Action on climate change can provide a shot in the arm for the global economy, economist says


Charles Dumas, chief economist at U.K.-based investment research firm TS Lombard, said that action on climate change is often criticized as moving too slowly.

However, with governments increasing spending to aid their post-Covid economies, they may start catching up.

 

© Provided by CNBC An employee with Ipsun Solar installs solar panels on the roof of the Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia on May 17, 2021.

Ramping up investment in policies and technologies to tackle climate change could play a significant role in the global economy's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a recent note, Charles Dumas, chief economist at U.K.-based investment research firm TS Lombard, said that action on climate change is often criticized as moving too slowly. However, with governments increasing spending to aid their post-Covid economies, they may start catching up.

A key tenet of this is the ever-decreasing cost of electricity per megawatt hour, according to figures from TS Lombard, with costs of solar, offshore and onshore wind dropping over the last 10 years, while gas and coal have remained largely the same.

"Effectively by 2030 the cost of renewable electricity is going to be half that of coal and gas sourced electricity," Dumas told CNBC.

These trends will bring many of the various pledges to reach net zero more closely in sight.

The fatal floods in Germany in recent weeks have put the impacts of climate change firmly in the spotlight again but they are only the latest in a series of devastating extreme weather events of late, including

COP26 priorities

Amid this backdrop, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP26, will meet in Glasgow in November. It will mark one of the most significant multilateral meetings on climate since the Paris agreement.

Dumas said that as COP26 approaches, governments need to understand their key priorities, and among them should be infrastructure investments as numerous technological and engineering challenges continue to obstruct renewable energy.

"I think the intermittency problem is pretty serious and it's not just that the sun goes down at night," Dumas said.

Video: Why climate change could lead to a financial crisis (and what we can do about it (CNBC)

In the case of solar power, output can be mixed depending on the location of infrastructure like solar farms.

"There's huge variation with sunny days in winter and sunny days in the middle of summer so the intermittency takes on a very big seasonal aspect," Dumas said.

"You can have vicious weather for a long time in the middle of December or January and lo and behold you wouldn't want to be depending on solar power."

Energy transmission could be another bottleneck, he said. While the developing world, including several African nations, has great potential in developing sites for generating solar power, that power needs to move easily.

"The issue of transmission technology is really major. If you want Chad to be the new Saudi Arabia, because of the Sahara Desert there's a lot of sun there, but you want the electricity to be used in Europe then you're talking about some expensive processes and processes needing a lot of research and a lot of further investment."

Storage and carbon capture are all areas that require hefty investment, Dumas added, if governments are to reach their net-zero targets.

"What we need is a very clear public policy lead in order to get anywhere near these net zero promises and I suspect that actually what it's going to be about is a carbon tax, which the Americans may resist but will be necessary," he said.
Job creation

Paul Steele, chief economist at an independent policy research institute called the International Institute for Environment and Development, said that climate action and renewable energy investments will serve the dual purpose of tackling the climate crisis while creating jobs for the post-Covid economy.

"One of the priorities coming out of Covid is to create labor intensive employment. Both in developed and developing countries, you can provide labor intensive employment through renewable energy," Steele said.

One example, he said, was the retrofitting of boilers in homes in the U.K., which would help push the country toward its climate targets and create new jobs while being relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme of things.

Steele said that investments to drive a climate-friendly economy cannot be short term or have quick goals.

He pointed to the various government support schemes for the airline industry, which has been battered by the pandemic. Just this week, the European courts gave the nod to a $2.9 billion bailout for Air France-KLM's Dutch business.

Bailout funds like these should be tied to sustainability commitments by the airline industry, he said, but that can be a dicey proposition to get over the line.

"Governments aren't making the connections enough and traditionally treasuries and particularly the ministries of transport are still dominated by road building lobbies and people who like to build highways and increase transport rather than people who want to invest in sustainable alternatives."

Italy: Wildfires rage through Sardinia, forcing evacuations

Tens of thousands of acres have gone up in flames in what Italian officials called "an unprecedented disaster." Spain and France were also battling wildfires.


Firefighters on Sardinia struggled throughout the night to put out the fire

Wildfires raged through the Italian island of Sardinia on Sunday, forcing emergency services to evacuate almost hundreds of people from their homes overnight.

Several aircraft have been deployed to put out what the Nuova Sardegna newspaper called an "enormous fire" that has been destroying fields on the island since Saturday.
What we know about the fires

Firefighters have battled to put out the blaze fanned by southwesterly winds and which, according to authorities, has already ravaged 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) around the historic central-western area of Montiferru.

The island's governor, Christian Solinas, said around 50,000 acres of vegetation had gone up in flames, destroying several houses and killing animals.

Nearly 1,500 people were evacuated across Sardinia, broadcaster Rai News reported on Sunday.

There were no reports of anyone being killed or injured by the fire.

Fires have destroyed tens of thousands of acres in the Italian island of Sardinia

Officials said some 7,500 emergency workers, including members of Italy's forest police and the Red Cross, were helping evacuees and those at risk.

Emergency services managed to stave off enough of the threat on Sunday, allowing some evacuees from the town Cuglieri to return home. However, the threat is still classified as "extreme."

With temperatures expected to remain high on Monday, authorities are warning residents to remain on alert until the fire is fully under control.
'An unprecedented disaster'

Villaurbana's mayor, Paolo Pireddu, who is coordinating the response in his area, told ANSA his town had been "touched by the flames, which are now heading towards Mount Grighine."

"We have put the population on alert with the possibility of evacuating, should there be a need."

Watch video01:58 2020 and 2016 world's hottest years on record

"It is not yet possible to estimate the damage caused by the fires still raging in the Oristanese area, but it is an unprecedented disaster," Solinas told the Nuova Sardegna newspaper.

"We are asking the government for immediate economic support to restore the damage and help affected communities get back on their feet."
France and Greece show 'prompt solidarity'

Two firefighting planes from France and two from Greece arrived in Italy to assist in containing the fires, Italy's civil protection agency said.

Italy's foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, said on Facebook that the agency appealed for aircraft from other European countries.

Janez Lenarcic, the EU's crisis management commissioner, thanked France and Greece for their "prompt solidarity."

Lenarcic said that the bloc's Emergency Response Coordination Center "remains in close contact with the Italian authorities to monitor developments on the ground and coordinate any further assistance as needed."
Wildfires burn in Spain and France

Wildfires broke out in northeast Spain on Saturday evening, consuming more than 3,000 acres of woodland in the rural area 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Barcelona.\

High temperatures and strong winds fanned the flames west of Barcelona

Catalan authorities evacuated 28 children and 14 camp counselors from a nearby summer camp.

Around 300 emergency responders, including firefighters and members of the military emergency unit, battled on Sunday to prevent the blaze from moving into inhabited areas.

Meanwhile, a large fire broke out on Saturday in southern France. More than 1,000 firefighters and emergency responders were deployed, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

Darmanin said a firefighting aircraft was also sent to a fire in a forested area between the cities of Narbonne and Carcassonne.

The fire has burned an area of around 2,100 acres. It has affected more than 100,000 households, according to France's electricity operator RTE.

fb, jc/mm (AP, AFP)

Hamburg Fridays for Future honor victims of floods in western Germany

Activists are pushing for new urgent measures after devastating floods in western Germany. They heavily criticized politicians, saying they were indifferent to climate changed-induced consequences.



Hundreds gathered in Hamburg on Friday to pay tribute to flood victims and call on politicians to act immediately to deter the most harmful effects of climate change.

Luisa Neubauer, a leading German climate activist in the Fridays for Future movement most closely associated with Greta Thurnberg, told the dpa news agency: "The climate crisis is here, it is unmistakable."

Climate activist Luisa Neubauer

She said the floods that wrought havoc on western and southern Germany last week showed how "prosperity that has been accumulated over decades" can be washed away in a matter of moments.

Neubauer told dpa that politicians appeared largely oblivious to the effects of climate change. Promises made are not promises kept, she said.

Watch video0 7:15 How green is Germany?

"We also see that these proclamations often vanish into thin air just when it comes to putting them into action," she said.
Hamburg hopes for a future

Neubauer was joined by approximately 500 fellow climate change activists in a march through central Hamburg.

The Fridays for Future march took place in Hamburg against the backdrop of floods in western Germany last week and the ongoing pandemic

The 170 known victims of the floods were remembered with a minute of silence and donations were collected for the survivors.

Floods as a flash of devastation – and hope

Annika Rittmann, spokeswoman for "Fridays for Future" in Hamburg, expressed disappointment in Armin Laschet, the Christian Democrats candidate for chancellor and currently the state premier of North Rhine Westphalia, which saw the worst of the flooding.


At one point while touring the devastation, Laschet was caught on camera laughing with colleagues in the background of a shot as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivered remark\

Watch video26:05 To the point - Climate catastrophe: Will we ever change our ways?

Claudia Kemfert, an economist at the German Institute for Economic Economic Research (DIW), sees opportunity in the aftermath.

The floods, she said, could lead to positive transformations in society, most notably in terms of preventative projects designed to limit future damages.

"Every euro that we invest now saves 15 euros," she said.

ar/msh (dpa)

America's Black Civil War soldiers seen in rare photo archive

Megan C. Hills, CNN | Oscar Holland, CNN 

© Library of Congress Sergeant Major William L. Henderson and hospital steward Thomas H. S. Pennington.

 Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture A carte de visite of Lieutenant Peter Vogelsang, who served with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.
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As she would later learn, almost 180,000 Black soldiers fought for the North in the name of ending slavery. By the end of the war, a tenth of the Union Army was made up of free African American men.

"When Black soldiers were fighting for their emancipation, they were fighting for not only their own (freedom), but that of their families and other Black people," Willis said in a video interview. "They felt the cause was necessary to fight."

By the end of the war in 1865, 40,000 Black Union soldiers had been killed, of whom three-quarters had died from infection or disease. Many of their individual stories have been lost, but Willis' research uncovered moving tales of Black love, patriotism and bravery. Her recently published book, "The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship," shines a light on these forgotten soldiers and their families through a rich archive of rarely-seen photographs.

"Erasure appears in many ways," said Willis, who is a professor and department chair at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

In the case of thousands of African American Civil War soldiers, she explained, their narratives weren't "hidden" -- they were shared in diaries and letters. Many Black soldiers also paid to have photographic portraits taken that depicted them as patriotic free men. They can be seen dressed in military regalia, posing proudly with the American flag or holding the weapons they fought with.
© Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Tintype of a Civil War soldier. His buttons and belt buckle are hand colored in gold paint. The hand coloring on the buckle reads backward "SU," which when considered that the image is reversed, reads "US," the traditional inscription on Union Civil War be lt buckles. (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Liljenquist Family Collection, 2011.51.12)

In her book, Willis presents almost 100 of the images, which date from the 1840s to 1860s, alongside family correspondence and news articles, offering an intimate account of the conflict. She also included the stories of Black medical workers, servants and cooks -- including those in the South, where thousands of enslaved African Americans were taken to war as laborers or forced to serve White soldiers.

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Tintype of a Civil War soldier. His buttons and belt buckle are hand colored in gold paint. The hand coloring on the buckle reads backward "SU," which when considered that the image is reversed, reads "US," the traditional inscription on Union Civil War be lt buckles. (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Liljenquist Family Collection, 2011.51.12)

Willis' book challenges readers to bear witness to their varied experiences.

"I wanted this book to be kind of a memory album of sorts -- the memory of the individuals who wrote articles in the newspapers or who wrote diaries and diary entries, but also (those) who shared the visual experience of photography," she said.


A new medium

Early cameras first arrived in the United States in 1839, and by the time the Civil War began in 1861, commercial photography was taking off.

Before leaving for war, some soldiers took portraits with loved ones as mementos in the event they didn't return. One picture in Willis' book, set in a romantic brass frame, shows a husband and wife sitting beside each other. Another shows a saber-wielding soldier sitting beside his wife, who is dressed in a voluminous gown.

Commercial photographers also set up temporary studios in tents near the army camps, creating what Willis called "spaces for people to reimagine themselves." Soldiers would sometimes get photos taken to send home to their families, folding them up with love letters or notes sent home from the front lines.

© Library of Congress Portrait of an unidentified African American soldier in uniform, c. 1860s.

"We don't talk about Black love in the 19th century," Willis said. "We talk about survival which is, yes, a part of it. But having an opportunity to see a love story that's a mother and son, or a patriotic story of a man who's interested in his citizenship and freedom -- that kind of love is something I wanted to explore in this book."

While the Union's Black soldiers were fighting for the same cause as their White counterparts, their platoons remained segregated. So, too, were the war's makeshift photography studios. "There were certain days that Black people could go into studios, and on Thursdays and Saturdays at midday, (they) would say, 'coloreds only,'" Willis said. "And then other days were open to Whites."

In the South, meanwhile, African Americans had hardly any opportunity to be photographed -- and not only because of their status in the Confederacy. Early camera equipment was not readily available in Southern states, Willis writes in her book, and the few photographers there raised their fees "to compensate for the high prices of photographic materials and the inflated Confederate dollar."


'Significance of the moment'

The uncovered photographs include ambrotypes, images made on chemically treated glass plates, and tintypes, a much faster innovation that imprinted pictures onto thin metal sheets dipped in a silver nitrate solution. Some of these photographs appear in elaborate protective cases lined with red velvet or brass frames engraved with American flags, eagles and stars.

An early form of paper photograph known as a "carte de visite," which was often used as a formal calling card, was also increasingly popular in the Civil War era. Examples in Willis' book include portraits of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who served in the Union Army and rescued enslaved people through a secretive network called the Underground Railroad; Nicholas Biddle, a Black man believed to be the first person wounded in the conflict after a racist mob hurled a brick at him; and Thomas Morris Chester, the first African American war correspondent for a major daily newspaper.

© National Archives African American hospital workers, including nurses, at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, July 1863.

Photographers typically charged between 25 cents and $2.50 ($6 to $60 in today's money), depending on the size of the image, according to Willis' research. There were additional fees for hand-painted details, such as an American flag.

Given that Black Northern soldiers were paid less than their White counterparts -- just $10 per month, with a further $3 deducted for uniforms, compared to the $13 and free clothing enjoyed by White soldiers -- having a photograph taken was relatively expensive. It was thus a "self-conscious act," Willis wrote, adding that it "shows the subjects were aware of the significance of the moment and sought to preserve it."

For Willis, however, the pictures and stories are as much to do with the present as the past. The historian hopes to help younger generations visualize "a broader story" about Black people's role in the Civil War, sharing experiences of Black American history that go beyond the narratives of slavery.

"The absence of those stories dehumanizes young people," she said, adding: "How can they reflect on the past without creating a future for themselves if it's only about a struggle?"

"The Black Civil War Soldier: A History of Conflict and Citizenship," published by New York University Press, is available now

.

© Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture A portrait of Harriet Tubman, who rescued enslaved people during the American Civil War.

Rio Tinto smelter workers go on strike in Kitimat, B.C.

KITIMAT, B.C. — Approximately 900 Rio Tinto workers at the company's aluminum smelting facilities in Kitimat, B.C. have gone on strike.


The walkout began today at one minute after midnight. Unifor Local 2301, which represents the workers, had issued a 72-hour strike notice after nearly seven weeks of negotiations.

Jerry Dias, Unifor's National President, says the strike comes down to what he calls "Rio Tinto's greed and lack of respect" for the union members working at the Kitimat smelting facilities.

The union says it has proposed the first changes to workers' retirement income and benefit levels in more than a decade, including moving younger workers to defined benefit from defined contribution pension plans.

It also says negotiations have focused on a backlog of more than 300 grievances resulting from the company's use of contractors and its refusal to hire full-time workers.

Bargaining had continued up until the strike deadline, and the company had earlier said that it was "committed to working with the union to reach a mutually beneficial outcome."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2021.

The Canadian Press

CAN YOU BLAME MIGRANTS FOR FLEEING
Anti-graft investigator flees Guatemala to 'safeguard his life'
  

Guatemalan anti-graft investigator Juan Francisco Sandoval was from his post as head of the country's Prosecutor Against Corruption and Impunity (FECI) on Friday by the attorney general Johan ORDONEZ AFP/File

Issued on: 25/07/2021 - 
Guatemala City (AFP)

Guatemala's top anti-graft investigator, Juan Francisco Sandoval, fled the country Saturday to "safeguard his life," hours after he was sacked in a move that sparked international backlash, a human rights official said.

Guatemalan Ombudsman Jordan Rodas accompanied Sandoval to the Salvadoran border "in light of the difficult decision to leave the country to safeguard his life and integrity due to recent events," according to the Central American country's human rights body.

Sandoval said he had encountered many obstacles in his work at FECI and that he was told not to investigate President Alejandro Giammattei without the attorney general's consent, saying this request went "against the autonomy and independence" of FECI.

The Attorney General's Office said he had been let go due to "constant abuses and frequent violations" of the institution and that attempts had been made to "undermine" the "work, integrity and dignity" of Porras.

His firing sparked criticism from the US State Department, which has called him an "anti-corruption champion", as well as outcry from humanitarian groups, civil society and businesses.

Acting Assistant Secretary for the US State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Julie Chung, condemned Sandoval's sacking in a tweet on Friday, saying it "is a significant setback to rule of law."

"It contributes to perceptions of a systemic effort to undermine those known to be fighting corruption," she added.

The Center against Corruption and Impunity in the North of Central America (CCINOC) also hit out at Porras' decision, saying it would create "setbacks in the fight against corruption in the region."

FECI was initially created to work alongside the UN International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to combat corruption and impunity, but the body's work was stopped in 2019 under a decision by then-president Jimmy Morales, after he was singled out by both entities for electoral corruption.

AP Interview: Premier: Iraq doesn’t need US combat troops


BY QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA AND SAMYA KULLAB ASSOCIATED PRESS
JULY 25, 2021 


Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi poses in his office during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) KHALID MOHAMMED AP

BAGHDAD

Iraq’s prime minister says his country no longer requires American combat troops to fight the Islamic State group, but a formal time frame for their redeployment will depend on the outcome of talks with U.S. officials this week.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi said Iraq will still ask for U.S. training and military intelligence gathering. His comments came in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of a planned trip to Washington, where he's slated to meet with President Joe Biden on Monday for a fourth round of strategic talks.

“There is no need for any foreign combat forces on Iraqi soil,” said al-Kadhimi, falling short of announcing a deadline for a U.S. troop departure. Iraq’s security forces and army are capable of defending the country without U.S.-led coalition troops, he said.


But al-Kadhimi said any withdrawal schedule would be based on the needs of Iraqi forces, who have shown themselves capable in the last year of conducting independent anti-IS missions.

“The war against IS and the readiness of our forces requires a special timetable, and this depends on the negotiations that we will conduct in Washington,” he said.

The U.S. and Iraq agreed in April that the U.S. transition to a train-and-advise mission meant the U.S. combat role would end but they didn't settle on a timetable for completing that transition. In Monday’s meeting at the White House, the two leaders are expected to specify a timeline, possibly by the end of this year.

The U.S. troop presence has stood at about 2,500 since late last year when former President Donald Trump ordered a reduction from 3,000.

The U.S. mission of training and advising Iraqi forces has its most recent origins in former President Barack Obama’s decision in 2014 to send troops back to Iraq. The move was made in response to the Islamic State group's takeover of large portions of western and northern Iraq and a collapse of Iraqi security forces that appeared to threaten Baghdad. Obama had fully withdrawn U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, eight years after the U.S. invasion.

“What we want from the U.S. presence in Iraq is to support our forces in training and developing their efficiency and capabilities, and in security cooperation,” al-Kadhimi said.

The Washington trip comes as the premier’s administration has faced one setback after another, seriously undermining public confidence. Ongoing missile attacks by militia groups have underscored the limits of the state to prevent them and a series of devastating hospital fires amid soaring coronavirus cases have left dozens dead.

Meanwhile, early federal elections, in line with a promise al-Kadhimi made when he assumed office, are less than three months away.

Chief on the agenda in Washington, however, is the future of American-led coalition forces in Iraq.

Iraq declared victory over IS in late 2017 after a ruinous and bloody war. The continued presence of American troops has become a polarizing issue among Iraq’s political class since the U.S.-directed drone strike that killed powerful Iranian general Qassim Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Iraqi soil last year.

To quell the threat of widespread instability following the targeted killings, the U.S. and Iraq have held at least three rounds of strategic talks centering on Iraq’s military needs in the ongoing fight against IS and to formalize a timeline for withdrawal.

Four years since their territorial defeat, IS militants are still able to launch attacks in the capital and roam the country’s rugged northern region. Last week, a suicide bomber killed 30 people in a busy Baghdad marketplace. That attack was later claimed by IS.

Al-Kadhimi has faced significant pressure from mainly Shiite political parties to announce a timeline for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Ongoing rocket and, more recently, drone attacks targeting the American military presence have also heaped pressure on the government. They are widely believed to be perpetrated by Iran-aligned Iraqi militia groups.

An announcement that combat troops will withdraw might serve to placate Shiite parties but will have little impact on the ground: The coalition’s combat mission ended effectively in November when the Pentagon reduced U.S. troops in the country to 2,500, according to Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. Shiite parties have said they do not object to trainers or advisors who may remain as part of the coalition.

U.S. and coalition officials have maintained that U.S. troops are no longer accompanying Iraqi forces on ground missions and that coalition assistance is limited to intelligence gathering and surveillance and the deployment of advanced military technologies. Iraqi military officials have stressed they still need this support going forward.

“Iraq has a set of American weapons that need maintenance and training. We will ask the American side to continue to support our forces and develop our capabilities,” al-Kadhimi said.

Al-Kadhimi assumed power as a consensus candidate following months of political jockeying between rival parliamentary blocs. The blocs were firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s coalition on one side and paramilitary commander and former minister Hadi al-Ameri’s Fatah group on the other.

The stakes were high: Al-Kadhimi's predecessor had resigned facing pressure from historic mass anti-government protests. At least 600 people were killed as Iraqi forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse crowds.

Al-Kadhimi presented himself as a champion of protester demands and set a lofty agenda: He promised to hold early elections, now scheduled for Oct. 10, and to bring to account the killers of activists, including whoever killed prominent commentator Hisham al-Hashimi outside his home last summer.

The arrest of an Interior Ministry employee in the shooting death of al-Hashimi fell short, many said, because it did not reveal which group ordered the killing.

Critics say al-Kadhimi has not gone far enough. This is partly because the very conditions that facilitated his rise to the premiership have also served as his chief limitation in parliament.

Political opposition watered down ambitious economic reforms that targeted Iraq’s bloated public sector when the country faced a disastrous financial crisis after falling oil prices. Without a party backing him in parliament, and with rival parties vying to control ministries and other state institutions, al-Kadhimi’s government has appeared weak.

Repeated standoffs with Iran-backed militia groups following the arrests of militiamen suspected of launching attacks against the U.S. Embassy and U.S. troops have further tarnished the government’s credibility.

Activists whose cries for elections once resonated in the squares of the capital now say they will boycott the October polls, distrustful that the political establishment could ever produce free and fair elections.

A U.N. monitoring mission has been established in hopes of boosting voter turnout. But protesters have taken to the streets recently and expressed outrage over the rise in killings of prominent activists and journalists. Even al-Kadhimi conceded certain forces were actively seeking to undermine the polls.

“We are in a sensitive situation. We need to calm the political situation until we reach the elections," he said.

Al-Kadhimi has managed to prove his mettle in one arena: That of regional mediator. Iraq’s friendly relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran have brought both regional foes to the negotiation table for at least two rounds of talks in Baghdad.

“Iraq has succeeded in gaining the trust of these countries, and accordingly, it is working toward the stability of the region.”




Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi 

Japan's Nishiya, 13, first women's Olympic skateboard champion
Issued on: 26/07/2021 - 

Japan's Momiji Nishiya, 13, gave the hosts a clean-sweep of titles in street skateboarding Jeff PACHOUD AFP

Tokyo (AFP)

Japan's Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual Olympic champions in history when she won the inaugural women's skateboarding gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days on Monday.

Nishiya finished ahead of Brazil's Rayssa Leal -- who at 13 years and 203 days could have become the youngest ever individual Olympic champion -- and Japan's Funa Nakayama, 16.

Nishiya starred in the tricks section to score 15.26 and give the hosts a clean-sweep of the street discipline as skateboarding makes its Olympic debut.

Her performance mirrored that of Japan teammate Yuto Horigome, who won the men's title with a stunning sequence of tricks on Sunday.

"I'm so glad to become the youngest (Japanese gold medallist) at my first Olympics... tears came to my eyes," Nishiya told reporters after receiving her medal.

Skaters each have two 45-second runs on the equipment and five shots at a one-off trick. Their best four scores out of the seven make up their final total.

"I was nervous on the first run but I was not nervous later," Nishiya said, adding that she wants to claim a second gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

But first, to celebrate her victory, she will "go and eat at a beef barbeque restaurant".

Skateboarding is one of four sports making their debut in Tokyo, along with surfing, sport climbing and karate as part of an attempt to bring the Olympics to younger audiences.

US diver Marjorie Gestring remains the youngest individual Olympic champion after winning the 3m springboard at the 1936 Berlin Games at 13 years and 268 days.#photo1

Philippine finalist Margielyn Didal, 22, missed out on a medal but said competing in Tokyo was a "really, really big achievement" for her.

Having started skateboarding a decade ago in the streets of Cebu city, Didal burst onto the scene in 2018 with an Asian Games gold.

Didal said she would call her parents, a carpenter and a street vendor, to hear their reaction.

"I know that they're proud of me," she told reporters.

Japan's Horigome crowned skateboarding's first Olympic champion

Issued on: 25/07/2021 -
Japan's Yuto Horigome competes in the men's skateboarding street final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Jeff PACHOUD AFP

Tokyo (AFP)

Japanese world champion Yuto Horigome was crowned skateboarding's first Olympic gold medallist when he won a tense street competition in Tokyo on Sunday.

The 22-year-old, who grew up just a stone's throw from the Olympic venue, landed three huge tricks in a row to eclipse American favourite Nyjah Huston, who imploded to finish seventh.

In searing heat at Ariake Urban Sports Centre, Horigome finished with scores of 9.35, 9.50 and 9.30 for a total of 37.18, with Brazil's Kelvin Hoefler second and US skater Jagger Eaton third.

But there was disappointment for Huston, the much-hyped multiple world champion, who ended with four straight falls in the tricks section as he wound up second-last in the final.

It was the first of four gold medals to be handed out in skateboarding's Olympic debut, with women's street to be contested on Monday followed by the men's and women's park competitions.

© 2021 AFP

Tokyo Olympics push skateboard counterculture into the mainstream

With its entry onto the Olympic podium, skateboarding faces a test of its outlaw roots. Where some see a subculture selling out, others see a sport with much more room to grow.



Text by:

Colin KINNIBURGH|

Issued on: 25/07/2021 - 05:33
Video by:Emerald MAXWELL|Sylvain ROUSSEAU


Frontside, backside, ollie, shove-it: from its lingo to its conventions and history, skateboarding is both a sport and a whole subculture.

“It has an athletic side, of course, but it’s also a way of life,” Charlotte Hym, a member of the French skateboard team, tells France 24. “There are videos, music groups, art – there’s really a lot of things connected with skateboarding.”

“It shouldn’t be seen as a sport in the strict sense of the word,” agrees Hym’s French teammate Vincent Milou. “It’s more a state of mind. When you start skateboarding, you don’t need anything. You just leave the house with your board and you skate.”

There are an estimated 3 million skateboarders in France, but only a tiny fraction – about 3,800 – belong to any kind of organisation. For most, the thought of entering a competition scarcely crosses their mind. They’d rather hang out with their friends, practice tricks, and film clips at local street spots.

“The street is really the most fun place to skate: you can unleash your creativity, try out new tricks, and use the urban landscape as your canvas,” says Hym.

Long viewed as an outlaw activity by skaters and non-skaters alike, skateboarding is still greeted with suspicion by much of the public. Since its early days, it’s been banned in many public places, and skaters continue to face off regularly with police and security guards.

At the same time, skateboarding has gradually gone mainstream, thanks in part to competitions like the X Games, which debuted in the mid-1990s, and video games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, first released in 1999. It’s also flitted in and out of pop culture, from music to cinema, featuring in three major movies in 2018 alone.


But skateboarding’s mainstream acceptance has reached a new level with its Olympics debut, which breaks down into two contests: park and street. Both men and women are competing for a total of four gold medals — which in itself is notable in the highly male-dominated world of pro skateboarding. Tampa Pro, one of the biggest annual US contests, did not include a women’s event until just last year – its 26th year running. Thrasher, the most popular skateboard magazine, has featured only three women on the cover in its forty years of monthly issues, even as the number of women skaters has rapidly grown in recent years.

The Tokyo skateboard circuit will feature not only women like 28-year-old Hym, but two of this year’s youngest Olympic athletes: 13-year-olds Sky Brown, representing the UK, and Rayssa Leal, of Brazil.




The Olympic street skating competition centers on street-style obstacles, like stairs and handrails, while the park or bowl contest hearkens back to the empty backyard swimming pools that skaters turned into their playground starting in the drought-ridden California of the 1970s.

Skate pioneers like Tony Alva were first drawn to pool skating because it reminded them of surfing, another new Olympic sport this year and the basis of much early skate culture. The image of skaters hopping fences for a chance at carving around other people’s empty pools only added to the sport’s outlaw reputation.

‘People shouldn’t start skateboarding to get to the Olympics’

Skateboarding’s induction into the Olympics has only deepened the debate over whether it is a sport at all.

In the run-up to the Games, one Texas skate shop delivered its own sardonic take, on a T-shirt reading, “Skateboarding is a crime, not an Olympic sport” – flipping the more familiar slogan, “Skateboarding is not a crime.

Setting aside its legal ramifications, many prefer to describe skateboarding as a culture or an artform, and not something to be celebrated on a podium.

Aurélien Giraud, another French team member and top contender for gold in the street contest, says it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

“Those who are against the Olympic Games are those who were already anti-competition. For them, skateboarding belongs in the street,” he tells France 24. “I hope that [the Games] will make more people want to do it, but at the same time, people shouldn’t start skateboarding to get to the Olympics. That’s not what skateboarding is at its core and it would be a shame to limit it to that.”

Jérémie Grynblat, Giraud’s manager, agrees that the Olympics will bring skateboarders more than it takes away.

“I think it’s good news for skateboarding,” he tells France 24. “We’re going to have a lot more kids getting interested… so more skateparks, more recognition, and we will be taken more seriously at the institutional level. It’s also enticing on a business level, I won’t hide it. If we sell more boards, skate shops will do better.”

In Grynblat’s eyes, a similar calculus extends to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“Why did the IOC add skateboarding [to the Olympic program]? To make money selling TV rights. Young people today prefer to watch skateboarding than the 400 meter,” he says. “We’re fighting to make sure that the right people are at the heart of this Olympic project. If it ever gets taken over by people from outside the skate world, we’ll probably shut the door on it.”

For now, Grynblat is convinced that Olympic skateboarding is worth a shot.

“But I completely understand those who are afraid that skateboarding will lose its soul,” he adds. “They’re purists, committed to the idea of freedom associated with this sport, and don’t want people who have nothing to do with it to appropriate it for financial reasons.”