulou said, there were many times when Greece, as a European nation, felt alone.

The decade-long financial crisis saw a quarter of the country’s economy wiped out and 1.2 million Greeks losing their jobs. 

Many Greeks expected Merkel to return to the country with an apology for the bitter policies she supported because Germany was the single largest contributor to a bailout scheme that helped keep the Greek economy from crashing.

She instead came with a strong dose of self-criticism.

“I knew that I was asking a lot of the people in Greece, Merkel said. But she cited the role that previous leftist governments played in making the implementation of those policies more difficult, adding to social upheaval at the time,” Merkel said.

The remarks scored few points with Greeks. 

Political analyst Panayiotis Lampsias explains the nation’s reaction to Merkel.

Of course, she played a pivotal role in keeping Greece in the EU, and that should not be underestimated, he said. But this self-criticism comes too late, and now years later and on her way out, Lampsias added, Merkel has the luxury of being able to make such remarks.

In Greece’s post-crisis era, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reassured Merkel that the country would stick to fiscal discipline but not what he called, “blind austerity.”

Greece, he said, is no longer a source of crisis but a modern European state striving for a better future within the European Union.

Merkel’s vice chancellor, finance minister and likely successor Olaf Scholz accompanied her on the visit to Athens. He refrained from making any comment or offering any thoughts on whether Germany would ease up on its fiscal requirements, a concern nagging Greeks as Merkel departs the chancellorship.
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US, Europe Focus on Iran Nuclear Program at G-20

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

U.S. President Joe Biden will hold talks with European leaders over the Iran nuclear program Saturday afternoon, Rome time, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Italy, following Tehran’s announcement earlier this week that it is ready to resume negotiations before the end of November. 

Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek an agreement on the path to resume negotiations for a return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear agreement. The so-called E3+1 format will focus on “shared concerns about the state of Iran’s nuclear program,” the White House said.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA deal in 2018. Biden has said the United States will rejoin once Tehran returns to full compliance with the agreement’s restrictions on nuclear weapons development.

The Saturday talks will be a “study in contrast with the previous administration, since Iran was one of the areas of most profound divergence between the previous administration and the Europeans,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Rome Thursday.

“Here you’ll see Chancellor Merkel, President Macron, Prime Minister Johnson, and President Biden all singing from the same song sheet on this issue,” he said.

However, in his first in-person meeting with these NATO allies, Biden will also have to placate lingering resentment over the chaotic August U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left them scrambling to get their troops and citizens out as the Taliban took over Kabul. Analysts say the allies are likely to press Biden for firm commitments of better coordination on Iran, which they did not believe was given on Afghanistan.

On Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had ordered a full-scale review of the Afghan withdrawal. VOA asked Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre aboard Air Force One en route to Rome, Thursday, whether the announcement Afghanistan review was timed ahead of Biden’s G-20 trip. 

“I wouldn’t connect the two,” she said. “I don’t have much more to share about that.”  

Fresh sanctions

On Friday, ahead of the G-20, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against two senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and two affiliated companies for supplying lethal drones and related material to insurgent groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Ethiopia.

With these sanctions Biden is signaling that his administration still has leverage and tools to pressure Tehran, said Sanam Vakil, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House.

“Iran’s sponsorship of regional instability continues to be on Biden’s radar,” she said. 

Iran swiftly called the penalties “completely contradictory behavior.”

“A government that talks about an intention of returning to the nuclear deal but continues Trump’s policy of sanctions is sending the message that it really is not reliable,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in remarks published on the ministry’s website.

“Iran is upset but its options to hit back are limited,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute, who predicts that the sanctions will not stop Iran from returning to the negotiation table.

“It can refuse to return to the talks in Vienna but then it will increase the chances that Washington can better mobilize the international opinion against Iran as the main spoiler that is preventing a breakthrough in the nuclear talks.”

Analysts say Tehran is trying to avoid a scenario where the U.S. and Europe convince Russia and China that Iran’s nuclear program is too close to possible weaponization.  

“It’s likely Iran will return in part because Europeans – whom Iran sees as weaker than U.S. – and Russia with whom Iran does various deals, want Iran back,” said James Jeffrey, chair of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program.

Plan B

The United States and Israel have warned that they are exploring a Plan B if Tehran does not return in good faith to salvage JCPOA.

“Time is running short,” Blinken said at a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in Washington earlier this month. “We are prepared to turn to other options if Iran doesn’t change course, and these consultations with our allies and partners are part of it.”

However, analysts say the Biden administration is unlikely to use military options nor would it greenlight the Israelis to strike. Jeffrey said the U.S. is more likely to rely on a combination of new sanctions and tougher position on Iran’s aggression in the region, alongside strategic ambiguity on military response should the talks fail.

While the Iranians do not think the Biden team has a serious military Plan B, Tehran cannot allow the nuclear stalemate to go on forever, Vatanka said. 

“One way or another, both sides – the US and Iran – need to put the brakes on this cycle of escalation,” he said.

VOA’ Anita Powell contributed to this report.
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China’s Top Diplomat Visits Serbia, Albania Aiming to Deepen Ties

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made stops in Belgrade, Serbia, and Tirana, Albania, this week, seeking to further the Chinese government’s “17+1” effort to promote trade and investment between Beijing and the countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

While Wang was received cordially in both countries, Serbia and Albania have taken somewhat different approaches to economic cooperation with Beijing through China’s Belt and Road initiative, which has funded infrastructure projects throughout the developing world.

A stop in Greece on Wednesday and a scheduled stop in Italy on Saturday served as bookends to Wang’s visit to the Balkans. The trip is widely seen as China’s attempt to shore up economic ties in the region, which has traditionally looked more toward the European Union for development assistance.

Friendship ‘made of steel’

In Serbia, officials presented Wang with a building permit for a stretch of railway from Novi Sad to Subotica, part of a larger project to modernize the railroad between Belgrade and Budapest, Hungary. The move reflects Serbia’s relative openness to Chinese investment in the country.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić reiterated that Belgrade supports the “one China” policy, which considers Taiwan part of China. Wang, in turn, said Beijing respects the territorial integrity of Serbia, a signal that Beijing will continue to refuse to recognize the independence of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Wang said the friendship between the two countries was “made of steel” and added, “Serbia is a country that has its own principles and that Beijing is proud to have such a friend.”

Vučić said that Serbia and China are implementing joint projects worth 8 billion euros ($9.3 billion) and trade between the two countries has tripled.

Large Chinese presence

According to Bojan Stanić, the assistant director for analytics at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in addition to 1.5 billion euros ($1.73 billion) in direct foreign investment from China in the past five years, more than 20,000 people in Serbia work in Chinese-owned companies. Additionally, more than half of the suppliers of the Smederevo Ironworks, which is owned by the Chinese HBIS Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, are Serbian companies.

Serbia and China have had a strategic partnership agreement since 2009 and a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement since 2016. The latter involves more high-level meetings between both country’s officials, and more extensive personnel exchanges. China is the dominant lender for road construction in Serbia. Beijing is also the owner of the Bor mining complex and the Linglong tire factory, which is under construction.

Extensive Chinese ownership of businesses in Serbia has raised concerns about compliance with environmental protection and working condition regulations in factories.

Relationship unclear

Other concerns arise from the difficulty in understanding the relationship between Chinese firms and the Chinese Communist Party’s security services.

Igor Novaković, research director at the Center for International and Security Affairs Centre – ISAC Fund, said it is not always clear where a company’s commercial interest ends and the CCP’s political interests begin.

“I do not claim that companies operating in Serbia are dangerous in themselves, but when there is a connection between politics and business, then there is a danger of using business decisions in favor of the political interests of the country from which investments come,” Novaković said.

Belgrade visit

Wang traveled from Belgrade to Tirana Thursday, ahead of Friday’s meetings with Albanian President Ilir Meta, Prime Minister Edi Rama, and Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Olta Xhaçka.

In Belgrade, officials have historically been much more cautious with regard to Chinese investment and lending.

“The truth is that serious doubts have actually been raised about Chinese funding following the experiences in some African countries and in the Balkans as the time comes for debt refinancing, that is, debt repayment and liabilities that have placed the governments of these countries in great financial difficulties,” said Selami Xhepa, an economist and a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania.

“This has required some kind of renegotiation, or similar diplomacy, with the Chinese authorities,” he added. “I think market discipline is better than diplomatic negotiations.”

UN Security Council

Last year, Albania joined a group of nations, headed by the United States, that has shut out Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE from providing equipment essential to the rollout of 5G wireless service in the country.

Nevertheless, with Albania about to take a seat on the United Nations Security Council, of which China is a permanent member, experts saw Wang’s visit to the country as an important opportunity to cement ties between the two countries and open dialogue about issues important to Albania. Among those issues is China’s continued effort to block the recognition of Kosovo as an independent country, which Albania supports.

“China is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and it is necessary to talk about Kosovo, about Kosovo’s accession to the United Nations, where China is a very big obstacle,” said Besnik Mustafaj, a former foreign minister of Albania who now serves as president of the Council of Albanian Ambassadors. “It is time to say that there is no parallelism between Kosovo and Taiwan, that Albania recognizes only one China.”

Ilirian Agolli of VOA’s Albanian Service and VOA’s Serbian Service contributed to this report.
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G-20 Summit Begins in Rome With Focus on Climate Change, COVID Pandemic

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

The G-20 Summit hosted by Italy kicked off Saturday in Rome, where leaders from the world’s major economies discussed issues of mutual concern, including pandemic recovery and climate change.

The red carpet was rolled out at La Nuvola, Rome’s Convention Center, as Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders amid strict COVID-19 protocols.

This summit is the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting in two years, following last year’s virtual summit hosted by Saudi Arabia. Notably absent are Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. They will join virtually, citing pandemic concerns at home.

Pandemic response and prevention

On Friday, G-20 health and finance ministers released a communique committing to bringing the pandemic under control everywhere as soon as possible. They said the G-20 will take all necessary steps needed to advance on the global goals of vaccinating at least 40% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021 and 70% by mid-2022, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

However, the ministers could not reach agreement on a separate financing and coordination mechanism to prepare for future pandemics proposed by the U.S. and Indonesia.

“We’re looking for not the ultimate final product of a financing mechanism or the ultimate final product of a task force or a board that would operate as kind of a global coordinating body going forward,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told VOA aboard Air Force One en route to Rome, Thursday. “So the hope is to have in the communiqué a statement of intent that we will work towards these two outcomes.”

Climate change

In Rome, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the summit an opportunity to “put things on track” ahead of the U.N. COP26 climate conference in Glasgow that G-20 leaders will participate in following their Italy meeting.

“There is a serious risk that Glasgow will not deliver,” Guterres said. “The current nationally determined contributions, formal commitments by governments, still condemn the world to a calamitous 2.7-degree increase,” he said referring to the pledge made at the 2015 Paris Climate Accord to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Countries are expected to announce more emissions reduction pledges to reach the target of net-zero emissions by around mid-century, but some analysts are skeptical of these voluntary commitments that come without enforcement mechanisms.

“There’ll be pledges, the best-case scenario something along the lines of what we saw in Paris,” said Dalibor Rohac, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. 

Rohac added that to make progress on climate change, the world needs tangible actions.

“Rather than to proceed with this habit of looking for a big-bang multilateral solution, to pursue sound domestic policies that that accelerate decarbonization,” he said.    

A key issue to watch is whether G-20 members can agree on coal actions. The U.N. has called for wealthy countries to phase out coal by 2030, but G-20 environment ministers have failed to agree on a timeline.  

Guterres also called on wealthy nations to uphold commitments to provide funding to help developing nations mitigate the impacts of climate change. Under the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, wealthy nations pledged a minimum of $100 billion per year in climate funding to lower-income countries. Much of that money has not been delivered.
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No Treats for Trick-or-Treaters at White House This Year

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

While trick-or-treaters make their way across Washington on Sunday in search of Halloween candy, the White House is departing from its annual tradition and is closing its doors to little ghosts and goblins looking for treats.

Typically, the White House invites trick-or-treaters to receive candy and treats from the president and first lady. The event, however, will not take place this year.

“The president and first lady will be traveling internationally during the last days of October, and will not be hosting a specific event at the White House,” the first lady’s spokesperson, Michael LaRosa, said in a statement.

The Bidens will be in Rome, where the president will attend the annual G-20 summit of the world’s leading economic powers Saturday and Sunday.

Despite the Bidens’ absence, the White House is not taking a rain check on the spooky holiday. According to LaRosa, the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the building will be lit up in orange light to celebrate Halloween.

LaRosa said the Bidens were encouraging families and children to celebrate by trick-or-treating outdoors.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, public health experts maintain that outdoor activities and gatherings are low risk when it comes to spreading the virus.

Halloween is a highly anticipated event for children across the United States. Throughout October, many Americans put up festive decorations, watch scary movies and plan their costumes.

On Halloween night, children dress up in costumes and grab bags before heading to the streets of their communities to trick-or-treat. Going door to door, they greet their neighbors by saying “Trick or treat!” in exchange for candy. At the end of the night, they’ll sort through the candy and enjoy their favorites.

Older generations also celebrate the holiday. Young adults might dress up and go to Halloween parties, while older adults stay home and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.

The White House tradition of celebrating Halloween dates to the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th U.S. president. According to the White House Historical Association, first lady Mamie Eisenhower was the first to decorate the White House for the holiday, on October 30, 1958. Skeletons and jack-o’-lanterns were hung in the State Dining Room, where the first lady hosted a luncheon for staff members’ wives.

President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy brought more attention to the holiday, letting their children visit the Oval Office in their Halloween costumes.

Since then, trick-or-treaters have visited the White House each year to receive candy.

Former President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted an event last year during the pandemic. While they did not personally hand out treats, White House personnel distributed candy to costumed children, and the Trumps attended the event.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Climate Activists Praise Biden’s Bid for $555 Billion in Green Investment

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

U.S. President Joe Biden will arrive at COP 26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow next week, with the promise, if not the guarantee, that the United States is about to commit to the largest single investment in combating climate change in history.

The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress on Thursday announced a scaled-back version of the president’s Build Back Better climate and social spending package. While less ambitious than earlier versions, the package contains $555 billion in spending directed at reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to between 50% and 52% of 2005 levels by 2030.

That matches the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) the U.S. committed to when the Biden administration rejoined the Paris climate change accord earlier this year. According to activists and experts, it considerably strengthens Biden’s ability to assert a leadership role for the U.S. in the global effort to slow climate change.

‘Show us first’

“Without this, I think it would have been tremendously hard for the U.S. delegation to appear with a credible claim that the U.S. is ‘back,’” said Michael Mehling, deputy director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“It has an NDC of 50% to 52%, and it has the means to achieve that,” he told VOA. “Without it, I think people would have just said, ‘Yeah, show us first.’”

In a statement released Thursday, Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce congratulated the president and Democrats in Congress for “advancing a bold vision for historic climate action,” and urged lawmakers to finalize an agreement on the legislation as soon as possible.

“This is a bold vision for clean energy and climate action that the President can present at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, to demonstrate that the United States is committed to taking the immediate and bold action necessary to tackle the climate crisis as a top priority,” Pierce said. “We urge Congress to immediately deliver a full Build Back Better Act that fulfills this promise, because we have no time to wait.”

No guarantees

The president and his allies are behaving as though they are on the cusp of a major legislative achievement. However, it remains possible that infighting and policy disagreements among Democrats on Capitol Hill could derail the deal as the final legislative language is being prepared.

The two wild cards are West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, neither of whom has said that they will definitely support the package.

Manchin has already forced his colleagues to remove some of the climate elements of the original package, which he saw as overly punitive toward existing fossil fuel companies. Manchin, whose state has a long history of coal mining and still relies on coal-fired power plants for much of its electricity, also has a financial stake in the coal industry.

He has also expressed hesitation over a non-climate-related part of the package that would deliver benefits to families with young children.

Sinema has shot down several versions of the package over disagreements about how to pay for it. She objected to raising tax rates and to changing the way investments are taxed at death. It is unclear whether she will support the current package, which contains income-tax surcharges on people earning more than $10 million per year, and on income that business owners receive on a “pass-through” basis.

Because the Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate, either Manchin or Sinema could torpedo Biden’s Build Back Better package – including the climate change provisions – by voting no.

Broad-based spending

The largest part of the climate spending in the bill is $320 billion in tax credits, spread over 10 years, aimed at making a wide array of green technologies cheaper and easier to implement.

Among other things, it would cut the price of installing home solar panels by about 30% and would offer rebates of up to $12,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, provided it is made in the U.S. with domestic parts and unionized labor. The package would also create financial incentives for the development of clean mass transit, buses and trucks.

The next-largest element of the package is $110 billion to incentivize the creation of a domestic supply chain for the delivery of products that will be key to broad electrification of the U.S., including batteries, solar cells and other technologies.

An additional $105 billion would go toward building resiliency in communities that are already feeling the drastic effects of climate change through extreme weather events. This includes funding for a Civilian Conservation Corps that the administration says will hire 300,000 Americans.

Rounding out the spending is $20 billion that would go toward government procurement of next-generation green technologies – essentially helping to create a market for the products and services that the other elements of the proposal will be subsidizing.

Looking on the bright side

Climate activists definitely didn’t get everything they wanted in the package currently before Congress. Among other things, Biden’s proposed Clean Energy Production Program, which would have rewarded electrical utilities that increase their use of renewable energy by 4% per year and punished those that did not, was scuttled after Manchin strongly objected to it.

But on Friday, with the possibility of the $555 billion package actually becoming law, environmentalist groups were focused on the positive side of things.

“I’ve been around Washington for 20 years, and I’ve worked on energy and environmental issues for over 20 years,” said Toby Short, associate vice president for federal affairs with the Environmental Defense Fund. “A half a trillion dollars in climate and energy investments? It’s incredible. From EDF’s perspective, we’re extremely excited about the transformational investments that can occur from this.” 

 
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Virus Cut Access to US Courts But Opened Door to Virtual Future 

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

Just two reporters were allowed inside a courtroom in the U.S. state of Georgia to serve as the eyes and ears of the public when jury selection began for the men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery.

Pandemic restrictions also kept reporters and the public out of the courtroom during the sex-trafficking trial of music star R. Kelly. 

And in an Ohio courtroom, a federal judge relegated the press to an overflow room to listen to an audio feed for the trial of a Chinese national charged with trying to steal trade secrets from U.S. companies.

A year-and-a-half into the coronavirus pandemic, courts across the U.S. are still grappling with how to balance public health concerns with the constitutional rights of a defendant and the public to have an open trial. There’s no standard solution. Some courts are still functioning entirely virtually. Others are back in person. And many are allowing only limited public access. 

“This is a fundamental constitutional right that the public has — to have open courts and to be able to see what’s happening in real time in a courtroom,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, which has prodded California courts to improve public access during the pandemic. 

COVID-19 space constraints have led judges across the U.S. to exclude or limit public and media attendance at trials. 

During Kelly’s trial, which concluded last month with his conviction, a federal judge in New York barred the press and public from the courtroom because jurors were sitting six feet apart in the gallery normally used by observers. Onlookers could watch a live video feed in an overflow courtroom, but it offered no view of the jury and only limited images of the defendant, witnesses and exhibits. At one point, prosecutors played a recording that jurors listened to with headphones, with no audio available for the press and public. 

The judge rejected a request by media groups, including The Associated Press, to allow pool reporters in the courtroom for much of the trial, letting six reporters in only when the verdict was announced. 

A similar scenario played out last week in Ohio, where a federal judge cited the pandemic while keeping the public out of the courtroom for the trial of Yanjun Xu, a Chinese official accused of trying of steal trade secrets from U.S. aviation and aerospace companies. There was no public access to jury selection. Audio of the trial was played for media in a conference room. 

Overflow rooms are better than nothing but often leave observers unable to see the full context of what’s occurring, like the reaction of jurors as evidence is presented, said New York attorney Rachel Strom, who represented media in the R. Kelly case. 

“We don’t know what we missed by not having someone actually in the courtroom,” Strom said. 

After the AP and other media filed legal motions, a Georgia judge granted just two media pool seats in the courtroom right before the start of jury selection in the trial of three white men charged with chasing and killing Arbery. Graphic cellphone video of the 25-year-old Black man being shot sparked outrage nationally last year, and the trial is being closely watched as a referendum on how the legal system treats Black victims. 

The judge has since allowed a third reporter and a photographer into the courtroom. 

In another high-profile case, the press and public initially were allowed to listen remotely to court proceedings as pop star Britney Spears sought to end her father’s conservatorship over her finances. But Los Angeles County Superior Court canceled the remote access after someone recorded a hearing, and the court refused to reinstate it for a September hearing when Spears was freed from her father’s oversight. The court instead allowed more people into the courtroom. 

USA Today recently asked the California Supreme Court to order the restoration of remote audio for the public and media. 

“No one should have to risk their health to exercise their constitutional right of access by travelling to, and attending, court in person,” USA Today said in its court filing. It also suggested the remote audio program should continue “even when the pandemic ends.” 

The California request highlights how the pandemic has shifted expectations about what qualifies as public access.

“As courts open back up, they should strongly consider keeping some amount of remote access available to the public,” said Lin Weeks, an attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

Many courts now are routinely using video conferencing in civil lawsuits, for bail proceedings in criminal cases and for family law disputes such as child-custody and divorce cases. Some also are using video conferencing to select jurors or to conduct entire jury trials. 

Court officials say the virtual proceedings have saved time and money for attorneys, jurors, litigants and defendants, who no longer have to travel to a courthouse, take extensive time off work or arrange child care. Courts also have seen fewer no-shows among those summoned to virtual jury pools and, as a result, greater diversity on juries.

“It has been a lifeline as we’ve tried to keep the justice system moving during the pandemic, but it’s also been transformational,” said Sean O’Donnell, a superior court judge in King County, Washington, home of Seattle.

King County judges have conducted about 700 online trials, including about 50 with jurors. During a trial that O’Donnell presided over last week, the judge, attorneys, witness and jurors appeared on a 20-tile Zoom screen that the public could view on YouTube. Two jurors sat in clothes closets. One participated from his vehicle. Another was chided by O’Donnell to remove his cat from the camera view. A witness testified from Oregon, a couple of hundred miles away. 

Despite those oddities, the virtual trial progressed much like a regular trial, with attorneys taking turns questioning witnesses and evidentiary documents displayed on the screen for all to see. There even were periodic breaks where participants stood up and stretched. 

Conducting the trial virtually also freed up space at the courthouse. To accommodate social distancing, in-person trials are using as many as three separate courtrooms — one for the actual trial, a second for the public to view it remotely and a third for the jury to use during breaks and deliberations, O’Donnell said. 

Across Hawaii’s chain of islands, the ability to observe courts virtually has increased public access during the pandemic. 

John Burnett, a reporter for the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, wasn’t able to cover state Supreme Court or U.S. District Court proceedings before the pandemic because it required a 50-minute plane ride from Hawaii, also known as the Big Island, where his newspaper is based, to Honolulu on the island of Oahu. Now he regularly listens by phone to federal court cases and watches state Supreme Court arguments on YouTube. 

“I think they should become permanent things because let’s face it, we’re talking about public information here,” Burnett said. “If we can’t get our boots on the actual ground, at least if we can have virtual ground — that’s as good of a substitute as we could possibly hope for.” 
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Biden Says Pope Supports His Holy Communion Rights

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

U.S. President Joe Biden met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, ahead of his meeting with G-20 leaders. Biden said the pope supported his receiving Holy Communion, while some U.S. bishops want to deny him the sacrament over his stance on abortion. With Anita Powell contributing, White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report from Rome.
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US Wages Jump by Most in Records Dating Back 20 Years

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

Wages jumped in the three months ending in September by the most on records dating back 20 years, a stark illustration of the growing ability of workers to demand higher pay from companies that are desperate to fill a near-record number of available jobs.

Pay increased 1.5% in the third quarter, the Labor Department said Friday. That’s up sharply from 0.9% in the previous quarter. The value of benefits rose 0.9% in the July-September quarter, more than double the preceding three months.

Workers have gained the upper hand in the job market for the first time in at least two decades, and they are commanding higher pay, more benefits and other perks like flexible work hours. With more jobs available than there are unemployed people, government data shows, businesses have been forced to work harder to attract staff.

Higher inflation is eating away at some of the wage increases, but in recent months overall pay has kept up with rising prices. The 1.5% increase in wages and salaries in the third quarter is ahead of the 1.2% increase in inflation during that period, economists said.

However, compared with a year ago, it’s a closer call. In the year ending in September, wages and salaries soared 4.2%, also a record gain. But the government also reported Friday that prices increased 4.4% in September from year earlier. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, inflation was 3.6% in the past year.

Many experts expect inflation to slow

Jason Furman, a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said Friday that inflation-adjusted wages still trail their pre-pandemic level, given the big price jumps that occurred over the spring and summer for new and used cars, furniture and airline tickets.

Whether inflation fades in the coming months will determine how much benefit workers get from higher pay.

Many economists expect inflation to slow a bit, while wages are likely to keep rising.

Pay is rising much faster in the recovery from the pandemic recession than in the recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-09, when wage growth kept slowing until a year after that downturn ended. That’s because of the different nature of the two recessions and the different policy responses.

There has been much more government stimulus during and after the pandemic recession compared with the previous one, including the $2 trillion financial support package signed by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 and the $1.9 trillion in aid approved by President Joe Biden this March. Both packages provided stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits that fueled greater spending.

Lower-paid workers have seen the biggest gains, with pay rising for employees at restaurants, bars and hotels by 8.1% in the third quarter from a year earlier. For retail workers it’s jumped 5.9%.

The healthy increase for disadvantaged workers “is the result of specific policy choices to give workers a better bargaining hand and to ensure the economy recovered faster,” said Mike Konczal, a director at the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute. “The fact that it’s happening is pretty unique.”

The stimulus checks and an extra $300 a week in jobless benefits, which ended in early September, gave those out of work more leverage to demand higher pay, Konczal said. In addition, the Fed’s low-interest rate policies helped spur more spending, raising the demand for workers.

In August, there were 10.4 million jobs available, down from 11 million in July, which was the most in two decades.

Millions of Americans are responding to rising wages by quitting their jobs for better-paying positions. In August, nearly 3% of American workers quit their jobs, a record high. A higher number of quits also means companies have to raise pay to keep their employees.

Workers who switch jobs are seeing some of the sharpest income gains in decades. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, in September job-switchers saw their pay jump 5.4% compared with a year earlier. That’s up from just 3.4% in May and the biggest increase in nearly 20 years. For those who stayed in their jobs, pay rose 3.5%.

‘It was a no-brainer’

Esther Cano, 26, is one of those who found a new job that paid more in the July-September quarter. A recent college graduate who isn’t yet sure of her long-term career path, she left a job as a dispatcher at an HVAC firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a position at the job placement agency Robert Half. She started in July and got a raise of about 10%.

“What I was requesting was lower than what they were willing to pay,” Cano said. “It was a no-brainer on that end, plus the environment, the room for growth, the opportunity.”

Cano has already gotten a promotion to a team leader position, where she helps place temporary employees who work in finance and accounting.

Most economists expect solid wage gains to continue for the coming months. Data from the Indeed job listings website shows that employers are still posting huge numbers of available jobs.

Higher pay can fuel inflation, as companies raise prices to cover their increased costs. But that’s not the only way businesses can respond. Lydia Boussour, an economist at Oxford Economics, notes that corporate profits in the April-June quarter were at their highest level in nearly a decade. That suggests many companies can pay higher salaries without having to lift prices. 
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Russian Tycoon Pays $500 Million to Settle US Tax Bill 

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov was required to pay nearly $509 million to settle U.S. charges of tax evasion, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday. 

The banking and investment tycoon paid the back taxes and fine after pleading guilty on October 1 to felony charges of concealing more than $1 billion in assets to avoid paying taxes on them as he gave up his U.S. citizenship in 2013. 

Tinkov is the founder of Tinkoff Credit Services, which became the popular online Tinkoff Bank, and owner of the professional Tinkoff Cycling Team. 

The Justice Department said that the Russian-born Tinkov, 53, became a U.S. citizen in 1996. 

In 2013 he took Tinkoff Credit public on the London Stock Exchange, valuing his holding in it at more than $1.1 billion. 

Three days after the IPO, he sought to renounce his U.S. citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. 

As part of the citizenship renunciation process he was required to report his full wealth and pay taxes on it, Tinkov submitted documents saying he only had $300,000 in assets. 

In a 2019 indictment the U.S. Treasury said he owed around $249 million on his earnings. 

In the settlement announced Friday, he had to pay more than double that to cover accrued interest and penalties. 

The Justice Department had sought his extradition from Britain last year to face the charges. 

But Tinkov contested that, disclosing that he was undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia that left him immunocompromised and unable to travel.
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US Traffic Deaths Rise by 18%

Posted by Worldcrew On 30/10/2021

More Americans died in traffic accidents in the first six months of 2021 than in any other first-half period since 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, in a report released Thursday. The report also said more people drove more miles and engaged in risky behavior behind the wheel.

 

Deaths from January to June of this year jumped 18.4% from the first six months of 2020, the largest six-month increase since the department began tracking traffic fatalities in 1975. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a statement released alongside the report, called the situation a “crisis.”

 

“More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind,” Buttigieg said. “We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America.”

 

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System, which tracks traffic deaths in the United States, found this year’s second-quarter percentage increase was the highest in the system’s history: More than 11,000 people died, according to the report, a 23% jump from the same period last year.  

 

Certain risky behaviors may have contributed to the spikes, according to a separate report published by the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ejection rates, which are useful for gauging seat belt use, remain mostly higher this year than pre-pandemic levels but stayed below 2020 numbers since March. The report says people are driving slightly faster this year, too, suggesting alcohol and drug use has been higher in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020.  

 

It may also be a matter of time spent on the road. The Federal Highway Administration reported vehicles traveled 173.1 billion more miles in the first half of 2021 than in the same period last year.  

 

The NHTSA’s findings have led the department to announce a first-of-its-kind initiative to curb traffic deaths. The National Roadway Safety Strategy will use public-private partnerships to “reverse the current trend” of highway fatalities. The strategy will be made public in January according to a press release.
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