Super Poll Q&A: Is EU-wide conservative coalition losing momentum?

The Euronews Super Polls foresee an election victory for the EPP, unprecedented growth for the ultraconservatives, and a slight increase for the socialists. Data suggest that crafting the future ruling coalition could turn out to be a political conundrum.

According to the Euronews Super Polls, one thing looks certain: after the 6-9 June elections, the European Parliament will have a clear right-wing majority.

Furthermore, the forces of the conservative camp — from the centre-right to the far-right — will have to overcome deep rifts and contradictions among each other to craft a functional alliance.

Meanwhile, the conservative groups will hardly be able to join their forces in one strong coalition.

Socialist parties have been slightly and steadily growing for three months, while the liberal-democrats of Renew are on a fast-declining path.

Finally, here is a bit of trivia rather than political data: the only countries where the far right is expected to have a meaningless showing are Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta.

We asked Boyd Wagner, chief analyst of the Euronews Polls Centre, to help us better understand the results of our latest Super Poll in nine representative EU countries.

Euronews: In Germany, the union's largest economy, the Christian Democrats (CDU) are steadily leading the opinion polls. How do you comment on this?

Wagner: The EPP (European People's Party) will continue to get its biggest boost from the German coalition, the German group, the CDU, and the CSU (German and Bavarian Christian Democrats, respectively).

We project them to be at about 30%. They should break the 30% threshold in Germany next week. And that should be a big boom for the EPP group.

Euronews: The far-right party Alternative for Germany seems to be losing some of its appeal to the German electorate and could be outpaced by the Social Democrats (SPD) as the second party. Is this due to the recent scandals and accusations against some of its members of being Russian influence agents and the declarations of sympathy to the SS by the head of the party's European Parliament electoral list, Maximilian Krah?

Wagner: We might see a greater impact when the people go to vote in a week or so, in Germany, that the SS scandal has a greater impact. it's really going to be probably the SS scandal because of the fact that it keeps them out of the (far-right) Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament. So, just the reverberation of that scandal is going to have an effect on everything that is going to play out in the long term.

Euronews: In France, the landslide victory of Jordan Bardella, from Marine Le Pen's National Rally, is a foregone conclusion. The gripping race is for the second position between two staunch pro-EU candidates, the Renaissance's Valérie Hayer and the Socialist Party's Raphaël Glucksman. Isn't it?

Wagner: You can see the Socialist party in France really making big-time gains on Rennaisance's heels. I think that is going to become their bigger concern for Macron and the group. I think that the Renaissance cannot afford to be looking at trying to make sure that they're getting closer to the National Rally at this time; they need to make sure that they stay in the strong second place and don't let the socialists come at their heels"

Euronews: Is Glucksman's Socialist Party a real threat to the so-called "presidential majority" both in France and Europe?

Wagner: Rennaisance shouldn't let the socialists come at their heels, as they're doing right now, just with a little bit more than a week ahead of the election, as we kind of track these last set of numbers on a two-week bit on the two-week basis before we had. The Macron list is at 16.6%, and the Socialists are at just under 14%. So we're now inching very, very, very close between those two parties right now.

Euronews: Italy is the other important piece of the EU's far-right ultra-conservative camp. Post-fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni steadily occupies the first position. We have assisted in the past couple of weeks with a cautious rapprochement between Meloni (her party is an ECR member) and the number one of the French opposition, Le Pen (her party is affiliated with Identity and Democracy). Do you think that they could be tempted to join their forces, create a new group, and let go of the project of a "pro-von der Leyen" conservative coalition (without Le Pen)?

Wagner: I certainly don't think that PM Meloni would think that it's the death of that possibility. If we include everybody in there, and I'm going to exclude the AfD — now that they've been excluded from the Identity and Democracy group — you have 60 to 65 seats from the ID, and you're looking at over 80 seats from the ECR. That together becomes a formidable number two, potentially number two; they could be bigger than the S&D in the European Parliament. And that would mean that there is a strong right-wing that then needs to be considered.

Now, can the EPP still work with this? This is something that they're going to have to consider. And at the end of the day, just having that many seats to the right of them is not enough. Either the EPP decides to get in coalition with them or not, or they decide to form a government with them.

Either way, they're going to have to reckon with the power that is on right now because it's much more inflated than it had been previously.

Euronews: Let's move now to Spain. Looking at the Euronews Super Poll, the Partido Popular is slightly leading the polls, followed by the socialist party, PSOE. Is Spain the last bastion of the mainstream parties of the European political tradition?

Wagner: The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) was the largest party. They are the party of government right now in Spain. We don't project them to be the winning party. But it's not like you're seeing some more right-wing party kind of coming to the fore to take that place. You're not seeing the rise of Vox as much as we might have thought.

Instead, it's kind of ending up as a fight between those two establishment parties, the Partido Popular and the PSOE. And, as we track them right now, it looks like it's going to be the Partido Popular that is going to take the lead, but it's still close to call.

As we kind of project things out, we're looking at 25 MEPs for the EPP, for the PP in Spain, and we're looking at just 20 for the PSOE and the S&P. Again, that's a very unique one.

Euronews: So, let me conclude that the EPP group will be a German-Polish-Spanish affair. What is your analysis of this?

Wagner: It's very clear that it's going to be driven by the Germans, driven by the Spanish. And, I think in third place, you probably will see the Polish. I think you're right about that. The EPP will stand to benefit from it's the Eastern flank of Europe.

I think on the eastern flank of Europe, you're seeing a lot of these more traditional parties accumulate more votes than they had before. So I think that the EPP will do better there. But at the end of the day, there are just not as many MEPs and seats in the European Parliament to be found in some of those countries. So they're really going to have to be buoyed by the Spanish, by the Germans, by the Polish.

Euronews: Romania is another interesting exercise in the fine art of political coalition design. Could the next European Parliament be inspired by the structure of the current ruling coalition in Romania?

Wagner: It certainly looks that way. We project the EPP to be the leader with about 11 members in the next European Parliament. We project the S&D to be right behind them with nine members. There's seven for the ECR. And then you have five for the Renew group.

Again, the hardest thing to track with Romania is just exactly because they're running for their own national parliament elections as well.

Euronews: I would move to the Netherlands. Are they going to confirm the results of the recent national elections?

Wagner: The Netherlands is an interesting track because they had their own internal battles that they have been waging for some time, and it looks like they're coming to some conclusions there.

It does look like I think that they will be confirming their own government in due time very soon. So, as we put it right now, you're looking at nine MEPs from the Netherlands for the ID, so that's it's certainly a strong position to take on the right

Euronews: How about Belgium? They will also hold their Federal elections on the same day as the European elections.

Wagner: Belgium is always a very tough one to put the finger on. You're thinking about where we track with where members of the European Parliament are going to be sitting from Belgium. You also see again, there's a strong rise in the right, just like you see in the Netherlands next door, just like you're seeing in France next door.

It's going to be very well-proportioned. From Flanders (Dutch-speaking region), we are going to see most of the right-wing voters. Whereas in Wallonia (French-speaking region) you're going to see a stronger proportion of left voters.

Euronews: Regarding right-wingers, in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ultra-conservative Fidesz party is leading the poll, yet, for the first time, a new opposition party seems to be on the rise. Could Péter Magyar's movement become a political threat to Orbán?

Wagner: We track them right now at almost 20% in the polls. That's a very strong number for a group that is not technically a united opposition. Two years ago, when Hungary had its last national parliamentary elections, they ran as a united opposition, and they were able to achieve upwards of 30% of the vote, if I recall correctly. It still didn't come close to achieving a victory over Prime Minister Orban. So 20% is not going to get them close in terms of an overall movement. I don't really see it.

I mean, we still project for (Fidesz) to get over 40% of the vote in Hungary. They will maintain their spot as a clear leader, and they should double up on anybody. When you're looking at Magyar, I think most of his voters are actually coming from some of the other former opposition or the other opposition parties.

Indonesia's Mount Ibu erupts as disaster agency warns of possible floods, cold lava flow


01 June 2024 - BY BERNADETTE CHRISTINA


Mount Marapi volcano spews volcanic ash during an eruption as seen from Bukittinggi, West Sumatera province, Indonesia, May 30, 2024, in this photo taken by Antara Foto.
Image: Antara Foto/Al Fatah via Reuters

A volcano in Indonesia's eastern island of Halmahera erupted on Saturday spewing a five-kilometre high ash cloud, the country's volcanology agency (PVMBG) said, while its disaster agency warned of potential flash floods and cold lava flow.


The eruption of Mount Ibu at 11.03am follows a series of eruptions in May, after authorities noticed an uptick of volcanic activity starting in April, leading to the evacuation of seven nearby villages.

“The ash column is grey with thick intensity and leaning towards the southwest,” the agency said, adding that residents and tourists should maintain a distance of at least 7km from the active crater.

Footage shared by the agency showed the volcano spewing ash that grew thicker and eventually dispersed.

Indonesia's disaster management agency BNPB told local authorities to anticipate secondary disasters such as flash floods and cold lava flow. Analysis by the nation's meteorology agency shows the region has the potential for moderate to heavy rain, though it did not say when.

“If there is a build-up of material left over from the eruption, it should be cleaned up immediately because it is dangerous. If there is heavy rain, flash floods could occur, cause damage and many fatalities,” Suharyanto, the BNPB chief, had said in a statement on Friday.

The volcano has been on PVMBG's highest alert level since May 16. Mount Ibu's recent activity follows a series of eruptions of other volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has 127 active volcanoes.

Flash floods and cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, one of the most active volcanoes in West Sumatra province, covered several nearby districts after torrential rain on May 11, killing at least 67 people with 20 people still missing.

Reuters

 

Sasha Filipenko: 'It is difficult for Belarusians to fight both their own dictatorship and the foreign dictatorship that supports it'

Copyright Kate Frolova, 18 июля 2023 г.

By Ioulia Poukhli & Euronews

Published on 01/06/2024 - 

This article was originally published in Russian

Where is the "Kashcheyeva's Needle" of Lukashenko's regime? Will Europe slip into a "yard fight" with "mafiosi" in Minsk and Moscow? Writer, activist and political emigrant Sasha Filipenko tells Euronews about his hopes and fears for Belarus

On the night of 9-10 August 2020, thousands of Belarusians took to the streets of Minsk and other cities protesting against the announced results of the presidential election. In their opinion, Alexander Lukashenko's victory had been rigged. For many weeks, the peaceful Belarusian protest movement was covered by all the world's media; since then, the situation has changed dramatically. Sasha Filipenko, a Belarusian journalist, writer, literary prize winner and political activist living in exile, spoke to Euronews about four years of resistance, the fears and hopes of Belarusian society and life in and around a dictatorship.

Yulia Pukhlii, Euronews: Sasha, the protest movement in Belarus was brutally suppressed seven months later, in the last three years we have rarely seen Belarus in the news. How are things in your home country?

Sasha Filipenko: The people who hold power in Belarus are still trying to mop up every last bit of Belarus. Repression, unfortunately, continues. Every day there are searches, every day there are arrests, we see courts all the time and, I think, it only confirms that the protest has not stopped. It doesn't look as beautiful as the demonstrations of 2020, but these repressions, the constant temperature of maintaining repression shows that the Belarusian society, I am firmly convinced of it, has not given up. Belarusians have not given up and are looking for new ways of struggle and sabotage.

Архив: белорусский спецназ и манифестанты 15 ноября 2020 г. 16 мая 2024 года власти объявили об обысках и аресте имущества 104 активистов оппозиции, которые бежали из страны.AP/Copyright 2020 The AP. All rights reserved.

Yulia Pukhlii, Euronews: You were forced to leave the country and became one of the voices of this protest movement. You supported Maria Kolesnikova, who has been imprisoned in Belarus since 12 September 2020. According to her sister and father, there has been no contact with her for over a year. Her case is now being handled by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Human rights activists hope that this group will send a request to the Belarusian authorities, and we will be able to find out something about Maria. Do you know anything?

Sasha Filipenko: Unfortunately, no. We have no contact not only with Maria, but also with other political prisoners. This is a huge number of people, whose condition we know nothing about, with whom we can't contact relatives, we can't send parcels. And it seems to me that it reminds of such a trade: the Belarusian authorities raise the stakes after the Europeans stop buying people as a commodity, stop exchanging political prisoners for sanctions. The Belarusian regime says:"Okay, then we raise the degree of violence. And now, if you don't want to buy hostages from us, we'll cut off all ties and you won't even know what's wrong with them." And of course, against the background of what happened to Alexei Navalny, this is a cause for excitement, because we have no idea now what is with these people. It's as if the Belarusian regime is testing how strong the hearts and souls of Europeans are, who certainly can't tolerate the fact that people are treated in such a way.

Архив: активисты белорусской оппозиции Мария Колесникова и Максим Знак на судебном заседании в Минске, 6 сентября 2021 г. Колесникова отбывает 11-летний срок.Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA

Julia Pukhlii, Euronews: You were talking about sanctions, so they don't work?

Sasha Filipenko: This is a very complex issue, I often discuss it at speeches or when I meet European politicians. I think we have very different ideas about the purpose of sanctions. The sanctions that are now directed against Russia, against Belarus, Russia can wage a war with these sanctions for another 100 years. We see that Russia produces much more, 4 times more shells than Europe produces, we see that it does it cheaper. It is such a great coquetry when we send Ukraine 12 points in Eurovision and despite the sanctions, we send a huge amount of money to Russia. We see that European countries are still buying energy resources, buying gold, buying coal from the same mines that they used to buy from Russia, only now that coal is going through Kazakhstan and Estonia. In this sense, I think that some sanctions are working, but they just look rather comedic.

Лидер белорусской оппозиции Светлана Тихановская c портретом своего заключённого мужа на акции протеста в Вильнюсе 8 марта 2024 г. У неё нет вестей о Сергее более 430 дней.Mindaugas Kulbis/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

Yulia Pukhlii, Euronews: Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who headed the Coordinating Council to overcome the political crisis in Belarus (when she fled the country, where several criminal cases were opened against her), was received by leading European leaders, received by the President of the United States. In recent months we see Svetlana Tikhanouskaya less and less often, she participates in European and International forums. In your opinion, is Brussels' position on Tikhanouskaya, and on the opposition of Belarus in general, consistent?

Sasha Filipenko: I think so. And it seems to me that now it is already working in some other way. Apart from the fact that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya calls to pay attention to what is happening inside the country, she tries to help a huge number of Belarusians, who are now in Europe. It looks, on the one hand, like a leader of the opposition, and on the other hand, like a cabinet of ministers, which helps millions of Belarusians who have found themselves in Europe and have problems with documents, all the people who are left without documents face them. Of course, there is less interest in Belarus now, but we see the interest leaving Ukraine as well. I've formulated for myself that it's a bit like Netflix series: when people in Europe get very interested in the protests in Belarus, then the war in Ukraine, then when the conflict in the Middle East happens, everyone switches. It's as if we get tired of conflicts that are not resolved and we get involved in new conflicts with such interest, as in a new action film. Certainly, we in Belarus feel a little bit forgotten, we feel that we have already been given as a trophy to Moscow: if Moscow loses in this war, Belarus will be taken away as a trophy. And we feel that it is quite difficult for us to fight not only with our own dictatorship but also with a huge dictatorship that supports ours.

"Хлеб-соль по-белорусски": Александр Лукашенко приветствует Владимира Путина в международном аэропорту Минска 23 мая 2024 г.Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik

Yulia Pukhlii, Euronews: Lukashenko used to be called "the last European dictator". The Russian president visited him the other day, and Lukashenko was in Moscow on 9 May for the victory parade. Recently it was announced that the two countries will hold exercises using tactical nuclear weapons. The feeling is that the "last and penultimate dictators", as they are called in the Russian anecdote, feel very uninhibited. What do they want to show to the world, to Europe?

Sasha Filipenko: We are in Belarus, none of us considers Lukashenko a president. We consider him a man who holds power, no matter what he calls himself. We have seen this comedy inauguration when he inaugurates himself secretly - even from his associates. I think these people keep rattling their guns and scaring Europe because they think like Mafiosi and behave like Mafiosi. It seems to me that Lukashenko and Putin are ready for a yard fight and they are testing how ready Europe is for this fight. I think they want to show that they can do anything. Unlike many Europeans who still believe that the conflict(in Ukraine - Euronews) can be resolved diplomatically, they want to show that they are not going to give up. And in general, they are in a situation where they cannot give up. And they are at war not only with Belarusians, not only with Russians inside their country, not only with people in Ukraine, they are at war with the future. These are the people who are trying to turn both Russia and Belarus into the past, and in this sense they demonstrate that they have nowhere to retreat.

Yulia Pukhlii, Euronews: According to the constitution, elections in Belarus are held every 5 years. This means that next year there will be presidential elections again. What gave the 2020 protest movement? How might events develop?

Sasha Filipenko: I think it's quite difficult to make any predictions. I was at the protests in 2010: we were only 50 thousand people, and it was impossible to imagine that in 2020 millions of Belarusians will take to the streets. That's why it's hard for me now to imagine that there will be such mass protests in Belarus as there were in 2020. Absolutely, we can't imagine fair elections in Belarus, because the people who will hold these elections, they just hold the power for the last five years. For Belarusians, the "Kashchei's needle" is now in Moscow, and our future depends very much on what happens in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and on how Europe will treat Belarus. They often talk about "Europeans" and "Belarusians". But we say every time:"We are Europeans too, we are here, we are not some separate nation somewhere very far away! We are a part of the European family. And it seems to me that if Europe would be stronger in defending and sending a very clear signal that Belarus is a part of the European family, it would certainly help us.

Архив: полиция в ходе протестов против результатов президентских выборов, Минск, ноябрь 2020 г. В феврале Лукашенко заявил: Запад по-прежнему хочет "дестабилизировать страну"BEL/Copyright 2020 The AP. All rights reserved

Julia Pukhlii, Euronews: In 2021 you wrote an open letter to the President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, your letter was published by the leading European newspapers, and the World Ice Hockey Championship was held only in Latvia, not in Belarus. You wrote to the president of the International Red Cross because the NGO refused to visit prisoners in Belarusian prisons - prisoners who, according to human rights organisations, are and have been tortured. At the same time you are a successful writer. Your novels, written in Russian, have been translated into 20 languages and are published in solid editions. Do you feel more like a writer or a political activist?

Sasha Filipenko: Against the background of what happened in Belarus in 2020, against the backdrop of the war that started in Ukraine, you have to understand that it concerns you and as a writer you face the question of the power of literature, what you can do in your book and whether it is possible to write now - against the background of the war? But it is absolutely certain that you can write to tell about Belarus every day in the leading European publications, so that Belarus would not be forgotten. These texts, my open letters, appeared in connection with the indignation I felt, for example, when the president of the hockey federation said that Belarus should host the World Hockey Championship because nothing would ever change anyway. In this sense you feel like a writer, of course, but sometimes you realise that it is more important to pay attention to what is happening in your country now. In Belarus, unfortunately, we don't have many strong voices in Europe, so if you have such an opportunity, I think it's my duty to talk about the fact that catastrophic, unacceptable things are still happening.

Архив: акция протеста против президента Беларуси Александра Лукашенко у здания Европарламента в Брюсселе 15 сентября 2020 г.Francisco Seco/Copyright 2020 The AP.All rights reserved

Yulia Pukhlii, Euronews: Are your books published in Belarus? Do you exist for Belarusians as a writer?

Sasha Filipenko: The situation, like many other situations in Belarus, is rather surreal. Because, for example, performances of my plays are banned. A criminal case has been opened against me, but I still don't know under what article. Books are sometimes available in bookshops, but they are not on the shelves. That is, you have to ask the seller if there are books by Filipenko and he, like a drug dealer, says:"Yes, come with me, I'll give you a book".

Unfortunately, writers are listened to less and less often now, because if you read our books carefully, we wrote already in 2010 and 2014 that this war would happen. Writers are often called "alarmists." It seems to me that it's not so much that writers need advice, but that society should sometimes listen to writers. I was speaking in Berlin recently, and my speech was delayed for 40 minutes because I was being addressed by well-known German politicians. And I said then that I think this world would be a little bit better and I hope it would be better when politicians speak after writers, not the other way round.

 

Starbucks, US workers’ union reach tentative agreements on key issues

By

 AFP

US coffee giant Starbucks reached tentative agreements with the Workers United union on a number of key issues during talks to draw up a collective bargaining framework, the two parties said Friday.

If ratified, the deal would be a Starbucks’ first in the United States. 

“The two-day bargaining session this week in Chicago advanced several matters within the framework intended to be the foundation of each single-store contract,” the two parties said in a joint statement. 

“We are pleased that the matters discussed were grounded in the needs and concerns of both the company and union-represented partners,” they added. 

They said they had reached an agreement in principle on a number of issues, including job protection, and support and training for unionized Starbucks employees.

“We are proud of our progress to date,” they continued, adding that the negotiations between the two sides would continue. 

Contacted by AFP, the group and the union did not confirm either the subjects still outstanding or the timetable for the third round of negotiations since talks between the two sides officially began on April 24.

The goal is to establish a “foundational framework” on key issues such as wages, scheduling policy and access to health care, the union said in a statement on April 23. 

Once this framework is agreed, contracts would then be negotiated by each individual store and ratified accordingly, according to Starbucks. 

The Workers United drive to organize was launched back in August 2021.

The union now represents more than 10,000 employees at over 425 locations in 43 states and the US capital. 

Starbucks owns nearly 10,000 coffee shops in the United States, and more than 900 in Canada, employing around 200,000 people.

In addition to Workers Union, the coffee giant is also negotiating with other unions representing employees in the US and Canada, including the powerful International Brotherhood of Teamsters in one branch in Pittsburgh, and United Steelworkers in 13 branches in Canada. 

Several thousand unionized employees went on strike in the United States on 16 November, the day of a major promotional campaign by the coffee chain for the year-end holiday season. 

 

May marks 12th straight month of record global heat: EU

By

 AFP

Last month was the hottest May on record and was the 12th consecutive month of historic heat on Earth, the EU climate monitor announced Wednesday. 

It is the latest red flag in a year already hit by climate extremes and rising greenhouse gas emissions, spurring fresh calls for more rapid action to limit global warming.

“The global average temperature for the last 12 months (June 2023-May 2024) is the highest on record… and 1.63 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average”, EU monitor Copernicus said, referring to the period before human-caused greenhouse gas emissions began warming the planet. 

Copernicus made the announcement in a coordinated publication with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and a speech by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres in New York, in which he called for a ban on advertising of fossil fuels. 

In May, the global average temperature was 1.52C above the pre-industrial average. 

May was also the 11th consecutive month since July 2023 at or above 1.5C compared with the pre-industrial era, Copernicus said. 

This doesn’t mean the 1.5C warming limit agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015 has been breached — that is measured in decades, not individual years.

The El Nino natural weather phenomenon, which increases global temperatures and has accentuated the effects of global warming for the past year, “is showing signs of ending”, the WMO said Monday. 

The opposing cycle, La Nina, which lowers global temperatures, is expected to begin later this year, according to the WMO. 

But scientists have warned the cooling effect could be miniscule compared to the effect human-caused global warming, which is already responsible for raising global temperatures by at least 1.2C since the end of the 19th century. 

Humanity’s climate impact like dinosaur-ending meteor: UN chief

By

 AFP

June 6, 2024

Humankind’s role in the destructive warming of the planet is comparable to the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday, calling for rapid steps including bans on fossil fuel advertising.

“Of the vast forces that have shaped life on Earth over billions of years, humanity is just one small blip on the radar,” Guterres said in a speech at New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

“But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact,” he warned.

“In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger. We are the danger.”

He said that the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service would officially report on Wednesday that May 2024 was the hottest May in recorded history.

“This marks twelve straight months of the hottest months ever,” Guterres said.

However he noted optimistically that humans “are also the solution” and called again for concerted global action to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

That target, the most ambitious of the near-decade-old Paris Agreement, is “hanging by a thread,” he said.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation is set to report on Wednesday that there is an 80 percent chance the global annual average temperature exceeds the 1.5 degree limit in at least one of the next five years, he said.

“The battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s — under the watch of leaders today. All depends on the decisions those leaders take — or fail to take — especially in the next 18 months,” he said.

Signatory countries of the Paris Agreement must submit new greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by early 2025.

Guterres called for humanity to take an “exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” putting a particular target on the fossil fuel industry, which he labeled “Godfathers of climate chaos.”

He also denounced advertisers as “enablers” who have helped fossil fuel companies to delay climate action.

“Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones,” he told the “Mad Men fuelling the madness.”

He also urged every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies, as many have done for “products that harm human health — like tobacco.”

The UN chief repeated a call for a tax on fossil fuel companies’ profits to finance the fight against global warming, while also mentioning unspecified “solidarity levies” on the aviation and shipping sectors.

Guterres also demanded again that rich countries phase out coal by 2030 and reduce oil and gas consumption by 60 percent by 2035.

Wealthy countries which are historically more responsible for carbon emissions should increase their climate aid to poorer, more at risk countries, he pleaded.

“We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands,” he said.

 

Canada sees third anti-Semitic attack in days

By

  AFP

Vancouver police searched Friday for an arsonist who set fire to the entrance of a synagogue, while stepping up security at other Jewish facilities following two other anti-Semitic attacks in the country in the span of a few days.

The incidents come as the bloody Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grinds into its eighth month.

The perpetrator poured fuel on the front doors of the Schara Tzedeck synagogue and set them on fire Thursday night, causing minor damage, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said.

No one was hurt and the blaze was quickly put out by members of the synagogue.

“This fire was intentionally set at a place of worship for the Jewish community,” police Constable Tania Visintin said in a statement. 

“While we collect evidence to identify the person responsible, we’re also working closely with faith leaders and community members to ensure everyone’s safety.”

The statement said additional officers were dispatched to Jewish community centers, schools and religious institutions.

“A synagogue in Vancouver was attacked last night in another disgusting act of anti-Semitism,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on X.

“We cannot let this hate or these acts of violence stand. This is not the Canada we want to be.”

The arson came less than a week after two Jewish schools — in Toronto and Montreal — were targeted by gunfire. 

In November, a Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire twice in one week.

No one was injured in any of those incidents.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Indian students in Canada halt hunger strike after meeting immigration official

Indian students in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, paused their total hunger strike after meeting Jeff Young, the province's immigration director. They are protesting against the recent immigration policy changes by the Canadian province that could lead to their deportation


Indian students have paused their no-liquid hunger strike after a meeting with a top immigration official in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

 (Photo: X/SamJensen541638)


India Today World Desk
New Delhi,

UPDATED: Jun 1, 2024
Written By: Girish Kumar Anshul

In Short

Indian students pause hunger strike in PEI after meeting top immigration official
However, no commitment has been made yet on extending work permits
PEI, received 12,000 PR applications, but will only nominate 1,590 per year

Indian students who are protesting in Prince Edward Island, a province in Canada, against the recent immigration policy changes have decided to pause their total hunger strike. The decision came after a meeting with Jeff Young, the director of the provincial Office of Immigration.

The hunger strike by Indian students started on May 24 and has entered its second week.

Rupinder Pal Singh, one of the protest leaders whose work permit expires on July 14, announced the pause, stating that Young encouraged them to halt the hunger strike while the government considers their demands, according to CBC News.

Rupinder Pal Singh explained that the Canadian government had all the necessary information and the protestors were waiting for a response.

"Since the government is cooperating with us, we will pause the hunger strike as requested. It seems they have understood our message and are working on it. The ball is in their court now, and we expect positive answers soon," Singh was quoted by CBC as saying.

Prince Edward Island (PEI) Workforce Minister Jenn Redmond confirmed that Young had been in contact with the protestors throughout the hunger strike but noted that Friday marked a significant point in the discussions.

Redmond emphasised that affected individuals need to contact the Office of Immigration or her department directly to discuss their cases.

"There was some misunderstanding as each case is individual," Redmond said. "It's challenging to communicate through one representative. We need to meet individuals for their specific cases," reported CBC news.

Redmond acknowledged the complexity of the situations and assured that the government would keep communication lines open to explore available pathways for those impacted.

Earlier in the week, Charlottetown member of Parliament (MP) Sean Casey urged the province to seek federal assistance to extend work permits for those most affected by the reduction in permanent residency nominations.

However, Redmond did not commit to making that request to Ottawa.

The province has received over 12,000 applications for its expression of interest draw for permanent residency but will only nominate 1,590 applicants per year.

Redmond explained that the province focusses on critical sectors such as health, education, childcare, and manufacturing.

This latest development shows a temporary pause in the protests as both sides work towards a resolution.

INDIAN STUDENTS PROTESTING IN PEI SINCE MAY 9

The Indian students have been protesting against the deportation in Prince Edward Island's Charlottetown since May 9, with many members starting a hunger strike just over a week ago, i.e, on May 24, on the lawn in front of the George Coles Building, where the PEI Legislature is located.

On Tuesday night, some protesters escalated their demonstration by also stopping their intake of liquids to draw more attention to their cause.

As a result of the hunger strike, their health conditions were deteriorating, and some even started to faint.

The Indian students consist of prospective immigrants who claim that their lives have been significantly disrupted by the changes to the province's immigration policy implemented in February.

These changes have made it much more difficult for individuals working in sales and service positions to be nominated for permanent residency by the province, even for those already employed on the Island.

Most of the protesters are recent graduates from Canadian universities or colleges. As international students, they were granted open work permits for three years and chose to work in a Canadian province, PEI, because of its reputation as a relatively straightforward pathway to earning permanent residency, which is the first step toward becoming a Canadian citizen.