French shoppers promised lower prices as food industry threatened with sanctions

France's biggest food industry players have pledged to cut prices on hundreds of products starting next month, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has announced, adding they would be at risk of financial sanctions if they broke that promise.

Issued on: 10/06/2023 - 

Le Maire's announcement on Friday comes amid a Europe-wide drive to restore consumers' purchasing power following a year of record inflation, price hikes and soaring fuel costs. 

Speaking on BFMTV, Le Maire said: "I'm telling the French that, as soon as July, prices of certain products will go down. And there will be checks and there we will be sanctions for those who don't abide by the rules."

He mentioned pasta, poultry and oil as some of the products on which prices will be cut.

• French economy minister strikes anti-inflation deal with supermarkets

The announcement comes a day after meeting with 75 companies that produce and sell 80 percent of the groceries bought in France. 

"I will have the list of those hundreds of products concerned next week," Le Maire added, warning that if food companies did no stick to their pledge, he would "disclose [their names] to the public".

"On a certain number of products where wholesale prices have fallen, then the [retail] prices will have to fall too – by 2, 3, 5, maybe even 10 percent," he said.

Taming inflation

French inflation cooled more than expected in May to its lowest level in a year, at 6 percent, as energy and food price increases moderated.

But those food prices still were up 14 percent last month after a record spike of almost 16 percent in March.

• 'One in four' Europeans suffer financial hardship as food, energy prices soar

Le Maire has been urging food retailers and manufacturers to cut their prices to help French households cope with a cost-of-living crisis for months.

Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban imposed mandatory price cuts on some basic food items by large retailers as his nationalist government tries to tame the European Union's highest inflation rate from levels exceeding 20 percent.

Europeans living standards in decline

According to the results of an official survey released earlier this week, more than half the 26,000 respondents questioned across the EU "see their own standard of living in decline and expect it to decrease even further".

The Eurobarometer survey noted that some 65 percent were unsatisfied with what their national governments were doing to tackle the crisis, and 57 percent were not happy with what the EU was doing.

When presenting the findings, European Parliament campaign director Philipp Schulmeister acknowleged: "All that weighs indeed heavily on people." 

"Citizens see very quickly how much they have left in their purse at the end of the month," he said, adding that there was nonetheless "optimism" in the data that the European Union will be able to deliver.

In France, 74 percent were not happy with the way their government has handled the cost-of-living crisis, while in Germany 59 percent were dissatisfied.

Analysis: Poland is a key Western ally. But its government keeps testing the limits of democracy

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN
Sat June 10, 2023

CNN —

When US President Joe Biden visited Poland in February, his second visit in less than a year, it was something of a vindication for the Polish government. A clear sign that Poland was still a key ally – despite accusations that its government is undermining democracy and the rule of law.

As a large NATO member on the eastern flank of the alliance, Poland has always been a crucial partner for the US and its Western allies, but its importance rose to a new high after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Warsaw has become indispensable.

“Poland has been one of Ukraine’s strongest allies internationally, it’s been the main hub for supplying arms to Ukraine, but it’s also receiving refugees coming from Ukraine,” Aleks Szczerbiak, a professor and the head of the politics department at University of Sussex, told CNN.

Poland's opposition brings hundreds of thousands onto streets to protest against nationalist government

“The United States, the Biden administration, which has been very critical of the Law and Justice government, has basically decided that Poland is the linchpin to regional security and therefore it has kind of shifted, it has put its ideological concerns on the back burner, and it’s shifted to a very close working relationship with Poland,” he added.

This new-found importance puts Poland’s European allies into a tricky position: While they need Poland’s full commitment and support, they also need to confront the fact that its government continues to push ahead with what many in the EU see as attacks on judicial independence, press freedom, democratic principles and the rights of women and minorities.

“The problems that were there a year ago have not evaporated. Of course, the broader geopolitical situation has changed and Poland act as an important partner, but its internal problems with the justice system remain the same,” said Agnieszka Kubal, an associate professor at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London.

“To me, the worst case scenario would be that Poland would get away with democratic backsliding because it hosts Ukrainian refugees,” she added.

Tight election race

Poland is holding parliamentary elections this fall, a race that is shaping up to be very tight.

Law and Justice has so far struggled to take a decisive lead over the opposition Civic Platform grouping. The party has been in power since 2014, having won reelection in 2019. A third consecutive term would be unprecedented in Polish post-Communist history.

The punches from the abroad keep coming. On Monday, European Union’s top court ruled that Poland’s judicial reforms were in breach of the bloc’s laws and ordered it to make changes or face steep fines.

Then on Wednesday, the European Commission announced it was suing Poland over a new law that sets up a special commission tasked with investigating Russian influence in Polish politics. The Commission said the law violates the principle of democracy and could be used to silence opposition. The US has also criticized the law, with the US State Department saying it “could be used to block the candidacy of opposition politicians without due process.”
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The central question the investigative body will focus on is whether the previous government allowed Poland to become too dependent on Russian gas. Law and Justice has justified the law by saying the dependence on Russian gas has hurt Poland’s interests. Critics, however, see it as the government’s attempt to oust its biggest political opponent, Donald Tusk.

'You stood with us shoulder to shoulder': Zelensky visits key ally Poland

Tusk, who is the leader of the Civic Platform party, served as Poland’s prime minister between 2007 and 2014. During that time, he signed an agreement with Russia’s Gazprom, along with Germany and other countries.

As it was passed, the law envisions the investigative commission to be composed of predominantly pro-government lawmakers, who would have wide-ranging powers, including the ability to effectively ban people from holding a public office for 10 years.

After fierce criticism, President Andrzej Duda said the law would be amended and reviewed by the country’s Constitutional Court, but that could take months.

“To accuse somebody in Poland of being under Russian influence is a political death sentence. It was in the past, but especially now that Russia is waging a invasion against Ukraine,” Kubal told CNN. “I can imagine the commission’s work being on front pages in the next six months. Of course, it will be a huge influence on the campaign,” she added.

The new law was one of the reasons behind anti-government protests in Warsaw last Sunday, on the 34th anniversary of Poland’s first postwar democratic election. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets protesting against the new law, the widely criticized judicial reform, the government’s homophobic and anti-abortion policies and its near constant clashes with the EU.

ANTI ABORTION STATE

The massive demonstration was led by Tusk himself and billed as a test of the opposition’s ability to defeat Law and Justice.

Szczerbiak said it might be a sign of things to come. “This election is not going to be determined by people shifting from one side to another. The key is to mobilize your own side and the kind of messages that you send in order to get your own side [mobilized] are different from if you’re trying to win over center ground voters,” he said.

“I think that it will be a very bare knuckle fight … if you feel that democracy is at stake, you’re more likely to turn up [than] if you think the world’s not going to end if you don’t vote.”

ANTI LGBTQ LAWS

Zimbabweans will always suffer with a govt perpetually crying over sanctions!

As Zimbabweans continue to suffer through unmitigated poverty, under the ZANU PF regime, for the past two decades – do they honestly see any light at the end of the tunnel?

10.6.2023
by Tendai Ruben Mbofana

Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer.

https://www.thezimbabwean.co

Surely, every time I listen to President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa wailing over ‘sanctions’ supposedly imposed on the country, as well as so-called ‘saboteurs’ – both blamed for the twenty years of economic ruination – all hopes for a better Zimbabwe under his rule swiftly fade away.

How can we dream of an uplifted prosperous life – out of the perennial struggles we have been facing for years – as long as we are led by people who always seem to have excuses for their own monumental failures on speed dial?

This is a country endowed with vast globally sought-after minerals – which are not under any trade embargo whatsoever – yet, those in power have been shamelessly unsuccessful in improving the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

In fact, all they have managed to achieve is hogging world news headlines for looting these resources – with statistics showing that Zimbabwe is prejudiced over US$2 billion each year – through smuggling, as well as illicit financial flows.

Yet, year after year those entrusted with running the affairs of our country have no qualms pointing figures at others – namely, supposed sanctions and saboteurs – for the mess that they themselves have created.

Therefore, my question becomes, “With these never-ending excuses, when will they finally manage to take Zimbabwe to a higher level of development”?

To be brutally frank, I never have faith in someone who is fond of giving excuses for his inability to make good on expected deliverables.

It is even worse when these excuses cover a span of over twenty years.

Does this mean that if these ‘sanctions and saboteurs’ are real, then the ZANU PF administration has not been able to find a way round them for more than two decades?

Surely, if they could not take the nation out of poverty in all this time – with ordinary citizens’ livelihoods actually worsening by the day – then, when will they finally get it right?

Can we not say, ‘zvaramba, vazvitadza’?

Only a person with something seriously amiss in their mind would believe that someone who has failed to find a solution in over two decades – always proffering excuses – will miraculously somehow finally succeed.

This is especially so when there is nothing to show any real fundamental shift in thinking and behaviour.

We can even go as far as asserting that the lofty vision of an ‘upper middle-income economy’ will remain a mere pipedream well beyond the targeted year of 2030.

As a matter of fact, as long as Zimbabweans allow this caboodle in power to continue in office, then, in all likelihood, this ‘vision’ will be moved to 2050 – with the same ‘sanctions and saboteurs’ being cited as reasons for missing the 2030 goal.

There will definitely be nothing shocking there – as this same ZANU PF government has never been short of economic blueprints and grandiose ‘visions’, with promises of economic heaven – ever since gaining power in 1980.

Nonetheless, not a single one has ever been accomplished – from ESAP, ZIMPREST, ZIMASSET, Zimbabwe Millennium Recovery Program, the list is endless – as nothing of substance has ever been achieved.

We were assured of ‘health and education for all by the year 2000’, Vision 2020, and numerous other promises – whilst being urged to ‘tighten our belts’, as the economic challenges being faced were only temporary.

However, it would appear that, according to ZANU PF logic, ‘temporary’ means forty years of poverty and suffering – with no discernible reprieve in sight, ever since these economic programs began in the late 1980s.

In fact, we have had the same excuse after excuse – from former Rhodesians, dissidents and apartheid South Africa, to white farmers, the West, and opposition parties ‘seeking regime change’ – all accused of sabotaging the country.

The only reason we seemed to have enjoyed a relatively good life immediately after independence, up to the 1990s, was primarily because we were still benefiting from the remnants of the developments left behind from the colonial era.

Of course, when one inherits a good thing, it can last for a while – even with minimal maintenance or reinvestment – but, sooner rather than later, this will all crumble.

That is why our economy, companies (including state-owned), roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, towns and cities appeared great during that period – whilst we also had reliable water and electricity supplies.

Nonetheless, that ‘honeymoon’ was soon to come spectacularly crashing down – because the post-colonial ZANU PF administration merely plundered without ever ploughing anything back into the economy.

That is how parastatals such as ZISCOSTEEL, NRZ (National Railways of Zimbabwe), Air Zimbabwe, as well as our power stations, and water supply system, were so horribly run into the ground, in a most dramatic fashion.

Zimbabweans are globally renowned for being lovely patient people – nevertheless, are we seriously saying we will continue to tolerate this destructive kleptomaniac regime for decades more – as we wait for the elusive ‘better life’?

Please, people of Zimbabwe, let us not be fools!

Those in power have had more than enough time to improve our livelihoods if they had the political will and desire.

Yet, they have always opted to fatten their own bank balances – as they live in obscene opulence – in a sea of poverty and suffering of millions.

It is rather disingenuous listening to Mnangagwa claiming to be on the path of developing the nation, ‘with or without sanctions, as we use our own abundant national resources’.

Is this man for real?

Why then have they been crying over these restrictive measures for the past two decades, if they knew that they could still develop Zimbabwe ‘with or without sanctions’?

What has been stopping them from ‘using our own natural resources’ all this time – since these targeted travel and financial restrictions were only imposed on a handful of individuals and inconsequential entities – and not our minerals?

What has changed now?

Have more people – although of little significance to the broader economy, as those before them – not actually been added to the US ZIDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act)?

So, if these ‘sanctions’ are the real reasons we have been enduring such unimaginable pain and suffering for over twenty years – what is the ZANU PF government doing today, which they could not do all those years back?

Please, stop lying to the people of Zimbabwe.

This looting incompetent cabal has no interest, and even the capacity, to improve the welfare and wellbeing of the ordinary citizenry.

If they did, they would have easily done a long time ago, what they are promising today.

They should not act as if gold, diamonds, chrome, platinum, and nearly 60 other minerals were discovered in Zimbabwe only five years ago!

In fact, such minerals as gold are what attracted European, Asian and Arab traders, concession seekers and colonists to Africa’s shores many centuries ago

These are the same minerals that made Rhodesia one of the most economically developed countries on the continent, if not the entire world – which, at independence, was described by the late Tanzanian president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, as ‘the jewel of Africa’.

Yet, today, all we ever hear about this precious mineral is how Gold Mafias – involving the highest echelons of power in Zimbabwe – are plundering it, at maddening and sickening levels, for the benefit of only a small ruling clique.

At the same time, half the population lives in extreme poverty, with now three quarters earning below the poverty datum line (with a small family now requiring a staggering ZW$1,150,000 a month).

What with a rabid exchange rate – today, at an alarming ZW$7,500 to US$1 (on the more used parallel market), and an equally shocking ZW$4,700 to the greenback on the official RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) system.

Nowadays, I am actually wary of writing the exchange rate in my articles – since, by the time they are published, the figure would have substantially increased.

Need I add that, Mnangagwa, again, elects to fault ‘sanctions and saboteurs’ for his dismally failure in reigning in the local currency – despite repeated promises to do so – which, at one time, he disingenuously boasted was the ‘strongest on the continent’.

All I can ask Mnangagwa is, “If, for argument’s sake, the ‘black market’ rate was indeed the work of saboteurs, then who on earth is sabotaging the government’s own exchange rate’?

If the parallel market was to magically disappear overnight, we would still wake up to an RBZ rate of ZW$4,700 to US$1 – which, in itself, is already outrageous and unacceptably out of control.

Are we, then, to conclude that the Zimbabwe government is sabotaging the local currency?

Actually, that is not a preposterous as it may sound!

Based on what I have gathered from those operating on the ‘black market’ – the RBZ is, in fact, actively involved in printing large chunks of the local currency – which they then directly feed onto the streets, in order to buy as much US dollars circulating in the country as they can.

That is why, in spite of a crippling shortage of Zimbabwe dollars in the formal economy – there is always an overabundance of crisp new notes on the parallel market.

In so doing, this then pushes up the exchange rate – as the cost of buying the scarce greenback skyrockets – in turn, severely depreciation the local currency.

At the same time, cartels linked to the ruling elite are benefiting enormously from the arbitrage opportunities availed by this skewed system – as they make massive profits from buying hard currency on the relatively cheaper RBZ auction floor – thereafter, reselling for a king’s ransom on the streets.

So, yes indeed, the Zimbabwe economy is being sabotaged – but certainly not by the West or ‘regime change agents’ – instead, by the Mnangagwa administration itself.

This, as most civil servants are not even getting a quarter of that – whilst elderly pensioners receive an average ZW$40,000 a month – which can only buy four loaves of Proton bread.

In the midst of all the looting by the ruling elite, and suffering of millions – we are given excuses about sanctions and saboteurs!

Why are these supposed ‘sanctions and saboteurs’ only affecting the ordinary masses, and not those in power – who are freely stashing billions of dollars stolen from our national resources in countries as the UAE?

How come the government can so easily find money for a presidential jet costing US$54 million, procure 32 helicopters for an overpriced US$320 million, or dole out billions more in supposed ‘loans’ to already well-to-do cabinet ministers, their deputies, and now court judges?

Yet, for some strange reason, is suddenly too broke to provide reliable electricity and water supply to the citizenry, living wages to its workers, essential medication and radiotherapy machines in public health care facilities, or adequate learning material in our schools.

Wake up, Zimbabweans!

If we want to remain poor, then let us keep these looters in power!

They will tell us about sanctions and saboteurs for decades to come – whilst we sink deeper and deeper into misery and poverty. 

 

IOF Open Fire on Gaza’s Agricultural Lands

B.M | DOP - 10 June, 2023

Israeli occupation forces IOF opened fire on Palestinian agricultural lands east of Gaza City on Saturday, June 10, 2023.

Palestinian local sources reported that IOF launched a hail of bullets at Palestinian agricultural lands east of Gaza. However, no injuries were reported.

Israeli occupation forces routinely target Palestinian fishermen and farmers in the besieged Gaza Strip, razing their lands, confiscating equipment, and detaining them.

The Israeli air, land, and sea blockade imposed since 2006 badly affected the Palestinian agricultural sector, thus the Palestinian economy.

Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2006. However, Israel still controls every aspect of the Palestinians’ lives in the besieged enclave.

 

Controversial Proposal Emerges as Israeli MP Suggests Division of Al-Aqsa Mosque

M.Y | DOP - 10 June, 2023

In a recent interview with Hebrew-language newspaper Zeman Israel, Amit Halevi, a member of Israel’s ruling Likud party, has put forward a proposal to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a move that has raised significant concerns among Palestinians. The suggestion of splitting the holy site between Jews and Muslims has triggered alarm, as Palestinians have long-held apprehensions about any potential division of the revered mosque.

Under Halevi’s plan, he advocates for allocating approximately 30 percent of the southern section of the complex for Muslim worshipers, while the remaining portion would be designated for Jews, encompassing the area where the iconic Dome of the Rock is situated. This proposition has reignited tensions and amplified fears surrounding the future of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a place of immense religious significance for both Muslims and Jews.

Covering an expansive area of 14 hectares, the Al-Aqsa Mosque holds immense religious significance as an Islamic site, featuring notable structures such as the Dome of the Rock and the silver-domed al-Qibli prayer hall. Decades-long international agreements have strictly prohibited unsolicited visits, prayers, and rituals by non-Muslims within the premises of the mosque.

Revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, the hill on which the mosque stands is believed to be the historical location of two ancient Jewish temples. The coexistence of these religious narratives adds to the complex dynamics surrounding the site.

The proposal to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque comes at a time when right-wing settlers have been increasingly encroaching upon Israeli territories. These actions, along with recurrent violations of existing agreements by Israeli occupation forces regarding the usage of the site, have fueled tensions and raised concerns about the preservation of the mosque’s sanctity and international commitments.

Since the occupation of East Jerusalem, including the Old City housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, by Israel in 1967, there has been a persistent drive from Israeli ultra-nationalist factions to establish “full sovereignty” over the sacred site. This has raised apprehensions among Palestinians and the wider Islamic community, who fear that the distinct Palestinian and Islamic character of the site might be compromised.

The Israeli government’s control over East Jerusalem violates multiple principles enshrined in international law. According to these legal principles, an occupying power holds no rightful sovereignty over the territory it occupies and is prohibited from making any permanent alterations to the area. These violations have fueled ongoing debates and concerns regarding the legal status and future of East Jerusalem, particularly in relation to the preservation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its religious significance.

The proposed plan has faced resolute rejection from Palestinians, who express grave concerns that it could ignite a religious war in the region. The Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine has issued a statement emphasizing the need to halt and confront the plan.

Palestinians have harbored longstanding fears that the groundwork is being laid for the division of the Al-Aqsa Mosque between Jews and Muslims, similar to the partitioning of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron during the 1990s.

They point to a recent surge in Israeli ultra-nationalists visiting and praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of police, without permission from Palestinians. This trend has caused alarm, as it represents an increase in unauthorized incursions. In 2009, approximately 5,658 settlers entered the mosque through such means, while in 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, the estimated number soared to 30,000.

The escalating numbers and unauthorized access have reinforced Palestinian concerns and intensified their opposition to any plan that could undermine the integrity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, exacerbating tensions in the region.

During his interview, Halevi proposed the withdrawal of Jordan’s administration of Al-Aqsa.

For many years, the Hashemite royal family of Jordan has held the responsibility of safeguarding the Muslim and Christian sacred locations in Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa. This arrangement, referred to as the “status quo,” has been carefully maintained on an international level.

Halevi remarked that the act of praying in that location does not automatically render the entire Temple Mount as a sacred place for Muslims. He used the term Temple Mount, which is commonly associated with Al-Aqsa, from a Jewish perspective to make his point.

“We will claim the northern section and conduct prayers there. The entire mountain holds sacred significance for us, and the Dome of the Rock represents the site where the Temple once stood. This principle should serve as our guiding principle. Israel is taking the lead, making a profound statement that encompasses history, religion, and our national identity,” Halevi emphasized.

Halevi also aims to modify the protocols for Jewish visitors accessing Al-Aqsa, insisting that Jews should be permitted to enter through all entrances instead of solely through the southwestern Moroccan Gate.

Out of the 15 entry points to the mosque, the Moroccan Gate, also known as Bab al-Magharba, remains the only gate under the complete control of Israeli authorities, inaccessible to Palestinians.

In September of last year, Israeli ultra-nationalists forcibly entered Al-Aqsa through the Lions’ Gate (Bab al-Asbat), marking the first instance of such entry from that gate since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem.

Numerous Palestinians express concern that granting settlers access through various gates implies an expansion of Israeli authority over the mosque and a potential alteration of the existing arrangement.

One of two giant rubber ducks in Hong Kong harbour deflates
Reuters

June 10, 2023

One of the inflatable yellow ducks created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman is seen deflated at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, China June 10, 2023. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters) - One of two giant rubber ducks anchored in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour as part of an art installation by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman deflated on Saturday, to the disappointment of residents coming to see them in scorching heat.

It was not clear why the duck deflated. Hong Kong-based art studio AllRightsReserved, the organiser of the art show, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It’s a pity. I originally thought I could see two rubber ducks,” said Moon Lam, 72, who came to the harbour wearing rubber duck-themed t-shirt, face mask, earrings and socks.

The "Double Ducks" were unveiled on Friday and were scheduled to float in the harbour for two weeks.

Hofman, who was inspired by a world map and rubber duck to create his installation, began a world tour starting from the Netherlands in 2007, making stops in harbours from France to Brazil. A single rubber duck first floated

"We hoped to see two ducks, but it’s also cute that one deflated. Maybe because it’s too hot in Hong Kong,” said Tiffany Chen, 28, a tourist from the northern neighbouring city of Shenzhen.

Reporting by Jessie Pang; writing by Marius Zaharia

UAE uses coral nurseries to help restore reefs dying in warming seas

Marine project rehabilitates corals bleached by rising sea temperatures and sun glare

By MALAK HARB

10 June 2023

A young fragment of coral harvested from a nursery is shown off the coast of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili).

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — On a boat off the coast of an island near Abu Dhabi, marine scientist Hamad al-Jailani feels the corals, picked from the reef nursery and packed in a box of seawater, and studies them carefully, making sure they haven’t lost their color.

The corals were once bleached. Now they’re big, healthy and ready to be moved back to their original reefs in the hope they’ll thrive once more.

“We try to grow them from very small fragments up to — now some of them have reached — the size of my fist,” al-Jailani said, who’s part of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi’s coral restoration program.

The nursery gives corals the ideal conditions to recover: clear waters with strong currents and the right amount of sunlight. Al-Jailani periodically checks the corals’ growth, removes any potentially harmful seaweed and seagrass, and even lets the fish feed off the corals to clean them, until they’re healthy enough to be relocated.

The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, or EAD, has been rehabilitating and restoring corals since 2021, when reefs off the United Arab Emirates’ coast faced their second bleaching event in just five years. EAD’s project is one of many initiatives — both public and private — across the country to protect the reefs and the marine life that depend on them in a nation that has come under fire for its large-scale developments and polluting industries that cause harm to underwater ecosystems. There’s been some progress, but experts remain concerned for the future of the reefs in a warming world.

Coral bleaching occurs when sea temperatures rise and sun glares flush out algae that give the corals their color, turning them white. Corals can survive bleaching events, but can’t effectively support marine life, threatening the populations that depend on them.

In this frame from video PADI Course Director Amr Anwar works to install coral to a net to replant it in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

The UAE lost up to 70% of its corals, especially around Abu Dhabi, in 2017 when water temperatures reached 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit), according to EAD. But al-Jailani said 40-50% of corals survived the second bleaching event in 2021.

Although the bleaching events “did wipe out a good portion of our corals,” he said, “it did also prove that the corals that we have are actually resilient… these corals can actually withstand these kind of conditions.”

Bleaching events are happening more frequently around the world as waters warm due to human-made climate change, caused by the burning of oil, coal and gas that emits heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Other coral reef systems around the world have suffered mass bleaching events, most notably Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

How to limit global warming and its effects will be discussed at length at the United Nations climate conference, which will be held in Dubai later this year.

The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil producers and has some of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions globally. The country has pledged to have net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which means all carbon dioxide emissions are either slashed or canceled out somehow, but the goal has been met with skepticism from analysts.

But bleaching due to warming weather is not the only threat to coral reefs around the gulf. High oil tanker traffic, fossil-fuel related activities, offshore installations, and the exploitation of marine resources are all putting marine life under intense stress, according to the UN Environment Programme, causing them to degrade.

In this frame from video, Hamad al-Jailani, Marine Scientist at Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, shows a piece of restored coral underwater off the coast of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

Environmentalists have also long criticized the UAE, and Dubai in particular, for its large-scale buildings and huge coastal developments.

The building of the Palm Jebel Ali, which began more than a decade ago and has been on hold since 2008, caused an outcry among conservationists after it reportedly destroyed about 8 square kilometers (5 square miles) of reef.

“More than 90 million cubic meters (23.8 billion gallons) of sediments were dredged and dropped, more or less on top of one of the remaining reefs near Dubai,” said John Henrik Stahl, the dean of the College of Marine Sciences at Khorfakkan University in Sharjah, UAE.

The project was meant to be similar to the Palm Jumeirah — a collection of small, artificial islands off the coast of Dubai in the shape of a palm tree.

Still, environmental projects persist across the coastline and throughout the emirates.

Development company URB has announced it wants to grow 1 billion artificial corals over a 200-square-kilometer area (124 square miles) and 100 million mangrove trees on an 80-kilometer (50-mile) strip of beaches in Dubai by 2040.

Still in the research and development phase, the project hopes to create 3D technology to print materials that can host algae, much like corals.

Members of Dubai’s diving community are also encouraging coral protection efforts.

Diving course director Amr Anwar is in the process of creating a certified coral restoration course that teaches divers how to collect and re-plant corals that have fallen after being knocked off by divers’ fins or a boat’s anchor.

“I don’t want people to see broken corals and just leave them like that,” said Anwar. “Through the training we give people, they would be able to take these broken corals that they find and plant them elsewhere, and then see them grow and watch their progress.”


In this frame from video, PADI Course Director Amr Anwar fist bumps divers after replanting coral in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

But experts say that unless the threat of overheating seas caused by climate change is addressed, coral bleaching events will continue to occur, damaging reefs worldwide.

Countries have pledged to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, after which scientists say the effects of warming on the planet could be much worse, and some even potentially irreversible. But analysts say most nations — including the UAE — are still way off that target.

“You have to make sure that the cause for the degradation of the coral reefs in the first place is no longer a threat,” said Stahl, the Khorfakkan University scientist. “Otherwise the restoration effort may be for nothing.

Afghan MMA fighter recounts life in UAE resettlement camp

Zaki Rasooli spent more than 18 months waiting to be taken to the US after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan

Zaki Rasooli was a professional mixed martial arts fighter in Afghanistan, before fleeing the country after the Taliban captured Kabul (MEE/Ali Latifi)

By Ali M Latifi in Kabul
Published date: 10 June 2023

When Zaki Rasooli arrived in Abu Dhabi in October 2021, the mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter thought he’d only be in the Tasameem resettlement camp for a few days before being airlifted to the United States to start a new life.

Instead, he spent 18 months in “misery”.

By the time he arrived in the Emirati capital, it had only been two months since the Taliban had returned to power in Afghanistan, but it was already evident to Rasooli and other evacuees that the United Arab Emirates had far surpassed the 5,000 Afghans the country said it would house until they could be resettled in a third country.

Less than a month later, Rasooli and the 3,000 other Afghans in the camp lost even more hope when Washington suspended its daily chartered flights from the UAE to the US on 7 November.

As time went on and answers became more scarce, Rasooli said the Afghan evacuees began to feel suffocated in the “detention-like” conditions inside the camp, which he was told should have housed no more than 2,000 people.

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According to Human Rights Watch, Tasameem Workers City, where the camp was based, was originally set up to hold apartment complexes for foreign workers, before quickly being remade into housing for the hundreds of Afghans arriving each day, fleeing the Taliban’s return.

Initially, Rasooli said, evacuees were even prevented from going for walks beyond the walls of the camp.

“The ocean was right there, but we could only see it from behind the wires and walls,” Rasooli told Middle East Eye by phone from Canada, where he was eventually relocated last month.
Prison cells

As a professional athlete, the limitations on physical activity were particularly devastating for Rasooli.

In Kabul, he had gone from being a mechanical worker to a professional fighter, training twice a day for his televised MMA fights.

Those bouts - including three professional wins - led to increasing fame for Rasooli, who became a brand ambassador for businesses and a Unicef polio vaccination programme for Afghan children.

Over the nine months Rasooli eventually spent in Tasameem, he says the camp became increasingly overcrowded and started to feel more and more like “a prison”, with guards stationed outside each housing area, an overabundance of security cameras and no freedom of movement.

Refugees who fled Afghanistan after the takeover of their country by the Taliban, gather at the Emirates Humanitarian City (EHC) in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi (AFP)

“The rooms were like prison cells,” Rasooli says of the tight spaces that were used for eating, sleeping and even washing.

When he was transferred to the Emirates Humanitarian City (EHC) camp in the summer of 2022, conditions were no better.

He says the EHC was even more isolated than Tasameem. Like similar camps in Qatar, the Abu Dhabi facilities were located in industrial areas, far away from the glistening towers and shopping malls for which the Gulf is renowned. More importantly, the locations also left the evacuees susceptible to pollution and smog, with trees and greenery completely absent.

Rasooli said that within weeks of their arrival, evacuees in the EHC had started to become physically ill from the unclean air and humid Gulf weather.

As one of Afghanistan’s premier MMA fighters, Rasooli tried to persevere despite the camp’s conditions, particularly as it became clearer that he would be spending months, and not days, there. But by the beginning of 2022, he had started to suffer a mental breakdown.

“I just lost my mental peace,” he explains.

Like the other evacuees, Rasooli says he was most affected by the uncertainty of not knowing when they would be able to leave the camp and head off to their final destination.

'We were given repeated promises that we would be let out soon, but it was all false optimism'

- Zaki Rasooli, MMA fighter

There have been unconfirmed reports that at least one evacuee attempted suicide while in the EHC, and residents in a resettlement camp in Doha have recounted instances of attempted suicides and hunger strikes.

The fighter says that most evacuees were told they would be on their way to a third country within 15 to 30 days. Instead, they were forced to wait months at a time without clear updates.

“We were given repeated promises that we would be let out soon, but it was all false optimism.”

Answers from the US State Department were cryptic, according to Rasooli, and the Emirati workers in the camp - a mixture of Emirates Red Crescent, Abu Dhabi Police and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) - had no information about Washington’s intentions for the thousands of people they had evacuated to the UAE.

“The Arabs didn’t seem to know what they were doing, they always seemed stressed.”

In October 2022, it was reported that a former Afghan Supreme Court judge, Sayed Yousuf Halim, had died in the EHC while waiting more than a year for his resettlement. UAE media quoted NCEMA to confirm Halim’s death.

Local media reported that former Afghan politicians had expressed their condolences for Halim’s death, which they also said took place while he was in the Abu Dhabi facility.

Last month, a UAE official told CNN that refugees at the EHC “received a comprehensive range of high-quality housing, sanitation, health, clinical, counselling, education and food services to ensure their welfare”, and that the UAE “continues to do everything it can to bring this extraordinary exercise in humanitarian resettlement to a satisfactory conclusion”.

The US State Department has said that it is “not aware of any verified allegations of human rights violations at EHC”.

 
US blocks Afghan transfers

In August 2022, by the first anniversary of the Taliban’s arrival in Kabul, the EHC started to erupt in protest, as the evacuees grew increasingly frustrated with deteriorating living conditions and, more importantly, the ambiguity surrounding their transfers away from the camps.

By October, President Joe Biden’s administration stopped the vast majority of relocations of Afghans to the US, after it introduced a new policy that no longer allows most Afghans to be admitted into the US based on humanitarian parole, a programme that allows temporary entrance into the United States but does not guarantee permanent residency.

Instead, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said Afghan arrivals would “travel directly to communities where they will be moving with the help of refugee resettlement organisations, without a safe haven stopover in the United States”.

'Sport was what kept me alive in the camp. I realised the only remedy for this stressful, dreadful misery was training'

- Zaki Rasooli, MMA fighter

As a well-known Afghan, Rasooli was reluctant to take part in the first round of protests in February 2022. He decided to focus instead on “surviving” life in the camp and turned to what he knew best: sport. His depression and lack of activity had caused his blood pressure to routinely spike and even led him to gain 30 kilos in weight.

“Sport was what kept me alive in the camp,” Rasooli says. “I realised the only remedy for this stressful, dreadful misery was training.”

But with limited access to the outside world, securing the equipment necessary for proper training was not easy. At first, Rasooli began by focusing on bodyweight exercises to keep fit and control his weight. And then, when he was ready, Rasooli arranged for equipment to be donated to the camp, giving him the chance to return to his training, and the camp residents the opportunity to work out.
Stuck in limbo

An Afghan-American who had worked as a translator with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a similar resettlement camp in Qatar said the conditions Rasooli described were very similar to those in Doha.

The translator, who is not permitted to speak publicly, said the hold-up in getting Afghans out of Doha and Abu Dhabi was due to Washington’s slow vetting process. She said that over the past several months, Afghans have been given the option of repatriating to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan or being sent to Kosovo, where they would go through another round of vetting.

While in Kosovo, the evacuees were forced to wait until Washington could convince a third country to take in the Afghans the US had decided not to accept.

Qatari Afghanistan talks spark debate over Taliban engagement

Read More »

“Why would a third country want to take in people that the US had already rejected?” the translator said. She also pointed out that it could take years for international negotiations that would allow Afghan evacuees who had been promised resettlement in the US to be transferred from the Gulf into yet another country.

This, said the translator, forced the evacuees into a situation where “they were stuck unless they wanted to repatriate back” to Afghanistan, and were only provided with “minimal information” on the status of their case.

But the translator says that part of the issue facing the camps was the fact that they were initially set up as processing centres for US-issued Special Immigrant Visas (SIV), which are given to people employed by the US military and other US entities, before being repurposed for the task of processing refugees as well.

In general, the translator said SIV cases were processed within 30 to 60 days, while refugee cases took anywhere from nine to 12 months.

The translator said evacuees with less formal education and work experience often had their cases sorted more quickly than those who knew several languages and worked with a number of international organisations.

This, she said, led to “resentment” among those evacuees, who felt they were being held to a higher, more difficult standard.

By March, Human Rights Watch issued a report accusing the UAE of “arbitrarily” detaining between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans in “cramped, miserable conditions with no hope of progress on their cases”.

Safely in Canada

A week after the HRW report, a top US diplomat issued an apology to the Afghan evacuees, but also admitted that some of the Afghans in the Abu Dhabi camp - which included well-known journalists, athletes, prosecutors and TV presenters - may never actually obtain a US visa. Rasooli believes there are still more than 1,000 Afghans at the camp.

All of this has left Rasooli with great resentment towards the US, which he accused of orchestrating “a chaotic withdrawal” after the Taliban entered Kabul. Now safely in Canada, Rasooli says he is glad he did not end up in the US after all.

Echoing the sentiments of many other Afghans, Rasooli says the US “made lots of things worse” in Afghanistan with its actions during the Taliban’s advance towards the capital, and the fall of the western-backed government.

He adds that, along with many others living in the camps, he started to “not like America” because of the treatment he received, making him turn away from the idea of living in the US.

And yet, despite all of the difficulties, Rasooli says life in the camp did prove one thing to him - that he really is a fighter.

“The camp really victimised us… But it also made me who I am today. I now know how to survive anything.”

THE DEVIL IS A CHRISTIAN DIETY

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10 JUN 2023 

 

NEW NONALIGNED MOVEMENT

Kazakh President warns of threat to the very foundation of world order

JUNE 10, 2023
By Nick Powell


The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has warned that divisions within states and tensions between them are threatening to bring down the world order that has existed since the foundation of the United Nations. In his keynote speech to the Astana International Forum, the President called for nations to recognise the strong imperative to come together, even as geopolitical pressures are pushing them apart, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.

Welcoming representatives of every continent and from the worlds of government, diplomacy, business, and academia to the Astana International Forum, President Tokayev said it was a dialogue platform with a mission, to candidly review the global situation, identify the leading challenges and crises and to tackle those challenges through dialogue in a spirit of mutual cooperation. Also to renew and rebuild a common culture of multilateralism and to amplify voices for peace, progress and solidarity.

He said that the Forum explicitly promotes greater engagement at a time when it is needed more than ever, in a period of unprecedented geopolitical tension. The President warned that for the global system to survive, it must work for everyone, promoting peace and prosperity for the many rather than for the few.

“We are witnessing the process of eroding of very foundation of the world order that has been built since the creation of the United Nations. The UN remains to be the only universal global organization which unites all together”, he continued. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who served for two years as Director-General of the United Nations at Geneva, said tackling these challenges required comprehensive reform of the Security Council. “The voices of Middle Powers in the Council need to be amplified and clearly heard”, he added.

“A handful of recent ‘new crises’ – from Covid-19 to armed conflicts – threaten our fragile international ecosystem. Yet the roots of this dislocation run deeper into our past. We are also witnessing the return of earlier divisive ‘bloc’ mentalities unseen for 30 years. The forces of division are not purely geopolitical, they are also motivated by economic undercurrents; economic policy itself is openly weaponized.

“These confrontations include sanctions and trade wars, targeted debt policies, reduced access or exclusion from financing, and investment screening. Together these factors are gradually undermining the foundation upon which rests the global peace and prosperity of recent decades: free trade, global investment, innovation, and fair competition.

“This in turn fuels social unrest and division within states and tensions between them. Rising inequality, social divides, widening gaps in culture and values: all these trends have become existential threats. Efforts to reverse this tide are more difficult because of widespread disinformation, which is now becoming even more advanced and dangerous. In parallel, new technologies, from Artificial Intelligence to biotechnologies, have global implications but are being addressed only along narrow, national lines. Together, these pressures are pushing the globalised world order to a breaking point”.

President Tokayev said the result is growing mistrust which negatively impacts the functioning of important frameworks such as international forums, security regimes and non-proliferation mechanisms. This had led to uncertainty, greater instability and conflict, resulting in greater defence spending on advance weaponry, which he observed, ultimately guarantees nothing. “The proof: for the first time in a half century, we have faced the prospect of the use of nuclear weapons. All this comes at precisely the moment when we urgently need to be focusing on the existential threat of climate change”.

He explained that Central Asia is one of the front lines of climate change. Even if the global temperature rise is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 – which looks increasingly unlikely – there will be a rise of between 2 and 2.5 degrees in Central Asia. “This will transform or, more precisely, desertify and dehydrate our local environments. We must be prepared for greater difficulties. We are really concerned about the scarcity of water resources. Droughts and floods in Central Asia will cause damage of 1.3 percent of GDP per annum, while crop yields are expected to decrease by 30 percent, leading to around 5 million internal climate migrants by 2050. Our glacier surface has already decreased by 30 percent”.

The region’s great rivers were on course to shrink by 15% by 2050. President Tokayev called for more resources for the International Fund to Save the Aral Sea and he proposed joint action on water security with neighbouring states, with a Regional Climate Summit in Kazakhstan in 2026 under UN and other international organisations’ auspices.

“Our planet’s climate emergency is the clearest example of our interdependence and shared destiny. Whether we like it or not, we are bound together”, the President concluded. “Given that reality, those who figure out how to work together will succeed, and those who don’t will fail. Multilateralism, centred in the UN’s principles and values, is not merely the most effective way to address this challenge, it is the only path”.