The Ukraine war is creating a jobs crisis in Russia

REUTERS / ANTON VAGANOV

Lights out.

By Samanth Subramanian
Looking into the Future of Capitalism
Published May 16, 2022

As companies flee Russia, their Russian employees are seeing their jobs suddenly vanish. Tens of thousands of such employees will be cut loose into an economy where inflation is at a 20-year-high, and where diverse, flourishing jobs were hard to find even before the Ukraine war.

McDonald’s leaves behind fast-food workers: 62,000 of them, across 850 restaurants. (They will continue to be paid until the outlets are sold to a local buyer, the company said.) Renault employed 45,000 people in Russia. Ikea’s 15,000 staff will be paid only until the end of August. Siemens had 3,000 people on its rolls in Russia, until it left the country in mid-May. Blue-collar and white-collar workers alike are joining the unemployed in a fast-building jobs crisis.

The Russian unemployment rate, which hovered around 4.6% in the first quarter of 2022, is likely to rise to 9% by the end of the year, according to a survey of analysts that Bloomberg conducted in April. Simultaneously, Russian year-on-year inflation shot up to nearly 18% in April. The combination will lead to a cost-of-living crunch that will hurt the average Russian citizen as well as the economy badly. According to a leaked document, Russian’s finance ministry expects the GDP to shrink by 12% this year, erasing a full decade of economic growth.


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The Russia-Ukraine conflict, explained

Everything you need to know about the conflict in Ukraine, and the impacts on the global economy.


WHY DID RUSSIA INVADE UKRAINE?

MAGE COPYRIGHT:SERGEY BOBOK / GETTY IMAGES

Russia’s invasion in Ukraine is driven in part by historical and cultural ties to the region.Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union until it collapsed in 1991.

Ethnic Russians accounted for 17% of its population at the time the last census was taken in 2001.
During the two decades Vladimir Putin has been in power in Russia, he has been focused on bringing Ukraine back into the country’s sphere of influence.

 
One of Putin’s earlier salvos included calling for a ban on potential Ukrainian membership in the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Ukraine evacuates steel plant soldiers and says it has stopped fighting in an apparent surrender of Mariupol

Sinéad Baker
Tue, May 17, 2022

A screenshot from footage shared by the Mariupol City Council in April showing Russian forces striking the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine with heavy artillery.

Mariupol City Council/Insider

The soldiers holding a steel plant in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, were being evacuated Monday.


The troops resisted Russia for weeks, but were surrounded and vastly outgunned.


Ukraine avoided using the word "surrender," but conceded that its fight in Mariupol was over.

Ukraine evacuated its soldiers from the steel plant in the pivotal city that had become a last holdout against weeks of attacks, effectively ceding the city to Russia.

The soldiers had been in the Azovstal steel plant for weeks, with many of them wounded and without adequate supplies of food and water.

The steel plant was the last major point of resistance in the Mariupol, which was surrounded by Russian early in its invasion of Ukraine and subject to relentless attacks.

The city offers Russia a strategic advantage, giving Russia control over the land route from Russian-controlled Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.

A bus carrying wounded service members of Ukrainian forces from the besieged Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol drives under escort of the pro-Russian military in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict upon arrival in Novoazovsk, Ukraine May 16, 2022

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that the city was technically not able to fall to Russia because it had been so totally destroyed that there was no city left. He also pledged to retake the area, and rebuild.

General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Tuesday that it ordered the soldiers at Azovstal leave in order to save their lives.

It did not describe the withdrawal as a surrender, though it conceded that the soldiers would be taken to an area under Russian control, where they would be exchanged for captured Russians.

Ukraine's troops had long been outnumbered and had few options for resisting aerial and artillery bombardment from Russia soldiers surrounding the steel works.

The armed forces said that the evacuation of 53 "seriously wounded" soldiers had begun, and that they would be brought to a medical facility in Novoazovsk, a Russia-controlled town.

It said 211 more soldiers would be removed from the plant and ultimately exchanged for Russian prisoners.

"Mariupol defenders are heroes of our time. They are forever in history," the armed forces said.

The armed forces praised the troops for holding Azovstal so long, tying down Russian troops who were less able to attack other parts of Ukraine.

Hundreds of civilians, whom Ukraine said were mostly women and children, were also sheltering in the plant. They were evacuated earlier this month.

A heavily damaged building is seen in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 13, 2022.AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also said last month, before anyone was evacuated from the plant: "The city doesn't exist anymore. The remaining of the Ukrainian army and large group of civilians are basically encircled by the Russian forces."

There were still Ukrainian civilians in the city as of Monday. Ukraine has been trying to evacuate them, and says they have not been able to access food and water.

BANNED PHOSPHOROUS 

Burning munitions cascade down on Ukrainian steel plant - video

Sun, May 15, 2022, 

LONDON (Reuters) -White, brightly burning munitions were shown cascading down on the Azovstal steel works in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol in what a British military expert said looked like either an attack with phosphorus or incendiary weapons.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said "delicate" negotiations were proceeding on rescuing Ukrainian servicemen holed up beneath the vast complex.

A Ukrainian officer among the remaining defenders said 600 fighters remained, 40 of them seriously injured. Civilians have been evacuated from the labyrinth of bunkers.

Reuters was not able to immediately identify the type of munitions being used on the Azovstal complex or when the video was taken. It was posted on Sunday on the Telegram messaging application by Alexander Khodakovsky, a commander of the pro-Russian self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk.

"If you didn't know what it is and for what purpose - you could say that it's even beautiful," Khodakovsky said in a message beside the video. Khodakovsky could not be immediately reached for comment.

It was not immediately clear which forces had fired the munitions, or from where.

NOT ENOUGH MEDICINE OR SURGICAL EQUIPMENT

Denys Shlega, a commander of Ukraine's National Guard, described conditions beneath the plant as dire.

"There is not enough medicine or surgical equipment," Shlega told Ukrainian television. "At the moment, we have about 600 people who are injured. About 40 in a very serious condition."

Shlega said Russian forces had penetrated into parts of the steel plant "but this is not yet significant and we are holding on ... holding on with our last forces."

Russian forces have pummeled Mariupol for nearly two months.

Russia has not commented on what specific weapons it has used to attack the plant. The Russian defence ministry did not reply to a written request for comment about the video.

Ukraine's armed forces declined to make an immediate official comment. The prosecutor's office said it had launched an investigation into possible use of incendiary weapons.

White phosphorus munitions can be used on battlefields to make smoke screens, generate illumination, mark targets or burn bunkers and buildings. White phosphorus is not banned as a chemical weapon under international conventions.

Human rights groups have urged a ban on the use of phosphorus munitions because of the severe burns they cause. The United States used phosphorus munitions in the Vietnam war and the 2003-2011 Iraq war. Russia used them in the Chechen wars.

Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol's mayor, said that Russia had used incendiary or phosphorous bombs on Azovstal. Andryushchenko was speaking from Ukrainian-controlled territory. Reuters was unable to immediately verify his comments.

Hamish Stephen de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of Britain's Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said it looked very much like phosphorus in the video, but only a sample could give absolute confirmation.

"It does look very much like white phosphorus rockets or artillery shells which are exploding just above the ground or upon the ground," he told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by David Clarke)

Russians confirm they are hitting Ukrainian targets with banned cluster and phosphorus weapons Security Service of Ukraine

Ukrayinska Pravda

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2022

The Russian invaders confirm that they are using phosphorus and cluster weapons in Ukraine, which are prohibited by international conventions.

Source: another intercept of the invaders' conversation by the Security Service of Ukraine

Details: These are particularly dangerous and inhumane types of weapons.

Thus, the Russian Federation continues to grossly violate the laws and customs of war, in order to destroy as many peaceful Ukrainians as possible.

Since 2014, the Security Service of Ukraine has repeatedly recorded the use of prohibited weapons by Russian occupiers in the area of the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone/Joint Forces Operation. Since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, these war crimes have been committed by the occupiers along the entire front line. The Security Service of Ukraine documents each of them.

The intercepts and the collected data will be included in the materials for the international courts, so that no Russian war criminal escapes punishment, the intelligence service notes.

Quote from the occupier: "Yes, they are still waiting for Volodka (Putin -ed.). To get all this f*cked up, he will withdraw the troops and f*cking fire "Topols" here. And so, you see, everything that was forbidden by international conventions: cluster bombs, phosphorus – we were allowed everything, we let everything go there."

Ukraine will get worse for isolated Russia, analyst says on state TV


Service members of pro-Russian troops stand guard in Mariupol


Tue, May 17, 2022
By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters) - One military analyst had a brutally frank message for viewers of Russian state television: The war in Ukraine will get much worse for Russia, which is facing a mass mobilisation supported by the United States while Russia is almost totally isolated.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russia state media - and especially state television - have supported the Kremlin's position. Few dissenting voices have been given air time.

That appeared to have changed on Monday night when one well-known military analyst gave a blunt assessment to Russia's main state television channel of what Putin casts as the "special military operation".

"You should not swallow informational tranquilizers," Mikhail Khodaryonok, a retired colonel, told the "60 Minutes" talk show on Rossiya-1 hosted by Olga Skabeyeva, one of the most pro-Kremlin journalists on television.

"The situation, frankly speaking, will get worse for us," said Khodaryonok, a regular guest on state TV who gives often candid assessments of the situation.

He said that Ukraine could mobilise 1 armed million men.

Khodaryonok, a military columnist for the gazeta.ru newspaper and a graduate of one of Russia's elite military academies, cautioned before the invasion that such a step would not be in Russia's national interests.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and raised fears of the most serious confrontation between Russia and the United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Khodaryonok and Skabeyeva could not be reached for comment.

SENSE OF REALISM

The war has also shown the post-Soviet limits of Russia's military, intelligence and economic power: despite Putin's attempts to bolster his armed forces, the Russian military has fared badly in many battles in Ukraine.

An encirclement of Kyiv was abandoned and Russia has turned its focus instead towards trying to establish control over Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. The West has supplied billions of dollars of arms to Ukrainian forces.

Losses are not publicly reported but Ukraine says Russian losses are worse than the 15,000 Soviets killed in the Soviet-Afghan war of 1979-1989.

"The desire to defend one's motherland in the sense that it exists in Ukraine - it really does exist there and they intend to fight to the last," Khodaryonok said before he was interrupted by Skabeyeva.

The biggest strategic consequences of Russia's invasion to date have been the unusual unity of the United States' European allies and bids by Sweden and Finland to join the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

Khodaryonok said Russia needed to see the reality.

"The main thing in our business is have a sense of military-political realism: if you go beyond that then the reality of history will hit you so hard that you will not know what hit you," he said.

"Don't wave rockets in the direction of Finland for goodness sake - it just looks rather funny," he said.

Russia, he said, was isolated.

"The main deficiency of our military-political position is that we are in full geopolitical solitude and - however we don't want to admit it - practically the whole world is against us - and we need to get out of this situation."

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alison Williams)

YouTuber Emma Chamberlain’s Met Gala necklace, allegedly stolen from Indian royalty, sparks debat



Jane Nam
Mon, May 16, 2022,

Twitter users expressed divided opinions on popular YouTuber Emma Chamberlain’s Met Gala, Cartier-designed diamond choker, which was allegedly stolen by the British from India.

The necklace, lent to the vlogger for the event, reportedly disappeared from the Patiala royal treasury around 1948. Prior to that, it had belonged to Indian ruler Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, one of the richest men in the world during his reign from 1900-1938.

In the center of the choker is a golf ball-sized, yellow 23.6 carat De Beers diamond, at one point the seventh-largest in the world. With an additional 2,930 diamonds, the necklace has a total carat weight of over 1,000.

The necklace reportedly resurfaced at a London store in 1998, where French luxury brand Cartier, which specializes in high-end jewelry, then acquired it.

Netizens commented throughout the week about the necklace, which Chamberlain, who has over 11.4 million YouTube subscribers, had worn to the Met Gala on May 2.



“Okay so nobody is gonna talk about Emma chamberlain wearing literally a necklace worn by a south Asian king at the met gala? When it comes to south Asians it’s always ignored and rejected SPEAK ABOUT THIS,” commented one user with the hashtag #culturalappropriation.

“This fills me up with rage, this level of disrespect is unacceptable,” wrote another user.



Others were not so impressed, arguing that Chamberlain was not to blame.

“Plz why did I just see someone say they think Emma Chamberlain should have kept the Maharaj's necklace and delivered it back to India... as if she had that much power.”

Some simply did not find the situation problematic, with multiple netizens claiming that “nobody cares.”

S. Vijay Kumar, founder of the India Pride Project, a citizens’ platform that traces India’s lost treasures, explained the difficulty of asserting ownership over stolen antiques.

He listed the Koh-i-Noor and Golconda Orlov diamond as other examples of smuggled jewels that have found their way to other countries, including the latter which is currently located in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.

“It’s a pity that India doesn’t assert its weight in seeking to stop the open auction and display of its plundered treasures,” he added.

Ambiguity in international laws make it nearly impossible to obtain stolen items, especially considering that many of them have no documentation that would make it possible to trace back their ownership history.

THE MOONSTONE, COLIN WILKIE

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.202518

Why Urdu language draws ire of India’s right-wing


Zoya Mateen - BBC News, Delhi
Mon, May 16, 2022,

Urdu is a hugely popular and widespread language in India but some want to disown it

Who does Urdu belong to?

India's right-wing seems to think it's a foreign import, forced upon by so-called Islamic invaders.

The latest fracas happened in April when a reporter from a far-right news channel barged into a popular fast-food chain and heckled its employees for labelling a bag of snacks in what she thought was Urdu. The label turned out to be in Arabic, which many say underlines the broad-brush attempt to classify anything that has roots in Islamic culture as the same.

Last year, clothing retailer Fabindia was forced to withdraw an advert whose campaign title was in Urdu after protests from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.

In the past, politicians elected to state assemblies have been barred from taking oath in Urdu; artists have been stopped from painting Urdu graffiti; and cities and neighbourhoods have been renamed. Petitions have been filed seeking the removal of Urdu words from school textbooks.

Such attacks on Urdu, many believe, is part of a larger push to marginalise India's Muslim population.

"It clearly shows that there is a pattern of attack on symbols associated with Muslims," says Rizwan Ahmad, professor of sociolinguistics at Qatar University.

Is India waging a 'war' on Islamic names?

'Why a name change killed my city's soul'

Others say it also fits a broader right-wing agenda of the political rewriting of India's past.

"The only way that the political project of shackling Indian languages by religion can proceed is by cutting off modern Indians from a huge amount of their history," historian Audrey Truschke says.

"That severing may serve the current government's interests, but it is a cruel denial of heritage for everyone else."

The birth of Urdu can be traced to the late 18th Century

The BBC tried to reach out to three BJP leaders in connection with this story but met with no response.

A supple and expressive language, Urdu has been the preferred choice for some of India's most famous poets and writers. Some of India's most acclaimed writing has come from Urdu writers like Saadat Hassan Manto and Ismat Chughtai.

Urdu's elegance and emphasis on smooth diction have inspired both fiery nationalist poetry and romantic ghazals (semi-classical songs). It has also been the beating heart of Bollywood songs.

Opponents of the language say that Urdu belongs to Muslims whereas Hindus only speak Hindi. But history and lived experiences show quite the opposite.

What we know as Urdu today can be traced back to Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, all of which arrived in India through waves of trade and conquests.

"This common tongue was born out of the cultural hybridisation that happened in the Indian subcontinent," historian Alok Rai says.

"And it acquired different names over its evolution: Hindavi, Hindustani, Hindi, Urdu or Rekhta."

A rare Urdu book in a worn out state at a public library in Delhi

Dr Rai says that 'Urdu' - using quotes to differentiate it from its spoken forms - was the literary style invented in the last years of the Mughal dynasty in the late 18th Century by the aristocracy that clustered around the courts in Delhi.

This 'Urdu' was not seen as a Muslim language, as it is today, but had a class element - it was the tongue spoken by the elite of north India, which included Hindus as well.

'Hindi', on the other hand, was the literary style that developed in the late 19-20th Century in present-day Uttar Pradesh state, drawing from the same common base "but seeking to mark a difference".

While 'Urdu' borrowed words mostly from Persian - the elite lingua franca of medieval India - 'Hindi' took them from Sanskrit, the language of ancient Hindu texts.

"So both the languages rest on a shared grammatical base," Dr Rai explains, "but both Hindi and Urdu have also for political reasons developed myths of origin" .

What Dr Rai says is that speakers of both communities laid claim to what was a common language but ended up dividing it out of their anxiety of maintaining a separate identity.

"The whole situation would be slightly farcical if it didn't have such tragic consequences," he says.

The right-wing thinks Urdu belongs to Muslims whereas Hindus only speak Hindi - but that is far from the truth

The division was strengthened under the rule of the British, who began to identify Hindi with Hindus, and Urdu with Muslims. But the portrayal of Urdu as foreign is also not new in right-wing discourse.

Mr Ahmad says Hindu nationalists in the late 19th Century claimed legitimacy for Hindi as the official language of courts in north India. The British had changed the official language from Persian to Urdu in 1837.

The division reached its peak in the years leading to 1947 when India was partitioned into two separate states. "Urdu became one of the causes pursued by the Muslim League [which endorsed the idea of separate state for India's Muslims] and "an access to mobilisation for the demand of Pakistan", Dr Rai says.

Not surprisingly Urdu became an easy target - Uttar Pradesh banned it in schools and Dr Ahmad says that a lot of Hindus also abandoned the language at the time.

Collecting 'difficult memories' of partition's witnesses

The race to find India's hidden languages - BBC Future

Dr Truschke says that with Urdu, the right-wing has tried to create a past which doesn't exist: "If Urdu is suddenly supposed to be an exclusively Muslim language, are we never to speak again of the many Hindus who have written in Urdu or that some of our earliest Hindi manuscripts are in Perso-Arabic script?"

Schools in Uttar Pradesh state had banned Urdu in schools after Partition

Also, what about Urdu words which are liberally used in Hindi speech?

"The word jeb or pocket comes from Arabic via Persian. What is the Hindi equivalent? Probably none. And what about the timeless words like mohabbat (love) or dil (heart)?," Dr Ahmad says.

At the same time, languages are also markers of a faith, he adds.

"Urdu-speaking Muslims are more likely to use the word maghrib for sunset than Hindus. This is not different from how the language of upper caste Hindus shows difference from that of the lower caste in the same village - each language exists on a continuum."

Mr Rai says that attempts to remove Urdu from Hindi has "degraded" the latter.

"This Hindi is not the language of popular speech, it is sterile and devoid of emotional resonance."

NEOLIBERALISM SOLVES NO CRISIS EVER

Sri Lanka proposes privatizing national airline amid crisis

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s new prime minister on Monday proposed privatizing the country’s loss-making national airline as part of reforms aimed at solving the country worst economic crisis in decades.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a message to the people that he plans to propose a special relief budget that will take the place of the development-oriented budget earlier approved for this year, He said it would channel funds previously allocated for infrastructure development to public welfare.

He said the country's financial health is so poor that the government has been forced to print money to pay the salaries of government workers and buy other goods and services.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister last Thursday in a bid to quell the island nation’s political and economic crisis.

The president’s brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, stepped down as prime minister on May 9 amid violence that left nine people dead and more than 200 wounded. Protesters have demanded the powerful Rajapaksa family resign to take responsibility for leading the country into the economic crisis.

For months, Sri Lankans have been forced to wait in long lines to purchase scarce imported essentials such as medicines, fuel, cooking gas and food because of a severe shortage of foreign currency. Government revenues have also plunged.

Wickremesinghe said Sri Lankan Airlines lost about $123 million in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ended in March, and its aggregate losses exceeded $1 billion as of March 2021.

“Even if we privatize Sri Lankan Airlines, this is a loss that we must bear. You must be aware that this is a loss that must be borne even by the poor people of this country who have never stepped on an airplane,” Wickremesinghe said.

Sri Lankan Airlines was managed by Emirates Airlines from 1998 to 2008.

Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repayment of about $7 billion in foreign loans due this year out of $25 billion to be repaid by 2026. The country's total foreign debt is $51 billion. The finance ministry says the country currently has only $25 million in usable foreign reserves.

Wickremesinghe said about $75 billion is needed urgently to help provide people with essential items, but the country's treasury is struggling to find even $1 billion.

Shortages of medicines are so acute that it is difficult to buy anti-rabies medicines and drugs to treat heart disease, he said.

“I have no desire to hide the truth and to lie to the public. Although these facts are unpleasant and terrifying, this is the true situation. For a short period, our future will be even more difficult than the tough times that we have passed,” Wickremesinghe said.

“We will face considerable challenges and adversity. However, this period will not be long," he said, adding that countries with which he has spoken have pledged to help in the next few months.

Wickremesinghe is struggling to form a new Cabinet, with many parties reluctant to join his government. They say Wickremesinghe's appointment goes against tradition and the people's will because he was defeated in 2020 elections and joined Parliament only through a seat allocated to his party.

However, parties have said they will support positive measures by Wickremesinghe to improve the economy while they remain in the opposition.

The main opposition United People’s Force party has introduced a no-confidence motion against the president for "not having properly exercised, performed and discharged the powers of the president under the constitution.”

The motion, to be taken up Tuesday, accuses Rajapaksa of being responsible for the economic crisis by introducing untimely tax cuts and prohibiting the use of agrochemicals, which resulted in crop failures.

Passage of the motion would not legally bind Rajapaksa to quit, but his refusal to do so could intensify anti-government protests and rock negotiations with other countries on economic aid. A challenge of Wickremesinghe's appointment could also endanger the negotiations, which he leads.

Sri Lanka down to last day of petrol, new prime minister says

Peter Hoskins - Business reporter
Tue, May 17, 2022

Vehicles queue at a petrol station in Colombo

Sri Lanka's new prime minister says the country is down to its last day of petrol as it faces its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years.

In a televised address, Ranil Wickremesinghe said the nation urgently needs $75m (£60.8m) of foreign currency in the next few days to pay for essential imports.

He said the central bank would have to print money to pay government wages.

Mr Wickremesinghe also said state-owned Sri Lankan Airlines may be privatised.

The island nation's economy has been hit hard by the pandemic, rising energy prices, and populist tax cuts. A chronic shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation had led to a severe shortage of medicines, fuel and other essentials.

Ravindu Perera, who lives in the capital Colombo, said he and his family had begun searching for fuel before daybreak on Monday.

"We went to several fuel stations and most of them were closed. At around 5.30am we took a chance and joined a queue at Townhall which is the station usually providing fuel for government vehicles," he told the BBC.

"It was less crowded - but the queue gradually grew to about 2km long. We were lucky enough to get fuel around 9.00am once fuel was delivered."

He said his friends outside the capital were having to wait even longer. "I'm working from home now to try and save fuel because who knows when I'll get a full tank again."

Sri Lanka's crisis explained

How the soaring cost of living is hitting Sri Lankans hard

How Sri Lanka's war heroes became villains

Auto rickshaws, the most popular means of transport in Colombo, and other vehicles have been queuing at petrol stations around the capital.

"At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day. The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives," said Mr Wickremesinghe in Monday's address.

However, shipments of petrol and diesel using a credit line with India could provide fuel supplies in the next few days, he added.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who was appointed prime minister last Thursday, said the country's central bank would have to print money to help meet the government's wage bill and other commitments.

"Against my own wishes, I am compelled to permit printing money in order to pay state-sector employees and to pay for essential goods and services. However, we must remember that printing money leads to the depreciation of the rupee," he said.

He also proposed selling off Sri Lankan Airlines as part of efforts to stabilise the nation's finances. The carrier lost 45 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($129.5m; £105m) in the year ending March 2021.

In recent weeks, there have been large, sometimes violent, protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family.

Last week, the president's elder brother Mahinda resigned as prime minister after government supporters clashed with protesters. Nine people died and more than 300 were wounded in the violence.

On Friday, Mr Wickremesinghe told the BBC, that the economic crisis is "going to get worse before it gets better".

In his first interview since taking office, he also pledged to ensure families would get three meals a day.

Appealing to the world for more financial help, he said "there won't be a hunger crisis, we will find food".

Sri Lanka: The basics

Sri Lanka is an island nation off southern India: It won independence from British rule in 1948. Three ethnic groups - Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim - make up 99% of the country's 22m population.

One family of brothers has dominated for years: Mahinda Rajapaksa became a hero among the majority Sinhalese in 2009 when his government defeated Tamil separatist rebels after years of bitter and bloody civil war. His brother Gotabaya, who was defence secretary at the time, is now president.

Now an economic crisis has led to fury on the streets: Soaring inflation has meant some foods, medication and fuel are in short supply, there are rolling blackouts and ordinary people have taken to the streets in anger with many blaming the Rajapaksa family and their government for the situation.

Climate change disrupting 'language of life' across all ecosystems



Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Mon, May 16, 2022,

Chemical signals - the language of life - are being disrupted by climate change.

Living beings don’t just communicate through sound – we also communicate through chemicals using smell to find mates, food and stay away from predators.

But climate change is disrupting these processes, which Hull University researchers describe as ‘the language of life’.

Most worryingly, the change, driven by warming temperatures, is affecting organisms not just in one place, but across land, rivers and oceans – in the same patterns.

It is the first time that researchers have demonstrated that climate change affects interactions between organisms in different realms in a similar way.

Read more: Melting snow in Himalayas drives growth of green sea slime visible from space

Chemical communication plays an essential role in ecosystems, enabling organisms to mate and interact with each other; locate predators, food and habitats; and sense their environment.

The opinion paper demonstrates the extent to which alterations in temperature, carbon dioxide and pH levels – that are created as a result of climate change – can affect every single step of this fundamental way that organisms communicate with each other.

Dr Christina C. Roggatz, research fellow in Marine Chemical Ecology at the University of Hull and lead author of the paper, said: “This is a wake-up call. We are heavily reliant on the Earth’s ecosystems and the chemical communications that regulate them.

“The predominantly negative effects that climate change has upon the language of life within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems could have a range of far-reaching implications for the future of our planet and human wellbeing, for example by impacting food security and fundamental ecosystem services that make our planet habitable.

“Although a growing number of studies suggest that climate change-associated stressors cause adverse effects on the communication between organisms, knowledge of the underlying mechanisms remains scarce.

“We urgently need a systematic approach to be able to compare results and fully understand the potentially disruptive impact that climate change is having upon each step of this fundamental communication process. Understanding this means we are better equipped to predict and protect the future of our planet.”

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

The paper reveals universal patterns of impacts from climate change across different realms.

It identifies key aspects that urgently need to be understood in order to improve our ability to predict and mitigate the effects of climate change.

The authors have also called for a systematic, universal framework approach to address highlighted knowledge gaps.

Dr. Patrick Fink, co-author and research group leader at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, said: “Chemical communication is the ubiquitous language of life on earth – but this is being jeopardised by global change.

“There's no talking with words for life under water, so aquatic organisms 'talk' in chemical signals. But this fine-tuned 'language' is in peril.

"Globally changing climate and water chemistry are causing acidification threats that may disturb chemical information exchange among freshwater and marine organisms.”

Climate change is heating up Florida. That could bring more wildfires, new report warns


Alex Harris

MIAMI HERALD
Mon, May 16, 2022

When Hurricane Michael tore through North Florida in 2018 as a Category 5 storm, it left more than 3 million acres of felled trees in its wake.

Those largely untouched trees were the perfect fuel for three simultaneous wildfires that raged through the region in March. The Chipola Complex fires turned the skies smoky and blood red, destroyed two homes, prompted the evacuation of a thousand more and consumed more than 30,000 acres of forest before firefighters got it under control.

Research from First Street Foundation released Monday suggests that as climate change warms the planet, the risk of wildfires like those in Florida could double by mid-century. Matthew Eby, executive director of the nonprofit climate research group, said its modeling shows Florida’s current 6% of properties at risk from wildfires could jump to 12% by 2052.

“Florida is already a hot place, and it’s seeing an increase,” he said. “What you end up with is a pronounced effect of the changes of wildfire risk.”

On the national map First Street created, most of the increased risk is — unsurprisingly — in the West. But Florida is a lone dark red spot on the East Coast. That’s partially because the state is expected to stay hotter for more days of the year with climate change, and also because Florida is so developed that it physically has more pieces of property at risk than in other states, where thousands of acres may count as one property.

These maps show the average risk of wildfire damage per property in 2022 and in 2052 with climate change turning up the temperature.

While Florida is better known for its floods from rainstorms, hurricanes and high tides, the state has a long history of wildfires. The report suggests that as the state gets hotter, it could make it more likely for more wildfires to form.

“The fires aren’t bigger, they just take off more often because it is drier and it is hotter,” Eby said.

In South Florida, researchers found the biggest risk is for homes near the eastern border of the Everglades. Earlier this month, ash and smoke from three separate Everglades fires were visible in Weston.

Florida’s Polk County was No. 5 on a national ranking of counties with the highest number of properties at risk of wildfire. By First Street’s math, 88% of the county’s 380,000 properties had a 1% chance of experiencing a wildfire in the next 30 years. Osceola and Pasco, although smaller counties, have similar percentages of properties at risk.

This map shows historic wildfires across Florida from roughly 1994-2020 using data from the monitoring trends in burn severity program (MTBS). New research from First Street Foundation suggests wildfire risk could double in Florida due to climate change.

Bryan Williams, a meteorologist with the Florida Forest Service, said First Street’s findings make sense to him. He sees an opportunity for more fires in Florida as the state gets hotter with climate change.

“Look at the past five years. Florida has basically been on the very warm side of things,” he said. “You’re seeing more drought, you’re seeing higher temps, and in April and May you’re seeing relative humidity getting pretty low. It’s kinda one of those trends that you look at and it’s concerning.”

Williams says fire season, like hurricane season, has a peak. And in Florida, that’s April and May. As of Monday, most of the state was ranked at “moderate” fire risk, the second-lowest level.

Florida fires are most commonly started by lightning, he said, and unlike in the West, where fire easily races uphill, in Florida, fires mainly spread by wind.

“We’ve had issues where a whole neighborhood gets smoked in by a fire if the wind is right that day,” Williams said. The next day, with a wind shift, they can be clear.

Three simultaneous wildfires in North Florida burned more than 34,000 acres, destroyed two homes and forced evacuations from more than a thousand homes in March. New research suggests climate change could double Florida’s fire risk in the next 30 years.

What’s your fire risk?

Unlike with flooding, there’s no nationally accepted standard for what counts as a property at risk from fire. So First Street made its own standard — about a 1 percent chance that a property could experience a wildfire within the next 30 years.

That means a home with fire risk has a far lower chance of experiencing a fire than a house that the federal government deems at flood risk, which is when a property has a 26% chance of flooding over a 30-year period.

Eby said that’s because the consequences of a fire are much more intense than a flood.

“When you think of fire, there’s no such thing as a little bit of wildfire in your home,” he said. “When you have a wildfire in your home, the structure is usually destroyed.”

This map shows the change in burn probability in all Florida counties over the next 30 years due to climate change. The percent increase indicates a range, so the darkest counties (like Collier) could see an increase of 133 to 170% in burn probability.

Along with the national report, First Street also launched a tool that lets users check the fire risk — now and in the future — for individual properties. It’s available on any real estate listing on Realtor.com, part of a collaboration that informs property buyers of the chance of climate change-driven floods and fires affecting their homes in the future.

Eby said the new fire section will go above the listing for nearby schools on the site, along with previous First Street data about flood risk.

“I think that speaks volumes to what they’re hearing from consumers and users as to the request and need for this,” he said.

Three simultaneous wildfires in North Florida burned more than 34,000 acres, destroyed two homes and forced evacuations from more than a thousand homes in March. New research suggests climate change could double Florida’s fire risk in the next 30 years.

Canada opens public consultations on national climate adaptation strategy


A male elk crosses the Yellowhead Highway in Jasper National Park, Alberta

Mon, May 16, 2022
By Nia Williams

(Reuters) - Canada launched the public consultation phase of a national climate adaptation strategy on Monday, aimed at developing its first-ever framework to help cope with increasing natural disasters and other severe impacts from global warming.

During the three-month consultation period Canadians are being asked for input on how communities and businesses should prepare for climate-related disasters like wildfires, rising sea levels and melting permafrost.

The climate in Canada is warming twice as fast as the global average, and the consultation comes as recent flooding displaces communities in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.

"No corner of Canada is untouched, the costs of climate change are mounting in all parts of the country," Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told a news conference, adding that in the last few years the impacts of climate change had cost the country C$30 billion ($23.28 billion).

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," he said.

Canada is aiming to cut climate-warming carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. Guilbeault said the country needs to work simultaneously on reducing carbon pollution and preparing for the impacts of climate change as temperatures rise.

Recent extreme weather events include a series of atmospheric rivers that flooded British Columbia in November and a record-breaking "heat dome" in western Canada last summer that was followed by destructive wildfires.

Ottawa plans to release the final adaptation strategy by fall 2022. It will focus on long-term and short-term goals for Canada's economy, infrastructure, disaster resilience, natural environment and the health and well-being of Canadians.

Short-term priorities include enhancing food security, updating building codes and expanding Canada's network of trained responders for when natural disasters strike.

Analysts at the Canadian Climate Institute think tank said Canada is lagging other countries in preparing for the impacts of climate change, and the new strategy would help address the underinvestment to date.

($1 = 1.2884 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Nia Williams; editing by Jonathan Oatis)