PowerChina to build major wind farm in Egypt

1,100-MW project to generate 4.3b kWh annually; largest in the African nation

By ZHENG XIN | China Daily | Updated: 2025-01-07 

Egypt's largest onshore wind power project is to be designed and built by a Chinese company, which is deemed by insiders as a milestone in the country's renewable energy sector and demonstrates the growing global influence of Chinese energy and infrastructure firms.

Power Construction Corp of China (PowerChina) signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Suez Wind Energy recently for a 1,100 megawatt wind power project in the country — the largest onshore wind power development in Egypt and the second-largest in Africa, it said.

The project, following PowerChina's earlier 500 MW wind power facility in the region, sets a new record for the company's largest overseas project to date, it said.

"This project is a major step toward Egypt's goal of sourcing 42 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030," said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.

"Its scale and expected output, over 4.3 billion kilowatt-hours annually, highlight Egypt's commitment to reducing dependence on fossil fuels and advancing its climate goals under the Paris Agreement."

For PowerChina, the project strengthens its position as a global leader in renewable energy infrastructure, demonstrating the competitiveness of Chinese companies in the global clean energy market, Lin said.

The partnership structure of the project, involving Saudi Arabia-based electric power generation company ACWA Power and financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), also underscores the role of international collaboration in large-scale renewables, he added.

Additionally, the project's impact on carbon emissions, a reduction of 2.2 million metric tons annually — and its provision of clean energy to over a million households — will have more long-term benefits.

The Suez Wind Energy joint venture is co-owned by ACWA Power and consortium partner HAU Energy, a unit of Hassan Allam Utilities. The project will be developed and operated under an independent power producer model, with financing supported by international institutions, including the EBRD.

PowerChina will oversee the project's design, procurement, construction, commissioning, handover and warranty. Once operational, the project is expected to generate over 4.3 billion kWh annually, providing clean and stable energy to more than 1 million households in Egypt. It will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2.2 million tons per year, contributing to Egypt's commitments under the Paris Agreement.

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn

SPACE/COSMOS

Jeff Bezos sees no threat from Musk's Trump ties in competitive space race


Jeff Bezos told Reuters on Sunday that he trusts Elon Musk will not leverage his relationship with President-elect Donald Trump against Blue Origin. Bezos expressed optimism about the new administration's space policies, crediting Musk for prioritising public interest over personal gain.


Issued on: 13/01/2025 - 
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES

Jeff Bezos walks near Blue Origin's New Shepard after flying into space on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas © Joe Raedle, AFP

Jeff Bezos in an interview with Reuters on Sunday said he does not think SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will use his close ties with US President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his space company Blue Origin, adding he feels "very optimistic" about the incoming administration's space agenda.

"Elon has been very clear that he's doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value," said Bezos, founder of Blue Origin which rivals SpaceX in the space industry.

Bezos is in Cape Canaveral, Florida for the debut launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn, a 30 story-tall rocket that is expected to chip away at SpaceX's market dominance and kick start Blue Origin's long-delayed entrance in the satellite launch business.

Musk, who spent more than a quarter billion dollars to help elect Trump, has had the president-elect's ear on space matters and last month said the US should send missions straight to Mars instead of going to the moon first, raising industry concerns of a major shakeup to NASA's space exploration program.

"My own opinion is that we should do both - we need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars," Bezos said when asked if he was concerned about changes to NASA's moon program.

"What we shouldn't do is start and stop things. We should continue with the lunar program for sure," Bezos said.

Trump in his second term is expected to make sweeping changes to NASA's moon program and focus heavily on sending missions to Mars.

(REUTERS)

Galaxy growth halted by supermassive black holes


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
January 11, 2025


Artist'ss impression of a black hole surrounded by matter waiting to fall in — Credit: © NASA, and M. Weiss (Chandra X -ray Center)

In a recent study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope found supermassive black holes suppressing star formation in ancient galaxies 11 billion light years away.

This discovery explains how massive galaxy clusters evolved into the dormant, giant elliptical galaxies seen today, shedding light on the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies.

Galaxy clusters are home to many giant elliptical galaxies that have completed their growth and are not forming stars. However, it is still unclear what shutdowns star formation. The answer now seems to be supermassive black holes, which slow star formation and help to transition the star formations into galaxies.

Understanding how galaxies form and complete their growth is an area of fundamental focus in astrophysics. The dense regions of the universe, like galaxy clusters, are dominated by giant elliptical galaxies: massive, ancient galaxies that consist of old stars.

The reason why supermassive black holes appear to play a key role is due to their intense energy which can suppress the gas supply to galaxies.

Against this backdrop, an international team of researchers investigated massive galaxies in an ancient galaxy cluster known as the Spiderweb protocluster, located 11 billion light years away, using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Results from the James Webb Telescope near-infrared camera clearly show that massive galaxies with active galactic nucleus feedback from supermassive black holes have lower star formation. Source: Rhythm Shimakawa / Waseda University (with permission).

The research was led by Associate Professor Rhythm Shimakawa from Waseda University, Japan (Shimakawa is an Associate Professor at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS) and Center for Data Science). Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university.

Also involved were: Dr. Yusei Koyama from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Prof. Tadayuki Kodama from Tohoku University, Japan; Dr. Helmut Dannerbauer and Dr. J. M. Perez-Martinez from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna, Spain.

The scientists succeeded in obtaining high-resolution maps of the recombination lines of hydrogen, which indicate the activity of star formation and supermassive black holes, through the Near-Infrared Camera mounted on JWST. The JWST Near-Infrared Camera has a spatial resolution ten times better than previous telescopes in the near-infrared wavelength around 4 microns

.

A stellar black hole has been identified in the Milky Way – Copyright AFP Menahem KAHANA

Detailed analysis showed that massive galaxies with active supermassive black holes exhibit no sign of star formation, meaning that their growth is severely hampered by supermassive black holes. The results support the theoretical prediction that the formation of giant elliptical galaxies is linked with supermassive black holes activity in the past.

“The Spiderweb protocluster has been studied by our team for more than 10 years using the Subaru Telescope and other facilities. With the new JWST data, we are now able to ‘answer the questions’ of understanding and predicting galaxy formation that we have accumulated,” remarks Dr. Shimakawa in a statement sent to Digital Journal.

He adds further: “This study marks a significant step forward in expanding our understanding of the co-evolution of SMBHs and galaxies in celestial cities.”

The study is titled “Spider-Webb: JWST Near Infrared Camera resolved galaxy star formation and nuclear activities in the Spiderweb protocluster at z = 2.16.”

Space debris falling from the sky: more often, more risk

AFP 

 January 9, 2025

PARIS: It is still not clear what exactly fell onto a Kenyan village last month, but such events are likely to become increasingly common given the amount of space debris drifting above the planet.

What we know

A metallic ring of roughly 2.5 metres (8 feet) in diametre and weighing some 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds), crashed into Mukuku village, in Makueni county, in the south of the country on Dec 30.

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has opened an investigation and is examining the possibility that it might have been the separation ring from a rocket. Other theories have already surfaced however, and a KSA spokesman has said they have not ruled out anything.


The theories being examined

It is not even certain that what crashed in Kenya came from outer space. But for Romain Lucken who runs Aldoria, a French start-up that tracks debris in space, it is “absolutely plausible” that it did. He said he thought it might be part of the upper stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) developed by India’s space agency.

“There is a mission that was sent up on Dec 30 with a return date that fits well, and most of all, a point of re-entry that fits very well, to within a few dozen kilometres,” he said. Aldoria, which has 15 telescopes around the world, searches for information on launches and then works out flight paths based on “the typical trajectories of each of the main launch sites”. But Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is not convinced.

It was McDowell who identified a piece of the International Space Station (ISS) that crashed down on a house in Florida last April. “I do not believe this object came from space. Maybe fell off an airplane,” he said. “Give me evidence it is space debris.” He has not however entirely ruled out that it is part of an Ariane 5 V184 launch in 2008 that finally returned to earth.

But the French aerospace group said: “This piece does not belong to an element from a European launcher operated by Arianespace.” John Crassidis at New York’s SUNY, which works with Nasa on space debris, endorsed the assessment released by the Kenya Space Agency.

“I think their technical assessments are 100 percent accurate, and they’re going to figure out what country it came from, because every country does things a little bit differently,” he said.

While it could be a separation ring from a rocket, as the KSA was considering, it might also have come from the upper stage of a rocket. “Those tend to be smaller,” he said.

Christophe Bonnal, a French specialist in space debris, said the debris might have come from a military launcher. “They are armoured, which fits with the fact that it is very big and heavy,” he said. But then it could also have come from a digger or a tank, he added.

Assessing the risk

So far, at least, such incidents have not caused any deaths, but since the number of space launches is rising, so too are the risks. “Ten years ago, an object that might create impact fragments re-entered the atmosphere every two weeks,” said Stijn Lemmens, a specialist in debris at the European Space Agency (ESA). “Now, that can happen twice a week.” For Lucken, at Aldoria, it is just a question of time.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025

A new order

Huma Yusuf 

 January 6, 2025

DAWN

The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.

WHEN Cole Porter sang ‘Anything Goes’ in 1934, his ironic lament was restricted to the scandals of American Depression-era high society. Today the song serves as an apt anthem for geopolitics. Consider recent reporting in the Washington Post about India’s assassinations of individuals on Pakistani soil, following a report by the Guardian last April that claimed India has backed the killing of up to 20 people in Pakistan since 2020. This is a playbook India has allegedly also used in Canada against Sikh activists. This is just the latest reminder that the rules-based international order has collapsed.

Of course, a rules-based international order seems a moot point in the wake of the horrific Gaza war, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The impunity with which these conflicts have unfolded has unleashed geopolitical anarchy, of which the proliferation of state-backed assassinations is just one manifestation. Lest we forget, extrajudicial murders, particularly of civilians or even quasi-combatants, violate international humanitarian law, though many states back their actions by framing them as ‘targeted killings’ or self-defence, and pointing out that international law does not clearly define assassinations.

India is certainly not alone in using assassinations as a means of shadow conflict. Israel’s killings of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders and Iranian nuclear scientists, the Iranian regime’s attempts to target Israelis as well as its own dissenters, the US’s use of drone strikes to target militants, Saudi Ara­bia’s targeting of journalist Jamal Khashog­­gi, Russia’s poisoning of Alexei Navalny, Pakistan’s own alleged targeting of journalists abroad — the list goes on. The global message is clear: rules are meant to be broken, especially as multipolarity accedes.

It is now up to the Global South to call for a new order centred on inclusion.

Any mention of the rules-based order in the light of the Gaza war evokes spite. A lo­­ng-held suspicion that the international or­­der was always a guise to protect those who got to make the rules feels confirmed; the ‘rules’ are increasingly rejected as a tatte­red veil for American hegemony, or convenient jargon to excuse Western hypocri­sy. In recent years, the Global South has welco­m­­ed multipolarity, seeing it as key to we­­ak­e­ning the US’s, and the West’s more bro­a­­dly, ability to evoke the international order without having to live up to its principles.

But we should be wary of abandoning a rules-based order in its entirety. We should instead redefine it for the 21st century.

Following the two world wars, the rules-based order has been the catch-all phrase to refer to the governance mechanisms, laws, institutions, and agreements that aimed at preventing conflict and protecting human rights. This includes the UN Char­ter, human rights laws, the International Criminal Court, and the IMF, among other institutions and agreements that have drawn recent ire for their inadequacies.

But distil the order down to its principles, and it becomes harder to criticise. Summa­rising some of its fundamentals after Rus­sia’s invasion of Ukraine, Princeton professor John Ikenberry cited the following: “One is that you don’t use force to change territorial borders. Secondly, you don’t use violence against civilians as an instrument of war. And thirdly, you don’t threaten to use nuclear weapons.” When put this way, few would want to walk away from the rules, no matter how flawed their implementation thus far.

It’s helpful to step further back and rem­ember that the rules-based order was conceived as an antidote to the age of empire and the great games that defined colonial ambition; it was meant to check the exc­es­ses of powerful states who believed they could get what they wanted through indiscri­m­­inate means. The new order sought to co-nstrain the most powerful countr­i­­es within some ins-titutional norms, and to create op­­p­ortunities for less-powerful states.

In other words, however flawed and delegitimised the international order is, its underlying principles remain worth upholding, particularly the limitation of indiscriminate power and the focus on inclusion. Not surprisingly, countries such as Russia or China that prioritise defending their national interests, including through deploying authoritarian approaches domestically, are not championing a new world order.

It is now up to the Global South, including countries such as ours, to call for a new world order centred on inclusion, to take advantage of multipolarity. The ask should be for revamped institutions and new rules that can accommodate more voices, enabling both peaceful competition between great powers and collaboration between diverse countries.

For all the political noise in the world, the greatest challenge ahead is climate change. There is no way to navigate this challenge without an international order. Let’s hope the new rules are harder to break.


X: @humayusuf

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2025

Death and destruction in Gaza

Zahid Hussain 

January 8, 2025

  DAWN

THE new year has not brought much hope for an end to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023. The Zionist regime has intensified its bombardment of the enclave, targeting whatever has been left of the health facilities in Gaza and killing scores more amid a renewed push for a ceasefire.

Months of negotiations have failed to end the war, and there is little expectation that the fresh round of talks, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, will succeed. While Hamas has said it is committed to reaching an agreement, a key obstacle to a potential deal has been Israel’s reluctance to a lasting ceasefire.

The surge in Israeli air strikes has only brought more death and misery to the hapless population of Gaza. The relentless bombing has worsened living conditions in the territory, leaving over a million people homeless. With no shelter and medical facilities, children are freezing to death in the biting cold — the Israeli onslaught has restricted the entry of humanitarian aid, including blankets and tents.

The war, which is backed and financed by the outgoing Joe Biden administration in the US, has left some 18,000 children dead. According to UN data, Israeli bombardment has destroyed or damaged over 90 per cent of Gaza’s homes. The sustained attacks on hospitals and medical workers have brought the healthcare system in the enclave to the brink of total collapse, according to a recent report by the UN’s human rights office, which “catalogues the besieging and targeting of hospitals and their immediate grounds with explosive weapons”. The attacks have killed hundreds of medical workers and damaged lifesaving equipment. It says that 80pc of Gaza’s healthcare system has been destroyed. Many preventable deaths have occurred due to lack of care, including of mothers and newborn babies.


For the next US administration, there is no concept of a two-state solution.

The report says that the attacks could “amount to war crimes”. But Israel continues with its atrocities because of US backing and the inaction of the international community. According UN human rights experts, the siege “appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation in further violation of international law”. Israel has also extended its war to the occupied West Bank.

The escalation comes at a time when a new administration is about to take over in the US. Not that the Biden administration has been any less supportive of Israel’s war of aggression, but the incoming president, Donald Trump, is likely to give carte blanche to the right-wing government in Tel Aviv.

While Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East, many analysts believe that his return to the White House will only bring more death and destruction to Gaza. He has repeatedly declared his blanket support for Israel. During an address to a Republican Jewish convention in 2023, he said he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever”.

In his first term as president, Trump had recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in a departure from Washington’s original position that had opposed the city as the capital of Israel. His administration had also declared the settlements in the West Bank to be legal.

Moreover, his handpicked cabinet is full of staunch supporters of the Zionist regime, some of whom have publicly called for the complete destruction of the Palestinian resistance.

Last year, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Senator Marco Rubio, declared that he opposed a ceasefire in Gaza and believed Israel should destroy “every element of Hamas”. “These people are vicious animals who did horrifying crimes,” he said.

Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, wants the next administration to “let Israel finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza. An even more fanatical supporter of Zionist expansionism is Trump’s choice of US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who has consistently backed the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and has described a two-state solution in Palestine as “irrational and unworkable”.

Meanwhile, Trump has picked Congress­woman Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN, which she has labelled a “cesspool of antisemitism”. The views of some other nominated members of the incoming Trump administration on the Palestinian issue are no less vitriolic.

Not surprisingly, the installation of such a supportive administration in Washington has given huge impetus to the Zionist regime to escalate its air and ground attacks in the occupied territory. Close alignment with the incoming US administration seems to have amplified Israel’s sense of impunity, making it more difficult to pressure the Zionist regime into a ceasefire deal in Gaza and stop its oppression in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has made it clear that it would only agree to a ceasefire deal that ensures it maintains its military control of Gaza as it does in the West Bank. The Palestinian resistance groups have said they are committed to accepting a ceasefire and have even approved a list of 34 hostages to be exchanged in a possible deal. But they have also reiterated that any deal is contingent upon a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire. Given Israel’s intransigence, there is no hope of any breakthrough.

Neither is there any likelihood of the incoming Trump administration pressing Israel for concessions. According to some analysts, Trump would most likely allow Israel to annex the West Bank if it ended the Gaza war. For the incoming US administration, there is no concept of a two-state solution with a separate Palestinian state.

Trump would most likely build on his 2020 ‘peace plan’ that would legitimise Israeli annexation and Palestinian subjugation. With his cabinet packed with radical pro-Israel elements, it is hard to imagine that the incoming president would be willing to accommodate Palestinian demands. There is no hope for peace in the region as long as Israel continues its genocidal war with the support of the US.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

X: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025

Zones of interest

Mahir Ali

 January 8, 2025
DAWN

ONE of the more thought-provoking movies to emerge in the past couple of years, from a western film industry that thrives on pointless fantasies, redundant remakes and superfluous sequels, was Jonathan Glazer’s remarkable recreation of a milieu that is both distant and ever-present.

The Zone of Interest focuses on the family life of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s SS commandant, Rudolf Höss. They occupied an idyllic villa on the periphery of the death camp in Poland, and wallowed in luxury, turning a deaf ear to the barked commands, howls of despair and grinding machinery of mass extermination echoing from across the boundary wall, and a blind eye to the smoke from chimneys located within sniffing distance.

Amid the contrasting clamour of vibrant life and unavoidable death, Höss and his Nazi confederates gather to discuss how the elimination process could efficiently be sped up. That’s among the more chilling scenes in a film that only hints at atrocities it does not actually depict. The protagonists’ insouciance has echoed across human history for eight decades. And the director, Jonathan Glazer, was clear from the outset that his product was as much about the present as about the past.

A couple of weeks ago, the Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, in an article titled ‘The IDF’s own sickening “zone of interest” in the heart of Gaza’, citing a resort set up in the ‘cleansed’ north of the destroyed enclave where Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) troops could recuperate over a steak and a beer and a massage before returning to the killing fields. Once upon a time, there were many such facilities in Vietnam and neighbouring countries for the American troops tasked with eliminating communists in Southeast Asia. Somehow, as in Gaza — and in so many other war zones in recent decades — that included babies.


Echoes of a bitter past might resonate in the year ahead.

Auschwitz was liberated 80 years ago this month, on Jan 27, 1945, by the Red Army. The camp’s website describes as a paradox the idea of “soldiers formally representing Stalinist totalitarianism brought freedom to the prisoners of Nazi totalitarianism”. It acknowledges nonetheless that the Soviet forces rapidly set up field hospitals to salvage the weakened survivors, and recorded footage of what they had witnessed, which helped to bolster the concept of ‘never again’. That was a universal idea, never intended to be restricted to Jews.

It has been violated time and again, but perhaps never so comprehensively as in the past 15 months. In a column published a few days before the aforementioned screed, Levy notes that the prime minister of the state built on the ashes of Auschwitz will not be able to travel to the commemorative ceremony because of his status as a wanted criminal. Nor, presumably, will Vladimir Putin attend the commemoration. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz might attend, on his way out of the chancellery, despite heading a government that has stood by the Gaza genocide while slandering and persecuting its critics, including German Jews.

The term ‘zone of interest’ was used by the Nazis to refer to areas adjacent to death camps, possibly among other parts of conquered lands. The Israelis have Areas A, B and C in the West Bank, and intend to capture them all in due course. They should rest assured, however, that the resistance will never cease, perhaps taking into consideration that Hitler’s defeat across almost every jurisdiction was facilitated by anti-fascist activists who refused to give up.

The 1971 events ought not to be overlooked in the context. Where did West Pa­­k­istanis stand when their military was perpetrating killings in East Pakistan in 1971? Quite a few of those who may in­­wardly have disapproved nonetheless looked on in silence. And the naked truths of the events of ’71 remain covered up in Pakistan.

In a broader sense, meanwhile, there will be plenty of zones of interest across the globe in the year ahead, from Sudan and the Congo to freshly ‘liberated’ Syria, to Australia, Canada, Germany and France. American oligarchs are not the only ones kissing the ring of the jolly good felon waiting to be sworn in later this month in Washington. Giorgia Meloni was among the guests at Mar-a-Lago in recent days, and the excitement extends from the likes of Viktor Orbán to Narendra Modi, the fans of Imran Khan and, not least, Javier Milei of Argentina. They may well be joined by others of their ilk, but even before that any number of purported centrists are making overtures to the criminal who is about to enter the White House.

The Nazi regime did not last after a cross-ideological alliance took it to task on the battlefields of Europe. History isn’t about to repeat itself, but keep an ear out for the echoes.

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025

What is the latest science telling us about climate change?

REUTERS

 January 7, 2025

A polar bear family group, consisting of an adult female and two cubs, crosses glacier ice in Southeast Greenland in 2016 — Reuters File Photo

After another record-breaking year for global temperatures in 2024, pressure is rising on policymakers to step up efforts to curb climate change. The last global scientific consensus on the phenomenon was released in 2021 through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but scientists say evidence shows global warming and its impacts have since been unfolding faster than expected.

Here is some of the latest climate research:

Critical point

The world may already have hit 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) of warming above the average pre-industrial temperature — a critical threshold beyond which it is at risk of irreversible and extreme climate change, scientists say.

A group of researchers made the suggestion in a study released in November based on an analysis of 2,000 years of atmospheric gases trapped in Antarctic ice cores.

Scientists have typically measured today’s temperatures against a baseline temperature average for 1850-1900. By that measure, the world is now at nearly 1.3 C (2.4 F) of warming. But the new data suggests a longer pre-industrial baseline, based on temperature data spanning the year 13 to 1700, which put warming at 1.49 C in 2023, the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience said.

Ocean changes

The warming of the Atlantic could hasten the collapse of a key current system, which scientists warn could already be sputtering. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which transports warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic, has helped to keep European winters milder for centuries. Research in 2018 showed that AMOC has weakened by about 15 percent since 1950, while research published in February 2024 in the journal Science Advances suggested it could be closer to a critical slowdown than previously thought. In addition, with the world in the throes of a fourth mass coral bleaching event the largest on record scientists fear the world’s reefs have passed a point of no return.

Scientists will be studying bleached reefs from Australia to Brazil for signs of recovery over the next few years if temperatures fall.

Extreme weather

Ocean warming is not only fuelling stronger Atlantic storms, it is also causing them to intensify more rapidly, with some jumping from a Category 1 to a Category 3 storm in just hours. Growing evidence shows this is true of other ocean basins. In October 2024 Hurricane Milton needed only one day in the Gulf of Mexico to go from tropical storm to the Gulf’s second most powerful hurricane on record, slamming Florida’s west coast. Warmer air can also hold more moisture, helping storms carry and eventually release more rain. As a result, hurricanes are delivering flooding even in mountain towns like Asheville, North Carolina, inundated in September 2024 by Hurricane Helene.

Forests and fires

Global warming is drying waterways and sapping moisture from forests, creating conditions for bigger and hotter wildfires from the US West and Canada to southern Europe and Russia’s Far East. Research published in October in Nature Climate Change calculated that about 13pc of deaths associated with toxic wildfire smoke during the 2010s could be attributed to the climate effect on wildfires. Brazil’s Amazon in 2024 was in the grip of its worst and most widespread drought since records began in 1950.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025

Join DawnMedia’s Breathe Pakistan initiative to combat climate change.

Global job market poised for major technological shift by 2030: World Economic Forum

Amin Ahmed 

 January 12, 2025

  DAWN

DEMAND for workers in technology-related roles like big d­­­ata analysts, fintech engi­neers, AI and machine learning specialists, is rapidly rising.—AFP/File

ISLAMABAD: Technological change, geo-economic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts and the green transition — individually and in combination — are among the major drivers expected to shape and transform the global labour market by 2030, cautions a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The ‘Future of Jobs Report 2025’ released this week, brings together the perspective of over 1,000 leading global employers — collectively representing more than 14 million workers across 22 industry clusters and 55 economies from around the world — to examine how these macro-trends impact jobs and skills, and the workforce transformation strategies employers plan to embark on in response, across the 2025 to 2030 timeframe.

Broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend — both across technology-related trends and overall — with 60 per cent of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030. Advancements in technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and information processing (86 per cent); robotics and automation (58pc); and energy generation, storage and distribution (41pc), are also expected to be transformative, the report says.

These trends are expected to have a divergent effect on jobs, driving the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles and fuelling demand for technology-related skills, including AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity and technological literacy, which are anticipated to be the top three fastest-growing skills.


Increasing cost of living ranks as the second-most transformative trend overall — and the top trend related to economic conditions — with half of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030, despite an anticipated reduction in global inflation. To a lesser extent, the general economic slowdown remains at the top of the mind and is expected to transform 42pc of businesses.

Factors driving job creation

Inflation is predicted to have a mixed outlook for net job creation to 2030, while slower growth is expected to displace 1.6 million jobs globally. These two impacts on job creation are expected to increase the demand for creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and agility skills.

Climate change mitigation is the third-most transformative tr­­­end overall — and the top trend related to the green transition — while climate change adaptation ranks sixth with 47 per cent and 41 per cent of employers, respectively, expecting these trends to transform their business in the next five years.

This is driving demand for roles such as renewable energy engineers, environmental engineers and electric and autonomous vehicle specialists, all among the 15 fastest-growing jobs. Climate trends are also expected to drive an increased focus on environmental stewardship, which has entered the Future of Jobs Report’s list of the top 10 fastest-growing skills for the first time.

The report says two demographic shifts are increasingly seen to be transforming global economies and labour markets: ageing and declining working-age populations, predominantly in higher-income economies, and expanding working-age populations, predominantly in lower-income economies.

Ageing populations drive growth in healthcare jobs such as nursing professionals, while growing working-age populations fuel growth in education-related professions, such as higher education teachers.

Geo-economic fragmentation and geopolitical tensions are expected to drive business model transformation in one-third (34 per cent) of surveyed organizations in the next five years. Over one-fifth (23 per cent) of global employers identify increased restrictions on trade and investment, as well as subsidies and industrial policies (21 per cent), as factors shaping their operations.

Employers who expect geo-ec­o­nomic trends to transform their business are also more likely to offshore — and even more likely to re-shore — operations. These trends drive demand for security-related job roles and increase demand for network and cybersecurity skills. There is also an increasing demand for other human-centred skills such as resilience, flexibility, agility, leadership, and social influence.

Extrapolating from the predictions shared by Future of Jobs Survey respondents, on current trends over the 2025 to 2030 period job creation and destruction due to structural labour-market transformation will amount to 22pc of today’s total jobs.

This is expected to entail the creation of new jobs equivalent to 14 per cent of today’s total employment, amounting to 170m jobs. However, this growth is expected to be offset by the displacement of the equivalent of 8pc (or 92m) of current jobs, resulting in net growth of 7pc of total employment, or 78 million jobs.

Technology-related roles are the fastest growing jobs in percentage terms, including big d­­­ata specialists, fintech engi­neers, AI and machine learning specialists and software and application developers. Green and energy transition roles, including autonomous and electric vehicle specialists, environmental engineers, and renewable energy engineers, are among the fastest-growing roles.

Clerical and Secretarial Workers — including cashiers and ticket clerks, and administrative assistants and executive secretaries — are expected to see the largest decline in absolute numbers. Similarly, businesses expect the fastest-declining roles to include postal service clerks, bank tellers and data entry clerks.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2025

PAKISTAN

REMITTANCES  Increased inflows

DAWN
Editorial 

 January 12, 2025  

REMITTANCES sent home by migrant Pakistani workers have been a saving grace for the country’s faltering economy for the last two decades.

With export revenues growing at a painfully slow pace — and often stagnating for years in between — and foreign capital and investment inflows drying, successive governments have relied on remittances to push import-based consumption to boost growth. Thus, even a tiny increase in cash sent home by overseas Pakistanis can always be a moment for celebration.

The ongoing fiscal year has proved to be exceptional for remittances, with inflows soaring by a third to a record level of $17.8bn in the first half of the year to December from $13.4bn a year ago. This lends hope that the country will be able to meet the targeted inflows of $35bn in remittances, far surpassing export earnings, this year. No wonder the prime minister has used this occasion to “congratulate’ the nation and boast of his government’s success in stabilising the economy while underlining the commitment of overseas Pakistanis to their country’s development.

The market players attribute the surge in remittances through formal banking channels to numerous factors: clampdown on illegal currency trade and smuggling to Afghanistan, stricter controls on exchange companies, exchange rate stability, and increased labour migration, especially young IT professionals, from the country in recent years. It is believed that remittances have a potential to grow to $60bn a year if illegal currency trade is stemmed and customs controls strengthened against under-invoicing of imports by major traders from China, Dubai and elsewhere.

The increase in remittances is indeed a positive development for the economy as these have been driving the current account surplus for the last several months, contributing significantly to exchange rate stability and improvement in the State Bank’s forex reserves in the absence of foreign direct investment, as well as any meaningful bilateral and multilateral inflows.

But it is not a wise policy to rely on them for external account stability. Remittances have their downsides as well. Studies have shown that higher remittances boost consumption and imports, lead to decline in domestic manufacturing and exports, and make economies of recipient nations more vulnerable to global and regional economic crises. No matter how favourable an impact these have on economic growth, remittances cannot be a substitute for exports and foreign private investment, which increase domestic productivity and generate jobs. Moreover, the quantum of remittances a country receives can never be predicted.

Remittances represent hard-earned money by migrant Pakistanis that must be channeled into productive use for the country’s social and economic development instead of squandering on imported luxuries. At the same time, the government needs to devise a strategy to increase industrial and agricultural productivity to boost exports and reduce reliance on uncertain remittances.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2025

PAKISTAN

Parched Sindh

Naseer Memon 

January 11, 2025
DAWN

SINDH comprises 18 per cent of Pakistan’s land mass and 16pc of its total cultivable area.

While the agricultural sector is the lynchpin of the provincial economy, Sindh also contributes about 23pc to the country’s national agricultural value added: 41pc to the national output of rice, 31pc to sugarcane and 21pc to wheat. The rural communities and urban markets rely heavily on the performance of this integral sector.

Although over half of Sindh’s population resides in urban areas, with the largest industrial base in Karachi, acute water shortage has blighted its municipal operations. Life and economy will become unsustainable without a robust strategic plan. A multisectoral water policy was approved last year and, at present, the province is developing a water plan. The latter will guide the application of the policy.

Sindh’s waterscape faces a host of challenges: from the perennial issue of a reduced provincial water share from upper riparian regions to political and operational mismanagement, including water theft, unofficial diversions, direct outlets from main canals, tampering with outlets, poorly maintained watercourses and regulators, clogged waterways, contamination caused by untrea­ted effluent from industries, and unregulated groundwater mining. The dwindling water supply and diminishing soil productivity demands that the government reconsider Sindh’s cropping pattern.

Between 2002 and 2021, there has been a significant increase in the cultivation of three water-intensive crops: rice cultivation rose by 55pc in acreage, from 488,000 hectares to 756,000 hectares; cotton by 9.5pc, from 542,000 acres to 594,000 acres; and sugarcane by 14.3pc, from 258,000 acres to 295,000 acres.

Over the last decade, sugarcane and rice farming expanded by 30pc; meanwhile, cotton guzzles 10,000 to 20,000 litres of water per kilogramme. Similarly, rice consumes 1,500 to 3,000 litres per kg and sugarcane requires 1,500 to 2,500 litres. Such reckless water consumption will deplete the shrinking domestic water resource faster.

Sindh’s potential to enhance agriculture productivity is untapped.

Sindh’s potential to enhance agriculture productivity is untapped. According to research by Dr Waheed Bhutto, published in South Asia Journal, the average wheat yield was 50 maund per acre in 2020, while the yield in Rajasthan was some 65 maund in the same period. Sindh’s average rice yield per acre in 2019 was 30 maund, while Rajasthan produced 40 maund. The difference indicates potentially devastating water inefficiency created by the rampant neglect of channels and obsolete farming practices. Substandard seeds and agricultural implements also contribute to the shortage.

Moreover, salinity, waterlogging and conveyance losses have slashed soil output in Sindh. Hardly a third of water diverted from the central canal is put to proper use, the remaining resource either percolates or evaporates due to taxing climate conditions. About 20 to 25pc of irrigation water goes to waste because of uneven fields, its excess raises the water table and accumulates salt in the soil.

Both waterlogging and salinity have damaged half of the irrigated land. In fact, salinity, particularly in Sindh’s lower districts, is beyond alarming levels. Hence, some estimates show the loss of crop production hitting 40 to 60pc. Wapda’s Salinity Control and Recla­mation Projects and prime effluent drains, such as the LBOD and RBOD, have failed to provide any relief. The process and pace of land degradation continues unabated.

Sindh has to be prudent in water application. It also needs to use modern technology to create favourable conditions for ad­­ditional cropping, such as contemporary HEIS with drip and sprinkler irrigation methods. The drip irrigation system can save up to 50pc of water in certain instances as well as bring about extraordinary improvement in the crop yield.

In addition, all local stakeholders should collaborate to develop comprehensive flood plans, as ineffective water management not only harms the soil, it also destroys the prospects of socioeconomic progress. Blocked flow paths jeopardise every aspect of growth as they obstruct the natural drainage of alluvial and pluvial floods. The situation is further complicated by Sindh’s flat topography.

A study by the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority in 2012 identified the network of choked channels and recommended solutions, such as cleared floodplains, to avert climate catastrophes as witnessed in 2022. In short, Sindh’s climate resilient and expansive water plan has to break away from old practices for a climate shock proof and prosperous province.

The writer is a civil society professional.
nmemon2004@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2025

11 cops injured in clashes during anti-encroachment drive in Sindh’s Qasimabad: official

Mohammad Hussain Khan

January 7, 2025 

DAWN

District administration use heavy machinery to demolish illegal structure during an anti encroachment drive in Qasimabad on Tuesday. — Photo by Umair Ali

A policeman carrying out shelling to vacate encroached property during an anti encroachment drive in Qasimabad on Tuesday. — Photo by Umair Ali

District administration and police personnel waiting outside the area where an anti encroachment drive was launched in Qasimabad on Tuesday. — Photo by Umair Ali

Eleven cops were injured in clashes as the Hyderabad police resorted to aerial firing and massive teargas shelling on Tuesday to remove encroachments for building a 24-foot wide road and restoring an abandoned irrigation channel of the irrigation department in Qasimabad.

An unspecified number of people, including some policemen, were injured as clashes broke out in Bhitai Town off Jamshoro road when a heavy contingent of police along with administration officials arrived in the area to demolish encroachments.

The drive led to a strong reaction from those living in the encroached structures as they pelted officials with stones, smashing panes of a couple of government vehicles. The drive was underway even after sunset.

Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Zainul Abideen Memon told Dawn.com that 11 personnel were injured.


“We have to build a 24ft-wide road from Karan Khan Shoro to Wadhu Wah,” said DC Memon, who reached the area following stiff resistance by residents that caused the suspension of the anti-encroachment drive.

More police forces subsequently arrived in the area and the electricity supply to the area remained disconnected.

“We are procuring machinery to clear the path by demolishing the structures,” Memon said. He added that an around one-kilometre stretch remained to be cleared of the encroachments.

“The 2.7km road is being built by the highway department whereas the irrigation channel is to be restored by the Sindh irrigation department,” he said. Memon said that 350-400 encroached structures were present on the stretch as per a survey by the Qasimabad assistant commissioner.

There were different claims by the residents about the issuance of notices to them by the administration as a few affected ones confirmed that notices for the anti-encroachment drive were given while some others denied having been served.

According to Jawaid Mastoi, a resident of Larkana, he was served with a notice. “We have been living here since 2010 on a plot stretching over 1,800 square feet,” he said, adding that he had bought the plot from someone.

“We are provided amenities such gas and electricity and nobody objected then,” he said.

Some angry women also came outside to offer resistance to the authorities during the drive.

“Why were we provided electricity and gas meters if these were illegal,” screamed a woman. The residents also alleged that irrigation department officials had taken money from them to build their houses.

Members of affected families were seen sifting through the rubble of their razed structures, separating material that was useable and moving it on pushcarts.

“Our families have been staying in our neighbour’s house ever since my house was demolished,” said A. Raheem Noonari, who hailed from Larkana.

He said that he had settled in the area around 10-15 years back to earn his livelihood. “I bought the plot of 400sq yards for Rs1 million and I got a stamp paper but I don’t have any registry,” he said.

SMOKERS’ CORNER: THE POLITICS OF BOYCOTTS AND BUYCOTTS

Nadeem F. Paracha

 January 12, 2025 

Illustration by Abro

The act of boycotting brands is referred to as “political consumerism.” According to the political scientists Dietlind Stolle and Michele Micheletti, political consumerism refers to the use of the market as an arena for politics, in order to change institutional or market practices found to be ethically, environmentally or politically objectionable.

Political consumerism can also be about people deliberately purchasing brands to reward them. This is referred to as “buycotting”. For example, in 2023, millennials and Gen Z, the core consumers of the American ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, increased their consumption of the brand due to its overt support for ‘progressive causes.’ Ben & Jerry’s ‘reward’ in this regard was that it became 2023’s leading ice cream brand in the US.

Boycotting or buycotting brands are both political acts. Recently, a once-obscure Pakistani cola brand witnessed a manifold increase in demand at the expense of two established international cola brands. Since late 2023, the established cola brands have increasingly been accused of being ‘pro-Israel.’ Their names have appeared on various ‘boycott lists’ circulated by human rights groups active in highlighting Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza.

There is no conclusive literature/research, though, to determine to what extent boycotts or buycotts really work. And even though Ben & Jerry’s example can be viewed as a buycott success, one does wonder whether the brand could have posted even larger profits had it not just focused on embracing the politics of liberal millennials and Gen Z.

As youth-driven activism links consumption with ethics, many local alternatives are thriving by aligning themselves with progressive causes. However, the long-term impact of this on market dynamics and brand strategies remains unpredictable

But was the brand interested in profits or in just promoting certain causes? All businesses are for profit. Causes in this regard are part of ‘brand positioning.’ Ben & Jerry’s chose to position the brand as an activist brand. The brand’s marketing strategy seemed to be to engage with politically aware cosmopolitan youth who are likely to continue accumulating consumption power in the future more than the ageing ‘boomers’, and the ‘Gen Xers’ who have entered middle age.

Many giant brands did report a fall in sales in various countries due to Israel-related boycott campaigns against them. But this did not succeed in even slightly lessening the intensity of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

Yet, one can state that this is not the core intention of the boycott campaign. The intention is to disrupt the market share of the boycotted brands long enough for the disruption to compel major stakeholders of the brand to start exhibiting serious concern.

Interestingly, whereas it is tough for many brands to disprove their association with pro-Israel business/political interests, there are some brands that do not belong on the boycott list but have been put there.

In early 2024, an international fast-food chain (not McDonalds) in Pakistan was shocked to find its name in a boycott list that began to circulate on social media. According to the chain, its name was added in the list by a PR firm of a Pakistani fast-food brand. To this day, the chain is trying to clarify this, but to no avail. It has lost a lot of business to the local brand. Is this cheating or a clever strategy?

Israel-related brand boycotts have opened up the market for local brands. For example, local cola brands in the Muslim world have suddenly witnessed an unprecedented demand. Quality and taste are not considerations as such. Because consuming a local cola makes the consumer feel that they are part of a noble cause.

But who are these consumers? This is important to understand — especially by brands who believe they are being demonised through false information. To rebound, they need to be talking to the most active participants of the boycott campaign.

According to the American journalist Moore Terence, “Political consumers choose products based on the politics of the product than the product as material object.” This is a growing trend across the world, especially among the youth. This is also why, over the years, brands have intensified their claims of being environment-friendly, charitable, gender neutral etc. But how is a brand to address accusations of facilitating a genocide?




Apologising would mean that, indeed, the brand did facilitate the genocide. Saying that the actions of its producers in Israel have nothing to do with the intent of its producers elsewhere has drawn even more criticism. Remaining quiet hasn’t worked either because this boycott campaign has gone on for over a year now.

Brand boycotts cannot succeed if there are no alternative brands for the boycotters to choose as a replacement. Keeping in mind that major brands often buy-out competitive alternatives, and alternatives often allow this because they’re not sure for how long they can sustain the people’s interest, brands facing the boycott for over a year, may try to buy-out all major local brands that have risen.

And most local brands will be willing to sell due the kind of money that will be on offer. This is likely to happen if the boycott continues for yet another year. The Israel-related boycott campaign has witnessed moments of lull. And it is in such moments, the buy-outs may take place. Quietly.

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 12th, 2025

Indian MP joins Musk’s bandwagon of provocation against Pakistanis

Atika Rehman 

January 10, 2025 

LONDON: Tech billionaire Elon Musk — who has been riling up European leaders with his defence of far-right figures and tropes in recent weeks — has now entered a contentious debate surrounding the term “Asian grooming gangs”, with his latest remarks sparking concerns of perpetuating harmful anti-Pakistani stereotypes.

Musk’s latest intervention came after an Indian lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi criticised the British prime minister’s use of the generic term “Asian” in relation to child sexual abuse scandals, largely involving men of Pakistani heritage.

Chaturvedi, a leader of India’s Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Repeat after me, they aren’t ASIAN Grooming Gangs but PAKISTANI grooming gangs.”

Musk replied with a terse “True,” signaling his support for her remarks. The exchange has been widely covered in Indian media, with outlets hailing Musk’s stance as aligning with Chaturvedi’s criticism of the broad-brush label.


The X owner’s tweets have added fuel to a debate that has frequently drawn criticism for targeting specific ethnic communities.

Speaking to Dawn, UK Labour MP Naz Shah described Musk’s comments as “dangerous” and likely to exacerbate divisions. “For me, the idea that Musk is supporting someone that our courts convicted, like Tommy Robinson, is all you need to know,” Shah said, referring to the far-right activist notorious for stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.

She also questioned Musk’s priorities, highlighting the disconnect between his rhetoric and actionable solutions. “Jess Phillips [Labour MP] has done more on domestic violence than Musk and all these guys put together. If Musk really wanted to help with violence against women, he should ensure his platform is engaged in that conversation,” Shah added.

Concerns over Musk’s involvement echo past narrative about Pakistani men in comments made by British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who referred to Pakistanis in ways widely condemned as unfairly targeting Pakistanis as a whole. Advocacy groups argue that such narratives risk inflaming divisions, particularly in multicultural societies like the UK.

Naz Shah underscored the broader implications of such rhetoric, pointing to risks of violence fueled by divisive narratives. “This is very real,” she warned. “Fanning flames of division and hatred has dire consequences, as we’ve seen with tragedies like the Christchurch mosque attacks. This is a dangerous game that risks people’s lives.

Organisations such as the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) have long advocated for greater accuracy in discussing these issues. The NSO has repeatedly emphasised the harm caused by vague terminology such as “Asian grooming gangs,” which unfairly implicates wider South Asian communities.

“There is a legitimate need for accuracy,” the NSO noted in a statement, “but also a responsibility to avoid fostering division and hatred.”

As the debate unfolds, critics of Musk’s remarks are urging greater focus on systemic solutions rather than divisive commentary. The concern is that influential figures like Musk, with his massive platform, may unwittingly amplify harmful stereotypes that detract from meaningful efforts to address crimes and support victims.

As MP Naz Shah cautioned, “We need to focus on facts, on data, and on actions that protect all vulnerable people—not on unwarranted targeting of specific groups.”

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2025

Musk discussed ways to oust Starmer before next election: FT

Reuters 

January 10, 2025

LONDON: Billionaire Elon Musk has held private discussions with allies about removing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer from his position before the next general election, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Musk, the world’s richest person and a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, last month endorsed a German anti-immigration party ahead of elections slated in February, and has repeatedly commented on British politics, demanding Prime Minister Keir Starmer resign.

Musk has been weighing how he and his allies can destabilise the Labour government and has sought information about building support for alternative British political movements to force a change in government, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

“His view is that Western civilisation itself is threatened,” one of the people was quoted as telling the FT.


Musk earlier accused Starmer of what he said was a failure to prosecute gangs of men who raped young girls when he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. Starmer subsequently defended his work as Britain’s top prosecutor.

Separately, Musk is scheduled to host Alternative for Germany party leader Alice Weidel in a live interview on X on Thursday. The Musk-endorsed German party has been labelled as right-wing extremist by the German security services.

Earlier this week, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere expressed his concern over Musk involving himself in the political issues of countries outside of the United States.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2025