World Archives - Page 879 of 1962

Spain grants personhood status to threatened lagoon

21 Sep 2022 21 Sep 2022

Spain granted personhood status Wednesday to a large saltwater lagoon to give its threatened ecosystem better protection, the first time such a measure has been taken in Europe.

The initiative to grant the status to the Mar Menor — one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons — was debated in parliament after campaigners collected over 500,000 signatures backing it.

It now becomes law after Spain’s Senate, the upper house of parliament, voted in favour of the proposal, with only far-right party Vox opposing it.

This will allow the rights of the lagoon located in southeastern Spain to be defended in court, as though it were a person or business.

“The Mar Menor becomes the first European ecosystem with its own rights after the Senate approved the bill to give it a legal identity,” the president of the Senate, Ander Gil, tweeted after the vote.

The lagoon will now be legally represented by a group of caretakers made up of local officials, scientists who work in the area and local residents.

Ecologists have for years warned that the Mar Menor is slowly dying due to the runoff of fertilisers from nearby farms.

In August 2021, millions of dead fish and crustaceans began washing up on the shores of the lagoon, which experts blamed on agricultural pollution.

They argue that sealife died due to a lack of oxygen caused by hundreds of tonnes of fertiliser nitrates leaking into the waters causing a phenomenon known as eutrophication which collapses aquatic ecosystems.

Two similar catastrophic pollution events occurred in 2016 and 2019.

Ecologists in October 2021 submitted a formal complaint to the EU over what they called Spain’s “continued failure” to protect the Mar Menor, which they warned was on the brink of “ecological collapse”.

The following month the Spanish government unveiled a 382-million-euro ($377 million) plan to regenerate the lagoon.

It outlines several environmental regeneration projects to support biodiversity in and around the lagoon, including the creation of a 1.5-kilometre (one mile) buffer zone along the Mar Menor’s shores.

Global Fund seeks $18 billion to end HIV, TB and malaria

21 Sep 2022 21 Sep 2022

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Wednesday sought to raise at least $18 billion at a donor conference led by US President Joe Biden, as decades of progress against the three diseases are set back by Covid.

It is the highest ever “replenishment” goal set by the organization, which brings together governments, multilateral agencies, civil society groups and the private sector.

“Setbacks are not destiny,” USAID administrator Samantha Power told attendees. “We have the knowledge, the tools, and in the Global Fund, the right mechanism to regain ground and continue our push to end these diseases. What we need is the will.”

Before the event, Global Fund spokeswoman Francoise Vanni told AFP she was encouraged by early pledges — including $6 billion from the United States, 1.3 billion euros from Germany and $1.08 billion from Japan — that had brought the fund “about halfway” to its target.

“There’s a lot at stake, and the $18-billion target is very much based on getting back on track to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030, recovering ground lost during the Covid pandemic and saving no less than 20 million lives over the next three years,” she said.

The amount is 30 percent more than that raised during the organization’s sixth and most recent replenishment, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron of France in 2019, which raised a then-record $14 billion.

The Global Fund was created in 2002, with new funding cycles usually every three years.

World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted how life expectancy in Japan was 84 years, while in Lesotho it was just 50 years.

“Much of that difference is due to the fact that HIV, TB and malaria still kill millions in the poorest communities of the poorest countries,” he said.

“Thanks in large part to the Global Fund, these diseases kill half as many people now as they did 20 years ago. That’s quite a progress. However, those gains are at risk.”

– Signs of recovery –

Last year, the Global Fund warned that the pandemic was having a “devastating” impact on its work, leading to declining results across the board for the first time in the fund’s history.

But it said last week that the massive resources it had pumped to counter the downturn had paid off and “recovery is underway” against all three diseases.

For example, the number of people dying from TB rose for the first time in a decade in 2020, when it caused an estimated 1.5 million deaths, making it the world’s second-biggest infectious disease killer behind Covid.

But the Global Fund, which provides 76 percent of all international financing for fighting TB, said the programs had shown signs of recovery last year.

Similarly, the number of people provided with HIV prevention services rose again after dropping in 2020, reaching 12.5 million people worldwide, the organization said. The fund provides nearly a third of all international financing to battle HIV.

Interruptions in health services during the pandemic also extracted a heavy toll on the battle against malaria, sending deaths soaring 12 percent in 2020, to an estimated 627,000.

But the Global Fund said a rapid scale-up of programs had allowed them to bounce back, with some 280 million suspected cases tested and 148 million cases treated last year.

Per an act of Congress, the United States cannot provide more than one-third of funding for the Global Fund — a limit that serves as a matching challenge to other nations to double the American pledge.

2 Americans, 5 Brits among POWs transferred from Russia to Saudi

21 Sep 2022 21 Sep 2022

Ten prisoners of war from countries including the United States and Britain have been transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of an exchange between Russia and Ukraine, the Gulf state said Wednesday.

The group comprises five British nationals, two Americans and one each from Morocco, Sweden and Croatia, according to a Saudi official briefed on the operation.

The Saudi statement said they had arrived in the kingdom from Russia and that Saudi authorities were “facilitating procedures for their safe return to their respective countries”.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Twitter that the release of the Britons was “hugely welcome news… ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families”.

Truss said they had been “held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine”, and thanked both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Saudi Arabia for helping free them.

MP Robert Jenrick on Twitter identified one of the British detainees as “my constituent” Aiden Aslin, who had been sentenced to death in June after being captured by pro-Russian separatists.

Jenrick said the British detainees were “on their way back to the UK” and that Aslin’s family “could finally be at peace”.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Twitter that the Swedish citizen, held in Donetsk, “has now been exchanged and is well”. She also thanked Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.

The move came following efforts by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, “in continuation of (his) commitment to the humanitarian initiatives towards the Russian-Ukrainian crisis”, the Saudi statement said.

– War tensions –

The war in Ukraine has fuelled tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States, a critical ally for decades.

Saudi Arabia voted in favour of an early United Nations resolution to denounce Russia’s invasion and demand that Moscow withdraw troops.

However, the kingdom has largely resisted pressure from the US to ramp up oil production to ease the energy crisis resulting from the war — a campaign that included a visit by US President Joe Biden in July.

Instead Riyadh has coordinated with the OPEC+ oil cartel it jointly leads with Russia.

Less than a week after Biden left the kingdom, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Mohammed spoke by phone and “stressed the importance of reinforcing cooperation in OPEC+”, the Kremlin said in a statement at the time.

The two leaders hailed their cooperation so far, saying this made it possible “to maintain the needed balance and stability on the global energy market”, it said.

Earlier this month, the bloc agreed to cut crude production for the first time in more than a year as it sought to lift prices that have tumbled due to recession fears.

Wednesday’s statement did not specify when the prisoners of war would be transferred to their home countries.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told US television that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to swap 200 prisoners in one of the largest exchanges of the seven-month-old war.

Erdogan did not provide full details about the swap, calling the people being exchanged “hostages” and not saying how many there were from each side.

Also on Tuesday, Prince Mohammed met with a special envoy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Saudi state media reported.

During the meeting Prince Mohammed “affirmed the kingdom’s keenness and support for all international efforts aimed at resolving the crisis politically and its continuation of its efforts to contribute to alleviating the humanitarian effects resulting from it.”

Twitch curbs gambling streams as addiction fears mount

21 Sep 2022 22 Sep 2022

Twitch on Wednesday announced a ban on sites that stream unlicensed roulette, dice, or slots games as the platform is hit with concerns about getting users hooked on gambling.

The decision by the Amazon-owned company to tighten its policy beginning October 18 comes after a popular streamer scammed fans and peers out of money to fuel what he claimed was a gambling addiction.

“Gambling content on Twitch has been a big topic of discussion in the community,” Twitch, known for live streaming of video games, said in a tweet.

Twitch already bans links or referral codes to sites that feature slots, roulette or dice games, but some users have gotten around that by live streaming play, the platform said.

Streaming of most gambling games will be barred, though it will continue to allow websites that focus on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker, Twitch said.

Popular Twitch personalities such as Pokimane have called for the platform to ban gambling, and a tweet by Pokimane repeating that message had more than 316,000 likes as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a #TwitchStopGambling hashtag has gained traction at Twitter.

A streamer using the handle ItsSliker posted a video over the weekend saying that he had borrowed money from friends and colleagues on Twitch, lying about his reasons but really using it for gambling.

“This is the epitome of a gambling addict,” ItsSliker said in the video.

US Fed raises key interest rate as recession fears mount

21 Sep 2022 21 Sep 2022

The Federal Reserve raised the key US interest rate again Wednesday and said more hikes are coming as it battles soaring prices — an aggressive stance that has raised fears of a recession.

It was the third consecutive increase of 0.75 percentage point by the Fed’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), continuing the forceful action to tamp down inflation that has surged to the highest in 40 years.

The increase takes the policy rate to 3.0-3.25 percent, and the FOMC said it “anticipates that ongoing increases… will be appropriate.”

Soaring prices are putting the squeeze on American families and businesses and have become a political liability for President Joe Biden, as he faces midterm congressional elections in early November.

But a contraction of the world’s largest economy would be a more damaging blow to Biden, to the Fed’s credibility and the world at large.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made it clear that officials will continue to act aggressively to cool the economy and avoid a repeat of the 1970s and early 1980s, the last time US inflation got out of control.

It took tough action — and a recession — to finally bring prices down in the 1980s, and the Fed is unwilling to give up its hard-won, inflation-fighting credibility.

The Fed’s quarterly forecasts released with the rate decision Wednesday show FOMC members expect a sharp slowdown with US GDP growth of just 0.2 percent this year, but a return to expansion in 2023, with annual growth of 1.2 percent.

Powell’s press conference after the meeting will be closely scrutinized for clues on how much more he thinks the Fed will have to do before it declares victory in the inflation fight.

FOMC members see further rate hikes this year and next, with no cuts until 2024.

– Doubts, pressure –

Economist Diane Swonk of KPMG warned the central bank will come under increasing pressure, especially if unemployment begins to rise, and Fed officials “will become political pinatas.”

While the FOMC noted continued “robust” job gains in recent months and low unemployment, the forecasts project the jobless rate will rise to 4.4 percent next year and hold around that level through 2025.

Powell and other central bankers have been sending the same message: An economic downturn is better than continued high inflation given the pain that would inflict, especially on those least able to withstand it.

Inflation is a global phenomenon amid the Russian war in Ukraine on top of global supply chain snarls and Covid lockdowns in China, and other major central banks are taking action as well.

Many economists say at least a short period of negative US GDP in the first half of 2023 will be needed before inflation starts coming down.

Despite a welcome drop in gasoline prices at the pump in recent weeks, the disappointing consumer price report for August showed widespread increases.

The FOMC statement said noted the “broader price pressures” beyond food and energy, and stressed that officials are “strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.”

The Fed has front-loaded its rate hikes, cranking up the benchmark lending rate four times this year, including two straight three-quarter-point hikes in June and July.

The aim is to raise the cost of borrowing and cool demand, and it is having an impact: The housing market has slowed as mortgage rates have surged.

“The irony here is that just as the Fed is ratcheting-up the anti-inflation rhetoric to fever-pitch, the forces needed to drive down inflation over the next year are now in place,” said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

US stocks turned negative following the announcement.

US Fed raises key interest rate as recession fears mount

21 Sep 2022 21 Sep 2022

The Federal Reserve raised the key US interest rate again Wednesday and said more hikes are coming as it battles soaring prices — an aggressive stance that has raised fears of a recession.

The increase takes the policy rate to 3.0-3.25 percent, and the FOMC said it “anticipates that ongoing increases… will be appropriate.”

But a contraction of the world’s largest economy would be a more damaging blow to Biden, to the Fed’s credibility and the world at large.

It took tough action — and a recession — to finally bring prices down in the 1980s, and the Fed is unwilling to give up its hard-won, inflation-fighting credibility.

Powell’s press conference after the meeting will be closely scrutinized for clues on how much more he thinks the Fed will have to do before it declares victory in the inflation fight.

FOMC members see further rate hikes this year and next, with no cuts until 2024.

– Doubts, pressure –

Economist Diane Swonk of KPMG warned the central bank will come under increasing pressure, especially if unemployment begins to rise, and Fed officials “will become political pinatas.”

Inflation is a global phenomenon amid the Russian war in Ukraine on top of global supply chain snarls and Covid lockdowns in China, and other major central banks are taking action as well.

Many economists say at least a short period of negative US GDP in the first half of 2023 will be needed before inflation starts coming down.

Despite a welcome drop in gasoline prices at the pump in recent weeks, the disappointing consumer price report for August showed widespread increases.

The FOMC statement said noted the “broader price pressures” beyond food and energy, and stressed that officials are “strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.”

The Fed has front-loaded its rate hikes, cranking up the benchmark lending rate four times this year, including two straight three-quarter-point hikes in June and July.

The aim is to raise the cost of borrowing and cool demand, and it is having an impact: The housing market has slowed as mortgage rates have surged.

US stocks turned negative following the announcement.

Bankers warn of toll on US consumers from prolonged inflation

21 Sep 2022 22 Sep 2022

Higher interest rates and grinding inflation are likely to begin taking a higher toll on US consumers who have so far mostly managed to remain in healthy financial shape, bank CEOs told a congressional panel Wednesday.

The heads of the largest US banks warned in particular that low-income households face duress, as they appeared at a lengthy hearing before the House Financial Services Committee ahead of the Federal Reserve’s announcement of an interest rate hike of three-quarters of a point.

“It’s early days still in terms of seeing the impact of high interest rates on the consumer in the States,” said Citigroup Chief Executive Jane Fraser. “Fortunately, they entered this period with pretty strong balance sheets.”

Fraser warned of “greater stress” for consumers with low credit ratings, predicting a drop in savings rates and “tougher times ahead” in general.

Remarks on the economy were interspersed as bankers navigated politically charged questions on climate change, President Joe Biden’s regulatory policies, executive leadership diversity and other topics.

Andy Cecere, chief executive of US Bancorp, said that while savings rates remain above pre-pandemic levels, they have “stabilized” the last three months after growing consistently for the prior 18 months.

“The things that people are spending money on have changed substantially from discretionary to non-discretionary items like food and gas,” Cecere told the panel.

“It’s appropriate that we’re very focused on inflation, because again, it is most harmful for those who afford it the least.”

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said American consumers are in “rather good shape” with low debt levels in a strong jobs market.

But Dimon said the economy faces an uncertain course, with only a “small chance” of a soft landing to the Fed’s monetary tightening policy.

Dimon said there was also a chance of a “mild recession” as well as a “harder recession, noting that in light of the war in Ukraine and the drag on food and energy supply, “there’s a chance it could be worse.”

“And I think policy makers should be prepared for the worst,” Dimon added.

Trump, children sued for 'incredible' fraud in New York

21 Sep 2022 21 Sep 2022

Donald Trump and family members lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that routinely misstated the value of his properties to enrich themselves, according to a suit filed by New York’s attorney general on Wednesday.

Top state prosecutor Letitia James said that with the help of his children and others at the Trump Organization, the former president provided fraudulent statements of his net worth and false asset valuations “to obtain and satisfy loans, get insurance benefits, and pay lower taxes.”

“In short, he lied to gain massive financial benefits for himself.”

The sweeping investigation is one of many criminal, civil and congressional probes into Trump, who is eyeing another run for the White House in 2024.

Trump repeated his oft-used defense that the suit is “another witch hunt” against him, while his spokesperson denounced it as a political move by Democrats against the Republican businessman.

James’ office requested that the former president pay at least $250 million in penalties — a sum she says he made from the fraud — and that his family be banned from running businesses in the state.

She also urged that Trump along with his children Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump be barred from purchasing property in the state for five years.

“The very foundation of his purported net worth is rooted in incredible fraud and illegality,” James said in a statement.

Referring the title of Trump’s book “The Art of Deal,” she said that “Mr. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal, but today, that conduct ends.”

– ‘Staggering’ overvaluations –

James said her office, which lacks authority to file criminal charges, was making a criminal referral to the US Justice Department as well as the Internal Revenue Service based on the three-year investigation.

The lawsuit filed with the New York State Supreme Court includes allegations that Trump’s annual financial statements for at least a decade “grossly inflated” property values across his assets — from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to Manhattan’s Trump Tower — to a “staggering” degree.

He did so to obtain favorable loans with lower interests and premiums, said James, who is running to be re-elected to her post in November.

Her office counted that Trump and his associates put out more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets.

The suit details tactics used by Trump and his associates, saying they would represent that he had cash on hand when he didn’t, change valuation properties wildly, and use “objectively false numbers to calculate property values” including at his famous triplex on Fifth Avenue.

Among the alleged crimes was also valuing 12 rent-stabilized units at market rate in his Trump Park Avenue property — inflating the value by 65 times, James said.

“White collar financial crime is not a victimless crime,” James said.

“When the well-connected break the law to take in more money than they are entitled to, it reduces resources available to working people, to regular people, to small businesses and to all tax payers.”

James’ lawsuit requests that a judge appoint an independent authority to monitor the Trump Organization’s financial practices, and remove the Trumps from their own family business.

– Web of investigations –

New York authorities have been probing Trump and his family business since 2018, when the Manhattan district attorney opened a probe into the then-president who has long vied to present himself as a self-made billionaire.

James’ civil inquiry began the next year, after Trump’s former lawyer gave testimony that indicated the company had engaged in misconduct.

The DA’s criminal probe has not resulted in any charges as of yet.

Last month Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s long-time finance chief, pleaded guilty to tax fraud and agreed to testify at an upcoming criminal trial of the former US president’s real estate company.

He is to serve five months in prison contingent on his testifying truthfully at the October criminal trial of the Trump Organization on tax fraud charges, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said last month.

FBI agents separately searched Trump’s palatial Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on August 8 and seized official documents marked “Top Secret,” “Secret” and “Confidential.”

Trump is also facing legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the results of the November 2020 election and over the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Who wants to go to the moon? Europe names astronaut candidates

21 Sep 2022 22 Sep 2022

The European Space Agency announced a team of seven astronauts on Wednesday to train for NASA’s Artemis mission to the moon — but only one will have the chance to become the first European to walk on the lunar surface.

The candidates — France’s Thomas Pesquet, Britain’s Tim Peake, Germany’s Alexander Gerst and Matthias Maurer, Italy’s Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, and Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen — have all completed at least one mission on board the International Space Station.

Between them, the team has the equivalent of 4.5 years in orbit and 98 hours of spacewalking, ESA communications head Philippe Willekens told journalists at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris.

Three of the astronauts will be selected to go to the Lunar Gateway, a planned station that will orbit the moon.

But only one will set foot on the moon by the end of the decade. At some point, the ESA will have to decide which of the seven candidates will get to go.

“We’re all candidates and what matters is to go there as a team,” Pesquet told reporters at the event in Paris.

“Look, we’re all wearing the same shirt,” he added. Pesquet, Gerst, Maurer and Parmitano all attended wearing a navy blue polo shirt with ESA and Artemis logos.

Cristoforetti had to video call in from space, where she is currently onboard the ISS after becoming the first European woman to embark on a spacewalk outside the station in July.

Mogensen also spoke over video as he prepares for his own tour onboard the ISS.

– ‘Something inspiring for Europe’ –

The launch of the first Artemis mission, which is uncrewed and aims to test out a new rocket system and Orion capsule, has been delayed several times due to technical glitches including a fuel leak. NASA is now targeting September 27 for launch.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts to the Moon without landing on its surface, while the third — aiming to launch in 2025 — will see the first people set foot on the moon since 1972.

The ESA is providing the European Service Module on the Orion capsule.

“During this decade, three ESA astronauts will fly to the Lunar Gateway — our permanent station we’re building around the moon,” David Parker, ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration, told AFP.

“And if all that goes well, by the end of this decade we’ll be ready to send the first European astronaut to the moon,” he added.

Putting a European on the moon would be “something inspiring for Europe, a strong signal to say that ‘here we are, taking our place in the space world, in a cooperative way’,” Pesquet said.

“With a European on the moon, I hope that a united Europe will become more of a reality that it is today,” Maurer said.

Despite deep divisions between Russia and the West over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, on Wednesday a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off to the ISS on a Russian-operated flight.

Aviation chiefs warn of prolonged ticket price pain

21 Sep 2022 22 Sep 2022

Aviation industry leaders warned Wednesday that travellers must brace for even higher ticket prices as the sector battles fallout from the Covid pandemic, high oil prices and conflict fears.

International Air Transport Association director general Willie Walsh also said that airlines’ recovery would be delayed if China maintains its coronavirus travel clampdown into 2023.

The IATA head and Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said travellers around the world could expect more price pain in coming months because of higher fuel prices added to crippling losses from the past two years.

There was “little optimism” in the industry, Walsh told a news conference on the sidelines of an IATA meeting.

Walsh said that “the bottom line” is that if jet fuel prices keep going up “the only choice for companies is to have that reflected in ticket prices”.

“The price is so volatile,” he added. The IATA head and Qatar Airways chief said the ticket pressures would extend into 2023 and beyond.

IATA says airlines posted losses of $180 billion in 2020 and 2021 and expects another $9.7 billion in losses this year.

Baker, whose company this year recorded $1.5 billion in profit, slammed governments for “misleading” the public about the environmental damage of flying.

He said restrictions on airlines such as moves in many European countries to end flights of less than 500 kilometres (310 miles), was also adding to costs.

Baker said that if the cost of newer environmentally friendly fuels was higher then that would also be added to ticket pressures.

Both said any reopening of China’s frontiers would play a key role in the aviation industry’s recovery.

China had a “very important place” in international travel figures, said Walsh.

“If in 2023 China remains closed then it clearly will have an impact on the strength of the overall recovery,” he said.

He said Hong Kong’s aviation sector had been “devastated” by Covid restrictions, the city was no longer a global aviation hub and that Cathay Pacific was a “shadow” of its former importance.

Baker said many Chinese football fans may not be able to go this year’s World Cup in Qatar because of restrictions caused by China’s zero-coronavirus policy.