It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Transformation of UN SDGs only way forward for sustainable development
University of Birmingham
Climate change is the single biggest threat to the global environment and socio-economic development – demanding an urgent transformation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a new study.
The UN SDGs were created to end poverty, build social-economic-health protection and enhance education and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and providing environmental protection.
Following last week’s COP29 environmental summit in Baku, University of Birmingham experts say that, as climate action is linked to sustainable development, systematic integration of climate resilience into every aspect of the SDGs is the only way of securing our planet’s future.
Publishing their findings today (26 Nov) in npj Climate Action, the interdisciplinary team of researchers, from across all five of the University's constituent Colleges, sets out a blueprint for transforming the SDGs by integrating climate action across all targets and indicators.
The researchers emphasise the need for sustainable agricultural practices, water management, and ocean conservation to mitigate climate impacts, with climate-resilient tools and policies helping to ensure food security and protect natural resources. Their five-point plan involves the following recommendations:
Align the Paris Agreement’s climate objectives with the SDGs to create a unified pathway for sustainable development.
Define clear short-term targets alongside long-term goals to provide a structured approach for achieving climate-resilient development.
Empower local communities to help develop and implement climate-focussed policies.
Establish a unified financial system to support climate-resilient sustainable goals, particularly in vulnerable regions.
Form an international panel to allow coordination and knowledge exchange between sectors.
Corresponding author Professor Francis Pope commented: “Climate change is the most significant contemporary threat to the environment, human well-being, and livelihoods. It impacts every one of the 17 SDGs, particularly through increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events.”
Lead author Dr Ajit Singh highlighted: “Embedding climate action within each SDG would ensure that climate resilience is a core component of sustainable development. If we fail to resolve tensions between development goals and climate action, we will find it impossible to secure the future of our planet and its people.”
The researchers note that climate change worsens poverty and inequality, as well as affecting health through disasters whilst influencing disease patterns and mental health. It reduces agricultural productivity and food security, whilst damaging water ecosystems and harming marine life.
They highlight the intricate links between climate change and poverty, health, education, and gender equality – calling for climate-resilient economic development and integration of climate education within school curricula to help communities to tackle climate challenges.
UN SDGs were developed through consultation with countries, international institutions and civil society. UN member states collectively agreed and formulated the global goals, but individual countries are responsible for reviewing and implementing progress towards SDG targets.
ENDS
For more information, interview requests, or an embargoed copy of the research paper, please contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)7827 832312: email: t.moran@bham.ac.uk
Notes to editor:
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
‘Delivering Sustainable Climate Action: Reframing the Sustainable Development Goals’ - Ajit Singh, Francis Pope, Jonathan Radcliffe, Carlo Lui, Hakeem Bakare, Suzanne Bartington, Nana O. Bonsu, John R. Bryson, Nic Cheeseman, Heather Flowe, Stefan Krause, Karen Newbigging, Fiona Nunan, Louise Reardon, Christopher D.F. Rogers, Karen Rowlingson, and Ian Thomson is published in npj Climate Action.
Journal
npj Climate Action
Method of Research
Data/statistical analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Delivering Sustainable Climate Action: Reframing the Sustainable Development Goals
Article Publication Date
26-Nov-2024
PALEONTOLOGY
Peru scientists unveil crocodile fossil up to 12 million years old
By AFP November 28, 2024 Paleontologists unveil the fossil of a young marine crocodile dating back 10 to 12 million years discovered in Peru
- Copyright ${image.metadata.node.credit} ${i
Paleontologists unveiled on Wednesday the fossil of a young marine crocodile dating back 10 to 12 million years that was discovered in a Peruvian desert.
The fossil of the gharial — or fish-eating — crocodile, around three meters long (nearly 10 feet), was discovered late 2023 in perfect condition in Peru’s Ocucaje desert, around 350 kilometers (190 miles) south of the capital Lima.
“This is the first time we found a juvenile of this species, that is to say, it had not reached its maximum size yet. It died before that,” vertebrate paleontologist Mario Gamarra told a news conference.
The skull and jaws of these specimens differed from that of today’s crocodiles and alligators, according to Gamarra, who headed the reconstruction of the fossil.
“They had an elongated snout and their diet was entirely piscivorous, feeding on fish,” said Gamarra.
“The closest current relative to this crocodile would be the Indian gharial,” he added.
The discovery was made jointly by Peru’s Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute and the La Union school.
Peru’s Ocucaje desert is rich in fossils, such as four-legged dwarf whales, dolphins, sharks and other species from the Miocene period — between 5 and 23 million years ago — that were previously discovered there.
Fossil dung reveals clues to dinosaur success story
Uppsala University
image:
A duo of sauropodomorphs; one munching on the newly evolved plants in a wet Early Jurassic environment whilst the other is looking up as if there was something hiding in the vegetation. Illustration: Marcin Ambrozik.
In an international collaboration, researchers at Uppsala University have been able to identify undigested food remains, plants and prey in the fossilised faeces of dinosaurs. These analyses of hundreds of samples provide clues about the role dinosaurs played in the ecosystem around 200 million years ago. The findings have been published in the journal Nature.
“Piecing together ‘who ate whom’ in the past is true detective work,” says Martin Qvarnström, researcher at the Department of Organismal Biology and lead author of the study. “Being able to examine what animals ate and how they interacted with their environment helps us understand what enabled dinosaurs to be so successful.”
Palaeontologists from Uppsala University, in collaboration with researchers from Norway, Poland and Hungary, have examined hundreds of samples using advanced synchrotron imaging to visualise the hidden, internal parts of the fossilised faeces, known as coprolites, in detail. By identifying undigested food remains, plants and prey, they have recreated the structure of the ecosystems at the time when dinosaurs began their success story.
The study focused on a previously underexplored region, Polish Basin, located in the Late Triassic time in the in the northern parts of the then supercontinent Pangea. The researchers built up a comprehensive picture of the Triassic and Jurassic ecosystems (from about 230 to 200 million years ago) by combining the information from the coprolites with climate data and information from other fossils: plants, bite marks, vomit, footprints and bones.
“The research material was collected over a period of 25 years. It took us many years to piece everything together into a coherent picture,” says Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, researcher at the Department of Organismal Biology and the study’s senior author. “Our research is innovative because we have chosen to understand the biology of early dinosaurs based on their dietary preferences. There were many surprising discoveries along the way.”
The coprolites contained remains of fish, insects, larger animals and plants, some of which were unusually well preserved, including small beetles and semi-complete fish. Other coprolites contained bones chewed up by predators that, like today’s hyenas, crushed bones to obtain salts and marrow. The contents of coprolites from the first large herbivorous dinosaurs, the long-necked sauropods, surprised the researchers. These contained large quantities of tree ferns, but also other types of plants, and charcoal. The palaeontologists hypothesise that charcoal was ingested to detoxify stomach contents, as ferns can be toxic to herbivores.
The research addresses a significant gap in current knowledge: the first 30 million years of dinosaur evolution during the Late Triassic period. Although much is known about their lives and extinction, the ecological and evolutionary processes that led to their rise are largely unexplored. The study results in a five-step model of dinosaur evolution that the researchers believe can explain global patterns.
The team emphasises that understanding how the first dinosaurs achieved their success can offer valuable insights into prehistoric ecosystems and evolutionary processes in general. The results show that dietary diversity and adaptability were crucial survival traits during the environmental changes of the Late Triassic.
“Unfortunately, climate change and mass extinctions are not just a thing of the past. By studying past ecosystems, we gain a better understanding of how life adapts and thrives under changing environmental conditions,” says Qvarnström.
“The way to avoid extinction is to eat a lot of plants, which is exactly what the early herbivorous dinosaurs did. The reason for their evolutionary success is a true love of green and fresh plant shoots,” Niedzwiedzki concludes.
s from a large fish with spiral gut (hence the spirals in the coprolite), showing fish scales indicative of diet. Illustration: Martin Qvarnström
CaptionLarge coprolite with fish remains: A coprolite fragment densely packed with fish bones, likely produced by the phytosaur Paleorhinus. Illustration: Martin Qvarnström
Coprolite from Smok: Fossil faeces of the bone-crushing archosaur Smok, with a Smok reconstruction in the background. Illustration: Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki
Digestive contents and food webs record the advent of dinosaur supremacy
Article Publication Date
27-Nov-2024
World’s oldest lizard wins fossil fight
University of Bristol
image:
Photo of the inside of the skull and lower jaw on the right and CT scan of the outside of the same bones on the left image. The images show the left side of the skull and lower jaw
Credit: 3D imagery by Sofia Chambi Trowell, photograph by David Whiteside
A storeroom specimen that changed the origins of modern lizards by millions of years has had its identity confirmed.
The tiny skeleton, unearthed from Triassic-aged rocks in a quarry near Bristol, is at least 205 million years old and the oldest modern-type lizard on record.
Recently, the University of Bristol team’s findings came under question, but fresh analysis, published today in Royal Society Open Science, proves that the fossil is related to modern anguimorphs such as anguids and monitors. The discovery shifts the origin of the whole lizard-snake group, called Squamata, back by 35 million years.
In the original study, Dr David Whiteside, Dr Sofia Chambi-Trowell and Professor Mike Benton, named the little critter Cryptovaranoides microlanius, meaning ‘hidden lizard, small butcher’ because of its identification as a lizard and its sharp teeth, probably used for cutting up prey animals for food. The Bristol team identified many anatomical features of the skull and skeleton that allowed them to place it well within Squamata, and even close to the Anguimorpha.
“We knew our paper would be controversial,” explained Dr Whiteside. “But we were confident that we had looked at every possible feature and compared it with everything we could.”
Professor Benton said: “We were therefore surprised, perhaps even shocked, that in 2023 another team of academics suggested that Cryptovaranoides was not a lizard or even a lizard relative, but in fact an archosauromorph, more closely related to crocodilians and dinosaurs.”
In checking their original work, and the questions posed in the rival paper, the Bristol team explored all the data, including the original specimen as well as the X-ray scans that show the details hidden within the rock. “We had the marvellous images from those CT scans as well as further access to the fossil which enabled us to check all their suggestions,” said Dr Chambi-Trowell. “We found that most of the concerns raised were wrong.”
Professor Benton added: “All the details of the skull, the jaws, the teeth, and the limb bones confirm that Cryptovaranoides is a lizard, not an archosauromorph.
“In our new paper, we provide great detail of every criticism made and we provide more photographs of the specimen and 3D images from the scans, so everyone can check the detail.”
Dr Whiteside concluded: “The result of all this had to be tested by a phylogenetic analysis.
“This is where we code hundreds of anatomical features in Cryptovaranoides and other modern and fossil lizards, as well as various archosauromorphs.
“We ran the analysis time after time, and it gave our original result, that the little Bristol reptile is indeed the world’s oldest modern-type lizard.”
The paper
Whiteside DI, Chambi-Trowell SAV, Benton MJ. 2024 Late Triassic †Cryptovaranoides microlanius is a squamate, not an archosauromorph. R. Soc. Open Sci. 11: 231874. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231874
Life restoration of the earliest lizard, Cryptovaranoides microlanius
Credit
Lavinia Gandolfi
Journal
Royal Society Open Science
Method of Research
Computational simulation/modeling
Subject of Research
Animals
Article Title
Cryptovaranoides microlanius is a squamate, not an archosauromorph
Article Publication Date
26-Nov-2024
Truckers strike accusing Wagner of driver death in Central African Republic
By AFP November 27, 2024 Bangui is linked to the sea via a long road to Cameroon's key Atlantic port of Douala - Copyright AFP GREG BAKER Annela Niamolo
Soaring prices have left a bitter taste in shoppers’ mouths at a market in Bangui, as a strike by Cameroonian truckers accusing Russia’s infamous Wagner mercenaries of a recent murder cuts off the Central African Republic (CAR).
Among the poorest countries in the world, landlocked CAR is heavily dependent on imports, more than 40 percent of which came from neighbouring Cameroon in 2022, according to the International Trade Centre.
But Cameroonian hauliers have refused to continue supplying the CAR after what they claim was the “assassination” of a driver by Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, active in the conflict-wracked country since 2018.
Taking place last week on the road to Bangui some 166 kilometres northeast of the capital, that shooting has left truckers fearing for their lives — and ordinary Centrafricans paying the price at the till.
“In the space of 24 hours, certain goods like sugar and oil, which we often buy for breakfast have risen far too fast,” Grace-a-Dieu Ndomoyando, 30, told AFP, before giving up on her shopping at Bangui’s Boy-Rab market.
Justifying her prices, shopkeeper Magloire Guerematchi said that since the Cameroonian truckers went on strike, “it is difficult or even impossible to find food”.
“If by chance we shopkeepers can find some it will be at a very exorbitant cost,” the 27-year-old said — and the price rises are not just affecting food.
A bar of soap that would have cost 5,500 CFA francs ($8.8) a few days ago can now fetch up to 6,350 CFA francs ($10.2).
“To make a profit, we have to reduce quantities and increase prices because we too must be able to support our families,” he said.
– ‘Fear for their safety’ –
Bangui is linked to the sea via a long road to Cameroon’s key Atlantic port of Douala.
But since the shooting was announced, drivers have parked their trucks at the Cameroonian border town of Garoua-Boulai, around 725 kilometres west of Bangui, refusing to go any further.
“The trucks are loaded but they are stopped,” Hamadou Djika, speaking for the alliance of Cameroonian hauliers’ unions, told AFP over the phone.
“They will not continue the journey into the Central African Republic because they fear for their safety,” Djika added.
After filing a strike notice last Friday, the truckers are calling for an investigation into the shooting in Bogoin on the Bangui-Douala axis, along with an agreement from the Cameroonian and Centrafrican states to guarantee their protection.
Centrafrican driver Maxime Molako, who regularly makes the trip between Bangui and Garoua-Boulai, said he “sympathises” with his striking Cameroonian counterparts.
“It is essential to find a balance that ensures the safety of all and allows for the smooth flow of good,” the trucker told AFP on the phone from Garoua-Boulai.
On Wednesday, the CAR’s foreign minister said the Centrafrican authorities were planning to “continue discussions” with their Cameroonian counterparts on the issue.
Speaking to the press, Sylvie Baipo-Temon assured an investigation was underway into the trucker’s death — but declined to comment on whether Russian mercenaries were involved.
Back behind his shop’s counter in Bangui, Guerematchi said the merchants “hope that this strike will not escalate”.
“Otherwise there will be several products that we can no longer offer, such as rice and oil,” the shopkeeper warned.
– Wagner at work –
The truckers’ strike is far from the first to hit the instability-plagued CAR, which has suffered a series of civil wars and coups since its independence from France in 1960.
In 2015, Centrafrican and Cameroonian hauliers stopped working in protest against attacks by armed groups in the CAR, with the country also experiencing shortages and price rises in response.
In 2021, a blockade imposed by rebel groups left several hundred trucks blocked at the Cameroonian border by 50 days. Although that did not cause severe shortages in Bangui, the price of basic commodities soared.
These increases bite especially hard in a country where 71 percent of its more than six million people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
The CAR has been locked in its latest civil war since a Muslim-dominated armed coalition ousted former president Francois Bozize in 2013.
French intervention and the deployment of UN peacekeepers paved the way for elections in 2016, won by President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
Two years later, with rebel groups threatening to destabilise the country again, Touadera brought in hundreds of Wagner mercenaries from Russia to help train his armed forces.
Wagner has since helped the CAR army push a rebel alliance led by Bozize away from the capital, forcing the fighters back into their strongholds.
But the West had criticised Russia’s military involvement across Africa, with Wagner and its successor Africa Corps accused of human rights abuses.
The intensity of conflict has declined, but pockets of violence remain, with armed groups deploying small units to carry out raids on roads and mining sites.
PESTILENCE
Pandrug-resistant bacteria from the war in Ukraine are extremely pathogenic
Lund University
image:
Kristian Riesbeck, senior consultant and professor of clinical bacteriology at dep. of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Sweden.
Lund University in Sweden has previously reported on Kristian Riesbeck, professor of clinical bacteriology at Lund University and senior consultant, who was contacted by the Ukrainian microbiologist Oleksandr Nazarchuk for assistance in examining the degree of antibiotic resistance in bacteria from severely war-wounded and infected patients being treated in hospital.
Using samples from 141 war-wounded (133 adults wounded in the war and eight new-born babies with pneumonia) it could be shown that several bacteria types were resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics and that six per cent of all samples were resistant to all the antibiotics that the researchers tested on them.
Now, the researchers have published an article in Journal of Infection, in which the researchers have gone on to examine whether Klebsiella pneumoniae* has the ability to cause disease in a wider context. Klebsiella can cause urinary tract infections, pneumonia, skin infections in wounds, and sepsis. The researchers used samples from 37 of the patients who had been previously shown to have resistant bacteria. The entire genome of the bacteria was sequenced to examine whether there were genes that can cause resistance.
“All the bacteria were shown to carry the genes that we know are associated with resistance. We saw that one quarter of them were resistant to all the available antimicrobial drugs on the market, these bacteria are said to have total resistance (pandrug-resistant). Infections caused by these bacteria become very difficult, or in some cases impossible, to treat with the medicines we have today,” says professor Riesbeck.
Pandrug-resistant bacteria are an extreme form of antibiotic resistance and a growing concern within healthcare.
The researchers were interested in finding out whether infection could be spread further via the bacteria taken from patients in Ukraine. To examine this, experiments were carried out in mice and insect larvae.
“It was shown that the bacteria types most resistant to antibiotics were also the ones that survived best in mice in connection with pneumonia. Similarly, these bacteria types were so aggressive that they killed the insect larvae considerably faster than the bacteria that were less resistant to antibiotics.”
Genetic sequencing showed that all Klebsiella bacteria with total resistance examined by the researchers carried the genes that make them more virulent.
“In many cases, bacteria lose their ability to infect and cause disease because all their energy is spent on being resistant to antibiotics. But we have perhaps underestimated bacteria: we saw that many of these bacteria types from Ukraine are equipped with genes that make them both resistant and virulent,” says Kristian Riesbeck.
According to professor Riesbeck, this means the bacteria that spread among the wounded in Ukraine will most likely continue to survive and cause problems.
“This is something that will not disappear over time. As long as the patients cannot be isolated and treated properly, the spread of infection will continue.”
Kristian Riesbeck considers the results are frightening, but not unexpected. This is what happens when the infrastructure of a healthcare system collapses. And it applies to Ukraine and other war-torn areas around the world.
“Even though these pandrug-resistant bacteria are fighting to survive our antibiotic treatments, they still have a complete set of genes that make them capable of causing disease. This is surprising for us all and unfortunately a worrying sign for the future.”
*Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the leading bacterial causes of mortality globally. It is estimated that Klebsiella pneumoniae is responsible for about 20 per cent of all deaths attributable to antimicrobial resistance.
Fact: The article in Journal of Infection was led by Lund University and is a collaboration with colleagues from Ukraine, the EUCAST Laboratory in Växjö and Karolinska Institutet.
The research has been conducted with support from, among others, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Swedish Research Council, Swedish Heart Lung Foundation and ALF funding from Region Skåne.
Russia currently occupies about 18 percent of Ukraine's territory. Yet reliable information about what life is like there is hard to come by, since there is no longer any access for Ukrainian media. Nevertheless, various Ukrainian initiatives aim to shed light on what is happening in the occupied territories. The picture they paint is one of violent repression, propaganda and forced Russification. FRANCE 24’s correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports.
Almost a fifth of Ukraine's territory is occupied by Russia. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled those areas and continue to do so, although the Russian authorities often try to prevent them, and the journey is a long and expensive one. Many residents remain, some acquiescent to Russian rule, others unwilling or unable to leave for a whole range of reasons. Not least because if they do, they are likely to lose their homes forever, as Russian soldiers or workers move in.
Reliable information about what life is like in the occupied territories is limited, as there is no access for Ukrainian media. In September, the last Ukrainian journalist to attempt to report from the occupied areas – Viktoria Roshchyna – died in Russian custody. Nevertheless, various Ukrainian initiatives aim to shed light on what is happening there, using sources on the ground (often via encrypted messaging services) and the testimonies of those who got out. The picture they paint is one of violent repression and forced Russification. Part of that has been the intensive development of new propaganda media in those areas.
As hopes of a swift military victory for Ukraine fade, and fears mount that the country could lose yet more territory, there is increasing speculation that Kyiv may leave Moscow in de facto control of the land it now occupies, in exchange for a ceasefire. A horrific prospect for many Ukrainians.
Danylo Mokryk’s film, which is featured in this report, was produced by The Kyiv Independent.
US President-elect Donald Trump named retired general Keith Kellogg as Ukraine and Russia envoy. Trump, pledging a swift resolution to the war, aims to mediate a ceasefire between Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Keith Kellogg co-wrote academic paper earlier this year calling for Washington to leverage miltary aid as a means of pushing for peace talks on Ukraine.
US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the two-and-a-half-year Russian invasion.
Trump campaigned on a platform of ushering a swift end to the Ukraine war, boasting that he would quickly mediate a ceasefire deal between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
But his critics have warned that the incoming Republican will likely leverage US military aid to pressure Kyiv into an agreement that left it ceding occupied territory permanently or agreeing not to join NATO.
"I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia," Trump said in a statement on social media.
"Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration."
A fixture on the cable news circuit, the 80-year-old national security veteran co-authored a paper earlier this year calling for Washington to leverage military aid as a means of pushing for peace talks.
Ukraine has received almost $60 billion from Washington for its armed forces since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, but with the more isolationist Trump taking over the White House, supporters fear the spigot will run dry.
"The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a cease-fire or peace agreement," Kellogg's research paper for the Trumpist America First Policy Institute think tank said.
"Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia."
Kellogg served in several positions during Trump's first term, including as chief of staff on the White House national security council and national security advisor to then-vice president Mike Pence. Troop shortages
Kellogg told Voice of America at the Republican convention in July that Ukraine's options were "quite clear."
"If Ukraine doesn't want to negotiate, fine, but then accept the fact that you can have enormous losses in your cities and accept the fact that you will have your children killed, accept the fact that you don't have 130,000 dead, you will have 230,000-250,000," he said.
Trump's announcement came as the outgoing administration of Democrat Joe Biden was hosting a news conference to urge Ukraine to enlist more recruits by reducing the minimum age of conscription to 18 -- in line with the US benchmark.
Facing a much larger enemy with more advanced weapons and with stocks of volunteers dwindling, Ukraine is facing an "existential" recruitment crunch, a senior administration official told reporters.
"The simple truth is that Ukraine is not currently mobilising or training enough soldiers to replace their battlefield losses while keeping pace with Russia's growing military," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
He added that an additional 160,000 troops would be "on the low end" to fill out Ukraine's ranks -- but "a good start."
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later clarified that the White House would not make the huge flow of US military aid to Kyiv dependent on a conscription age change.
"We're absolutely going to keep sending Ukraine weapons and equipment. We know that's vital. But so, too, is manpower at this point," he told reporters.
The former Soviet republic's population has fallen by more than a quarter since its mid-1990s peak of 52 million, and authorities are desperate to shield the younger generation -- but a US congressional report in June estimated the average Ukrainian soldier is 40.
Zelensky signed a decree in April lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 but the move did not alleviate the chronic troop shortages, according to US officials.
(AFP)
More than half of French want PM Barnier’s government to fall, survey shows
More half of the French want the current government to fall, a survey showed on Thursday. The reason for the anger is Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s budget proposal, which entails both steep tax hikes and painful spending cuts.
Some 53% of French people want Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government to fall due to anger over his proposed budget, according to an Ifop-Fiducial poll for Sud Radio published on Thursday.
The poll indicated that 67% opposed Barnier’s budget, which aims to cut France’s spiralling public deficit through 60 billion euros ($63 billion) in tax hikes and spending cuts, while 33% backed it.
Barnier’s government could fall before Christmas, and perhaps even by next week, if far-right and leftist foes force a no-confidence motion that he is likely to lose, according to a dozen sources from across the political spectrum.
The findings in the Ifop-Fiducial poll were based on a survey of 1,006 people carried out on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27.
In an Elabe poll for BFM TV on Wednesday, 63% of those surveyed said President Emmanuel Macron should resign if Barnier’s government fell.
(Reuters)
CYA BS
France says Netanyahu has 'immunity' from ICC arrest warrants
France's foreign ministry has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enjoys "immunity" from prosecution before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC last week issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to Israel's war in Gaza.
It said the Israeli leader was covered by immunity rules that apply to states which are not a party to the ICC. Israel is not an ICC member.
"A state cannot be held to act in a way that is incompatible with its obligations in terms of international law with regards to immunities granted to states which are not party to the ICC," the French statement said.
"Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other ministers in question, and must be taken into consideration should the ICC ask us to arrest them and hand them over," it said.
Earlier Wednesday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had already said that France considered that some leaders could enjoy immunity from ICC prosecution.
Asked if France would arrest Netanyahu if he stepped on French territory, Jean-Noel Barrot did not give a specific answer in an interview with Franceinfo radio.
He said France "is very committed to international justice and will apply international law based on its obligations to cooperate with the ICC."
But he added that the court's statute "deals with questions of immunity for certain leaders".
"It is ultimately up to the judicial authorities to decide," he added.
The ICC this month issued warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. Netanyahu has slammed the move.
The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said the arrest warrants are "binding" and should be implemented.
However unlike some European states, France has so far taken a more cautious stance on the warrants.
Barrot's comments marked the first time a top French official has evoked a possible immunity. 'Deeply problematic'
Unconfirmed media reports have said that Netanyahu angrily raised the issue in telephone talks with President Emmanuel Macron and urged Paris not to enforce the decision.
France has been instrumental in efforts to end fighting in the Middle East and, with the United States, helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that came into force Wednesday.
Article 27 of the Rome Statute – the foundation of the ICC – states that immunity "shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person."
But article 98 says a state cannot "act inconsistently with its obligations under international law with respect to the... diplomatic immunity of a person."
France's stance on potential immunity for Netanyahu prompted some strong reactions Wednesday, both at home and abroad.
Amnesty International called the French stance "deeply problematic", saying it ran counter to the government's obligations as an ICC member.
"Rather than inferring that ICC indictees may enjoy immunity, France should expressly confirm its acceptance of the unequivocal legal duty under the Rome Statute to carry out arrest warrants," said Anne Savinel Barras, president of Amnesty International France.
French Green party boss Marine Tondelier, calling the government's stance "shameful", said it was probably the result of an agreement between the French and Israeli leaders.
"Surely that was the deal, that France would get a mention in the official statement announcing the ceasefire in Lebanon that was published by France and the United States yesterday," she said on X.
"Again, France is bending over backwards to meet Benjamin Netanyahu's demand to pick him over international justice," she said.
Barrot meanwhile hailed the ceasefire as a major success for France and expressed hope it would result in the "reform" of Lebanon after years of crisis.
The ceasefire provides "that the Israeli army withdraws from southern Lebanon... and that it is replaced by a massive deployment of the Lebanese armed forces".
"In this context, France will play its full part," Barrot said.
(AFP)
Workers at French cognac maker Hennessy protest China bottling plan amid tariff threat
EU EV TARIFFS
Workers at French cognac maker Hennessy protested Thursday against the brand's plans to export the drink in vats rather than bottles to get around Chinese tariffs. While management announced Monday they were suspending the plan to export cognac in bulk, workers are still worried that Hennessy could one day move its bottling production lines overseas.
Hundreds of employees of French cognac maker Hennessy on Thursday staged a protest over potential measures to circumvent Chinese tariffs imposed in a spat with the European Union.
Staff in the town of Cognac in southwestern France, from which the iconic brandy takes its name, earlier this month went on strike to protest a plan to export the drink in vats, rather than bottles.
Bottles will be subject to additional taxes estimated at 35 percent from China, Cognac's second-largest export market after the United States.
Hennessy management announced Monday that they would put the plan on ice and the strike had come to an end.
But concern remains strong that Hennessy, part of the LVMH luxury group, and other leading brands will bow to pressure and export their brandies in bulk for bottling in China.
"This idea of relocating bottling is opening a Pandora's box that could be disastrous," said Tommy Dupuis, who has worked in the Hennessy factory for 13 years.
The protesters are demanding in particular an extension of France's controlled designation of origin (AOC) labelling system – which aims to protect locally produced products – to include rules protecting local bottling, along the lines of the fizzy drink champagne.
"Today, the AOC does not protect local bottling, this needs to change," said Matthieu Devers of the CGT union, urging support from the BNIC association of cognac producers.
"If the BNIC makes this decision, we will be able to protect our AOC from A to Z," said Dupuis.
"Cognac is here and it must stay here," said Gladys Decou, an employee on the bottling line.
Others fear disastrous economic consequences for the region. "If the production lines are moved, I will lose my job, the others too, and Cognac will become a ghost town. We must not let this happen," said Alex Barbin, a driver at Hennessy for 15 years.
Since October 11, China has required importers of European brandies – of which cognac represents 95 percent of the total – to submit a deposit or a bank guarantee letter with Chinese customs authorities.
The measure is part of what Beijing describes as an anti-dumping investigation. But the move is widely seen as retaliation for the EU imposition of tariffs on electric cars imported from China.
Under the plan, materials including glassware, labels, corks and boxes would be shipped to China, where brandy would then be bottled.
Hennessy had said it was "suspending" – but not cancelling – the plan to follow the "evolution of the political and diplomatic situation", with Prime Minister Michel Barnier announcing plans to visit China.
The cognac industry, which is heavily dependent on exports, also fears it will be targeted in the United States, its biggest market, following the election of Donald Trump, who plans to step up customs duties across the board.
There is still concern despite the suspension of the move. © Thibaud Moritz, AFP