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)
Monday, January 29, 2024
Women working in music industry face 'endemic' misogyny and discrimination, MPs say Sky News Updated Mon, 29 January 2024
Musicians have to sit beside sexual abusers at award ceremonies, MPs have said as they warned that misogyny and discrimination is "endemic" in the industry.
The Women and Equalities Committee has held an inquiry into the sector, where it found sexual harassment and abuse was common.
But it said many women did not report the incidents as they worried about whether they would be believed - or if their careers would be over as a result.
The cross-party group has recommended a number of measures to be put in place, including changing the Equalities Act to offer more protections to freelance workers and increased investment to get more women into the sector.
"People in the industry who attend award shows and parties currently do so sitting alongside sexual abusers who remain protected by the system and by colleagues," the report said.
It added: "The music industry has always prided itself on being a vehicle for social change; when it comes to discrimination, and the harassment and sexual abuse of women, it has a lot of work to do."
Committee chair, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, called for a "shift in the behaviour of men" in the industry to ensure the "transformative change" needed.
The committee gathered evidence from a range of people within the sector, from industry bodies and festival organisers, through to artists.
They concluded women were underrepresented in key roles across the industry - shown most clearly in the number of female artists signed by record labels or on festival line ups.
And while the numbers were "improving", in certain areas progress is "slow and shackled by discrimination, misogyny and sexual abuse in an industry that is still routinely described as a 'boys' club'".
They also said for women trying to get into the industry, they faced "unjustifiable limitations in opportunity, a lack of support, gender discrimination and sexual harassment as well as the 'persistent issue of equal pay' in a sector dominated by self-employment" - which was even worse for women from other minorities.
And while the MPs said abuse and discrimination was not unique in music, it was "amplified" by the high number of freelance workers, the informal nature of many workplaces, and "late-night working, often in places where alcohol and drugs are available, can result in women working in environments that are unsafe".
The committee has called on the government to change the Equality Act to give the same support against discrimination to freelance workers, and impose a duty on employers to protect workers from sexual harassment by third parties.
The also want non-disclosure agreements to be banned when it comes to cases of sexual abuse, harassment or misconduct.
The MPs called on ministers to increase investment in talent from a range of backgrounds, including through official schemes, and create pathways for women in male-dominated careers, such as sound engineering and production.
And they said record labels should regularly publish statistics about the diversity on their books.
Ms Nokes said: "Women's creative and career potential should not have limits placed upon it by 'endemic' misogyny which has persisted for far too long within the music industry.
"Our report rightly focuses on improving protections and reporting mechanisms, and on necessary structural and legislative reforms.
"However, a shift in the behaviour of men - and it is almost always men - at the heart of the music industry is the transformative change needed for talented women to quite literally have their voices heard and be both recognised and rewarded on equal terms."
Fixing food could produce trillions in annual benefits: report
AFP Mon, 29 January 2024 Economists and scientists have warned of massive hidden costs from global food systems (Anatolii Stepanov)
The ways food is produced and consumed across the world is racking up hidden costs in health impacts and environmental damage amounting to some 12 percent of world GDP a year, according to a new report Monday.
In the research, a consortium of scientists and economists found that transforming food systems across the world could prevent 174 million premature deaths, help the world meet its climate goals, and provide economic benefits of $5 trillion to $10 trillion.
While intensive food production has helped to feed a global population that has doubled since the 1970s, the report found that this has come with a growing burden on people and the planet.
Poor diets lead to obesity or undernutrition and associated chronic illness, while polluting farming practices drive global warming and biodiversity loss, threatening potentially catastrophic climate impacts that would whiplash back on the world's ability to produce food.
"We have an amazing food system," said Vera Songwe, an economist with the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and part of the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC), which produced the report.
"But it has done that with a lot of cost to the environment, to people's health, and to the future and to our economics," she said.
Researchers estimated total underappreciated costs from food systems of up to $15 trillion a year. That includes around $11 trillion each year from the loss in productivity caused by food-linked illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and cancer.
Environmental costs are estimated at $3 trillion from current agricultural land use and food production methods, which scientists say account for a third of planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions.
- 'Dramatic' costs -
The authors also compared computer modelling of the consequences by 2050 of continuing current trends and of a hypothetical food system transformation.
They said that on the current pathway, food systems alone will push global warming above the Paris Deal's more ambitious threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times.
Heating could reach a catastrophic 2.7C by 2100, they said, while food production would be increasingly battered by climate change.
Obesity would also increase globally by 70 percent, they said, while around 640 million people would still be underweight.
Imagining a better system, the report's authors said more effective policies could improve diets, drastically reducing diet-related deaths due to chronic diseases, while transforming food systems into a source of carbon storage by 2040, helping the world stay within its climate goals.
But the report, which comes as farmers across parts of Europe stage protests over a variety of grievances including incomes and environmental regulations, acknowledged that change would be challenging.
The authors urged policymakers to compensate those left behind by a shift to a more sustainable system, noting that promoting healthier diets would have different priorities and focus in different parts of the world.
The authors policymakers to work to compensate those left behind by changes.
The report comes after the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization released research in November estimating that the hidden costs of food systems across the world were around $10 trillion a year, or nearly 10 percent of GDP.
Johan Rockstrom, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the FSEC, said the fact that both groups had come up with a "very dramatic number", exceeding $10 trillion, was reason to have confidence in the findings.
But he warned that the future projections were "conservative" because even if the world manages to transition away from fossil fuels, the food system can push the world above 1.5C on its own.
"(That) likely means irreversible changes to major life support systems on Earth, which means that the price tag correlated to the food system would accelerate very rapidly for hidden costs that are not included in these analyses," he said.
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END THE EMBARGO
'There was nothing': Ailing economy fueling record exodus of Cubans
NO DIFFERENT THAN OTHER CARCOM COUNTRIES
Leticia PINEDA Mon, 29 January 2024 Cubans queue to enter the Spanish embassy in Havana on January 9, 2024 (Yamil LAGE)
Even as her home country of Cuba crumbled around her, Elsa resisted joining the growing US-bound exodus until she felt she had no options left.
But the 30-year-old finally packed her bags last year, and after a long and dangerous journey made it to Miami in November.
She's among the nearly five percent of the island's population that has fled to the United States in the past two years, the biggest wave of emigration since Fidel Castro's revolution.
"It was very difficult to meet even one's basic needs. There was nothing," Elsa told AFP of her reasons for leaving, asking her last name not be shared.
"The (electricity) blackouts became unbearable and then there was (the price of) food."
The communist island is in the grips of its worst economic crisis in decades, with sky-high inflation and shortages of fuel, medicine and basic foodstuffs -- and US sanctions -- aggravating an already dire situation.
Like thousands before her, Elsa flew to Managua, Nicaragua, and from there made her way 3,000-odd kilometers (about 1,900 miles) to the US border.
On Saturday, the US Customs and Border Protection agency said it had registered more than 153,000 irregular entries from Cuba in 2023.
Another 67,000 entered legally under a humanitarian parole program, introduced a year ago by President Joe Biden's administration in a bid to slow illegal migration.
Together with the 313,506 who left in 2022, this mass movement represents "the largest number of Cuban migrants recorded in two years since the beginning of the post-revolutionary Cuban exodus in 1959," said Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
These 533,000 Cubans represent almost five percent of the island's 2022 population of 11.1 million. - 'A substantial loss' - Other historic migration waves included the so-called Mariel boatlift in which about 130,000 left Cuba as refugees in the 1980s, and the 35,000-odd who fled in a "raft exodus" in 1994.
"Many young people with high educational and occupational levels" left in the last two years, creating "a substantial loss of human resources" for Cuba, said Duany.
The country already has one of the oldest populations in the region.
The latest mass exit started in November 2021, when Cuban ally Nicaragua lifted its visa requirement for Cubans.
Last year, there was a surge in chartered flights to the Central American country, a waypoint for those making their way to the United States -- an increase so noticeable that Washington sanctioned the carriers involved.
- 'There's everything here' -
Not all Cuban migrants head for the United States, however. Latin American countries and Europe are also popular destinations, though there is no official global figure.
Some 36,574 paperless Cuban migrants sought refuge in Mexico in 2022 and 2023, while at least 22,000 entered Uruguay and hundreds arrived in Chile in the same period, according to official figures from these three countries.
Radibel Pena, a 28-year-old carpenter, flew last April from Havana to Georgetown, Guyana, which does not require a visa from Cubans.
He then crossed the jungles of Brazil and made it to Bolivia, from where he entered Chile illegally on May 1.
"There's everything here. One can work with dignity and live well," he told AFP in Valparaiso, where he lives with his girlfriend and works in construction.
In Europe, Spain is a favorite Cuban destination, especially since the passage in 2022 of a so-called "Grandchildren's Law" that allows Spanish descendants to obtain nationality.
Marco Antonio Napoles Alvarez, a 24-year-old waiter from the Cuban province of Holguin, hopes to make a new life in Madrid with his sister.
"We plan to settle down there to see if we do well," he told AFP as he left the Spanish embassy in Havana with a big smile -- and a Spanish passport in hand.
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THE SEIGE OF PARIS
800 tractors besiege Paris and set lorry ablaze
Around 800 tractors have surrounded the capital as farmers protest what they say are stringent environmental regulations, red tape and low pay.
Near Beauvais, north of Paris, dozens of tractors lined the highway in one of many such protests across the country. In the event of major disruption, Paris would only have three days’ food supplies, according to government agency Ademe.
Farmer protests converge on Paris as French government scrambles to address concerns RFI Mon, 29 January 2024
French farmers will launch an indefinite "siege" of Paris beginning this Monday, choking off major highways and moving toward the capital as they demand better working conditions.
For days, nationwide protests have flared across France – Europe's largest agriculture producer, – with farmers angered in part by red tape and environmental policies they say are hurting their bottom lines and rendering them unable to compete with less stringent neighbours.
Across the country, farmers have used tractors and trucks to block roads and jam traffic. They plan to step up their pressure campaign by establishing eight chokepoints along the major arteries to Paris by Monday afternoon.
The government plans to mobilise some 15,000 police and paramilitary gendarmes in response, with the forces told to show "moderation".
"We don't intend to allow government buildings, or tax collection buildings, or grocery stores to be damaged or trucks transporting foreign produce to be stopped. Obviously, that is unacceptable," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said ahead of the planned siege.
He said President Emmanuel Macron had instructed the security operation to ensure both Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport to the north and Orly to the south remain open, and the Rungis international wholesale food market south of Paris continues to operate.
Protesting farmers block major roads into Paris Jurgen HECKER with AFP bureaus Mon, 29 January 2024 PM Attal has promised more action to appease farmers (ALAIN JOCARD)
French farmers choked off major motorways around Paris on Monday, threatening to blockade the capital in an intensifying standoff with the government over working conditions.
In recent weeks there has been a slew of protests in France, a major agricultural producer, by farmers angry about incomes, red tape and environmental policies they say undermine their ability to compete with other countries.
Protesting farmers started the operation by blocking the A13 highway to the west of the capital, the A4 to the east and the A6 on which hundreds of tractors rolled towards Paris from the south.
By midafternoon they appeared to have met their objective of establishing eight chokepoints on major roads into Paris, according to Sytadin, a traffic monitoring service.
"We need answers," said Karine Duc, a farmer from the southwestern Lot-et-Garonne department as she joined a convoy of tractors heading for Paris.
"This is the final battle for farming. It's a question of survival," she told AFP.
One banner on a tractor in the convoy said: "We will not die in silence." - Police to protect airports -
In response, the government ordered the deployment of 15,000 police and gendarmes.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told security forces to show restraint, but he also warned the farmers not to interfere with strategic spots.
"We're not going to allow government buildings or tax offices or supermarkets to be damaged or lorries transporting foreign produce to be stopped," he said.
Darmanin said the protests would also not be allowed to affect Paris's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, or the Rungis international wholesale food market south of the city.
Armoured police vehicles were deployed to Rungis on Monday after some farmers threatened to "occupy" it.
Police and gendarmes are also under orders to prevent any incursion into Paris itself, Darmanin said.
The government has been trying to keep discontent among farmers from spreading ahead of European Parliament elections in June, which are seen as a key test for President Emmanuel Macron's government.
Macron called a meeting with several ministers Monday afternoon to discuss the situation, his office said.
Macron is also set to meet with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the crisis and support measures that farmers are demanding at the EU level, his office said.
During a visit to a farm on Sunday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal sought again to address farmers' concerns after a raft of concessions announced on Friday failed to defuse the crisis.
"I want us to clarify things and see what extra measures we can take," he said.
Government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot said "new measures will be taken tomorrow" to help farmers. - 'Given us nibbles' -
Farmer leaders said the government's responses so far were insufficient.
"The prime minister has given us nibbles, and now we'd like him to work a bit harder and give us more," said Arnaud Lepoil, a member of the leading farmers' union FNSEA.
Arnaud Rousseau, the FNSEA's leader, and Young Farmers union boss Arnaud Gaillot were to meet with Attal later Monday, sources told AFP.
"Our goal is not to annoy French people or make their lives difficult but to put pressure on the government," Rousseau told the RTL broadcaster. Earlier, around 30 activists from environmental group Greenpeace launched smoke grenades on Paris's Place de la Concorde near the Champs-Elysees.
They also unfurled a banner in support of the farmers before being escorted away by police.
Taxi drivers staged their own protest movement on Monday against what they say is insufficient remuneration for the transport of patients by the French health services.
Their go-slows added to the disruption on motorways.
In neighbouring Belgium, farmers have stepped up their own campaign, and in recent weeks farmers' protests have also grown in Germany, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands.
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As hundreds of tractors chug towards Paris in protest, the city is on the verge of being 'choked' Sky News Updated Mon, 29 January 2024
Paris is slowly being encircled.
From a variety of directions, the farmers are heading towards the French capital, bringing their anger to the heart of the nation.
Eight hundred tractors surround the city.
Since these protests erupted, they have, from a Parisian perspective, happened in other places, to other people.
The motorways across much of the nation may have been brought to a standstill, but not here. Not until now.
And while the fury of farmers may resonate loudly in those huge stretches of France where agriculture is still central to everyday life, that hasn't happened so much in Paris.
This extraordinary metropolis is, like London or New York, beset with boundless urban problems. It takes a lot for Parisians to start worrying about French farmers.
But now, that surely will change. As tractors and other agricultural vehicles ease their way noisily towards the capital, so Paris frets.
Could Paris be 'starved' by the protests?
The protest organisers have designated eight "choke points" that they are using to upset the flow of traffic.
The idea is, depending on who you believe, either to cause enough disruption to focus the minds of millions across the city or, more bluntly, to "starve" the population.
The spectre of starvation is an exaggeration, of course, but even the government's own agency, Ademe, has estimated that Paris has only three days' supplies of food, were it to be cut off.
Hyperbole is as much part of this protest as any other. But the rhetoric, backed up by the sight of hundreds of tractors driving down the main highways towards Paris, has certainly focused attention.
Aware of the protesters' plans to encircle Paris, the government has called up 15,000 police officers. That's not just to hold back the farmers but also to reassure a nervous city.
The government has held an emergency meeting of ministers. Tensions are high.
Giant fresh food market 'is the target'
And so we find ourselves standing outside Rungis International Market, an absolutely enormous complex dedicated to the sale of fresh food.
This is Europe's biggest produce market - the second-largest wholesale food market in the world. And right now, it is being protected by armoured police vehicles.
The market is a controversial focus for the farmers' protests.
Some believe it should be left alone, seeing as it is so key to their own prosperity.
But others maintain that the only way Paris will understand the value of its farming community is when it is cut off from their produce.
"Rungis market is the target," said Veronique Le Floc'h, president of Rural Co-ordination, an agricultural trade union.
“[Blockading Paris] will happen naturally. Parisians are going to be hungry. The goal is to starve Parisians. That’s it”, said Benoît Durand, a grain farmer.
The protests follow similar action in other European countries, including Germany and Poland, ahead of European Parliament elections in June in which the hard-Right are making gains. Protesters hang an effigy as they gather during a blockade on the A4 near Paris on Monday night - REUTERS
The main farming unions do not back strangling Paris’s food supplies but on Monday night angry farmers refused to move, setting up barbecues on motorways and sleeping in trailers.
In the event of major disruption, Paris would only have three days’ food supplies, as deliveries are made every day, according to Ademe, a government agency.
A group of 90 tractors left Agen, southwestern France, on Monday morning with the aim of “occupying” the Rungis food market, where more than 8,000 tons of goods pass through to feed nearly 12 million people every day. The farmers are upset about increasing regulations hurting their livelihoods - REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
The tractors were due to reach the market, dubbed “the belly of Paris”, by Tuesday night or Wednesday at the latest. Their ranks were expected to swell considerably along the way. Some 10,000 farmers and 5,000 farm vehicles took part in action around the country, French police sources said on Monday.
Armoured military vehicles were dispatched to the market and 15,000 police and gendarmes were deployed around the country to prevent tractors from entering Paris and other major cities.
“We don’t intend to allow government buildings, or tax collection buildings, or grocery stores to be damaged or trucks transporting foreign produce to be stopped. Obviously, that is unacceptable,” he said.
The government has tried to appease the protesters with a string of concessions in recent days. On Friday, it dropped plans to gradually reduce state subsidies on agricultural diesel and promised a reduction in red tape and an easing of environmental regulations.
Unions said that was not enough and pledged to step up the pressure.
Spirits were high on Monday night on the A1 highway at Chennevières-lès-Louvres, within sight of Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, 25 kilometres north of Paris.
As night fell, farmers warmed their hands around bonfires and barbecued sausages as they sipped wine and beer. Behind, their tractors formed an impregnable convoy blocking off the capital.
As fires raged, Soft Cell’s UK hit “Tainted Love” and Madness’ “One Step Beyond” blasted over the farmers’ sound system as they chomped on beef burgers and temperatures approached zero.
“We’re here because we’ve had enough, we want to defend our pay, we’ve had enough of all the excessive red tape that’s even worse in France than the rest of Europe,” said Robin Leduc, 30, who runs a 200-hectare farm in Canly, not far from the tractor checkpoint.
“The government has to act fast then we can all go home as we have work to do on our farms.”
Mr Leduc said he had found an unlikely British ally in the shape of Jeremy Clarkson, who has gained plaudits for the Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm, which charts his attempts at running a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds.
“We need a French celebrity to do the same as Jeremy Clarkson. Everything he explains in it is why we are here today. You may have left the EU, but we share many of the same problems regarding all these environmental rules.” Gendarmes look on as the protests continued into the night - Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
The government has been trying to keep discontent among farmers from spreading ahead of European Parliament elections in June, seen as a key test for Mr Macron’s government.
On Monday, the government said it would push its EU peers to agree to ease regulations on fallow farmland. Farmers must currently meet certain conditions to receive EU subsidies, including a requirement to devote four per cent of farmland to “non-productive” areas where nature can recover.
With cheap imports a burning issue, Mr Macron’s office also said he had told the European Commission it was impossible to conclude trade deal negotiations with South America’s Mercosur bloc. The president’s office believes it has an understanding that the EU has put an end to the talks.
The French president will make a push for more pro-farming policies at an EU summit on Thursday. The French government has warned the farmers not to cross red lines including blocking airports or the capital's largest market - Loock francois / Alamy Live News
Henri Haquin, 43, who runs a 300-hectare farm in Bregy, north of Paris, said: “We get the feeling that Brussels doesn’t understand what we do and comes up with new laws every month that are difficult to understand and work with.”
He also has a real estate business to make ends meet, saying he won’t make a profit from his farm until he has paid off bank loans in a decade.
“Life on the farm is more and more difficult to make ends meet. We fear for the new generations. The main problem is unfair competition, lots of products from elsewhere without the same norms,” he said. “This is the only way we’ve found to get the government going”.
However, he insisted: “We clearly don’t want to starve Parisians. Only a small minority wants to block Rungis. For now, 90 per cent of the French are behind us. If we do that we’ll lose that support. We simply want to put pressure on the government and get solutions and go back on some laws we find completely ridiculous and inapplicable.
“All of the farmers in Europe are starting to move and say they can’t work with European laws as they are and I hope this can change things.”
Protests have taken place elsewhere in Europe, including in neighbouring Belgium, where farmers have stepped up their campaign against the administrative burden placed on them, including disrupting motorway traffic at the Daussoulx interchange near Namur. The Daussoulx interchange in Belgium was blocked on Monday - ERIC LALMAND / Belga / AFP
She said that she wanted to “identify the proportion of imports and what type of products come in” to the market. In recent days, farmers have seized shipments from Belgium, Spain and Poland, scattering them across the highway and setting fire to them.
Marc Fesneau, the French agriculture minister, outlined a list of government “priorities” for farmers on Monday. These included tougher inspections on provenance of food products and “Frenchifiying farm products”, without providing more details.
EXPLAINER-Why are French farmers protesting?
Mon, 29 January 2024 By Gus Trompiz, Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - French farmers blocked major highways to Paris on Monday as they pursue protests over a range of grievances, despite several measures announced by the government.
Here are some of the issues that have prompted the protest movement and what the government could do next. WHY ARE FARMERS PROTESTING?
Farmers in France, the EU's biggest agricultural producer, say they are not being paid enough and are choked by excessive regulation on environmental protection. Some of their concerns, like competition from cheaper imports and environmental rules, are shared by producers in the rest of the EU while other issues such as food price negotiations are more specific to France.
COSTS Farmers argue that a push by the government and retailers to bring down food inflation has left many producers unable to cover high costs for energy, fertiliser and transport.
A government plan to phase out a tax break for farmers on diesel fuel, as part of a wider energy transition policy, was also a flashpoint.
IMPORTS
Large imports from Ukraine, for which the EU has waived quotas and duties since Russia's invasion, and renewed negotiations to conclude a trade deal between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur, have fanned discontent about unfair competition in sugar, grain and meat.
The imports are resented for pressuring European prices while not meeting environmental standards imposed on EU farmers.
ENVIRONMENT, RED TAPE
Farmers take issue both with EU subsidy rules, such as an incoming requirement to leave 4% of farmland fallow, and what they see as France's overcomplicated implementation of EU policy, such as in restoring hedges.
Green policies are seen as contradicting goals to become more self-sufficient in production of food and other essential goods in the light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Rows over irrigation projects and criticism about animal welfare and pesticides have heightened feelings among an ageing French farmer population as being disregarded by society.
WHAT HAS THE GOVERNMENT DONE SO FAR?
The government is under pressure to defuse the crisis ahead of European elections in June and the annual Paris farm show in late February. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Jan. 26 the scrapping of diesel tax increases for farmers. He also set out steps to reduce red tape and offered extra aid including for farmers affected by a cattle disease in the south.
WHAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT?
The initial announcements drew mixed reactions and farmers' unions have called for protests to continue.
The government is maintaining a tolerant stance towards the protests, despite some violent incidents. It has ordered police, however, to protect Paris' airports and wholesale food market after calls for them to be targeted.
The government has promised further measures within days.
Further support for wine producers hit by falling consumption is being studied while additional measures for livestock are also expected.
With most agricultural policies and subsidies determined at EU level, Paris is seeking concessions from its partners, such as trying to build support for a waiver on the fallow land requirement, an issue President Emmanuel Macron could push at a leaders' summit on Thursday. On trade, another area run at EU level, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau called for measures to prevent imports from Ukraine destabilising EU markets, notably in sugar, poultry and eggs. That marks a shift by Paris, previously opposed to moves by eastern EU countries to limit flows of Ukrainian produce.
WHERE ELSE IN EUROPE ARE FARMERS PROTESTING?
Traffic around the Belgian capital was also disrupted by angry farmers on Monday and about a dozen tractors made it through to Brussels' EU area where they honked loudly.
Farmers stopped about five trucks with Spanish vegetables and dumped the produce near the distribution centre of Belgian retailer Colruyt near Brussels, Belgian media reported. Germany has also faced tensions, with protests erupting after a government decision to phase out a tax break on agricultural diesel as it tried to balance its 2024 budget. Earlier this month Berlin was brought to a near standstill as one of its central avenues filled with trucks and tractors. Farmers and truck drivers in Romania have also taken action this month with protests against high business costs blocking access to a border crossing with Ukraine. (Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by David Evans and Kylie MacLellan)
COSCO's Decision to Quit Israel Raises Strategic Concerns
The maritime security crisis in the Red Sea is creating new tensions over a Chinese-operated container terminals in Haifa. After China's state-owned ocean carriers ceased service to Israel, the chairman of the port of Ashdod accused China of "maintaining a trade boycott," and he threatened to stop sharing information with a Chinese-operated terminal in Haifa.
In mid-December, Chinese-owned carrier OOCL said that it would suspend all shipments to and from Israeli ports, citing "operational issues." In early January its parent company - state-owned China COSCO, the world's largest shipowner - followed suit and canceled all service to Israel. The two lines have not provided further explanation, and the Israeli transport ministry has said that it is seeking clarification.
Shipping from Asia to the Eastern Mediterranean has been seriously disrupted by Houthi rebel attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea. Virtually all large container ships are diverting away from the area and circling Africa instead. Ports in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea are most affected by this decision, because they are the ports for which ex-Asia sailing distance increases most after to the diversion. The extra distance adds cost, and at least one service string to the Red Sea (from THE Alliance) has been suspended altogether.
In a letter obtained by Reuters, Shaul Schneider, chairman of the board of Ashdod Port, questioned whether COSCO's decision to quit Israel was motivated by business concerns. "In practice it is maintaining a trade boycott on Israel," said Schneider. In response, Schneider wrote, Ashdod Port will not share information with SIPG, the new operator of a container terminal at Port of Haifa.
Israel's national ports and shipping regulator disagreed with his assessment, characterizing it as "inaccurate" and potentially harmful. In a written response, the head of the agency said that Schneider's sentiments could cause damage to "seaborne trade and foreign relations and even damage the war effort" in Gaza, according to Reuters.
SIPG opened a new $1.5 billion modern terminal at Haifa in 2021. It was not without its critics: U.S. officials flagged the security risks of having a Chinese-operated port facility right next to an Israeli Navy base, where U.S. Navy vessels have called in years past.
In 2022, Israel's government accepted an Indian bid to privatize the Haifa Port Company, which operates a large container terminal near SIPG's site. The 2022 award was widely viewed as a way to counterbalance Chinese interests in Haifa.
Why China’s great property bust threatens to backfire on the West
Michael Bow
TELEGRAPH Mon, 29 January 2024 China Evergrande
After years of turbulence, Chinese property giant Evergrande was hit with a winding-up order by a judge in Hong Kong on Monday, setting up a multibillion-dollar battle between Western creditors and Chinese authorities.
“Enough is enough,” said Judge Chan, as she ordered Evergrande to liquidate.
The decision wiped a fifth off its share price in Hong Kong before trading was halted, meaning Evergrande – which was founded by Hui Ka Yan in 1996 – is now worth $275m (£216m) but has $328bn of debt.
Given the scale of its borrowings, it is unclear what happens next.
The one certainty is that there will be an almighty battle between Western financiers and Chinese policymakers.
Despite Evergrande’s liquidation being decided by a court in Hong Kong, the vast bulk of the company’s assets are held in mainland China.
In theory, the latter two will rank lower than overseas investors when it comes to sharing payouts.
An ad hoc creditor group of offshore bondholders, advised by Moelis & Company and Kirkland & Ellis, has already been leading efforts to recoup cash but now they face a new challenge.
Will local authorities stiff them, further undermining China’s status as an international market? Or will they be minded to preserve China’s attractiveness to Wall Street and the City of London and pay investors back?
“If there’s a choice that needs to be made, I’m sure the Chinese Government will protect the domestic retail investor versus the foreign one,” said Natixis’ Hong Kong senior economist Gary Ng.
Evergrande has around 1,000 projects across mainland China, although Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Capital Economics, warns that investors will struggle to get their money back.
“Even if the mainland courts accept this, it is going to run into political and social issues,” he says.
“I don’t think local governments are going to be amenable to just selling them off and getting the money over as quickly as possible.”
Before China’s property crisis, when the so-called Golden Era was in full swing, Evergrande raised money by issuing IOUs in dollars rather than renminbi to lure international investors.
Western fund managers like Ashmore, Amundi and Legal & General, as well as banks such as HSBC and UBS, lapped up so-called “Kungfu bonds”, with Evergrande holding around $19bn worth of IOUs at its peak.
They are now trading at around just 1.5 cents in the dollar, attracting the attention of vulture funds who buy cheap debt to squeeze a few more pennies from insolvency.
In recent years, Evergrande’s debt has been acquired by funds such as Saba Capital Management, led by US hedge fund boss Boaz Weinstein, who made millions of dollars from the infamous “London Whale” trade.
It is unclear which investors sit in the bondholder group led by Moelis and Kirkland while Saba declined to comment.
However, one bond investor says: “At those prices, they will be purely distressed guys.
“These are teams where there are as many lawyers as there are portfolio managers because the key thing is trying to predict how courts will play it.”
Predicting how mainland courts in China will rule on commercial disputes is an unenviable task.
Firstly, the Hong Kong court order was made on the same day that new rules designed to increase mutual recognition of judgements in courts between Hong Kong and China came into force.
How China responds to Evergrande will set a major precedent.
Secondly, the vast majority of Evergrande’s assets are in mainland China.
Local government financing has long been intertwined with property development and if Evergrande’s assets are rapidly sold, there could be a ripple effect of unintended consequences.
The third factor is that President Xi Jinping’s economic priorities have changed.
He now cares less about the message he sends to international investors as he tries to move the economy away from investment and property, says William Hurst, Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development at the University of Cambridge.
Instead, he says the President is focusing on consumption and higher-value production.
“In the past, the Chinese government has frequently erred on the side of better protections for large foreign investors,” he says. “But certainly the Chinese government currently does favour the domestic economy over going back to the export-driven, foreign direct investment dependent model that was there for so many years.”
But Xi Jinping is being pulled in two directions.
“There’s a bit of schizophrenia,” Hurst adds. “On the one hand, there is huge domestic emphasis and a trepidation about too much international integration.
“On the other, there is an overriding imperative to try to bring global business back to China.”
The bond investor adds: “Xi is paranoid about a subprime crisis, which leaves him in a tough spot.
“The longer-term repercussions of this is that international investors are going to get less involved but he’s a bit less worried about that. He doesn’t necessarily mind. A bit less capital in there, keeping it cooler - he doesn’t feel that’s the end of the world.”
Still, as the saga moves to the next phase, the outcome for international investors may be more nuanced.
They could take a small haircut on their investment in return for the guarantee of at least some return on their cash.
“There’s still uncertainty about whether the offshore investors will be high enough in the repayment rankings to actually recover some of their assets and whether that will be enforced in China,” says Ng.
Undoubtedly, this will spark unease for investors around the world and all eyes will be on Beijing as Evergrande limbers up for the next stage of its crisis.
Is China’s birthrate slump a sign of global things to come?
Erika Page Mon, 29 January 2024
When the Chinese government imposed its one-child policy in 1980, the authorities feared an impending overpopulation disaster. Four decades later, they are worried by the opposite – the possibility of a population collapse.
Last week, China announced a drop in its population for the second year in a row. The government is scrambling to reverse what demographers classify as an “ultralow” birthrate nearing one child per woman, less than half the population replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman.
The declining population dilemma is attracting attention around the world. Birthrates are falling on every continent, raising questions about how humanity can and should respond.
“In the long run, if humanity’s average birthrate goes and stays below two, then the size of the human population will decrease,” says Dean Spears, associate professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin. “There is no reason to be confident [the trend] is likely to reverse course soon or automatically.”
Almost everywhere, parents are choosing to have fewer children, whether for economic or personal reasons. Two-thirds of the planet’s population now lives in a region where the fertility rate has fallen below the replacement level, from 1.7 in the U.S. to 1.5 in Europe and 1.2 in East Asia.
Birthrates are higher in sub-Saharan Africa, but they are dropping there, too, from 6.8 to 4.6 births per woman since 1980. The global average has fallen from five births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 in 2021, often driven down by greater economic prosperity and women’s empowerment.
Demographers expect the world’s population to peak sometime in the second half of this century. Whether it will then stabilize or plummet is uncertain; if the whole world’s fertility rate followed the U.S. example, global population could decline as quickly as it has risen over the past two centuries.
But most experts warn against drawing long-term conclusions, especially those that spell disaster.
“To have lower fertility is not necessarily a negative situation,” says Patrick Gerland, a senior official at the United Nations Population Division. “It’s more, how does society adapt to this new reality?”
For generations, most people have worried about the threat of overpopulation. Books such as “The Population Bomb,” published in 1968, warned of mass global famine and upheavals caused by a coming population explosion. It was later deemed alarmist and largely inaccurate, which is not to say that countries with the highest birthrates do not still have difficulty meeting their citizens’ basic needs.
Lower birthrates lead to different economic dilemmas. Increasing life spans are a sign of global progress. But if fewer children are born and grow up to find jobs, that means there will be fewer working-age individuals to support retirees through traditional pension and healthcare systems. And a smaller pool of innovators and entrepreneurs, as well as consumers, could mean lower economic growth in the future.
Making it easy for couples to raise children may be the best way to encourage them to do so, says Dr. Gerland. He points to France and the Nordic countries as places whose family-friendly policies – from affordable child care to generous parental leave – may have helped stabilize, or even slightly increase, fertility rates in recent years.
Raising fertility rates, he says, “usually means a lot of social support to families, and especially combining work and family. To do it alone is very difficult.”
Electric car battery giant CATL teams up with Didi to share swapping tech for ride-hailing fleet in new joint venture
South China Morning Post Sun, January 28, 2024
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery giant CATL and ride-hailing powerhouse Didi have formed a joint venture (JV) focusing on battery-swapping technology, as they seek to leverage their strengths to make headway in China's EV charging infrastructure market.
The tie-up will see the companies work closely to "swiftly build out battery-swapping stations and promote vehicles' support for swapping technology", according to a statement CATL published to its official WeChat account on Sunday.
The new venture will improve efficiency of public EV charging and make the transport sector greener, CATL said. It will also leverage the firms' technological and operational advantages by serving Didi's EV fleet from the offset.
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"The public transport market is characterised by a large user pool [and] high charging frequency ... making it a valuable business scenario for battery-swapping services," CATL said in the statement.
The JV announcement comes on the heels of a statement from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at a conference held in late December that reiterated its support for battery-swapping tech, with pilot projects set to begin for public transport this year.
Battery-swapping stations rapidly spread throughout China in 2023, jumping 80 per cent from 2,000 stations last January to 3,567 by the end of December, according to data compiled by the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA).
Fixed charging facilities are still much more common, with 2.7 million public stands in China by the end of 2023. That was up 50 per cent compared with January's 1.8 million charging stands.
Proponents of battery swapping note that it takes just a few minutes compared with the 20 minutes it takes on average to charge a battery enough for around 300 miles (483km) of range, which can result in long wait times at charging stations.
Chinese EV maker Nio has taken the lead in promoting battery swapping, with 2,333 such stations in the country so far.
Nio is collaborating with Chinese carmakers Changan Automobile and Geely, among others, in multiple areas, including the development of battery-swapping standards. Through its partnerships, Nio is advocating for a standardised swapping protocol, as different methods across brands could hinder adoption.
Outside of its new JV, CATL is also teaming up with Xiaoju Energy - Didi's new energy solutions provider - to offer charging services in more than 190 Chinese cities.
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
INTERNECINE FAMILY FEUD
Marcos, Duterte supporters rally in Philippines as family rift deepens Cecil MORELLA Sun, January 28, 2024 Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte briefly appeared at the Marcos rally in Manila (JAM STA ROSA)
Thousands of supporters of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte gathered for rival rallies on Sunday, putting on a public display of a deepening rift between the powerful clans.
In the nearly two years since Marcos swept to victory with the help of his vice presidential running mate Sara Duterte -- the former president's daughter -- their so-called "Unity Team" has fractured.
After Marcos launched his "Bagong Pilipinas" (New Philippines) campaign to develop the country and make the government more accountable, his predecessor accused him of being a "drug addict" and of trying to change the constitution to prolong his term in office.
Sara Duterte briefly appeared at the Marcos rally in Manila, saying the education department that she also heads was "one with all the other government agencies in pushing for a New Philippines" -- before flying to her family's stronghold of Davao city for the rival event.
Relations between the families have deteriorated as they seek to shore up their respective support bases and secure key positions ahead of next year's mid-term elections and the 2028 presidential race, which Sara Duterte is widely expected to contest.
In the latest rift, Marcos has backed a campaign for the 1987 constitution, introduced after his dictator father and namesake was ousted from power, to be changed to allow in more foreign investment -- something the Dutertes have publicly opposed.
Critics warn the effort could pave the way for Marcos to seek another six-year term, which is currently prohibited.
That would potentially put him on a collision course with Sara Duterte for the top job.
At the Davao rally organised by opponents of constitutional change, the Duterte patriarch warned Marcos that "you may suffer your father's fate" and called on the police and military to "protect the constitution".
Earlier, Duterte's youngest son Sebastian openly dared Marcos to step down.
"If you don't show love and aspiration for the country, better resign," Sebastian told supporters, blaming Marcos for the drug and communist insurgency problems in the region.
Marcos has said the constitution's political provisions, including term limits for public officials, should be tackled later.
An ever-shifting coalition of powerful families has long ruled the Philippines, holding onto power for generations.
Left-wing political party Akbayan branded the rallies as a "dynastic war among ruling elites" that did not serve the interests of regular Filipinos.
Police estimated 400,000 people were at the Manila rally, many of them government workers, while more than 40,000 were at the Davao event.
"This would be the most public and deliberate way of letting the people know that the Unity Team is no more," University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco told AFP.
- Unravelling alliance -
In Manila, some members of the crowd told AFP they believed in Marcos, although they said they knew next to nothing about the constitution controversy.
"If he runs again why not, for as long as he is doing a good job for the country," Manila resident Dennis Ardea, 53, told AFP.
"The Dutertes belong to the past. We should go with another (leader)," Ardea added.
The unlikely alliance between the two families began to unravel soon after the 2022 election, with Marcos giving Duterte the problem-plagued education portfolio instead of her preferred post of defence secretary.
The deterioration has gathered pace since then, with the powerful House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez, who is Marcos's cousin and also widely expected to seek the presidency in 2028, demoting influential congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a former president and close ally of Sara Duterte.
Romualdez also spearheaded efforts to strip the vice presidency and the education department of millions of dollars in special confidential funds.
And the House, where Marcos has a majority of support, has pushed for a pro-Duterte radio and television broadcaster to be stripped of its licence after one of its hosts made accusations against Romualdez over his travel budget.
Former Philippine leader's son calls President Marcos 'lazy', urges him to quit
Sun, January 28, 2024 Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
By Karen Lema
MANILA (Reuters) - Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte's son urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to resign on Sunday, calling him lazy and uncompassionate in a deepening rift between the two politically powerful families.
Marcos teamed up with Duterte's daughter Sara to make her vice-president in their 2022 election win. But cracks in the families' alliance have emerged as the incumbent has veered away from his predecessor's anti-drugs and foreign policies.
Sebastian Duterte, who is mayor of Philippines' third most populous city Davao, said there had been a resurgence in crime after his father's hardline campaign had been relaxed.
At a leadership forum, he also accused Marcos of endangering innocent Filipinos by allowing the Americans in, a reference to expanded U.S. access to military bases, including several close to Taiwan. The older Duterte had forged closer ties with China.
Sebastian Duterte also opposed Marcos' decision to restart peace negotiations with communist rebels, saying he did not know anything about the suffering of people living in areas that used to be rebel strongholds.
"You are lazy and you lack compassion. That's why we are unhappy," he said.
MID-TERM ELECTIONS LOOM
He spoke just before Marcos took the stage at a government-led rally in the capital to drum up support for his "Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines)" campaign, where he has promised to improve state services and budget transparency.
Marcos' alliance with the Dutertes was crucial to his presidential victory, so a souring of their relations could have implications in his bid to solidify his support base ahead of the mid-term Senate and congressional election next year.
Sara Duterte, who is also education secretary, attended the president's rally before flying to Davao to join her father and siblings at a prayer rally against moves to amend the Philippine constitution, which Marcos backs.
Some opponents of constitutional change, including the Dutertes, say it is driven by an agenda to change the political system and remove term limits, including that of the president, who can currently serve just one six-year term.
"He is putting politics first, their self-preservation ... rather than focusing on the job," Sebastian Duterte said.
"Mr. President, if you have no love and aspirations for the nation, resign."
Like her brother, Sara Duterte has openly defied some of Marcos' policies, including the peace talks with communist rebels which she said was an "agreement with the devil."
There was no immediate comment from Marcos' office or from the vice president on Sebastian Duterte's remarks.
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Marcos Calls for Unity as Duterte’s Son Seeks His Resignation
Ditas Lopez and Cliff Venzon Sun, January 28, 2024
(Bloomberg) -- Thousands of people gathered at separate rallies by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte amid indications of a widening rift between the two camps that formed an alliance to win the 2022 elections.
“We face a complex and changing world. It calls for a united response that will make our nation strong, our economy sound and our children’s future secure,” Marcos said as he launched his “Bagong Pilipinas,” or “New Philippines,” campaign at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila’s Rizal Park. “We cannot meet these challenges if no common purpose energizes us.”
Vice President Sara Duterte, who ran with Marcos in the 2022 elections, told the Manila crowd that she supports Marcos’s vision of a “New Philippines” and that the Education Department that she heads is working toward that goal. She left, before Marcos arrived, to attend the rally organized by her family’s supporters in the southern city of Davao.
Her brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, meanwhile, criticized the present administration’s policies and called for Marcos to resign, CNN Philippines reported.
The Manila crowd — which included some Cabinet officials, lawmakers and employees from various agencies — reached 400,000, according to the Presidential Communications Office.
“Bagong Pilipinas is not a political game plan that caters to a privileged few. It is a master plan for genuine development that benefits all people,” Marcos said. In a speech that lasted about 20 minutes, he highlighted the need to restore the people’s trust in government and for the state to be worthy of that trust.
He pledged to boost the country’s defenses, address trading and transport bottlenecks and increase farm support to help fight El Nino. He also promised sufficient books and well-trained teachers as part of the reforms in education.
As the Manila rally wrapped up, former President Duterte spoke at a separate gathering called “One Nation, One Opposition” in Davao City.
Duterte warned Marcos that he might suffer his father’s fate, ABS-CBN News reported. The late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, was ousted by a popular revolt in 1986.
By early evening Sunday, the crowd at the Davao City rally was estimated at 17,000, online media Rappler posted on X, citing the police.
The Manila and Davao rallies “highlight a distressing reality: the dynastic war among ruling elites, which serves only to further cement the interests of political dynasties and entrenched elites, while neglecting the pressing needs of the Filipino populace,” Rafaela David, president of political party Akbayan, said in a statement.
In Philippine Presidential Polls Looking to 2028, Duterte’s Daughter Is Already the Frontrunner
Chad de Guzman
TIME Sat, January 27, 2024 Sara Duterte-Carpio campaigns in the City of Parañaque ahead of the Philippines’ 2022 national elections. Credit - Aaron Favila—AP
While current President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., elected in mid-2022, hasn’t even reached his second year in office yet, the country’s constitution currently permits only a single presidential term of six years, opening up early speculation about whom his successor may be.
And based on a new poll, provided to TIME on Thursday, by local public opinion firm WR Numero Research, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, appears to command a significant lead.
Almost 36% of respondents to a survey of Filipino adults in December said they would vote for Duterte-Carpio if elections were held now. This follows a privately commissioned poll conducted by statistics firm Social Weather Stations last July that also showed Duterte-Carpio as the most-preferred candidate. More From TIME
Trailing behind her in both polls is Senator Raffy Tulfo, a tough-talking former broadcaster and social media darling who has carved out a niche for himself with his public service programs, followed by former Vice President and leading opposition figure Leni Robredo. Tulfo was chosen by 23% of the respondents and Robredo by 9% in the latest survey.
Duterte-Carpio, now 45, had already been leading presidential surveys in 2022, but surprised everyone when instead she chose to be Marcos Jr.’s running mate—creating an election powerhouse that practically shot down any chance by the opposition to win.
In the Philippines, the President and Vice President are elected separately. Duterte-Carpio won the vice presidency in 2022 with 32.21 million votes or 61.5% of the votes cast—more than Marcos Jr., who won the presidency with 31.62 million votes or 58.7% of the total votes cast at the same time. Of the country’s four highest-ranking officials, including Senate President and House Speaker—Duterte-Carpio also currently has the highest approval ratings.
Both Marcos Jr. and Duterte-Carpio have struggled to address the mass killings that happened under the leaderships of their fathers. Rodrigo Duterte was the architect of a nationwide drug war that killed tens of thousands, while the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. oversaw a period of corruption and human rights abuses from 1965 to 1986. Yet the two former leaders’ children enjoy massive domestic popularity, in part due to pervasive disinformation campaigns as well as the undying influence of political dynasties in the Southeast Asian country.
