France: Far-right TV star Eric Zemmour shakes up presidential race

A radical writer and TV celebrity, Eric Zemmour, has emerged as a serious contender for France’s presidential election, disrupting electoral calculations and spooking the country’s political right.


The emergence of Eric Zemmour, a familiar face on French television, has thrown the French presidential race wide open

Until a few months ago, France's next presidential election was largely expected to be a predictable duel between President Emmanuel Macron and the leader of the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National), Marine Le Pen.

That was until Eric Zemmour, a far-right French commentator and TV celebrity, burst onto the political scene and sparked a media frenzy with inflammatory views on Islam, immigration and feminism, which he blames for the supposed decline of France.

He hasn't declared his candidacy yet but the 63-year-old has already shot up the opinion polls and upended political calculations ahead of the election in April.

A recent survey by polling institute Ifop showed Zemmour would win 17% of the first-round vote, overtaking both Le Pen and the center-right candidate — who has yet to be decided — to make it to the second round, though some analysts have warned the polls should be treated with caution.

"Zemmour is creating a rupture in the French presidential race," Philippe Corcuff, a political scientist at the Institute of Political Studies in Lyon, told DW. "He appears more respectable and less on the right than Marine Le Pen whereas objectively he's actually much more right of her with his racist and xenophobic discourse."

Zemmour has received relentless media coverage, which is why some analysts say it's difficult to gauge his actual popularity

'Setting the agenda'

The paradox is explained by the fact that for years, Zemmour has been a well-known figure in France's media and in intellectual circles, making him look like a respectable figure from the traditional right.

A long-time journalist for France's conservative newspaper, Le Figaro, Zemmour is also a best-selling author and was until recently a prime-time commentator on a Fox-style news network. He's been attracting huge crowds at campaign-like events across France as he promotes his latest book.

But, he remains notorious for his polarizing views. He has called for a ban on "foreign" first names such as Mohammed, he has denounced LGBT "propaganda," he's railed against the immigration of Muslim Africans, and he has said Islam doesn't share France's core values.

SELF HATE
Zemmour, who is of Jewish and Algerian descent, is also accused of trying to rehabilitate France's wartime Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis. He has twice been sanctioned for inciting racial hatred.

"There's relentless coverage of Zemmour in the media. He is on television every day. And even if he isn't, he's being debated," Jean-Yves Camus, director of the Observatory of Radical Politics at the Jean-Jaures foundation in Paris told DW. "He sets the agenda and the others on the right are just left responding to issues that he has raised."

Stealing Marine Le Pen's thunder

Though surveys show that Zemmour's appeal cuts across the political right, he poses a particular challenge to Le Pen, who is plummeting in the polls.

In recent years, Le Pen has tried to rebrand and soften her party's image to broaden its appeal and has abandoned some of the far-right's more extreme positions popular under her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. It has left her vulnerable to Zemmour, who is now outflanking her on the right with his hard-line views on Islam's place in France, immigration and national identity.

Marine Le Pen, who has toned down her party's radical image, is struggling in the polls

"The rank and file of the National Rally may be more radical on those issues. For them, Marine le Pen is too soft, too mainstream, not radical enough and, most importantly, she's standing for the third time," said Camus, an expert on the far-right.

"There's a certain fatigue. Some have been waiting for years for their party to come to power and they know from the opinion polls that Marine le Pen will not be elected."
A race to the right

Zemmour has also rattled France's traditional center-right party, Les Republicains (The Republicans), which was last in power, albeit under a different name, in 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. The party is yet to elect a candidate for the presidential race in April.

According to Philippe Corcuff, The Republicans tacked to the right under the tough-talking, law-and-order president Sarkozy, marginalizing moderate conservatives within the party. Ever since, the boundaries with the far-right on classical right-wing themes have blurred.

"The traditional right has very little resistance to the discourse of Zemmour. Politicians are competing with each other to be more right-wing and they think immigration, security and sovereignty are the most bankable issues," Corcuff said. "With that, they give more legitimacy to what Zemmour says."

'No taboos'

The fact that Zemmour is seen as an outsider and is not a member of any political party also works to his advantage.

"French voters are completely fed up of politicians, they don't trust them," Antoine Diers, spokesman for the Association of the Friends of Eric Zemmour, a group raising funds for the potential presidential campaign, told DW.

"Zemmour is fearless. He has no taboos. He talks about how immigration is bad for France. He's the only one to say we have a problem with Islam. He asks good questions about security and a lack of justice."

Diers, who is a member of The Republicans himself, said he was hopeful that Zemmour could create a wide support base to defeat Macron.

"Zemmour resonates with people like me and other Republicans, also voters of the far-right and even people who have stopped voting," Diers said. "He is able to unite all these people more than any other politician on the right."

Zemmour's sudden rise has led to frequent debates about his similarity to Trump and other right-wing populists

Coarsening public discourse

Whether Zemmour's eventual presidential bid is successful or not, his ideas have already become mainstream on the French campaign trail.

"The spread of far-right ideas doesn't necessarily lead to the victory of a far-right candidate, but it does attract politicians from all sides, the center and even the left," Philippe Corcuff said.

During a recent televised debate for the first Republican primary in France, journalists repeatedly asked candidates about the loaded term, the "great replacement" theory, first coined by French writer Renaud Camus and propagated by Eric Zemmour.

A conspiracy theory popular among Identitarian movements in Europe, it purports that an elitist group is colluding against white French and European people to eventually replace them with non-Europeans from Africa and the Middle East, the majority of whom are Muslim.

This week, Arnaud Montebourg, an independent candidate from the left, proposed banning money transfers by Western Union to countries that refuse to take back their own nationals deported from France to fight illegal immigration. Right after, Zemmour claimed the measure initially stemmed from him.

Zemmour needs to get the signatures of 500 mayors that any candidate legally needs in order to run for the French presidency. The deadline to announce a candidacy is February 26, 2022.

Benin liberalizes abortion law

Benin's parliament has voted to legalize abortion in most cases, becoming one of only a handful of African countries to do so.

Claudia experienced her cousin's illegal abortion

Claudia can still remember when her mother forbade her from ever considering an abortion.

She was a 16-year-old school student in Cotonou, Benin's economic hub.

"She said: 'If you get pregnant, you have to have the child'. She would never have allowed me to get an abortion," Claudia, who is now 28, told DW.

For many years after that, Claudia said, she worried about accidentally becoming pregnant.

Abortion has long been a taboo subject in Benin, so much so that Claudia doesn't want to use her full name when talking about the topic.

But that could ease now that Benin's parliament has voted to legalize abortion in most circumstances. The amendment still has to be ratified by the constitutional court before it takes effect but that is considered a formality.

The new law makes it legal to terminate a pregnancy if it would "aggravate or cause a situation of material, educational, professional or moral distress incompatible with the interest of the woman and/or the unborn child."
African nations' strict abortion laws

This makes Benin a rarity in Africa. Only South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau and Tunisia have relatively liberal abortion laws, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a global advocacy organization.

Under Benin's previous abortion law, which was passed in 2003, a woman can only terminate the pregnancy if her life is at risk, if the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape, or if the fetus has a particularly serious medical condition.

But abortions were still carried out "all the time," despite being illegal, Claudia said.
Unsafe abortions commonplace

Claudia hesitates for a moment before telling the story of her cousin, who accidentally became pregnant.

"We were very young. There was no question of her having a child, it wouldn't have been possible because of her parents and the financial situation," she said.

Claudia's cousin found out about a hospital where it was possible to discreetly organize an abortion.

"I thought it would be difficult. But no. A woman sent my cousin to the room next door, where she was given an anesthetic. I waited outside. It was quick," Claudia said.

The two girls were scared that something could go wrong — there was no follow-up care, only an antibiotic in case of complications.

Claudia's cousin was lucky that she lived in a city. It's a very different situation in rural areas of Benin, where the health system is poorly developed. Women there often ingest certain plants if they want to terminate a pregnancy.

Gynecologist Pascal Dennis has often had deal with the consequences of unsafe abortions at his clinic in Cotonou.

"The damage can be very great," he said. "Simple infections can be treated with antibiotics, but several organs can also be damaged and the patient can end up dying."
Saving women's lives

Health Minister Benjamin Hounkpatin estimated that unsafe abortions are responsible for 20% of maternal deaths in Benin.

"(This law) will be welcomed by the all the medical personnel who deal with complications from abortions on a daily basis," Hounkpatin said at a press conference after parliament passed the amendment.

Serge Kitihoun views Benin's new abortion law as a sign of progress

Serge Kitihoun is the program director of the Benin Association for the Support of the Family, which provides family-planning services across the country. He is delighted about the new law.

"We're saving our children. Our studies have shown that 200 women die every year from risky abortions. That could have been avoided," he told DW, adding that the amendment is a "success for the whole of Benin."

Catholic Church opposed

About 25% of Benin's population is Catholic, and the country's Catholic Church has been particularly vocal in its criticism of the new law.

The amendment is a "tremendous disappointment," Tiziana Borsani, a member of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco religious congregation, told DW. She doesn't believe that abortions "solve all problems."

"Women will continue to experience gender-based violence," she said. "They live in poverty and are economically dependent."

Tiziana Borsani does not believe that abortion will improve women's life.

The religious organization offers temporary accommodation to underage mothers so that they can keep their babies and get an education at the same time. The mothers are also given psychological support and attempts are made to reestablish contact between the teenage mothers and their families.

Little sex education

Claudia said that the real reason why women, especially teenagers, need abortions is often ignored; conversations around sex and sexual health are taboo in Benin.

"Some parents are open, but others don't even talk about it," she said, adding that, though some women can talk to their older sisters or friends about sex, the conversation is often uncomfortable.

A girl who tries to find out about contraception is stigmatized and seen as easy, Claudia said, especially if she is young.

Only about 12% of people in Benin use conventional methods of contraception, according to the World Health Organization.

As for Claudia, now she is older, she is open to the idea of contraception.

"Ten years ago, I wouldn't have dared to use it," she said.

This article was adapted from German by Abu-Bakarr Jalloh

El Salvador: Nayib Bukele deploys troops after murder spike

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said "dark forces" are behind a rise in crime in the country. Critics may view the military operation as the latest sign of increasing authoritarianism under Bukele's leadership.

Bukele has said the military operation will continue until "relative stability" is achieved in El Salvador

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele sent troops to the capital city of San Salvador and other areas on Thursday following an increase in homicides.

The Latin American country witnessed over 30 murders in total on Tuesday and Wednesday.

What did Bukele say about the operation?

"We have deployed our national police and armed forces to contain the increase in homicides registered over the last 48 hours," Bukele said in a Facebook post.

On Twitter, Bukele said, "There are dark forces who are working to return us to the past, but this administration is not going to allow it."

The Salvadoran president said troops have managed to contain the violence so far, but added operations would continue until the country returns to "relative stability."

El Salvador, which has one of the world's highest homicide rates, has seen killings decline drastically since 2015, when the country would witness 15 to 20 murders per day.

The country had averaged 3.8 homicides per day prior to this week. Salvadoran digital newspaper El Faro reported last year that Bukele's administration had made deals with gang members to reduce violence in exchange for better prison conditions, which Bukele has denied.

Concerns of increasing authoritarianism

Critics may view the military operation as the latest sign of increasing authoritarianism in the country since Bukele began his term in 2019. Congresswoman Anabel Belloso of the left-wing FMLN party called the decision to deploy troops "pure public relations."

Earlier this week, Bukele introduced a new law that would ban foreign funding for NGOs carrying out political activities in the country. Critics say the move is an attempt to stamp out opposition groups, with Bukele having previously claimed civic organizations are behind demonstrations against his government.

Bukele has mocked critics and once called himself the "world's coolest dictator"

Other moves by Bukele that have prompted concern include his decision to send troops into the parliament last year. Bukele, at the time, wanted lawmakers to approve a loan that would better equip the military and police.

Bukele's party also removed five judges from the Supreme Court and the country's top prosecutor in another controversial move in May.

Bukele, who is only 40-years-old, is considered to be a right-wing populist. He has attracted significant international attention following his decision to make the Bitcoin cryptocurrency legal tender in El Salvador.

wd/sms (AP, Reuters)

Myanmar: US journalist sentenced to 11 years in prison

Danny Fenster was sentenced on several charges, including incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information. He is the first Western journalist to be jailed in Myanmar in years.

Calls have grown for Danny Fenster's release in Myanmar

A Myanmar junta court sentenced an American journalist to 11 years in prison on Friday. He was found guilty on several charges, including incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information.

Danny Fenster, the managing editor of the independent news publication Frontier Myanmar, had been detained since May. His lawyer Than Zaw Aung said he was also found guilty of contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations.

"Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family," Editor-in-Chief Thomas Kean said in a statement.

Fenster had been arrested at Yangon International Airport on May 24 as he was going to Detroit to visit his family. He has been held in Yangon's Insein prison since then.

Danny Fenster

Why was Danny Fenster sentenced?

Since the military junta overthrew the elected government, Fenster is the only foreign journalist to face serious charges. The sentencing was based on "evidence" from the Information Ministry.

The evidence showed that at the time of arrest, he had been working at a local outlet, Myanmar Now, which had its license revoked shortly after the coup.

"There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges. His legal team clearly demonstrated to the court that he had resigned from Myanmar Now and was working for Frontierfrom the middle of last year," said the statement from his employer.

Fenster also faces two additional charges at another court in Yangon.

Myanmar's military rulers have shut down several independent media outlets. More than 100 journalists have been arrested, with 30 still in prison.

The Committee to Protect Journalists rights group said in a report in July that Myanmar's rulers had effectively criminalized independent journalism.

More than 1,200 civilians have been killed in protests against the junta, according to an estimate by rights groups. About 10,000 have been arrested, and thousands have fled the country.

Myanmar junta court sentences detained US journalist to 11 years

AFP 12/11/2021 

A Myanmar junta court on Friday sentenced an American journalist to 11 years in prison on charges of unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules, his employer said.

The military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown on dissent, which has killed over 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.

Danny Fenster, who had been working for local outlet Frontier Myanmar for around a year, was arrested in May as he tried to leave the country to see his family.

"Frontier Myanmar is deeply disappointed at the decision today to convict its Managing Editor, Danny Fenster, on three charges and impose prison sentences totalling 11 years," the outlet said in a statement.

Fenster, who has been held in Yangon's Insein prison since he was detained, also faces charges of sedition and terrorism, which could see him jailed for life.

"Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision," Frontier Myanmar said.

"We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family."

'Outrageous'

Crisis Group Myanmar senior advisor Richard Horsey described the sentence as "outrageous".

"It sends a message not only to international journalists... but also Myanmar journalists that reporting factually on the situation is liable to get them many many years in prison," he told AFP.

He noted US diplomats were working to get him released.

"It will be resolved through diplomatic channels and hopefully very quickly," he said.

"But obviously this sentence is a big setback to US efforts."

The sentencing comes days after former US diplomat and hostage negotiator Bill Richardson met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw, handing the increasingly isolated junta some rare publicity.

Richardson, declining to give further details, said the US State Department asked him not to raise Fenster's case during his visit.

Myanmar has been mired in chaos since a February coup, with the military trying to crush widespread democracy protests and stamp out dissent.

More than 1,200 people have been killed by security forces, according to a local monitoring group.

The press has also been squeezed as the junta tries to tighten control over the flow of information, throttling internet access and revoking the licences of local media outlets.

More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the putsch, according to Reporting ASEAN, a monitoring group. It says 31 are still in detention.

(AFP)

 

Asia

Miao Po-ya: Meet Taiwan's first openly LGBTQ council member

Watch video 05:04

Miao Po-ya is the first-ever openly LGBTQ member to join a local council in Taiwan. She is breaking barriers by winning the support of young people as well as the older generation, which tends to favor traditional gender norms.

Rwanda: Kigali adopts self-service bicycles to promote green mobility


Issued on: 12/11/2021 - 

Rwanda's capital, Kigali, has adopted bicycle paths and self-service bicycles to promote green mobility. FRANCE 24's Simon Wohlfahrt and Caroline Kimeu report.

Gaza doctor seeks apology from Israel for daughters’ deaths
By LAURIE KELLMAN

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish lobbying for support for a college to honor his daughters and niece at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. For 13 years, the man known in Israel as "the Gaza doctor" has waged a battle through the Israeli courts and the public to remember and deliver justice to his daughters Aya, 13, Bessan, 21, Mayar, 15, and his niece Noor, 17, all killed by an Israeli missile in their bedroom on January 16, 2009. On Monday, Nov. 15, Israel's Supreme Court will hear Abuelaish's demand for an apology and compensation. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)


JERUSALEM (AP) — Izzeldin Abuelaish captured widespread sympathy in Israel when he lost three daughters and a niece in an Israeli strike during the 2009 war in the Gaza Strip. Now, the Palestinian doctor is seeking justice in Israel’s highest court.

Abuelaish is scheduled to appear before the Supeme Court in Jerusalem on Monday in hopes of receiving an apology from Israel and compensation for his loss.

The Harvard-educated doctor, a widower who moved to Canada after the tragedy, says he is hopeful that he will prevail. But after a lower court rejected his case in 2018, he knows he might have traveled 9,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) only to lose again.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Abuelaish said that such an outcome would only shine a brighter light on the injustice of his family’s pain. Either way, he says, the retelling of the story is a step in itself on the path toward a legacy of peace for his daughters — of “creating life from death and killing.”




“If we have a positive answer from the court, this is a great success,” Abuelaish said. But whatever the legal result, “I am determined we are not the victims anymore.”

Abuelaish, 66, was an obstetrician and peace activist well known in Israel even before the tragedy. He had worked in an Israeli hospital while living in Gaza. And during the war, launched to end Hamas’ rocket fire on Israeli border towns, he often gave updates to Israeli media in fluent Hebrew.

But on Jan. 16, 2009, live television broadcast a nightmarish, real-time report from Abuelaish to Israelis watching Channel 10 for news about the war.

“My daughters have been killed,” he sobbed into a phone. A journalist listened at the other end of the line as the audio aired live.

The blast from the Israeli strike took the lives of his daughters Aya, 14, Bessan, 21, and Mayar, 15, as well as his niece Noor, 17. Footage from the scene shows Abuelaish directing the evacuation of another daughter, Shatha, 17, who was severely wounded but survived.

For 13 years, Abuelaish has battled in Israeli courts and the public arena to deliver justice to his family for what he says was a terrible mistake by the Israeli army.

The government says the law shields the military from liability for wartime actions. In 2018, a lower court sided with the army. Abuelaish’s appeal to that ruling had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, until Monday.

There have been bright spots, Abuelaish said. Two weeks ago, he learned that an expectant Israeli mother had read of his journey and decided to name her baby Aya — after his own daughter. Abuelaish says he’ll meet the girl, now 8 years old, and her family over the weekend.

“I am so moved,” he said, reading from the letter a few days before leaving his home in Toronto for Israel this week. “I didn’t know what to do, what to say.”




That’s rare for the widower and father of five surviving children, who has spoken around the world about the need for facts, truth and equality — and the cost of hate and war. He’s been clear about what he wants to make of his daughters’ legacy. His book is titled in part, “I Shall Not Hate.”

Abuelaish’s presence in Israel is an accomplishment in itself. Few Gazans are allowed to enter the country and the success of his cooperation with friends and colleagues in Israel is even rarer.

He has established the Daughters For Life Foundation to give out scholarships, as it did on Thursday to two young women at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He also wants to establish a college for Middle Eastern women, perhaps in Cyprus, named for the foundation and dedicated to his daughters. On Wednesday in Jerusalem, he lobbied members of the Knesset to support that project.

“My daughters’ names now are written on their graves, in the stone,” Abuelaish told reporters outside Israel’s parliament. “I want to see their names written on an institution that spreads light and hope and wisdom to young women.”

He hopes for the validation of Israel’s high court on Monday, but the legal outlook is difficult, one expert said. The Supreme Court will consider whether the lower court’s finding was correct under Israel’s tort law.

The court “won’t even get to the question of whether the military acted properly,” said Yuval Shany, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and a law professor at Hebrew University.

In a statement to the AP on Wednesday, the Israeli Defense Ministry pointed to the lower court ruling that the strike on the Abuelaish home occurred during a war.

It also reiterated expert testimony that shrapnel retrieved from two bodies was traced to equipment used by Palestinian militants. That, the ministry said, supports the contention that the five-story home was thought to have served as a Hamas position.

Abuelaish vociferously denies that. He is adamant that there were no militants and no warning until the shells struck.

The 2009 conflict was the first of four wars between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2007. The bitter enemies fought their fourth war in May.

Still, there are signs of change in the region — a new diverse coalition of eight parties took office in Israel in June, with Arabs part of the government for the first time. Dovish Jewish-led parties are also part of the government.

Abuelaish says he got an empathetic reception this week from lawmakers in Knesset, an improvement from his last visit to Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid gave him a hug.

“Maybe,” said Shany, “this government will be more open than the previous one to making such a statement” of apology, “just because the composition is more diverse.”

Win or lose in court, Abuelaish has plans afterward — in Gaza.

“I want to go to my daughters grave, to say to them: ‘I am here. I didn’t give up, I didn’t forget you’,” he told reporters in Jerusalem. “Until then ... I am educating for your justice.”

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AP videojournalist Moshe Edri in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Climate talks soften stance on fossil fuel phaseout

By FRANK JORDANS

1 of 20

A climate activist holds a placard next to police officers near the venue for the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Negotiators at this year’s U.N. climate talks in Glasgow appeared to be backing away Friday from a call to end all use of coal and phase out fossil fuel subsidies completely, but gave poor countries hope for more financial support to cope with global warming.

The latest draft proposals from the meeting’s chair called on countries to accelerate “the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.”

A previous proposal Wednesday had been stronger, calling on countries to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuel.”

While the chair’s proposal is likely to undergo further negotiation at the talks, due to end Friday, the change in wording suggested a shift away from unconditional demands that some fossil fuel exporting nations have objected to.

There was a mixed response from activists and observers on how significant the addition of the words “unabated” and “inefficient” was.

Richie Merzian, a former Australian climate negotiator who directs the climate and energy program at the Australia Institute think tank, said the additional caveats were “enough that you can run a coal train through it.”

Countries like Australia and India, the world’s third-biggest emitter, have resisted calls to phase out coal any time soon.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg told The Associated Press she feared that “as long as our main goal is to find loopholes and find excuses, not to take real action, then we will most likely not see any big results in this meeting.”

Thunberg, who attended the start of the talks in Glasgow, spoke at her weekly protest outside Sweden’s parliament Friday morning.

Helen Mountford, a senior climate expert at the World Resources Institute, said allowing countries to determine which subsidies they consider inefficient would water down the agreement.

“It definitely weakens it,” she said.

Even so, the explicit reference to ending at least some state support for oil, gas and coal offered “a strong hook for phasing out fossil fuels subsidies, so its good to have it in there,” she said.

The question of how to address the continued use of fossil fuels responsible for much of global warming has been one of the key sticking points at the two-week talks.

Scientists agree it is necessary to end their use as soon as possible to meet the 2015 Paris accord’s ambitious goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). But explicitly including such a call in the overarching declaration is politically sensitive, including for countries, such as Saudi Arabia, that fear oil and gas may be targeted next.

Another crunch issue is the question of financial aid for poor countries to cope with climate change. Rich nations failed to provide them with $100 billion annually by 2020, as agreed, causing considerable anger among developing countries going into the talks.

The latest draft reflects those concerns, expressing “deep regret” that the $100 billion goal hasn’t been met and urging rich countries to scale up their funding for poor nations to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change - an issue with which developed countries are also grappling.

It also adds wording that could create a fund to help countries hit by the most devastating impacts of climate change. Rich nations such as the United States, which have historically been the biggest source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, are opposed to any legal obligation to compensate poor countries.

Discussion on the issue, known as loss and damage, is likely to go to the wire, negotiators said.

Environmental campaigners expressed concerns about possible loopholes in agreements for international cooperation on emissions reduction, which includes the rules for carbon markets. Businesses are particularly keen to balance out excess emissions by paying others not to emit a similar amount.

“The invitation to greenwash through carbon offsetting risks making a farce of the Paris Agreement,” said Louisa Casson of Greenpeace. “If this goes ahead, governments are giving big polluters a free pass to pollute under the guise of being ‘carbon neutral’, without actually having to reduce emissions.”

Negotiators from almost 200 nations gathered in Glasgow on Oct. 31 amid dire warnings from leaders, activists and scientists that not enough is being done to curb global warming.

According to the proposed decision, countries plan to express “alarm and utmost concern” that human activities have already caused around 1.1C (2F) of global warming “and that impacts are already being felt in every region.”

While the Paris accord calls for limiting temperature to “well below” 2C (3.6F), ideally no more than 1.5C, by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, the draft agreement notes that the lower threshold “would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change” and resolves to aim for that target.

In doing so, it calls for the world to cut carbon dioxide emission by 45% in 2030 compared with 2010 levels, and to add no additional CO2 to the atmosphere by mid-century. So far the world is not on track for that, and developed countries are expected to be asked to submit more ambitious targets for cutting emissions next year.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press this week that the 1.5C-goal “is still in reach but on life support.”

If negotiators are unable to reach agreement by Friday’s official deadline, it is likely the talks will go into overtime. This has happened at many of the previous 25 meetings as consensus from all 197 countries is required to pass decisions.

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Seth Borenstein and Karl Ritter contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the talks at http://apnews.com/hub/climate

Can world’s climate target and India’s development coexist?

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL

1 of 11

Smoke rises from a coal-powered steel plant at Hehal village near Ranchi, in eastern state of Jharkhand, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. No country will see energy needs grow faster in coming decades than India, and even under the most optimistic projections part of that demand will have to be met with dirty coal power — a key source of heat-trapping carbon emissions. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)


GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — India faces a difficult choice that will have consequences for the world.

No country’s energy needs are expected to grow faster in coming decades than India’s. Even under the most optimistic projections, a part of the demand must be met by dirty coal power -- a key source of heat trapping carbon emissions.

India can either compromise on development needed to lift millions from poverty, or it can continue burning coal from the country’s vast domestic reserves, said India’s top environmental official Rameshwar Prasad Gupta in New Delhi, the week before the United Nations climate summit at Glasgow, known as COP26.

With just days remaining for the crucial talks, a fundamental question remains: Will there be enough “carbon space” in the atmosphere for India’s developmental needs to coexist with the global ambition of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees 

Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country would aim to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2070 -- two decades after the U.S., and at least 10 years later than China. But this will only shave off a tenth of a degree of the world’s warming, said climate scientist Niklas Hohne, of the NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Tracker.

And India’s short-term targets for 2030 -- increasing its current capacity of non-fossil fuel electricity to 500 gigawatts and using green energy to meet half of its needs, cutting carbon emissions by a billion tons compared with previous targets, and reducing the carbon intensity of its economy by 45% -- wouldn’t have any impact, said Hohne.

But experts said these goals are ambitious for India, considering its developmental status and will be far from easy.

For instance, India will have to triple its non-fossil fuel capacity in less than a decade. And for that, its power sector will have to completely reimagine itself. States, whose entire economies have centered around coal for centuries, will have to diversify. Land, which is in short supply in the crowded subcontinent, will be required for sprawling solar parks.

“It’s a humongous task for a country like India,” said Sandeep Pai, who studies energy security and climate change at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D,C.

Even then, it may not be enough for the world.

Women walk past as flames rise out of fissures in the ground above coal mines in the village of Liloripathra near Dhanbad, an eastern Indian city in Jharkhand state, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. No country will see energy needs grow faster in coming decades than India, and even under the most optimistic projections part of that demand will have to be met with dirty coal power — a key source of heat-trapping carbon emissions. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Despite their “net zero” emissions targets, China, the United States and the European Union will take up 90% of the remaining carbon space to limit warming to 1.5 degrees by 2050, according to an analysis by the India think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) released Sunday. But if they were to advance their targets by a decade, more than 110 billion tons of carbon dioxide for developing nations — or a third of the remaining carbon budget — would be available for developing nations.

“You can’t develop, if you don’t have the carbon space,” said Arunabha Ghosh, CEEW’s chief executive.

And because of its vast population, India’s energy choices have an oversized impact for the world. There are 27 million people without access to electricity. It has roads and homes to build, while extreme heat is driving up the demand for air conditioning. To fulfil these needs, India will need to build a power system the size of the entire European Union’s.

Although India accounts for the most annual emissions after China and the U.S., its negotiators in Glasgow have, time and again, pointed out that they have historically contributed a fraction of the world’s emissions. Moreover, they say, the typical American uses 12 times more electricity than the average Indian.

Indian environment and climate change minister Bhupender Yadav told the Associated Press in an interview Wednesday it’s a matter of “conscience” and said those countries historically responsible for emissions need to keep their unfulfilled promise of providing climate finance.

Modi said earlier at the summit that India expected the world’s developed nations to make $1 trillion available as climate finance. As things stand right now, the climate finance from rich nations to align with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target is “nowhere to be seen,” said Chirag Gajjar, a climate expert at the World Resources Institute.

It’s possible for the goal of 1.5 degrees and India’s development needs to coexist, said climate scientist Hohne. What is key, he said, is not building any new coal-fired power plants anywhere in the world, including India, and shutting “some coal-fired power plants” before their time.

A transition away from coal, especially for coal-dependent regions of the world, would require the assistance of the international community, Hohne added.

Asked about coal, India environment minister Yadav said the country had no immediate plans to phase it out. “All the issues come and get stuck in climate finance.”

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For more AP climate coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/climate

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Follow Aniruddha Ghosal on Twitter: @aniruddhg1

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

South Korea unveils air traffic control system for drone taxis

By Thomas Maresca

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South Korea conducted a test flight of a drone taxi at Seoul's Gimpo Airport on Thursday, connecting it into the airport's traffic control system. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI



SEOUL, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- South Korea tested an air traffic control system for drone taxis Thursday, taking a key step forward in the government's plans to bring flying vehicles to the country's skies by 2025.

An electric two-seater air taxi flew a short loop around Seoul's Gimpo Airport, while new technologies were used to successfully integrate it into the airport's existing traffic management system.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which hosted Thursday's demonstration, said the test intended to ensure that flying taxis wouldn't interfere with air traffic at the busy airport as they are rolled out commercially.

"As [Urban Air Mobility] is expected to become one of the common means of transportation that citizens use in daily life, it is absolutely imperative that we test and try out UAM services in various environments through demonstrations," Minister Noh Hyeong-ouk, who attended the event, said in a statement.

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South Korea has been pushing in recent years to develop its air taxi industry, laying out a policy framework in 2020 and a technology roadmap this year. The government has set aside more than $65 million to build out its air mobility ecosystem.

For Thursday's test, a pilot flew a vertical takeoff and landing drone, made by Germany's Volocopter, for about five minutes at an altitude of 165 feet and a top speed of 28 mph.

Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, said that the air mobility industry was at an "exciting inflection point," with commercial service rolling out in several countries over the next two to three years.

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The two-seat electric drone was manufactured by Germany's Volocopter, which has agreements in place to launch commercial air taxi services in Singapore and Paris. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI

The Bruchsal-based company is planning to launch commercial air taxi service in Singapore by the end of 2023 and in Paris in time for the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

"What we are discussing here today are really the humble beginnings of a much more profound change that we will see unfold over the decades," Reuter said to reporters at the event.

"The general transportation landscape will move up into the third dimension, which offers vast opportunity for growth and vast opportunities to improve urban mobility."

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South Korea continues to lag Europe and the United States in commercializing flying vehicles, but the country is moving forward aggressively with a public-private team of government, academic and corporate partners overseen by the transport ministry.

Among the South Korean companies eager to bring their own drone vehicles to market are automaker Hyundai Motor Group and defense contractor Hanwha, which showed off a scale version of its five-passenger drone, called Butterfly, at the event Thursday.

Eric Hunwoo Yun, director of Hanwha's urban air mobility division called the drone business a "top priority" for the company and said that South Korea is looking to be a major global player in the industry.

"The Korean government wants to be [an urban air mobility] leader," Yun said.

The country's initial plans for commercial service will focus on routes from downtown Seoul to Gimpo and Incheon airports. Journeys would take about 20 minutes instead of up to an hour by car, according to the transport ministry.

In the first phase, the drones will be controlled by a pilot, but by 2030, they will be remote-controlled, the ministry said. And By 2035, the country plans to launch fully autonomous air taxis.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley projected in a May report that the global urban air mobility market would reach $1 trillion by 2040 and accelerate to a whopping $9 trillion by 2050.


4 / 8A pilot took the air taxi on a five-minute flight at an altitude of 165 feet and a top speed of 28 mpg. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI

Society, stigma keep women veterans from accessing federal benefits, VA says

By Julia Mueller, Medill News Service

Service members observe joint service flyover honoring the centennial anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday. Veterans Affairs said female service members are often reluctant to acknowledge their military service and thus receive veterans benefits. Pool photo by Kenny Holston/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 11 (UPI) -- WASHINGTON -- Too many veteran women aren't using the services they're entitled to, said Veterans Affairs representatives Thursday at the seventh annual National Women Veterans Leadership and Diversity Conference, hosted by Women Veterans Interactive.

Dennis May, deputy director of the VA for the Center for Minority Veterans, said that veterans who leave the service without major injuries or issues are often reluctant to "take benefits away from other veterans who may have had it worse" by comparison.

"While that's a noble sentiment," May said, "it's not based in fact."

The VA is the second-largest federal agency, with a budget of over $260 million annually. As more veterans use the services, May said, the budget will increase to reflect that.

"Your receiving VA benefits does not come at the expense of some other veteran."

This reluctance is heightened for women veterans, who often discount their service.

"I didn't do much, or I was just in supply, or I only served three years," said Elizabeth Estabrooks, deputy director of the VA for Women Veterans.

"Too often, women veterans and service women don't acknowledge their service, the sacrifices they made personally and what they've given up to serve our nation," she said. "The children they left behind, the breast milk they had to pump and dump, the first steps missed, the marriages they placed second."

Because the women dismiss these sacrifices, Estabrooks said, so too does the public -- and this societal stigma contributes to the issues of understanding, access and use of VA services.

"When women see themselves as veterans," Estabrooks said, "they're more likely to connect with the benefits and services they deserve."

During the question-and-answer period, several conference attendees remarked that they had not heard of the services Estabrooks and May were describing in their respective VA offices.

"If that's the case," said WVI founder and CEO Ginger Miller, "we have more work to do getting inside the bases."

Miller, a formerly homeless, service-disabled Navy veteran, was awarded the Obama administration's Champions of Change award for her work.

Former service members should be "armed with information" so they can access the services they have earned, May said.

"All the data shows that veterans who access VA benefits and services have better health outcomes, have better economic outcomes, than veterans who do not."

Estabrooks also explained a VA initiative to elevate the representation, "image and notion" of women veterans -- who she said are often disinclined even to identify as full members of the military. A series of art exhibits called "I Am Not Invisible" feature portraits of women veterans from across the country.

"Women, too, are [prisoners of war]. Are buried overseas and in national military cemeteries," Estabrooks said. "We deserve all the honors and benefits of our brothers in arms."

The virtual conference will continue through Friday, including panels and presentations on legal services, financial security, business and leadership for women veterans.