AFP

The United States is open to amending lucrative green subsidies that have drawn transatlantic anger for allegedly encouraging job losses in Europe, US climate envoy John Kerry said.

In a BBC interview from London, broadcast on Saturday, Kerry also signalled unease over the UK government’s decision to permit the opening of a coal mine despite ambitions to slash carbon emissions.

Several EU leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, during a state visit to Washington, have said the US subsidies are enticing European companies to relocate to the United States.

Washington’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act contains around $370 billion in subsidies for green energy, as well as tax cuts for US-made electric cars and batteries.

“I don’t think you’re going to see it watered down,” Kerry said, insisting the measures were needed to kick-start the climate transition.

“But will you see, where it might be appropriate, if there were some tweak or adjustment that is fair, and not going to prejudice our own efforts? 

“I’m confident President (Joe) Biden would consider that,” he said.

Biden defended the act to Macron, but said it was never intended to disadvantage US allies, and has committed to understanding EU concerns.

Kerry also spoke out after Britain this week granted planning permission for a controversial new coal mine in northern England, the first in decades.

The go-ahead for the project in Cumbria was slammed by Greenpeace as “climate hypocrisy”, and Kerry said it risked antagonising other countries.

Richer countries had to abide by their own climate rhetoric or be portrayed as “do as we say, not as we do”, the US envoy said.

Kerry said he needed more information about the rationale for the mine, which is intended to supply coal for steel plants, including how its emissions might be offset.

“But obviously, we will hear people raise criticisms about it because in general, the idea of mining coal in any form whatsoever is the opposite direction from that which most people are advocating and most people are moving in,” he said.

Kerry conceded that the recent COP27 climate summit in Egypt lacked “collective ambition” to avert the worst-case models for rising temperatures.

But he defended the UN process overall.

“If you didn’t have that kind of a process, you’d have to invent it. Because you need to get every nation on the planet engaged in this dialogue and in this effort.”

A leading American sports reporter, who last month had a run-in with Qatar’s World Cup organisers over a rainbow LGBTQ shirt, died while covering a tense quarter-final match Friday, his family said.

Grant Wahl, 48, helped build soccer’s popularity in the United States through his vivid reporting for Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports and other media.

Wahl collapsed in the press tribune during Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands game. The Wall Street Journal said he suffered a suspected heart attack.

Wahl’s wife Celine Gounder, a renowned epidemiologist, said on Twitter: “I’m in complete shock.” 

A Qatar organising committee spokesperson said “he received immediate emergency medical treatment on site, which continued as he was transferred by ambulance to Hamad General Hospital.” 

“We offer our deepest condolences to Grant’s family, friends and his many close colleagues in the media,” the statement added.

– World Cup ‘stress’ –

Organisers did not mention an incident just before the November 21 match between the United States and Wales when Wahl was stopped as he entered the stadium for wearing a rainbow shirt in support of LGBTQ rights.

Qatar criminalises homosexuality and Wahl said security guards told him the shirt was “political”.

Widespread tributes were paid to the journalist who had been covering his eighth World Cup, starting with the 1994 tournament in the United States.

“His love for football was immense and his reporting will be missed by all who follow the global game,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino in a statement.

“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us,” US Soccer said.

The “entire US Soccer family is heartbroken,” it added. 

“Fans of soccer and journalism of the highest quality knew we could count on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our game, and its major protagonists: teams, players, coaches and… many personalities that make soccer unlike any sport.”

Wahl said on his subscription newsletter earlier this week that he’d gone to a clinic at the media center in Qatar, “and they said I probably have bronchitis.”

“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you… I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort,” he wrote.

With some antibiotics and “some heavy duty cough syrup” Wahl said he was “feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.”

Wahl joined Sports Illustrated, then the leading US sports publication, in 1996 to report on soccer. He remained at the magazine until 2020, joining CBS Sports a year later.

He also had a subscription email newsletter, and was posting to that during the World Cup. He was recently among journalists honoured by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) for their work.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Grant Wahl” and added that US authorities have been “in close communication” with his family.

One of America’s leading soccer reporters, who made headlines when he was detained at the Qatar World Cup for wearing a rainbow shirt, died Friday while covering the quarter finals in Doha, according to his wife and the US Soccer federation.

Grant Wahl, 48, helped build soccer’s popularity in the United States through decades of vivid reporting at Sports Illustrated, then with CBS Sports.

According to NPR, Wahl collapsed in the press tribune as Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match was winding down. Paramedics performed CPR at the scene before taking him away on a stretcher. The Wall Street Journal said Wahl apparently suffered a heart attack.

“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us,” US Soccer said in a statement.

It said the “entire US Soccer family is heartbroken.” 

Wahl’s wife Celine Gounder, a renowned epidemiologist and expert on infectious diseases, tweeted: “I’m in complete shock.” 

Wahl was detained in Qatar on November 21 by security staff after he wore a rainbow shirt to the opening match between the US and Wales teams, showing support for LGBTQ rights in a country where same sex relations are outlawed.

Wahl said on his subscription newsletter earlier this week that he’d gone to a clinic at the media center in Qatar, “and they said I probably have bronchitis.”

“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you… I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort,” he wrote.

With some antibiotics and “some heavy duty cough syrup” Wahl said he was “feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.”

Wahl in 1996 joined Sports Illustrated, at the time the premiere US sports publication, to report on soccer. He remained at the magazine until 2020, joining CBS Sports a year later.

He also had launched a subscription email newsletter platform, and was posting to that during the World Cup.

State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Grant Wahl” and added that US authorities have been “in close communication” with his family.

“We are engaged with senior Qatari officials to see to it that his family’s wishes are fulfilled as expeditiously as possible,” Price wrote.

News of Wahl’s death triggered an outpouring of emotion from the soccer world, a sign of his role in promoting the sport — both amateur and professional — in the United States.

“Fans of soccer and journalism of the highest quality knew we could count on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our game, and its major protagonists: teams, players, coaches and that many personalities that make soccer unlike any sport,” US Soccer said.

Under perfect California skies, Liv Stone elegantly flips her board into the hollow of a wave, perfectly executing the kind of move this disabled surfer would love to replicate at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

Participating in the four-yearly festival of global sport would be a “dream come true,” the 19-year-old says on the sidelines of the World Para Surfing Championship, where this week she is chasing a third title.

Born with truncated arms and under-developed hands, Stone says she fell in love with surfing in 2017, and thinks others would get to know the beauty of the sport if it were added into the Paralympics roster for 2028.

“I feel like I’m like a part of something bigger, and I don’t feel discriminated against out there in the water,” she tells AFP.

“That’s what me and everyone else here that’s competing have in common is we all have disabilities… and we feel one in the ocean, and it makes us feel at home.”

Surfing burst onto the Olympic calendar at the last Games in Tokyo in 2021. 

It will also feature when Paris hosts in 2024 — though the competition will take place 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) away in Tahiti.

The Los Angeles edition is the first time it could feature in the Paralympics, with a decision by the International Paralympic Committee expected next year.

The deadline is on the minds of all 180 competitors who gathered in Pismo Beach this week.

South African Similo Dlamini, who was born without a right leg, was taking part in her first world championship, and was supported by a big — and noisy — contingent who huddled around her chanting and singing after she battled the foam for 20 minutes.

– ‘New audience’ – 

Surfing allows “people like me who are differently abled to experience the ocean in ways that we have never thought we could,” the 39-year-old accountant says.

“We need to come out here and just show the Olympic Committee how well we’re doing and why we should actually be considered for the Paralympics.”

Divided into nine categories, the championship allows people with similar disabilities to compete on a level playing field.

One-legged surfers take to their boards with a prosthesis or using a knee or a hand to stabilize themselves.

Paraplegics slide on their stomachs and go back out to sea with the help of their teammates.

Blind athletes are guided by a partner to launch themselves into the surf, feeling the movement of the waves to determine which lines to take.

Participants at Pismo Beach hail from 28 countries as far apart as Costa Rica, Japan and Norway — the kind of eclectic gathering that the International Surfing Association (ISA) thinks will allow the sport to bag one of the 22 spots available for inclusion in 2028.

“Surfing represents something truly unique and different for the Paralympic program,” says ISA executive director Robert Fasulo.

“The timing is right for us to propose para surfing,” he says, pointing to the popularity among young people of the able-bodied competition in Tokyo last year.

The fact that 2028 will happen in a setting as perfectly suited to surfing as Southern California is the icing on the cake.

“It is one of the epicenters, if not the center, of surfing in the world. So it’s natural that the organizers and the locations would favor the inclusion of para surfing.” 

 – Therapeutic benefits – 

Since the first para surfing world championship in 2015, the number of participants has almost tripled, including a large number of women.

Studies have shown mental health benefits to surfing, something the US Navy has long known — it has been offering “surf therapy” programs for some soldiers with amputations or suffering from post-traumatic stress and depression for almost 15 years. 

Similar initiatives are under way in other coastal countries. 

In Peru, Pancho Arbulu, who lost the use of his arms and legs in a car accident in 2008, is part of an association that works to spread surfing to other disabled people. 

For him, there is simply nothing better.

“The ocean gives you vitality,” the 50-year-old ex-airline pilot says. 

“Every time I get in the water, I forget about the wheelchair, I feel like a normal person, a free person.” 

Pop megastar Taylor Swift is set to direct a feature-length film, US media reported Friday.

The singer-songwriter behind hits like “Shake It Off” has written a script that will be produced by Searchlight Pictures, Variety and others reported.

“Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller,” Searchlight presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said.

“It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey.”

Details about the feature, including its plot and casting, were not made available.

The American superstar last year wrote and directed the 15-minute-long short film “All Too Well,” which served as the music video for the re-recorded and expanded version of her 2012 song, and has behind-the-scenes credits on several other of her music videos.

Swift is one of the most successful artists of the last few decades.

Demand for her upcoming “Eras” tour was so strong that Ticketmaster’s systems crashed last month when tickets went on sale.

Multi-Grammy-winning Swift — she has 11 — is the only solo artist to win two best direction awards at the MTV Music Video Awards.

Her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” was released to critical acclaim in October.