Global finance pledge could mean $100 trillion for the climate. Now for the hard part


By Charles Riley, CNN Business

 Wed November 3, 2021


London (CNN Business)Banks, insurers, pension funds, money managers and other finance firms with $130 trillion in assets have signed up to tackle the climate crisis, swelling the ranks of a coalition led by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
More than 450 companies across 45 countries have now committed to achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) announced Wednesday at the COP26 summit.

The coalition controls over 40% of global banking assets, and its organizers predict it can deliver $100 trillion of finance over the next three decades — more than $3 trillion a year — to accelerate the transition to net zero carbon emissions.

Nigeria is oil rich and energy poor. It can't wait around for cheaper batteries

"We now have the essential plumbing in place to move climate change from the fringes to the forefront of finance so that every financial decision takes climate change into account," said Carney, the UN special envoy for climate action and finance.

GFANZ signatories have committed to science-based targets, including achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, delivering their share of 50% emission reductions this decade, and reviewing targets every five years. All firms will report their progress and financed emissions annually.

The coalition's potential and the scale of assets controlled by its members are simply huge. To put it into context, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Monetary Fund last year called for governments to invest $3 trillion over three years in tech and infrastructure to cut 4.5 billion metric tons out of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2023 and put the world on a path to achieving the Paris climate goals.
But net zero commitments made by companies often include loopholes, lack transparency and don't include enforcement mechanisms to ensure they follow through.

"We need to ensure that commitments that have been made are tracked and held to account. Ensuring the integrity of these commitments over time is fundamental to actually making a difference and we now need to focus resolutely on the quality of promises made by financial institutions, not just their quantity," said Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the University of Oxford.
The problem is recognized at the highest levels. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier this week at COP26 that "there is a deficit of credibility and a surplus of confusion over emissions reductions and net zero targets, with different meanings and different metrics."

Guterres said he would establish a group of experts that would propose "clear standards to measure and analyze net zero commitments."

Still funding oil and gas
When it comes to GFANZ, funding for fossil fuels is a major point of contention.

Here to stay or gone in 30 years? Inside the fight over the future of the oil industry

The IEA has said that fresh oil and gas development must stop if the world is going to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis. But commitments made by GFANZ members do not require them to stop financing fossil fuel projects, according to climate advocacy group Reclaim Finance.

In the six years since the Paris agreement, the world's 60 biggest banks have poured nearly $4 trillion into the fossil fuel industry, according to the group.

"More than $130 trillion in [assets under management] and not a single rule to prevent even one dollar from being invested in the expansion of the fossil fuel sector. Once again, the financial sector is willing to puff itself up with hot air commitments instead of enacting the concrete cuts in oil, gas and coal financing we really need," said Lucie Pinson, executive director of Reclaim Finance.

Mark Carney speaks to a TV crew in Glasgow on Nov. 3, 2021.

Carney and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has joined GFANZ as co-chair, wrote in an op-ed on Wednesday that business are addressing climate change for reasons beyond altruism — they have significant exposure to climate risks, and they can make money off the race to clean energy.

But they also acknowledged that companies may attempt to claim green credentials while continuing to contribute to climate change.

"There's no off-the-shelf plan for reaching net zero, and the methods for doing so will vary widely by industry. Nor are there universally accepted benchmarks for defining progress, which raises the risk of 'greenwashing,' " wrote Carney and Bloomberg.

"These are crucial challenges that must be addressed as companies begin to turn their pledges into plans. Success will depend largely on industry coordination and public accountability," they added.

COACHES ABUSE

Chicago Blackhawks Hold Settlement Talks With Former Player’s Attorney

By Jay Cohen | November 4, 2021Print Articl

The Chicago Blackhawks held settlement talks Tuesday, Nov. 2 with an attorney for a former player who is suing the team after he accused an assistant coach of sexual assault in 2010 and the team largely ignored the allegations.

The sides met for about an hour, according to Susan Loggans, who represents former first-round pick Kyle Beach. Loggans also is part of a second lawsuit against the team by a former high school student whom Brad Aldrich was convicted of assaulting in Michigan.

Loggans said she explained her basis for a settlement during the meeting, and the Blackhawks’ attorneys “listened and discussed issues they feel affect this matter.”

“The meeting was respectful and cordial for each side,” she said. “But each side had different viewpoints. It was decided that an opportunity may exist to move forward. However, both parties will meet with their clients and meet again in the near future.”

Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz and CEO Danny Wirtz, Rocky’s son, have asked to meet with Beach, but Loggans said he “wants to see a little bit more about how they’re going to treat the settlement issue before he makes his decision.”

The Blackhawks said as late as mid-May that Beach’s allegations lacked merit. But an independent review, commissioned by the team in response to the two lawsuits and released last week, showed the organization badly mishandled Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by Aldrich during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup run. Aldrich told investigators the encounter was consensual.

Former federal prosecutor Reid Schar, who led the investigation, said his law firm found no evidence that Rocky or Danny Wirtz were aware of the allegations before Beach’s lawsuit was brought to their attention ahead of its filing. But the report noted that many top executives were aware of the claim, and there was no evidence that the team took any action for about for three weeks.

The NHL fined Chicago $2 million for “the organization’s inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” to Beach’s allegations. Commissioner Gary Bettman has faced questions about the punishment in comparison to past fines for teams, and Donald Fehr, the leader of the NHL players’ association, has been criticized over the union response.

After Bettman spoke to the media Monday, Nov. 1, the team apologized for saying Beach’s allegations lacked merit. “It is clear now that our organization did not do the right thing,” it said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

31 October Tornadoes Breaks Oklahoma Monthly Record

November 4, 2021

A total of 31 tornadoes last month was a record-high for October in Oklahoma dating to 1950, according to the National Weather Service.

The previous high for October, the fifth most active month for tornadoes, was 27 in 1998, according to weather service records. Those records show that March-June are the four most active months for twisters in Oklahoma.

“It’s unusual, not quite as unusual as people might think” to see October tornadoes, according to weather service meteorologist Phil Ware. “It’s really not that different than in the springtime. You’re getting clashes of airmasses again.”

Weather conditions in autumn, however, are typically drier, limiting the instability storms need to form and strengthen into powerful tornadoes, Ware said.

The most powerful of last month’s tornadoes was an EF2 that struck Oct. 10 near Anadarko with wind speeds of 113-157 mph (182-253 kph). The twister was one of 17 recorded in the state that day as strong storms also spawned tornadoes and severe weather in parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Texas.

Another 13 tornadoes were recorded on Oct. 12-13, and one was recorded on Oct. 27.

No deaths were reported from the October Oklahoma twisters.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Climate-Fueled Disasters Spur UN Plan to Fund Weather Forecasting in Vulnerable Nations

By Andrea Januta and Kanupriya Kapoor | November 4, 2021

INSURANCE JOURNAL


GLASGOW – As climate change triggers deadly heatwaves, droughts and floods, three U.N. agencies on Wednesday rolled out funding plans to improve weather forecasting in vulnerable countries.

The initiative, announced at the U.N. climate summit, aims to plug gaps in weather monitoring and data collection so developing countries can better prepare for possible climate-fueled disasters.

Over the next decade, organizers at the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) plan to boost weather monitoring in 75 small island nations and least-developed countries that have done little to cause the climate crisis but face the biggest and costliest impacts.

“We have to invest in weather and climate services,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas told conference attendees. “Without observations we are not able to provide good services.”

“In modeling we say that if you put junk in your forecasting models you are getting junk out. Unfortunately that’s the situation in several developing countries and also several island state countries,” he said.

Improving rain forecasts, for instance, can help farmers manage their fields, communities manage water resources or governments plan for food imports when yields look likely to falter. They can also allow people to prepare for possible flooding.

For the Red Cross in Burkina Faso, such forecasts – when they exist – are crucial to the aid organization’s budget and procurement planning, Red Cross climate scientist Kiswendsida Guigma said.


But in many places, there is a “huge gap” in accuracy and detail, Guigma said. “We don’t have very dense networks of instruments collecting data, and (there is) a lack of human and technical capacity.”

The new initiative, called the Systematic Observations Finance Facility, is led by the WMO, the U.N. Development Programme and the U.N. Environment Programme and falls under global plans to provide $100 billion a year in climate financing to poorer nations.

Failure by rich nations to meet this 2020 goal has earned wide rebuke in Glasgow. On Tuesday U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said the world might meet that goal by 2022.

Improving weather data can also help with longer-term predictability around climate change, said Lars Peter Riishojgaard, director of the WMO’s Earth System Branch.

“If you’re a rural economy with subsistence farming, you need to know: Can people have their livelihoods where they are right now, or do they need to pick different crops?” Riishojgaard said. “If you can’t predict it, you can’t adapt to it.”

Disappearing Data

In recent years, weather data for Africa has declined as readings from weather balloons equipped with observation equipment – known as radiosondes – decreased by about half between 2015 and 2020.

Radiosonde data, which unlike satellite data is collected at various atmospheric altitudes, is crucial for both weather predictions and climate modeling. Lack of investment, security conflicts and other problems have prevented African countries from floating new balloons, said Columbia University climate scientist Tufa Dinku.

“There is almost no data outside the roads, outside the towns and cities,” he said. And “if you think about it, agriculture doesn’t happen in towns or cities.”

That has left African farmers and herders struggling to plan ahead, even as the rates of temperature increase in the continent’s south have been among the world’s fastest.

Madagascar, off Africa’s southeast coast, has this year suffered from a crippling famine that scientists say is caused by climate-fueled drought.

More than a million people face extreme hunger in the island nation that has produced less than 0.01% of the carbon-dioxide emissions causing global warming, according to the Global Carbon Project.

Globally, weather-related natural disasters have increased five-fold over 50 years, the WMO said. More than 91% of associated deaths have occurred in developing countries.

Prime Minister of Fiji Frank Bainimarama told attendees at the initiative’s rollout that climate-driven superstorms, rising seas, and changing weather patterns are the “new norm” in the Pacific. He added that 13 cyclones have struck the island nation since 2016.

“Disaster readiness and disaster resilience are two sides of the same coin,” Bainimarama said. “They both depend on robust weather and climate data.”

(Reporting by Andrea Januta in New York, Kanupriya Kapoor in Singapore and Katy Daigle in Glasgow; additional reporting by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Janet Lawrence, Barbara Lewis and David Gregorio)

Photograph: In this photo provided by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, houses are surrounded by floodwaters brought about by Typhoon Vamco inundate Cagayan valley region in northern Philippines on Sunday Nov. 15, 2020. Typhoon Vamco swelled rivers and flooded low-lying areas as it passed over the storm-battered northeast Philippines. 

Photo credit: Ace Morandante/Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP.

Coal in Crosshairs as UN Climate Summit Brings Raft of Clean Energy Pledges

By Kate Abnett and Simon Jessop | November 4, 2021

INSURANCE JOURNAL


GLASGOW – Government representatives at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow on Thursday will turn their focus to tackling the global economy’s addiction to fossil fuels with a raft of new pledges aimed at curbing production and use of oil, gas and coal.

Planned announcements are meant to help speed a transition to cleaner forms of energy that scientists and world leaders say are needed quickly to slash greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

But the pledges could also highlight lingering divisions between wealthy nations pushing for a swift end to the dirty fuels of the industrial revolution, and poorer developing countries that rely on coal and other fossil fuels to grow.

Among the announcements, Poland, Vietnam, Chile and other countries are expected to pledge to phase out coal-fueled power generation and stop building new plants in a deal the COP26 summit’s British hosts said would commit 190 nations and organizations to quit the fuel.

It was not immediately clear if the deal would involve countries like China, India, Indonesia and Turkey, which have numerous new coal power developments planned. In September, China said it would stop funding overseas coal plants, although the pledge did not cover domestic projects.


Separately, at least 19 countries plan to commit at the summit on Thursday to stop public financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of next year, according to two people familiar with the talks.

More countries also may join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, led by Denmark and Costa Rica. That effort commits members to phasing out fossil fuel production within their own borders, but it will not formally be launched until next week.

A main aim of the COP26 talks is to secure national promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions mostly from coal, oil and gas, that are sufficient to keep the rise in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. How to meet those pledges, particularly in the developing world, is still being worked out.

Coal fires around 37% of the world’s electricity, and a cheap, abundant local supply means the fuel dominates power production in countries including South Africa, Poland and India.

U.N. climate envoy Mark Carney said meeting international climate goals could cost around $100 trillion over the next three decades, and called on the finance industry to raise private money to complement what states can do.

On Wednesday, banks, insurers and investors with $130 trillion at their disposal pledged to prioritize combating climate change. World leaders this week also pledged to stop deforestation by the end of the decade and cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by David Gregorio)

Kaiser Workers Set to Strike in Georgia This Week

November 3, 2021Twee LinkedIn Print Articl

Health care workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Georgia have voted to strike over Kaiser’s changes in pay and benefits.

The United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1996 voted over the last week to authorize the work stoppage. By law, the union must give the employer 10 days notice, so a strike may not begin until later this week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

The health workers have balked at Kaiser’s plan to implement a two-tiered system that would give new hires much lower pay and benefit levels. Workers also have called for higher cost-of-living increases over the next several years to help ensure more nurses will be on staff as the state faces a shortage of nurses during the coronavirus pandemic, the news site reported.

Kaiser has said that its workers already are at the top of pay and benefit levels.

The number of workers set to go on strike is not clear. Kaiser has 26 locations in Georgia. The labor union said it represents 2,450 employees, although not all of those are members of the union.

Canada Employers Shed Unvaccinated Workers With Legal Challenges Expected

By Steve Scherer | November 4, 2021

INSURANCE JOURNAL


OTTAWA – Canadian employers are firing or putting on unpaid leave thousands of workers who refused to get COVID-19 shots, squeezing an already tight labor market and raising prospects of potentially disruptive legal challenges.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised vaccine mandates as a central part of his successful campaign for re-election in September, setting a precedent that has spread from the public to the private sector.

Benefits of Vaccine Mandates Outweigh Workers’ Comp Costs of Vaccine Injuries

The mandate for federal workers is one of the world’s strictest, and the government has extended it to federally regulated spaces, which include airports, and to air and rail travelers.

Across Canada, hospitals, banks, insurers, school boards, police and some provincial administrations are now implementing similar policies for current and future hires.

Unvaccinated workers whose livelihoods are on the line – in a country where more than 83% of the eligible population over 12 years old have had their shots – are flooding labor lawyers with calls.

Air Canada and WestJet airlines alone, where well over 90% of staff are vaccinated, are suspending hundreds who are not, and demanding that new hires get inoculated. Toronto transit agencies are likewise putting hundreds on unpaid leave and reducing some services.

Ottawa Hospital, the capital’s largest and where more than 99% of staff are fully vaccinated, put on unpaid leave 186 people who failed to prove they were. Services will not be cut, however, said spokeswoman Michaela Schreiter.


While the unvaccinated have some hopes of collecting severance pay or employment insurance, the legal advice that many are getting is that simply not wanting the shot is not grounds for a lawsuit.

“Most people are really unhappy because they want to … force the employer to change the policy,” said Paul Champ of Champ & Associates in Ottawa, whose firm has fielded 20 to 30 calls a day from unvaccinated workers. “I’ve been very clear to people that that’s not going to be successful.”

Only strict religious or medical exemptions are being accepted by most employers, who have a right to impose health and safety conditions in the workplace, Champ said.

Jobs Squeeze

However, to avoid losing thousands of nurses and other medical staff and being forced to cut services, the Quebec provincial government on Wednesday dropped its previously announced inoculation requirement for healthcare workers, and Ontario said it would not introduce one.

“Implementing a province-wide vaccine mandate for hospital workers can negatively impact the care patients receive,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement, underscoring the way the mandates can exacerbate a labor shortage.

Some 64% of firms say they are facing more intense labor shortages than a year ago, which are preventing more businesses from meeting growing demand, the Bank of Canada said last month.

The jobs market will face added pressure beginning Nov. 15, when as many as 20,000 unvaccinated federal workers – out of some 300,000 – are due to be put on unpaid leave.

“Departments and agencies will assess operational needs … and are focused on ensuring that there is no noticeable impact on service,” said Genevieve Sicard, a spokeswoman at Canada’s Treasury Board, which oversees the civil service.

The Treasury Board said it had no knowledge of a legal challenge yet, though that seems only a matter of time.

“There are a lot of people willing to take this to the end because they can see the loss of one person’s rights are a loss of everyone’s rights,” said Stacey Payne, founder of Feds for Freedom, a group of federal employees who say the mandates infringe on their privacy and freedom.

Unions could have some success in challenging vaccine mandates for people who work from home and do not interact with others, said Daniel Lublin, founding partner of Whitten & Lublin in Toronto.

The mandates are “a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said. .”.. And the problem I have with that is that Canadian employment laws always look at context.”

Workers also have a legal argument for severance pay or for employment insurance, lawyers said. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough has argued that those who lose their jobs because they refuse to get vaccinated should not collect employment insurance.

“A lot of people were playing this out to the wire to see if companies were actually going to fire them,” said Lublin. “If they do get fired, I do think that they’re going to fight it.”

(Additional reporting by Julie Gordon; editing by John Stonestreet and Jonathan Oatis)
Copyright 2021 Reuters. 

Report Sounds Alarm Over Workers With Long-Term COVID-19 Symptoms

By Jim Sams | November 1, 2021

INSURANCE JOURNAL

About 10% of people who contracted COVID-19 continue to suffer persistent symptoms months later, creating the potential for millions of people to suffer functional impairment for extended lengths of time, according to a report released by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

The report, written by Paradigm Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Choo, says COVID long-haulers are anxious and irritable. They can’t sleep, break out in rashes, suffer blurry vision and chest pain and are constantly thirsty. Researchers have identified 21 symptoms that have persisted as long as nine months after the initial infection.

“This is both sobering and alarming,” the report says.

As of Oct. 25, 45 million Americans had contracted COVID-19. Many of those cases became workers’ compensation claims, especially in the nine states that have created presumptions in favor of injured workers who claim they contracted the disease at the workplace.

NCCI is not the first organization to warn about the potential for COVID-19 to cause long-term health impacts. Dr. Claire Pomeroy, an infectious disease expert and president of the Lasker Foundation, wrote in a July article published by Scientific American that the nation should be prepared for a “tsunami of disability” caused by long-COVID.

Also in July, the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance that informed employers that people struggling with long-haul COVID are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning employers may have to provide reasonable accommodations to allow them to continue working.

Choo’s report for NCCI, citing published studies, says that 81% of people who contracted COVID-19 suffered only mild symptoms or were asymptomatic, with only 5% suffering severe symptoms. Of the people who had severe symptoms, 76% had at least one symptom six months later, the most common being fatigue, muscle weakness, and sleep difficulties.

Even more alarming, 10% of all people who contracted COVID-19 suffered symptoms more than three weeks later, according to another published study.

The National Institutes ascribed a new term for the syndrome — post-acute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2, or PASC. Researchers have identified several “symptom groups” that impact the cardiovascular system, pulmonary, endocrine and auto immune systems, as well as mood disorders and sleep disorders.

The report says PASC symptoms usually diminish in three to six months, but sometimes last as long as nine months.

“The frustrating reality is that the constellation of symptoms experienced by those with PASC for extended periods of time can significantly delay their ability to return to work and/or their prior level of function and impair quality of life,” the report says.

Choo’s report is the first of two analyses that NCCI is planning to release on the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on workers’ compensation insurers. Spokeswoman Christine Pike said NCCI will report on trends in medical treatments and associated costs next spring or summer.

POST-FORDISM

Smartphone giant Xiaomi to begin production in Pakistan next year

It trails behind Samsung and Apple

SAMAA | Samaa Web Desk - Posted: Nov 2, 2021 

Photo: AFP

Report by Wakil-ur-Rehman

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi is collaborating with Air Link Communication for manufacturing mobile phones in Pakistan by January next year, SAPM on Production Abdul Razzak Dawood said Tuesday.

He said that the government’s policy had started yielding results and the domestic production of advanced mobile phones was a radical achievement.

According to Dawood, initial estimates put annual production target between 2.5 and 3 million mobile phone units. “Industrial facilities are being set up in the Quaid-i-Azam Industrial Estate near Kot Lakhpat in Lahore and production is set to start in January next year, employing at least 3,000 people,” Dawood said.

Xiaomi, he said, was one of the world’s largest mobile phone tech company.

Providing more details, he said that Select (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Air Link Communication, would jointly manufacture mobile phone sets in Pakistan.

Air Link Communication is one of the country’s largest retail and distribution company, assembling and selling mobile phones and accessories.

Recently, the company scooped Rs6.43 billion, after floating its IPO in the Pakistan Stock Exchange or PSX by selling 90 million shares to institutional and individual investors.

The government has already introduced a comprehensive policy regarding domestic production of mobile phones while the PTA issued a code of conduct regarding setting up manufacturing units for mobile phone devices.

Subsequently, at least 26 companies had so far been issued licenses for manufacturing mobile phones in the country.

Xiaomi is already marketing several brands in Pakistan, including Redmi, Poco and MI. It is also marketing other accessories as well as TV sets and smartwatches.

Market expert believe that most mobile phone manufacturing firms view Pakistan as a vast potential market, focusing on local production, assembly and distribution.

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Pakistan is a smartphone exporter now

Xiaomi’s share of the global smartphone market grew by 83% year-on-year in the quarter ending June, as per Canalys, a research firm.

In a recent report, Xiaomi exported 52.8 million units during this period, making it one of the world’s top-selling brand behind Samsung and Apple.

Former Afghan commanders, intelligence officers make perfect ISIS recruits

Some doing it for the money, some for survival

SAMAA | Samaa Web Desk - Posted: Nov 3, 2021 |

Afghan special force commando unit officers and soldiers attend a graduation ceremony at the military academy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 31, 2021. Photo: AFP

When Afghan Taliban took over Kabul in mid August this year, everyone was skeptical they would be able to consolidate power and do what they could not last time they were in power: take control of Panjshir Valley – the home of the late Afghan Jihad commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Surprisingly, in just three weeks, Qari Fasihuddin, Deputy Commander of the Military Commission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, became the first Taliban leader in history to set foot in Bazarak, the provincial capital of Panjshir.

With the fall of Panjshir, the anti-Taliban resistance came to an end, giving the Taliban regime a free hand.

The Taliban formed interim government, announced amnesty for all government employees and asked them to resume work, allowing girls to attend school though with restrictions amid bunch of other measures to portray itself as a moderate in order to get world’s acceptance.

Overwhelmed with success and negotiating the maze of international diplomacy, the Taliban probably did not take into consideration the threat in the shape of the local ISIS offshoot Khorasan

.

A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site of the August 26 suicide bomb, which killed at least 175 people, including 13 US troops, at Kabul airport. Photo: AFP

Since the Taliban take-over, ISIS-Khorasan (often referred as ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks in the country, including the ones targeting Friday prayers, imambargahs. The biggest so far, has been the August 26 attack outside the Kabul Airport. Over 170 Afghans and 13 US soldiers were killed that day.

Now, the Wall Street Journal has reported that former members of the Afghan intelligence agencies and elite military units are joining the only resistance that they see can challenge the writ of the Talibam: ISIS-K.

A former commander of the Afghan military’s weapons and ammunition depot in Gardez, Paktia, was killed in a clash with the Taliban. He had joined ISIS-Khorasan, the report says, quoting an Afghan official who knew deceased.

The defection to ISIS is fuelled by mixed feelings of abandonment and fear.

Former personnel of Afghan forces feel let down by their former US patrons who just packed up and left for their country.

A US aircraft fly from the Kabul airport. Photo: AFP

Some men are opting to work with the terrorist outfit as they fear persecution by the Taliban. A former Afghan official said some of the former Afghan intelligence and military officials he knew joined ISIS after the Taliban raided their homes and asked them to appear before the country’s new authorities.

And in some cases, it’s all about money. ISIS-K offers handsome amounts of cash to new recruits.

The Afghan forces were cash-strapped and were not paid for months when the US forces left in August. This was one of the reasons for the lukewarm resistance that the Taliban faced from the Afghan National Army and other forces.

Even American officials were aware of this. US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told a Senate briefing last month that they knew that the Afghan forces had not been paid for months. Kahl said that they were broadly aware. He admitted that the US administration’s “visibility to exact conditions were highly degraded”.

Now ISIS is acquiring expertise in intelligence-gathering and warfare techniques with the addition of former members of the Afghan intelligence and elite force commandos joining its ranks. This would probably strengthen its ability to contest Taliban supremacy.

What is worrying, for both the Taliban and the US, is that there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed former Afghan intelligence officers, soldiers and police personnel who are living in constant fear despite the amnesty announced by the Taliban, They fear someone might come for them. And this is could push them into the folds of ISIS-K, creating a monster that have the potential to target not only Afghan Taliban but also the US.

For the US, the biggest worry comes from the statement of Colin Kahl that it will take the Islamic State in Afghanistan only six to 12 month to acquire the capacity to attack the West and allies.

How creative industries could boost the economies of small islands crippled by COVID

by Peter Rudge, The Conversation

Fishing in the Maldives. Credit: Shutterstock/tommybarba

Small islands in the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean or in the Pacific islands promise dream holidays and the fulfillment of bucket lists. And, for the islands themselves, tourism is a vital source of jobs, income and prosperity.

But the pandemic and its effect on the travel industry has meant places such as the Maldives and the Seychelles have seen their economies brought to the brink of collapse.

These islands are mainly powered by the "blue economy"—sectors such as tourism and fisheries which depend on the sea. But COVID-19 has shown the risks of such reliance. So how can these islands build economic resilience while protecting the fragile ecology on which they depend?

As I explain in my new book, one response could be to look to the "orange economy"—a term which describes the various sectors—everything from art, film, music and video games—of the creative and cultural industries.

The impact of these industries is often underestimated. In the UK for example, they add £13 million every hour to the national economy—more than the automotive industry, life sciences and aerospace combined.

And globally, the orange economy employs more people aged 15−29 than any other sector. It has become an engine for regeneration in inner cities such as Liverpool in the UK, and Pittsburgh in the US. But this potential economic boost should not be limited to wealthy countries. Indeed, for developing regions there is no reason why these sectors should not play an increasingly important role.

In small island developing states (known as SIDS) in particular, the orange economy could a play a valuable role in supporting the blue one. Yet many of the entrepreneurs, educators and government officials I spoke to in St Lucia, the Maldives, the Seychelles and the Pacific islands, mentioned the lack of an ecosystem for developing and supporting the creative industries.

That said, some encouraging steps have been taken. For example, in 2017 the Caribbean Development Bank launched a dedicated fund to stimulate growth in these sectors, with an initial injection of US$2.6 million (£1.8 milllion).

Among other projects, this has supported visual artists across the region as well as film and animation projects in St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

This kind of access to finance is crucial. But independent investment is virtually nonexistent in these islands, meaning entrepreneurs and startups often have to rely on costly borrowing.

Orange, blue and green

Another serious challenge is developing an economic model which has a positive effect on the environment—especially when that environment is essential to the other industries. But a further strength of an orange economy is that creativity and innovation are renewable resources.

It is also a development that could quickly fit into the established economic fabric of a small island. After all, the relationship between digital content, technology platforms and culture has already had a positive disruptive effect on tourism, providing people with more choice and information.

One good example of a digital-creative project is the non-profit company Hydrous which allows users (potential tourists) to go on a virtual dive into the marine environments of Palau in Indonesia, using an immersive technology app. This includes a guided tour of the coral reefs, where virtual divers can explore the islands' marine wildlife, including sea turtles, manta rays and sharks.

This kind of creative content delivered through virtual reality channels can enhance visitor experiences, engage new audiences and increase marketing opportunities.

Before a trip is booked, a potential traveler could explore resorts using high-definition virtual reality software. Once they've arrived, they could use "SLAM" (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) technology, which responds to a user's precise location to provide information (either in text, animation, or audio and visual recordings) about their immediate environment, enhancing their enjoyment and understanding.

From a business perspective, optimizing this kind of technology requires creativity. This is just one way in which a move to more digital and creative businesses could enhance tourism and support the wider ocean economy.

The orange economy has the potential to redefine the recovery of small island states, while protecting the blue economy they have relied on for so long. The focus for SIDS should be on establishing a creative economy which allow islanders to create, innovate and monetise their ideas.

By doing that island states can build a strong, resilient and sustainable economy that supports the health of ocean environments—and the creative and entrepreneurial ambitions of the people who live in them.The Maldives is threatened by rising seas, but coastal development is causing even more pressing environmental issues

Provided by The Conversation 

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