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INSERT INTO `nl_articles` VALUES (232,'Conservative Pécresse looks to establish herself as the ‘only threat’ to Macron','FRANCE 24','Politics',1,56,'https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211221-conservative-p%C3%A9cresse-looks-to-establish-herself-as-the-only-threat-to-macron','Tom WHEELDON ','The only candidate to have edged Emmanuel Macron in any poll for the all-important second round of the French presidential election, Valérie Pécresse has enjoyed surging ratings since she won the conservative Les Républicains party primary in early December. Analysts say Pécresse poses a formidable threat to the president as she targets his voters on the centre ground of French politics.\r\n\r\nFor much of Macron’s term France expected – and did not want – a replay of the 2017 Macron vs. Le Pen duel in the 2022 presidential election second round.  \r\n\r\nIn this landscape, traditional conservatives Les Républicains (LR) looked trapped in a constricted political space between President Macron and the Rassemblement National\'s Marine Le Pen, then unassailable as the far-right’s standard-bearer.  \r\n\r\nBut new developments have changed the dynamic.  \r\n\r\nAs political scientist Jérôme Jaffré put it, just like Eric Zemmour “shook” Le Pen by outflanking her on the extreme right, Pécresse is “shaking” Macron as she encroaches on his territory – the far more vote-rich centre ground. \r\n\r\nMacron the ‘pale imitation’? \r\n\r\nPécresse established her attack line against Macron at the end of summer, long before she became the LR candidate. Knowing that the president has moved to the right along with the centre ground of the French electorate, Pécresse cast Macron as a “pale imitation” of a centre-right leader. She said he promised to transform France but has done “almost nothing” except manage crises. \r\n\r\nNow Pécresse has imposed herself as a major threat to Macron in the second round – as demonstrated by an Elabe survey in early December showing her beating him in the runoff, amid a polling surge after her LR primary triumph.\r\n\r\nWhile Pécresse’s campaign is keen to entrench her in the French public consciousness as the only viable alternative to Macron, her climb in the ratings has only gone so far. Politico’s first-round polling aggregate puts Macron at 24 percent and Pécresse at 17, with Le Pen at 16 and Zemmour at 13. And historically French elections have often confounded early polls.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, that Elabe poll was like an “electric shock”, an anonymous figure close to Macron told Le Journal de Dimanche. \r\n\r\nMacron took recourse to the Élysée machinery, using the airtime only a president enjoys to give a lengthy TV interview last week. Months after Pécresse charged him with “inertia”, Macron defended his credentials as an economic reformer, saying he “couldn’t do everything” in one term.\r\n\r\nExperts say the president recognises Pécresse as the biggest danger to his bid for a second term.\r\n\r\nThe threat to Macron’s re-election will come “only from Pécresse; it will not come from the hopelessly divided left or the unelectable far right”, said Jim Shields, a professor of French politics at Warwick University. “Before Pécresse entered the race, Macron was heading comfortably for re-election with no viable challenger. Now he faces a mainstream conservative opponent who threatens part of his own centre-right base.” \r\n\r\nIn portraying herself as an original and Macron as a copy, Pécresse is playing the “card of authenticity for voters on the right who might have inclined to Macron by default”, Shields added. \r\n\r\n‘Straddling divides within the right’ \r\n\r\nMacron won many of these votes well before his pivot to the right as president. Polls showed LR’s François Fillon on track to win the 2017 presidential contest until a financial impropriety scandal torpedoed his candidacy. Much of his support went to Macron and propelled the young contender into first place.\r\n\r\n“A big concern for Macron will be that Pécresse can capture back the Filloniste voters he won last time,” said Andrew Smith, a professor of French politics at the University of Chichester. \r\n\r\nIn that astonishing rise to power five years ago, Macron gave himself a broader appeal than Fillon, accumulating support from centre-left and centre-right by taking ideas from both sides – the famous en même temps (“at the same time”) approach. \r\n\r\nThis time Pécresse looks to pull off a similar manoeuvre and rake in votes across the broad spectrum of French conservatism, encompassing a centre ground that has shifted to the right since Macron took office.  \r\n\r\nThe LR candidate is trying to build on her reputation as a technocratic moderate from her past six years running the Paris region – promising to streamline the state and curb France’s public debt, which is expected to reach 116 percent of GDP by the end of the year. Simultaneously, Pécresse vows to toughen French laws on security and immigration. \r\n\r\n“She is a big threat to Macron because she can pull off her own en même temps, straddling the divides within the right,” Smith noted. “She has one foot in the technocratic, centre-right approach to matters like economic policy; and another foot in the rather more identitarian politics of order, security and France’s Catholic heritage – issues that can be addressed without going as far as the extreme right.” \r\n\r\nYet over the course of a long campaign that still has months to run, Smith cautioned, Pécresse could end up walking “a bit of a tightrope” as she pursues this en même temps. On one front, she is targeting Macron’s voters. On another, she is fighting Zemmour and Le Pen for a ticket to the second round.\r\n\r\nZemmour is keen to win over mainstream conservatives — and his presence on the extreme right risks fracturing the LR coalition. Hard-right MP Eric Ciotti – who said last autumn he would back Zemmour against Macron if the two were in the second round – narrowly won the first stage of the LR primary before Pécresse’s decisive victory in the runoff. Although he called on Zemmour supporters to back Pécresse instead, Ciotti also bewailed her refusal to countenance his Zemmour-style proposal for a French version of the US military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay.\r\n\r\n“A danger for Pécresse is someone like Ciotti flipping to Zemmour and disturbing her campaign,” Smith observed. \r\n\r\nBut Zemmour’s ratings have sunk after his autumn ascent. Analysts say he is seen as too toxic and lacking in credibility for most traditional conservative voters. Meanwhile his new political vehicle Reconquête has nothing like the well-rooted party infrastructure LR enjoys across France.  \r\n\r\nNone of Pécresse’s three main rivals boast comparable get-out-the-vote machinery – which played a crucial role in powering LR to the top of France’s regional polls in June.\r\n\r\n“One of the biggest threats posed by Pécresse is her party’s ability to wage an electoral ground war,” Shields said. “LR remains a formidable campaigning machine with a deeply embedded presence across the towns, departments and regions of France and a newly energised and expanded membership. This contrasts with Macron, Le Pen and Zemmour, none of whom have anything like the same capacity to mount an extensive ground campaign and rally grassroots support across the country.” ','2021-12-21','',0,1),(233,'COVID: Omicron variant prompts France to drastically restrict travel to and from UK','Euronews','Politics',1,56,'https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/16/france-to-tighten-entry-requirements-for-uk-arrivals-over-omicron-covid-variant','By Alasdair Sandford  with AFP','France is to heavily tighten entry conditions for people travelling both to and from the United Kingdom in order to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, the government said on Thursday.\r\n\r\nThe prime minister\'s office at Matignon confirmed that from midnight on Friday into Saturday, travellers will need to give \"compelling reasons\" in order to visit the UK and return to France, regardless of vaccination status.\r\n\r\nA government statement cites the British government\'s admission that an Omicron \"tidal wave\" is expected to hit the country as justification for the move.\r\n\r\nTravel for tourism and business will not be allowed, the statement says. However, \"these compelling reasons will nevertheless not apply to French citizens as well as their partner and their children who will still be able to come to France,\" it explains.\r\n\r\nAn attached list of what constitutes \"compelling reasons\" for travel in both directions also includes, for the UK, a \"foreign citizen joining their country\".\r\n\r\nThe new measures also mean that COVID-19 tests are required to enter France within the previous 24 hours, instead of the current 48 hours. They apply to all arrivals whether or not people are vaccinated.\r\n\r\nMatignon confirmed that the tests can be either PCR or lateral flow -- although home tests are not valid -- and proof must be in the form of a recognised certificate.\r\n\r\nPeople arriving in France from the UK will also need to self-isolate, and to register their address online in advance, via an app that will generate an isolation order from the prefecture. The quarantine can be lifted after 48 hours once a negative COVID-19 test is provided.\r\n\r\nThe French government is calling on travellers who had planned to go to the UK to delay their journey.\r\n\r\nThe new measures will be \"more drastic\" than those which exist at the moment, government spokesman Gabriel Attal acknowledged in an interview with BFMTV and RMC earlier on Thursday.\r\n\r\nHe said that quarantine for visitors from the UK would be subject to \"checks by the security forces\".\r\n\r\nThe new conditions for entry into France from the UK have now been published in English by the French consulate in London.\r\n\r\nAccording to the French government list, those deemed to have \"compelling reasons\" to visit the UK include \"a foreign citizen joining their country\", visits after the death of a close family member, or if such a person is in a life-threatening condition.\r\n\r\nThose allowed to return to France include French and EU nationals and their families, as well as Britons \"benefitting from the agreement\" on Brexit — meaning registered UK residents in the EU — plus nationals of other countries residing in the EU.\r\n\r\nOther exemptions to the travel ban include civil servants travelling professionally, police, customs officials and Channel tunnel workers, health workers and registered students, and transport workers including lorry drivers carrying goods. Air passengers changing planes in France can enter airport transit zones for up to 24 hours.\r\n\r\nThe announcement comes the day after the UK registered 78,610 daily COVID-19 cases — the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic as the highly transmissible new Omicron variant spreads.\r\n\r\nBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last Sunday that an Omicron \"tidal wave\" was expected to hit the country. In some areas, the number of Omicron cases is doubling every two days, he added on Wednesday.\r\n\r\nSo far, France has detected 240 Omicron cases on its territory. The new restrictions concerning the UK were designed to \"tighten the net\" to reduce the number of cases of the variant entering the country and slow down its spread, Gabriel Attal said.','2021-12-17','',0,1),(234,'Covid: French ski season in disarray as UK tourists banned',' BBC News, Chamonix ','Politics',1,56,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59712015','By Mark Lowen ','The early season snow on the pine-filled slopes of Mont Blanc is the best Chamonix has seen for years. There just aren\'t the British skiers to enjoy it.\r\n\r\nIt had looked like being a bumper Christmas for France\'s ski resorts, with flights and ferries from Britain fully booked.\r\n\r\nBut then came a warning from France\'s government last Thursday of \"a landslide\" - not on its own mountains, but of the Omicron coronavirus variant careering through the UK.\r\n\r\nAll non-essential travel from Britain was to be banned. And suddenly cancellations replaced arrivals.\r\n\r\n\"I feel sad, disappointed and angry,\" says Thomas Mathieu, the owner of Brasserie les Marmottons, adding he has had to lay off three employees, anticipating the drop in business.\r\n\r\n\"Everything is ready here: we put on masks, we have the [vaccination] passes, we have everything right by our government. It\'s very confusing for us,\" he adds.\r\n\r\nOne in four tourists in Chamonix before the pandemic was British. Britons are the largest foreign cohort of visitors to the French resorts.\r\n\r\nBut France\'s Prime Minister Jean Castex has compared Omicron to \"lightning\" - and his government appears willing to take the hit, accelerating its booster programme in the meantime.\r\n\r\nSome from the UK arrived just before the drawbridge came up on Friday night, counting their luck as businesses count their losses.\r\n\r\nHugh Kocheta had just skied down from 2,100 metres - the pistes wide open with so few Brits here. \"We\'re missing a few people from different families who were supposed to come over, but who are probably just not going to be able to come out now,\" he says. \"It\'s obviously a bit gutting for certain people.\"\r\n\r\nAlison Hands and her family were driving down from Calais on Thursday as they heard the news. \"Being here makes it feel like a normal Christmas again because I\'ve come every year since I was born - apart from the last one,\" says her eight-year-old son Moss.\r\n\r\nAnd that is the fear here - that the ban on British tourists evokes a worrying déjà-vu of last Christmas when strict lockdowns followed. For those catering for the British market, the emptiness is devastating - and an ominous sign of what more could come.\r\n\r\nDave Searle works with the British Association of Mountain Guides in Chamonix, and cancellations have flooded in.\r\n\r\n\"If this continues this season, it\'ll be a big loss of earnings… up to 50% of my annual earnings is through the winter. I guess I\'m worried it\'s just going to keep doing this every winter. And if I\'m losing half my earnings every year, I need to find a new profession.\"\r\n\r\nDoes he understand the French decision, I ask?\r\n\r\n\"It does make sense in some ways and it\'s all about keeping people safe and hospitals empty,\" he replies. \"But perhaps it does also feel like a bit of a kneejerk reaction, singling out one country.\"\r\n\r\nFrance\'s confirmed Omicron cases are a fraction of those in the UK, though French scientists do far less genetic sequencing of new variants than their British counterparts. And intensive care units are once again filling up fast here.\r\n\r\nBeside the Christmas lights in the centre of beautiful Chamonix, festive cheer is fading. The hope is that this may be a short blip, not a lost season.\r\n\r\nFrance is buying time with this measure - and paying a high price for its mountain resorts to sparkle again.','2021-12-19','',0,1),(235,'Paris venues prepare for social festive season despite Omicron','FRANCE 24','Politics',1,56,'https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211218-paris-venues-prepare-for-social-festive-season-despite-omicron',' By: Joanna YORK ',' The French government announced new restrictions yesterday in light of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. While some events have been cancelled, many venues in Paris are still preparing for year-end festivities. \r\nAdvertising\r\n\r\nFrench Prime Minister Jean Castex on Friday asked mayors to cancel traditional New Year’s Eve firework displays and festivities, and urged people to take self-tests before attending get-togethers over the Christmas period. \r\n\r\nThe Paris town hall confirmed the cancellation of its public parties the following day, amid a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections in France with cases averaging nearly 50,000 per day in the past week. Fears of the highly contagious Omicron variant are also soaring, as the prime minister announced that France would change its health pass into a vaccination pass, meaning that from January it can only be used by people who are fully vaccinated. \r\n\r\nHowever, studies suggest that there is still an appetite for in-person events this festive season. \r\n\r\nFigures from government study CoviPrev indicate that while adherence to all barrier measures has gone up among people in France in the past month, social restrictions are the least likely to be respected. While 70% of people said at the beginning of December they now always wear a mask in public places, only 31% planned to avoid in-person gatherings with loved ones outside of their household.  \r\n\r\nAnd, unlike last year when a near-lockdown was imposed, many venues will stay open over the festive period in 2021. \r\n\r\n‘Things are looking good’ \r\n\r\nJazz bar Café Laurent, in Paris’s 6th arrondissement (district), plans to host its annual New Year’s Eve concert as usual. Tickets cannot be reserved in advance but a staff member told FRANCE 24: “I think a lot of people will come, I’ve worked here for eight years and there’s always a lot of people for New Year.” \r\n\r\nThe bar, which is attached to a hotel in the touristy Saint Germain neighbourhood, is expecting even more attendees than usual due to a rise in local customers in recent months. \r\n\r\n“If between now and New Year’s Eve there are new health rules put in place, that could have an unfortunate effect on the concert. But for now everything can go ahead as expected and we’re crossing our fingers that nothing changes.” \r\n\r\n“With the new announcements yesterday evening, things are looking good,” he said. \r\n\r\nThe Moulin Rouge, in the 18th arrondissement in northeast Paris, is also expecting a full house for its New Year’s celebrations. “We’ve been fully booked for a while, and we haven’t had any cancellations,” a spokesperson told FRANCE 24. The only difference this year is that the final hour of the evening with a DJ after the cabaret show has been cancelled, as the audience is not allowed to dance due to Covid restrictions. \r\n\r\nReservations have poured in over the Christmas period, with demand growing to the extent that the famous cabaret is now running seven days a week, up from four since September. \r\n\r\nIn the affluent 6th arrondissement (district), Hotel Lutetia is also expecting a lot of customers for festive meals in its restaurant on December 24 and 25. A staff member told FRANCE 24, “For the moment the health rules haven’t changed. There’s just the health pass and we are used to that now and it’s not complicated to manage.” \r\n\r\n‘People came, and they loved it’ \r\n\r\nDemand for in-person events has also been high at Saint Michael’s Church in Paris, especially as many more formal social gatherings have been cancelled. \r\n\r\nAlthough the French government has not set a hard limit on gatherings over the festive season this year, the prime minister called for reductions and restraint in a speech on December 10. “Until the holidays we need to take our foot off the gas, stop, protect ourselves and protect our ability to enjoy Christmas as well,” Castex said. \r\n\r\nWork Christmas parties were not the only casualties of this guidance. Jonathan Clark, Chaplain at Saint Michael’s Church in Paris, told FRANCE 24: “We’ve had to cancel our social events and they’re important to people, particularly the lonely, so it\'s really hard.” \r\n\r\nConsequently, demand for in-person services over the festive season has been high, to the extent that the church had to introduce advance reservation for its carol services. “They’re our most popular services and we completely sold out. People came and they loved it. People who don\'t normally come to church came, and it was great.” \r\n\r\nBy now safety protocols have become a habit. “We wear masks the whole time. We distance, we separate groups of people, we halve the number of people at a service, and we have to ventilate so we keep doors open.” \r\n\r\nAlong with fans running to keep air circulating, this typically means wearing coats during the service to keep warm. But Clark says staff are putting all of their energy into the in-person services, to make sure that people can still come to church and find some joy in community over the festive season this year. “The services are running as normal, because for some people, it\'s the only social contact they\'re going to get to come to church and see some people.” \r\n\r\n“And we can sing behind masks. Last year we couldn\'t sing – that was much harder.” ','2021-12-18','',0,1),(236,'France\'s green hydrogen pioneers aim to revolutionise energy production','RFI','Politics',1,56,'https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20211222-france-s-green-hydrogen-pioneers-aim-to-revolutionise-energy-production','Text by: Sarah Elzas',' Green hydrogen sounds almost too good to be true: a fuel made from water, that can be stored and transported, and does not produce carbon emissions. France is banking on it, and a startup in Brittany has started to produce it. But will it catch on?\r\n\r\nWhen French President Emmanuel Macron announced in October that France would be investing nearly two billion euros in green hydrogen technologies, as part of its 2030 investment plan, Matthieu Guesné felt vindicated.\r\n\r\n“Back in 2017 when we started the company, we were not even pioneers, we were visionaries. Nobody had this idea, and nobody was aware of the need for green hydrogen,” he said recently, standing in the main building of his company, Lhyfe, in the small Breton fishing village of Bouin, on the west coast of France, which has been producing 300 kilograms of green hydrogen a day since September.\r\n\r\nHydrogen is used in steel manufacturing and fertilisers, and it is increasingly being considered for transportation to fuel cars and lorries without greenhouse gas emissions.\r\n\r\nMost hydrogen today is extracted from fossil fuels. Green hydrogen is made using electrolysis with renewable electricity running through water to separate the oxygen and hydrogen molecules.\r\n\r\nThis is done using electrolysers. Lhyfe’s are behind a thick concrete wall, connected by a series of colourful tubes funnelling water in, and oxygen and hydrogen out.\r\n\r\n“An electrolyser is a big tube, inside of which you put demineralised water and electricity,” explains Antoine Hamon, Lhyfe’s operations director. “At the end of that you have two pipes, one with hydrogen and the other with oxygen.”\r\n\r\nIt’s a simple process that, in this case, uses seawater and electricity generated from four wind turbines two kilometres away.\r\nNo wind, no hydrogen\r\n\r\n“This site is really synchronised with the production of the wind turbines,” says Hamon. “If there’s no wind, there’s no hydrogen.”\r\n\r\nThis is difference between this facility and other green hydrogen plants, which have turbines or other sources of renewable electricity feeding into the general electricity grid, which they pull from when they want to produce hydrogen.\r\n\r\nOn a platform above the production floor, several computer screens show the water levels and amount of electricity coming from the turbines.\r\n\r\nLhyfe currently produces 300 kilograms of hydrogen a day out of three cubic metres of seawater. At full capacity, the goal is to triple the output, to get to a tonne.\r\n\r\nA hydrogen car driving 100 kilometres uses one kilogramme of hydrogen  A long-haul truck would consume 20 to 30 kilograms a day.\r\n\r\nThe hydrogen gas that comes out of Lhyfe’s electrolysers is compressed into long metal gas canisters and transported to users in the area.\r\n\r\n“The main advantage of hydrogen is it\'s a gas, so you can transport and store it,” explains Guesné, Lhyfe’s CEO. “Gas is convenient, which is why our societies run on diesel and gas. You can store it in a pipe, on a truck, in a boat. It can wait an hour, or a day or a week.”\r\n\r\nElectricity cannot be stored easily. Batteries are inefficient, and use components that are difficult or dangerous to acquire.\r\n\r\nAnd for larger vehicles travelling long distances, like lorries, or trains, batteries would be too big and heavy to be practical.\r\nHydrogen experiments in Nantes\r\n\r\nThe city of Nantes, an hour inland from Bouin, which likes to see itself as a technological innovator, has been putting itself forward as a hub for green hydrogen.\r\n\r\nIts public transit authority, the Semitan, has been running experiments using hydrogen vehicles for a few years.\r\n\r\n\"As far as Nantes is concerned, it\'s important to promote renewal energy - it\'s a political ambition. And also as an engineer, I am interested in this technique, to know what is good and what is not,” says technical director Stephane Bis.\r\n\r\nSemitan has two hydrogen utility vehicles - electric Renault Kangoo vans that use hydrogen to extend their batteries’ ranges, from 100 to 300 kilometres.\r\n\r\nOne of the Semitan\'s two hydrogen vehicles, filling up at its station at a bus depot. The station puts pressurised hydrogen into the tank, extending the vehicle\'s range from 100 to 300 kilometres.\r\n\r\nHydrogen cars have fuel cells that transform hydrogen, stored in their tanks, into electricity to power an electric motor. The output is water and oxygen – a small tube on the side of the vehicle drips out water, and the oxygen is released into the atmosphere.\r\n\r\nSemitan uses its hydrogen cars like their dozens of other utility vehicles, but as a kind of proof of concept that hydrogen can work.\r\n\r\nThey fuel up the cars at a hydrogen service station they have set up at a bus depot northwest of the city centre. It\'s a collection of tall gas cannisters which are fed through a machine that pressurises the hydrogen into the car. The sound is like a balloon being filled.\r\n\r\nSemitan is looking into hydrogen for public transit. Unlike the city of Le Mans, which has been experimenting with a hydrogen bus since last year, Nantes has decided to focus on water transport.\r\n\r\nIn 2019 the city introduced a hydrogen-powered ferry to take commuters across the Erdre river in the north of the city.\r\n\r\nThe ferry needed regular maintenance, and is currently docked for a full overhaul.\r\n\r\nBis says it’s been a good experiment.\r\n\r\n“I wouldn’t say hydrogen is the energy of the future, but it is part of the future,” he says, about the prospects of expanding the use of hydrogen.\r\n\r\n“I think the future will include hydrogen, that is sure, especially for heavy load vehicles- lorries. For large transit, I think hydrogen is a very interesting subject.”\r\nHydrogen in the future\r\n\r\nOf course, Guesné, of Lhyfe, is much more expansive in his predictions for hydrogen, driven by the urgency of decarbonising France and Europe’s energy to curb the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.\r\n\r\n    IEA roadmap for clean power shines light on EU\'s addiction to gas\r\n\r\n“We need to address the climate change. We need to reduce CO2 emissions by 55 percent, and when you do the math and look at the solutions we have today, you figure out that you cannot achieve that without hydrogen,” he says.\r\nMatthieu Guesné, CEO, Lhyfe, green hydrogen producer, in Bouin, France\r\nMatthieu Guesné, CEO, Lhyfe, green hydrogen producer, in Bouin, France © Sarah Elzas/RFI\r\n\r\nHis vision for green hydrogen in France is a series of production plants serving local communities, using local renewable energy sources.\r\n\r\n“We want to avoid the refinery model, where you have only three refineries in a country like France that can supply the whole country with oil,” he says.\r\n\r\n“There is always local energy. In some areas there are solar panels. Here there’s a lot of wind so we are relying on wind turbines. But it can be energy from waste, from biomass, from hydropower.”\r\n\r\nWhile Guesné anticipates 25 to 30 per cent of French fuel consumption will be hydrogen by 2030, others estimate it will be more like six to 10 percent.\r\n\r\nBut whatever the amount, hydrogen is a part of the future.\r\n\r\n    Airbus to launch hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2035\r\n\r\n“There will never be enough resources to have batteries for everybody. There is not enough biomass to produce biogas for all heating needs,” he says. “Today we have smart grids, we have batteries, we have renewables. But there was a problem for lorries and busses. Hydrogen was the missing piece of the puzzle.”','2021-12-22','',0,1),(237,'Settled French territory or powder keg: what next for New Caledonia after failed bid for independence?','The Guardian','Politics',1,56,'https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/23/settled-french-territory-or-powder-keg-what-next-for-new-caledonia-after-failed-bid-for-independence','Hamish McDonald','While French politicians are hailing the result of the referendum as ‘final’, indigenous Kanaks say their future is anything but settled\r\n\r\nIn the wake of the third New Caledonian referendum on independence from France, French president Emmanuel Macron declared that “France is more beautiful because New Caledonia decided to stay.”\r\n\r\nThe vote in the 12 December referendum – supposedly the finale of a 30-year process of preparation and consultation – was an overwhelming 96.5% against independence.\r\n\r\nMacron’s centre-right Republican rival, Valérie Pécresse, has hailed the vote a “massive choice” to stay, while the emerging far-right candidate Eric Zemmour said the decision was final.\r\n\r\nBut New Caledonia’s future as a French territory is anything but settled and a return to the violence that wracked New Caledonia a possibility.\r\n\r\nOnly one side turned up to vote, and the result was entirely predictable. Only 43.9% of eligible voters cast their ballot as against nearly 86% in the previous referendum.\r\n\r\nThe abstainers were mostly indigenous Kanaks, who have been agitating since the 1980s to follow their fellow Melanesians in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu into independent statehood.\r\n\r\nUntil recent months, the Kanaks were willing participants in the consultation process, then the Delta variant of Covid-19 arrived in early September, quickly infecting over 12,000 people and causing 280 deaths, about 60% among Kanaks, and other Pacific islanders.\r\n\r\nMany Kanak communities were plunged into traditional mourning rituals that can take up to a year. In addition, a lockdown restricted campaigns by Kanak parties, which typically rely on villages meetings and tours by leaders.\r\n\r\nThe Kanak parties appealed to Macron to postpone the referendum but he refused. A last-minute court appeal for delay also failed. So the Kanak coalition called a boycott of the referendum.\r\n\r\n“This isn’t over, and people who are saying it’s over are misreading the strength of the boycott,” says Nic Maclellan, a veteran commentator on Pacific affairs in Australia.\r\n\r\nNot only did nearly all Kanaks heed their parties’ call for “non-participation” they did so peacefully. Paris had sent 2,000 extra gendarmes and 30 armoured cars to maintain security – they were not needed.\r\nA woman looks at a flyer from anti-independence movement Les Voix du Non in Nouméa’s Rivière Salée market\r\nCovid, mourning and the fear of violence: New Caledonia prepares for blighted independence vote\r\n\r\n\r\nA key question now is whether electoral rolls in any future referendum or local government elections will be thrown open to more recent arrivals to New Caledonia. Until now, only Kanaks and long-established settlers have been allowed to vote.\r\n\r\nTo open the vote to all the residents of New Caledonia would be “recolonisation” and definitively end the Kanak dream of independence, said Mathias Chauchat, professor of public law at the University of New Caledonia in Noumea.\r\n\r\n“In essence, opening the electoral roll would give power to the whites. It would revert to the colony like before, with the French in power and the Kanaks like an aboriginal minority. They would be left with their customs on the margin, all the while saying that their identity was recognised. It would be a system of apartheid that doesn’t say its name.”\r\n\r\n“The situation is explosive because the Kanaks would never accept this recolonisation,” Chauchat added. “We are on a powder-keg. It needs only a spark for it to explode.”\r\n\r\nFor their part, the seven pro-independence parties based among the Kanaks said dialogue had been broken by the “stubbornness” of the French government, which had been “unable to reconcile its geo-strategic interests in the Pacific with its obligation to decolonise New Caledonia.”.\r\nBallot papers in the third referendum on independence for New Caledonia.\r\n\r\nNew Caledonia’s regional neighbours have dismissed the referendum result. The Melanesian Spearhead Group – representing Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, Vanuatu and Fiji – issued a statement proclaiming the results “null and void due to the ‘non-participation’ of the indigenous people of Kanaky.”\r\n\r\nThe Pacific Islands Forum – a wider regional grouping – noted the boycott and said that “civic participation was an integral component of any democracy and critical to the interpretation and implications of Sunday’s poll.”\r\n\r\nWhile some strategists worry about France walking out, leaving a destitute mini-state open to Chinese influence, it is worth considering exactly what kind of independence is being proposed by the Kanaks.\r\n\r\n\r\nChauchat said the Union Calédonienne, one of the main Kanak parties, has been considering the “free association” link of the Cook Islands to New Zealand, whereby Wellington looks after the islands’ defence and foreign policy in consultation with the Cook Islands government. The small nation has membership of many international agencies, though not a UN seat.\r\n\r\nAdrian Muckle, a historian at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, said another Kanak party, UNI-Palika, had also evoked in its manifesto the idea of a partnership or association with France.\r\n\r\n“They have sought to discuss in advance of the final referendum what that might look like in more detail, but Paris and ‘loyalists’ have actively refused to engage, suggesting that such discussions could only take place after a vote for independence and that nothing can be discussed until then,” Muckle said.\r\n\r\n“Their concern, I think, is that any fleshed-out ideas on independence-in-association might make a ‘yes’ vote more attractive.”\r\n\r\nSince the vote, Sébastien Lecornu, France’s minister for overseas territories, has called for submissions on a permanent status for New Caledonia within France, to be finalised within 18 months. The Kanak parties have said they will wait until after next year’s French elections before resuming dialogue with Paris.\r\n\r\nThey would have little traction until then anyway. With Macron now fighting for re-election from the centre against the right and far-right, electoral considerations will not allow much flexibility in thinking about New Caledonia’s future.\r\n\r\n    Hamish McDonald is a former foreign editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and regional editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, and is an Inaugural Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.\r\n','2021-12-22','',0,1),(238,'The “New Erasmus Generation” Conference: Developing European mobility for apprentices, 20 January 2022','France 22','Society',4,57,'https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/press-release-developing-erasmus-for-apprentices-an-objective-for-the-french-presidency-of-the-council-of-the-eu/','France 22','During the ministerial conference held under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Erasmus+ programme, the European ministers notably demonstrated their commitment to strengthening partnerships between Member States to foster the European mobility of young trainees.\r\n\r\nEvery year, Erasmus+ enables thousands of European students to continue their training or studies in another EU country. Since 1987, more than 10 million Europeans have studied abroad thanks to this programme. Apprentices, however, whether under apprenticeship contracts or professional training contracts, currently represent only 8% of participants in the Erasmus+ programme.\r\n\r\nIn line with the Porto declaration of May 2021, the task at hand is now ensuring that these young apprentices benefit more from Erasmus+.\r\nApprenticeships are a path to excellence and a critical lever to combat youth unemployment. Furthermore, European mobility offers the opportunity for young people to develop new professional skills and expertise, by opening a gateway to another way of learning and doing. It thus represents an additional asset to boost their employability: 86% of those that took part in the Erasmus+ programme found that their employability increased following their training abroad.\r\n\r\nLastly, increasing mobility for apprenticeships contributes to the aim of making a European experience a possibility for all young people on all learning paths, as well as strengthening their sense of belonging to Europe.\r\n\r\nMeasures to develop Erasmus for apprentices\r\nTo strengthen European mobility for apprentices, the ministers agreed to reinforce partnerships between Member States in order to develop European networks and make it easier for apprentices to choose to learn abroad.\r\nDiscussions also covered the schemes and measures to support mobility in different training and learning programmes. To this end, the European Commission presented its ideas on how these measures can evolve in order for apprentice mobility to grow.\r\n\r\nLastly, the ministers discussed how to better spread information about the proposed schemes. In this respect, Élisabeth Borne announced the creation of a webpage dedicated to Europe, on 1jeune1solution.gouv.fr, the website for youth employment in France. This page will offer mobility opportunities to young French people in their training pathways or job searches. Portals to look for a job and to look for an internship will therefore redirect them towards European search motors and offers. Portals for young people looking for a mission in Europe or wishing to complete part of their training in Europe will also be available, and allow for different types of experiences in Europe to be presented.\r\n\r\nEmployment and youth are at the heart of considerations of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU. We must work to make Erasmus more accessible to all young people, regardless of their training pathways. This is one of our goals to develop skills among our young people and introduce them to new competencies and new methods of learning. It is also a way for us to deepen the sense of belonging to Europe and thus contribute towards building the new generation of Europeans.\r\n— Elisabeth Borne, Minister of Labour, Employment and Economic Inclusion\r\n\r\nToday, more and more students are able to benefit from European mobility. Apprentices must be offered the same possibilities of training abroad in Europe especially because the funding is available. Mobility enriches young people’s learning and adds value to it. The Commission, working closely with the Member States, aims to facilitate mobility for young apprentices in order for them to develop new skills.\r\n— Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights','2022-01-17','',0,1),(239,'French elections: Divided left fight doomed race of their own','BBC News, Paris','Politics',1,57,'2-	https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60059542 (Politics)','By Hugh Schofield','Pity the French left-winger as he or she contemplates the upcoming presidential elections.\r\n\r\nFor the first time in living memory, there is not a single candidate from their camp among the front-runners ahead of the April vote.\r\n\r\nThe highest-ranking leftist, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is in fifth place at about 9% in the polls, outperformed by a centrist President Emmanuel Macron, a conservative in Valérie Pécresse and two far-right wingers in Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour.\r\n\r\nDaggers drawn\r\nAs things stand, the chances of a left-wing candidate making it through to the second round - let alone winning the election like François Hollande in 2012 and François Mitterrand years before - look like a pipe dream.\r\n\r\nWhat\'s more, despite the voters\' anguished pleas for unity, the party machines have merely responded with yet more division.\r\n\r\nWith 11 weeks to go until Round One, the Socialists and the Greens are at daggers drawn over which of their respective candidates, Anne Hidalgo and Yannick Jadot, is the true champion of the mainstream left.\r\n\r\n\r\nThen there is the Communist, Fabien Roussel, determined to keep his party\'s identity alive. And he\'s not doing badly, given that at 3% he is equal with Ms Hidalgo. Add to that anti-capitalists Nathalie Arthaud and Philippe Poutou, fighting their own battle on the fringe.\r\n\r\nSeven in race for the left\r\nOne left-wing candidate, ex-minister Arnaud Montebourg, has decided to call it a day, arguing that to continue in the race with such a multitude of candidates would be to \"add disorder to confusion\".\r\n\r\nBut that was more than offset by the declaration of another former minister, Christiane Taubira. So there are still seven left-wingers in the running.\r\n\r\nFrance\'s former Justice Minister and candidate for the 2022 presidential election Christiane Taubira poses as she participates in a news broadcast of France 2 TV channel in Paris, on January 15, 2022\r\n\r\nHailed by many, especially the young, as an inspirational figure because of her battles against racism and for gay marriage, Ms Taubira was hoping to play a \"deus ex machina\" kind of role, uniting the discordant tribes behind her.\r\n\r\nWorking in Christiane Taubira\'s favour has been a grassroots project called the \"Popular Primary\", in which at the end of next week left-wing supporters who register on a website will get to choose which candidate best expresses their vision and should therefore represent the left in April.\r\n\r\nWith enough participation in the so-called primary, the argument goes, whoever emerges as the most popular leader on the left will have the moral authority to demand that the others all stand aside, which they will of course do in the interests of the greater good.\r\n\r\nIt may sound plausible. In reality the project is doomed.\r\n\r\n\'Too many heads\'\r\nMr Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot have both said they want nothing to do with the business, believing it was conceived by supporters of Christiane Taubira to boost her entry into the race.\r\n\r\nAnne Hidalgo feels the same, but her position is complicated because some in her Socialist Party may actually be rooting for Ms Taubira because they think Ms Hidalgo has made such a lousy campaign of it so far.\r\n\r\nAdd to the picture that in this popular primary there are also three other potential candidates - the totally unknown Anna Agueb-Porterie, Charlotte Marchandise and Pierre Larroutourou - and you can see why the average left-wing voter might be tempted to start tugging the rug.\r\n\r\n\"There are simply too many heads on too small a stage,\" as Libération newspaper, house journal of the French left, put it this week. \"True, no-one really believed in a grand union of the left. But who would have thought the fingers on one hand would be insufficient to count the candidates?\"\r\n\r\nOf course in the French system having a multiplicity of candidates on the left or right is not necessarily a handicap.\r\n\r\n\r\nIt has been 10 years since a left-winger won the presidency in François Hollande\r\nThat\'s as long as there is a clear front-runner who, having qualified for the run-off, can count on the first-round votes of their erstwhile rivals, who would now be ministerial hopefuls.\r\n\r\nWhat went wrong for French left\r\nWhen Mitterrand won the presidency in 1981, he was up against five left-wing and environmentalist candidates in Round One. However, his first-round vote was 25% and his nearest rival was the Communist, Georges Marchais, on 9%, the same as the highest-ranking leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon is polling today.\r\n\r\nIn late-night sessions in Paris salons the arguments roll on about why things have come to this pass:\r\n\r\nIs it because the French left is too doctrinaire, too wedded to theory and not sufficiently pragmatic like the German Social Democrats, who are now in power?\r\n\r\nIs it because of a fault-line dividing old-style one-nation Socialists from the new identity politics brigade?\r\nIs it because the dream of the left was shattered by the mediocrity of François Hollande? Is it because the Fifth Republic system needs big beasts to be in charge, and the left congenitally cannot produce them?\r\n\r\nIs it because, paradoxically, France is already a left-wing country, economically speaking, so people who vote far right actually want to keep all the good things that Socialism has achieved? Is it that the left is scared of talking about immigration and crime?\r\nOr is it simply that Emmanuel Macron craftily mastered this all along, splitting the left apart in 2017? The one thing it has not spent the last five years doing is getting back together.','2022-01-21','',0,1),(240,'French holiday bookings surge after rule change','BBC News','Lifestyle',8,57,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59977978','Reuters','France will relax its restrictions for those travelling from the UK from Friday, the government has announced.\r\n\r\nVaccinated travellers will no longer need a compelling reason to enter France, and will not have to self-isolate when they arrive.\r\n\r\nBut a negative Covid test, taken 24 hours before leaving the UK, will still be required for all those arriving.\r\n\r\nTravel companies welcomed the news - with Jet2 reporting a \"sharp\" spike in flight bookings to ski destinations.\r\n\r\nFrench holiday bookings surge after rule change\r\nFrance brought in the restrictions on 18 December in an attempt to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.\r\n\r\nPeople who are not vaccinated will still need a compelling reason to enter France, and must still isolate for 10 days upon arrival.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe country is battling a surge in Covid-19 infections. On Thursday, there were a record 368, 817 new cases and 341 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.\r\n\r\nHow can I tell I have Omicron?\r\nWhat tests do I need to go on holiday?\r\nHalf of Europe will catch Omicron - WHO\r\nBoth holidaymakers and the travel industry have welcomed the change.\r\n\r\nMelissa Hamblett from Gloucester has had to reschedule a trip to Disneyland for their son Max\'s birthday five times since they originally booked in 2020.\r\n\r\n\"Our son doesn\'t know the update yet, he\'s at school right now,\" she said. \"He\'s going to be so happy.\"\r\n\r\nShe said it has been \"really disappointing\" having to keep rescheduling. \"I was convinced [it] would be happening again. I got bored of getting my hopes up.\"\r\n\r\nMelissa Hamblett, husband James and son Max outside the magical castle at Disneyland\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,MELISSA HAMBLETT\r\nImage caption,\r\n\"We\'ve got a countdown chalkboard in our kitchen,\" says big Disney fan Melissa Hamblett\r\nEurostar welcomed the change and said it would increase the number of its services in the coming weeks, while Brittany Ferries called it a \"great relief\".\r\n\r\n\"I can only hope that we have seen the last border closure of the Covid crisis,\" said Christophe Mathieu, boss of the ferry company.\r\n\r\n\"Thousands of Brittany Ferries passengers have been disrupted and millions of pounds in income has been lost as a consequence of draconian measures like border closures.\"\r\n\r\nAround 17 million British nationals visit France every year - and ABTA, which represents travel firms, said it was one of the most popular destinations for UK holidaymakers.\r\n\r\n\"Thousands of people head there for ski breaks at this time of year, so this will be a huge relief for customers with holidays booked there for the next few weeks, who have been waiting anxiously for news,\" said ABTA.\r\n\r\n\"We are still waiting for more details from the French government on entry requirements such as the rules that will apply for children. Travellers should continue to monitor the Foreign Office travel advice.\"\r\n\r\nJet2 announced it was resuming flights to French ski destinations, with its boss adding: \"This is the positive news that skiers and snowboarders have been looking forward to, and the spike in bookings for ski flights has been both sharp and immediate.\"\r\n\r\nA Christmas tree and properties in Chamonix, France\r\nImage caption,\r\nBritons accounted for one in four tourists in Chamonix before the Covid pandemic\r\nFrance tightened its restrictions earlier this month, making remote working compulsory for those who can, and limiting public gatherings for indoor events. Eating and drinking on long distance transport is banned, cafés and bars can provide table service only and nightclubs are closed.\r\n\r\nOn Thursday, the French Senate approved a controversial pass, which requires people to be fully vaccinated to visit a range of spaces, including bars and restaurants. It also removes the option of showing a negative test to get in.\r\n\r\nThousands protested against the pass on Saturday, with many angry at President Emmanuel Macron who has said he wants to \"piss off\" unvaccinated citizens.\r\n\r\nIn total, 12.6 million people have been infected in France, and more than 127,000 have died.\r\n\r\n','2022-01-13','',0,1),(241,'Press Release - Significant progress made at the informal meetings of the ministers for the environment','France 22','Politics',1,57,'https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/press-release-significant-progress-made-at-the-informal-meetings-of-the-ministers-for-the-environment/','France 22','Human and environmental health and protecting the natural environment were central to the discussions that took place from 20 to 21 January in Amiens as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The ministers gathered to address major issues throughout several sessions: chemicals, imported deforestation, agroecology, the just transition, and interactions between the environment, climate and energy, in particular challenges surrounding forests.\r\n\r\nFrom 20 to 21 January, the environment ministers met to discuss biodiversity and human and environmental health. Two joint sessions bringing together the environment and energy ministers addressed the role of forests in climate, energy and environmental policy, and discussed the concept of the “just transition”.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFirst working session of the environment ministers\r\nTheme: The agroecological transition: EU coherence and harmonisation concerning plant protection products\r\nThis exchange made it possible to:\r\n\r\nshare best national practices for reducing the use of pesticides and to take account of the ambitious policies put in place by several Member States;\r\nidentify the most relevant measures to be collectively retained at European level in order to cut pesticide use in half by 2030, which is a major component of the agroecological transition;\r\nemphasise the need for a coordinated effort to find alternatives to plant protection products and to offer farmers solutions;\r\ndraw particular attention to “mirror clauses”, in particular with the aim of demanding imported products be subject to the standards in force in the European Union.\r\nto take account of the Member States’ marked interest in the principle of banning exports to third countries of chemical products prohibited in the EU.\r\nThis initial working session falls under the upcoming recasting of the Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides, which will be discussed in Agriculture Council meetings. The purpose of the Directive is to help achieve the goals of the European Green Deal and the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The environment ministers will have the chance to revisit this issue during the Environment Council meeting in June.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWorking lunch with the Environment Ministers\r\nTheme: Implementing the European sustainability strategy in the field of chemical products\r\nThis working lunch provided the opportunity to identify the Member States’ priorities to inform the main upcoming legislative initiatives in 2022 and to collectively move forward with removing dangerous chemicals from the market.\r\n\r\nSeveral major initiatives are expected by the end of the year:\r\n\r\nthe cross-cutting definition of the concept of endocrine disruptors in the CLP Regulation (Classification, Packaging and Labelling Regulation);\r\nthe proposed revision of the REACH Regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals;\r\nthe restrictions applicable to these substances.\r\nThe implementation of the concept “a substance/an evaluation” and the need to have a harmonised definition of nanomaterials were examined.\r\nOnce again, the discussions addressed the challenges associated with banning exports of chemicals banned in the European Union.\r\n\r\n\r\nSecond working session of the environment ministers\r\nTheme: Combatting imported deforestation\r\nCombatting imported deforestation, one of the French Presidency’s priorities, is at the heart of the talks between the Member States. This working session provided an opportunity to gather more precise information on the main elements of the Member States’ positions regarding the Commission’s legislative proposal and to open up the debate on the challenges surrounding cooperation with third countries. The Commission’s proposal received a very positive response on this subject, which would allow Europeans to consume products in the knowledge that they have not contributed to the destruction of tropical forests.\r\n\r\nSeveral provisions will be debated over the coming weeks:\r\n\r\nextending the Regulation’s scope to other basic products such as rubber;\r\ntaking into account the impact of the production of these materials on other fragile and biodiversity-rich ecosystems, such as grasslands and wetlands, and possibly bringing it under the scope of the Regulation;\r\nTechnical discussions will now be stepped up to build an effective, controllable European mechanism that can serve as a benchmark for the rest of the world.\r\n\r\n\r\nJoint working session with the Environment and Energy Ministers\r\nTheme: The role of forests and the wood sector in environmental, energy and climate policies\r\nThis session reaffirmed the complex and key role of forests and the wood sector in the success of EU climate, environmental and energy policies. Common points of understanding were identified in order to define ambitious, compatible goals, in particular within the framework of the negotiations on the LULUCF regulation and the RED III revision of the Fit for 55 package. A significant number of ministers emphasised the shared commitment to promoting the uses of wood to build up carbon sinks in the Member States, while preserving forest ecosystems. Several major focuses emerged from the discussions:\r\n\r\nthe essential role of forest carbon sinks in achieving climate neutrality by 2050, and reinforcing public action in support of forests;\r\nthe increased use of wood moving toward long-term usages;\r\nimproved recycling and energy recovery of biomass wastes; and\r\nthe relevance of the principle of “cascade utilisation” of biomass, which must be applied with discernment.\r\n\r\nJoint working lunch with the Environment and Energy Ministers\r\nTheme: The just transition\r\nDuring the joint working lunch, the ministers held a constructive discussion on the opportunities offered by the low-carbon transition and on the concept of the “just transition”. A number of ministers stressed the importance of ensuring a just transition, through support measures to facilitate re-training for workers and the transition for companies as well as helping households, while prioritising the most vulnerable. Discussions nonetheless remain open regarding the methods and means to be implemented, at both national and European level, to achieve this. With regard to extending the carbon market to the road transport and construction sectors, this proposal was not met with consensus and must be further discussed in depth, including alternative approaches. Discussions also highlighted the need for vigilance with regard to the high volatility of carbon prices, as well as the importance of ensuring that prices are comprehensible to encourage long-term investment and the emergence of disruptive technologies.','2022-01-21','',0,1),(242,'French oil giant TotalEnergies withdraws from Myanmar over \'worsening\' human rights abuses','France 24','Politics',1,57,'https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20220121-french-oil-giant-totalenergies-withdraws-from-myanmar-over-worsening-human-rights-abuses','By AFP','French oil giant TotalEnergies on Friday said it would withdraw from Myanmar over \"worsening\" human rights abuses committed since the country\'s military took power in a February 2021 coup.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\"The situation, in terms of human rights and more generally the rule of law, which have kept worsening in Myanmar... has led us to reassess the situation and no longer allows TotalEnergies to make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country,\" the company said.\r\n\r\nTotal will withdraw from its Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea, which provides electricity to the local Burmese and Thai population, six months at the latest after the expiry of its contractual period.\r\n\r\nThe company said it had not identified any means to sanction the military junta without avoiding stopping gas production and ensuing payments to the military-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).\r\n\r\nAround 30 percent of the gas produced at Yadana is sold to the MOGE for domestic use, providing about half of the largest city Yangon\'s electricity supply, according to Total.\r\n\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\nInternational diplomatic pressure and sanctions have been building against Myanmar\'s military junta since last year\'s coup ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.\r\n\r\nThe European Union has imposed targeted sanctions on the Myanmar military, its leaders and entities, while Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor this week sold its stake in a Burmese digital payments service over the coup.\r\n\r\nMore than 1,400 civilians have been killed as the military cracks down on dissent, according to a local monitoring group, and numerous anti-junta militias have sprung up around the country.\r\n\r\nSuu Kyi this month was convicted of three criminal charges and sentenced to four years in prison and now faces five new corruption charges.','2022-01-21','',0,1),(243,'Heydemann on course to become first woman to lead Orange -sources','Reuteurs','Society',4,57,'https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/christel-heydemann-course-become-next-orange-ceo-sources-2022-01-23/','By Mathieu Rosemain','PARIS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Orange (ORAN.PA), France\'s biggest telecoms operator, is on course to name Christel Heydemann as its new chief executive, making her the first woman to lead the former monopoly amid a revamp of its governance, two sources said on Sunday.\r\n\r\nFew women hold top executive roles at France\'s biggest listed companies. Heydemann would become the third CEO of the Paris CAC 40 (.FCHI) blue-chip index, after Engie\'s Catherine MacGregor and Estelle Brachlianoff, who is slated to take the reins of utility group Veolia (VIE.PA) on July 1.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe board of Orange, on which Heydemann has sat since 2017, is scheduled to meet on Friday to formally appoint her as the new boss, the sources close to the matter added.\r\n\r\nHeydemann currently heads European operations at French electric equipment group Schneider Electric (SCHN.PA). She was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.\r\n\r\nA graduate of France\'s elite engineering school Polytechnique, Heydemann, 47, will replace Stephane Richard at the helm of the state-controlled group after a court convicted him of complicity of misuse of public funds. read more\r\n\r\n\r\nRichard, who has led Orange for the past 12 years, denies any wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nThe Orange board meeting was formally scheduled on Monday, but was postponed to Friday to solve some issues such as the date when Heydemann would formally take over and a potential temporary extension of Richard\'s operational role, the sources said.\r\n\r\nRichard was initially slated to quit the group on Jan. 31. His role as chairman remains to be filled, as the split of chairman and CEO positions is part of the governance revamp.\r\n\r\n\r\nHeydemann\'s name has been circulating for days in the French press and presented as the favoured candidate of France\'s finance ministry, which holds sway over the governance of Orange, in which the state owns a combined 23% stake.\r\n\r\nFrance\'s weekly JDD was first to report Heydemann\'s likely appointment at a board meeting on Friday.\r\n\r\nThe new Orange boss will take the reins of the company as it keeps on deploying the new generation of internet mobile networks and broadband fibre optic infrastructure - capital-heavy investments that have pressured its margins as its two biggest markets, France and Spain, remain highly competitive.\r\n\r\nThe group is deemed strategic by the government and scrutinised by the finance ministry and the Elysee Palace, an important factor to take into account for any new CEO willing to embark in a transformative deal.\r\n\r\nOrange has managed to stabilise its revenues after the arrival of Iliad\'s low-cost Free Mobile in France in 2012 triggered a price war, and it has expanded its activities in West Africa, Poland, Romania as well as in cybersecurity and banking services.\r\n\r\nBut its recent financial underperformance, especially in Spain where it had to cut staff, has disappointed investors, with shares now trading at a price that is about a third lower than five years ago.','2022-01-23','',0,1),(244,'Key Trends for Travel and Expense in 2022: France Highlights','TripActions + Skift','Travel',6,58,'Key Trends for Travel and Expense in 2022: France Highlights','TripActions','Skift Take\r\nAs the corporate travel recovery gathers steam in France, remote work, health and safety guidelines, and governmental restrictions will affect its trajectory. Travel, corporate card, and expense technology will lead the way for corporations to navigate these new, unfamiliar paths in 2022 and the years ahead.\r\n\r\n TripActions\r\n\r\nShare\r\nFacebook Logo\r\nTwitter Logo\r\nLinkedIn Logo\r\nEmail icon\r\nThe corporate travel, card, and expense landscape will evolve quickly in 2022 to meet the demands of a new operational environment. These changes will include adjusting for hybrid and remote work, developing and disseminating health and safety guidelines as Covid evolves, and reacting to the unpredictable ebbs and flows of governmental restrictions.\r\n\r\nAs business travel rebounds in France, travel and expense policies will lead the way as corporations navigate new, unfamiliar paths. Technology will drive companies’ ability to manage changes — and just as importantly, communicate those changes to enable employee compliance. Doing so will be critical in creating revenue opportunities through business travel and maximizing profitability through corporate cards and expense management.\r\n\r\nFrench Businesses Expect a Strong Corporate Travel Rebound\r\nSkift and TripActions conducted a survey of 376 business travelers and corporate travel decision makers (CTDMs) from France in December 2021. The results showed that travel is primed for a big return in 2022. For example, 75 percent of business travelers said that they expect to take three or more trips in 2022. Nearly one-third (31 percent) said they will take at least six business trips this year.\r\n\r\n\r\nUnderscoring the fact that corporate travel is a critical activity driving economic recovery, 84 percent of both travelers and CTDMs either “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed that business travel is important to driving their companies’ growth.\r\n\r\n“Each time restrictive measures have been lifted, we have seen a surge in business travel bookings,” said Zahir Abdelouhab, vice president for SEMEA, TripActions. “I am confident we will see this once again — nothing replaces the value of face-to-face meetings, and we know from our customers that there is pent-up demand.”\r\n\r\nWhile travelers and CTDMs agreed broadly about travel’s importance, their top reasons to take business trips differed. Business travelers in France said that they would most likely travel for essential client meetings, to close a deal, or to attend conferences and events, while CTDMs said they would prioritize travel that either establishes or fosters client relationships.\r\n\r\nLatest News\r\nUpdated Mar. 1, 2022\r\n\r\nSpain’s Melia On Track to Beat Pre-Pandemic Bookings this Summer\r\nTripActions Inherits Swedish Travel Agency to Strengthen Europe Footprint\r\nTUI Group’s Largest Shareholder Hit With European Union Sanctions\r\n\r\nThese slightly differing results suggest that if further lockdowns and border restrictions manifest, or if large in-person events continue to be scaled back or run virtually, travel managers may be more likely than travelers to pull back — especially if their definition of “essential” differs from that of their employees, or if they are more inclined to reduce potential liabilities.\r\n\r\nChanging Policies Reflect Rapidly Changing Times\r\nRecent operational changes have required reviews, and in some cases, substantial revisions, of corporate travel, card, and expense policies. Some of the updates are Covid-specific, related to health and safety guidelines or entry requirements at a destination. Others more broadly address emergent trends unearthed by the pandemic such as remote working protocols or how to handle last-minute bookings and cancellations. Those revisions are likely to have a lasting impact.\r\n\r\nIn France, exactly half (50 percent) of CTDMs said their companies have made temporary changes to their policies, and more than one-third (35 percent) said that they’ve made changes that will be permanent.\r\n\r\nCommunicating these policy changes will continue to be one of the biggest challenges in today’s travel environment. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of business travelers reported that timely information about travel procedures was their biggest concern when returning to work trips after the pandemic. CTDMs also reported this issue as their biggest concern, although just two-thirds (67 percent) said the same. Across the board, there were gaps between travelers and managers with respect to their concerns about safety, destination entry requirements, and updates about travel policies.\r\n\r\n\r\nAs any manager knows, the smallest deviations from policy can cause giant headaches. Disseminating information to ease these varied concerns is no simple task. Therefore, travelers and managers emphasize the need for technology to help fill the gaps and ease the transitions into new ways of working.\r\n\r\nTechnology Takes Travel and Expense Management Into the Next Era\r\nTravelers and CTDMs both understand that the landscape will look different in 2022. And they both recognize that they will need enhancements to their travel and expense tools in order to make it work.\r\n\r\nFor example, the ability to process and manage employee expenses — a perpetual challenge among travel managers and finance departments — will only become more acute in 2022 as the purpose, frequency, cost, and need for flexibility for business travel evolves rapidly. Forty percent of CTDMs in France said that employees paying with personal expenses was a major concern. By comparison, a study from Skift and TripActions from earlier in 2021 found that 31 percent of CTDMs in Germany and 37 percent in the UK shared the same concern.\r\n\r\nCTDMs in France also said that their employees were most likely to pay with a personal credit card — 43 percent compared to 36 percent in Germany and just 33 percent in the UK. Meanwhile, less than half of CTDMs in France (48 percent) said their employees paid with a company card, as compared to 60 percent in the UK and 54 percent in Germany.\r\n\r\n\r\nThese sentiments have important implications for the tools that French businesses adopt for travel, corporate cards, and expense management, leading many to search for an upgrade. Among French business travelers, just 60 percent rated their current travel management platform between an “8” and “10,” and only 62 percent of CTDMs offered the same rating to theirs.\r\n\r\nA majority of travelers (67 percent) and CTDMs (72 percent) either “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed that their company’s travel solutions support them well on a trip, make it easy to change plans, and provide quick response times when issues arise. However, the breakdown tells a richer story. Just 21 percent of travelers and 29 percent of CTDMs strongly agreed with that statement, meaning that even among those that reported satisfaction with their tools, there’s room for improvement.\r\n\r\n“Companies have the challenge of bringing together disparate teams for collaboration, team building, and defining company culture whilst ensuring duty of care,” said Abdelouhab. “As the recovering economy creates pricing fluctuations, managing budgets and expenses will be harder without a fully integrated travel and expense management solution.”\r\n\r\nTechnology innovation didn’t take a break during the pandemic, and tools that allow bundling of travel, corporate cards, and expense management into one platform are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. To maintain high program adoption and success, it’s important for companies to choose a platform that offers at least an equal — if not superior — user experience, Abdelouhab said.\r\n\r\nFurthermore, companies are looking at how bringing back business travel will impact their overall financial health, and many are looking for capabilities that allow them to weave policy into corporate cards and combine all expenses into one single view to support that process and provide full cost visibility.\r\n\r\nIn France, 69 percent of CTDMs indicated that they were interested in a travel solution that provides a more unified travel and spend platform, rather than separate solutions, in comparison to 66 percent of UK CTDMs and 62 percent of Germans.\r\n\r\n\r\n“Employees are interested in three things: A technology solution that brings together all their travel information and bookings in one place, an easy-to-use app, and the flexibility to make changes easily,” said Abdelouhab. “The benefit of a unified platform for travel managers and finance teams alleviates the complexity of managing a technology stack that can significantly burden processes, hinder productivity, and prevent teams from having global visibility into employee travel plans and company expenses.”\r\n\r\nTechnology has been the key for businesses to survive the pandemic, but it lacks the capability to foster the deeper human interaction that business travel enables. Moving into 2022 and beyond, companies have the opportunity to be more imaginative in bringing teams and customers together, and they can ease these transitions by automating travel, corporate card, and expense solutions.\r\n\r\nTo learn more about key corporate travel, card, and expense trends worldwide in 2022, please download the recent Skift and TripActions report.\r\n\r\nThis content was created collaboratively by TripActions and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.\r\n\r\n','2022-03-01','',0,1),(245,'‘Take the oligarchs’ Riviera villas’: Ukraine war hijacks French presidential campaign','France 24','Politics',1,58,'https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220228-take-oligarchs-riviera-villas-ukraine-war-hijacks-french-presidential-campaign','France 24','The Communist candidate in France’s presidential election has suggested storming the winter palaces of Russian oligarchs on the French Riviera and handing them over to Ukrainian refugees as presidential hopefuls scramble to adjust their pitches in a campaign hijacked by the war in Ukraine.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nWith the first round of France’s presidential election less than six weeks away, a lacklustre campaign already overshadowed by the lingering Covid-19 pandemic has been thrown further off course by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.\r\n\r\nForeign policy is typically a sideshow in French presidential campaigns, but Europe’s biggest military invasion since World War II has left France’s presidential hopefuls with no option but to venture into geopolitics and test their credentials as future commanders-in-chief. \r\n\r\nWith a few notable exceptions, candidates for the Élysée Palace have scrambled to adjust their schedules, swapping campaign events for pro-Ukraine rallies and attempting to clarify – or rectify – past comments on Russia’s president.\r\n\r\nFrench presidential election\r\nFrench presidential election © France 24\r\nFabien Roussel, the Communist Party candidate best known for his defence of French beef, has come up with perhaps the most eye-catching proposal: requisitioning the Russian elite’s luxury possessions on the French Riviera.\r\n\r\n\"Russian oligarchs close to Putin own numerous billionaires\' villas on the Côte d\'Azur. I propose that the state requisitions them to welcome refugees from Ukraine,\" the head of the Communist Party posted on his Twitter feed on Saturday. He also called on all French towns and villages to take in at least one or two Ukrainian families displaced by Putin’s war.\r\n\r\nPutin sympathisers on the back foot\r\n\r\nRoussel is one of several left-wing candidates polling in the low-single digits in the run-up to the election. They include Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, the struggling Socialist candidate, whose campaign rally in Bordeaux on Saturday was almost entirely focused on the war in Ukraine.\r\n\r\n?? En solidarité avec le peuple ukrainien sur la place de la République à Paris.\r\n\r\nLeur liberté est la nôtre !#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/1TrRtSTuDo\r\n\r\n— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) February 24, 2022\r\nHidalgo’s team had originally envisaged a festive event, installing a large screen for the crowd to watch France’s Six Nations rugby match against Scotland. Instead, the stage was decked in the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine, while Hidalgo’s speech was rewritten from start to finish.\r\n\r\nAppearing on stage with a young Ukrainian girl, the Socialist nominee called for steeper sanctions against Russia and urged the European Union to launch a fast-track membership process for Kyiv. She also lambasted rivals accused of sympathising with Putin’s Russia – in a tactic mirrored by other mainstream candidates.\r\n\r\n>> Ukraine crisis highlights stark divisions among France\'s presidential candidates\r\n\r\nOn the right of the political spectrum, conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse said those “who defended” the Russian leader in the past were “now discredited to govern France”. The jab was aimed at far-right pundit Eric Zemmour, who has frequently expressed his admiration for Putin’s nationalist pitch, and National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who famously paid Putin a visit during the 2017 presidential campaign.\r\n\r\nQuizzed on the matter at the weekend, Le Pen said the invasion of Ukraine had “partly changed [her] opinion of Putin”, accusing the Russian leader of “crossing a red line”. Like Zemmour, however, she warned against imposing crippling sanctions on Russia, which she said would hurt the French public too.\r\n\r\nMacron’s ‘bow and arrow’\r\n\r\nEven before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, galloping inflation had pushed the cost of living to the top of French voters’ concerns – forcing President Emmanuel Macron’s government to take urgent measures to shore up citizens’ purchasing power. \r\n\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\nThe war in Ukraine has allowed Macron, who is yet to declare his candidacy, to remain above the fray and make use of his presidential prerogatives. However, it has also complicated the matter of how and when he should declare his re-election bid, with just days to go before a March 4 deadline.\r\n\r\nOn Saturday, Macron made a brief visit at France’s annual farming fair in Paris – traditionally a can’t-miss event for incumbent presidents and challengers alike. He warned that the conflict in Ukraine “will last” and “we must prepare to face the consequences”.\r\n\r\nWorldwide protests take place in solidarity with Ukraine\r\n\r\n00:48\r\nOne candidate certain to skip the agricultural fair was leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has refused to alter his campaign over the war in eastern Europe. Touring the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion at the weekend, Mélenchon said: “In a democracy, we don’t just stop because Russia has invaded Ukraine.”\r\n\r\nLike Zemmour and Le Pen, Mélenchon has faced a barrage of criticism since the start of Russia’s military offensive, with critics rounding on his recent remarks that NATO had provoked Putin with plans to “annex Ukraine”. \r\n\r\nWhile criticising the Kremlin’s “unbearable” attack on Ukraine, Mélenchon stuck to his “non-aligned” pitch on Sunday, stressing that France should steer clear of the tussle between Russia and the US-led Atlantic alliance. He also slammed the French government’s decision to send defensive military equipment to Ukraine, urging Macron to press for a ceasefire instead of “gesticulating like a little boy with bow and arrows”.','2022-02-28','',0,1),(246,'Macron to launch re-election race, as rivals face pro-Russia allegations','The Guardian','Politics',1,58,'https://www.theguardian.co m/world/2022/feb/27/macron-to-launch-re-election-race-as-rivals-face-pro-russia-allegations','Angelique Chrisafis in Paris','Macron to launch re-election race, as rivals face pro-Russia allegations\r\nThe war in Ukraine is the biggest international crisis to overshadow a presidential race in decades\r\n\r\nRussia-Ukraine crisis: live news\r\nA Greenpeace activist wearing a Macron mask\r\nA Greenpeace activist wearing a Macron mask at the Paris agriculture fair. The president cut short his visit, usually a big event on the political calendar. Photograph: Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images\r\nAngelique Chrisafis in Paris\r\n@achrisafis\r\nSun 27 Feb 2022 14.18 GMT\r\n\r\nThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to launch his campaign for re-election this week in a race shaken by the war in Ukraine, with key candidates under attack over previous pro-Russia stances.\r\n\r\nMacron has left the official declaration of his candidacy to the last minute because of the war, but he must make a move before the 4 March deadline to register.\r\n\r\n“This war will last,” Macron warned as he cut short his visit to the Paris agricultural fair this weekend, which is usually one of the key fixtures of the political calendar.\r\n\r\nThere are only six weeks until the first-round presidential vote on 10 April, with the war in Ukraine the biggest international crisis to have hit a French presidential race in decades.\r\n\r\nAdvertisement\r\nPolls show Macron can win a second term, but there is a rise in support for far-right identity politics in France, with two far-right candidates in the race: Marine Le Pen, who is running for a third time, and a newcomer, the TV pundit Éric Zemmour, who has convictions for incitement to racial hatred.\r\n\r\nBoth Le Pen and Zemmour have been challenged over their previous pro-Kremlin stances and have been criticised for backpedalling after the Russian invasion.\r\n\r\nLe Pen, who Macron defeated with 66% of the votes in the presidential final in 2017, is in the lead position to face him again in the final round, according to polls. But Le Pen accepted a loan from a Russian bank in 2014 to fund her 2017 campaign during which she paid a high-profile visit to Putin, praising him. Since the Russian invasion, she has been criticised by other candidates for her earlier pro-Russia stance.\r\n\r\nIn a statement, she called for “an immediate end to military operations” and said the invasion must be “condemned without ambiguity”.\r\n\r\nWith Macron’s eyes on Ukraine, the far right is dominating the French election\r\nCole Stangler\r\nRead more\r\nZemmour, who had downplayed the risk of war and suggested last year that Putin was not an aggressor, but was instead being treated aggressively by the international community, said he “condemned without reservation” what he called Russia’s “unjustifiable” military intervention.\r\n\r\nJean-Luc Mélenchon, the hard-left presidential candidate, has in recent days pulled ahead of other candidates on the divided left, according to polls. He condemned the Russian invasion “as an extremely serious act of war” and “an unacceptable violation of the principles of international law”. But he was forced to defend his long-term position of France staying “non-aligned”, insisting in a live TV interview: “I have never supported Vladimir Putin, ever.”\r\n\r\nThe Russian invasion has become a key issue for political debate. Clément Beaune, the Europe minister and Macron ally, said Le Pen, Zemmour and Mélenchon were “prisoners of their own contradictions and backpedalling” and were neither “coherent nor credible”.\r\n\r\nValérie Pécresse, who is standing for Nicolas Sarkozy’s Les Républicains party, said at a rally this weekend that the war in Ukraine was “a turning point” in the French presidential campaign because it had allowed “masks to fall” and revealed what she called shameful geopolitical positions of rival candidates. She criticised Zemmour, Le Pen and Mélenchon and called them “discredited”.\r\n\r\nBut Pécresse, who has slipped in the polls, had been under pressure over the stance of Sarkozy’s former prime minister, François Fillon. On the board of two large Russian energy firms, Fillon had been criticised for saying, just as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, that “the west won’t listen” to Moscow’s demands concerning Nato. Fillon announced in the Journal du Dimanche on Sunday that he would quit the petrochemical firm Sibur and oil company Zarubezhneft.\r\n\r\n…','2022-02-27','',0,1),(247,'More than 70 French companies will take part  at MWC as exhibitors, including 56 at the French Tech pavilion','Business France Middle East','Politics',1,58,'https://world.businessfrance.fr/middle-east/2022/02/28/france-returns-to-the-mobile-world-congress-with-56-exhibitors/','Business France Middle East','More than 70 French companies will take part  at MWC as exhibitors, including 56 at the French Tech pavilion\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\nUnited Arab Emirates- 18thFebruary 2022- The Mobile World Congress will be held in Barcelona from 28 February to 3 March 2022. More than 70 French companies will take part as exhibitors, including 56 at the French Tech pavilion. Highly innovative in the fields of 5G, AI, Cloud, Fintech and the Internet of Things, the French companies present are keen to return to face-to-face meetings with prospects, investors and partners on the lookout for the latest trends in the telecoms and Internet markets.\r\n\r\n “Once again, this year, France has a major presence and is asserting its position as one of the largest national pavilions operating in the sectors of telecoms infrastructure and IoT, mobile applications and services, artificial intelligence, hardware and software. 2022 marks the grand return of the French Tech pavilion, which will this year celebrate 13 years at the Mobile World Congress. With the rise of 5G, the MWC is becoming even more of an unavoidable event in so far as concerns connectivity. It is as a result of the support of the Guadeloupe Chamber of Commerce, the SCS competitiveness cluster and the South region, as well as of Bretagne Commerce International, that Business France will be attending this major Telecoms sector event,” said Etienne Savin, Business France’s MWC event leader.\r\n\r\nTailor-made support for French businesses\r\n\r\nOrganised by Business France, the La French Tech pavilion will occupy an area of 344 m² in Hall 5 on stands 5B41 & 5B61. This support is part of France’s export development strategy aimed at increasing the visibility of French products and services with international decision-makers. New products and services will be demonstrated to visitors during the 4 days of the event. The Business France teams based in countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East have organised a number of meetings at the show designed to take full advantage of discussions between French exhibitors and foreign professionals. The collaboration between national pavilions such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland will also enable specially arranged meetings between French and international businesses.\r\n\r\nA programme of visits by French officials to the French Tech pavilion is also planned with the arrival of Christophe Lecourtier, Managing Director of Business France, on 28 February and that of Laure de la Raudière, President of ARCEP, on 2 March.\r\n\r\nThe Middle East zone, a market favored by French companies\r\n\r\nA total of 20 French companies exhibiting on the French pavilion have joined the meeting and support programs in the Middle East zone via the support of local Business France offices. The telecom market is particularly flourishing for French technologies. Indeed, the Global Competitiveness Report 2020 ranks the United Arab Emirates 2nd in the world in terms of adoption of new technologies and 4th for the adaptation of its legal framework to the digital sector (e-commerce, fintech). The legal framework now allows the establishment of 100% foreign companies throughout the UAE and a very advantageous tax framework makes the United Arab Emirates attractive to tech companies.','2022-02-28','',0,1),(248,'Covid rules: What changes in France on Monday','The Local','Politics',1,58,'https://www.thelocal.fr/20220222/french-health-minister-reveals-the-conditions-to-lift-covid-restrictions/','The Local','France\'s health minister has laid out the criteria that must be met before further relaxations of the country\'s Covid rules can take place.\r\n\r\nPublished: 22 February 2022 11:22 CET\r\nFrench health minister reveals the conditions to lift Covid restrictions\r\nFrance\'s Health Minister Olivier Veran. Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP\r\nIn recent weeks France has relaxed several of its Covid-related rules and another change – a relaxation on mask rules – comes into force on Monday, February 28th. \r\n\r\nHowever two major restrictions remain in place; the requirement for a vaccine pass to enter a wide range of venues and mask rules in many indoor venues.\r\n\r\nCALENDAR: When is France relaxing Covid rules?\r\n\r\nThese rules currently have no end date, but in recent weeks government figures have talked about ending them as soon as mid March.\r\n\r\n(article continues below)\r\n\r\nSee also on The Local:\r\n\r\nBut now the health minister Olivier Véran, in a presentation to the Senate, has laid out three criteria that must be met before these rules can be relaxed or scrapped altogether.\r\n\r\nThey are:\r\n\r\nFewer than 1,500 Covid patients in intensive care across the country;\r\nAn incidence rate (cases per 100,000 people) of between 300 and 500;\r\nAn R rate below 1.\r\nHe added that if present trends continue, those goals could still be met by mid March or early April, but that a relaxation of the rules would not come before the middle of March.\r\n\r\nCurrent stats\r\n\r\nOn Tuesday, France had 2,904 Covid patients in intensive care, a 12 percent fall on the week before and the continuation of a slow but steady decline observed over the past few weeks.\r\n\r\n\r\nHaving more than 3,000 Covid patients in hospital is regarded as a danger point, at which health services begin to struggle to cope and routine operations may need to be postponed in some areas. The current ICU occupancy for Covid patients is 57 percent.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGraphs from Covidtracker.fr show, left, Covid patients in intensive care and, right, hospital Covid deaths. Graph: Covidtracker.fr\r\nThe national incidence rate is 884 although areas including the south west of France and the north east areas on the Belgian border are still reporting a rate of over 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.\r\n\r\nThe incidence rate has been steadily declining overall, but a faster fall has been recorded in areas such as Paris, where the Omicron wave peaked earlier.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThis map from Covidtracker.fr shows the incidence rate by département – orange is between 500 and 1,000, red is over 1,000. Map: Covidtracker.fr\r\nThe current incidence rate is 0.57, well within the minister’s target. Covid case numbers have been falling rapidly for several weeks, albeit from an extremely high rate at the peak. \r\n\r\nTargets\r\n\r\nAt previous points in the pandemic French authorities have imposed targets around case numbers and hospitalisation rates that needed to be met before restrictions could be relaxed.\r\n\r\nThese have generally been followed, although the lifting of lockdown in time for Christmas 2020 went ahead, despite the case rate target not quite being met.\r\n\r\nThe French government had initially been talking about July as a possible date for lifting restrictions, before several ministers floated the idea of April or May – this lead to accusations of electioneering, as Macron was accused of wanting to bring in popular moves just ahead of the presidential elections in April.\r\n\r\nLittle detail has been given on what new rules will look like, so we don’t know whether we’re talking about a complete end to mask rules and the vaccine pass or simply a relaxation.\r\n\r\nVéran said the vaccine pass will be lifted in “all or part of the places where it is required”.\r\n\r\nTesting and self-isolation\r\n\r\nSo far there has been no political discussion around changing the rules for self-isolation in case of a positive Covid test, or changing the rules on free Covid tests.\r\n\r\nTests are currently free to all fully vaccinated residents of France who are registered within the French health system, and can be accessed for any reason (including travel).\r\n\r\nUnvaccinated residents only qualify for free tests if they have symptoms or are a contact case, while tourists are required to pay for tests in all circumstances. The government has capped the price of tests at €22 for an antigen test or €54 for a PCR test. Home-test kits sell for a maximum of €6, but since February 15th can only be bought in pharmacies.\r\n\r\nVaccines\r\n\r\nVéran also told the Senate that at present there was no evidence that people who are not in high-risk groups require a second vaccine booster shot, and these would continue being offered only to high-risk groups such as people with long-term illnesses.\r\n\r\nHowever he added that if a dangerous new variant arose making a fourth dose necessary, the government’s “hand would not tremble”. \r\n\r\nThe vaccine is available to everyone aged five and over in France.\r\n\r\nTravel\r\n\r\nVéran did not mention any relaxation of travel rules and these tend to be discussed separately from domestic French rules.\r\n\r\nFrance recently lifted the requirement for a negative Covid test for all fully-vaccinated arrivals, meaning that if you’re vaccinated you can travel to France relatively easily.\r\n\r\nHowever non-vaccinated arrivals are still banned from all orange and red list countries – which includes most non-EU countries including the UK, USA and Canada – unless they meet the criteria for essential travel.','2022-02-28','',0,1),(249,'Closing in on Macron: Could Le Pen’s blandest campaign be her most successful yet?','France 24','Politics',1,59,'https://www.france24.com/en/france/20220331-closing-in-on-macron-could-le-pen-s-blandest-campaign-be-her-most-successful-yet',' Benjamin DODMAN','Unruffled by defections and the rise of a far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen has steadied her ship in the final stretch of France’s presidential campaign, pulling ahead of rivals as she closes in on a replay of her 2017 duel with Emmanuel Macron.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nAs he walked off the stage following his latest fiery address in Marseille on Sunday, an exhausted Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke candidly to reporters about his chances in the upcoming presidential contest.\r\n\r\n“Either the quartiers populaires vote in droves on April 10, or I’m a dead man,” he sighed, referring to the working-class suburbs of Paris and other French cities, where many tend to shun the polls. Turning to the principal obstacle standing in his way, the veteran leftist added: “I don’t understand how Marine Le Pen can keep rising in the polls without even campaigning, whereas we have to chase down each vote with our teeth.”\r\n\r\nThe upcoming presidential contest marks the third time Mélenchon and Le Pen have a shot at the Élysée Palace. It is also the third time the two candidates are vying for the elusive vote populaire – the working-class electorate that was once solidly left-wing but has since drifted to the far right.\r\n\r\nFrench presidential election\r\nFrench presidential election © France 24\r\nAs in the past two elections, the leader of the far-right National Rally has enjoyed a comfortable headstart over her left-wing rival in what has always been a lop-sided contest. With just 10 days to go before the first round on April 10, Le Pen is polling in second place behind the incumbent, President Emmanuel Macron. Crucially, polls suggest she is 3% to 7% ahead of third-placed Mélenchon, meaning she is likely to qualify for the all-important run-off on April 24.\r\n\r\nSecond-round data also looks encouraging for Le Pen, who has significantly narrowed the gap with Macron since she lost by more than 20 percentage points five years ago. A poll by the Ifop-Fiducial group published on Monday indicated Macron would win by just 53% versus 47% for Le Pen – a gap narrow enough to send alarm bells ringing in the president’s camp. \r\n\r\nPollsters have warned that such figures are to be taken with a pinch of salt, pointing to an unprecedented number of voters who are unsure who to vote for or indeed whether to vote at all. Still, Le Pen’s solid ratings underscore the resilience of the National Rally leader, who was upstaged by her noisier rival on the far right – the former pundit and political upstart, Éric Zemmour – for much of the campaign.\r\n\r\nBattle on the far right\r\nZemmour’s provocative outbursts offered him unrivalled exposure during the first months of campaigning, while his ability to poach high-profile figures from Le Pen’s entourage – including her own niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen – suggested a possible changing of the guard on the far right.\r\n\r\n>> Pushing far-right agenda, French news networks shape election debate\r\n\r\nInstead, the leader of the National Rally appears to have seen off her turbulent challenger, who is now regarded as a very long shot for the April 24 run-off.\r\n\r\n“Le Pen may have lost some of her cadres, but the voters who have long backed her and her party are still there,” said Jérôme Sainte-Marie, head of the PollingVox institute, in an interview with FRANCE 24. “She is simply rebuilding her electorate from 2017.”\r\n\r\nFar from weakening the National Rally, Zemmour’s incendiary attacks on immigrants and Muslims have helped trivialise his vision of the far right while allowing Le Pen – who has toned down her rhetoric – to come across as more respectable and “presidential”. This has helped Le Pen advance her great endeavour since she took over from her father, Jean-Marie, in 2011: to detoxify a party long seen as a racist, anti-republican hideout for nostalgics of the colonial era. \r\n\r\n“Just like in 2012, when she benefited from a positive comparison with her father’s excesses, Marine Le Pen is able to capitalise on Zemmour’s extreme radicalism, which in contrast makes her come across as calm, composed, open-minded and less divisive,” said Cécile Alduy, a professor at Stanford University and research associate at Sciences-Po in Paris, who has recently published a book on Zemmour’s rhetoric.\r\n\r\n“Le Pen has one clear advantage, she has learned from her father the pitfalls politicians must avoid if they are to broaden their appeal: the gaffes, the wrong words, the ill-judged statements that forever haunt candidates and banish them to the fringes,” she told FRANCE 24.\r\n\r\n>> Spooked by immigration, Islam and ‘woke’ ideas: Who are Éric Zemmour’s supporters?\r\n\r\nThe National Rally leader has noticeably softened her speech on the campaign trail, steering clear of controversy and putting a lid on the vituperations that once defined her party. Without renouncing her anti-immigrant stance, she has studiously avoided talk of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory championed by Zemmour, which even the struggling conservative candidate, Valérie Pécresse, has clumsily referenced. \r\n\r\nInstead, the veteran far-right candidate has demonstrated a measure of empathy and flexibility, said Alduy, noting that she “immediately spoke in favour of welcoming Ukrainian refugees when war broke out” – whereas Zemmour shocked the public by declaring that they should settle in Poland instead.  \r\n\r\nFar-right hopeful Zemmour toughens already tough line on immigration\r\nFar-right poll hopeful Zemmour defends \"ministry of remigration\"  during campaign outing.\r\nFar-right poll hopeful Zemmour defends \"ministry of remigration\" during campaign outing. © AFP\r\n11:58\r\nThe strategy appears to be paying off. According to an Ipsos study published by Le Monde on Monday, the number of people who see Le Pen as a threat has dropped two points since January to 51%. While 50% of people surveyed said they would “under no circumstance” vote for her, the figure was higher for both Zemmour (64%) and Mélenchon (53%).\r\n\r\nOn the surface, her party’s election platform has also undergone a makeover, abandoning some of the more controversial policies from 2017. Gone are the promises to quit the Eurozone, achieve “zero immigration” or ban dual nationality. Le Pen has also softened her stance on societal issues, dropping her opposition to gender-parity policies and shelving plans to call a referendum on reinstituting the death penalty.\r\n\r\nWhen Zemmour surged in the polls in late 2021, critics suggested Le Pen had gone too far in her efforts to “normalise” the former Front National – turning it from radical to bland. But party officials have welcomed the shift in perception, noting that some analysts have stopped labelling the National Rally “far right”, adopting alternative labels such as “national populists”.\r\n\r\nJordan Bardella, the party’s youthful number two, defended the strategy earlier this month at a gathering of rival right-wing candidates hosted by the ultra-conservative magazine Valeurs Actuelles, which has actively pushed Zemmour’s campaign.\r\n\r\n“All the changes we have made over the past five years have been designed to transform what had long been a protest pitch into a path that is politically viable, juridically applicable and politically serious – in short, into a platform for government,” he said, striking a pragmatic tone that contrasted markedly with anti-systemic language of past campaigns.\r\n\r\nThe cost of war\r\nLe Pen’s best efforts to appear “presidential” could easily have been derailed by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which upended a lacklustre campaign and offered Macron a wartime bump in the polls.\r\n\r\nLike Zemmour, Le Pen has spoken admiringly of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in the past, laughing off suggestions that he might pose a threat to Europe. Fears that this might hurt her campaign prompted some party officials to hurriedly get rid of brochures that feature a picture of the National Rally leader posing with Putin at the Kremlin.\r\n\r\nInstead, the war has highlighted Le Pen’s ability to turn an apparent setback into an opportunity, shutting out Zemmour’s identity politics and placing the debate firmly on her preferred terrain: surging prices and the plight of France’s hard-up.\r\n\r\n“Le Pen was very quick to blame Putin for the war and then shift the discussion to the war’s impact on people’s purchasing power, which has been her mantra since the start of the campaign,” Alduy noted.\r\n\r\nWhile condemning Putin’s aggression, the far-right leader has criticised Western sanctions against Russia, flagging their impact on French households already saddled with surging energy prices. She has promised to tax the big energy companies that make “fat profits” from the crisis, a stance popular with her core, working-class electorate. At the same time, she has bolstered her ideological credentials with talk of limiting benefits to French nationals.\r\n\r\nMarine Le Pen poses for a selfie during a campaign stop in Courtenay, central France, on March 19, 2022.\r\nMarine Le Pen poses for a selfie during a campaign stop in Courtenay, central France, on March 19, 2022. © Guillaume Souvant, AFP\r\nThe campaign’s general shift towards the concerns of low-income workers has played into Le Pen’s hands, validating her decision to shun large rallies in favour of small-scale gathering in towns and villages – both a tactical choice and a consequence of her party’s dire financial straits.\r\n\r\nWhile her rivals have bickered on TV sets and Macron has focused on the international stage, the National Rally leader has spent much of her time mingling with crowds in depressed areas, showcasing her ability to connect with ordinary people. She has cast herself as the “candidate of concrete solutions”, detailing how she plans to curb the price of gas, petrol, wheat and other staples. \r\n\r\nA lot of this has taken place below the media’s radar, fostering the impression that – as Mélenchon claimed in Marseille – Le Pen was somehow rising in the polls “without even campaigning”.\r\n\r\nMacron’s polar opposite\r\nWhile both Mélenchon and Le Pen have put purchasing power at the heart of their platforms, the latter’s pitch is likely to appeal more directly to voters, said Alduy, noting that “Mélenchon’s discourse is more political and ideological, whereas Le Pen talks about prices in supermarkets, fuel costs for fishermen and keeping people’s homes warm, all the while campaigning on the ground.”\r\n\r\nThe strategy is aimed at drumming up support among what is already a consolidated voting group, said PollingVox’s Sainte-Marie.\r\n\r\n“Le Pen’s electorate has become a class-based one, combining blue-collar workers and employees, most of them low-earners from the private sector,” he said. “Their vote signals both support for Le Pen and her platform, and also a form of social identity.”\r\n\r\nThat social bloc has identified the National Rally leader as Macron’s polar opposite, and the one with the best chance of defeating him in the second round on April 24, Sainte-Marie added: “She represents a vision of the world and social categories that are the exact opposite of ‘Macronism’, making her a natural recipient of the anti-Macron vote.”\r\n\r\nThe trouble for Le Pen is that her working-class voters are also among those most likely to shun the polls. It was the case in last year’s regional elections, when the National Rally suffered its worst defeat in years amid record levels of abstention. \r\n\r\nLosing faith in democracy: France\'s abstention problem\r\nLosing faith in democracy: France\'s abstention problem\r\nLosing faith in democracy: France\'s abstention problem © FRANCE 24\r\n11:05\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\n“We’re talking about an economically vulnerable segment of the population that is typically torn between voting against the system or shunning the system,” Sainte-Marie explained. “In the absence of a mobilising campaign, anti-systemic parties tend to be hurt most by abstention, as was the case in the latest regional elections.”\r\n\r\nLe Pen has clearly identified the threat of low turnout among her voters as the main obstacle en route to the second round. She has pleaded with supporters to turn out in large numbers on April 10.\r\n\r\n“Don’t listen to those who claim all is lost and Macron will win,” she told a crowd of several hundred in the northern town of Bouchain earlier this month. “They’re trying to demobilise you, to demoralise you, to make you give up – in truth, to switch off the people of France. But we won’t let them. Rise up to say enough is enough!”\r\n\r\nWhether or not Le Pen’s supporters “rise up” will depend, in large part, on their perception of her chances of victory, said Sainte-Marie. \r\n\r\n“It’s the big unknown factor, whether voters will resign themselves to the inevitability of Macron’s re-election,” he said. “Frankly, the circumstances of this campaign are so extraordinary we simply cannot make a prediction.”','2022-03-31','',0,1),(250,'Five years of Macron: A gap between words and action on presidential priorities (Part 4 of 4)','France 24','Politics',1,59,'https://www.france24.com/en/france/20220330-five-years-of-macron-the-gap-between-words-and-action-on-president-s-priority-issues-part-4-of-4','Romain BRUNET','French President Emmanuel Macron hit the campaign trail once again in March, seeking re-election following a five-year term fraught with crises. FRANCE 24 takes a look at how Macron\'s actions as president measured up to his promises – or didn\'t.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nThis is the final installment of FRANCE 24\'s four-part series on Emmanuel Macron\'s record as French president on foreign policy, economics, social spending and keeping campaign promises.\r\n\r\nFrom the fight against climate change to the gender equality Macron touted as the \"great cause\" of his five-year mandate, Macron\'s term in office showed he could wax lyrical when it comes to the big issues. But in hindsight, the centrist leader\'s lofty speeches could also prove conspicuously short on follow-through. FRANCE 24 looks at four examples of early Macron priorities that didn\'t quite pan out.\r\n\r\nCleaning up politics\r\nMacron won office five years ago partly on the back of conservative rival François Fillon\'s scandalous downfall. Les Républicains candidate Fillon, a former prime minister and one-time frontrunner in the 2017 presidential race, saw his chances plummet after he was accused of corruption in a fake-jobs scheme involving his wife and public funds. Macron, who had never before been elected to public office before his meteoric rise to the Élysée Palace, was able to present himself as a politician without any skeletons in his closet while condemning \"practices from a bygone world\". Macron was prodded by veteran centrist François Bayrou – who conditioned his support for the political neophyte\'s fledgling party upon it – to pledge sweeping legislation meant to clean up politics.\r\n\r\nNamed justice minister under a freshly elected Macron, Bayrou himself was charged with drafting the new law. It proposed concrete reforms like banning parliamentarians from hiring family members, capping the number of consecutive terms one can serve, and monitoring lawmakers\' expense accounts. But five years on, it bears noting that Macron\'s early golden rule of probity in politics has not always been respected in practice.\r\n\r\n>> Five years of Macron on the international stage: Spirited, disruptive, impotent? (Part 1 of 4)\r\n\r\nBayrou and two fellow members of his centrist Modem party were obliged to leave the cabinet in June 2017, just a month after Macron\'s election, amid an inquiry into the party\'s use of parliamentary assistants in the European Parliament. The same fate befell Macron ally Richard Ferrand that same month over allegations in a separate private health insurance case. But the lofty principles were really left in tatters in 2018 after the Benalla Affair. That summer, Macron lashed out at the press and the justice system in defence of his longtime bodyguard Alexandre Benalla, who had been caught on film assaulting demonstrators during a May Day protest. From then on, the French president appeared to cast many of his pledges aside.\r\n\r\nFerrand, for one, was returned to the mix in September 2018, becoming speaker of the National Assembly. When he was placed under formal investigation a year later in the same private health insurance scandal that had seen him evicted from cabinet at the start of Macron\'s term, Ferrand was permitted to stay on in the prestigious post. (The case against him was finally dismissed in 2021.) Gérald Darmanin, for his part, was named interior minister in 2020, despite allegations against him by two women for rape and abuse of the vulnerable (a case also later dismissed). Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti, meanwhile, was placed under formal investigation in 2021 over an illegal conflict of interest offence allegedly committed during his time in the job, but he was allowed to remain justice minister.\r\n\r\n>> French feminists criticise choice of justice, interior ministers over sexism and rape claims\r\n\r\nA collaborative, lateral style \r\nMacron was quick to grasp the public\'s weariness and distaste for politicians and traditional political parties. On the campaign trail in 2017, he promised to \"do politics differently\". It was a key factor in launching his rise to power, attracting armies of volunteers and activists to his En Marche (On the move) movement, drawn in by the prospect of building a political platform collaboratively. At that point, the idea was self-management at the local level, a lateral structure, shared decision-making and dialogue with opposition parties.\r\n\r\n>> Five years of Macron: France’s economy trickles down in drips and drops (Part 2 of 4)\r\n\r\nBut over the course of Macron\'s term, and in particular during the Covid-19 pandemic, he has in practice espoused top-down decision-making and wielded power vertically. France\'s parliament, and his party\'s majority lawmakers, have mainly acted as a registry office for decisions handed down from above. Indeed, when the deputies freshly elected under Macron\'s La République en Marche banner first took their seats in the lower-house National Assembly in 2017, they had to pledge not to oppose reforms. Furthermore, just like in that \"bygone world\" Macron once derided, the lawmakers had to commit to not supporting propositions tabled by the other groups in parliament.\r\n\r\nA police officer points a 40-millimetre rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD (LBD 40) towards protesters during an anti-government demonstration called by the \'Yellow Vests\' (gilets jaunes) movement for the 23rd consecutive Saturday, on April 20, 2019 in Paris.\r\nA police officer points a 40-millimetre rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD (LBD 40) towards protesters during an anti-government demonstration called by the \'Yellow Vests\' (gilets jaunes) movement for the 23rd consecutive Saturday, on April 20, 2019 in Paris. © Zakaria Abdelkafi, AFP\r\nSometimes, the practice of power under Macron has verged on the authoritarian. His controversial pension reform was forced through parliament without a vote in February 2020 (before the pandemic shelved its implementation). Law enforcement on his watch violently put down anti-government protests led by the Yellow Vest movement in 2018 and 2019, by one count seriously wounding 82 demonstrators, including 17 who lost an eye and four who lost a hand amid the unrest.\r\n\r\nIn March 2019, the United Nations asked France to investigate cases related to \"the excessive use of force\". Earlier, the Council of Europe had called for France to \"suspend the use of LBDs (which shoot rubber bullets) during operations aimed at maintaining public order\" and said protesters\' reported injuries \"raise questions about the compatibility of the methods used in operations aimed at maintaining public order with due regard for [human] rights\".\r\n\r\n\'Make Our Planet Great Again\'\r\nMacron also began his term with heady promises on environmental issues. After pledging to invest €15 billion in France\'s ecological transition and coaxing the environmentalist (and former TV star Nicolas Hulot) to join his cabinet to lead the battle, Macron used Donald Trump\'s June 2017 withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement to launch his own high-impact green appeal with a Trump paraphase: \"Make Our Planet Great Again\".\r\n\r\nBut the hope spurred by that early publicity coup soon gave way to disappointment as Macron ceded ground on a number of environmental commitments, rolling back his pledge to ban the herbicide glyphosate and the neonicotinoid insecticides harmful to bees, while implementing a Canada-EU trade deal (Ceta) despite concerns over its environmental impact. Hulot would ultimately quit the cabinet in frustration in 2018, denouncing the \"presence of lobbies in the circles of power\" when he left.\r\n\r\npic.twitter.com/3g5LYO9Osj\r\n\r\n— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 1, 2017\r\nAnd yet Macron does have some checkmarks to show on his environmental ledger. Under his watch, France abandoned plans for an airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, near Nantes, in 2018, quashed a mining project in French Guiana in 2019, and ended the massive Europacity commercial and leisure zone project in greater Paris later that same year – all plans environmental activists had fought against.\r\n\r\n>> Five years of Macron: Yellow Vests, Covid-19 stymie plans for social cuts (Part 3 of 4)\r\n\r\nMacron can also boast of having launched France\'s Citizens Convention for Climate, a forum launched in the wake of the Yellow Vest protests that had begun in response to a carbon tax hike on fuel. The citizens\' assembly tasked 150 people chosen at random with putting forward proposals that could enable France to meet its carbon commitments while taking social justice concerns into account. Their labours hatched 146 such proposals in the summer of 2020. But critics charged that the proposals that the government managed to translate into policy were partial or watered down. For example, the assembly pitched a ban on domestic flights whenever a train journey under four hours could serve in their place. But when the legislation was tabled, it stopped short of that ambition, opting to nix flights replaceable by 2.5-hour train journeys instead.\r\n\r\nUnder Macron, France has also fallen short on its renewable energy commitments. With renewables responsible for only 19.1 percent of the country\'s energy, France was the only member of the European Union in 2020 not to meet the 23 percent mark set by the bloc.\r\n\r\nIn February 2021, a domestic court condemned the French State for \"wrongful deficiencies\" in its climate change fight and later ordered the pertinent French cabinet ministers and the prime minister to \"take all useful measures likely to mend the ecological prejudice\" by December 31, 2022.\r\n\r\nGender equality\r\nMacron came to power touting equality between men and women as one of the great causes of his term in office. But in practice, the issue hasn\'t appeared all that important, relegated as it was until 2020 to the responsibility of a junior ministry under the onus of the prime minister.\r\n\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\nDuring a five-year term that coincided with the #MeToo movement globally, progress was made, nevertheless. Macron kept his promise to broaden legal access to medically assisted reproduction to single women and lesbian couples. Time limits for women seeking an abortion were extended from 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. And access to free contraception was broadened to girls under 15 in 2020 and women up to the age of 25 in 2022.\r\n\r\nBroad consultations on domestic violence in 2019 led to extending the courts\' power to urgently protect victims, without having to wait for a formal complaint to be filed. France also established the use of electronic bracelets to keep violent men away from their victims as well as a 24-hour hotline (3919) for women suffering domestic violence.\r\n\r\nAnd yet feminist groups say French women\'s domestic violence fight has never been granted the resources it needs. The organisations have long appealed for €1 billion to fight femicide and domestic violence generally – a budget that could help create 20,000 places in specialised shelters. But according to a March 2022 Oxfam report, the government has pledged only about a third of the requested amount. The budget dedicated to promoting gender equality in 2022 amounts to just €50 million, out of the government\'s total €883 billion budget, or about 0.25 percent.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, salary equality in France remains dire. Despite the equality index established in 2018 to fight pay disparities, men are still being paid 30 percent more than women, according to the French statistics agency Insee. \"Job insecurity, salary inequality at all levels, and raises for professions primarily occupied by women, including skilled ones like nurses, midwives and teachers, have been set aside,\" the economist Rachel Silvera told Alternatives Économiques magazine.','2022-03-31','',0,1),(251,'C’est Drôle! Netflix’s Standing Up is a love letter to Paris’s comedy scene','The Guardian','Art & Culture',7,59,'https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/mar/31/drole-netflix-standing-up-comedians-france','Brian Logan','C’est Drôle! Netflix’s Standing Up is a love letter to Paris’s comedy scene\r\nThe showrunner of Call My Agent! is back with a winning series about France’s young comics and how their onstage routines and real lives intersect\r\n\r\nPerfectly convincing … Younes Boucif as Nezir in Standing Up.\r\nPerfectly convincing … Younes Boucif as Nezir in Standing Up. Photograph: Mika Cotellon/Netflix\r\nBrian Logan\r\nBrian Logan\r\nThu 31 Mar 2022 00.01 BST\r\n8\r\nIs there a gap in the market for an ensemble TV show about comedians’ lives? At least since Seinfeld, there has been no shortage of telly shows about standup, tangentially or otherwise, from Louie to Hacks, and from I’m Dying Up Here to The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. And yet, Standing Up – on Netflix – feels fresh to me: its characters are engaging, its insights into the standup life are sometimes schematic but faithful to the unglamorous yet folk-heroic reality. The twist – and maybe the source of its freshness – is that Standing Up (AKA Drôle) is from France, whose standup scene is younger and more distinctively diverse than its UK and US equivalents.\r\n\r\nI wrote about this last year, quoting a joke by the Franco-Ivorian act Shirley Souagnon: “Do you know the difference between theatre and standup? The colour.” Standing Up – created by the showrunner of the terrific Call My Agent!, Fanny Herrero – focuses on the ups-and-downs of four standups, centring around titular comedy club Le Drôle. There’s French-Algerian Nezir, living in the banlieues with his disabled dad, struggling to make ends meet. There’s Aïssatou, who is Black, and on the threshold of stardom after a video goes viral, even as her intimate standup throws her personal relationships into disarray. Add into the mix washed-up Bling, the son of Vietnamese immigrants, who runs the club but whose standup career is in freefall, and rookie Apolline, concealing comedy ambitions from her well-heeled family, and you have enough narrative plates spinning to easily sustain this enjoyable six-part show.\r\n\r\nFanny Herrero, creator of Standing Up.\r\nFanny Herrero, creator of Standing Up. Photograph: Mika Cotellon/Netflix\r\nThe point, of course, is to show how these characters’ standup interacts with their hectic lives. On one level, that’s about sweet Nezir and simpering Apolline seducing one another through comedy. On another, it’s about Bling’s midlife panic expressing itself through the misanthropy of his jokes. Standing Up also enacts the scorched-earth effects of comedy on a performer’s family – rather too starkly for my tastes, as Aïssatou’s husband gets the hump at being the butt (in more ways than one) of her most notorious joke.\r\n\r\nWhat I can’t promise is that those standup routines will have you clutching your aching sides. I found the cast, who are actors, perfectly convincing as standups. (Actual standups – including Souagnon – feature in the writing team and in background roles.) But we only ever see snippets of their acts, which in any case are in French. We have to take it on trust when Aïssatou’s “sketch” about fingering her husband’s anus goes viral. Out of context and on our screens, it’s not hilarious.\r\n\r\n\r\nBut that’s not what the show’s trying to do. Its interest in standup – and this is instructive of how the artform is now considered, at least in dramatic terms – is in its relationship to the artists’ personal lives. “What I found interesting,” Herrero has said, “is that standups are able to reveal things about themselves in their acts that they wouldn’t in their everyday lives.” We see it in Mrs Maisel, and we see it here: the standup stage as a place where performers immediately refashion real-life incident into comedy. It’s a fantasy version of an artform in which the route from real-world experiences into effective comedy is seldom a straight line.\r\n\r\nAdvertisement\r\n\r\nIt’s also a trope that fetishises authenticity and elevates one particular brand of standup (personal, confessional), forgetting that comedy is as broad as the human imagination. No place here for prop comics, one-liner merchants, surrealists, anti-comics, character comics – or any of the myriad other ways that a solo performer can make audiences laugh.\r\n\r\nBut I get it: those kinds of comedy are harder to dramatise. They don’t let you see characters working out their emotional issues and developing their authentic voice in public, in-the-moment – which in storytelling terms is inherently satisfying. That’s certainly the case here, in a show that’s winningly fond of its characters, and makes something quietly heroic of their determination to get onstage at the end of every fraught day, to raise a smile and tell their truths. It is insightful too, into the trade-offs that standups (particularly those, perhaps, from marginalised backgrounds) can face as the mainstream beckons. Or into the taboo around joke thievery, which is especially sharp in a standup culture recently rocked by a plagiarism row. Four episodes in, it’s got me hooked, and has burnished my faith in the democratic romance of club comedy.','2022-03-31','',0,1),(252,'EXPLAINED: How France’s fuel price rebate works','The Local Fr','Society',4,59,'https://www.thelocal.fr/20220401/explained-how-frances-fuel-price-rebate-works/','thelocal.fr','From April 1st, the French government has put in place a rebate to help motorists cope with the soaring cost of fuel. Here\'s how it works and how much you can expect to save when filling up your vehicle.\r\n\r\nPublished: 1 April 2022 09:57 CEST\r\nEXPLAINED: How France\'s fuel price rebate works\r\nThe fuel price rebate comes into effect on April 1st. Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP\r\nSoaring fuel prices, impacted by the invasion of Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, are causing financial misery for drivers across Europe.\r\n\r\nRather than cut fuel taxes, the French government has instead opted for a rebate on the price of petrol and diesel, which comes into force on Friday, April 1st. Here’s how it works.\r\n\r\nWho?\r\n\r\nThis concerns anyone filling up a vehicle at a service station in France, private or professional. There is no requirement to be a resident of France.\r\n\r\nArticle continues below video\r\n\r\n\r\nThe rebate is offered on almost all types of fuel – petrol (SP95, SP98-E5 and SP-95-E10), diesel, liquefied petroleum gas fuel (LPG-c), compressed or liquefied natural gas, super ethanol (E85) and diesel ethanol (ED95).\r\n\r\nIt also concerns fuels such as agricultural diesel and fishing-boat diesel, while certain sectors including agriculture, fishing and haulage get extra financial aid through the government’s relief plan.\r\n\r\nIf you drive for work, as well as benefiting from the fuel rebate, you could also be eligible for a tax rebate.\r\n\r\nHow much?\r\n\r\nThe rebate is 18 centimes per litre.\r\n\r\nFuel prices in many parts of France have topped €2 a litre, although the average price has now fallen back to just below €2, so the rebate works out at a saving of about €11 to fill an average 60-litre fuel tank.\r\n\r\n\r\nIt’s estimated that it will cost the government €3 billion.\r\n\r\nIn recent days French supermarkets have also been engaged in something of a discount battle on fuel prices, offering various types of discounts, or vouchers when people fill up, so it’s worth checking out prices and deals at supermarkets near you.\r\n\r\nHow does it work?\r\n\r\nThe rebate operates as a discount when you pay. \r\n\r\nFrom Friday, filling stations discount the 18c per litre per customer and the government reimburses each 18c to the filling station.\r\n\r\nThe prices displayed outside filling stations will include the discount, plus VAT, so expect to see a sudden fall in prices on the display boards.\r\n\r\nHow long does it last?\r\n\r\nThis rebate is in place until July 31st, but there is the option to extend it and it seems likely that this is what the government will do, depending on the international context.\r\n\r\nAny other help?\r\n\r\nAs mentioned above, if you drive for work you may also be entitled to claim a tax rebate.\r\n\r\nThe French government has frozen gas and electricity prices to a maximum rise of 4 percent until June and the €100 chèque energie – to help people on lower incomes cope with rising fuel prices – has been arriving in bank accounts over the past few weeks.\r\n\r\n','2022-04-01','',0,1),(253,'What would France do if Russia cuts off the gas supply?','The Local Fr','Lifestyle',8,59,'https://www.thelocal.fr/20220331/what-would-france-do-if-russia-cuts-off-the-gas-supply/','Local.fr','French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the country is making \"preparation\"s should Russia decide to cut off the gas supply.\r\n\r\nPublished: 31 March 2022 17:30 CEST\r\nFrench Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that France was preparing for the possibility that Russia might cut off the gas supply.\r\nFrench Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that France was preparing for the possibility that Russia might cut off the gas supply. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / POOL / AFP)\r\nFrance and Germany are preparing for a cut in Russian gas deliveries, France’s economy minister said Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Moscow will turn off the taps for those who refuse to pay in rubles.\r\n\r\n“On the sanctions against Russia, we will not accept the payment of gas in any other currency than stated in the contract,” said Bruno Le Maire following talks in Berlin with his German counterpart Robert Habeck.\r\n\r\n“There could be a situation tomorrow in which there is no longer any Russian gas. It’s up to us to prepare for these scenarios and we are preparing.” \r\n\r\nArticle continues below video\r\n\r\n\r\nOn Tuesday the head of France’s main gas distribution network, Laurence Poirier-Dietz, said the government may be required to pass a load-shedding decree, in which parts of the country have gas cut off on a rotating basis to ration supply. Hospitals, schools and retirement homes would be spared. \r\n\r\n“We have enough gas coming from other sources and supplies to get by until next winter,” she said in an interview with Sud-Ouest. \r\n\r\n“The question will be asked about how to fill reserve stocks during the summer.” \r\n\r\nFrench newspaper Les Echos report that filling the reserve stocks would cost in the region of €10 billion. \r\n\r\n\r\nFrance has the option of importing gas from other countries like Norway, Libya or Azerbaijan. It also has its own supplies of subterranean gas in the northern département of Pas-de-Calais and a number of methane plants, the biggest of which is in Seine-et-Marne. \r\n\r\n“We can try to stimulate investment and double production capacity,” said Carole Mathieu a researcher with the French Institute of International Relations, during an interview with France Info. “That would bring us to 40 billion cubic metres at the European level, but Russia produced 155 billion cubic metres last year. There is work to do.”\r\n\r\nThe French government said that load-shedding would be a last resort. \r\n\r\nEarlier in March, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that the government would seek to end French dependency on Russian gas and oil supplies by 2027. ','2022-03-31','',0,1),(254,'Berlin, Paris agree close-knit exchange and plan for new sanctions','EURACTIV.com','Society',4,59,'https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/berlin-paris-agree-close-knit-exchange-and-plan-for-new-sanctions/','By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer','German and French governments have agreed to closer communication and cooperation on supporting the economy amid record-high energy prices and plans for new sanctions.\r\n\r\nAt a news conference on Thursday (31 March), Bruno Le Maire, France’s minister for the economy, announced the joint decision “cooperate very closely on the economic response,” while his German counterpart Robert Habeck noted that additional measures to alleviate the strain of energy prices on industry were in the pipeline.\r\n\r\nPreviously, both German and French governments – the former newly installed, the latter imminently up for re-election – had largely put consumer support measures in place.\r\n\r\nBoth countries subsidised petrol at upwards of 15 cents per litre.\r\n\r\nOn the one hand, the two governments would closely cooperate on supporting their energy-intensive industries while planning beyond the current crisis, Habeck explained.\r\n\r\nThe goal was a European “hydrogen backbone network,” he said.\r\n\r\nIn February, the French and German ministers had agreed to work toward the EU’s technical and economic sovereignty. Le Maire said it must be based on “common industrial projects”, such as electrical networks, electric batteries, and hydrogen.\r\n\r\nThe countries also agreed to implement working groups to resolve conflicts between their respective industrial and hydrogen strategies in a bid to further the two countries’ future economic cooperation.\r\n\r\n\r\nFrance and Germany to work on \'common industrial projects\'\r\nFrance and Germany will work on “common industrial projects” such as electrical networks, batteries and hydrogen, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said after receiving his German counterpart Robert Habeck in Paris on Monday (7 February).\r\n\r\nTo facilitate this close cooperation on economic and energy policy, both ministries would establish task forces to stay in contact daily, while the ministers would confer once a week, Habeck and Le Maire told journalists on Thursday.\r\n\r\nHaving “close coordination would ensure that the measures would be as impactful as possible,” emphasised Le Maire.\r\n\r\nSanctions were another topic up for discussion at the high-level Franco-German meeting.\r\n\r\n“The previous sanctions package should not and must not be the last one,” explained Habeck, adding that France and Germany were thinking beyond the sanctions agreed amongst EU leaders.\r\n\r\nThe two had discussed “which sanctions could hinder Putin and discussed measures” but would not comment on the exact nature of the discussions.\r\n\r\nGermany had reportedly been one of the last holdouts on more severe energy sanctions against Russia, such as an embargo on energy commodities.','2022-03-31','',0,1),(255,'French pensions, food bills or EU: What’s top of Macron’s to-do list?','The Locale ','Politics',1,60,'https://www.thelocal.fr/20220426/french-pensions-food-bills-or-eu-whats-top-of-macrons-to-do-list/','By the Locals','French pensions, food bills or EU: What’s top of Macron’s to-do list?\r\nThe newly re-elected president Emmanuel Macron once said that he was \"not made to lead in calm weather\" - and that\'s fortunate because he\'s likely to face some storms ahead. Here are just some of the things he will need to tackle.\r\n\r\nPublished: 26 April 2022 09:46 CEST\r\nFrench pensions, food bills or EU: What\'s top of Macron\'s to-do list?\r\nNewly-elected Emmanuel Macron has a challenging in-tray. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP\r\nForming a government and winning parliamentary elections\r\n\r\nAlthough the presidential elections are over we’re not finished with voting just yet – parliamentary elections are held in June and if Macron’s party doesn’t manage to win a majority he will struggle to pass any legislation over the next five years.\r\n\r\nTo this end, this week Prime Minister Jean Castex will resign and dissolve the government – this is done to allow Macron to reshuffle his government and bring in new people.\r\n\r\nREAD ALSO When are the French parliamentary elections and why are they important?\r\n\r\nTraditionally it’s the prime minister, not the president, who campaigns for the parliamentary elections so securing a majority for Macron will be the number one priority for the new PM, whoever that is. \r\n\r\n\r\nCost of living crisis\r\n\r\nMacron will need to focus immediately on the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, which his rival Marine Le Pen made a central plank of her campaign.\r\n\r\n“The cost of living is our top priority,” a Macron staffer briefed French daily Le Parisien.\r\n\r\nMacron’s government has already brought in a package of financial help aimed at the agriculture, transport and fishing industries – those worst affected by rising fuel prices. He has also introduced a 18 cents-per-litre fuel rebate – in place until July – and frozen gas and electricity prices until June.\r\n\r\n\r\nBut with an eye on the parliamentary elections, Macron’s government is likely to look at offering more to help out struggling voters. \r\n\r\nPreviously discussed measures include the scrapping of the annual TV licence, which is usually billed in the autumn, and the introduction of a ‘food cheque’ for people on low incomes. We have little detail on how this would work yet, but it’s likely to be similar to the chèque energie – a one-off payment of around €100 put directly into people’s bank accounts. The payment is likely to be means-tested – the chèque energie was based on tax returns.\r\n\r\nThere are also plans to triple the annual ‘Macron bonus’ from €1,000 to €3,000 – this is a payout to employees. It’s actually voluntary on the part of companies, but firms that pay out dividends to shareholders have to offer either the Macron bonus or a profit-share scheme to their staff. In 2020, 6 million people received it.\r\n\r\nIn the longer term, there are plans to reduce social charges for self-employed workers and change the indexing of pensions and certain social benefits.\r\n\r\nPension reform \r\n\r\nThis was Macron’s big campaign trail pledge and is really a bit of unfinished business from his first term.\r\n\r\n\r\nIn the early years of his presidency, Macron brought in a wide-ranging pension reform that simplified the French system – with its 42 different pension regimes – and got rid of the ‘special regimes’ that let people in certain jobs retire from the age of 55. \r\n\r\nThe original reform – which sparked months of demonstrations and transport strikes – did not change France’s pension age of 62. The reform was passed in the parliament but implementation was delayed because of the pandemic.\r\n\r\nNow Macron wants to implement his reforms, but also raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, a proposal that is already causing controversy. On the election trail he seemed to be backpedalling slightly on this issue, saying that it could be put to a public vote or referendum.\r\n\r\nREAD ALSO French pensions – what does Macron want to change?\r\n\r\nEnvironment\r\n\r\nIn Macron’s victory speech he vowed to make France a “great green nation”, but many are sceptical of his environmental credentials.\r\n\r\nAlthough not a climate sceptic like his opponent Le Pen – her policy was to scrap all plans for new wind farms and dismantle the existing ones – Macron has been accused of acting too slowly on the environment.\r\n\r\nNow needing to capture green voters and those on the left, Macron is expected to step up his ecological commitments in the weeks and months to come.  \r\n\r\nEU reform \r\n\r\nOne thing Macron has never been accused of is a lack of ambition, and despite the multiple challenges he faces at home, he’s also keen to implement changes to the EU.\r\n\r\nFrance still holds the presidency of the EU until June 30th, but even after this date Macron is likely to push forward with his ideas for greater EU integration and greater co-operation on defence issues.\r\n\r\nOn the international front, there’s also the ongoing war in Ukraine and Macron has been at the forefront of international efforts to bring a diplomatic solution to the conflict. He still speaks regularly to Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky and has recently authorised arms shipments from France to Ukraine.\r\n\r\nThis hefty to-do list would seem to explain why Macron’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire told British journalist Matt Frei that trying to establish a more ‘cordial’ relationship with Boris Johnson was not a French priority right now. \r\n\r\n\r\nThe Local\r\nnews@thelocal.fr\r\n@thelocalfrance','2022-04-26','',0,1),(256,'Cannes Film Festival selects French actor Vincent Lindon to preside over jury','Text by: NEWS WIRES','Art & Culture',7,60,'https://www.france24.com/en/culture/20220426-cannes-film-festival-selects-french-actor-vincent-lindon-to-preside-over-jury','By AFP','Cannes Film Festival selects French actor Vincent Lindon to preside over jury\r\n\r\nIssued on: 26/04/2022 - 19:21\r\n\r\nFrench star Vincent Lindon at the Cannes Film Festival for \'Titane\' in 2021.\r\nFrench star Vincent Lindon at the Cannes Film Festival for \'Titane\' in 2021. © Mehdi Chebil\r\nText by:\r\nNEWS WIRES\r\n2 min\r\nVeteran French actor Vincent Lindon will head the main jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival which awards the coveted Palme d’Or top prize, organisers said Tuesday.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nThe jury under Lindon, who co-starred in the 2021 winner “Titane”, will choose between 21 movies in the main competition at the film fest which runs from May 17 to 28.\r\n\r\nLindon, 62, will be accompanied by eight fellow jurors.\r\n\r\nThey are British actress and director Rebecca Hall, Indian actress Deepika Padukone, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, Italian actress and director Jasmine Trinca, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, French director Ladj Ly, American director Jeff Nichols, and Norwegian director Joachim Trier.\r\n\r\nThe line-up for this year’s festival, the 75th Cannes edition, is a mix of cult arthouse directors and Hollywood glamour.\r\n\r\nCanadian horror maestro David Cronenberg, US filmmaker James Gray and France’s Claire Denis are among the competitors for the Palme d’Or.\r\n\r\nThey are expected to bring a bevy of stars to the red carpet, with Cronenberg’s sci-fi/horror cross-over “Crimes of the Future” starring Kristen Stewart, Lea Seydoux and Viggo Mortensen.\r\n\r\nFrench actor Vincent Lindon is the Jury President of the 75th Festival de Cannes! Along with his eight jury members, he will reward one of the 21 films in Competition with the Palme d\'or, on Saturday May 28, during the Closing Ceremony. #Cannes2022\r\n? https://t.co/8CTJtGOIQ6 pic.twitter.com/U6bdPGq1Xy\r\n\r\n— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) April 26, 2022\r\nDenis returns with a thriller set in Central America—“The Stars at Noon”—featuring Taron Egerton and Robert Pattinson.\r\n\r\nGray’s entry, “Armageddon Time”, is a tale based on his New York adolescence featuring Anne Hathaway, Oscar Isaac, Cate Blanchett and Anthony Hopkins.\r\n\r\nTom Cruise will attend the much-delayed world premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick”, the sequel to his 1986 blockbuster, playing out of competition.\r\n\r\n‘Upheaval of the many events’\r\nAnd Tom Hanks will be in town for “Elvis”, in which he co-stars as the rock’n’roll star’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, in the latest from Australian director Baz Luhrmann who previously lit up Cannes with “Moulin Rouge!” and “Gatsby”.\r\n\r\nIn a statement Tuesday Lindon said he was “extremely proud to be given, amid the upheaval of the many events we are going through in the world, the splendid and heavy task of presiding the jury”.\r\n\r\nHe and his jury would “strive to take good care of the films of the future which all harbour the same secret hope of courage, loyalty and freedom”, Lindon said.\r\n\r\nWhen announcing this year’s lineup earlier in April, festival director Thierry Fremaux had already given a nod to the difficult global situation, saying the announcement came “after two years of crisis that we won’t recover from quickly, and at a time of sadness and war in Europe.”\r\n\r\nA Ukrainian film will play out of competition—“The Natural History of Destruction” from director Sergei Loznitsa about the destruction of German cities by Allied bombers in World War II.\r\n\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\nThe main competition will also mark the third nomination for Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, who was unable to attend last year when his film “Petrov’s Flu” was in competition due to an embezzlement conviction that his supporters say was revenge for his anti-authoritarian stance.\r\n\r\nHe relocated to Germany this year after his travel ban was lifted and returns to Cannes with “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” about the private life of the famous composer.\r\n\r\nHe told AFP in an interview published Tuesday that Russia was “self-killing” with its war in Ukraine and that domestic support for the invasion was the result of “many years of terrible propaganda.”\r\n\r\nSerebrennikov said he felt “just horror, sadness, shame, pain” about the invasion.\r\n\r\n(AFP)','2022-04-26','',0,1),(257,'Why are French troops leaving Mali, and what will it mean for the region?','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,60,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60419799','BBC NEWS','President Emmanuel Macron has announced he will be pulling French forces out of the West African nation of Mali, where they have been fighting Islamist militants since 2013.\r\n\r\nThere are 5,000 French troops in Mali and surrounding countries, fighting groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.\r\n\r\nBut over the past eight years, the French presence has become increasingly unpopular with Mali\'s government and its public.\r\n\r\nWhat is the terrorist threat in Mali and the Sahel region?\r\nBoth the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda have decided to focus on the Sahel region of Africa, after suffering setbacks in the Middle East.\r\n\r\nThe Sahel is a strip of semi-arid land beneath the Sahara Desert that stretches across the continent from east to west. It includes parts of Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.\r\n\r\nMap of the Sahel region in North Africa with an indication of which Jihadist groups operate in each country\r\nImage caption,\r\nIS and al-Qaeda\'s JNIM are both active in the Sahel region where they compete for power\r\nIslamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and al-Qaeda\'s affiliate, called Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), have carried out terror attacks in the region which have killed several thousand people, displaced tens of thousands of others and caused thousands of schools to close.\r\n\r\nThere are two other jihadist groups active in the Sahel: Ansaroul Islam and Boko Haram.\r\n\r\nIn April 2022, jihadists attacked three military bases in central Mali and one in Burkina Faso, killing six soldiers,\r\n\r\nWhy did France become involved?\r\nIn 2013, France sent 5,000 troops to Mali at the government\'s behest as it was facing an armed rebellion.\r\n\r\nAfter the ousting and killing of Libya\'s leader Muammar Gaddafi, Tuareg mercenaries who had been fighting for him returned home to Mali determined to fight for the independence of the north of the country.\r\n\r\nWith Gaddafi\'s weapons, they formed an alliance with al-Qaeda-linked Islamists who were to become the stronger partners. Together they took control of the north and threatened to seize control of the whole country.\r\n\r\nMali was a French colony until 1960. France\'s government said it wanted to protect the Malian population and the 6,000 French citizens living there.\r\n\r\nSoldiers of France\'s Barkhane mission patrol in I-n-Tillit in 2017 in Mali\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nImage caption,\r\nFrench troops have been part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel\r\nOf those troops 2,400 have been located in northern Mali, while the rest have been using drones and helicopters to hunt down jihadist cells that operate across Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.\r\n\r\nThere are also 14,000 UN peacekeeping troops who operate alongside local military forces, patrolling across the deserts of the Sahel.\r\n\r\nWhy did the French presence become unpopular?\r\nThe French forces were warmly welcomed when they first arrived in Mali nine years ago, but relations have since soured.\r\n\r\nThe number of terror attacks in the country has steadily increased, and so has the number of Malians joining insurgent groups. In the past nine years, the Islamist militant threat has also spread to other countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger, with insurgents raiding in the region from their bases in the Sahara.\r\n\r\nMany local people feel that France, as an advanced military power, should have been able to solve the terror problem and that it should get out of the way if it cannot do so. Some have called the presence of troops from the former colonial power an \"occupation\".\r\n\r\nSince 55 French troops have been killed in the Sahel, it is not popular in France, either.\r\n\r\nMalians stage a protest against France at the Independence Square in Bamako\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nImage caption,\r\nThere have been regular protests In Mali against the French military\r\nThere have also been arguments between the French government and Mali\'s military junta, which seized power in a coup in August 2020 - the second time a civilian government has been overthrown in eight years.\r\n\r\nThe junta reneged on an agreement to hold democratic elections this February and says it will hold on to power until 2025. When France\'s ambassador objected, he was expelled.\r\n\r\nPresident Macron said: \"We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de facto authorities whose strategy and hidden aims we do not share.\"\r\n\r\nIn April 2022, Mali\'s rulers announced they would hold elections two years later, in 2024.\r\n\r\nFrance has refused to negotiate a peace deal with Islamist groups, which is a policy favoured by many Malians.\r\n\r\nFrance was also angered by the decision of the Mali junta to invite mercenaries from the Russian company Wagner to help in the fight against the jihadist groups.\r\n\r\nFrance\'s Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said that \"we will not be able to cohabit with mercenaries\".\r\n\r\nWhat happens now?\r\nThe French troops involved in Operation Barkhane will be withdrawn over the next four to six months.\r\n\r\nFrance will deploy troops in other countries in the Sahel, alongside the troops of other European nations serving with the Takuba Task Force. Countries involved in that say they will be setting out plans for how they will operate in the region in the future.\r\n\r\nThe governments of neighbouring countries are worried that France\'s withdrawal from Mali could further destabilise the region. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara warned it would create a political vacuum.\r\n\r\n\"We will be obliged to increase our defence forces and increase the protection of our borders,\" he said.\r\n\r\nGhana\'s President Nana Akufo-Addo urged the UN to keep its peacekeeping force in Mali despite the French departure.\r\n\r\nThe arrival of the Wagner Group mercenaries has been welcomed by some Malians, who see it as politically neutral. However, many Western countries are suspicious of it and have accused the Russian government of helping it win its contract in Mali.\r\n\r\nIn April 2022, the French military accused Russian mercenaries of burying bodies outside a military base and blaming French troops for the killings.\r\n\r\nFrance says it is part of efforts to discredit its departing force. Russia has not commented on the allegations.\r\n\r\nWagner has been operating in several other African countries, including Mozambique, Sudan and the Central African Republic. It has also been linked to war crimes in Libya\'s civil war.','2022-04-26','',0,1),(258,'On the French Riviera, the discreet French \'cousins\' of the Calabrian mafia','Le monde','Society',4,60,'https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2022/04/28/on-the-french-riviera-the-discreet-french-cousins-of-the-calabrian-mafia_5981840_7.html','By Simon Piel and Thomas Saintourens','With a shaved head and a trimmed beard, a tall man in a black T-shirt with the Croatian soccer team\'s logo adjusts his shot under the discreet lens of undercover gendarmes. It is a beautiful day, this Tuesday afternoon in June 2019, in the region around Cannes.\r\n\r\nIn Vallauris (Alpes-Maritimes), it\'s time for pétanque (a popular French game with metal balls, also known as boules). Domenico, the shooter, loves the warm atmosphere of the club de la Boule amicale sportive. They tease each other. They laugh. The youngest compete with the oldest. Sometimes, after a successful competition, the best players have the honor of seeing their name appear in Nice-Matin.\r\n\r\nEveryone here knows \"Domi,\" 38, son of Serafino, grandson of Girolamo and nephew of Antonio. The Magnolis and their cousins, the Stanganellis and the Giovinazzos, arrived in the region three generations ago, when the famous pottery workshops in the area were hiring in droves.\r\n\r\nThe Vallauris city hall and its pétanque court, behind the row of shrubs, on April 8, 2022.\r\nThe Vallauris city hall and its pétanque court, behind the row of shrubs, on April 8, 2022. SARAH MAGE POUR « LE MONDE »\r\nDomenico Magnoli is the discreet type. He lives frugally, drives a Twingo and has worked since 2016 as a night watchman, with a monthly salary of 1,500 euros. He takes care of his two children, of whom he has joint custody. He lives in Valbonne, a little higher up in the Alpes-Maritimes department. He knows everyone there. He is a people person, liked by everyone. During the 2020 municipal elections, the campaign team of socialist senator and former mayor of Valbonne Marc Daunis even asked him to rally voters.\r\n\r\nThere aren\'t many days when \"Domi\" doesn\'t stop to greet another of his uncles, also named Girolamo. Girolamo owns La Petite Brasserie in Vallauris, a bar with a black sign located a few blocks from the center, between a pizzeria and the fire station. Domenico is a regular there. When he says he goes \"to the bar,\" it\'s as if there is no other bar in the area. He normally drinks a coffee and is on his way. From time to time, he sits down for a game of cards, checks on the family or chats with the community\'s gardener, a faithful customer. A few words of Italian sometimes slip out. Even though Domenico Magnoli was born in Cannes, the family roots are in Rosarno, in Calabria: at the tip of the boot, so to speak.\r\n\r\nThe front of La Petite Brasserie, in Vallauris, cited in the \r\nThe front of La Petite Brasserie, in Vallauris, cited in the \"Ponente Forever\" file, on April 8, 2022. SARAH MAGE POUR « LE MONDE »\r\nOn closer inspection, the attachment that the Vallauris pétanque players have to their land of origin is not just a matter of nostalgia. It is nourished by other alliances and business relationships of a particular kind. According to criminal investigations carried out in Italy, this small Franco-Italian colony is in fact linked to one of the main clans of the powerful Calabrian mafia, the \'Ndrangheta. The clan in question is the Piromalli-Molè, the historical \"masters\" of the port of Gioia Tauro. This port is the epicenter of trafficking, a few kilometers from Rosarno. According to the transalpine police, the Magnoli have long since pledged their allegiance to the Piromalli-Molè, to the point of having made Vallauris a sort of French link of the \"parent company.\" An unpublished investigation, conducted on both sides of the border, helps to better decipher these links: the \"Ponente Forever\" case, so named in reference to the Riviera that links Genoa to the French border.','2022-04-28','',0,1),(259,'Increasing suicide rates among French young people worry health professionals','Le Monde','Lifestyle',8,60,'https://www.lemonde.fr/en/science/article/2022/04/28/increasing-suicide-rates-among-french-young-people-worry-health-professionals_5981862_10.html','By Pascale Santi','Child health professionals are issuing a wake-up call to combat suicide attempts among young people, which have increased since the end of 2020 and are still continuing to rise today. All over France, they are calling for a collective response.\r\n\r\n\"Emergency room visits for suicidal acts, suicidal thoughts and mood disorders remain at high levels, comparable (for 11-14 year olds) and even higher (for 15-17 year olds and 18-24 year olds) than those observed at the beginning of 2021,\" said Santé publique France (SPF, the French national public health agency) in its latest report on mental health from early April. The ratio is five girls to one boy. Charles-Edouard Notredame, a psychiatrist at the Lille University Hospital, said, \"It has increased in all age groups among young people in 2022. It\'s instructive.\"\r\n\r\nBetween the 1st and the 11th week of 2022, SPF said that there were 6,418 emergency room visits for suicidal acts (up 27% from the same period in 2021). For the entirety of 2021 this figure was 23,791, compared with 17,333 in 2020 (the average being 19,586 for 2018-2019). Emergency room visits for suicidal thoughts have continued to increase since 2018-2019 (annual average of 4246). Their total was 5,210 in 2020, 9,003 in 2021 and 2,992 for the first 11 weeks of 2022.\r\n\r\nAnother piece of data is that while suicide \"decreased in all age groups during the first months of the pandemic (except in the elderly), there was then a significant increase in the number of adolescents hospitalized for suicide attempts, with a 27% increase from the end of 2020 compared to 2019 and young girls are overwhelmingly in the majority,\" said Fabrice Jollant, psychiatrist and researcher at Paris Cité University. \"It is very evident and very clear, and this high rate is continuing.\"\r\n\r\nAs for calls to the eight poison control centers (CAP) concerning the voluntary consumption of drugs or other toxic substances, \"this year almost twice as many calls concern people aged 12-24, with about 35 calls per day on average, compared to about 20 in 2019. Women are the most affected,\" said Dominique Vodovar, doctor at the CAP of Lariboisière Hospital in Paris.\r\n\r\nAlarm bell\r\nWorldwide, suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds, behind road accidents. In France, it is the cause of death for between 300 and 350 young people per year in this age group, including three times more boys than girls (the latest available figures from 2017). On the other hand, the number of suicides had been decreasing for several years among adults, both men and women.','2022-04-28','',0,1),(260,'Do May’s high temperatures indicate a hot summer ahead?','The Connexion','Society',4,61,'https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/Do-May-s-high-temperatures-indicate-a-hot-summer-ahead','By Emma Morgan','Do May’s high temperatures indicate a hot summer ahead?\r\nThis month has been the hottest May on record, with temperatures around 3C higher than average \r\nEmailFacebookPrintTwitterWhatsAppMore\r\n31 May 2022 13:51\r\n\r\nIt is too early to say whether this summer will be hotter than average, although recent trends suggest it could be Pic: Ed Connor / Shutterstock\r\n\r\nBy Emma Morgan\r\nThe month of May has been particularly hot in France, leading some to wonder whether it heralds a summer of heat waves and record temperatures. \r\n\r\nIt is currently impossible to accurately predict how the summer will pan out, but if it follows the trend set during the last few years, it is likely to be hot and dry. \r\n\r\n“The May which we have just had will go down as the hottest since records began. We saw an anomaly of +3C on average, in comparison to the national indicator [which collects data on the temperature in regions across France],” Météo France forecaster Tristan Amm told La Dépêche.\r\n\r\nHowever, this does not mean that the summer will also be very hot. The second warmest May on record was in 2011, but the summer of that year was “not very hot,” Mr Amm added. \r\n\r\nIn recent years, meanwhile, it has always been hot and dry: “Even summer 2021, which had a gloomy, damp feel, brought average temperatures which were just above normal for the season.\r\n\r\n\r\n“It is not possible to forecast a canicule heat wave at this stage,” Mr Amm said. “However, we can say that it is a phenomenon that is becoming more and more frequent with climate change; [these heat waves] can even become longer and more intense.”\r\n\r\nCanicules – periods of three days or more when temperatures are very hot in the day and stay high at night – normally begin occurring from the end of June onwards, but in recent years have happened earlier in the summer and lasted later into September.\r\n\r\nThere was no canicule in 2021 but there were several drawn-out heat wave periods in 2019.\r\n\r\nEven before the hottest weather of this summer arrives, some 24 French departments have already been placed under drought restrictions and 92 decrees limiting water usage have been put in place by prefectures. \r\n\r\nParts of Vendée, Vienne and Loiret are already on the highest alert level – ‘crisis’ – under which non-essential water usages are banned, including on farms.\r\n\r\nTemperatures range between 15C and 25C today in France, but could reach 30C in southern areas tomorrow. ','2022-05-31','',0,1),(261,'Power dressing: The Queen\'s unique style','BBC News','Art & Culture',7,61,'https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61593081','By Emma Atkinson','She\'s one of the most photographed women in history and over the past 70 years has defined what it means to dress like a queen.\r\n\r\nNot trendsetting or daring, but iconic.\r\n\r\nShe\'s become famous for her brightly coloured dresses and coats paired with a matching hat, accessorised with her signature square handbag, a string of pearls and a jewelled brooch. It sounds simple but the Queen\'s style has become a powerful formula.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a style that has been honed and refined over seven decades, helped by the close relationships she has developed with trusted designers and dressers.\r\n\r\n\"Royal fashion is fun, powerful and steeped with meaning,\" says author and royal fashion commentator Elizabeth Holmes. \"Her image is a huge part of her legacy.\"\r\n\r\nADVERTISEMENT\r\n\r\nDazzling and intricate\r\nThe Queen has always had a very clear idea of what she wanted to look like, says historian Michael Pick.\r\n\r\n\r\n\"People have said she has no idea about clothes, but that is simply not true. She is very astute about what suits her,\" Pick says.\r\n\r\nWhen she was in her 20s, Princess Elizabeth began working with designer Norman Hartnell, a relationship she inherited from the Queen Mother. Full-skirted dresses with a nipped in waist, influenced by French couture, were paired with white fur stoles and diamond tiaras.\r\n\r\nAs she took on her new role as Queen, Hartnell helped her to dazzle her way through state banquets and royal tours in a host of tulle and satin gowns, intricately embellished with seed pearls, crystals and beads.\r\n\r\nHartnell also created two of the most important dresses she would ever wear - her wedding dress and the gown she wore for her coronation. He describes the process as a collaboration. \"For her coronation dress Hartnell produced about eight designs and she chose elements from them all and made it her own,\" Pick says.\r\n\r\nQueen Elizabeth II in four different jewelled evening gowns\r\nFor the Queen, working with the same people was not just about trust, but was also down to necessity. Hartnell had the largest couture house in London along with the largest embroidery workroom, and for someone as busy as the Queen who needed hundreds of new outfits each year, it meant he had the capacity to design and produce what she needed.\r\n\r\nStill, the scale of the job meant she also asked designer Hardy Amies to work with her, beginning with a wardrobe of looks for a tour of Canada in 1951.\r\n\r\nAmies led the Queen into a slightly more crisp and understated look, with tailored day clothes and sleeker eveningwear. Then Ian Thomas took her through the 1970s and 1980s in a flurry of brightly coloured chiffon, floral prints and bows.\r\n\r\nFor the last 24 years her outfits have been designed and produced in-house by a small team of around 10 people, led by her personal dresser Angela Kelly.\r\n\r\nEach item the Queen wears is bespoke, and before the pandemic she was attending more then 300 engagements a year. \"It\'s a huge amount of work,\" Pick says. \"You don\'t want the monarch wearing something someone else is wearing. The public expects something different.\r\n\r\n\"Hartnell and Amies made her more individual, while Angela Kelly has been very clever and managed to take her individual style and make it sparkle.\"\r\n\r\nHat, bag, shoes\r\nWhen the Queen steps out in public every aspect of her appearance has been meticulously planned.\r\n\r\nFabrics are checked to see how they drape or might behave in a breeze. The bright colours, chosen for the season and occasion, give instant impact so that she stands out in a crowd. A hat gives her slight stature more height and highlights her face.\r\n\r\nShe wears sensible block-heeled shoes - handmade and worn in by Kelly herself to make sure they are comfortable - and there is always a clear umbrella with a colour-matched trim on standby, so even the unpredictable British weather won\'t get in her way.\r\n\r\nQueen Elizabeth II in colour matching coats and hats\r\nThis uniform-way of dressing maximises her comfort on long days, but also helps define her role, says Elizabeth Holmes.\r\n\r\n\"Her job is to be a calm and consistent presence. Her clothes are a mix of knowing what to expect but also with an ability to surprise and delight.\r\n\r\n\"Even in the casual moments there is a sense of uniform, with her headscarf and wellies. It keeps the continuity and also shows she is never off duty.\"\r\n\r\nArguably the most iconic part of the Queen\'s look is the thing that has remained virtually unchanged throughout her reign: her famous shampoo and set is almost identical to the style she wore when she came to the throne in 1953.\r\n\r\nBut for the change in colour as she got older and embraced her natural grey, it has retained the two distinctive wave curls at the front and firm and structured curls around the back, formed perfectly to host a crown or hat.\r\n\r\nThe traditional style, set on rollers under a dryer, was the hairstyle of choice for many of Britain\'s fashion conscious women in the post-war years but while trends have moved on the Queen has been loyal to it ever since.\r\n\r\n\"Her hair is quite conventional for a woman her age, but it is a strong look, softened by curls to give it a gentleness,\" says royal and celebrity hairdresser Richard Ward. \"I think her hair sums up what we all really value about her,\" he says. \"It is sensible, practical and elegant.\"\r\n\r\nQueen Elizabeth II in silk headscarf\r\nAnother of the Queen\'s most iconic style points is the famous top-handled Launer handbag.\r\n\r\nUnlike other classic designer bags such as the Hermes Birkin or the Chanel 2.55, which are popular with women aged from their 20s to their 70s, Launer is not as fashionable or desirable for younger women, says Charlotte Rogers, a luxury accessories expert.\r\n\r\nBut there is still a big market for them in other countries, especially the Middle East. The Queen\'s royal seal of approval changes everything for a brand. \"The fact the Queen still uses Launer bags is huge,\" Rogers says. \"Royals are the ultimate influencers.\"\r\n\r\nThe handbags retail for around £1,500-£2,000, and the Queen is said to have a collection of over 200 in different colours and styles.\r\n\r\nIt seems in her Jubilee year the Queen has become more influential than ever, which is no mean feat for a woman in her 90s, says Rogers.\r\n\r\n\"She\'s age appropriate, a style much like my grandmother used to wear for special occasions and I think she is influential to older ladies,\" she says. \"Pins and brooches were seen as so unfashionable and now I can\'t buy enough of them. They sell so quickly.\"\r\n\r\nRoyal influence\r\nThe Queen\'s clothes are not just style choices but also brand statements, steeped with meaning and influence. Whether she\'s wearing a jewelled gown or a tweed skirt every outfit says something about her and her role as an ambassador and figurehead.\r\n\r\n\"Her wardrobe is her communication,\" says Matthew Storey, curator at Historic Royal Palaces.\r\n\r\nShe has to be prepared, reliable and traditional. But while walking the line of being accessible and reassuring her clothes also \"have to be worthy of royalty,\" Holmes says.\r\n\r\nQueen Elizabeth II, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge all wearing red outfits\r\n\"It\'s part of the bedazzling of the crown. With the Queen her clothes are bespoke. You can\'t buy them but it means they can be seen and admired.\"\r\n\r\nThere\'s also a diplomatic role, subtle nods to a country or event shown in emblems or colours she wears.\r\n\r\n\"The subtle pink coloured dress she wore to the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games was chosen because it was on none of the national flags. It stood out but it also wasn\'t showing any allegiance,\" Storey says.\r\n\r\nLike other iconic brands she also means many different things to people.\r\n\r\n\"Like a work of art you interpret her in your own way,\" says Jeetendr Sehdev, author and celebrity branding expert.\r\n\r\n\"Do we really know who she is? I\'m not sure we do. But what we do know is what she means to us and the things she stands for - her strength, boldness and authenticity - remain relevant even among young people.\"\r\n\r\nYounger royals like Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, are clearly inspired by her, but the Queen stands far and above, he says.\r\n\r\nThere\'s great affection for how she looks, Holmes says. She has a signature style that will forever remind people of her.\r\n\r\n\"No-one else dresses like her,\" she says. \"That\'s her job and it\'s profound.\"\r\n\r\nAll pictures are subject to copyright','2022-06-01','',0,1),(262,'French company to face charges of complicity in human rights violations. ','BBC News','Politics',1,61,'https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/business/lafarge-human-rights-violations.html','By Liz Alderman','Lafarge faces a court battle over allegations that it put employees at risk and financed terrorist groups in a bid to keep operating in Syria.\r\n\r\nA production site of French cement manufacturer Lafarge in Paris. The company faces a lengthy legal battle over its operations in Syria.\r\n\r\nBy Liz Alderman\r\n			May 18, 2022\r\n\r\nA French court issued a precedent-setting ruling Wednesday that will allow Lafarge, one of France’s biggest companies, to be charged with aiding and abetting crimes against humanity after it was accused of financing terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, while operating in Syria during the country’s bloody civil war.\r\nThe ruling by the Paris Appeals Court against Lafarge, a global cement maker, is the first time that a company, as a legal entity, has been indicted in France for complicity in human rights violations. The judgement sets the stage for a lengthy legal battle in a scandal involving high-level corporate officials that came to be known in France as “l’affaire Lafarge.”\r\nA French judicial investigation found that between 2012 and 2014, the company, through its Syrian subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria, paid up to 13 million euros (about $17.5 million at the time) to various armed groups, including the Islamic State. The subsidiary made these payments in order to keep its cement factory in northeastern Syria running despite the ongoing war and kidnappings and the security threats faced by its employees, according to the investigation.\r\nA New York Times inquiry showed that Lafarge paid intermediaries who were suspected of funnelling payments to armed groups, and eventually the Islamic State, in a bid to allow the factory and its employees to continue operating without interference.\r\n\r\nEight former company executives, including two former chief executives, were indicted in 2018 on charges of financing terrorism and putting the lives of their workers in Syria at risk. All of those officials resigned, and the company merged with the Swiss cement giant Holcim in 2015.\r\nIf found guilty of that charge, the former officials could face penalties of up to 10 years in prison.\r\n\r\nThe penalties for a company found aiding and abetting crimes against humanity were not immediately clear.\r\nHolcim did not comment immediately after the ruling Wednesday. The company has said it had nothing to do with the acts of former Lafarge executives and that the events described by the judicial investigation were hidden from Holcim during the merger and the legal audit that preceded it.\r\nThe lawsuit was brought on behalf of 11 Syrian former employees by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and Sherpa, a French anticorruption organization that pursues humanitarian abuses by corporations. The employees, in the lawsuit, claim that the company ignored the dangers they faced and pressured them to keep working even as the civil war waged around them.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe Paris Appeals Court ruled last year that Lafarge could not be charged with complicity in crimes against humanity. But after France’s highest court, the Cour de cassation, ordered the appeals court to review its judgment, the lower court reversed course on Wednesday.\r\n\r\n\r\nFrench judicial investigators said that while Lafarge evacuated top-level executives running the plant, it kept Syrian employees on site, partly in hopes of maintaining business for the eventual rebuilding of Syria after the war.\r\nBut in 2014, as the fighting moved closer to the plant, which was located on Syria’s northern border with Turkey, a number of employees said they were forced to flee the factory just before the Islamic State attacked it. The factory was subsequently shut down and converted into a strategic base for the United States military until Washington withdrew its forces from Syria in 2019.\r\nThe lawsuit underscores the costs and complexity of doing business in war-torn regions, a challenge faced by companies around the world, especially those in the energy and industrial sectors. In the case of Lafarge, those trade-offs left it exposed to a French criminal investigation and claims by employees that the company ignored the dangers they faced.\r\n“This ruling should be a strong wake-up call for companies doing business in conflict zones,” said Cannelle Lavite, co-director of the business and human rights program at European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. “If they enable or fuel crimes — even if they only pursue commercial purposes — they might be complicit and should be held accountable,” she said.\r\nThe case could take months or even years to go to trial. All of the former Lafarge executives have denied the charges against them\r\n','2022-05-18','',0,1),(263,'What will (likely) be included in France’s July spending power law','The Connexion','Politics',1,62,'https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/What-will-likely-be-included-in-France-s-July-spending-power-law','By Thomas Brent','The government is aiming to bring in measures such as food vouchers and rent caps to ease the rising cost of living\r\n28 June 2022 12:15\r\n\r\nThe government faces difficulties in getting their spending power bill through parliament without heavy amendments after the legislative elections earlier this month resulted in a hung parliament for President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling coalition. \r\nRent control and housing aid\r\nFrench finance minister Bruno Le Maire confirmed yesterday (June 27) that the government is aiming to cap rent price increases at 3.5% for a one-year period. This will be done by limiting the indice de référence des loyers (rent reference index), a scale to which rent increases are calibrated. \r\nMr Le Maire, who is calling the price cap a “bouclier loyer” (rent shield), said that without intervention rent prices could rise by “five to six percent”. \r\nFrance’s national housing body the Conseil national de l\'habitat has backed this proposition.\r\nThe government is also aiming to increase housing aids, known as aides personnalisées au logement (APL), by 3.5% from July 1, subject to parliamentary approval. \r\n\r\nFood voucher\r\nAnother measure that will be tabled separately to the spending power bill is a possible food voucher (chèque alimentaire). \r\nFinal details on this have not been confirmed but it is expected that the voucher will be worth €100 plus €50 for every child in the household. \r\nIt will be given to those receiving benefits such as the back-to-work support called the revenu de solidarité active (RSA), disability benefits called the allocation adultes handicapés (AAH), the pension top-up support commonly called the minimum vieillesse (ASPA) and the housing support aide personnalisée au logement (APL). \r\nAround nine million households should benefit from the food vouchers, the Journal du Dimanche reported. \r\nThe money will be paid directly into eligible people’s accounts from September, assuming the bill is approved in parliament. \r\n\r\nFrance previously offered a €100 inflation-compensation voucher to everyone earning under €2,000. That wider payment, announced in October last year, was to counteract rising fuel costs. Around 38 million people received the voucher. \r\n\r\nEarlier this month, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced that the energy price cap will be extended to the end of this year.\r\nThe bouclier tarifaire, first introduced in November last year, froze gas prices at October 2021 rates and also limited electricity prices from increasing by more than 4%. The measure was supposed to end on June 30 but has now been extended. \r\n\r\nThe government announced today that the salaries of civil servants, including teachers, will increase by 3.5% on July 1.\r\n“This is the biggest rise since 1985,” a spokesperson for Minister of Public Transformation and Service Stanislas Guerini said. “To this, we may add the automatic individual increases, which average 1.5% per year. \r\n“Today, we have 700,000 civil servants on minimum wage. With this measure, there will no longer be any.” \r\n\r\nThis announcement has not satisfied certain public sector unions, with the CGT calling for a “10% minimum” pay rise applied retroactively from January 1.\r\n“We estimate that spending power has fallen by 10-11% since 2010, and we continue to lose it” said Céline Verzeletti, the CGT’s confederal secretary.\r\nGeneral civil servant salaries have not been put up since February 2017, and have only risen by 1.2% since 2010.\r\n\r\nTransport allowance to increase\r\nThe transport allowance (prime transport) allows employers to cover part of the cost of the fuel used for work-related driving. It was previously only given to people working outside of Ile-de-France but will now be opened up to everyone. \r\nThe government is planning to increase the upper limit of the amount that employers can give out for this bonus from €200 to €400, AFP reported.  \r\nAdditionally, staff will be able to combine this bonus with a public transport allowance that allows up to 50% of their costs to be covered. \r\n','2022-06-28','',0,1),(264,'June 2022: a record-breaking month for weather in France','The Connexion','Society',4,62,'https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/June-2022-a-record-breaking-month-for-weather-in-France','By Emma Morgan','June 2022: a record-breaking month for weather in France\r\nSome seven departments are still under orange storm alerts this morning, as a month of hot temperatures and record lightning strikes draws to a close\r\n\r\n24 June 2022 10:30\r\n\r\nBy Emma Morgan\r\nThis month of June has seen various weather records broken in France, from temperature highs to lightning strike counts. \r\nDuring the heatwave earlier this month, and its highs of 39-40C, 11 heat records were broken: on June 16, for example, Niort (Deux-Sèvres) saw temperatures of 40.1C, while Saintes (Charente-Maritime) saw 40.2C and Rochefort (also in Charente-Maritime) 40.6C.\r\nEqually, on Saturday June 18, Météo France noted \"peaks close to 42-43°C\" in the Southwest with 42,9°C in Biarritz (Nouvelle-Aquitaine).\r\nSince 2000, extreme heat episodes have been growing more common in France: for 117 of the country’s 145 weather stations, the hottest temperature ever recorded has been in the last 20 years.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nJune 2022 has also seen the highest number of lightning strikes in France for the month since records began in 1989, with 190,000 recorded since June 1.\r\nThis is over 17,000 more than the previous record of 172,600 in June 1993, which just topped June 2021 and its 170,000 strikes. \r\nThe most lightning strikes ever recorded fell in July 2006, when there were 370,000.\r\nJune’s high instance of lightning strikes does not necessarily augur a stormy summer ahead. \r\nMétéo France forecaster Frédéric Nathan told Ouest France that: “It depends on the year, on the month [...] With climate change, there will potentially be more big hail storms, but we cannot be sure.” \r\nHowever, heatwaves will become more common as global warming continues, and the mass of hot air that they bring with them is particularly conducive to storms. \r\n“Cumulonimbus clouds form because of the difference between the ground temperature and the temperature at altitude. The bigger the difference, the more violent the storm,” Mr Nathan said. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n“For several days, we have had all the ingredients for storms. \r\n“The hot air has been stored up during the heatwave and the cold air of higher in the sky is moving over France. There are therefore hailstones, heavy rainfall, lightning and violent gusts of wind.” \r\nSome seven French departments remain under orange storm alerts today (June 24). These are: Aveyron, Tarn, Ardèche, Drôme, Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie.\r\nA further 79 departments are on yellow warnings for storms and floods. \r\n\r\nYesterday’s stormy weather brought the equivalent of a month of rain down over the city of Auxerre (Yonne) in just one hour yesterday evening (June 23), provoking flash floods in the streets and submerging cellars in water. \r\nThe episode lasted for one hour but saw firefighters called out to 100 incidents, fire and rescue crew deputy director Christophe Guichard-Nihou told BFMTV.\r\n“The street was more than a stream, it was a river,” a local resident said, adding that the storm was “very very impressive, it was banging on the windows.” \r\nAround 1,000 homes lost power around Auxerre, but the issue was resolved for most over the course of the evening.\r\n','2022-06-24','',0,1),(265,'Paris attacks: Survivors who found friendship in marathon terror trial','BBC News','Society',4,62,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61967284','By Lucy Williamson','They call themselves the \"potages\" - a mash-up of the French words for buddies and hostages.\r\nA unique friendship group, forged in the shared experience of being caught up in France\'s worst peace-time attack six years ago, when Islamist jihadists killed 130 people at locations across Paris, including bars, restaurants, the national football stadium and the Bataclan concert hall.\r\nLater on Wednesday, some of the potages will file into a specially built courtroom in Paris, to hear verdicts handed down to 20 men accused of involvement in those attacks in November 2015.\r\nIt is the end of a marathon nine-month process that has left its mark on France.\r\n\"The end of the trial is going to mark a new beginning,\" one of the potages, David Fritz Goeppinger, told me. \"I\'m not sure how to feel about it.\"\r\nFor him, the most important part of the trial was the testimony of hundreds of victims, including his own.\r\n\"For the first time, justice heard us [and] something shifted,\" he said. \"I shared some details that I never shared in my book, or with my wife. I needed to share the entirety of what happened.\"\r\n\r\nDavid, a photographer, was one of the last hostages to escape the Bataclan that night. He\'s spent most of the past year taking portraits of victims, police officers, even the former French president, François Hollande, as they turned up to testify at court.\r\n\"For me, it was very, very important not to be passive,\" he said. \"As a victim, going through nine months of the trial, with all that psychological pain, I needed to take the bull by the horns.\"\r\n\r\nOne of the witnesses David photographed at court was his friend, Arthur Dénouveaux, who escaped from the Bataclan shortly after the gunmen entered, and now heads the victims support group Life for Paris.\r\n\"I feel relieved that the trial existed,\" Arthur told me. \"I found some answers. But more than that, I feel a bit disgusted about November 13th, in a sense that we\'ve gone into so much detail that now I\'m not really interested in talking about it anymore - and I think that\'s the best part.\"\r\nAs well as the victims themselves, David has taken portraits of defence lawyers, victims\' lawyers, court reporters, expert witnesses, and a member of the band that was playing in the Bataclan on the night of the attacks.\r\n\r\nThe one group he has never asked to photograph is the defendants themselves.\r\nThe key defendant in this trial is Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the only surviving attacker from the night. Prosecutors have requested life in prison without parole for him, and two others.\r\n\"I had only ever seen him on TV and suddenly there he was, in real life,\" David said. \"I remember telling myself, \'Oh, I\'m bigger than him.\'\"\r\nIn his closing statement this week, Salah Abdeslam apologised to victims and said his thinking had \"evolved\" since he first stridently introduced himself to the court as a soldier for the so-called Islamic State group at the start of the trial.\r\n\"I made mistakes, it\'s true,\" he said in his closing remarks to the judges. \"But I\'m not a murderer, I\'m not a killer - and if you convict me, you will be committing an injustice.\"\r\n\"It was very brutal, hearing [Salah Abdeslam] say to the court that he was a soldier [of Islamic State],\" David said, \"I thought about taking a picture of him, but I don\'t know if it\'s my place to do that. I can\'t be the victim and also the photographer.\"\r\n\r\nThe shift between observer and participant has sometimes been a difficult one for David.\r\nLast October, the court played a previously unheard audio recording of one of three attackers inside the Bataclan concert hall.\r\n\"The first who gets up, I shoot. The first one who moves, I put a bullet in his head. Is that clear? Whoever tries to be a vigilante, I will kill him. Is that understood?\"\r\nThe sound recorder was meant to capture the atmosphere of the concert. Instead, it recorded David\'s exchange with one of the gunmen as they took him and a dozen others hostage.\r\nHearing the recording in court \"changed everything\", David said. \"Because [in that moment] it wasn\'t just me talking to the terrorist: justice was listening, and the court was listening. It created a tunnel from the Bataclan attack that night to today, and for me that was the most healing experience of all.\"\r\nGetting the court to agree to play the tape was a months-long battle, led by his friend Arthur Dénouveaux.\r\n\"We had psychiatrists saying, \'I\'m not sure it\'s a good idea.\' We had lawyers worrying about consequences. We had the court saying, \'maybe it\'ll be too traumatic\',\" Arthur told me. \"And we were saying we can do this. We know what we want.\"\r\nOn the day the audio was played, Arthur says, more victims came to court than during Salah Abdeslam\'s testimony.\r\n\"It proved we were right,\" he says.\r\nOf all the hundreds of portraits that David has taken throughout the trial, his favourite is a group shot of the potages. Seven men and women, who met as hostages, bundled into the upper corridors of the Bataclan, unsure whether they would ever make it out alive.\r\nDavid himself is in the picture, on the far-left-hand side.\r\n\"The trial has brought home to me that the friendships I\'ve grown in the last six years came from something painful,\" he said.\r\nI ask how his life will be different once the trial is over, and the verdicts are out.\r\n\"Technically nothing will change,\" he told me. \"But in our minds, we\'ll remember that we went through those nine months together. And for the first time, we\'ll know that we are not alone.\"\r\n','2022-06-29','',0,1),(266,'€50million Notre-Dame Cathedral landscaping project approved in Paris','The Connexion','Art & Culture',7,62,'https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/50million-Notre-Dame-Cathedral-landscaping-project-approved-in-Paris ','By Hannah Thompson','€50million Notre-Dame Cathedral landscaping project approved in Paris\r\nThe plans will increase the green space by 36% and aim to make the area more comfortable for visitors during hot weather\r\n28 June 2022 15:05 \r\nBy Hannah Thompson\r\nA €50million project for the redevelopment of the square in front of the Notre-Dame cathedral has been approved in Paris.\r\nThe plans will aim to increase vegetation and improve the appearance of the façade, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed on June 27. \r\nA team by Brussels architecture and landscape group Bas Smets has been contracted for the project. The company will also work with the architectural and urban planning firm GRAU and the architectural firm Neufville-Gayet.\r\nThe project is set to be completed by 2027, but visitors will be able to access the area, as it grows, from 2024.\r\nThis coincides with the work being done to restore the cathedral after the devastating fire of April 2019, which destroyed its spire and much of its roof.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIt is being funded entirely by the Ville de Paris council.\r\nThe team was chosen by the jury chaired by the Mayor of Paris, together with representatives of the public establishment in charge of Notre-Dame (EPRNDP) and the Diocese of Paris.\r\nThe plans are set to include long stretches of land with trees, to offer shade to visitors in hot weather. A total of 131 new trees will be planted, and “no tree will be felled” in the project, which will increase the area’s green space by 36%, the mayor’s office said.\r\nMs Hidalgo tweeted: “The Seine and the environment have a major place in our project by the Bas Smets team, chosen by the jury. All the better to highlight our beautiful cathedral and show it off, while respecting its history.”\r\n\r\nPart of the plans aim to face up to climate change and intense heat. There are even plans to offer a cool space for visitors with technology designed to enable water run-off on the forecourt.\r\nA lawn behind the cathedral will also offer a good view of the architectural elements and stained glass windows of the gothic building. \r\n\r\nAriel Weil, mayor of the Paris Centre sector, said: \"The link between the forecourt and the Seine has been created with great finesse.”\r\nThere will be a remodelled visitors’ car park on the underground level, plus an interior pathway that will lead to the crypt, and will open onto a riverside Seine walkway.\r\nThe Bas Smets team is already known as a rising star within the fields of architecture and urban garden design, having created the Parc des Ateliers around the Luma tower in Arles, and the future redeveloper of the centre of Brussels.\r\n','2022-06-28','',0,1),(267,'Airbnb permanently bans parties and events around the world','BBC News','Politics',1,62,'https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61976350','By Annabelle Liang','Airbnb permanently bans parties and events around the world\r\nBy Annabelle Liang\r\nBusiness reporter\r\n			\r\nAirbnb has permanently banned parties and events at homes on its platform, after a temporary measure during the pandemic proved popular with hosts.\r\nThe firm says the rule has become \"much more than a public health measure\" since it was introduced in August 2020.\r\n\"It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our hosts and their neighbours,\" the San Francisco-headquartered firm said.\r\nHowever, it also removed a limit on how many people can stay at homes.\r\nAirbnb said in a statement that the number of complaints about parties dropped by 44% since the measure was first introduced.\r\nExceptions to the global ban may be made for \"specialty and traditional hospitality venues\" in the future, it added.\r\nAirbnb also said it would remove a limit on the number of people its listings are allowed to accommodate at any one time.\r\nIt previously imposed a 16 person limit to occupants because of concerns over the spread of Covid-19.\r\nThe firm said \"several types of larger homes are capable of comfortably and safely housing more than 16 people - from castles in Europe to vineyards in the US to large beachfront villas in the Caribbean\".\r\n\"Removing this cap is meant to allow those hosts to responsibly utilise the space in their homes while still complying with our ban on disruptive parties,\" it said.\r\nThe company started putting restrictions on parties in 2019. It banned \"open-invite\" parties and so-called \"chronic party houses\" that were a nuisance to neighbours.\r\nDuring the pandemic, Airbnb introduced an indefinite ban on parties \"in the best interest of public health\".\r\nMore than 6,600 guests had also been suspended from using the platform last year for breaking the rules.\r\n\"This new and long-term policy was enacted to help encourage and support community safety,\" Airbnb said.\r\n\"We look forward to sharing updates in the coming weeks and months on our efforts to complement our community policies on parties,\" it added.\r\n\r\n','2022-06-28','',0,1),(273,'Do non-residents pay more French tax on second homes than residents?','The Connexion','Business & Economy',3,64,'https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/Practical/Your-Questions/Money/Do-non-residents-pay-more-French-tax-on-second-homes-than-residents','By Hugh Macdonald','Do non-residents pay more French tax on second homes than residents?\r\nSince Brexit there can be an additional expense for Britons - the fees for a fiscal representative to calculate capital gains tax when you sell. This has been the case for other non-EU citizens for some time\r\n\r\n3 September 2022 09:31\r\n\r\nResident or non-resident, the tax on second homes remains the same \r\n\r\nBy Hugh Macdonald\r\nReader Question: We are UK residents intending to buy a holiday home in France. Am I right that recent French legislation means taxes we face as non-residents (eg. taxe foncière) are stiffer than before? Are they the same as for French residents with a holiday home?\r\n\r\nProperty taxes are the same in buying a second home whether resident or non-resident, and this has not changed. The only French residence of a person with their main domicile in the UK is still considered a second home. \r\n\r\nIn terms of property taxes, the French resident and the non-French resident are liable to pay both taxe foncière and taxe d’habitation. \r\n\r\nUnder recent changes, French residents are mostly exempt from paying taxe d’habitation, but only on their principal private residence. \r\n\r\nLocal councils set the rates of both taxes, which in some areas include an additional surcharge on taxe d’habitation on second homes. This has applied for several years. \r\n\r\n\r\nAnother factor affecting the amount to be paid is the theoretical rental value of the property, called valeur locative cadastrale. MPs usually vote annually to increase this, related to rises in the cost of living. Other factors, including an extension to the home, can also affect this. \r\n\r\nA general revision of the values has long been proposed but has now been put off to 2026. \r\n\r\nThe amount of each of these taxes will vary across France for a similar property, but when buying a property, you should be informed in the sale details of the amount of the taxe foncière, and you can also request to know the amount of the taxe d’habitation. \r\n\r\nShould you rent out your property, UK tax residents must declare the income first in France, where non-residents are liable to a flat rate of income tax (usually 20%), which is then used as a credit against income tax liability in the UK when declaring the taxable French rental income figure. \r\n\r\nAlso due will be social charges, which should be only 7.5% – or 17.2% if you are not liable to social security in the UK. \r\n\r\nSince Brexit, in the event of selling a property for more than €150,000, one additional expense is the requirement to use a French fiscal representative to calculate the capital gains tax liability, costing around 0.5% of the sale price. This fee is deductible from the taxable gain.','2022-09-03','',0,1),(274,'Explainer: How does France’s two-year guarantee on all products work?','The Connexion','Business & Economy',3,64,'https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/Practical/Everyday-Life/Explainer-How-does-France-s-two-year-guarantee-on-all-products-work','By Thomas Brent','Explainer: How does France’s two-year guarantee on all products work?\r\nWe explain the garantie légale de conformité, which offers protection to consumers who have bought faulty or misleading products\r\n\r\n2 September 2022 13:12\r\n\r\nAll new products sold in France are guaranteed for two years Pic: Reshetnikov_art / Shutterstock\r\n\r\nBy Thomas Brent\r\nAll products sold in France - including digital subscriptions - are guaranteed by a protection called the garantie légale de conformité.\r\n\r\nThis guarantee is two years for all new products and, since January this year, one year for all second-hand products. This guarantee must be mentioned on all shop receipts.\r\n\r\nIt means that if, for example, you buy a new iPad but discover on delivery that it has a fault, is the wrong colour or does not match the general description provided by the seller, you can return it to the shop and you are fully covered. \r\n\r\nThe guarantee also applies to products whose packaging or instructions are damaged or any other issues that mean the product does not work as you expected it to. \r\n\r\nIn also applies to digital services, for example a subscription to a digital platform, purchase of an online video game, rental of an online film, etc. \r\n\r\n\r\nThis guarantee does not cover private sales between individuals. It does, though, apply to all products bought within the European Union. \r\n\r\nThis is not the same as a commercial guarantee that a shop may offer. To continue the iPad example, the seller at the shop at which you buy it may offer you to buy a guarantee provided by the shop. \r\n\r\nBe careful to assess whether you actually need this. Obviously if it only covers the product you are buying for two years under the same conditions as the garantie légale de conformité, you most probably do not. \r\n\r\nHow does the garantie légale de conformité work?\r\nThe responsibility falls to the seller so if you have a problem then you should notify the shop where you bought the item. You can either go in-person and present the receipt or you can write a letter outlining the issue(s). \r\n\r\nThe shop can contest your judgement if they think that you yourself damaged the product. If they do, you can ask for help from a consumer association such as UFC-Que Choisir or 60 Millions de Consommateurs. \r\n\r\nThe final recourse is to take legal action, which is free when it comes to items bought for under €5,000.  \r\n\r\nSix-month extension after repairs\r\nAs part of the garantie légale de conformité, if you have to get a product repaired within the first two years of buying it you get an extra six months added to your guarantee. \r\n\r\n\r\nFor example, you buy an iPad but it breaks after a year so you take it back to be repaired. The garantie légale de conformité on the iPad will then last for another 18 months, instead of 12. \r\n\r\nIf the product cannot be repaired and the shop offers you a replacement, then that product comes with a new garantie légale de conformité that will last for a further two years. ','2022-09-02','',0,1),(275,'How Pakistan floods are linked to climate change','BBC NEWS','Society',4,64,'https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62758811','By Georgina Rannard BBC News Climate and Science  ','The devastating floods in Pakistan are a \"wake-up call\" to the world on the threats of climate change, experts have said.\r\n\r\nThe record-breaking rain would devastate any country, not just poorer nations, one climate scientist has told BBC News.\r\n\r\nThe human impacts are clear - another 2,000 people were rescued from floodwaters on Friday, while ministers warn of food shortages after almost half the country\'s crops were washed away.\r\n\r\nA sense of injustice is keenly felt in the country. Pakistan contributes less than 1% of the global greenhouse gases that warm our planet but its geography makes it extremely vulnerable to climate change.\r\n\r\n\"Literally, one-third of Pakistan is underwater right now, which has exceeded every boundary, every norm we\'ve seen in the past,\" Climate minister Sherry Rehman said this week.\r\n\r\nPakistan is located at a place on the globe which bears the brunt of two major weather systems. One can cause high temperatures and drought, like the heatwave in March, and the other brings monsoon rains.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe majority of Pakistan\'s population live along the Indus river, which swells and can flood during monsoon rains.\r\n\r\nThe science linking climate change and more intense monsoons is quite simple. Global warming is making air and sea temperatures rise, leading to more evaporation. Warmer air can hold more moisture, making monsoon rainfall more intense.\r\n\r\nScientists predict that the average rainfall in the Indian summer monsoon season will increase due to climate change, explains Anja Katzenberger at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.\r\n\r\nBut Pakistan has something else making it susceptible to climate change effects - its immense glaciers.\r\n\r\nThe northern region is sometimes referred to as the \'third pole\' - it contains more glacial ice than anywhere in the world outside of the polar regions.\r\n\r\nGlacial ice in Pakistan\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nAs the world warms, glacial ice is melting. Glaciers in Pakistan\'s Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions are melting rapidly, creating more than 3,000 lakes, the the UN Development Programme told BBC News. Around 33 of these are at risk of sudden bursting, which could unleash millions of cubic meters of water and debris, putting 7 million people at risk.\r\n\r\nMap and photos show extent of Pakistan floods\r\nWorld\'s glaciers melting at faster rate\r\nClimate change swells odds of Pakistan heatwave\r\nPakistan\'s government and the UN are attempting to reduce the risks of these sudden outburst floods by installing early-warning systems and protective infrastructure.\r\n\r\nIn the past poorer countries with weaker flood defences or lower-quality housing have been less able to cope with extreme rainfall.\r\n\r\nA bridge damaged by a glacial lake outburst\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nImage caption,\r\nGlacial lake outbursts are already damaging infrastructure\r\nBut climate impact scientist Fahad Saeed told BBC News that even a rich nation would be overwhelmed by the catastrophic flooding this summer.\r\n\r\n\"This is a different type of animal - the scale of the floods is so high and the rain is so extreme, that even very robust defences would struggle,\" Dr Saeed explains from Islamabad, Pakistan.\r\n\r\nHe points to the flooding in Germany and Belgium that killed dozens of people in 2021.\r\n\r\nPakistan received nearly 190% more rain than its 30-year average from June to August - reaching a total of 390.7mm.\r\n\r\nHe says that Pakistan\'s meteorological service did a \"reasonable\" job in warning people in advance about flooding. And the country does have some flood defences but they could be improved, he says.\r\n\r\nPeople with the smallest carbon footprints are suffering the most, Dr Saeed says.\r\n\r\n\"The victims are living in mud homes with hardly any resources - they have contributed virtually nothing to climate change,\" he says.\r\n\r\nThe flooding has affected areas that don\'t normally see this type of rain, including southern regions Singh and Balochistan that are normally arid or semi-arid.\r\n\r\nSingh province awaits more devastation\r\nYusuf Baluch, a 17-year-old climate activist from Balochistan, says that inequality in the country is making the problem worse. He remembers his own family home being washed away by flooding when he was six years old.\r\n\r\n\"People living in cities and from more privileged backgrounds are least affected by the flooding,\" he explains.\r\n\r\n\"People have the right to be angry. Companies are still extracting fossil fuels from Balochistan, but people there have just lost their homes and have no food or shelter,\" he says. He believes the government is failing to support communities there.\r\n\r\nDr Saeed says the floods are \"absolutely a wake-up call\" to governments globally who promised to tackle climate change at successive UN climate conferences.\r\n\r\n\"All of this is happening when the world has warmed by 1.2C - any more warming than that is a death sentence for many people in Pakistan,\" he adds.','2022-09-02','',0,1),(276,'The French ‘finishing school’ educating the far-right leaders of tomorrow','CNN','Society',4,64,'https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/04/europe/france-far-right-school-intl-cmd/index.html','By Renee Bertini, CNN','Paris\r\nCNN\r\n — \r\nThe first time he walked through the doors of the Institut de Formation Politique (IFP), French student Jacques Smith noticed the cozy atmosphere and the elite feel of the place – but mainly, that he was “surrounded by right-wing people and right-wing lecturers,” he told CNN.\r\n\r\nAs an overtly right-wing student, Smith felt it was hard to find his place at the university he attended – Nanterre University, just outside Paris – which he perceived as “very, very on the left” – so he joined the Union Nationale Interuniversitaire (UNI), the right-wing national student union. It was during those early days of his studies that one of his mentors at UNI suggested he should consider training at IFP.\r\n\r\nOffering practical and theoretical classes in journalism, politics and business, IFP has become something of a “finishing school” for right-leaning youth in France. Having fostered networks and community for a new, politically minded class of right-wing – or even far-right – activists and professionals, the school has trained alumni who are sitting MPs, are organizing electoral campaigns, speaking on CNEWS – France’s equivalent of Fox News – or even working as far-right influencers on social media.\r\n\r\nIn a year when France’s far-right had its best-ever electoral results, IFP’s role as a nursery for its political class is more important than ever.\r\n\r\n“The aim of IFP is very clear to me,” said Smith. “It’s to shape right-wing youth to create a new generation ready to take on the challenges of the country.”\r\n\r\nIt’s already seen success in that. According to the school’s director, IFP has trained more than 2,200 students since it opened in 2004, and about 40% of them now have responsibilities in political settings.\r\n\r\nOf some 50 members of the close entourage of far-right pundit and former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, identified by French daily Le Monde, at least one-fifth have ties with IFP – as former students, instructors, speakers, financial supporters or admirers.\r\n\r\n“We try to maximize their chances of having high-responsibility positions,” said Alexandre Pesey, director and co-founder of the institute, in an interview with CNN.\r\n\r\nFar-right pundit and politician Eric Zemmour, center, delivers a speech following the first round of voting in France\'s parliamentary elections, in Cogolin, on June 12, 2022.\r\nFar-right pundit and politician Eric Zemmour, center, delivers a speech following the first round of voting in France\'s parliamentary elections, in Cogolin, on June 12, 2022.\r\nVALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images\r\nProviding an ‘ideological backbone’\r\nFresh from his own studies, in 2004, Pesey decided to create the school with two colleagues. The trio felt like they were missing “a place for involved young people (…) who are attached to their country, their history, their culture and identity,” he said.\r\n\r\nThe director prefers not to politically qualify the education the school provides, but he admitted “on a scale from left to right, clearly, it’s quite on the right.”\r\n\r\nSome of its seminars are titled: “A lawyer faces the Islamist menace”; “Preserving our freedom of speech, a challenge of our times”; “The values of the right”; “Gender, Veganism, Nativism: decrypting the semantics of the left.”\r\n\r\nStudents can follow a core curriculum of seminars or get specific training in journalism, politics or entrepreneurship. Classes are held in person either in the evening or over the weekend, to fit with the students’ university or work schedules. They pay a fee to attend IFP but may get scholarships from school donors.\r\n\r\nIFP does not offer state-recognized qualifications or diplomas, so most students attend alongside formal university studies. “I see it as something extra to complete my education,” said Smith. “It’s given me the ideological backbone of the right.”\r\n\r\nNetworking opportunities\r\n“Beyond the intellectual and practical dimensions of their formation, there is a networking dimension,” said Pesey. The links students form are both horizontal – amongst their peers – and vertical – with guest speakers, mentors and like-minded professionals.\r\n\r\n“There are things that were created because people met at IFP,” said Samuel Lafont, 34. “It gives people concrete ideas.” Lafont was one of the early students of IFP, having first followed the school’s seminars in 2009. Today, he is mostly known for his role as digital strategist for Zemmour’s electoral campaign.\r\n\r\nHe was also one of the minds behind the “Manif pour tous” (Demonstration for all) movement, which organized protests against gay marriage in 2012 and 2013. He described it as a key moment when a lot of far-right and conservative youth groups came together and started connecting, both in person, and through online activism.\r\n\r\nSupporters of the anti-gay marriage movement \"La Manif pour tous\" (Demonstration for all) wave flags in front of the Eiffel Tower during a mass protest on May 26, 2013 in Paris against a gay marriage law.\r\nSupporters of the anti-gay marriage movement \"La Manif pour tous\" (Demonstration for all) wave flags in front of the Eiffel Tower during a mass protest on May 26, 2013 in Paris against a gay marriage law.\r\nFRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images\r\nThe high-flying contacts on offer at IFP might include media entrepreneurs, magistrates, MPs, or directors of prestigious research programs.\r\n\r\nIt’s a powerful opportunity. “I know that if I ever need to switch jobs (…) there are plenty of people that I know through IFP that I can call,” said Smith.\r\n\r\nTeaching against the current\r\nSchools like the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, or École Nationale d’Administration (now Institut National du Service Public) – the selective “grandes écoles” of France – are historical institutions, considered an express ticket to top-flight careers in the country.\r\n\r\nA voter casts his vote at a polling station during the French parliamentary elections in Saint-Savin, south-western France, on June 12, 2022. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP) (Photo by THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP via Getty Images)\r\nFrench parliamentary elections overshadowed by low turnout\r\nHowever, for many on the right, they represent the mainstreaming of leftist teaching – and some are disparaging of what they offer.\r\n\r\n“It’s a lot freer at IFP,” Lafont told CNN. “Sciences Po really just teaches you a one-track way of thinking, it’s very mainstream, some things you can say and some you cannot,” he added.\r\n\r\nZemmour, who came in fourth in the first round of voting in the presidential election, has called IFP the “counter-Sciences Po,” underlining the reactionary nature of the kind of teaching it provides.\r\n\r\n“The idea had sprouted in the right that one of the reasons for their political defeat was the absence of an elite of intellectually formed executives,” said researcher and far-right expert Jean-Yves Camus, “and that the cause of this absence was that even if you enter university as a right-winger, you are shaped by a dominant teaching that is oriented to the left.”\r\n\r\nIFP alumnus Alice Cordier, pictured in 2021, is the president and founder of the far-right feminist group \"Collectif Némésis.\"\r\nIFP alumnus Alice Cordier, pictured in 2021, is the president and founder of the far-right feminist group \"Collectif Némésis.\"\r\nDaniel Derajinski/Hans Lucas/Reuters\r\n“Today, the right faces a certain censorship,” said Alice Cordier, 24, an IFP alum and now instructor. “We see woke ideology and other extreme ideologies that aim to censor people who think like me.” IFP advised her as she was laying the foundations of what is now the far-right feminist and anti-immigration group “Collectif Némésis,” with chapters all over France and in Switzerland.\r\n\r\nIFP, on the other hand, “facilitates the creation of ties between politicians and young people, something which, on the right, is not necessarily very developed,” said Cordier. Moreover, IFP encourages students to be more ambitious by showing them they “all have a role to play, no matter our status,” she said.\r\n\r\nCurrently, the right is the majority in France, said Camus, but “nevertheless I have the impression that they still feel as if they are the minority.” This may have played into IFP’s creation, he added.\r\n\r\nRight-wing politicians of tomorrow\r\nWhile some analysts are reluctant to credit IFP with any impact on French politics, the presence of its alumni in the political scene speaks volumes. Chief among them is perhaps Zemmour’s digital strategist Lafont, along with some 20% of Zemmour’s inner circle around election time – as identified by Le Monde – with links to IFP. Twenty-three-year-old IFP alum Stanislas Rigault founded the youth wing of Zemmour’s campaign, Génération Z.\r\n\r\nZemmour’s closest team members even called IFP directly to recruit young people trained there in the runup to the presidential race, according to the student Jacques Smith. “I think during the launch of Zemmour’s campaign, IFP was at the center of the game,” he said.\r\n\r\nMarion Maréchal, the niece and potential successor of far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and former member of the French National Assembly, has even created her own school modeled on IFP, in Lyon.\r\n\r\nLafont and Cordier agree that a lot of what makes a school relevant in France is the power its name holds. They acknowledge that the “grandes écoles” so despised by the right still hold great power in the job market and political arena. “If you are in a good school you can relax,” said Lafont.\r\n\r\nHowever, they say that the IFP brand now carries the same weight in French right-wing circles.\r\n\r\n“It’s the best school that presently exists for truly educating oneself about themes that are important to the right,” Cordier told CNN. She often sends young women from her collective to follow seminars at the school.\r\n\r\nThe school says demand for places outstrips supply.\r\n\r\n“The right-wing politicians of tomorrow will all have gone through IFP,” said Cordier. “Of that I am almost certain.”','2022-09-04','',0,1),(277,'‘Serious problem’ if France and UK can’t tell if they’re friends or enemies, says Macron','The Guardian','Politics',1,64,'https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/26/serious-problem-if-france-and-uk-cant-tell-if-they-are-friends-or-enemies-says-macron-liz-truss','Jon Henley Europe correspondent','Serious problem’ if France and UK can’t tell if they’re friends or enemies, says Macron\r\nFrench president responds to ‘jury’s out’ comments by Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss about key ally\r\n\r\nMacron and Truss\r\n00:38\r\nMacron responds to Truss saying \'jury\'s out\' on whether French president is friend or foe – video\r\nJon Henley Europe correspondent\r\n@jonhenley\r\nFri 26 Aug 2022 11.50 BST\r\nFrance and Britain would be facing “serious problems” if they could not say whether they were friends or enemies, Emmanuel Macron has said, insisting that for Paris the UK would always be an ally no matter who was running it.\r\n\r\nThe comments came after Liz Truss, the clear favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister, told the penultimate Conservative leadership hustings on Thursday that “the jury is still out” on whether the French president was “friend or foe”.\r\n\r\nAsked for his response, Macron, on an official visit to Algeria, said it was “not good to lose your bearings too much”. If he was asked the same question, he said: “I wouldn’t hesitate for a second. France is a friend of the British people.”\r\n\r\nIf France and Britain “cannot say whether they are friends or enemies – and that is not a neutral term – then we are headed for serious problems”, the French president said.\r\n\r\nTruss told the hustings in Norfolk that as prime minister, she would judge Macron by “deeds, not words”. Macron said the UK remained “a friendly nation” and strong ally for France “regardless of its leaders, and sometimes in spite of its leaders and whatever little mistakes they may make in a speech from a soapbox”.\r\n\r\nLiz Truss: \'jury\'s out\' on whether Macron is a friend or foe of UK – video\r\n00:24\r\nLiz Truss: \'jury\'s out\' on whether Macron is a friend or foe of UK – video\r\nSpeaking later, Boris Johnson said he had always enjoyed “very good relations” with Macron, who was “a great fan of our country” and “un très bon buddy de notre pays”.\r\n\r\nThe outgoing prime minister added that relations between the UK had been “of huge importance … They have been very for a long time, ever since the Napoleonic era, basically, and I think we should celebrate that”.\r\n\r\nFormer senior diplomats and a former French minister condemned Truss’s remarks, saying it was irresponsible of someone likely to be Britain’s next prime minister to disparage a key ally and that the comment would further harm cross-Channel relations.\r\n\r\nPeter Ricketts, a former British ambassador to Paris, said Truss’s comments were ill-judged. “We are at the stage of the Tory leadership contest where the contestants need to start seeing themselves, and behaving, as future leaders of the country,” he said.\r\n\r\nBoris Johnson calls Macron \'très bon buddy\' of UK after Truss comments – video\r\n01:04\r\nBoris Johnson calls Macron \'très bon buddy\' of UK after Truss comments – video\r\nAdvertisement\r\n\r\n“France is our closest defence and security ally. We have a 50-year-old commitment to test our nuclear warheads in France. As Britain’s foreign minister, as its probable future prime minister, to insult the president of France, make a joke, indulge in silly point-scoring for cheap laughs, is just plain irresponsible.”\r\n\r\nNathalie Loiseau, a former French Europe minister who now chairs the European parliament’s EU-UK partnership assembly, said the comments were neither conducive to good relations between neighbours nor befitting of a future head of government.\r\n\r\n“From a future leader, one expects leadership,” Loiseau said. “And from a future stateswoman, one expects statesmanship. Her remarks fell into neither category.”\r\n\r\nSign up to First Edition\r\n\r\nFree daily newsletter\r\nArchie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning\r\n\r\n\r\nPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\r\nShe said the comments would do nothing to improve Anglo-French relations, already hit by Brexit and bilateral disagreements, but added: “For years now, France has applied in its dealings with the UK a motto that we owe to you: keep calm and carry on.”\r\n\r\nTensions that built up over five years of ill-tempered negotiations over the UK’s exit from the EU have been exacerbated by a series of cross-Channel rows including over migrant crossings in small boats, fishing licences and the Northern Ireland protocol.\r\n\r\nAnalysts say Paris no longer trusts London to keep its word, while London believes Paris is interested only in punishing it for Brexit. Hopes that relations might improve after the departure of Boris Johnson do not look likely to be fulfilled any time soon.\r\n\r\nAdvertisement\r\n\r\n“I hope Liz Truss was joking,” Loiseau tweeted. “Although it’s a very bad joke. The only one who will enjoy hearing this sort of comment among friends, neighbours and allies is Vladimir Putin. I suggest not to offer him such a pleasant moment.”\r\n\r\nSylvie Bermann, a former French ambassador to London, said it was important to realise that Truss’s words “were the words of a candidate”. Election candidates “tend to say what they think their electorates want to hear”, she said.\r\n\r\nBut she said it seemed unlikely that Truss, who is widely expected to be declared the new Conservative leader on 5 September and become the UK’s third female prime minister the next day, would preside over a thaw in Anglo-French relations.\r\n\r\n“We, of course, to use her phrase, will judge her by her deeds and not her words,” Bermann said. “But there are fundamental disagreements between Britain and France that are not going to disappear. And given what we know about her positions, I think it’s probable things will get worse.”','2022-08-26','',0,1),(279,'10 ways EU countries aim to cut energy bills and avoid blackouts this winter','The Local L','Society',4,65,'https://www.thelocal.com/20220915/10-ways-eu-countries-plan-to-cut-your-energy-bills-and-avoid-blackouts-this-winter/','By Claudia Delpero, ','10 ways EU countries aim to cut energy bills and avoid blackouts this winter\r\nThe European Union and individual national governments around Europe are taking a raft of steps to try to limit the impact of the energy crisis this winter. Here\'s a look at the stand-out measures.\r\n\r\nPublished: 15 September 2022 13:04 CEST\r\n10 ways EU countries aim to cut energy bills and avoid blackouts this winter\r\nEU and countries are taking steps to reduce energy bills and avoid blackouts this winter. Photo by John-Mark Smith on Unsplash\r\nThe European Commission has presented plans to tax extra profits of energy companies and reduce power consumption to cut electricity and gas prices that have skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.\r\n\r\nEU sanctions on Russia – to which Moscow has responded by cutting gas supplies – have dramatically increased energy prices, placing European households and businesses under financial strain.\r\n\r\n\r\nAt an emergency meeting last Friday, EU energy ministers asked the European Commission to flesh out initial proposals to reduce energy consumption and tax extra profits by energy companies, in order to support the most vulnerable people across the EU.\r\n\r\nThis week’s proposals will have to be endorsed by EU ministers at another meeting on September 30th.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, national governments have also been taking action – both to cut their energy usage to avoid blackouts and to help households deal with rising costs through caps on energy bills and more general financial aid.\r\n\r\nHere’s what is being planned this winter;\r\n\r\n1) Taxes on energy companies’ excess profits \r\n\r\nThe Commission has proposed a temporary ‘solidarity contribution’ on excess profits made by companies in the oil, gas and coal sectors.\r\n\r\nBecause of gas price increases “these companies are making revenues they never accounted for, they never even dreamed of,” European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, speaking at the European Parliament.\r\n\r\n“In these times it is wrong to receive extraordinary record profits benefiting from war and on the back of consumers,” she argued.\r\n\r\nNational governments would therefore collect 33 percent on 2022 profits, above a 20 percent increase on the average profits made in the previous three years. The Commission is also proposing to cap temporarily the revenues of companies in the renewables, nuclear and lignite sector, which have lower costs and have also been making “exceptional” earnings because energy prices are tied to the gas price.\r\n\r\nThe Commission has proposed to set the revenue cap at €180 per megawatt hour, an amount that would not hit investments, with the extra collected by national governments.\r\n\r\nThese windfall taxes are expected to generate €140 billion, which should be redirected to energy consumers, “in particular vulnerable households, hard-hit companies and energy-intensive industries,” the Commission said.\r\n\r\n\r\n2) Energy rationing\r\n\r\nUnder the Commission proposal, EU countries will have to reduce electricity use by at least 5 percent at peak times, when prices are the highest.\r\n\r\nEach country will have to identify peak hours and determine ways to cut consumption. The Commission also proposes that EU countries reduce overall electricity demand by at least 10 percent until March 31st 2023.\r\n\r\n3) Reform of the electricity market \r\n\r\nUrsula von der Leyen also promised a “deep and comprehensive” reform of the electricity market, which would allow for the first time below-cost regulated electricity prices to help consumers and small businesses, with possible compensation for producers.\r\n\r\nThe Commission also wants to decouple the prices of gas and electricity and the temporary introduction of state aid to help energy utilities hit by the volatility of the market.\r\n\r\n4) Diversification of energy sources\r\n\r\nEarlier in the year, the EU had already adopted the ‘REPowerEU’ plan which seeks to reduce energy consumption by 15 percent and accelerate investments in renewable energy. The Commission announced on Wednesday the creation of a new bank to promote investments in hydrogen.\r\n\r\n5) Gas storage\r\n\r\nEU countries had also agreed to fill gas storage sites ahead of winter, securing supplies from countries such as the US, Norway, Algeria and Azerbaijan.\r\n\r\nThe Commission says the bloc’s gas reserves have hit 84 percent of capacity ahead of the October deadline and EU imports of Russian gas are down to 9 percent from 40 percent in March.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, many national governments have also taken their own measures to deal with the crisis.\r\n\r\n\r\n6) Cap on energy prices \r\n\r\nCountries such as Austria, France, Denmark and Spain have capped gas and electricity prices and France intends to fully nationalise power company EDF (which is already 83 percent state-owned) to force it to take the hit.\r\n\r\nAt the EU level, energy ministers have so far failed to agree a temporary cap on the gas price, opposed mainly by Germany and the Commission because it could put at risk supplies from other countries. A cap on Russian gas only, on the other hand, would penalise EU countries that are more dependent on Moscow.\r\n\r\n7) Bilateral agreements \r\n\r\nIn a show of solidarity, France and Germany have agreed to support each other should they struggle with supplies this winter. French President Emmanuel Macron said France could deliver gas to Germany and Germany could contribute electricity to the French grid during peak hours.\r\n\r\n8) Cash payouts\r\n\r\nCountries such as Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden have already started to support households with cash payouts to the most exposed to the crisis, including low-income families, pensioners and students.\r\n\r\n9) Tax relief and social security support \r\n\r\nSeveral countries, including Austria, France, Italy, have reduced or paused taxes and levies on gas and electricity to help cut bills.\r\n\r\nIn order to help people deal with inflation and rising household bills, there is also a wide variety of financial aid – Austria also de-taxed employee bonuses up to €3,000; Germany reduced social security contributions for people with a monthly income below €2,000 and increased child allowances; France, Italy and Sweden raised benefits; Spain increased the amount of scholarships, grants and subsidies for students.\r\n\r\n9) Campaigns to reduce energy consumption\r\n\r\nMost countries are also trying to reduce energy consumption in public buildings and in the home. Austria aims to cut energy consumption by 11 percent and with the campaign “Mission 11” hopes to convince people to turn down the heating by two degrees, switch off devices and take a shower instead of a bath. A similar campaign was organised in Denmark over summer.\r\n\r\nIn France the aim to to lower the country’s total energy usage by 10 percent – the full energy-saving plan has not yet been finalised but among the measures already in place are – lowering the temperature in public swimming pools by one degree, to 25C; heating in public buildings will be limited to 19C while air-con cannot be lower than 26C; cities including Paris and Lille will stop lighting up public buildings at night (the Eiffel Tower will go dark at 11.45pm instead of 1am).\r\n\r\nSpain has also set a limit of 27C for air-con in public buildings and shops and a heating limit of 19C with shops switching off window lights at 10pm.\r\n\r\n\r\n10) Public transport \r\n\r\nFor summer, until the end of August, Germany allowed citizens to travel for a month on all buses, trams, metros and regional trains with a €9 ticket.\r\n\r\nThe extension of the programme, at a higher price, is currently in discussion. Spain introduced free travel on commuter trains for frequent users between September 1st and December 31st, with discounts available for other trains.\r\n\r\nThese measures were meant to reduce both transport costs and fuel consumption. Other measures by Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden focused on cost reduction cutting taxes on petrol and compensating motorists. Sweden extended incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles to cut dependence on imported fossil fuels.\r\n\r\nItaly planned to fund measures with a 10 percent windfall tax on energy companies.','2022-09-15','',0,1),(280,'Iran protests continue in defiance of warnings','Le Monde with AFP','Politics',1,65,'https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/09/26/iran-protests-continue-for-10th-night-defying-legal-warning_5998217_4.html','Le Monde with AFP','Iran protests continue in defiance of warnings\r\nWomen are burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in public protests, as the judiciary warns of ‘decisive action without leniency\'.\r\n\r\nLe Monde with AFP\r\nPublished on September 26, 2022 at 07h44, updated at 18h10 on September 26, 2022 \r\nTime to3 min.\r\nShare\r\n\r\nShare on Facebook\r\n\r\nSend by email\r\n\r\nShare on Messenger\r\nMore options\r\nIranians defied a warning from the judiciary and took to the streets for a 10th consecutive night on Sunday to protest the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.\r\n\r\nEchoing an earlier warning by President Ebrahim Raisi, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on Sunday \"emphasised the need for decisive action without leniency\" against the core instigators of the \"riots\", the judiciary\'s Mizan Online website said.\r\n\r\nAt least 41 people have died since the unrest began, mostly protesters but also members of the Islamic republic\'s security forces, according to an official toll. Other sources say the real figure is higher.\r\n\r\nIran\'s largest protests in almost three years have seen security forces fire live rounds and bird shot, rights groups charge, while protesters have hurled rocks, torched police cars and set ablaze state buildings.\r\n\r\nOslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) on Sunday evening said the death toll was at least 57, but noted that ongoing internet blackouts made it increasingly difficult to confirm fatalities in a context where the women-led protests have spread to scores of cities.\r\n\r\nHundreds of demonstrators, reformist activists and journalists have been arrested during the mostly night-time demonstrations since unrest first broke out after Ms. Amini\'s death was announced on September 16.\r\n\r\nMs. Amini, whose Kurdish first name was Jhina, was detained three days before that for allegedly breaching rules mandating tightly-fitted hijab head coverings and which ban, among other things, ripped jeans and brightly coloured clothes.\r\n\r\nImages circulated by IHR showed protesters on the streets of Tehran, shouting \"death to the dictator\", purportedly after nightfall on Sunday.\r\n\r\nWitnesses told the press association Agence France Presse (AFP) that protests were continuing in several locations. Video footage showed demonstrations in Tabriz and Shiraz, among other places, with women removing their headscarves and protesters shouting against the authorities.\r\n\r\nRead more In pictures: The uprising of Iranian women across the world\r\n\'Rolling blackouts\'\r\nAmong the protesters were women who burnt their hijabs and cut off their hair. Some danced near large bonfires to the applause of crowds that have chanted \"zan, zendegi, azadi\" or \"woman, life, freedom\".\r\n\r\nVideo of demonstrations on Saturday, verified by AFP, showed students ripping down a picture of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outside a university in the northern province of Mazandaran. Web monitor NetBlocks noted \"rolling blackouts\" and \"widespread internet platform restrictions\" on Sunday, with WhatsApp, Instagram and Skype already blocked. This followed older bans on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Telegram.\r\n\r\n\r\nRead more French police use tear gas to thwart Iran protest in Paris\r\nProtests abroad in solidarity with Iranian women have been held in Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Istanbul, Madrid, New York and other cities. In Paris and London on Sunday, police clashed with demonstrators trying to reach Iran\'s embassies. French officers fired tear gas. In London, 12 people were arrested and five officers seriously hurt, police there said.\r\n\r\nEU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell deplored the Iranian security forces\' response to the unrest as \"disproportionate... unjustifiable and unacceptable\".\r\n\r\n\r\nIran, which has been hit with tough economic sanctions over its nuclear programme, has blamed \"foreign plots\" for the unrest. Iran\'s foreign ministry said Sunday it had summoned Britain\'s ambassador over what it described as an \"invitation to riots\" by Farsi-speaking media based in London.\r\n\r\nThe ministry also called in Norway\'s envoy over \"unconstructive comments\" made by his country\'s parliamentary speaker. Foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Amir-Abdollahian criticised \"the US interventionist approach in the affairs of Iran... including its provocative actions in supporting the rioters\".\r\n\r\nRead more Iran curbs demonstrations following woman\'s death in detention\r\nPro-government rallies\r\nIran has also organised large rallies in defence of the hijab and conservative values. At the main pro-government event held Sunday in central Tehran\'s Enghelab (Revolution) Square, demonstrators voiced support for mandatory hijab laws.\r\n\r\n\"Martyrs died so that this hijab will be on our head,\" said demonstrator Nafiseh, 28, adding that she opposed making the wearing of the head covering voluntary. Another demonstrator, 21-year-old student Atyieh, called for \"strong action against the people who are leading\" the protests.\r\n\r\nThe main reformist group inside Iran, the Union of Islamic Iran People\'s Party, however, has called for the repeal of the mandatory dress code.\r\n\r\nIHR reported on Sunday that an umbrella of Iranian teachers\' unions were calling on teachers and students to boycott classes on Monday and Wednesday in support of the protests.','2022-09-26','',0,1),(281,'Japan to reopen to mass tourism in October',' CNN ','Politics',1,65,'https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/japan-reopening-border-tourists/index.html','Aliza Kassim Khalidi,','(CNN) — Japan, one of the world\'s last major holdouts during the pandemic, is dissolving its Covid-19 restrictions and opening the door back up to mass tourism.\r\nBeloved for its unique mix of vibrant urban culture and natural beauty, the country is lifting its tight regulations on foreign tourists, according to a tweet Thursday from Taro Kono, Japan\'s minister of digital affairs.\r\n\r\n\"Finally, Japan will reopen the border,\" the tweet said. \"Visa waiver is back, no daily limit and free individual visits.\"\r\nThe new policies start on October 11.\r\n\"We will lift the ceiling of the number of entrants into Japan, lift the ban on individual travel and lift the ban over visa-less travel,\" Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday at a news conference in New York City, where he was attending the UN General Assembly meeting.\r\nElaborating on the lifting of restrictions, Kishida said that \"on the same day, we plan to launch a campaign to offer domestic travel discounts and event discounts to residents of Japan and hope that many citizens will take advantage of the offer to support the hotel, travel and entertainment sectors that have suffered enormous blows during the pandemic.\"\r\nThe move marks a major policy shift after nearly 2 1/2 years of strict Covid-19 restrictions on who could enter the country and under what circumstances.','2022-09-23','',0,1),(282,'Vloggers rekindling the joys of India train journeys','BBC NEWS','Travel',6,65,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62978056','By Cherylann Mollan','The video begins with the chugging sound of a train in motion.\r\n\r\nA yellow board with Rameswaram written in black lets you know you\'re departing the island town in India\'s southern state of Tamil Nadu.\r\n\r\nThen you see bucolic landscapes, and then the sea, streaking past the train\'s window. Vendors selling hot samosas (a popular Indian snack) file past you. You see families chatting; people dozing. You take a trip to the train\'s washroom and watch an argument break out between two passengers over more luggage room.\r\n\r\nBefore you know it, you\'ve reached your destination - Chennai in Tamil Nadu - a 10-hour-long journey condensed to a 13 minute video.\r\n\r\nThis is one of the many videos made by Himanshu Yadav, a 22-year-old who makes vlogs - or video blogs - on Indian trains.\r\n\r\nCarrying more than 13 million passengers every day the Indian railways - Asia\'s largest railway network and the world\'s fourth largest - is one of the most popular and affordable modes of transport.\r\n\r\n\r\nTrain vloggers the BBC spoke to say that they are on a mission to generate more interest in railways. Their videos capture what makes train journeys enjoyable, while some are trying to make a difference by highlighting problems commuters face.\r\n\r\nTrain vloggers\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,AKSHAY MALHOTRA\r\nImage caption,\r\nAkshay Malhotra shows his viewers a more luxurious side of Indian trains\r\nAkshay Malhotra\'s minute-long vlogs on Instagram show a more luxurious side of the trains.\r\n\r\nThe 25-year-old software engineer shoots his reels inside some of India\'s premium long-distance trains. He uploads these videos on his Instagram account @JourneyswithAK, which has racked up about 135,000 followers in the six months since he started it. A longer version of these vlogs goes up on his YouTube channel.\r\n\r\nIn his videos, one gets to experience the new glass-sided railway carriages, plush dining cars and private air-conditioned coupes. He reviews the food, bathing and washroom facilities, seating and sleeping arrangements and offers tips for those travelling with pets.\r\n\r\nMr Malhotra says he travels on his own money, and that a one-way luxury train ticket to a destination in India can cost up to 8,000 rupees ($100; £87). But he doesn\'t mind the expense.\r\n\r\n\"The thing about a train journey is that it gives you enough time to explore - whether that\'s a person, a route or a place,\" says Mr Malhotra.\r\n\r\nTrain vloggers\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,VS MONU / YOUTUBE\r\nImage caption,\r\nVlogger VS Monu highlights problems commuters face\r\nVishwajeet Singh, 25, on the other hand, likes to document what train travel is like for the lower middle-class.\r\n\r\nOn his YouTube channel - V S Monu vlogs - which has about 885,000 subscribers, Mr Singh uploads videos shot in compartments where ticket fares are cheaper, but there are fewer facilities and a lot more passengers.\r\n\r\nHailing from a small town in Bihar, Mr Singh began making vlogs five years ago. Since then, he has earned a reputation among his subscribers for \"showing reality\" and for highlighting \"scams taking place on trains\".\r\n\r\nIn his videos, he finds out whether the train is running on time; and whether the washrooms, berths and waiting rooms are clean. He checks out the quality and price of food and strikes up conversations with fellow passengers and railway staff.\r\n\r\nViewers thank him for highlighting the \"appalling conditions\" in some trains, while others ask him questions related to ticket prices or food or share details about bad experiences they\'ve had during their journeys. He says he also gets requests from people asking him to visit and review trains they\'ve had terrible experiences in.\r\n\r\nThe popularity of his videos has earned him several brand sponsorships and a YouTube silver play button - an award given to the most watched channels. But the vlogger says that this popularity is a double-edged sword. \"Many railway staff recognise me now, so they\'re extra careful when I\'m in the train,\" he says.\r\n\r\nTrain vloggers\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,HIMANSHU YADAV / YOUTUBE\r\nImage caption,\r\nHimanshu Yadav likes capturing scenic vistas seen from the train\r\nMr Yadav, who runs the YouTube channel Train Lovers HY and has about 165,000 subscribers, enjoys taking train journeys that are likely to result in \"captivating\" content.\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, he went on a three-hour-long journey from Banihal to Baramulla in Kashmir in -5C (23F) cold. His 11-minute video - shot from inside the train - has been viewed over a million times and captures snow-covered landscapes and blue-grey skies.\r\n\r\nAlong with filming scenic vistas, Mr Yadav also shares information about the history of trains and other trivia - like which is India\'s oldest sea bridge or longest train tunnel.\r\n\r\n\"I\'ve started including drone shots of scenic locations trains pass through in my videos,\" says Mr Yadav. \"They give the videos a cinematic quality and viewers love it.\"\r\n\r\nHe quit his job a year ago, and now earns up to 100,000 rupees a month through brand deals and YouTube ads.\r\n\r\n\"I have loved trains since I was a child,\" says Mr Yadav.\r\n\r\n\"Train journeys are full of possibilities and I try to capture the wonder and excitement I feel about train journeys in my videos.\"\r\n\r\n','2022-09-22','',0,1),(283,'Inside the new Met police unit investigating officer abuse claims','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,65,'https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63162881','By Tom Symonds','The Metropolitan Police is investigating more than 600 domestic and sexual abuse allegations against its officers, the BBC has been told.\r\n\r\nThey are the focus of a specialist team established to restore public trust in the force following a number of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer. Their work is similar to fictional unit AC-12 in the BBC drama Line of Duty, but focusing instead on abusive cops, not \"bent cops\".\r\n\r\nShort presentational grey line\r\nIn an office high in the Met\'s most imposing and secure building, a team of detectives is hard at work. Listen closely to their phone calls and the nature of their investigations is revealed.\r\n\r\nDet Con Zoe Di Carlo is confirming the details of a witness statement with the victim who has made it.\r\n\r\n\"These are the physical assaults, this is the controlling behaviour,\" she tells the woman as she scrolls down the document on her laptop.\r\n\r\nThese detectives are investigating abusers, not among the general public, but within their own force. Many of the officers who work in the unit volunteered to do so, a significant proportion of whom are women.\r\n\r\nBBC iPlayer\r\nThe Real Line of Duty\r\n\r\nThe detectives hunting criminals in uniform, to restore trust in the police.\r\n\r\nWatch now on BBC iPlayer\r\n\r\nBBC iPlayer\r\nThe new Domestic and Sexual Offences Unit - or Daso unit - represents an attempt to sweep out the dark corners of a force with a trust problem.\r\n\r\nSince it was established in January, the team\'s caseload has grown to 625 allegations of sexual or domestic abuse against officers or police staff.\r\n\r\nSometimes the victims they are trying to protect from rogue police officers are members of the public, but sometimes they are other police officers. A significant number of cases involve domestic abuse situations where a couple are both in the police.\r\n\r\nSuch abuse often feeds on a power imbalance. The police is a service where uniforms, ranks and the law itself give officers the ability to exert power over other people, inside and outside the force. There is a risk that this might encourage unprofessional or criminal behaviour, or allow it to be covered up.\r\n\r\nThe female officer who reported her concerns\r\nImage caption,\r\nThis officer reported a colleague after learning he had inappropriately contacted other members of her team\r\nDressed in her uniform - a white shirt, black trousers, epaulettes and a black tie - one alleged victim, a young female officer, describes how she reported concerns about a colleague to the unit.\r\n\r\nThe woman - whose identity we agreed to protect - told the BBC how the male officer sent her text messages of an increasingly sexual nature.\r\n\r\n\"Expressing things that he did, or didn\'t do, sexually,\" she says. \"Asking is that stuff that I would be interested in? I just thought: \'Someone hasn\'t learned boundaries.\'\"\r\n\r\nBut it did not stop, and when she discovered he had targeted other women and young men in her team, she reported it to the detectives at Daso.\r\n\r\nIn another recent case, a police community support officer was convicted and sacked for masturbating in uniform, in broad daylight in a public park.\r\n\r\nSenior Daso officer Det Ch Insp Rich Williamson describes this behaviour as \"absolutely appalling. Off the scale.\"\r\n\r\nThe worst cases the team deals with involve rape and severe domestic abuse - all alleged to have been committed by police officers or staff.\r\n\r\nSarah Everard\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,EVERARD FAMILY\r\nImage caption,\r\nSarah Everard was murdered by a serving police officer\r\nThe unit is the response to a string of horrifying scandals which caused enormous damage to the reputation of the UK\'s biggest police force.\r\n\r\nThe rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 - by a police officer who pretended to be a plain-clothes detective to gain control of his victim - had a particularly devastating impact.\r\n\r\nThe case led to protests over police misogyny by women, who said something was wrong with the organisation\'s culture. Then in December, two police officers were jailed for taking pictures of the bodies of murdered sisters, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman. The officers were supposed to have been guarding the crime scene.\r\n\r\nShortly afterwards, the report of a long-running investigation into a group of male officers at Charing Cross Police Station added further fuel to the fire. Codenamed Operation Hotton, it found the men had sent racist and sexist messages revealing attitudes no organisation could accept within its workforce, not least the police.\r\n\r\nThe then commissioner Dame Cressida Dick failed to convince the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan she could change things quickly enough, and was forced to resign.\r\n\r\nSeveral inquiries were launched. A \"super-complaint\" by lawyers at legal charity the Centre for Women\'s Justice resulted in three police watchdogs ruling that all forces needed to improve their handling of domestic abuse allegations against police officers.\r\n\r\nPreviously, internal investigations into police law-breaking or misconduct have been conducted by officers specialising in what the Met calls \"professional standards\".\r\n\r\nBut Daso is different because of the expertise of its officers.\r\n\r\nThe team\'s senior leader, Det Supt Annette Clark, says they have experience in safeguarding, rather than internal investigations. \"Particularly understanding domestic abuse, and understanding sexual offences,\" she explains. \"The impact that has on people and the victims.\"\r\n\r\nAchieving convictions for sexual offences and domestic abuse is notoriously hard, and the success rate currently extremely low. It is arguably harder when the alleged perpetrator is a police officer - and harder still when both the accuser and accused are in uniform.\r\n\r\nAnd when the allegation is not properly dealt with, the experience for the accuser can be devastating.\r\n\r\nGemma MacRae\r\nImage caption,\r\nGemma described the experience of accusing a police officer former partner of domestic abuse as devastating\r\nFormer officer Gemma MacRae blew the whistle at a different force, Police Scotland.\r\n\r\nWhen she accused a former partner - also a police officer - of domestic abuse, she knew she ran the risk of being \"labelled and not in a good way\" by colleagues.\r\n\r\nThe priority, she said, appeared to be protecting the reputation of the police rather than investigating the allegations.\r\n\r\n\"Essentially, it was a gang of bullies. And very much the boys\' club. If you were female, you weren\'t part of the crew,\" she says.\r\n\r\nHer initial claims morphed into dozens of secondary complaints about the way she had been dealt with as a whistleblower.\r\n\r\nPolice Scotland investigated but concluded no action should be taken against her partner. But, after several years, the force has finally apologised for not following established procedures for dealing with domestic abuse allegations, whether made against a police officer or not.\r\n\r\nOne of her colleagues, an officer named Scott Gallup, was convicted of sexually assaulting her. When Gemma confided in him about the alleged domestic abuse, she said he seemed more interested in coming on to her, at one point touching her bottom.\r\n\r\nThe whole experience was \"devastating\", she says. She left the police, Scotland and the UK - and now lives in rural Norway.\r\n\r\nDet Supt Annette Clark\r\nImage caption,\r\nDet Supt Clark says her team is determined to root out bad officers\r\nIn contrast, the Met\'s new approach is helping alleged victims. The female officer who accused a colleague of sending sexual messages says the involvement of Daso, with its expert abuse investigators, helped her.\r\n\r\n\"It just felt like they asked the right questions that made you feel like what you were saying was valid,\" she says. \"It\'s a specialism, you have to love it and that very much came across.\"\r\n\r\nHer allegations will likely amount to professional misconduct if proven, but the investigation continues.\r\n\r\nDet Supt Clark says her team are disgusted by the behaviour of abusive officers.\r\n\r\n\"We don\'t want them in the organisation and we need to get rid of them.\"\r\n\r\nAt least 1,600 allegations against police or police staff have been investigated across England and Wales in the past three years - our figures suggest - although several large forces, including Manchester and West Midlands Police refused to provide any figures, claiming it would be too costly to collate them.\r\n\r\nOne of the Met\'s experts on domestic abuse, Det Sgt Viran Wiltshire, says the rise in cases actually reflects the organisation\'s growing understanding of how the problem can present itself - by improving training in detecting it, and working with victims to get prosecutions.\r\n\r\n\"I think that\'s the shift that\'s happening within our Met culture,\" he says.\r\n\r\nWhatever the causes, the rising number of allegations looks bad for the force. \"It will get worse before it gets better,\" is a phrase heard often among senior Met officers.\r\n\r\nThe Met now has a new commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, and this issue is near the top of his inbox.\r\n\r\n\"It\'s about rooting out those who\'ve let us down,\" he said in a recent BBC interview. \"We\'ve failed to do that, and we will be doing that on my watch.\"\r\n\r\nThis will require determined police work by Det Supt Clark\'s team. But she says many officers tell her: \"I want to do this. I want to come and work in professional standards to ensure we get out the bad cops.\"','2022-10-13','',0,1),(295,'France works towards gender equality in top jobs while UK women are still struggling','RFI','Politics',1,66,'https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20221108-france-works-towards-gender-equality-in-top-jobs-while-uk-women-are-still-struggling','Michael Fitzpatrick','France works towards gender equality in top jobs while UK women are still struggling\r\n\r\nIssued on: 08/11/2022 - 10:54\r\nModified: 08/11/2022 - 10:56\r\n\r\n\r\n© FMM\r\nText by:\r\nMichael Fitzpatrick\r\n1 min\r\nAs larger companies in France move to meet new gender quotas for senior executives and management committee members, Britain\'s top firms have an \"appalling\" lack of women holding executive roles, a survey shows.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\n\r\n\"There is an appalling lack of progress of women into executive roles,\" concludes the survey compiled by the accountancy group EY and Cranfield University, published this week.\r\n\r\nThere are only nine women chief executives among Britain\'s top 100 companies, and 18 women boardroom chairpersons.\r\n\r\nWomen account for almost 40 percent of directors at firms on London\'s top-tier FTSE 100 shares index, but that proportion is skewed by the high number of non-executive directors, the report says.\r\n\r\n\"The research shows that FTSE businesses are increasingly hitting the targets set for female representation,\" Alison Kay, managing partner for client service at EY UK and Ireland, said in the report.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nPUBLICITÉ\r\n\r\n\r\n\"However, they are falling woefully short of the intended outcome -- distributing the power and influence necessary to achieve true gender parity.\"\r\n\r\nOver the last 10 years, the number of women on FTSE 100 company boards has jumped to an average 40 percent from 12.5, according to recent government-commissioned data.\r\n\r\nWhat the statistics don\'t say\r\nBut the statistics conceal more than they reveal, with a growing tendency to appoint women to non-executive roles to boost the numbers while making sure the power remains in male hands.\r\n\r\n\"We need to tackle recalcitrant companies which do not take gender diversity seriously,\" says the EY report.\r\n\r\n\"And numerical parity is only a first step.\"\r\n\r\nFTSE 100 companies with women CEOs include NatWest bank, directed by Alison Rose; drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, run by Alison Rose; and  hotels group Whitbread has Alison Brittain at the helm.\r\n\r\nFrance already has gender quotas — a 2011 law phased in a 40 percent quota to improve the gender balance of management boards in companies listed on the stock exchange, or those with more than 500 employees and turnover exceeding €50 million over the previous three years.\r\n\r\nLegislation intended to accelerate economic and professional equality was passed by the French parliament in December 2021.\r\n\r\nGENDER\r\nINEQUALITY','2022-11-08','',0,1),(296,'Carmaker Renault starts major overhaul, looking to an electric future','RFI','Politics',1,66,'https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20221108-carmaker-renault-starts-major-overhaul-looking-to-an-electric-future','Michael Fitzpatrick','Carmaker Renault starts major overhaul, looking to an electric future\r\n\r\nIssued on: 08/11/2022 - 11:09\r\n\r\nA Renault Zoe electric car.\r\nA Renault Zoe electric car. © Reuters\r\nText by:\r\nMichael Fitzpatrick\r\n1 min\r\nFrench car company Renault has unveiled a sweeping green revamp, splitting its operations in two: a new electric vehicle unit and a subsidiary for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars that will pair up with China\'s Geely. \r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\n\r\nThe car maker\'s flagship division following the reorganisation will be called Ampère, and will aim to produce a million electric vehicles by 2031.\r\n\r\nThe new division will employ around 10,000 staff in France.\r\n\r\nThe overhaul comes against a background of expectations that the electric vehicle market will grow rapidly in response to consumer worries about climate change.\r\n\r\nThe European Union last month agreed to phase out new CO2-emitting vehicles by 2035, a move set to turbo-charge the production of electric prototypes on the continent.\r\n\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\nAmpère will produce the new Renault 5 and Renault 4 in northern France and will target more than 30 percent growth annually over the next eight years.\r\n\r\nRenault said it would list Ampère on the Euronext Paris stock exchange in the latter half of 2023 and invite investment but will retain \"a strong majority\".\r\n\r\nRenault -- of which the French state and car maker Nissan each own 15 percent -- has still to confirm the part that its Japanese partner will play in the new electric division.\r\n\r\nChina and internal combustion  \r\nFor hybrid and internal-combustion vehicles, Renault plans to combine its technological, manufacturing and research and development activities with Chinese automaker Geely.\r\n\r\nThe 50-50 partnership with the Chinese group -- owner of Volvo -- will develop and produce engines, gear boxes and other components for hybrid and petrol and diesel vehicles.\r\n\r\nIt will employ 19,000 people in Europe, China and South America, and have 17 factories and five research and development centres.\r\n\r\n\"We are designing an agile and innovative organisation to manage the volatility and accelerated technological evolution of our time,\" said Renault chief executive Luca de Meo.\r\n\r\nIn the wake of the announcement, Renault shares climbed 3.77 percent on the Paris stock market.','2022-11-08','',0,1),(297,'COP27: Ukraine a reason to act fast on climate change - Rishi Sunak','BBC NEWS','Business & Economy',3,66,'https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63548466','By Georgina Rannard','COP27: Ukraine a reason to act fast on climate change - Rishi Sunak\r\nPublished\r\n12 hours ago\r\ncomments\r\nComments\r\n\r\nShare\r\nRelated Topics\r\nClimate change\r\nWomen in traditional dresses pose in Congo Pavilion on the second day of the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nImage caption,\r\nMore than 30,000 people are gathering in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for climate negotiations\r\nBy Georgina Rannard\r\nClimate and science reporter, BBC News\r\nThe war in Ukraine is a reason to act faster to tackle climate change, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has told the UN climate summit COP27.\r\n\r\n\"Climate and energy security go hand-in-hand,\" he said in his first international appearance since taking office.\r\n\r\nLeaders from 120 countries are meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss next steps in curbing climate change.\r\n\r\nKey topics are compensation and support for the most-affected countries.\r\n\r\n\"Putin\'s abhorrent war in Ukraine and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate change. They are a reason to act faster,\" Mr Sunak said.\r\n\r\n\"We can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future [...] There really is room for hope,\" he added.\r\n\r\nIn a series of speeches, leaders urged rich countries to stay the course in stopping further climate change, despite the war in Ukraine and global financial problems.\r\n\r\nNations on the front line of climate change laid out the stark impacts of higher temperatures, drought, and floods on people and the environment.\r\n\r\n\"We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator,\" UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the summit.\r\n\r\nHis stark warning was echoed by former US vice-president and environmentalist Al Gore who said nations must \"stop subsidising the culture of death\" of fossil fuels.\r\n\r\nThe big issues facing Egypt\'s COP27 climate summit\r\nA really simple guide to climate change\r\nWhat is the Paris climate agreement?\r\nIn an energetic speech French President Emmanuel Macron urged world leaders to deliver climate justice.\r\n\r\nFormer UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also in Egypt and said countries should not \"go weak and wobbly\" on climate action.\r\n\r\nGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz said switching to renewable energy was \"a security policy imperative\", while Italy\'s new prime minister Giorgia Meloni said her country remained \"strongly committed\" to its climate goals.\r\n\r\nUS President Joe Biden is due to arrive at the summit on Friday, while John Kerry, his special envoy for the climate, is already in attendance.\r\n\r\nThough Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg is staying away from the summit, after she accused the UN of \"green-washing\", many other youth activists are in Sharm el-Sheikh.\r\n\r\nXiye Batista portrait in the conference room\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,XIYE BASTIDA\r\nImage caption,\r\nXiye Bastida is an indigenous climate activist from Mexico\r\nXiye Bastida, a 20-year-old activist from Mexico, is there to tell decision-makers that \"nature must be protected\".\r\n\r\nShe told BBC News she\'s pleased with progress so far in Egypt - including getting the words \"loss and damage\" on the agenda. The terms refer to money - as some form of compensation or reparations - for the effects of climate change on developing countries that did little to cause the problem.\r\n\r\nWhy the latest UN meeting matters\r\nWhat have leaders done on climate change in 2022?\r\nBut 24-year-old Mikaela Loach, from Scotland, said she\'s worried leaders are not fully committed to climate action that prioritises justice or human rights.\r\n\r\n\"Not all climate solutions are good for people. It\'s not just about cutting emissions, we must frame all our work about people and the world we are creating,\" she told BBC News.\r\n\r\nBarbados PM Mia Mottley spoke of \"horror and the devastation wrecked upon this Earth\" in the past year.\r\n\r\n\"Whether the apocalyptic floods in Pakistan, or the heatwaves from Europe to China, or indeed in the last few days in my own region, the devastation caused in Belize by tropical storm Lisa, or the torrential floods a few days ago in St Lucia. We don\'t need to repeat it,\" she said.\r\n\r\nThe fact that the summit is taking place in Africa, a continent that is extremely vulnerable to climate change, was repeated through the day.\r\n\r\nKenyan President William Ruto said time is of the essence: \"Further delay will make us busy spectators as calamity wipes out lives and livelihoods.\"\r\n\r\nUp to 700 million people in Africa will be displaced due to lack of water by 2030, he explained.\r\n\r\nTuesday will see speeches from the leaders of a number of other developing countries which are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change.\r\n\r\nThey include Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, where the recent floods killed over 1,700 people, and Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who will speak on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States.\r\n\r\nCOP27 opened on Sunday with a warning from the UN that our planet is \"sending a distress signal\".\r\n\r\nA report released by the UN\'s World Meteorological Organization reveals that the past eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.\r\n\r\nAt last year\'s summit in Glasgow a number of pledges were agreed:\r\n\r\nto \"phase down\" the use of coal - one of the most polluting fossil fuels\r\nto stop deforestation by 2030\r\nto cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030\r\nto submit new climate action plans to the UN\r\nDeveloping nations are demanding that previous commitments to finance are upheld.\r\n\r\nMore on climate summit top strapline\r\nThe COP27 global climate summit in Egypt is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control. More than 200 countries are attending the summit to discuss further measures to cut emissions and prepare for climate change, and it could lead to major changes to our everyday lives.','2022-11-08','',0,1),(298,'Cost of living: Suffolk and Essex students share their struggles','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,66,'https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-63488391','BBC NEWS','Cost of living: Suffolk and Essex students share their struggles\r\nPublished\r\n5 days ago\r\n\r\nShare\r\nstudents on seat\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nImage caption,\r\nUniversity students are facing greater financial pressures than ever before\r\nAs the cost of living rises, university staff and students share the struggles being faced by young people and what help there is for them.\r\n\r\nShort presentational grey line\r\n\'You get much less for your money\'\r\nEloise Churchman\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JOHN FAIRHALL/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nEloise Churchman, who is studying at the University of Essex, says she has seen a \"drastic\" increase in the price of food and bills\r\nIt is not long into term time, but Eloise Churchman has already planned her Christmas holidays - to work most days to try to make ends meet.\r\n\r\n\"My maintenance doesn\'t even cover my accommodation, so I have to put around £300 towards it myself, so then food just comes out of my own money,\" says the University of Essex student.\r\n\r\n\"So I\'m working most days during the Christmas holidays to try and get together the money I can for my food shopping and just enjoyment money as well to socialise, because that\'s obviously a very important part of keeping up good mental health.\"\r\n\r\nThe second-year multimedia journalism student, who lives on campus and comes from Bishop\'s Stortford in Hertfordshire, says she has seen a \"drastic\" increase in the price of food and bills from last year.\r\n\r\nCOST OF LIVING: BBC News explainers and stories\r\n\"The worry is that it\'s going to continue,\" she says. \"You have to think carefully about if you can afford to go out for that cup of coffee or if you can afford to buy that textbook.\"\r\n\r\nShe says she also has to be careful when planning meals so she can \"eat properly while on a budget\".\r\n\r\n\"I freeze anything that I possibly can, I buy a lot of dry ingredients and if I buy fresh fruit and veg, I make sure that I definitely have a meal planned for it so it\'s not going to waste,\" she says.\r\n\r\nShort presentational grey line\r\n\'We need to break down barriers\'\r\nNashwa Alsakka, Students\' Union president\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JOHN FAIRHALL/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nNashwa Alsakka, president of the Students\' Union at the University of Essex, urges students not to \"suffer in silence\"\r\n\"We know students that are currently holding two or three jobs where they simply cannot maintain living and the surviving, let alone having an experience,\" says Nashwa Alsakka.\r\n\r\nThe president of the Students\' Union at the University of Essex says they are seeing students who are \"literally going into a shop and having £5 and hoping that they will be able to make do for two or three days\' worth of meals\".\r\n\r\n\"I have a specific student who was budgeting for £20 a week for food, and in the situation that we\'re in where food is at a 15% inflation, how can he survive on £20 for food for one week? It\'s completely impossible,\" she says.\r\n\r\n\"It is not only about students having money to survive, but also how can a student who is having a sleepless night actually able to make money to survive and focus on their studies?\"\r\n\r\nMiss Alsakka says the university and union are doing \"as much as we can\", including providing subsidised meals and increasing the hardship fund.\r\n\r\nBut she is concerned about students who might be \"suffering in silence\".\r\n\r\nShort presentational grey line\r\n\'Not enough time to make money and study\'\r\nAlex Gooch\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JOHN FAIRHALL/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nAlex Gooch, from the Students\' Union at the University of Suffolk, says there has been a lot of \"determination\" in tough times\r\nAt the University of Suffolk, the Students\' Union paints a similar picture.\r\n\r\n\"There\'s just not enough money to be able to socialise, to be able to buy new clothes, to be able to buy books. People are having to sacrifice and take up additional jobs,\" says Alex Gooch, the unions\' president of education.\r\n\r\n\"But there\'s not enough time in the day to make money and study.\"\r\n\r\nHe says it is \"not easy\" for any of the students and the union is trying to cater for a \"wide array\" with initiatives supported by the university through funding.\r\n\r\n\"We\'re making parking free, we\'re putting on free lunch bags, which go every day, we\'re putting on free teas and coffees, taking a hit from our own services because students can\'t afford to have these luxuries,\" he says.\r\n\r\nHe says even though times are tough, they are seeing \"quite a lot of determination and positivity\".\r\n\r\n\"People are coming together and uniting to work together and volunteer hours, people are donating clothes so that people can give them to their children and for themselves,\" he adds.\r\n\r\nShort presentational grey line\r\n\'Students don\'t like saying they need help\'\r\nProf Helen Langton, vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Suffolk\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JOHN FAIRHALL/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nProf Helen Langton, from the University of Suffolk, says students are too proud to ask for help\r\nAt the Ipswich-based university, many of the students have \"complex lives\", says chief executive Prof Helen Langton.\r\n\r\nShe says 75% of their students are mature, meaning they are aged over 24, 65% are women and 75% do not live on campus or in Ipswich so they are commuter students.\r\n\r\n\"They come in for their session and they go home. They already have jobs before they come here, they have families, they have older parents they\'re looking after,\" she says.\r\n\r\n\"We find that the students don\'t like saying they need help. It\'s a pride thing, it\'s a mature [thing], \'I\'m trying to be all things to all people\'.\"\r\n\r\nProf Langton, who is also vice-chancellor, says they are encouraging students to admit they need help.\r\n\r\n\"We launched the Suffolk Community Foundation Winter Hardship Fund here at the university last week,\" she says.\r\n\r\n\"There are funds available. We just need to help students work out where to go.\"\r\n\r\nProfessor Madeline Eacott\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JOHN FAIRHALL/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nProf Madeleine Eacott, from the University of Essex, says they want students to talk to them\r\nMeanwhile, at the University of Essex, \"practical help\" has been put in place, says Prof Madeleine Eacott, pro-vice-chancellor of education.\r\n\r\nThis includes subsidised meals and the hardship fund has been trebled from last year to £1.5m, she says.\r\n\r\n\"We have increased the range of things that our students can apply for this fund, so it might include travel costs, course costs, help with child care, a huge range of things,\" adds Prof Eacott.\r\n\r\n\"What we say to our students is that we know all your needs are different, so do talk to us if you are struggling and we can see how we can support you.\"\r\n\r\nShe says the university has frozen rents for those living on its Southend campus and at the Colchester campus it has limited the increase \"to much less than inflation so in real terms that is a decrease\".\r\n\r\n\"We really want to support our students to succeed with her studies, despite the fact, these are tough times,\" she says.\r\n\r\n','2022-11-03','',0,1),(299,'Your next job interview could take place in virtual reality','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,66,'https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63311886','By Elizabeth Hotson','Your next job interview could take place in virtual reality\r\nPublished\r\n31 October\r\n\r\nShare\r\nA woman doing a Bodyswaps interview\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,BODYSWAPS\r\nImage caption,\r\nHow would you like to have a job interview conducted in virtual reality by a computer?\r\nBy Elizabeth Hotson\r\nBusiness reporter\r\nGoing for a job interview is the stuff of nightmares for many people, while for others it is a chance to shine.\r\n\r\nEither way you are typically still interviewed by other human beings, either after walking into a scary office with one or more bosses sitting behind a desk, or via an equally nerve-wracking Zoom call.\r\n\r\nYet thanks to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) technology, you may soon be interviewed for that job you really want... by a computer.\r\n\r\nEarlier this year students at Sandwell College in West Bromwich put on VR headsets to do some mock interviews.\r\n\r\nTheir avatars - cartoon-like, 3D representations of themselves - were put through their paces by another talking avatar representing the AI software system.\r\n\r\nA VR job interview\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,BODYSWAPS\r\nImage caption,\r\nThis is what the Bodyswaps\' VR job interviews look like\r\n\"I\'d never had an interview before in my life,\" says engineering student Ayyan Ahmed. \"But because there was no human judging me, and it was all online, I could actually express myself.\r\n\r\n\"And then, at the end of the process, he [the VR interviewer] told me what I did wrong, and what I did right. It really helped me to know what to do in my next interview.\"\r\n\r\nThe VR system the students were using is made by London-based company Bodyswaps.\r\n\r\nQuestions and requests that the interviewees get asked range from the straightforward \"tell me about your greatest achievements\", to the more challenging \"do you prefer to be loved or feared?\"\r\n\r\nThe user then gets feedback, not just on what they said, but how they say it, whether they are maintaining eye contact with the interviewer avatar, and even their posture.\r\n\r\nAyyan Ahmed\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,AYYAN AHMED\r\nImage caption,\r\nStudent Ayyan Ahmed says he felt he could talk freely to the computer interviewer\r\nBodyswaps\' chief executive Christophe Mallet says the idea is that people can keep practising with the simulated job interviews until they feel ready for a real-life one.\r\n\r\nHe believes that the technology has the chance to level the playing field for candidates from less well-off backgrounds who might not otherwise have the opportunity to practise for job interviews in a professional setting.\r\n\r\n\"Things like communication, empathy and leadership are the secrets to success [in interviews], but how can you practise those? If you are rich, you can get a coach. Otherwise you have e-learning [such as watching videos on the topic], but that doesn\'t work as you are lacking immersion.\r\n\r\n\"Using VR and AI we now have a way to immerse you safely in a simulation where you can practise interview conversations.\"\r\n\r\nChristophe Mallet\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,BODYSWAPS\r\nImage caption,\r\nChristophe Mallet says the aim is to help people more easily and effectively practise for interviews\r\nBodyswaps launched its interview simulations last year, and says it is mainly targeting schools, colleges and universities, so their students can practise before they enter the jobs market. Its business model is subscription based, with the amount an institution has to pay each year being dependent on how many people use the system.\r\n\r\nWhile Bodyswaps is currently focused on mock job interrogations, the AI technology of Swedish firm Tengai is already allowing firms out in the real world to get a computer to do their initial job interviews.\r\n\r\nThe AI software is represented as a talking cartoon head that appears on the screen of a candidate\'s computer or smartphone. It asks a set list of questions, and then the recorded answers are used to help recruiters draw up shortlists for jobs.\r\n\r\nA woman being interviewed by a Tengai computer\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,TENGAI\r\nImage caption,\r\nTengai\'s tech sees a software system interview people via a computerised face\r\nTengai\'s chief executive Elin Öberg Mårtenzon says that a central aim of the software is to avoid making wrong assumptions, such as judging someone on their appearance.\r\n\r\n\"We wanted to create a situation where you could actually look at objective data instead, by putting some sort of filter between the candidate and the recruiter,\" she says.\r\n\r\n\"And that filter is supposed to mitigate bias in the process… so that they know that they are not being judged by things other than those relating to the job description.\"\r\n\r\nBut while it might be tempting to see AI and VR technology as the magical solution for selecting the right candidate for a job, employment lawyer Susan Thompson says we need to be cautious.','2022-10-31','',0,1),(300,'French baguette voted onto UN World Cultural Heritage list','France 24','Politics',1,67,'https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20221130-french-baguette-voted-onto-un-world-cultural-heritage-list',' Christophe Archambault, AFP','The baguette – a mix of wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and a pinch of savoir-faire, and as much a symbol of France as the Eiffel Tower – has gained UNESCO recognition as the UN body on Wednesday voted to include the \"artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread\" on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\n\r\nThe baguette, now a symbol of France around the world, has been a central part of the French diet for at least 100 years, and there are several myths about its origins.\r\n\r\nOne legend has it that the bakers of Napoleon Bonaparte came up with the elongated shape to make it easier for his troops to carry, while another posits that it was actually an Austrian baker named August Zang who invented the baguette.\r\n\r\nThese days a baguette - which means \"wand\" or \"baton\" - is sold for around €1 ($1.04) each. More than six billion are baked each year in France.\r\n\r\nMade only with flour, water, salt and yeast, baguette dough must rest 15 to 20 hours at a temperature between 4 and 6 degrees Celcius (39 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the French Bakers Confederation, which fights to protect its market from industrial bakeries.\r\n\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\nBut if the ingredients are always the same, each bakery has its own subtle style, and every year there are nationwide competitions to find the best baguette in the land.\r\n\r\n\r\nFeast on some of FRANCE 24\'s coverage of the baguette:\r\n\r\n>> Baguettes, a wine festival and Paris rooftops vie for a spot on UNESCO heritage list\r\n\r\n>> Armfuls of baguettes: French adapt bread buying habits to coronavirus lockdown\r\n\r\n>> World bread day: The secret of a perfect baguette\r\n\r\n>> Best baguette in Paris: French capital\'s bakers compete for prestigious title\r\n\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\n>> Discovering French bread and the rules of \'baguetiquette\'\r\n\r\nAlgerian Rai music and Tunisia\'s harissa condiment were also among this year\'s contenders for recognition as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, which started deliberations Monday in Morocco. \r\n\r\nThe 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage aims to safeguard and raise awareness about the \"intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned\".\r\n\r\n\"Intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity,\" it says.\r\n\r\n(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)\r\n\r\n','2022-11-30','',0,1),(301,'A quintessentially Irish way to travel','BBC NEWS','Travel',6,67,'https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221128-a-quintessentially-irish-way-to-travel?utm_source=bbc-news&utm_medium=right-hand-slot','By Susanne Masters','Ireland\'s peat bogs have heated Irish homes for centuries. But could cycling through them help fuel a slow travel revolution and save this landscape?\r\nStory continues below\r\n\r\n\r\nC\r\nCycling The Bog Road through Roundstone Bog in Connemara, County Galway, I met more sheep than cars as the free-range animals wandered across both the road and the spongy landscape. I stopped and stepped off the road to take a photo, and mud oozed around my foot. In Ireland\'s peat bogs, land is not separate from water.\r\n\r\nPedalling further into the bog, I saw turves (long skinny bricks cut from peat) stacked into a temple-like dome to dry in the wind – a man-made monument that echoed the distant peaks. Continuing through villages, houses along the roadside stored turves in open-fronted sheds in their gardens. After less than an hour of cycling through Roundstone Bog, it was clear that peat cutting is not a past tradition but still very much part of Irish culture today. \r\n\r\nWind flowing across the Atlantic Ocean to western Ireland breaks along Connemara\'s mountains, bringing frequent rain that nurtures peat bog, a type of wetland where dead plant material doesn\'t decay, but instead slowly accumulates. Cut from the ground and dried, peat is a fuel that has kept Irish households warm, infused whisky with flavour for centuries and served as a custodian of Ireland\'s history.\r\n\r\nSheep outnumber cars on the Bog Road through Roundstone Bog (Credit: Tim Graham/Alamy)\r\nSheep outnumber cars on the Bog Road through Roundstone Bog (Credit: Tim Graham/Alamy)\r\n\r\nDuring the 18th Century, when most of Ireland\'s forests had already been cleared, peat – which covers roughly 20% of Ireland – was a fuel tenant farmers could harvest from the bogs. Peat cutting became an industry, and as it was dug out of the depths, remnants from past cultures, such as jewellery and even human bodies were found. But this ecosystem isn\'t just a vast archaeological site, it\'s also an important resource that helps the planet, as globally, peat bogs hold twice as much carbon as all the world\'s woodlands. And while forests store carbon for decades or centuries, peat bogs store it for millennia. \r\n\r\nSince the low-lying landscape allows roads to follow flat routes between mountains, Connemara is an especially inviting cycling destination. Exposing myself to the wind and rain that have shaped Connemara\'s culture – as well as the scents and sounds of the peat bog itself – I set off on a leisurely, five-day, 200km ride along the area\'s small country roads and peated landscape. \r\n\r\nTo start, I took a bus out of Galway City to avoid cycling the busiest section of N59 (the national primary road that cuts across Connemara) and arrived in Clifden, \"the capital of Connemara\", where I hired a bicycle from Clifden Bike Shop. Cycling through Roundstone Bog, straight lines where peat had been hand-cut and stacks of turves were signs of human intervention in the landscape. But nature was at work, too. Plants, mosses and lichens grew on exposed peat and were reclaiming it as peat bog. \r\n\r\nLeaving Roundstone Bog and heading east, along local road L1205, hollows left by peat removal had refilled with bog water. I knelt down and picked up a handful of bright-green sphagnum moss from the water\'s edge and squeezed it. Water flowed out and ran down my wrist. Sphagnum moss can hold more than 12 times its own weight in water and acidifies it. It\'s also an ecosystem engineer, as it creates peat bog, and here, it was regrowing after small-scale peat cutting a few months earlier.\r\n\r\nPeat covers roughly 20% of Ireland and has served as custodians of its history (Credit: Chris Hill/Getty Images)\r\nPeat covers roughly 20% of Ireland and has served as custodians of its history (Credit: Chris Hill/Getty Images)\r\n\r\nI then stopped at Pearse Cultural Centre, home to a new interpretation centre that offers insights into the local landscape, as well as the restored cottage of Patrick Pearse. The Irish nationalist wrote with passion and nostalgia for rural Galway and was leader of the 1916 Rising of Irish Republicans against British rule. After Pearse and other leaders were executed following the rebellion, support for Irish independence grew, and in 1922 the Irish Free State – now Republic of Ireland – left the United Kingdom. \r\n\r\nOutside the interpretation centre, a sign attributes the shifting colour of the landscape to purple moor grass and ling heather, which grow in shallow peat. I was there in October and purple moor grass was golden with autumnal leaves. I had missed the end of summer ling heather bloom that shades blanket bogs in mauve – but I timed my visit perfectly to taste it. \r\n\r\nCycling through the small parish of Camus Oughter, I passed an honesty box filled with products made by Green Bee. I picked up some heather honey on impulse, and found that adding Green Bee\'s heather honey to tea infused it with flavour, sweetening and also giving it viscosity and a slightly woody-floral taste. I later emailed Green Bee\'s owners, Donna Sturm and Edwin Smyth, and asked why their honey tasted so much more complex and delicious than standard honey. \r\n\r\n\"Seasonal flower availability allows us to produce three different types of honey: summer honey, early autumn honey and heather honey,\" they responded. \"There are large amounts of ling heather plants growing in this part of Connemara due to blanket bogs that cover the area, and this heather produces the best quality heather honey.\"\r\n\r\nFlowering ling heather colours the landscape and flavours local honey (Credit: Susanne Masters)\r\nFlowering ling heather colours the landscape and flavours local honey (Credit: Susanne Masters)\r\n\r\nDonna and Edwin were hobbyist beekeepers who moved to Camus Oughter in hope of becoming full-time honey-makers. When I asked them how they chose this location, they said, \"There is little or no use of pesticides and herbicides in the area which could affect both our honeybees and the quality of our honey. The air that blows over this part of Connemara is considered to be the cleanest in Europe, after travelling over the northern Canadian wetlands, and then more than 3,000km over the Atlantic Ocean before reaching us here.\" \r\n\r\nI carried on to the village of Rossaveal and took a ferry to Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands for a couple of days. On returning to the mainland, caught out by the appeal of looping along the coastal road past Carna and autumn\'s early sunset, I arrived at Ballynahinch Castle in the dark. My first view of the estate-turned-hotel was a cluster of lights mirrored in Owenmore River. After carrying my bicycle panniers to my room and changing out of muddy clothes, peated whisky from Micil Distillery was a warm welcome. \r\n\r\nBased in Galway City, Micil collects their turf from Galway bogs, and their spirits are served in pubs and bars around Connemara. They also make gin flavoured with local bog myrtle, and their poitín (an unaged spirit), made with a family recipe passed down through generations, incorporates bog bean – a white-flowered, bog-dwelling plant. While cycling, I kept seeing bog myrtle\'s grey-leaved tufts along road edges. Stopping to enjoy views and squelching between tussocks, I would catch its resinous aroma as I brushed against its twigs and leaves. \r\n\r\nThe next day, heading towards Derryclare Lough and past the Twelve Bens mountains, I followed a 6km-section of car-free path for pedestrians and cyclists that has been constructed so far for the new Connemara Greenway. Pines with an under footing of moss formed a wide buffer between Greenway and road. Last December, funding was allocated for what will eventually be a 76km-long car-free route from Galway City to Clifden.\r\n\r\nMany locals still hand-cut peat in the shadow of the Twelve Bens mountains (Credit: Peter Zoeller/Getty Images)\r\nMany locals still hand-cut peat in the shadow of the Twelve Bens mountains (Credit: Peter Zoeller/Getty Images)\r\n\r\nHaving seen plenty of bog from my bike, I didn\'t hike trails around the Connemara National Park Visitor Centre. Instead, I stopped to look at their displays on local culture and wildlife connected to bogs.\r\n\r\nGO FOR A RIDE\r\nThere are plenty of ways to enjoy the area\'s bogs on two wheels. On a day trip from Clifden, you can cycle The Bog Road through Roundstone Bog, then visit Roundstone village and return to Clifden on a coastal route via Errisberg and Ballyconneely. On a three-day tour, cycle from Clifden to the Connemara Park Visitor Centre, past Kylemore Abbey to Leenaun. Then, ride to Pearse Cultural Centre and on to Ballynahinch before going back to Clifden on The Bog Road or on the slightly longer coastal route.\r\n\r\nCasually displayed was a pine trunk radiocarbon-dated to be 8,600 years old – a relic of ancient forest subsumed and preserved by bog. Organic matter that would usually decay while exposed to air and weathering is conserved by bog conditions that inhibit bacterial growth and insulate it from extreme temperatures. \r\n\r\nIn a timeline display, I learned that peat bogs are the result of human intervention. Five thousand years ago, the first people to settle in Connemara cleared areas of primeval forest for farming using stone axes and fire. Bronze and iron axes brought by more recent arrivals accelerated this large-scale decline in forest cover. Deposits of charcoal from previous forest burning blocked soil drainage. As high rainfall accumulated, it nurtured the growth of peat bogs. \r\n\r\nToday, peat cutting continues, and some of it takes place illegally in protected bogs. A few weeks before my trip, the European Commission had notified Ireland that unless turf cutting in protected bogs ceases, the issue will proceed to the European Court of Justice. Yet, peat cutting for private use is so ingrained in local culture that it\'s likely to endure.\r\n\r\n\"Ireland is a global hotspot for peatlands,\" said Dr Clare Noone, researcher at Irish Climate Analysis and Research UnitS. \"Unfortunately, most Irish peatlands have been drained or degraded and [in this state] it is likely Irish peatlands are currently significant sources of carbon emissions, contributing to global warming. With careful management, this could be reversed. They could become an important sink and help slow down the impacts of climate change.\"\r\n\r\nPeat bogs are able to store carbon for millennia (Credit: Artur Widak/Alamy)\r\nPeat bogs are able to store carbon for millennia (Credit: Artur Widak/Alamy)\r\n\r\nAccording to Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, a local wetland ecologist, cycling enthusiast and president of the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland the small-scale is very much less destructive than the industrial-scale peat cutting that becomes horticultural compost and fuel for power stations. \"Hand-cutting turf is very different from machine-cut turf: it is less destructive and slower to become extensive,\" she said. The UK has legislated to ban the sale of horticultural peat to gardeners, and Ireland\'s peat-burning power stations are being shut down. \r\n\r\nComing in from a cool day\'s cycling, the quiet glow of a turf fire made a warm welcome at Renvyle House Hotel on Connemara\'s northern coast. Standing by the fireplace, someone commented, \"I believe the planet is suffering. But until we get these bigger countries to cut their emissions, what damage are we doing with a few chimneys?\". The hope, however, is that if more people pedal through this unique landscape, it could help fuel a slow travel revolution that works to save this ecosystem. \r\n\r\nCycling around Connemara\'s bogs is a way of travelling that\'s congruent with the growing move away from peat and petrol as fuel. This unique landscape will remain tied to Irish culture as a repository for its archaeological past. But moving forwards, perhaps people will use peat less in fires and experience it more through scenic bike rides.','2022-11-29','',0,1),(302,'Philippines sees a pandemic boom in child sex abuse','BBC NEWS','Society',4,67,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63658818','By Laura Bicker','Seven-year-old Eric giggles, showing off a broad toothless grin, as he talks about space travel in the shade of a garden, surrounded by lush, thick forest, a few hours north of the Philippines\' capital Manila.\r\n\r\nEric dreams of flying a rainbow-coloured rocket to Saturn. He has just lost his baby teeth but he is small for his age. His white, checked shirt hangs off his tiny shoulders.\r\n\r\n\"What do you cry about during therapy?\" his social worker asks him. \"I cry about my parents,\" he says, looking at the ground.\r\n\r\nFedalyn Marie Baldo has spent months with Eric, his 10-year-old sister Maria and two older brothers to help them understand that theirs is not a normal childhood.\r\n\r\nFor years, when their neighbourhood was asleep and much of the Western world was awake, all four children were forced to perform live sex shows for paedophiles around the world.\r\n\r\nThey were raped and repeatedly sexually abused on camera by their mother. Their father, aunt and uncle also took part.\r\n\r\nIt was the children\'s father who eventually reported his wife and her family to the police, allegedly after a dispute. Investigators traced payments to the family from accounts in the UK and Switzerland.\r\n\r\nMonths later, Eric, his brothers and sister ended up at a home run by the charity Preda, which focuses on helping sexually abused children.\r\n\r\nThat has also been Ms Baldo\'s job for 17 years. In that time, images and videos of child sexual abuse have ballooned into a billion-dollar industry in the Philippines, now the world\'s largest-known source of such exploitation.\r\n\r\nGrinding poverty, high-speed internet access and an ability to accept instructions in English have all kept it going.\r\n\r\nEric and Maria\r\nImage caption,\r\nEric, Maria and two of their brothers all live at the centre\r\nThen came the pandemic. More than two years of lockdowns and some of the world\'s longest school closures left vulnerable children stuck at home with cash-strapped parents desperate to make money.\r\n\r\nA recent study by Unicef and Save the Children estimates that around one in five Filipino children are now at risk of sexual exploitation, putting the grim figure close to two million.\r\n\r\nMs Baldo fears that the abuse is becoming \"normalised\" in the Philippines and may become endemic in some of the country\'s poorest neighbourhoods.\r\n\r\nPresident Bongbong Marcos has declared an \"all-out war\" on child sexual abuse and the industry it has spurred. But so far, it\'s a war the Philippines is not winning.\r\n\r\nA global war\r\nIn Manila, as the clock ticks towards dawn, a team from the National Bureau of Investigation has gathered near a graveyard.\r\n\r\nFlashlights are kept low, guns are loaded, cameras are ready to film evidence as the team leader gives a final briefing. They are under pressure to get results.\r\n\r\nAmid the tombstones in this densely populated city, a family live among the dead. A 36-year-old mother is on her smartphone in a small wooden hut built against some of the largest monuments in the cemetery.\r\n\r\nShe thinks she is messaging a paying customer in Australia who is requesting a live sex show involving her three children. In truth, her texts are going to an undercover police officer.\r\n\r\nAs she switches on the camera, around a dozen officers rush through narrow paths to her door. The only warning is when the stray dogs start to bark.\r\n\r\nShe offers no resistance as a female officer takes the children to safety and others start to bag evidence: sex toys, smartphones, receipts detailing overseas payments.\r\n\r\nAs with many of these arrests, this one too is the result of a tip-off from abroad.\r\n\r\nThe Australian Federal Police told the BBC they caught a man at an airport with a storage device full of explicit child abuse videos. His phone allegedly contained messages between him and a woman in the Philippines requesting money in exchange for the videos.\r\n\r\nThe operation then took dozens of officers weeks to plan and led to two arrests. One in Manila and the other in Sydney.\r\n\r\nAustralian officials said they had recorded an increase of around 66% in reports of child exploitation in the last year.\r\n\r\nThey are working alongside teams from the International Justice Mission, the UK National Crime Agency and the National Police of the Netherlands, and officers in the Philippines, to try to find child sex offenders. Once they\'ve identified them, they try to track down the source of the material.\r\n\r\nBut often, the only way the abuse is reported is when the child comes forward. And even then it\'s a long road ahead.\r\n\r\nSeveral social workers say they have to spend days, even weeks, pushing local police to rescue the children and file charges against the parents.\r\n\r\n\"Sometimes we get the co-operation of law enforcement authorities, other times the actions of people who are supposed to really protect children are delayed. But we have to work around it,\" says Emmanuel Drewery from Preda.\r\n\r\nA boy wearing a facemask peers out from the window of a bus about to leave Manila before it is placed on lockdown on March 13, 2020 in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines.\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES\r\nImage caption,\r\nOne in five Filipino children are at risk from sexual exploitation\r\nThe organisation first set up a children\'s home for girls back in the 1970s near the port city of Olongapo, once home to a large American naval base.\r\n\r\nIt had become a hub for sex tourism - illegal prostitution between foreign men and Filipina girls often still in their teens and trafficked into the industry, or young women pushed into the sex trade by family pressure and economic desperation.\r\n\r\nYears on, social workers fear much of the sexual abuse here is generational, that many of the children\'s mothers were also raped or sexually assaulted. They believe their view is: \"It happened to me, I did this to survive and so must you.\"\r\n\r\nFather Shay Cullen, the founder of Preda, has been fighting for the rights of abused children in the Philippines since 1974. He wants a global solution to this new and growing problem.\r\n\r\n\"There has to be [an] international law. This is the only way. All national governments need to really put restrictions on the internet corporations. They must co-operate to restrict the passage of child abuse material and the online streaming of the sexual abuse of children.\"\r\n\r\nThings are changing, he agrees - but slowly.\r\n\r\nBut that\'s only one part of the war. For organisations like Preda, the bigger battle lies in rehabilitating the children.\r\n\r\n\'Why did you do this to me?\'\r\nSome of the toughest healing at Preda happens inside a dark room with soft music playing in the background.\r\n\r\nThere are large pads on the walls and floors - the kind gymnasts would use for a soft landing. The only light comes from the open door.\r\n\r\nAbout five children are kneeling, each in their own space. Most of them are facing the wall.\r\n\r\nThe overwhelming sound is the erratic thud of their fists and feet as they pummel the pads.\r\n\r\nEric\r\nImage caption,\r\nEric says he enjoys power dance and therapy at the centre\r\nThe first raw, anguished cries make your heart stop. And then it starts again, but it\'s difficult to keep listening, even from a distance, even for a few minutes.\r\n\r\nThe questions hurled at the cushioned walls - \"Why did you do this to me? Why me? What did I do?\" - are heart-breaking.\r\n\r\nA therapist kneels quietly inside, ready to help.\r\n\r\n\"It all begins in the room,\" says Francisco Bermido Jr, current president of Preda.\r\n\r\n\"If they are able to confront the abusers in the \'primal\' room, they can move on forward and confront these abusers in the court-room. These are emotions like hate towards their abusers, but also hate towards those they told, but who did not believe them.\"\r\n\r\nPreda has used this form of emotional release therapy - called primal - for decades to help children cope with the emotional impact of physical and sexual abuse.\r\n\r\nBut they are struggling for resources. Their centre near Manila can only afford to take around 100 children a year. But so many more need help.\r\n\r\nOnce a police report is filed, children can be sent to a number of homes or orphanages, but many don\'t have the training or experience to care for children who have suffered abuse.\r\n\r\nEric\'s older brother was first placed into a nearby orphanage without his siblings before he was moved to the Preda centre.\r\n\r\nSocial workers at the centre say that around 40% of abused children who\'ve been in their care go on to live a life safe from harm. And every success keeps them going.\r\n\r\nRoutine helps. The centre offers a daily schedule of schoolwork, sports like karate and volleyball, storytelling sessions and, of course, therapy.\r\n\r\n\"I love karate, power dance and primal,\" Eric shouts as he punches happily in the air.\r\n\r\nHe also enjoys singing - and he joins his friends in the playroom. When it\'s his turn for a solo, he sings softly at first, then his confidence grows and his voice soars around the room.\r\n\r\nChildren at Preda home take part in a karate session\r\nImage caption,\r\nSocial workers say routine - and sports like karate - help the children heal\r\nOne of his older brothers is still too traumatised to talk. Their sister Maria, Ms Baldo warns, also speaks little.\r\n\r\nBut on that day, a beaming Maria, clinging to either her prized pencil case or a soft toy, was surprisingly curious and full of questions. She really wanted to know what a snowflake felt like.\r\n\r\n\"When they arrived, they were very meek and docile and untrusting of the world and of others,\" Mr Bermido Jr says.\r\n\r\nBut months later, they are able to tell their story - every horrifying detail - to the social workers. All four children have also testified against their family, a requirement by Philippines\' courts.\r\n\r\n\"That\'s actually very important because that\'s where their quest for justice begins,\" he adds.\r\n\r\nBoth Eric and Maria attend the group storytelling session. He sits next to her and absently curls his fingers around his sister\'s ponytail.\r\n\r\nMs Baldo asks Maria about Cinderella, and she replies: \"Cinderella did not give up even during hard times, even in the toughest situation, she still had hope,\" she says, hugging her soft toy tighter.\r\n\r\n\"Just like us - even though our parents abused us, we should be like Cinderella.\"','2022-11-30','',0,1),(303,'Does College Still Prepare Students For Real Life?','By Bold','Lifestyle',8,67,'https://boldtv.com/luke-soloway/2022/12/05/does-college-still-prepare-students-for-real-life/','By Luke Soloway','LIFEDoes College Still Prepare Students For Real Life?\r\n\r\nByLuke SolowayPublished2 days ago\r\nA college student studying.Photo by George Dolgikh on Pexels.\r\nWhy Is Healthcare Expensive?\r\n\r\nWatch this video on YouTube\r\nThe writer Michel de Montaigne, in the 1500s, once wrote that he only studied that which instructed him “how to die well and how to live well.” Morbid “dying well” bit aside, do modern colleges help their students to “live well”? And is it fair to interchange “living well” with functioning well in society? If it is fair (even if it’s a drag), here are three ways colleges fail students. Especially when it comes to learning how to grapple with real-world challenges. Does college still prepare students for real life?\r\n\r\nEncouraging egocentric fallacy\r\nEgocentric fallacy is the (false) perception that you are the center of the universe; the idea that Galileo was wrong, that the earth does not revolve around the sun, but, instead, revolves around you. This is a fallacy, and the real world demands we understand it and act accordingly. The college experience is supposed to be a horizon-broadening journey. A safe place to garner independence, responsibility, and maturity. College should expose students to a variety of people, points of view, and ideas. It was a journey into the unknown. Students should approach higher education with a sense of humility and a hunger for knowledge. Today, colleges often fall short of this vision.\r\n\r\nToday’s college student’s mission is the fight for change rather than the struggle to adapt to the post-graduation world.  Today’s college students focus on the fight for justice. And we should fight for justice. Additionally, we should note today’s youth behave very admirably when they fight. For example, they fight for inclusivity and to destigmatize issues surrounding mental health. But, noble as that fight is, we mislead today’s college students, who arrive at college as children. They believe they already know everything. And that they must educate their elders (i.e., educators). When in reality, it is the other way around. This exacerbates and reinforces the false belief that the purpose of college is for the immature to improve the culture. First at the university level and then in the world at large. \r\n\r\nDoes college prepare students for real life?\r\nIt is true that young people will always have powerful insight to impart by virtue of real-world inexperience. It is also true that older generations generally have the wisdom to impart by virtue of their empirical experiences. Permitting college students to silence dissenting voices robs them of the chance to become resilient adults. The same goes if they drop “upsetting” courses and label anything they find uncomfortable with the name “triggering.”\r\n\r\nColleges should draw a line between literal and conceptual violence; we must not tolerate the former. But, the world abounds with unpleasant ideas and people. We only cripple students when we don’t acknowledge that there is often a difficult gap between idealism and reality. We must often tolerate this difference, at least partially, in hopes of having a chance to bridge that gap. \r\n\r\nTeenagers telling their professors how to teach is like a doughy couch potato telling their trainer how to exercise. When we combat distress by trying to eliminate it from life entirely, we fail at the attempt. Students cannot erase all distress from life – they cannot “cancel” its existence —such that it goes away. Colleges can, however, inhibit students’ capacity for distress tolerance. That individual inability to tolerate distress then becomes a national inability when today’s students become tomorrow’s adults. It is not intolerance to distress that changes the world, but rather distress tolerance; its opposite, “standing the heat” long enough to put out the fire. \r\n\r\nDevaluing engagement\r\nCollege should be the place to learn to conceptualize well. But theory is only one part of life; day-to-day social interactions and functioning in the world of actions requires a large degree of flexibility from us. Flexibility doesn’t mean accepting wrongdoing but, instead, learning how to gracefully confront less-than-ideal scenarios. Change requires patience; lasting change requires peace. Unfairly low wages are upsetting. Especially when compensation has not reflected productivity or cost-of-living increases.\r\n\r\nAccording to a 2020 job-seeker survey, 77% of college seniors say compensation is their top priority for entry-level positions. It seems like they put the cart before the horse. We should aim high. However, this is a change from the more common view that we shouldn’t dictate compensation in our first job. Being picky about what caliber job we accept is another matter. Traditionally, incomers seek to distinguish themselves through high-quality work and then make compensation demands. \r\n\r\nIn life, we come into contact with all types – those with good, bad, and unclear intentions. Colleges that don’t instill the social competency to navigate differing ideas fail in their responsibility to create resilient adults. Colleges should not only teach theories but theories in motion. Theories which help us deal effectively with the people we need to deal with… that is, those who do not tolerate our theories (I think I just gave myself a headache). \r\n\r\nCalling laziness bravery\r\nDoes college still prepare students for real life? When university administrations place prohibitions on behaviors that fall short of causing physical harm and refuse to tolerate words that are more provocative or irritating than hateful,  they do more than simply limit their students’ ability to build distress tolerance. They tempt students into mistaking laziness for bravery. Students should not be taught to believe that any discourse which causes discomfort is “hateful,” nor should they be taught that uncomfortable discourse is, in any sense whatsoever, physical harm itself. To label every moment of discomfort or irritation as “physical harm” handicaps the building of distress tolerance and leaves graduating classes believing true bravery consists in managing to never feel uncomfortable and never encountering distasteful people. \r\n\r\nObstacles exist in this world. Students should learn to confront them effectively. “Effective” engagement is crucial. Refusing to engage with a problem has never solved it. All of us should value building the distress tolerance necessary to engage with life patiently and thoughtfully– not just today’s students. Building healthy intra-national relationships has never been achieved by policies of disengagement and belligerence, nor has a workplace feud ever been resolved well in such a manner; the same can even be said for diplomatically insisting on the correct change from the deli guy who accidentally charged us $31.50 for a $13.50 sandwich… instead of yelling in his face!   ','2022-12-05','',0,1),(304,'Addressable Ads: The Future Of Advertising','By Bold','Politics',1,67,'https://boldtv.com/david-grasso/2022/12/03/addressable-ads-the-future-of-advertising/','ByDavid Grasso','Addressable Ads: The Future Of Advertising\r\n\r\nByDavid GrassoPublished4 days ago\r\nAddressable ads could be the future of marketing.Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.\r\nRussian Space Ads: What You Need to Know\r\n\r\nWatch this video on YouTube\r\nAre the advertisements on your phone or TV streaming services personalized? If you have cut the cord but still watch TV, you’ve probably noticed that the commercials you see are getting better, more personalized, and eerily accurate in predicting what you want to buy. These targeted advertisements are known as addressable ads. And the industry is already worth billions of dollars.\r\n\r\nAn advertisement revolution\r\nWe already receive great advertisements through social media platforms. The internet’s many algorithms constantly monitor our online activity. Cookies harness all that information and sell it to advertisers. Using that information and some AI machine learning, advertisers then create targeted ads based on our likes.\r\n\r\nAdmittedly, the advertisements we see today are great at knowing what we want. Even if you come from a different culture, addressable ads consider that when defining your interests. If you’re bilingual, you may have noticed ads in English and the other language(s) you speak. Somewhat more eerily, you might have noticed ads will also adapt based on your location. Aside from the future of advertising, addressable ads bring up many concerns over online privacy and the value of user data.\r\n\r\nAds are adapting to streaming\r\nAs more people decide to join cable cutters and rely exclusively on streaming services, addressable ads will continue to appear. Ads showing personalized offers for products or content you’re interested in, instead of generic advertisements, is definitely an improvement. However, the situation begs the question of where this is all headed. Some companies allegedly want to end internet cookies in the next few years. Google’s been trying for a while now. That would be a disaster for addressable ads since cookies are how they acquire information on our interests.\r\n\r\nHow do they work?\r\nSo how do addressable ads work? First, online cookies collect data from users’ online activity. According to a recent NordVPN study, social media sites have up to 160 cookies to collect data. The same study found the average website uses 48 data trackers to gather user information. Companies collect information about viewers, such as age, gender, interests, and more. Using machine learning, companies create customer profiles for specific advertisements to target. Algorithms then use that information to deliver addressed ads to users on sites we visit.\r\n\r\nThe future of advertisement\r\nMore likely than not, addressable ads are the future of advertising. Still, the will-they/won’t-they dance around tech companies getting rid of cookies will define a lot. As more countries worldwide scramble to improve online privacy, targeted ads could see a setback. The trend in online privacy is allowing users to opt out of sharing their data with the websites they visit. The UK and European Union already have opt-out measures on most sites. California’s recent online privacy law appeared to follow suit.\r\n\r\nSo, while addressable ads are clearly the future of marketing, the way they work could soon change. It seems, eventually, we may be able to choose whether we receive personalized ads or not. How addressable ads will survive if cookies are eliminated is a question for another time; in the meantime, they’ll likely be around for the foreseeable future.','2022-12-04','',0,1),(305,'Brexit: Mistakes were made on all sides, says Leo Varadkar','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,68,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64149139','By Charley Adams','Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said mistakes were made on all sides in the way Brexit was negotiated.\r\n\r\nMr Varadkar said he would be \"flexible and reasonable\" when attempting to solve issues with the Northern Ireland protocol.\r\n\r\nHe admitted that \"perhaps\" the treaty was a \"little bit too strict\" and that the European Union was willing to make compromises.\r\n\r\nMr Varadkar became PM, or taoiseach, for the second time last month.\r\n\r\nThe Fine Gael leader has been unpopular with some unionists who see him as instrumental in the creation of the contentious protocol.\r\n\r\nAsked about this, he said: \"I\'m sure we\'ve all made mistakes in the handling of Brexit.\r\n\r\n\"There was no road map, no manual, it wasn\'t something that we expected would happen and we\'ve all done our best to deal with it.\"\r\n\r\nHe said he was looking forward to travelling to Northern Ireland early in the new year \"in an effort to find a solution\".\r\n\r\nThe Northern Ireland protocol has been a source of tension since it came into force at the start of 2021.\r\n\r\nThe protocol is a part of the Brexit deal that keeps Northern Ireland aligned with some European Union trade rules.\r\n\r\nPower-sharing in Northern Ireland is currently in a state of flux as a result of a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) boycott of Stormont in protest over the protocol.\r\n\r\nThe DUP has said it would not return to devolved government unless radical changes are made to trading agreements.\r\n\r\nThe UK and EU remain in negotiations to reduce the impact of the deal.\r\n\r\nA simple guide to the Northern Ireland Protocol\r\nWhere does Rishi Sunak stand on the NI Protocol?\r\nVaradkar \'will not be deterred from visiting NI\'\r\nMr Varadkar said he understood that some unionists feel the treaty \"creates barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland that didn\'t exist before\".\r\n\r\nHowever, he said this was also true of Brexit which was imposed without cross-community consent.\r\n\r\nMr Varadkar said the protocol had worked without being fully enforced which is \"why I think there\'s room for flexibility and room for changes\".\r\n\r\nHe said this was also the position of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and vice-president Maros Sefcovic.','2023-01-03','',0,1),(306,'Brazil says final farewell to \'King\' Pele',' 2023 AFP','Sport',5,68,'https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230103-brazil-says-final-farewell-to-king-pele',' 2023 AFP','Santos (Brazil) (AFP) – President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will lead the tributes Tuesday as Brazil says a final farewell to football legend Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\n\r\nAfter holding three days of national mourning, Brazil has been paying its last respects to the player known as \"The King,\" who died Thursday at age 82 after a battle with cancer.\r\n\r\nLula, who took office Sunday in a ceremony that started with a minute\'s silence for Pele, will travel to the southeastern city of Santos to \"pay his respects and tribute\" as the 24-hour wake for the late icon draws to a close at 9:00 am (1200 GMT), his office said.\r\n\r\nThousands of fans and football dignitaries, including FIFA president Gianni Infantino, have already filed past Pele\'s black coffin at the stadium where he first dazzled the world, the Vila Belmiro, home to his longtime club, Santos FC.\r\n\r\n\"Pele is eternal. He\'s a global icon of football,\" Infantino told journalists on Monday, saying football\'s governing body would ask all member countries to name a stadium in the player\'s honor.\r\n\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\nFinal farewell to Pele\r\nFinal farewell to Pele © Julia Han JANICKI / AFP\r\nAntonio Carlos Pereira da Silva, a 36-year-old artist, said he had arrived at midnight to be among the first inside when the wake began Monday morning.\r\n\r\n\"If I said I didn\'t cry when he died, I\'d be lying,\" he told AFP.\r\n\r\n\"Pele taught us so much. Not just Brazil, but the whole world.\"\r\n\r\nNeymar, Real Madrid\r\nBorn Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele exploded onto the scene at age 15, when he made his professional debut with Santos.\r\n\r\nHe went on to win the World Cup three times with Brazil, in 1958, 1962 and 1970 -- the only player in history to achieve the feat.\r\n\r\nThe wife of late Brazilian football legend Pele, Marcia Aoki (R), places a rosary on his coffin during his wake in Santos\r\nThe wife of late Brazilian football legend Pele, Marcia Aoki (R), places a rosary on his coffin during his wake in Santos © NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP\r\nTributes have poured in from around the world since his death, with a Who\'s Who of current and former football greats hailing his genius for the \"beautiful game.\"\r\n\r\nA stream of athletes, politicians, dignitaries and fans have traveled to Santos for the ceremony, though turnout may be dented somewhat by the New Year\'s holiday weekend.\r\n\r\nPele\'s coffin was carried into the stadium Monday morning by pallbearers dressed in black, led by his son Edinho.\r\n\r\nThe late icon\'s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, his third wife, whom he married in 2016, cried before his open casket as she reached out to touch his head. She also placed a rosary in his coffin.\r\n\r\nThe casket was draped in the flags of Santos and Brazil and was surrounded by white flowers, including bouquets from the likes of Real Madrid or current Brazil star Neymar, whose father was in attendance.\r\n\r\nLast parade\r\nOther tributes have come in from around Brazil.\r\n\r\nAt the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio, a giant poster with Pele\'s image bears the word \"eternal.\"\r\n\r\nFans lined up to pay tribute to Pele as they filed past the football great\'s coffin at the Vila Belmiro stadium, home to his longtime club, Santos FC\r\nFans lined up to pay tribute to Pele as they filed past the football great\'s coffin at the Vila Belmiro stadium, home to his longtime club, Santos FC © CARL DE SOUZA / AFP\r\nPele had been in fragile health, suffering from kidney problems and then colon cancer.\r\n\r\nBut he remained active on social media, cheering on Brazil from his hospital bed in Sao Paulo during the World Cup in Qatar and consoling the pre-tournament favorites when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals, three weeks before his death.\r\n\r\nThe funeral procession through Santos will go past the house of Pele\'s mother, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes, who is still alive.\r\n\r\nIt will end at Santos\'s Memorial Cemetery, where a Catholic funeral service will be held before Pele is interred in a special mausoleum.','2023-01-03','',0,1),(307,'EU to aim for coordinated approach to air travel amid Covid surge in China',' NEWS WIRES','Travel',6,68,'https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230103-european-union-countries-to-aim-for-coordinated-approach-on-china-covid-policies',' NEWS WIRES','European Union nations will try again on Wednesday to mold a coordinated approach on if and how authorities should check incoming airline passengers from China for any new COVID-19 variants after several member nations announced individual efforts over the past week.\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\n\r\nBelgium said late Monday it would be checking wastewater from planes coming in from China to see if it yields new clues about any potentially dangerous variants. It said that it would urge visitors from China who do not feel well to take a COVID-19 test.\r\n\r\nMore should be done, but only in a coordinated approach among the 27 member states, said Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke. “It would be a good signal toward China if all EU nations would say together: ’If you come to Europe you have to be tested first,” he told VRT network.\r\n\r\nSweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said officials from the member states will hold an Integrated Political Crisis Response meeting on Wednesday to see if entry requirements throughout the bloc are necessary.\r\n\r\n“It is important that we get the necessary measures in place quickly,” said Swedish Health Minister Jakob Forssmed.\r\n\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n\r\nEU nations France, Spain and Italy have already announced independent measures to implement tougher COVID-19 measures for passengers arriving from China.\r\n\r\nDaily newsletter\r\nReceive essential international news every morning\r\n\r\nSubscribe\r\nFrance’s government is requiring negative tests, and is urging French citizens to avoid nonessential travel to China. France is also reintroducing mask requirements on flights from China to France.\r\n\r\nSpain’s government said it would require all air passengers coming from China to have negative tests or proof of vaccination.\r\n\r\nItaly was the first EU member in requiring coronavirus tests for airline passengers coming from China, but several others have said such measures might not be the best option to protect local populations since new variants now coming from China have already been around in Europe, often for many months.\r\n\r\nThe United States announced new COVID-19 testing requirements Wednesday for all travelers from China, joining some Asian nations that had imposed restrictions because of a surge of infections.\r\n\r\n(AP)','2023-01-03','',0,1),(308,'The Senegal man on a mission to plant five million trees','BBC NEWS','Lifestyle',8,68,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64022938','By Jo Hollis','A man in southern Senegal has set himself the ambitious task of planting five million trees over the next five years.\r\n\r\nThis visionary project came to Adama Diémé when he returned home to the Casamance region in 2020 after a few years working in Europe.\r\n\r\nThe 48-year-old was shocked that in villages that were populated with hundreds of gigantic trees in his youth, only a handful, if any, now remained.\r\n\r\n\"In some villages, you can\'t find one tree. They cut them but they don\'t think about planting again,\" he told the BBC.\r\n\r\nAcross Africa desertification is one of the reasons blamed for deforestation but, in this area, along the sweeping expanse of the Casamance River, the trees are more likely to have been cut down for construction purposes like building houses, or to make charcoal.\r\n\r\nMr Diémé, who now works as a project manager for a Spanish non-governmental organisation in Casamance and also volunteers as an agricultural trainer, is determined to change all that.\r\n\r\nWith no great reserves of wealth, he began to raise money to make his dream a reality - and has used $5,000 (£4,100) from his own pocket to kick-start the initiative.\r\n\r\nFlexing female power\r\nHe has been working hard to engage with communities across the region and to reach out to women, who he knew would be able to rise to the challenge of organising the mass planting of seedlings.\r\n\r\nFemale farmers in Casamance, Senegal, holding fruit\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JO HOLLIS/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nThe women who plant the trees are able to harvest fruits to sell\r\n\"You go into a village and there\'s no women, it\'s a disaster,\" Mr Diémé said.\r\n\r\n\"But if you go to a village with only women, it\'s paradise - they are hardworking and work all day every day.\r\n\r\n\"If you want to lead a good project start with women,\" Mr Diémé added.\r\n\r\nWhat he has done is to couple his passion to plant trees by helping women gain skills to become small-scale farmers and sell their produce at local markets.\r\n\r\n\"At first, we didn\'t know how to plant the seeds and what to do to grow the crops,\" one of the women, Safi Yetou, said.\r\n\r\n\"Now we have all sorts of fruits to sell at the market and we are not dependent on anyone. We all have an account in the bank now and no-one can tell me what I can and can\'t do. It\'s brilliant.\"\r\n\r\nAdama Diémé (C) by some tamarind seedlings\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JO HOLLIS/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nAdama Diémé (C), seen here with tamarind seedlings, says each community decides which trees to plant\r\nMr Diémé\'s project is known as Ununukolaal, which in the local language Jola means \"Our Trees\".\r\n\r\nUp to 12 kinds are being planted, from palms and tamarinds to kapoks and lemon trees - the varieties depend on the needs of the community and the terrain.\r\n\r\nOver the last three years more than 142,000 seedlings have been tended and have taken root.\r\n\r\nIt means a staggering amount of planting still needs to be done if Mr Diémé is to reach his goal within the next five years - but he and his partner Yolanda Pereñiguez are not daunted.\r\n\r\nMs Pereñiguez works as a tailor and has been key in helping organise funds by designing a T-shirt that is mainly sold abroad for $15 (£13).\r\n\r\nAlong with her colleague Raymonde Coly, they work in a tiny workshop with two sewing machines to make them from local cloth, with a distinctive baobab image stitched on. Each one sold can pay for 15 tree seedlings.\r\n\r\n\"I chose the baobab as it\'s the symbol of an African tree,\" said Ms Periniguiz. \"It\'s great to know that these T-shirts are going all over the world, to Europe and even Canada to help with the tree project.\"\r\n\r\nBaobabs to save homes\r\nAs we ventured further into Casamance by dug-out canoe, itself built from a single piece of wood hewn from the roots of a kapok tree, the true value of the project was brought into focus.\r\n\r\nOn a small village island in the middle of the river, water encroached right up to the outlying buildings - and in some cases even underneath others perched on stilts.\r\n\r\nWater seen beneath houses on an island on the Casamance River in Senegal\r\nIMAGE SOURCE,JO HOLLIS/BBC\r\nImage caption,\r\nWater is now lapping beneath houses on this island in the Casamance River\r\nTen years ago, the water levels meant the water\'s edge was much further away and would hardly even reach the village, except at the height of the rainy season.\r\n\r\nNow it is a desperate situation and if it gets worse it could mean leaving residents homeless.\r\n\r\n\"We\'ve lived on this island for hundreds of years - but if the water comes much further we will have to leave and be dispersed all over the place,\" said Conakry Bassene, one of the village leaders.\r\n\r\nBaobab trees, which can live on land and in salty or fresh water, have now been planted along the shoreline as a barrier. The saplings flap in the breeze, with the promise, one day of fruits and even shade.\r\n\r\n\"The trees can save us,\" said Mr Bassene.\r\n\r\n\"The trees, they are our hope for life.\"','2023-01-03','',0,1),(309,'‘This made us all unemployable’: Trump White House aides respond to January 6 in angry text exchange','CNN','Politics',1,68,'https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/02/politics/january-6-text-messages/index.html',' By Katelyn Polantz, Annie Grayer and Whitney Wild,','A text exchange between Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff Julie Radford and White House aide Hope Hicks reveals their anger over then-President Donald Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, hurting them professionally, according to newly released documents collected by the House select committee investigating the Capitol Hill insurrection.\r\n\r\n“In one day he ended every future opportunity that doesn’t include speaking engagements at the local Proud Boys chapter,” Hicks wrote to Radford on January 6, 2021. “And all of us that didn’t have jobs lined up will be perpetually unemployed. I’m so mad and upset. We all look like domestic terrorists now.”\r\n\r\nHicks added: “This made us all unemployable. Like untouchable. God I’m so f***ing mad.”\r\n\r\nRadford responded by texting, “I know, like there isn’t a chance of finding a job,” and indicating she already lost a job opportunity from Visa, which sent her a “blow off email.”\r\n\r\nThe new release is part of a steady stream of documents from the committee, complementing the release of its sweeping 845-page report. The latest comes as the panel winds down its work with the House majority set to change hands from Democrats to Republicans on Tuesday at the start of the new Congress.\r\n\r\nIn the text messages, Hicks then says “Alyssa looks like a genius,” an apparent reference to Alyssa Farah Griffin resigning from her post as a White House aide one month before the attack on the US Capitol.\r\n\r\n\r\nAd Feedback\r\nHicks and Radford then discuss Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s in-law Karlie Kloss, the supermodel, tweeting that Trump’s response to the election was anti-American.\r\n\r\n“Unreal,” Radford texted.\r\n\r\nWhite House call logs provide fuller picture of who Trump spoke to in the days leading to January 6\r\nThe committee also released call logs from the days leading up to January 6, 2021 painting a fuller picture of who the former president was speaking to as he and his allies were plotting for him to stay in office, the first time the panel is releasing White House call logs in their entirety.\r\n\r\nThe logs have been crucial to the panel’s investigation in piecing together a timeline of events. While the log for January 6 has a seven-hour gap, the committee has gone to great lengths to fill in that part of the timeline through witness interviews and other records.\r\n\r\nThe day before the US Capitol attack, Trump spoke to then-Vice President Mike Pence. After that conversation, Trump spoke with Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who helped fuel Trump’s election lies in the state, and then the switchboard operator left a note “that Senator Douglas Mastriano will be calling in for the Vice President.”\r\n\r\nTrump also talked to a number of members of Congress on January 5, including Sens. Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Trump and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri tried calling each other many times but could not connect. Trump also spoke with John Eastman, who helped Trump create the fake elector scheme that day.\r\n\r\nThe January 2 call log shows what happened in the immediate aftermath of the infamous hour-long call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger when Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” votes for him to win the state. Once the call with Raffensperger wrapped, Trump had a zoom with his then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani and spoke on the phone with his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and later Steve Bannon.\r\n\r\nOn January 3, Trump had multiple calls with former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark and GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, as the former President tried and ultimately failed to install Clark as the acting head of DOJ. The call logs reflect a flurry of calls with DOJ officials, including then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue.\r\n\r\nAt 4:22 p.m. ET that day, Clark is listed as acting attorney general, but earlier in the day he was not.\r\n\r\nSecret Service sent security to Capitol in direct response to Trump saying he planned to march on January 6\r\nNewly released documents also show the Secret Service dispatched a security team to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, just a few minutes after Trump announced unexpectedly during his Ellipse speech that he would join marchers headed there.\r\n\r\nAt about 1:10 p.m. ET, Trump called for supports to “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” with him to the Capitol. Internal communications released by the House select committee show the Secret Service Joint Operations Center Counter Surveillance Unit sent an email around 1:15 p.m. ET, alerting that Trump had announced “on LIVE TV that he plans head to the Capitol with the crowd,” although his name is redacted.\r\n\r\n“Per the announcement of (redacted) to the Capitol, a response team is being dedicated to the capitol,” agents wrote in the email. Publicly released internal communications frequently redact the code name agents use to refer to the president.\r\n\r\nThe newly released documents provide fresh insight into how the Secret Service scrambled to respond to the chaos that unfolded that day. The email from the joint operations center shows the agency rushed to provide more security to the Capitol as a direct result of the former president’s comments.\r\n\r\nSecret Service leadership was concerned about Trump’s sudden plan to go to the Capitol, and the head of his detail was told the idea was “not advisable,” the documents released by the committee show. They also detail how the agency ran into technical difficulties and confiscated dozens of weapons on January 6, and had warned about the Proud Boys’ violent intentions as early as December 27.\r\n\r\nMultiple units within the Secret Service were reporting technical problems, and agents were warned “not to rely” on their technology, according to an email. A timeline provided to the committee by the Secret Service shows some Secret Service radios died at the height of the chaos, but it’s not clear which protective teams were most affected.\r\n\r\nAnother document details how the Secret Service confiscated hundreds of cans of pepper spray, body armor, and hundreds of weapons such as knives and blunt weapons from the roughly 28,000 people who poured through the magnetometers on the way to the Ellipse.\r\n\r\nTrump’s social media guru said the former president ‘does do his own’ tweets\r\nIn the wake of January 6, 2021, Dan Scavino, the former deputy chief of staff and social media director in Trump’s White House, texted a rally organizer that Trump “does do his own tweets” after discussing the now infamous “will be wild” tweet on December 19, according to documents released by the select committee.\r\n\r\nThe panel and security experts have pointed to that tweet from Trump’s account, which promoted a big protest planned for January 6, as a catalyst for the violence that day.\r\n\r\nIn a text exchange between Scavino and Katrina Pierson, who helped organize the Ellipse rally that preceded the US Capitol attack, the pair were discussing a news article connecting right-wing rally organizer Alexander Ali to the former president.\r\n\r\n“I never spoke with Ali. … He is a fraud, and the DJT tweet on December 19 had absolutely nothing to do with Ali, or any of his people,” Scavino texted, before adding: “He does do his own tweets.”','2023-01-02','',0,1),(310,'France\'s controversial pension reform, in detail','Le Monde with AP, AFP and Reuters','Politics',1,69,'https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2023/01/10/pension-reform-france-to-raise-minimum-retirement-age-to-64-by-2030_6011092_5.html','Le Monde with AP, AFP and Reuters','1 - France\'s controversial pension reform, in detail\r\nFrench Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne unveiled on Tuesday a highly anticipated pension overhaul, announcing an increase in the retirement age to 64. \r\nLe Monde with AP, AFP and Reuters.Published on January 10, 2023 at 17h51, updated at 20h55 on January 10, 2023 \r\n\r\nFrench Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne delivers her speech during a press conference in Paris, Tuesday, January 10, 2023. Borne has unveiled a contentious pension overhaul aimed at raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 that has prompted vigorous criticism and calls for protests from leftist opponents and worker unions.\r\nHere is what was proposed:\r\nRaising the retirement age\r\n\r\nSpeaking at a news conference in Paris, Ms. Borne said the minimum retirement age to be entitled to a full pension will be gradually increased by three months every year, starting this year, in line with a longstanding pledge by President Emmanuel Macron.\r\nIn addition, people will need to have worked for at least 43 years to get a full pension, starting from 2027, she said. \"Working more will allow future retirees to get higher pensions,\" Ms. Borne said. \"By 2030, our system will be financially balanced,\" she added.\r\nThose who started working before the age of 20 will be able to get early retirement, Ms. Borne added. Specific categories of workers such as police officers and firefighters will also be able to retire earlier.\r\n\r\nThe government argues that French people live longer than they used to and therefore need to work longer to make the pension system financially sustainable. All French workers receive a state pension.\r\nHowever, the minimum retirement age applies to people who have worked enough years to qualify. Those who do not fulfill the conditions, like many women who interrupt their careers to raise their children and people who did long studies and started their careers late, must work until 67 to retire without penalty.\r\nMinimum state pension\r\n\r\nAnother key measure that the government is counting on to get the reform accepted is the increase of the minimum pension for low-income workers who have a full career to 85% of the net minimum wage, i.e. nearly €1,200 at present. A measure extended to current pensioners. \"Nearly two million small pensions will be increased,\" said Elisabeth Borne.\r\nThe prime minister said she had also decided to include in the overhaul, \"the revaluation of the pensions of current retirees who have had a full career at the level of the Smic [minimum wage],\" that is to say, \"nearly two million small pensions.\" Specifying that this measure would be discussed with parliamentarians, \"in particular\" with the center-right Les Républicains party. Ms. Borne said that her \"objective\" was to see it included in the bill to be presented to the Council of Ministers on January 23.\r\n\r\nPhased retirement\r\nMore than ten years after the abolition of the gradual cessation of activity, the government announced the return of a system of gradual retirement in the civil service, \"on the same principles as the existing system for employees and the self-employed,\" according to a government press kit.\r\nWe will allow civil servants \"to go part-time two years before the retirement age\", i.e. from the age of 62, said Ms. Borne.\r\n\r\nLong careers\r\nThe long career system, which allows people who worked five quarters before their 20th birthday to leave two years before the legal age, will be maintained. This age will therefore be raised to 62 with the reform.\r\nPeople who started working before the age of 16 will be able to continue to retire from the age of 58, provided they have contributed the required insurance period, increased by one year and not two years as at present. Meanwhile, people who started working between the ages of 16 and 18 will be able to retire at the age of 60, provided they have also worked the required insurance period, plus one year.\r\nAs at present, people who are disabled or unfit for work will be able to retire at the full age of 62, and disabled workers from the age of 55. Employees who have suffered an accident at work or an occupational disease will be able to retire two years earlier than the legal age under certain conditions.\r\n\r\nBacklash\r\nFrance\'s eight main trade unions called for a day of strikes and protests on January 19 against pension reform announced by the government of President Emmanuel Macron.\r\nThe strikes aim to \"kick off a powerful movement for pensions in the long term,\" said a joint statement from the unions whose leaders met on Tuesday evening in Paris to plan their next steps.\r\n','2023-01-31','',0,1),(311,'North Korea issues \'extreme cold\' weather alert',' BBC News','Politics',1,69,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64383442','By Kelly Ng','North Korea issues \'extreme cold\' weather alert\r\nMedia caption,\r\nCold air spreads across East Asia\r\nBy Kelly Ng\r\nBBC News\r\n\r\nNorth Korean authorities have warned of extreme weather conditions in the country as a cold wave sweeps the Korean peninsula.\r\n\r\nTemperatures are likely to dip below -30C in the northern regions, which are also the poorest part of the country, the state radio broadcaster said.\r\nCoastal areas are also expected to see high winds, according to state media.\r\nSouth Korea too has issued a cold wave warning and northern China has been experiencing record low temperatures.\r\n\r\nTemperatures are also expected to drop to their lowest in a decade in Japan this week.\r\nWhile North Korea has been affected by extreme or adverse weather much like other places, little is known about the impact of this on its people.\r\nRyanggang, North Hamgyong and South Hamgyong, the country\'s poorest provinces and those expected to be most vulnerable to climate shocks, are all located in the north.\r\n\r\nElectricity is uncommon outside the capital Pyongyang, and households in these places burn wood, and dried plants for warmth during the winter, NK News has reported.\r\n\r\nIt also says many merely use plastic wrap around their doors and windows for insulation.\r\nRadio Free Asia reported in December that \"large numbers\" of people in the country had gone missing late last year during another extremely cold spell.\r\nMany are thought to have starved or frozen to death, as the mercury dipped below freezing and food became scarce.\r\n\r\nFood insecurity in North Korea is said to be at its worst since a widespread famine in the 1990s, according to Lucas Rengifo-Keller, a research analyst at Peterson Institute for International Economics in the US.\r\nScientists say extreme weather, including cold waves, is becoming more common because of climate change.\r\nTuesday\'s cold wave alerts come as Pyongyang prepares to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Korean People\'s Army next week.\r\n\r\n\r\n','2023-01-24','',0,1),(312,'Cabbage and Christmas: What the French and Germans really think of each other','The Local FR','Art & Culture',7,69,'https://www.thelocal.fr/20230118/cabbage-and-christmas-what-the-french-and-germans-really-think-of-each-other/','by AFP','From baguettes to Birkenstocks, clichés on France and Germany die hard, even as the two countries celebrate 60 years since the post-war treaty establishing friendship between the two European giants after decades of rivalries and conflict.\r\nPublished: 18 January 2023 09:38 CET\r\n \r\nOn the occasion of six decades marking the signing of the Elysée Treaty, AFP spoke to some Franco-German couples about their culture clashes on everything from food to Christmas.\r\nBread and cheese\r\nThe French national obsession with the baguette – recently elevated to UNESCO world heritage status – can be hard for Germans to comprehend.    \r\nThe omnipresence of the elongated bread at mealtimes is a source of consternation for Verena von Derschau, born in Germany and married to a Frenchman.\r\n“It doesn’t even get eaten! It just ends up as crumbs by the plate,” she says.\r\n\r\nBy contrast, pungent cheese and other sources of French gastronomic pride can lead to a certain hauteur vis-a-vis other cuisines, with fingers pointed notably at Germany’s love of potatoes and cabbage.\r\nFrançois Dumas, a Parisian who lives with his German partner, winces at the idea of some Teutonic preparations such as Maultaschen, a meat-filled dumpling usually served with broth.\r\n“I give up there!” he says.\r\nComfortable shoes\r\nWhile Birkenstocks now belong to the same stable of luxury brands as Louis Vuitton, the cork-soled sandals – on occasion sported with socks – remain emblematic of the German love of practical clothing.\r\n“Germans dress like sacks, always comfort first,” says Roland, a Frenchman in a bi-national couple for years.\r\nSchools\r\nMeanwhile, in France it is children who suffer discomfort in the country’s strict school system. “I feel sorry for them, they have such long days,” in contrast to the German pupils who often have the afternoon free, Julika Herzog says.\r\nTechnology and trains\r\nWhen the family is on holiday in Germany, it is her husband’s turn to complain. “There’s nowhere you can pay with card,” François Dumas says.\r\n“And the trains are always late,” he says, the opposite of the German efficiency many expect.\r\nBells and bunnies\r\nFestivals reveal yet more differences. The relative absence of the Easter Bunny in France was a surprise to Verena von Derschau. Instead, “they have bells”, she says, puzzled by the images of a winged bell bringing goodies to children during the spring holiday.\r\nChristmas follows a different rhythm on either side of the border, too, with the French dressing up their trees early in December, while many Germans wait until Christmas Eve.\r\nGermans also lean towards a more sober tree decoration, says Verena von Derschau, who has banned blinking fairy lights in her household.\r\n','2023-01-18','',0,1),(313,'How widespread could the four-day workweek really be?','BBC NEWS','Society',4,69,'https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230125-how-widespread-could-the-four-day-workweek-really-be','By Joanna York','Many trials of the shortened workweek have shown positive results. It’s an increasingly viable solution for some firms – but for others, this new set-up won’t be on the table.\r\nThe idea of a four-day workweek used to be such a pipedream that it was barely on the radar for most workers and firms. But in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies around the world have given this this set-up a go – and gathered promising results.\r\nIn the US and Ireland, a six-month trial among 33 volunteer companies in 2022 showed a positive impact on company performance, productivity and employee wellbeing. Employees working the shortened week reported less stress and fatigue, plus improved work-life balance and satisfaction. The 27 companies that submitted a final survey rated the trial a nine out of 10.\r\nIn a 2022 UK trial of 70 firms, 86% of companies said the four-day week was such a success, they planned to keep it in place after the pilot ended. They cited benefits such as increased productivity and significant financial savings for employees on transport and childcare. Similar trials in Belgium, Spain, Japan, Australia and New Zealand have thrown up equally promising results for companies. And – unsurprisingly – employees seem especially keen to make shorter working weeks the norm.\r\nYet despite the overwhelmingly positive data, a four-day workweek still seems out of reach for many workers. Tech workers in agile, forward-thinking companies might hope for such a benefit in the near future, but it is harder to envisage the same change for schoolteachers or office workers in more traditional companies. Ultimately, some industries and deeply entrenched work cultures mean the four-day workweek may not be realistic for all employees – at least for now.\r\nFinding the right fit\r\nTechnology and office-based industries have made the greatest inroads into reducing work hours so far. \r\n“It is really taking off as a notable trend in areas like tech, software, ICT [internet communication technology], finance and professional services – knowledge-based roles that used to be primarily office-based, but are now in many cases are hybrid or remote,” says Joe O’Connor, director and co-founder of the Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence, based in Toronto. \r\nWhile a mindset of agility and innovation is often baked into such companies, they also have an advantage in terms of easy, time-saving solutions. Measures such as introducing meeting-free days can enable employees to focus purely on productivity and radically reduce work hours, while concurrently maintaining output – something far easier to do in nimbleorganisations.\r\n\r\nWe have seen very successful examples everywhere, from non-profits to manufacturing companies, to even hospitality – Joe O’Connor\r\n\r\nIn other sectors, shortening the working week is possible, but requires re-thinking long-established norms. Consulting and law, for instance, are often organised around the concept of the billable hour – meaning less work automatically equals less income. But such cultures can change, believes O’Connor: “We\'re starting to see examples of law firms moving to four-day weeks by switching from billing by the hour to billing by project value, or by reducing their non-billable overheads so that their teams are more focused on client work.” \r\nThe viability of this shortened workweek for companies in these less-flexible industries may also look different than what other, more nimble firms and sectors are able to do.\r\nFor instance, “if [these firms] close on Friday and give everyone the same day off, that makes coordination with clients, suppliers and the rest of the economy harder”, says Pedro Gomes, author of Friday is the new Saturday, and coordinator of an upcoming Portuguese government trial of the four-day workweek. “The alternative is to give different people different days off, so you maintain working five days, but then you need communication processes in teams to be able to deal with days when colleagues are not there.” \r\nAs such, while collaborative workplaces like advertising agencies might choose for all employees to take the same day off to better enable team coordination, industries that rely on trade throughout the week, like hospitality and service, may establish processes for salaried, non-shift workers to take off different days. In this way, many experts believe the four-day workweek can adapt to suit most industries. “We have seen very successful examples everywhere,” adds O’Connor, “from non-profits to manufacturing companies, to even hospitality.”\r\n\r\nEntrenched culture \r\nIn the current workplace, some important predictors of whether an organisation is likely to successfully implement a shorter working week may be company size and culture. So far, few major international companies have run trials of the four-day workweek.\r\nDespite positive results from a trial by Microsoft in Japan and Unilever in New Zealand, other major corporations have been slow to follow suit. “Large companies have the financial capacity to make the change, but much more rigid structures,” says Gomes. “In practice, what we see is more small- and medium companiestrialling the four-day workweek because they are more agile, and they usually have a CEO or a founder that has a very good picture of how it would impact the whole business.”\r\nIn other words, leaders of smaller firms may have less red tape to deal with, and find it easier to forecast how widespread change will impact the company overall than leaders in sprawling global organisations with more labyrinthian, layered structures. \r\nBut in companies of all sizes, a certain type of manager could also be resistant changing entrenched norms – a significant barrier to the implantation of shorter weeks. Although the global movement in support of the four-day week is gathering pace, it is not yet a mainstream work practice, and undertaking such progressive change requires a high level of trust between leaders and workers. If managers don\'t trust that employees can make a success of the change, they are unlikely to want to even test it. (Notably, productivity-related trust issues have been a major problem for managers throughout the pandemic.) \r\n“The biggest barrier to companies introducing four-day workweeks is likely a combination of entrenched culture and resistant bosses,” says Benjamin Laker, professor at Henley Business School, in Reading, UK. “Some managers may view the shorter workweek as reducing their control, or making it more difficult to manage employees.” In other words, risk-averse managers might question why they would shake up a system that’s already working.\r\nIn cases where four-day workweeks have proven unpopular among employees, a common issue has been reports of managers intensifying performance measurement, monitoring and productivity pressures. So, although many workers cite better wellbeing in some areas, the result of these added elements can spike worker stress levels. “If an organisation culturally doesn\'t have that trust but instead has a very top down, centralised decision-making structure, they would probably struggle to make this work,” adds O’Connor.\r\n\r\nAlthough the global movement in support of the four-day week is gathering pace, it is not yet a mainstream work practice, and undertaking such progressive change requires a high level of trust between leaders and workers\r\n\r\nOther organisations for which four-day workweeks are likely off the table are hourly- and service-based – like restaurants, retail and healthcare – where a shorter workweek and subsequently fewer shifts ultimately means lower compensation. Although workers in these industries would likely experience similar benefits from reduced workloads, creating a pathway to less labour may be impossible, if it means losing out on pay.\r\nThe new normal\r\nEven facing resistance from some leaders, experts say it is likely the four-day week will become more mainstream. \r\nIn sectors that are already welcoming the shift, the 32-hour week is emerging as “a as a tool for competitive advantage in terms of talent, attraction and retention”, says O’Connor. “You could see a scenario in tech where by 2026, not offering a four-day week is almost a competitive disadvantage.”\r\nAnd the more companies that make the switch, the more others who have not yet made the move may feel pressure to do so. “It’s hard to implement a four-day week when the rest of the economy is organized in a five-day week,” says Gomes, “but the moment you have the job market coordinating on a four-day week, then it forces the rest of the economy.” \r\nEven so, such widespread societal change would take “many years”, he says, and some industries will inevitably be left until last. Schools, for example, might struggle to implement a four-day week for full-time staff unless parents were already working such arrangements en masse.\r\nThere is also the possibility that companies will turn to other less drastic measures than a four-day week. “I predict that no-meeting days, flexible work hours and other innovative approaches to work-life balance will become standard practice in the near future,” says Laker.\r\nFor now, the shorter workweek may not be widespread, but there’s momentum around the globe to keep the experiment going. In 2023, trials of the four-day workweek are planned or ongoing in Australia, Spain, Scotland and more.\r\n“There\'s an element of ‘the genie’s out of the bottle’. We\'re not going back to the way we were working pre-pandemic,” says O’Connor. “The four-day week is not going to be 100% of the economy, much like the five-day week is not wholly representative of the economy now, but it certainly could become the new normal.”\r\n','2023-01-26','',0,1),(314,'France brings in new tax declaration for property-owners','AFP','Society',4,69,'https://www.thelocal.fr/20230125/france-brings-in-new-tax-declaration-for-property-owners/','Philippe HUGUEN /','People living in France already have to complete a yearly tax declaration, but if you own property here, you will also have to complete an extra declaration this year after changes to the tax system.\r\nWho?\r\nThis applies to anyone who owns property in France – whether it is their main residence or a second home – including those who live in another country. If you do not own property and only rent your home, then this does not concern you.\r\nWhat?\r\nThis isn’t an extra tax, it’s simply an extra piece of paperwork that has to be filled in, known as a Déclarationd’occupation, and this declaration is concerned with whether the property is your main residence or a second home.\r\nWhy?\r\nThis is because of recent changes to the property tax system. There are two types of property tax in France; taxefoncière which is paid by the property owner and taxed’habitation which is paid by the property occupier. If you own your home home, traditionally you paid both.\r\nHowever, taxed’habitation is in the process of being scrapped for most people, and now only high-earners and second-home owners pay it. The problem is that the tax office don’t have a record of whether a property is used as a main home or a second home and therefore don’t know who to send bills to – hence the new declaration.\r\nHow?\r\nIf you live in France and already make your annual tax declaration online then this process should be fairly easy – head to impots.gouv.fr, log in and then click on Biensimmobiliers (real estate) in the menu bar along the top of the website.\r\nThe site will then list the property or properties in your name, and you can fill out the déclarationd’occupation for each, stating whether it is your main residence or a second home.\r\nIf you’re not already registered on the impots.gouv site then you have two choices – register and set yourself up an account which will allow you to make the declaration online, or make the declaration on paper.\r\nIn order to register on the site you will need your numérofiscale (tax number) which you should be able to find on previous correspondence from the tax office such as your annual tax bills.\r\nIf you would prefer to make the declaration on paper, then the easiest option is to head to your local tax office and ask for a Déclarationd’occupation – you can find the tax office that serves your area by googling ‘Centre des finances publique‘ plus the name of your commune.\r\nYou do not need an appointment, as tax offices deal with queries on a walk-in basis, but make sure you check the opening times in advance as some offices, especially in small towns, have unusual opening hours. \r\nWhen?\r\nThe deadline to have completed the declaration is June 30th, and people who have a property registered should receive notification from the tax office. \r\nYou will then receive your property tax bill in the autumn as usual. \r\nThis is a one-off declaration so you won’t have to do it every year – only when your situation changes, so for example if you sell the property, buy a new one or change from it being a second-home to your main residence. \r\n','2023-01-29','',0,1),(315,'Turkey earthquake: How survivors cope with trauma','BBC NEWS','Society',4,70,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64720622','By Selin Girit','Turkey earthquake: How survivors cope with trauma\r\n\r\n•	Turkey–Syriaearthquakes 2023\r\n\r\nThe death toll from the devastating earthquakes that recently struck Turkey and Syria has climbed beyond 50,000 - and left many more people homeless. It has taken a terrible toll on mental health for those caught up in the tragedy, both directly and indirectly. The BBC has spoken with survivors, search and rescue teams, and experts.\r\n\r\nIt was past midnight when we arrived in Antakya, walking through darkness in a city left completely in ruins.\r\nOur car had broken down and the replacement driver refused to take us to the city centre.\r\nIt was the third day after the earthquakes hit south-east Turkey. Our team had come from Maras, the epicentre of the quakes. Already thousands of people were confirmed dead and that number has continued to rise ever since.\r\n\r\nAs we advanced down the main road into Antakya, the constant siren of ambulances echoed through the rubble. Aid trucks, bulldozers and volunteers were all stuck in queues of traffic that stretched for miles. It was a state of utter chaos in the freezing cold.\r\nBurakGalipAkkurt and his team from Turkey\'s voluntary rescue association, Akut, were working on a four-storey building. They suspected there were 10 people alive under the rubble, five of them children.\r\n\r\nThey waited in complete silence, hoping for the faintest voice to call back or even to hear the sound of a simple movement, a tap of a finger, a click.\r\n\"When you hear a voice coming from under the rubble, how does that make you feel?\" I asked Burak in a quiet moment.\r\n\r\nHe needed to be detached from his feelings in order to carry on with the rescuing effort, he explained, but it would hit him once the mission was over and he would seek psychological help to cope with everything he had witnessed.\r\n\"It is not very easy to recover from the things you have seen. It is traumatic and very dramatic as well.\"\r\n\r\nNo-one survived from under the rubble of the apartment block they were working on that night.\r\nThe next day I met Dilek Eger. She was rescued from a building in the neighbouring town of Iskenderun, after being trapped for eight hours.\r\n\"The tremor was incredibly strong. I immediately got up from bed and ran to my parents\' room. I was screaming my lungs out. But my mother, father, brother, they were all silent. I thought I was going to lose my mind,\" she told me.\r\n\r\nHomes were devastated in the port city of Iskenderun in Turkey\'s Hatay province\r\nDilek\'s parents and brother lost their lives under the rubble. She was stuck, surrounded by broken glass, with only the top of her head showing. A family friend was able to recognise and rescue her with his bare hands and a knife.\r\nShe couldn\'t cry at all for the first two days, but as she lay on the sofa in her grandmother\'s living room, talking me softly through her ordeal, she visibly started to go through all the emotions.\r\nAs she kissed and caressed a photograph of her mother and herself hugging, she began sobbing.\r\n\"My mother gave her last breath in my arms,\" she said. \"Even when dying, she saved me, as she was on top of me. I couldn\'t do anything for her.\r\n\"My brother was stuck in the other room, and my dad was suffering in pain. This is when the whole world collapses. You are witnessing the death of everyone you love. I don\'t feel anger or revenge. I just feel so empty.\"\r\nDilek is one of tens of thousands of people to have survived the earthquake, but she now faces a life that may be scarred forever.\r\nThis week I received a text message from another survivor. He wrote: \"Those of us who are now alive will stay under the rubble until the day we die.\"\r\nPsychologists say the survivors of such a traumatic event will be going through phases: the initial shock, anxiety and fear will soon be replaced by a state of denial.\r\n\r\nCagayDuru from the Turkish Psychologists Association said it was not easy to cope with a trauma on this scale, but talking about it, expressing feelings and thoughts about what has been experienced should be the first step towards healing.\r\nHe warned that if psycho-social support was not in place for those in need during this grief process, then many people could end up with serious disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or substance abuse.\r\n\r\n\"We all have to ask each other: How are you? Is there anything I can do for you?\r\n\"We have to say: I am here for you. We must give the message that we are in solidarity with those in need and we are trying to understand their experience, we are there to listen to them, help them and share all these emotions.\"\r\n\r\nNormality would not mean returning to how life was before the earthquake, it would be a new normal, he warned. That new normal would need to be built up and it would take time.\r\nBut the difficulty of that task was underlined when a new set of earthquakes hit the already devastated town of Hatay.\r\n\r\nThese were not as strong as the initial two, but still panic-stricken people were on the streets, crying in despair, wondering whether they were facing a nightmare without end. Some were furious, asking what more could have been done to save lives.\r\nNow in Istanbul, I have left the disaster zone, but I am still surrounded by trauma; glued to my TV screen and mobile phone like millions of others.\r\n\r\nAs Turkey\'s biggest city lies on a major fault line, people here cannot help but ask: Will they be going through the same tragedy in the future? What can they do to prevent it?\r\nAs grief sets in, mass trauma and how to respond to it has become another of Turkey\'s big challenges\r\n\r\n\r\n','2023-02-26','',0,1),(316,'China and the Ukraine war: The real reason for Beijing\'s charm offensive','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,70,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64754510','By Tessa Wong','Over the past year, leaders in the West have tried to cajole China to help them end the Ukraine war. Now Beijing has given its firmest response yet - and it\'s not something many in the West would like.\n\nIn recent days, China has launched an assertive charm offensive, kicking off with top diplomat Wang Yi\'s tour of Europe, which culminated in a warm welcome by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.\nBeijing has released not one but two position papers - the first offering the Chinese solution to the war, and the other outlining a plan for world peace. These largely retread China\'s talking points from the past year, calling for respect for sovereignty (for Ukraine) and the protection of national security interests (for Russia), while opposing the use of unilateral sanctions (by the US).\nThe West may come away unimpressed - but convincing them was never likely the main goal for Beijing.\n\nChina\'s goal: send a clear message to US\nFirstly, it clearly seeks to position itself as a global peacemaker. An obvious clue about who it\'s really trying to charm lies in one of its papers, where it mentions engaging South East Asia, Africa and South America - the so-called Global South.\nIn preaching an alternative vision to a US-led world order, it is wooing the rest of the globe, which is watching to see how the West handles the Ukraine crisis.\n\nBut another goal is to send a clear message to the US.\n\"There is an element of defiance,\" said Alexander Korolev, an expert in Sino-Russian ties at the University of New South Wales. \"It is signalling: \'If things get ugly between us, I have someone to go to. Russia is not alone, which means that I will not be alone when there is a confrontation… don\'t get comfortable in bullying me.\'\"\nThe timing, say observers, is a giveaway. Relations between the US and China have hit a new low, exacerbated by the spy balloon saga. Some have also questioned why China - if its intention is to help end the war - is only just now making its big diplomatic push for Ukraine peace.\n\n\"China had ample opportunities to display leadership, it was invited early on to contribute to ending the war… If the goal was to truly display the image of a global leader, you don\'t have to sit on the fence for one year and try to perform a diplomatic dance,\" said DrKorolev.\nThere was a third goal, and it could be seen in Mr Wang\'s itinerary.\nBy visiting France, Germany, Italy and Hungary, whose leaders China perceives as taking less of a hardline stance on Russia, Mr Wang may have been testing the waters to see if China could lure some of Europe into China\'s orbit.\n\nBeijing sees a \"logical convergence of interests\" with these countries, said Zhang Xin, an international political economy expert with the East China Normal University in Shanghai. \"It believes the US has hegemonic power, and that a large part of the Transatlantic world could benefit from detaching from that system.\"\nBut whether China will succeed in that particular goal is questionable. Mr Wang\'s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he criticised the US, did not play well in a roomful of America\'s staunchest allies and, according to diplomats, only spawned greater distrust of China\'s true motives.\nHis tour \"was a very overt push to say: \'We don\'t have problems with Europe, we have problems with the US, we can fix things with you Europeans and you need to understand that the US is leading you down a problematic road\'\", said Andrew Small, a senior fellow specialising in Europe-China relations at the German Marshall Fund think tank.\n\n\"But I think in most places in Europe, this message doesn\'t have much traction.\"\n•	Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping to discuss peace plan\nThe key question now is whether Beijing will live up to its word of making peace as it tightens its embrace of Russia.\nThe US has warned this week that China was considering supplying lethal weapons to Russia, and that Chinese firms had already been supplying non-lethal dual-use technology - items which could have both civilian and military uses, such as drones and semi-conductors.\nPublicly China has reacted with angry rhetoric. But behind closed doors, Mr Wang made it clear to top EU official JosepBorrell that it will not provide weapons to Russia.\n\nAccording to MrBorrell, Mr Wang had also asked: \"Why do you show concern for me maybe providing arms to Russia when you are providing arms to Ukraine?\"\nIt is a revealing line, say observers, showing that Beijing still truly believes the West is to blame for fuelling the war.\n\"Sending weapons to any warring party is considered as further escalation - that is the position of the Chinese state so far,\" said Dr Zhang.\nThere is scepticism that Beijing would supply weapons to Moscow, given how it runs counter to Chinese interests.\nSuch a move would be seen by others as a clear escalation of the war, and would lead to sanctions and disruption of trade with the West - hugely damaging for China, as the EU and US are among its top trading partners.\nIt would also raise global tensions significantly and likely push US allies further into Washington\'s embrace, stymieing Beijing\'s plan to woo some of them away.\nWhat is more likely to happen, say observers, is that Beijing will continue or even step up indirect support to Russia, such as boosting economic trade - which has provided a financial lifeline to Moscow - and abstaining from sanctions on Russia.\n•	What support is China giving Russia?\n•	What weapons are being supplied to Ukraine?\nThey may even supply more dual-use technology through third party states such as Iran or North Korea, according to Dr Small, so that they can lend support \"as deniably as possible\".\nBut as the war drags on, the issue of giving lethal weapons will resurface, he warned.\n\"There hasn\'t been a question yet on what kind of significant things China could be asked to do, because previously Russia didn\'t need to resupply,\" said Dr Small. \"But they are hitting that juncture. How long is China willing to say to Russia it will not do it?\"\nDays before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin declared they had a \"friendship without limits\".\nA year on, China will have to answer the question of how far it would go for its special friend.\n','2023-02-24','',0,1),(317,'How Italy\'s generous green homes scheme turned \'wicked\'','livenews','Society',4,70,'https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230226-how-italy-s-generous-green-homes-scheme-turned-wicked','2023 AFP','How Italy\'s generous green homes scheme turned \'wicked\'\r\nRome (AFP) – An Italian scheme to make homes more energy efficient has been wildly popular, but the government is seeking to rein in its \"out of control\" costs amid fears it could send the deficit soaring.\r\nThe \"superbonus\" scheme, which can be used for anything from insulation to solar panels, new boilers and windows, was introduced in May 2020 to boost the economy after the coronavirus lockdown.\r\nEnvironmentalists were sceptical about its benefits but Italians rushed to take advantage of the programme, in which the state paid 110 percent of the cost of making homes greener, with the subsidy delivered via a tax credit or tax reduction.\r\nAs intended, it boosted the construction sector -- but it has so far cost the state 61.2 billion euros ($64.8 billion), according to the finance ministry.\r\nPrime Minister GiorgiaMeloni, whose coalition government took office in October, said last weekend the situation was \"out of control\".\r\nShe said the scheme had led to fraud worth nine billion euros, while the tradeable nature of the tax credits had \"generated a sort of parallel currency, and that parallel currency risks having a devastating impact on the budget\".\r\nFinance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti went further, describing it as a \"wicked policy\".\r\nLorenzo Codogno, a former chief economist at the Treasury, told AFP that attempts now to quantify the impact of the scheme on Italy\'s strained public finances could be \"a wake-up moment for financial markets\".\r\nHe warned Italy\'s deficit could be revised up substantially, while both the construction sector and the government \"could have liquidity problems\".\r\nItaly\'s deficit was an estimated 5.6 percent of GDP last year and set to fall to 4.5 percent in 2023, but revised figures potentially incorporating the superbonus scheme are due out on March 1.\r\nConstruction boom\r\nThe superbonus scheme was introduced by former premier Giuseppe Conte, whose populist, environmentalist Five Star Movement led the coalition government at the time.\r\nIt allowed homeowners to either deduct the cost of work from their taxes over several years or sell the tax credit to their builder, who would sell it to a bank, which would then claim the money from the state.\r\nAngelica Donati, the president of national constructors\' association ANCE, told AFP the bonus had been \"fundamental in the aftermath of Covid-19, both for reviving the Italian economy as well as restarting the construction industry\".\r\nThe construction sector grew by 21.6 percent in 2021, helping fuel Italy\'s post-pandemic boom.\r\nBut the scheme generated much more work than originally forecast and banks stopped buying credits last year, leaving some construction companies in the lurch.\r\nMeloni\'s government has already sought to restrict the subsidies, reducing the superbonus from 110 percent to 90` percent last year.\r\nThen last week it put a sudden stop to the use of the tax credits as it tries to work out how to unfreeze existing credits for an estimated 19 billion euros\' worth of work that has been carried out but not yet paid for.\r\nANCE said some 25,000 construction companies were at risk of folding.\r\nSuperbonus users can now only receive money back from the state via tax breaks -- but that mostly benefits those on higher incomes.\r\nWasted opportunity\r\nThe government is looking into possible alternatives to the credit system. Climate campaigners hope it will also change the bonus\' scope.\r\nExperts have lamented what they see as a wasted opportunity to engineer a cultural shift towards properly green housing.\r\nIn a study last year, the Bank of Italy said the superbonus was \"not a cost-effective way\" to tackle climate change.\r\nMatteo Leonardi, co-founder of Italian climate change think tank ECCO, said it lacked \"ambition\".\r\n\"It has not been linked to climate targets, which is what would have justified the costs,\" he told AFP, adding that renovations had only to boost efficiency by two energy classes.\r\nIt also did not sufficiently promote innovative but less familiar technologies, such as heat pumps.\r\nBut Leonardi said for all its faults, the superbonus had value if radically revised to meet more ambitious targets.\r\nWith the tax credits gone, the government is now \"just giving a lot of money to high-income families to install gas boilers\".\r\n','2023-02-26','',0,1),(318,'EU nations demand tougher borders to prevent ‘migration crisis’','The Local L','Business & Economy',3,70,'https://www.thelocal.com/20230207/eu-nations-demand-tougher-borders-to-prevent-migration-crisis/','AFP','Eight EU nations called on Brussels to significantly toughen the bloc\'s borders to \"prevent another large-scale migration crisis,\" according to a letter seen by AFP ahead of a key summit.\r\nThe overall tone on migration has hardened in Europe since 2015-2016, when it took in over a million asylum-seekers, most of them Syrians fleeing the war in their country.\r\nAustria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia sent the letter dated Monday to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel.\r\nThey said it was “high time” for a “comprehensive European… approach for all relevant migratory routes” to tackle irregular migration.\r\nThe letter called for “additional financial support” within the existing budget to enhance “relevant operational and technical measures for effective border control”.\r\nIt also urged “significantly increasing swift returns of third country nationals” and concluding new partnerships and safe third country arrangements.   \r\nSome member states are facing “levels of arrivals and applications equivalent to, or higher than, those seen during the migration crisis in 2015 and 2016,” the letter added.\r\nAt the end of January, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said she was confident that asylum reform — under discussion since September 2020 — would be adopted before the European elections in 2024.\r\nThe EU has earmarked six billion euros to protect its borders for the 2021-2027 period.\r\nSeveral countries, including Austria, have called for EU funding to strengthen fences along the bloc’s external borders to reduce the flow of asylum-seekers.\r\nBut the commission has so far been reluctant, saying that “building walls and barbed wire” is not the right solution.\r\nEU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said last month that member states could sign up to a pilot scheme over the first half of this year to speed up screening and asylum procedures for eligible migrants — and “immediate return” for those not deemed to qualify.\r\nVon der Leyen said she wanted the EU to draw up a list of “safe countries of origin”, and for the bloc to strengthen border monitoring on the Mediterranean and Western Balkans routes migrants use to get to Europe.\r\n','2023-02-02','',0,1),(319,'Is air pollution causing us to lose our sense of smell?','BBC FUTURE','Health',2,70,'https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230220-is-air-pollution-causing-us-to-lose-our-sense-of-smell','By Tim Smedley','Our sense of smell is one of our richest and wide-ranging windows into the world around us, playing a vital role in what we taste, our social interactions and even helping us detect potential dangers. But a threat in the air we breathe may be eroding our olfactory powers.\r\nFor many people, a bout of Covid-19 gave a first taste (or rather a lack of it) of what it is like to lose their sense of smell. Known as \"anosmia\", loss of smell can have a substantial effect on our overall wellbeing and quality of life. But while a sudden respiratory infection might lead to a temporary loss of this important sense, your sense of smell may well have been gradually eroding away for years due to something else – air pollution.\r\nExposure to PM2.5 – the collective name for small airborne pollution particles, largely from the combustion of fuels in vehicles, power stations and our homes – has previously been linked with \"olfactory dysfunction\", but typically only in occupational or industrial settings. But new research is now starting to reveal the true scale – and the potential damage caused by – the pollution we breathe in every day. And their findings have relevance for us all.\r\nOn the underside of our brains, just above our nasal cavities, lies the olfactory bulb. This sensitive bit of tissue bristles with nerve endings and is essential for the enormously varied picture of the world we get from our sense of smell. It\'s also our first line of defence against viruses and pollutants entering the brain. But, with repeated exposure, these defences slowly get worn down – or breached.\r\n\"Our data show there\'s a 1.6 to 1.7-fold increased [risk of] developing anosmia with sustained particulate pollution,\" says MurugappanRamanathan Jr, a rhinologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore. He has become one of the few experts in this field after he started to wonder if there was a link between the large numbers of patients he was seeing with anosmia and the environmental conditions where they lived.\r\nThe simple question he wanted to answer was this: were a disproportionate number of anosmia patients living in areas of higher PM2.5 pollution? Until recently, the little scientific research on this topic included one Mexican study in 2006, which used strong coffee and orange odours to show that residents of Mexico City – which often struggles with air pollution – tended to have a poorer sense of smell on average than people living in rural areas of the country.\r\nWith the help of colleagues – including environmental epidemiologist Zhenyu Zhang who created a map of historic air pollution data in the Baltimore area – Ramanathan set up a case-control study of data from 2,690 patients who had attended Johns Hopkins Hospital over a four year period. Around 20% had anosmia and most didn\'t smoke – a habit that is known to affect the sense of smell.\r\nSENSORY OVERLOAD\r\nFrom the microplastics sprayed on farmland to the noxiousodours released by sewage plants and the noise harming marine life, pollutants are seeping into every aspect of our existence. Sensory Overload explores the impact of pollution on all our senses and the long-term harm it is inflicting on humans and the natural world. Read some of the other stories from the series here:\r\n•	How plastic is getting into our food as it grows\r\n•	The underwater sounds that can kill\r\n•	The race to reclaim the dark\r\n•	How pesticides impair oursenses\r\nSure enough, the levels of PM2.5 were found to be \"significantly higher\" in the neighbourhoods where patients with anosmia lived compared to healthy control participants. Even when adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, alcohol or tobacco use, the findings came up the same: \"Even small increases in ambient PM2.5 exposure may be associated with anosmia\".\r\nThe finding has been echoed in other parts of the world in studies published this year. One recent study in Brescia, northern Italy, for example, found the noses of teenagers and young adults became less sensitive to smells the more nitrogen dioxide – another pollutant produced when fossil fuels are burned, in particular from vehicle engines – they were exposed to. Another year-long study in São Paulo, Brazil, also indicated that people living in areas with higher particulate pollution had an impaired sense of smell.\r\nBut exactly how is pollution wrecking our ability to smell?\r\nAccording to Ramanathan there are two potential routes. One is that some of the pollution particles are passing through the olfactory bulb and getting directly into the brain, causing inflammation. \"Olfactory nerves are in the brain but they have little holes at the base of skull where little fibres go into the nose, [looking] almost like little pieces of angel hair pasta,\" says Ramanathan. \"They are exposed.\"\r\nIn 2016, a team of British researchers found tiny metal particles in human brain tissue that appeared to have passed through the olfactory bulb. Barbara Maher, a professor of environmental science at Lancaster University in the UK who led the study, said at the time that the particles were \"strikingly similar\" to those found in airborne pollution next to busy roads (domestic fireplaces and log stoves were another possible source). Maher\'s study suggests that these nanoscale metal particles could, once in the brain, become toxic, contributing to oxidative brain damage that damages the neural pathways, although it still remains a theory.\r\nThe other potential mechanism, says Ramanathan, may not even require pollution particles getting into the brain. By hitting the olfactory bulb on an almost daily basis, they cause inflammation and damage to the nerves directly, slowly wearing them away. Think of it almost like coastal erosion, where sandy, salty waves eat away at the shoreline; substitute waves with pollution-filled air, and shoreline with our nasal nerves.\r\nModern combustion methods can create nanoparticles so fine that they are small enough to directly enter our bloodstream and brain tissue\r\nUnsurprisingly then, anosmia disproportionately affects older people, whose noses have been assaulted by air pollution for longer. More surprisingly, none of the Johns Hopkins patients lived in areas with excessively high air pollution – many lived in leafy areas of Maryland, and none were from pollution hotspots. It suggests that even low levels of air pollution could cause problems over a long enough period.\r\nA similar recent study has separately been carried out by the Aging Research Center at the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm. Postdoctoral researcher Ingrid Ekström was puzzled by findings from the early 2000s that showed more than 5.8% of adults in Sweden had anosmia, and 19.1% had some form of olfactory dysfunction. Knowing that anosmia rates were higher in older people, Ekström and colleagues designed a study using 3,363 patients aged 60 and over. Using strongly scented \"sniffing sticks\" of 16 common household smells, participants received a score depending on the number they could correctly identify. As with the Baltimore study, the participants\' home addresses were mapped and analysed according to municipal air pollution readings. And as in Baltimore, there was a strong correlation between higher pollution levels and poorer smelling ability. \r\n\"They have been subjected to pollution throughout their lives,\" says Ekström. \"We don\'t know exactly when their olfactory impairments started to decline.” But she is “confident” that long-term exposure to pollution was the cause, even at low levels.  \r\nHow dirty air is polluting our minds\r\nIn 2021, The World Health Organization (WHO) changed its health-based guidelines for a maximum annual average exposure to PM2.5, reducing it from 10 to 5 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3). Stockholm, Sweden\'s capital, is one of the few major cities in the world that manages to stay below this level with an annual average of 4.2µg/m3. By comparison, Islamabad, in Pakistan, has an annual average PM2.5 levels of 41.1µg/m3 while it is 42.3µg/m3 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.\r\nThis arguably makes the Stockholm findings even more relevant – if even Stockholm residents are having their senses eroded by low levels of pollution, then how much worse will it be in regions with high levels?\r\nIt is also a reminder of how highly localised pollution can be, both outdoors and indoors. People\'s cooking methods and heating choices may be exposing them to higher levels than their neighbours. (Listen to learn how effective air purifiers are.)\r\nMeanwhile modern combustion methods from vehicle engines to the latest \'eco\' wood stoves can create nanoparticles so fine that they barely register on PM2.5 readings, but are small enough to directly enter our bloodstream and brain tissue.\r\nAir pollution is known to cause a quarter of all deaths from heart disease and stroke, and nearly half of all deaths from lung disease. By comparison, perhaps, our sense of smell seems low down the list of concerns. But both Ramanathan and Ekström warn that we underestimate the importance of smell at our peril.\r\nEkström\'s research speciality is dementia. And anosmia may be an early warning sign.\r\n\"With dementia and especially with Alzheimer\'s Disease, we assume that [the] disease progression is actually starting several decades before we can see the first symptoms,\" says Ekström. \r\nAnosmia is one of the first symptoms. By the time Alzheimer\'s is diagnosed, \"almost 90% of patients have anosmia\", says Ekström. The exact link remains unknown, but one theory is that \"environmental toxins enter the central nervous system via the olfactory bulb and cause damage, triggering this cascade effect that may ultimately lead to neuro-degeneration\". The Maher Lancaster study, for example, found that metal nanoparticles were directly associated with the formation of \'senile plaques\' – lesions on the brain and one of the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer\'s disease and dementia.\r\nDespite such strong links, Ekström argues it is only recently that researchers have \"opened their eyes to the olfactory sense\" and its role in disease.\r\n\r\nLoss of smell has been linked to increased likelihood of depression and anxiety in various studies, and is known to play a role in obesity, weight loss, malnutrition and cases of food poisoning. The reasons are perhaps obvious – our noses play a key role in our experience of the world around us, affect our ability to taste food and help us avoid meals that have gone off.\r\nA poor sense of smell may mean that sufferers are likely to seek out stronger tasting food, which is very often salty and fatty. By contrast, a total loss of smell can put people off food and lose enjoyment from it, ultimately becoming underweight – a particular problem amongst the elderly.   \r\nRamanathan has seen many patients who \"can\'t taste food, can\'t smell their wine, the things that gave them pleasure in life\". He recalls one patient who was a professional sommelier, for whom developing anosmia was both personally and professionally devastating.\r\nSmell and taste are also linked to memory. \"People don\'t remember what that pastry looked like that they ate in France, but they remember what the shop smelled like\", says Ramanathan. Re-experiencing a particular smell can transport our memories straight back to that moment in pastry shop. This raises the question – albeit yet to be properly studied – whether the inverse could also true, and no longer being able to smell could impair our ability to create new memories in the same way.\r\nAnosmia could also be an indicator of other, wider health issues. Numerous studies, typically of smokers – for whom smell impairment persists even 15 years after quitting – have shown that olfactory dysfunction is significantly associated with increased mortality among older adults. One particular study even hypothesised that anosmia could be used as a predicator for greater likelihood to die – from any cause – amongst older adults over a five-year-period. In a study of 3,005 US adults aged 57 to 85, those with anosmia were found to be four times more likely to die than their peers five years later. The researchers concluded that deteriorating sense of smell could be a \"bellwether\" for the accumulation of toxins from the environment or slowed regeneration of cells.\r\nSo, should we care that air pollution – to which we are all exposed – is impairing our sense of smell and causing anosmia? Clearly, the answer lies somewhere between \"yes\" and \"hell yes\".\r\nRamanathan, for whom traffic pollution and waste incinerators top the local pollution concerns in Baltimore, says \"air quality matters\". \"I think we need tight regulations and control,\" he says. Many people may not even realise the pollution they are exposed to, so they rely on politicians regulating it to protect the populations in the surrounding areas.\r\n\"This is one of many [pollution-related] conditions,\" adds Ramanathan. \"But this is kind of a special one, right? If you have COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] you could probably still enjoy your glass of wine. But not with this one.\"\r\nEkström says tackling air pollution is not simple. World events can also cause unexpected shifts in behaviour – Ekström mentions anecdotally that winter wood burning has been on the rise in Stockholm as worried residents wean themselves off Russian gas. But even the every-day, low-level air pollution we are exposed to  “should be taken more seriously\", she says. And what\'s more, “olfactory impairment should definitely be taken more seriously”, too.\r\n','2023-02-21','',0,1),(320,'World\'s first 3D-printed rocket launches but fails to reach orbit','BBC NEWS','Lifestyle',8,71,'https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/65087684','BBC NEWS','Relativity Space has launched what they describe as the world\'s first 3D printed rocket.\r\n85% of the 33 metre tall rocket - called Terran 1 - was created using the world\'s largest 3D printer.\r\nIt lifted off for the first time in Florida on 22 March but failed to get high enough to be able to circle the earth, which is called orbiting.\r\nIt\'s still a massive milestone for the technology though because it proved this method of construction was durable enough to survive blast off.\r\n\r\nIts lower segment, or first stage, burned for just over two-and-a-half minutes.\r\nThe second stage should then have taken over to complete the journey to orbit but, after a few flickers, it died.\r\nThe upper part of the rocket would have come down in the Atlantic Ocean.\r\n\r\nTerran 1 is a prototype for a much larger rocket the company would like to create called Terran R which will be used for satellite launches in the future.\r\nThe company said its eventual goal was to have more than 95% of the rocket 3D printed.\r\n3D printing is when a physical object is created from a computer model usually printing lots of layers of a material on top of each other.\r\nThe technique has never been used to make something as big as this and Relativity Space had to make some really big printers to be able to do it.\r\n\r\nAlthough the full mission had a few hiccups, it\'s quite common for a first flight like this to experience some problems.\r\nScientists will be now be looking back at the data produced during the launch to see where it went wrong and fix it for future launches.\r\nRelativity Space says the launch is still a big achievement because it shows the 3D printed model can withstand blast off.\r\n\r\nTerran 1 was also fuelled by liquid methane rather than the usual choice of something like kerosene.\r\nIt\'s a fuel expected to be used by more rockets in the future because it burns more cleanly than other propellants and therefore it\'s better for the planet.\r\nRelativity Space said:\r\n\"Today is a huge win, with many historic firsts. We also progressed through main-engine cut-off and stage separation. We will assess flight data and provide public updates over the coming days.\"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n','2023-03-29','',0,1),(321,'Abusive working conditions endemic in Spain’s strawberry farms, report claims','The Guardian','Lifestyle',8,71,'https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/mar/31/abusive-working-conditions-endemic-in-spains-strawberry-farms-report-claims','Ashifa Kassam and Brenda Chavez in Huelva','UK supermarkets heavily reliant on strawberries from southern Spain, where workers allege they are regularly underpaid, have passports withheld and are forced to live in unsanitary shacks\r\n\r\nAbusive conditions are endemicin parts of Spain’s fruit sector, a new report alleges, with workers telling the Guardian they have been regularly underpaid and forced to live in dilapidated shacks.\r\nDuring the winter, at least 60% of strawberries eaten in the UK are likely to be from vast farms across the south-west Spanish province of Huelva. In 2020, the UK imported €310m (£272m) worth of the fruit from the Andalucia region, of which 91% is believed to be grown in Huelva.\r\nBut the fruit-picking workforce in the region – dominated by migrants from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa – are frequently paid less than the minimum wage and required to work overtime without pay, according to a new report from the organisation Ethical Consumer.\r\nSome workers also allege that they are docked up to three days’ pay if they do not meet employers’ demands, are prevented from using the toilet, and have their passports or wages withheld to keep them working.\r\n\r\n“It’s not the one-off farm, it’s not the occasional supplier – it’s widespread across the major exporting areas,” said Jasmine Owens, one of the authors of the report.\r\nIn a recent visit to the Huelva region, the Guardian spoke to 10 workers and two former farm workers. Nine of the workers claimed they were being paid less than the legal minimum daily, which now stands at €51.15 (£45).\r\n\r\nEach morning Aziza, a 53-year-old undocumented worker from Morocco, walks from farm to farm, in hopes of landing a day’s work. Last year she did find work, earning about €40 a day – under the legal daily wage. “Since I don’t have any papers, I don’t have the right to file a complaint,” she said\r\nThousands of workers live next to the polytunnels in which the strawberries are grown, in shacks cobbled together out of scrap and plastic sheets foraged from greenhouses, with no sanitation, running water or electricity.\r\n\r\nThe workforce in Huelva also includes those who are part of a bilateral programme, launched by Spain and Morocco in 2001, which brings thousands of Moroccans to Huelva for up to nine months a year to work on the strawberry harvest.\r\nDespite reports linking the scheme to sexual violence and reports of employers withholding identity documents or wages, Spanish officials announced in September that the programme would be expanded to bring as many as 15,350 temporary workers to Huelva this year – an increase of 5,000 people over last year.\r\n\r\n“You would work the entire month and they might pay you for 16 days,” said Soumia, a Moroccan who spent 14 years working in the bilateral programme. Her evenings were limited by her employer’s 10pm curfew, enforced by docking one day’s work for anyone who showed up late, she claimed. Still, she returned year after year, leaving her two daughters behind in Morocco.\r\n\r\n“We need these jobs in order to put food on the table. Everyone takes advantage of our situation,” she said.\r\nTrade unions and rights organisations have long documented the programme’s preference for mothers between 25 and 45 years of age, as they are considered more likely to return to their home country after their contract ends.\r\nAs the government scheme contractually ties the worker to an employer, and requires officials’ authorisation to change jobs, the organisations allege that it creates the conditions for forced labour.\r\n\r\nThe result is that the women were highly vulnerable to exploitation and less likely to report abusive situations, said SilvinaGorsky, a sociologist who works with a group of lawyers in Andalusia that provides legal assistance to workers. “It’s not that they happen to be vulnerable,” she said. “It’s that they are specifically chosen that way.”\r\n\r\nWhile there were companies in Huelva’s strawberry fields that paid their workers fairly, these companies were a minority, said José Antonio Brazo, of Soc-Sat, a local farmworkers’ union that fielded more than 1,000 complaints in Huelva related to exploitation and working conditions in 2019.\r\nIn a statement to the Guardian, Spain’s labour ministry said it was “fully committed” to resolving the issue, adding that it was in constant contact with workers’ unions and other “affected groups” in the sector.\r\n\r\nLast year the ministry carried out 4,245 inspections on farms in Huelva, it added. A total of 189 violations were detected – involving more than 2,800 people – resulting in fines of €1.6m.\r\nInterfresa, a trade association representing 1,300 producers in Andalusia’s strawberry industry, said that it “had not seen any evidence of inappropriate practices by employers”. Companies were required to comply with the law, it added, and no workers could be paid below the minimum wage.\r\n\r\nRegarding contracting temporary workers from Morocco, it said: “Farm work requires labourers of a certain fitness level for tasks involved in harvesting. This is precisely why women between the ages of 25 and 45 are a commonly found profile.”\r\nThe British Retail Consortium, which represents the UK’s major supermarkets, said that retailers were committed to upholding the rights of all workers in the supply chain.\r\n\r\n“Retailers are concerned by these reports and take these allegations very seriously,” said Sophie De Salis, a policy adviser with the BRC. “Once those behind the original report share the evidence, retailers will be in a position to thoroughly investigate and take any necessary action.”\r\n','2023-03-31','',0,1),(322,'UK joins trans-Pacific trade bloc in a deal likely to boost GDP by less than 0.1%','CNN','Politics',1,71,'https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/31/business/uk-joins-cptpp-trade-agreement-intl-hnk/index.html#:~:text=Although%20the%20government%20called%20the,or%20over%20approximately%2015%20years.','By Michael Rios and Michelle Toh','Britain has reached an agreement to join a major free trade bloc in the Pacific region.\r\nThe country will become the first new member, and the first in Europe, to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) since it came into force in 2018.\r\nAlthough the government called the agreement its “biggest trade deal since Brexit,” its own estimates show that joining the CPTPP will increase UK economic output by less than 0.1% in the long run, or over approximately 15 years.\r\n“We are at our heart an open and free-trading nation, and this deal demonstrates the real economic benefits of our post-Brexit freedoms,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Friday.\r\nThe bloc is home to more 500 million people and will be worth 15% of global GDP once the United Kingdom joins, Sunak’s office said.\r\nThe CPTPP is a free trade agreement with 11 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. It succeeded the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the United States withdrew under former President Donald Trump in 2017.\r\nThe UK agreement comes almost two years after it began talks to join the pact.\r\nJoining the CPTPP is unlikely to be transformational for the UK economy. Britain already has trade deals in place with nine of the 11 current members.\r\nThe agreement also won’t make up for the knock to GDP from leaving the European Union. The UK Office for Budget Responsibility, which produces economic forecasts for the government, expects Brexit to reduce Britain’s output by 4% over 15 years compared with remaining in the bloc.\r\nBecoming a CPTPP member means that more than 99% of UK exports to the 11 other countries will now be eligible for tariff-free trade. That includes major exports, such as cheese, cars, chocolate, machinery, gin and whisky.\r\nIn the year through September 2022, the United Kingdom exported £60.5 billion ($75 billion) worth of goods to CPTPP countries, Sunak’s office said in a statement.\r\nDairy farmers, for example, sent £23.9 million ($29.6 million) worth of products such as cheese and butter to Canada, Chile, Japan and Mexico last year, and were set to “benefit from lower tariffs,” it added.\r\nThe deal also aims to cut red tape for British businesses, which will no longer be required to set up local offices or be residents of the pact’s member countries to provide services there.\r\nServices made up a huge chunk — 43% — of overall UK trade with CPTPP members last year, according to Sunak’s office.\r\n“As part of CPTPP, the UK is now in a prime position in the global economy to seize opportunities for new jobs, growth and innovation,” Sunak said.\r\nSeveral businesses expressed their support for the deal in the government statement, including global bank Standard Chartered (SCBFF) and spirits maker Pernod Ricard (PDRDF).\r\nJoining the pact “is a big opportunity for our Scotch whisky business,” said AnishkaJelicich, Pernod Ricard’s UK director of public affairs.\r\n“Five of our top 20 export markets are CPTPP members. We expect tariff cuts and smoother access to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies to increase exports and secure jobs and investment in the UK, with sales doubling in some markets.”\r\nHowever, the UK Trade and Business Commission criticized the deal.\r\n“When it comes to trade, distance matters. Not only will joining this bloc fail to replace trade we have lost with our closest neighbors, stretching supply chains makes a mockery of our climate commitments and will undercut environmental and food standards in the UK,” Caroline Lucas, parliamentarian and a member of the Commission, said in a statement\r\n','2023-03-31','',0,1),(323,'Donald Trump Was Just Indicted. Here’s What to Know About the Charges and the Case','TIME','Politics',1,71,'https://time.com/6261993/donald-trump-indictment-updates/','BY ERIC CORTELLESSA AND ANISHA KOHLI','For the first time in American history, a former President has been criminally indicted. A Manhattan grand jury voted on Thursday to indict Donald Trump on charges related to paying hush money to a former porn star, setting upa complicated and explosive legal battle as Trump vies for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.\r\nAt the heart of the inquiry is whether Trump is criminally responsible for payments made to Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, following allegations from Trump’s former lawyer that Trump knowingly approved the deal and falsified payment records. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office invited Trump to testify before a grand jury earlier this month in the case. Trump declined the offer.\r\nThe indictment, which has not yet been made public, comes after Trump claimed on March 18 that he would be arrested by Bragg the following Tuesday, telling his supporters on his social media platform Truth Social to “protest, take our nation back.” Trump’s entreaty galvanizedmany in the conservative movement to rush to his defense, with House Republican lawmakers vowing to investigate Bragg.\r\nWhen the DA did not charge Trump last week, some pundits and legal analysts began to speculate that Bragg had gotten cold feet. That conjecture was amplified Wednesday when Politico reported the grand jury was set to take a weeks-long hiatus.\r\nYet on Thursday, the grand jury voted to indict Trump, meaning he will have to travel to New York in the coming days to face the charges. Shortly after the news broke, the former president called the indictment “political persecution” in a statement.\r\n“From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats—the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country—have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.” Trump’s statement said, referring to Bragg as a “disgrace” who was “hand-picked and funded by George Soros.” Trump went on to suggest the charges would have a boomerang effect in the next election: “The Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden.”\r\nThe Daniels case comes amid multiple other criminal and civil inquiries into alleged misconduct, including Trump’s unauthorized removal of classified material from the White House and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. This is Trump’s first indictment after half a century of tangles with federal law enforcement. The case is sure to become a dominant story line in American politics in the months ahead, spurring an unprecedented legal spectacle.\r\nHere’s what to know.\r\nWhat is the Stormy Daniels case?\r\nThe inquiry began nearly five years ago after Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for organizing payments leading up to the 2016 election to Clifford and another woman, Karen McDougal. Both of them, in return, agreed not to publicly disclose their personal relationships with Trump.\r\nClifford has said she and Trump had a sexual relationship in 2006; the former President has denied the affair. Clifford reached out to National Enquirer in 2016, proposing exclusive rights to her story, but rather than buying it, executives at the Enquirer connected Clifford with Cohen to organize a payout.\r\nCohen admitted to paying Clifford $130,000 in the final days of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He was later reimbursed in monthly installments, which the Justice Department noted were disguised as payments for legal services that never existed. The former Trump attorney is expected to testify before the grand jury.\r\nWhat are the charges Bragg is pursuing?\r\nBragg has declined to comment on inviting Trump to testify, but according to former prosecutors and legal scholars, the District Attorney could potentially pursue charges for falsifying business records, which would hinge on Trump’s allegedly improper payments to Cohen. Cohen himself has claimed that Trump knew about the falsely labeled payments, making that a possible basis for the charge.\r\nIf the prosecution can prove that Trump intended to conceal another crime via falsified records, the DA could potentially charge Trump with a felony; the other alleged crime would likely relate to campaign finance violations, as prosecutors could argue that the payout to Clifford was an improper campaign donation engineered to help his presidential prospects.\r\nBringing an indictment would be an “aggressive move,” says Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor. “They’re bringing a case that is out of the ordinary. It’s rare for payments of this type to be the subject of criminal charges. There is a risk that not only they will potentially lose at trial, but there’s also a risk on appeal, that the New York courts could decide that this is not properly charged.”\r\nWhat happens now that Trump has been charged?\r\nHe will have his day in court. Trump will likely be asked to come to Manhattan to turn himself in. He would be booked into jail. A mug shot will be taken and he will be fingerprinted. Given Trump’s substantial ties to the community and his ongoing 2024 presidential campaign, the judge is unlikely to deem him a flight risk and will probably immediately release him on bond, Mariotti says.\r\nTrump is likely to plead not guilty, setting off an arduous legal battle.\r\nMariotti predicts that Cohen would be a key factual witness, given his central role in the transaction. But he’s also likely to be attacked by Trump’s attorneys. Cohen served prison time on multiple charges, including tax evasion, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress. “The defense is going to criticize him and point the finger at him,” Mariotti says.\r\nWhat does this mean for the other investigations into Trump?\r\nIt’s not clear this will have a material effect on the other main probes into the former president, such as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation into whether Trump criminally disrupted the 2020 election; the Department of Justice probe into his removal of classified documents and alleged obstruction of federal efforts to retrieve them; and special counsel Jack Smith’s inquiry into Trump’s alleged efforts to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in 2020.\r\nTrump will likely use any indictments to gin up grievance among the MAGA faithful over a shared sense of persecution. “It is surely a unique political context,” says Harry Litman, a former federal prosecutor. “Trump’s essential promise that he’s going to turn it around into a big ‘I am your warrior, I’m your justice’ campaign issue.”\r\nMariotti says that hiccups in one case could serve as fuel for Trump to discredit any of the others. “You don’t just have to consider its impact on that one case,” he emphasizes. “You have to consider the impact and all the cases. So it’slikeplaying 3-D chess.”\r\n','2023-03-30','',0,1),(324,'China-Russia Arms Race Brewing Over Western Nuclear Pact—Report','Newsweek','Politics',1,71,'https://www.newsweek.com/china-russia-arms-race-aukus-alliance-uk-us-australia-1791543','BY ISABEL VAN BRUGEN ','Cooperation between Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. on nuclear submarines might spark an arms race, Tan Kefei, a spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said during a press briefing on Thursday.\r\n\"AUKUS is all harm no benefit,\" he said, referring to the pact signed among the three nations aimed at countering China\'s influence in the Pacific, with the end goal of acquiring a fleet of up to eight nuclear-powered submarines.\r\n\"Once \'Pandora\'s box\' is opened, the regional strategic balance will be disrupted, regional security will be seriously threatened. This kind of small circle dominated by the Cold War mentality is of no benefit and extremely harmful.\"\r\nThe three countries announced the AUKUS deal in September 2021 for the U.S. and Britain to provide Australia with nuclear maritime technology capable of covert, long-range missions. Under the tripartite deal, the nations share classified military capabilities, cyber and artificial intelligence, and other undersea capabilities. Beginning in 2032, the U.S. will sell Australia three to five Virginia-class submarines.\r\n\r\nThe pact \"risks nuclear proliferation,\" Tan said. He warned it might \"trigger\" an arms race and \"escalate regional tensions.\r\n\"Such cooperation is an extension of the nuclear deterrence policy of individual countries, and it is a game tool for them to build an \'Asia-Pacific version of NATO\' and maintain their own hegemony. It has seriously impacted the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, and many countries in the region are deeply worried about this.\"\r\nHe urged the three nations to \"recognize the general trend of the times, abandon selfish distractions that harm others and benefit themselves, listen to the voice of the international community with an open mind, earnestly fulfill their international responsibilities and obligations, and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability.\"\r\nAccording to Russian state-run news agency Tass, Russia and China expressed concern over plans by Washington, London and Canberra to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, and urged them to strictly adhere to their obligations on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.\r\n\"We firmly oppose relevant countries using \'China\'s military threat\' as an excuse to increase military budgets,\" Tan said.\r\nHe added that China is \"committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.\"\r\n\"For a period of time, some countries have adhered to the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game concept and used the so-called \'China coercion\' and \'China military threat\' to engage in \'small courtyards and high walls\' and military expansion,\" he said. \"Wefirmly oppose this.\"\r\n','2023-03-30','',0,1),(325,'Disney v DeSantis: Why the happiest place on Earth is suing Florida\'s governor','BBC NEWS','Politics',1,72,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65407134','By Anthony Zurcher','Like an old-fashioned bar room brawl, the back-and-forth public relations, political and legal battle between Ron DeSantis and Walt Disney World began with a few sharp words.\r\n\r\nNow it has spilled out into the street and is crashing through neighbouring shops and homes.\r\nIn its latest salvo, Disney has filed suit against Mr DeSantis, alleging that he had \"weaponised government power\" to punish its theme parks division for exercising its constitutionally protected free speech rights.\r\n\"In America,\" Disney said in its legal filing, \"the government cannot punish you for speaking your mind\".\r\n\r\nThe fight began in March 2022, when the Florida governor bristled at Disney criticism of his state law limiting public school instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation - the so-called \"don\'t say gay\" bill.\r\nThat began an escalating series of action and response. The state revoked Disney\'s self-governing pact for the 40 square miles of land occupied by the Walt Disney World theme parks and associated enterprises.\r\nDisney countered by enacting a provision that preserved its interests in the land until \"21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of this declaration\".\r\nMr DeSantis - who exchanged vows at Disney\'s wedding pavilion - pledged to push the state legislature to retroactively invalidate that move and possibly tack on a few more punitive tax and policy measures.\r\nNow Disney has deployed its army of lawyers in the courts to ensure that does not happen.\r\n\r\nEach move - in the moment - may have seemed like a logical response by each side.\r\nBut as the months go by, the notion that the governor of a major state could end up in such a dogfight with a corporation that employs about 80,000 of his constituents and brings tens of millions of tourists to what otherwise would be a flat, nondescript stretch of landlocked real estate becomes increasingly astounding.\r\n\r\nIt is the kind of escalation where no one is likely to come out a winner, the price for backing down becomes too high to contemplate and everyone ends up diminished - a World War One scenario played out on a sun-scorched, swamp-filled peninsula.\r\nMr DeSantis\'s political opponents now appear to sense vulnerability on an issue that the governor once made a bullet point on a culture war resume he hopes to tout during all-but-announced 2024 presidential bid.\r\n\r\n\r\n\"DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,\" former president Donald Trump posted on social media, using one of his preferred nicknames for the Florida governor. \"His original PR plan fizzled, so now he\'s going back with a new one in order to save face.\"\r\nFormer New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley - all current or possible Republican presidential candidates - are among the others who have joined the DeSantis pile on.\r\n\"If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina,\" Ms Haley said, \"I\'ll be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and the legislature.\"\r\n\r\nFor his part, Mr DeSantis is pledging to fight on, even as he appears to be vigorously defending the use of big government power against a private entity exercising what it claims to be constitutional liberties - a peculiar position for a conservative politician to take.\r\n\"Come hell or high water, we\'re going to make sure that that policy of Florida carries the day,\" he said. \"And so they can keep trying to do things, but we\'re going to win on every single issue involving Disney, I can tell you that.\"\r\nA World War One general planning the next guaranteed-to-win-the-war offensive could not have put it any better.\r\n','2023-04-26','',0,1),(326,'The classic Mediterranean vacation spot that sits over a live volcano','CNN','Travel',6,72,'https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/santorini-volcano-kolumbo-scn/index.html','Elinda Labropoulou','Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.\r\nCNN — \r\nEverywhere you look on Santorini, you’re reminded that you’re on a volcano. The lunar landscapes, the black and red beaches, the pebbles made of solidified lava. The Greek island’s transfixing beauty is a result of the area’s violent volcanic history.\r\nSantorini is of course famous for its breathtaking crescent-shaped caldera, half of which is submerged – making it the only sunken caldera in the world. It was created by one of the largest known eruptions around 3,600 years ago. The explosion was so powerful that it wrecked Santorini’s ancient city of Akrotiri and dealt a fatal blow to the seafaring Minoan civilization, which had settled on the island at the time.\r\n\r\nToday, Santorini – also known as Thira – is Greece’s foremost romantic playground with luxurious villas and resorts providing pampered getaways for A-listers and dreamlike settings for lavish weddings and photoshoots alike. The island’s steep volcanic cliffs, perched about 1,000 feet above sea level, create an impressive geological canvas with whitewashed houses balanced on the edge. No wonder it’s one of the most photographed locations on the planet.\r\nEvery evening, the island comes to a grinding halt for Santorini’s world-famous sunsets. The blue and white domed village of Oia gets packed as the golden hour draws in. As the sun begins to set behind the caldera’s cliffs, the sky transforms into a vivid display of red, orange, and pink hues. Thousands gasp as the last rays disappear in the sea.\r\nFew realize that beneath the hypnotic kaleidoscope of colors lies an active volcano.\r\nSantorini is part of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc, one of the most important volcanic fields in Europe which has seen over 100 eruptions over the past 400,000 years. The East Mediterranean’s most active underwater, and potentially dangerous, volcano, Kolumbo, is five miles northeast of Santorini and part of the same volcanic system\r\nSubmerged in the Aegean Sea, Kolumbo has been quiet for nearly 400 years – but it is not asleep. The last time it erupted, in 1650, it killed 70 people and triggered a 40 foot tsunami. Strong earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded, along with toxic gas and plumes of smoke.\r\nScientists know Kolumbo exploding could cause great havoc. Some of the world’s biggest oceanographical expeditions have paid it a visit and monitoring has increased in the last 20 years. One of the largest US research vessels, the JOIDES Resolution deep drilling ship, traveled to Santorini for its first Mediterranean mission between December 2022 and February 2023.\r\nThe formidable ship brought “an entire floating lab to the area,” says volcanologist and expedition co-chief Tim Druitt. Able to drill at over 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) beneath the surface of the sea, researchers collected previously unreached sediments to try and reconstruct the history of volcanism in the area.\r\nThe results – initial reports are expected later this year – should help scientists not only predict future eruptions, but also to reveal the behavior of other active volcanoes around the world that pose a threat to millions who live in their vicinity. The links between earthquakes and volcanoes are also being studied.\r\n\r\nEviNomikou, a geological oceanographer at the University of Athens, has taken part in every expedition on her native Santorini for the last 20 years. “We are gradually putting together a geopuzzle [showing] which parts were [originally] land, which parts were water,” she says.\r\n“If we can better understand past eruptions and their impact, we have a roadmap to better address future challenges.”\r\n\r\nAn extraterrestrial ocean\r\nThe JOIDES Resolution expedition isn’t the first major study of the area. Nomikou says that the long-studied extreme conditions found at Kolumbo led NASA to fund a groundbreaking expedition in 2019. “At the bottom of its crater there is an extra-terrestrial ocean with life forms that can be found on other planets.”\r\nThe hostile environment, with its active hydrothermal vents spewing hot water and minerals, served as an ideal testing ground for new state-of-the-art technologies using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. NASA tested submersibles that one day, it hopes, will be exploring alien oceans on moons of Jupiter and Saturn.\r\nAnother recent study also uncovered a previously undetected magma chamber beneath Kolumbo. Scientists believe that the chamber may also be key to understanding the seismic activity in this region.\r\n\r\nFuming volcanoes and bubbling craters also fired the imagination of Hollywood producers who chose Santorini as the opening location of adrenaline-pumped 2003 Hollywood blockbuster “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life.” Using Santorini’s dramatic cliffs as a backdrop, Angelina Jolie found herself in hazardous situations in mysterious waters while looking for underwater treasure.\r\nJolie and then-husband Brad Pitt spent vacation time on Santorini following the shoot, and they’re not the only ones. The Kardashians, Lady Gaga and Shakira are among the celebrities who have splashed in Santorini’s crystal-clear waters. Every summer, mega yachts cruise back and forth between Santorini and Greece’s other celebrity magnet, the party island of Mykonos, their VIP passengers revealing their exclusive surroundings in glitzy posts.\r\nCraterhikes and thermal springs\r\nBrangelina’s romance may be over, but Lara Croft’s adventurous spirit lives on in tourist boat excursions. They include a visit to the volcano of NeaKameni: one of five islands that form the Santorini volcanic complex, and a national geological park in itself.\r\n“The last eruption on NeaKameni was in the 1950s,” says MariosFytros, CEO of travel agency Santorini View. “Visitors love the thrill of hiking up to the crater of a volcano. It is one of our most popular excursions.” Boat tours continue with a swim at volcanic hot springs on nearby PaleaKameniisland, followed by sundowners on deck facing Santorini’s cliffs.\r\nAnother popular tour, to the magnificent archaeological site of Akrotiri, serves as a sober reminder of volcanic force. The thriving Bronze Age city was destroyed by the eruption 3,600 years ago, which spewed out a nearly 20-mile high column of ash and rock, entombing the city. Some 1,700 years later, a similar disaster would destroy Pompeii.\r\nWith the ashes and lava removed, Akrotiri’s vividly colored frescoes today stand beautifully preserved.\r\nA simmering volcano\r\nThanks to its global fame, Santorini has seen some the biggest tourism investments in the country. Hilton and Nobu are among the brands to have arrived on the island in the past few years, and property prices are among the highest in Greece.\r\nYet geologists – who are closely monitoring Kolumbo – warn that it’s just a matter of time before a big eruption hits again.\r\nHowever, “time” in geology years can be ultra-slow. So much so that one real estate agent on the island, who declined to be named, says that “volcanic activity never enters the conversation” when selling a property.\r\nWhen it does erupt, Kolumbo is capable of producing an eruption column tens of miles high and is also liable to trigger a tsunami. Increased activity about 10 years ago raised concerns but it has since subsided.\r\n“If we start seeing increased activity in Kolumbo then we need to be alert, says Druitt. “The good news is that volcanoes do give plenty of warning.”\r\nMeanwhile, in 2020, Greece’s Civil Protection Agency unveiled a 185-page plan for addressing the consequences of a possible activation of Santorini’s volcanic group.\r\nVolcanic food and wine\r\nIn their everyday life, locals have little time to think about the volcano beyond excursions. In summer, the island is packed. Overtourism remains one of the biggest challenges as Santorini’s unique morphology continues to bring in the crowds. Last year the International Union of Geological Sciences, in collaboration with UNESCO, included the caldera of Santorini in its first list of top 100 Geological World Heritage Sites.\r\nBeyond hotels and restaurants, all business on the island is linked to the volcano. Locally made cosmetics are packed with minerals, and premium food ingredients are grown in unique soil. There is a museum dedicated to the Santorini cherry tomato, a Protected Designation of Origin product since 2006, and the island’s fava beans are considered the best in Greece.\r\nThen there is Santorini’s most famous export after tourism: wine. Islanders say there’s more wine than water on Santorini.\r\nAbout a fifth of the nearly 30 square mile island is taken up by vineyards, most of which grow assyrtiko, a native grape which produces white wines that are crisp, dry and – unsurprisingly – mineral.\r\nThe traditional “cave” houses dug into the volcanic rocks, called yposkafa, are prime nesting grounds for honeymooners seeking their dream vacation. But for Nomikou, who grew up on Santorini, it was Kolumbo that featured in her childhood dreams.\r\n“I was greatly influenced by my grandfather’s and great grandfather’s stories. They remembered the smaller explosions at NeaKameni,” she says.\r\n“But they insisted that the one to worry about is ‘the one you can’t see’.”\r\n“Gradually I realized there was another volcano, under water. A volcano more powerful, mysterious and dangerous. It is impossible to know if any of us will live through a big eruption but, at some point, there will be one.”\r\nSantorini could one day be buried under a layer of ash once more. But for now – as visitors enjoy another stunning sunset over a glass of assyrtiko – the volcano keeps quiet.\r\n','2023-04-27','',0,1),(327,'Paris 2024 Olympics: Welcome to the industrial military/sports vortex','rfi','Politics',1,72,'https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20230429-paris-2024-olympics-welcome-to-the-industrial-military-sports-vortex','rfi','Suggestions to the bigwigs at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have a way of not going down very well. \nIn the prelude to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, as part of the tussle to avoid a boycott of the Games due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the US president Jimmy Carter proffered the idea of locating the games in Athens – neutral territory and historically significant as the ancient home of the Olympic Games.\nPiqued, the IOC rejected the proposal. The US led a 66-nation snub of the event.\nA plethora of reasons fired Carter’s actions; a yearning to show strength with an election year looming as well as the gridlock in the attempts to release the 52 American hostages held in the US embassy in Iran.\nJust over four decades later and similar geo-realpolitikingtravails the world anew. Ukraine has replaced the United States as the orchestrator of the outrage.\nVolodymyrZelensky, Ukraine’s president, says he does not want Russian or Belarusian athletes at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 if fighting is still raging in Ukraine with Russia and its ally Belarus.\n\nThreat\nAnd he has threatened that his country will boycott the Paris event even if the athletes from Russia and Belarus compete under a neutral flag.\nSeveral eastern European countries – notably Poland and Latvia – are firmly behind Zelensky.\nOn Tuesday, their campaign received a boost – albeit symbolic. European lawmakers at the Council of Europe urged the IOC to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions such as the Olympics rather than seeking ways to allow them in.\nThe 46-nation Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) held a two-hour session in Strasbourg of its panel for sports issues.\nThe powwow was to help draft a report on the question of barring the two countries’ athletes and officials.\n“Imposing a war has to have a clear consequence,” said Mogens Jensen, a member of Denmark\'s Social Democratic party.\n“Sport also has to take its responsibility and the only one clear message to send is to exclude the athletes.”\nFairness\nThe IOC said last month that it would be unfair to penalise Russian and Belarusian athletes on the basis of their passports. And, the IOC added, so long as they were happy to compete without any of the nationalist paraphernalia such as flags and anthems and had not expressed support for the invasion, Russian and Belarusians could test their mettle in Paris.\nTeams, though, will not be allowed.\nThe views during the Pace session would not have been a shock for the IOC delegation of veteran sports administrator Francesco Ricci Bitti, the Armenian wrestler ArsenJulfalakyan and the Namibian shooter Gaby Ahrens.\nTheir canon? That sports events cannot only gather nations in a happy-clappy communion and that governments deciding which athletes can compete would effectively end international sports.\nAhrens, who chairs the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa Athletes’ Commission, said: \"Unfortunately in Africa, we are very familiar with the issue of armed conflict between countries and within countries.\"\nDesire\nAnd referring to the talks emanating from the Africa Athletes’ Forum in Algiers last month, she added: “Athletes should never pay the price of a conflict whatever it is and wherever it is.\n\"Politics should not put pressure on sport to withdraw from its fundamental values of solidarity and unity.\"\nBut try espousing that line in a meeting in certain parts of eastern Europe.\n“That’s no explanation at all,” fumed the veteran British politician George Foulkes. “We’re here defending democracy. I found the special pleading for sportsmen quite sickening.”\n\'Twas ever thus. The IOC’s attempts to pitch sports guys and gals together has often been a sacrifice of values.\nSurely someone in the IOC movement had an inkling that the National Socialists in 1936 in Berlin were building for something dodgy?\n\nCommunion\nNearly 90 years on from the triumphs of the black athlete Jesse Owens over the local white will, the IOC’s stance of trying to bring everybody together looks increasingly surreal.\nRather like its reluctance to delay the Tokyo Games as the coronavirus ravaged the world in 2020. The IOC bosses eventually yielded to that killer.\n\nAlexandra Xanthaki, a United Nations-recognized human rights adviser, told the Strasbourg session that exclusion from sport based on an athlete’s passport is discrimination.\n“Blanket retribution against athletes actually undermines peace,” she added during her intervention.\nPerhaps. But it would take otherworldly optimists to believe Russia would end the war because its athletes take part in an Olympic Games\nDecision\n“The IOC’s heavy reliance on alleged human rights violations [against Russian athletes] is unjustified and without legal merit,” said Ukraine’s deputy minister for sport, AndriyChesnokov, in a speech delivered online.\nFrance’s sports minister, AmélieOudéa-Castéra, told the session that the close links between sport and political power in Russia were very much alive. The IOC, she insisted, had to decide its definitive stance.\nA right old mess 15 months from the spectacular river ride launch of the Paris extravaganza.\nWere the war in Ukraine to end, the Olympic marketing teams could promote \"Goodwill Games\". Former foes could feast on friendliness and Paris could become amity ville without the horror. Sweet dream sequences would be made of this.\nPower\nBut if the fighting continues and the IOC maintains its push for inclusion, France could still deny entry visas for Russian and Belarusian athletes.\nThat decision would come from the French leader President Emmanuel Macron. Such a move would go down well in Kyiv, Warsaw and Riga but it wouldn’t be greeted with merriment in the IOC’s corridors of power in Lausanne.\nSo what? Why would Macron risk a prestige-damaging boycott of an event that is supposed to embellish his legend all because of 500 Russian and Belarusian athletes?\nBack in 1980, Carter was seeking a second term as president. In 2024, Macron will be midway through his second and final term as French supremo.\nThe IOC has work to do.\n\n','2023-04-29','',0,1),(328,'Why Countries Are Trying to Ban TikTok','The NewyorkTimes','Society',4,72,'https://www.nytimes.com/article/tiktok-ban.html','The NewyorkTimes','Governments have expressed concerns that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, may endanger sensitive user data.\r\nIn recent months, lawmakers in the United States, Europe and Canada have escalated efforts to restrict access to TikTok, the massively popular short-form video app that is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, citing security threats.\r\nThe White House told federal agencies on Feb. 27 that they had 30 days to delete the app from government devices. A growing number of other countries and government bodies — including Britain and its Parliament, Canada, the executive arm of the European Union, France and New Zealand’s Parliament — have also recently banned the app from official devices. On April 4, Australia became the latest country to announce that it was prohibiting the TikTok app on government devices on advice from intelligence and security agencies.\r\nOn March 1, a House committee backed an even more extreme step, voting to advance legislation that would allow President Biden to ban TikTok from all devices nationwide. On March 23, TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Chew, was grilled about the app’s relationship to its parent company and China’s potential influence over the platform in roughly five hours of testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.\r\nHere’s why the pressure has been ratcheted up on TikTok, which has said that it is used by more than 100 million Americans.\r\n\r\nWhy are governments banning TikTok?\r\nIt all comes down to China.\r\nLawmakers and regulators in the West have increasingly expressed concern that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, may put sensitive user data, like location information, into the hands of the Chinese government. They have pointed to laws that allow the Chinese government to secretly demand data from Chinese companies and citizens for intelligence-gathering operations. They are also worried that China could use TikTok’s content recommendations for misinformation.\r\nTikTok has long denied such allegations and has tried to distance itself from ByteDance.\r\nHave any countries banned TikTok?\r\nIndia banned the platform in mid-2020, costing ByteDance one of its biggest markets, as the government cracked down on 59 Chinese-owned apps, claiming that they were secretly transmitting users’ data to servers outside India.\r\n\r\nWhat’s happening with bans in the United States?\r\nSince November, more than two dozen states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices and many colleges — like the University of Texas at Austin, Auburn University, and Boise State University — have blocked it from campus Wi-Fi networks.\r\nMontana legislators this month approved a bill to block TikTok in the state, a first-of-its-kind prohibition.\r\n\r\nThe app has already been banned for three years on U.S. government devices used by the Army, the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the Coast Guard. But the bans typically don’t extend to personal devices. And students often just switch to cellular data to use the app.\r\nIs Congress trying to ban TikTok?\r\nSome members would like to. In early March, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to approve a bill that could grant a president the authority to ban the platform entirely. (Courts previously stopped a Trump administration effort to do this.)\r\nIn January, a Republican senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, introduced a bill to ban TikTok for all Americans after pushing for a measure, which passed in December as part of a spending package, that banned TikTok on all devices issued by the federal government. A separate bipartisan bill, introduced in December, also sought to ban TikTok and target any similar social media companies from countries like Russia and Iran.\r\nWhat is the Biden administration doing?\r\nTikTok said recently that the Biden administration wants its Chinese ownership to sell the app or face a possible ban. The administration has been largely quiet, though the White House recently pointed to an ongoing review, in response to questions about TikTok. TikTok has been in yearslong confidential talks with the administration’s review panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, to address questions about TikTok and ByteDance’s relationship with the Chinese government and the handling of user data.\r\nTikTok said that in August it submitted a 90-page proposal detailing how it planned to operate in the United States while addressing national security concerns. On March 23, a spokeswoman for China’s commerce ministry said China would “firmly oppose” the sale of the app.\r\nThe Justice Department has also been investigating TikTok’s surveillance of American journalists, according to three people familiar with the matter. ByteDance said in December that its employees had inappropriately obtained the data of two U.S. TikTok users who were reporters and a few of their associates.\r\nCan the government ban an app?\r\nMost of the existing TikTok bans have been implemented at governments and universities that have the power to keep an app off their devices or networks.\r\nA broader, government-imposed ban that stops Americans from using an app that allows them to share their views and art could face legal challenges on First Amendment grounds, said Caitlin Chin, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. After all, large numbers of Americans, including elected officials and major news organizations like The New York Times and The Washington Post now produce videos on TikTok.\r\n“In democratic governments, the government can’t just ban free speech or expression without very strong and tailored grounds to do so and it’s just not clear that we have that yet,” said Ms. Chin.\r\nWhat if I already have TikTok on my phone when a ban is issued?\r\nThe exact mechanism for banning an app on privately owned phones is unclear.\r\nMs. Chin said that the United States could block TikTok from selling advertisements or making updates to its systems, essentially making it nonfunctional.\r\n\r\nApple and other companies that operate app stores do block downloads of apps that no longer work. They also ban apps that carry inappropriate or illegal content, said Justin Cappos, a professor at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering.\r\nThey also have the ability to remove apps installed on a user’s phone. “That usually doesn’t happen,” he said.\r\nDetermined users might also be able to fight a ban by refusing to update their phones, “which is a bad idea,” Professor Cappos said\r\n\r\nWhat has TikTok’s response been?\r\nTikTok has referred to the bans as “political theater” and criticized lawmakers for attempting to censor Americans.\r\n“The swiftest and most thorough way to address any national security concerns about TikTok is for CFIUS to adopt the proposed agreement that we worked with them on for nearly two years,” Brooke Oberwetter, a spokeswoman for TikTok, said in a statement.\r\nSeparately, TikTok has been trying to win allies, recently making an uncharacteristic push in Washington to meet with influential think tanks, public interest groups and lawmakers to promote the plan it submitted to the government.\r\nHow are TikTok’s privacy and security issues different from Instagram’s, Facebook’s or Twitter’s?\r\nChinese ownership seems to be the main issue.\r\nCritics of the efforts to ban the platform have pointed out that all social media networks engage in rampant collection of their users’ data.\r\nFight for the Future, a nonprofit digital rights group, recently waged a #DontBanTikTok campaign with the goal of redirecting lawmakers’ attention on TikTok to creating data and privacy laws that would apply to all Big Tech companies.\r\n“The general consensus from the privacy community is that TikTok collects a lot of data, but it’s not out of step with the amount of data collected by other apps,” said Robyn Caplan, a senior researcher at Data & Society Research Institute.\r\n\r\nWho else opposes a ban?\r\nThe American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter in late February to the House Foreign Affairs Committee to protest its bill, saying that the legislation would violate Americans’ First Amendment rights.\r\nOf course, millions of Americans, digital creators and marketers would hate to see the platform go away, and blocking a popular app could create a political backlash among young people.\r\nWhat can I do right now to protect my data if I use TikTok?\r\nTo protect your privacy on TikTok, you can employ the same practices used to protect yourself on other social media platforms. That includes not giving apps permission to access your location or contacts.\r\nYou can also watch TikTok videos without opening an account.\r\nWhat are other approaches besides a ban?\r\nThe administration could approve TikTok’s plan for operating in the United States. There is also a chance that lawmakers would force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company — which almost happened in 2020.\r\n\r\nTikTokUnder Scrutiny\r\nThe popular app is under pressure amid concerns over the handling of users’ data.\r\n________________________________________\r\n•	Efforts to Ban TikTok: In recent months, lawmakers in the United States, Canada and Europe have escalated efforts to restrict access to the app, citing security threats. Hereiswhat to know.\r\n•	Growing Worries: The Biden administration wants ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell the app or face a possible ban over national security concerns. Here is how the app came to be seen as a threat. \r\n•	The Stakes: Even as U.S. officials are focused on the dangers of TikTok, many users disagree with those concerns. We spoke with nine young Americans about how a ban would change their lives.\r\n•	China’s Information Push: When members of Congress grilled TikTok’s chief executive on Capitol Hill in March, Chinese officials and state media organizations sprang to its defense on Twitter.\r\n•	Possible Spying: As fears grow that China might be using TikTok to gather data about Americans, the Justice Department is investigating the surveillance of several U.S. citizens by ByteDance.\r\n•	An Outright Ban: Montana’s House of Representatives approved a total ban on TikTok inside the state, setting up Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, to sign the first-of-its-kind prohibition into law.\r\n','2023-04-30','',0,1),(329,'China ‘barring thousands of citizens and foreigners from leaving country’','The Guardian','Politics',1,72,'https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/02/china-barring-thousands-of-citizens-and-foreigners-from-leaving-country','Reuters','Analysis of Chinese court records shows eightfold increase in cases mentioning exit bans between 2016 and 2022\r\nChina is increasingly barring people, including foreign executives, from leaving the country, according to a report and research.\r\n\r\nScores of Chinese nationals and foreigners have been ensnared by exit bans, according to the report from the rights group Safeguard Defenders, while a Reuters analysis has found an apparent surge in court cases involving such bans in recent years.\r\n\r\nForeign business lobby groups are voicing concern about the trend, calling it a jarring message as the authorities say the country is open for business after three years of tight Covid-19 restrictions.\r\n\r\nZeng Da-fu runs a bookshop in southern Taipei and is a major investor in Gusa Publishing, whose editor-in-chief has been arrested in China.\r\n‘Publishing these books is a risk’: Taiwan’s booksellers stand up for democracy\r\nRead more\r\n“Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal justification,” the Safeguard Defenders report says.\r\nThe group estimates “tens of thousands” of Chinese citizens are banned from leaving at any one time. It also cites a 2022 academic paper that found 128 cases of foreigners being exit-banned between 1995 and 2019, including 29 Americans and 44 Canadians.\r\n\r\nFocus on the exit bans comes as China-US tensions have risen over trade and security disputes and contrasts with China’s message that it is opening up to overseas investment and travel after the isolation of its Covid curbs.\r\n\r\nThe Reuters analysis of records on exit bans, from China’s supreme court database, shows an eightfold increase in cases mentioning bans between 2016 and 2022.\r\n\r\nChina last week beefed up its counter-espionage law, allowing exit bans to be imposed on anyone, Chinese or foreign, who is under investigation.\r\n\r\nMost of the cases in the database referring to exit bans are civil, not criminal. Reuters did not find any involving foreigners or politically sensitive subversion or national security issues. By comparison, the US and EU impose travel bans on some criminal suspects but generally not for civil claims.\r\n\r\nChina’s ministry of public security did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on exit bans, including inquiries on how many individuals, including foreigners, are subject to them.\r\n\r\nOne person prevented from leaving China this year is a Singaporean executive at the US due-diligence firm Mintz Group, according to three people familiar with the matter. The company, the executive and China’s public security bureau did not respond to requests for comment.\r\n\r\n\r\nMintz said in late March that authorities had raided the firm’s China office and detained five local staff. The foreign ministry said at the time Mintz was suspected of engaging in unlawful business operations.\r\n\r\n“Because of rising tensions between the US and China, the salience of this [exit ban] risk has risen,” said Lester Ross, a veteran lawyer in China who has handled exit ban cases.\r\n\r\n“I’ve seen a rise in companies and entities being concerned about this and asking for our advice on how to prepare and reduce risks” of exit bans, said Ross, the head of the American chamber of commerce’s China policy committee.\r\n\r\nForeign businesses are concerned about the heightened scrutiny and the vague wording of the counter-espionage legislation, which says exit bans can be imposed on those who cause “harm to the national security or significant damage to national interests”.\r\n\r\nIn recent weeks, a number of foreign businesses have been inspected by Chinese authorities. In April, the authorities visited the offices of Bain, a US management consultancy, in Shanghai.\r\n\r\nThe EU chamber told Reuters in a statement: “At a time when China is proactively trying to restore business confidence to attract foreign investment, the exit bans send a very mixed signal.”\r\n\r\nPeople barred from leaving China include Chinese people embroiled in financial disputes as well as rights defenders, activists and lawyers, and ethnic minorities such as Uyghurs in China’s north-western Xinjiang region, according to the Safeguard Defenders report.\r\n\r\nAccording to a Chinese judicial report, 34,000 people were placed under exit bans in 2018, a 55% rise on the year before.\r\n\r\nSome activists say the wider use of exit bans reflects tighter security measures under President Xi.\r\n\r\n“They can find any reason to stop you from leaving the country,” said Xiang Li, a Chinese rights activist who was denied exit for two years before escaping from China in 2017 and later receiving asylum in the US.\r\n\r\n“China doesn’t have the rule of law,” she told Reuters. “The law is used to serve the purposes of the Chinese Communist party. It’s very effective.”\r\n\r\n','2023-05-02','',0,1),(330,'Germany falls into recession as inflation, higher interest rates curb demand','France 24','Politics',1,73,'https://www.france24.com/en/economy/20230525-germany-falls-into-recession-as-inflation-higher-interest-rates-curb-demand','NEWS WIRES','Germany falls into recession as inflation, higher interest rates curb demand\r\nGermany fell into a recession around the turn of the year, official figures published Thursday showed, as inflation and higher interest rates curbed demand in Europe\'s largest economy.\r\nOver the first three months of 2023, the economy shrank by 0.3 percent, the federal statistics agency Destatis said, downgrading an initial estimate of zero percent. Following a 0.5-percent contraction in the last three months of 2022, it was Germany\'s second consecutive quarter of negative growth -- the threshold for a \"technical recession\".\r\nThe slump came as Germany battled a surge in energy prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which weighed on households and businesses. But the government shrugged off fears of a prolonged recession.\r\n\"We continue to expect a significant improvement over the course of the year,\" an economy ministry spokesman told AFP. \r\n\'Danger zone\'\r\nInflation, which reached 7.2 percent in Germany in April, has been fuelled by the increased cost of energy. Consumer prices have come down only slightly from their peak towards the end of 2022.\r\n\"The persistence of high price increases continued to be a burden on the German economy at the start of the year,\" Destatis said in a statement. The impact was felt particularly by consumers who reined in their spending on items such as food and clothing.\r\nGermany, which had long been heavily reliant on Russian energy imports, was left particularly exposed following the Russian invasion in February last year. The curtailment of gas supplies in particular left Berlin scrambling to find new sources of energy and fill reserves ahead of what was anticipated to be a harsh winter at the end of 2022\r\nThe slump was \"not the worst-case scenario of a severe recession\" predicted by some following the Russian invasion, said Carsten Brzeski, head of macro at the ING bank. But mild temperatures, a rebound in key market China and the easing of supply chain problems following the coronavirus pandemic were \"not enough to get the economy out of the recessionary danger zone\", Brzeski said.\r\n\"A drop in purchasing power, thinned-out industrial order books as well as the impact of the most aggressive monetary policy tightening in decades\" were likely to drag on the economy further, he said, referring to the European Central Bank\'s interest rate hikes against inflation. An anticipated slowdown in the US economy and the continuation of the war in Ukraine would also weigh on output, he said.\r\n\r\n\'Consumer spending rebound?\'\r\nThe weak growth figures contrast the optimism showed by policymakers in Berlin who in April raised their forecast for economic growth in 2023 to 0.4 percent.\r\nGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously signalled confidence that Germany had done enough to fend off a painful economic contraction.\r\nThe negative revision to the growth figure was no surprise following a string of weak economic indicators, LBBW bank analyst Jens-Oliver Niklasch said.\r\n\"The early indicators suggest that things will continue to be similarly weak in the second quarter\" of 2023, Niklasch said.\r\nIndustrial orders, which give a foretaste of factory output, plummeted in March when compared with the same month last year.\r\nBy contrast, consumer confidence in Germany had continued its upward trend \"amid all the negative news\", Citi bank analyst Christian Schulz noted.\r\nA rebound in consumer spending could fuel an economic recovery later in the year, Schulz said.\r\nGermany\'s last recession came as the coronavirus pandemic swept through Europe at the start of 2020, prompting governments to effectively shut down large swathes of the economy.\r\n','2023-05-25','',0,1),(331,'French Olympic Committee head resigns during run-up to Paris 2024 Summer Games','France 24','Politics',1,73,'https://www.france24.com/en/sport/20230525-head-of-french-olympic-committee-steps-down-ahead-of-paris-2024-summer-games','NEWS WIRES','Sports Minister Amelie Oudea Castera on Thursday called on the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) to rally together after their president Brigitte Henriques quit her post only 14 months before Paris hosts the Olympic Games. \r\nHenriques\' dramatic resignation at the committee\'s general assembly comes after a year-and-a-half of internal squabbling and a very public disagreement with her predecessor Denis Masseglia.\r\nHer resignation will not affect the organising of the Games which is handled by the Paris Olympics organising committee headed by France\'s three-time canoeing gold medalist Tony Estanguet.\r\nHenriques had insisted prior to the assembly she had no intention of resigning but to the astonishment of the attendees she said she would step down on June 29. \r\nShe had taken a few weeks off at the end of 2022 to recover after her right hand man Dider Seminet had been cast aside in September but the atmosphere had not improved when she returned to her post. \r\nThe CNOSF general secretary Astrid Guyart will act in a caretaker role till a new president is elected \"in the next three months\", the body said in a statement. \"There have been no winners today,\" Oudea-Castera told AFP. She added, however, there could be \"a victory, that of ethics and democracy.\"\r\nOudea-Castera added she had summoned the board of the CNOSF to meet with her next Tuesday to clear the air and plot the way forward. Henriques\'s resignation was broadly welcomed by the presidents of the French sports federations.\r\n\"It is a courageous decision which will certainly diminish the ongoing conflicts as we were spiralling out of control,\" handball federation president Philippe Bana told AFP. The resignation of Henriques -- a former vice-president of the French Football Federation -- is just the latest drama to affect French sports in the past year.\r\nSeveral federations -- football, rugby, gymnastics and tennis -- have become embroiled in scandals. There have been two high profile resignations as a result -- football\'s octogenarian president Noel Le Graet went in February following accusations of sexual and psychological harassment.\r\nFormer sports minister and French rugby coach Bernard Laporte also quit his role as president of the French Rugby Federation in January after being convicted of corruption -- months away from France hosting the men\'s Rugby World Cup.\r\n','2023-05-25','',0,1),(332,'Parisian metro users exposed to excessive pollution, study warns','RFI','Health',2,73,'https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230524-parisian-metro-users-exposed-to-excessive-pollution-study-warns','RFI','Commuters using Paris\'s underground system risk being exposed to high levels of fine particle pollution, a study has found. Transport company RATP contests the findings.\r\nCarried out for the TV program Vert de Rage (Green with Rage) on France\'s Channel 5, the study claims that Paris\'s metro system is suffering from excessive fine particle pollution, with levels that far exceed recommended standards.\r\nFor eight months volunteers surveyed a total of 435 platforms – 392 of them underground – belonging to the metro network as well as the suburban railway network (RER) for pollution.\r\nMeasurements took place on weekdays between 6pm and 8pm for a duration of five to 10 minutes.\r\nThe study found the average concentration of fine particles in the underground network was 24µg/m3, nearly five times higher than the WHO-recommended level of 5µg/m3.\r\nBelleville station in the north east of Paris was found to have the most polluted air with fine particle levels of up to 60µg/m3.\r\nMetro line number 5 was the worst affected with 34µg/m3, closely followed by the suburban RER A, the busiest line in the network.\r\nRATP\'s director of strategy and innovation, Marie-Claude Dupuis, rejected the conclusions of the report saying that circumstantial measurements were compared with general WHO standards, noting that these were tailored for outdoor air. \r\n\r\nCriminal investigation\r\nBut the RATP was already under fire over the pollution issue. \r\nEarlier this year, prosecutors in Paris opened a criminal investigation into allegations that pollution in the capital\'s metro system had been deliberately under-reported and was putting lives at risk.\r\nStink as Paris metro operator suspected of lying about pollution levels\r\nThe RATP is being investigated for fraud and causing involuntary injuries following claims that it deliberately under-reports pollution levels and fails to inform passengers about the dangers.\r\n\"It\'s time to lift the veil of silence and that the RATP tells the truth to users,\" the head of the Respire (Breathe) campaign group, Tony Renucci, said in a statement in April, when a criminal probe was opened.\r\nThe organisation, which lobbies for clean air, filed a legal complaint in 2021 after carrying out two separate monitoring investigations.\r\n','2023-05-24','',0,1),(333,'France unveils plan to radically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions','RFI','Business & Economy',3,73,'https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230523-france-unveils-plan-to-radically-reduce-its-greenhouse-gas-emissions','RFI','The French government has unveiled an ambitious plan to accelerate cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions, targeting a reduction of 50 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.\r\nThe roadmap – presented by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne – includes detailed figures for reductions for individual sectors of the economy, ranging from the transport industry to households.\r\nThe objectives – from speeding up the transition to electric cars or switching freight from road to rivers – are aimed at bringing France’s ambitions for slashing carbon pollution into line with the EU\'s target for 2030.\r\nFrance has so far cut its emissions by 25 percent compared with 1990 levels, requiring significant fresh efforts if it is to hit the new 50 percent target.\r\nThe centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron is wary of provoking consumers with costly initiatives, with memories still fresh of an increase in fuel taxes and vehicle emissions restrictions in 2018 which sparked nationwide protests\r\nThe so-called \"Yellow Vest\" revolt against Macron began in small and medium-sized towns and the countryside where locals felt they were being penalised for using their cars when no other forms of transport were available.\r\n\"We\'re asking for a bit from the smallest (polluters) and a lot from the biggest,\" an aide to Borne told reporters, meaning around half of efforts would be for companies, a quarter for households and a quarter for local administrations.\r\nConcern about climate change has leapt up the political agenda in the last 12 months, with the country experiencing its hottest year since records began last year which left rivers dry, crops withered and widespread water shortages.\r\nA record nationwide winter drought during January and February has also led to fears about water supplies this summer.\r\nMacron and climate change\r\nMacron, who has admitted to grasping the scale of the planet\'s environmental problems late, promised to put climate change at the heart of his second term in office which began in May 2022.\r\nHe pledged to make France the first major nation to abandon fossil fuels and gave Borne an extra job title for planning the ecological transition.\r\nBut the 45-year-old former investment banker has been derided by environmental groups and Greens lawmakers for going too slow and he sparked criticism on 11 by calling for a \"pause\" on EU environmental legislation.\r\nAmong other developed countries, the United Kingdom has the most ambitious short-term goals of any major economy, with an objective of 2030 emissions being 68 percent below 1990 levels.\r\nThe United States has committed to cut greenhouse gases 50-52 percent by 2030 below 2005 levels, while Germany has set a 65 percent reduction target compared to 1990.\r\nThe UN\'s climate science panel has said the world must slash emissions 43 percent this decade to keep within the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C global warming limit.\r\n','2023-05-23','',0,1),(334,'British Museum ends BP sponsorship deal after 27 years','The Guardian','Art & Culture',7,73,'https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jun/02/british-museum-ends-bp-sponsorship-deal-after-27-years','Esther Addley','Campaigners hail split as a ‘massive victory’ , which marks a retreat of the fossil fuel giant from the British arts world\r\nBP’s sponsorship of the British Museum has ended after 27 years, new disclosures make clear, bringing to a close one of the highest-profile and most controversial of such deals in recent years, and marking the almost complete retreat of the fossil fuel giant from the British arts world.\r\nIn its most frank admission to date, obtained through freedom of information requests and seen by the Guardian, the museum confirmed that no further exhibitions or other activities are being sponsored by BP, and “there are no other contracts or agreements in effect between the museum and BP”.\r\nCampaigners hailed the development as a “massive victory”, after years in which the museum’s Great Court has been the scene of noisy and disruptive environmental protests.\r\nIt marks a dramatic retreat from the arts for BP, which was one of the leading arts sponsors in the UK until recently. The Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Shakespeare Company, Scottish Ballet and Royal Opera House have all ended funding partnerships of many decades with the energy giant in recent years.\r\nAmong major national museums and arts companies, only the Science Museum is still supported by BP, which funds its educational academy.\r\nBP has been a sponsor of the British Museum since 1996. On paper, the most recent five-year contract between the two expired in February, but the British Museum and BP have repeatedly resisted being explicit that their partnership was over, leading to concerns of an ongoing relationship behind the scenes.\r\nCampaigners feared the oil giant could be lined up as a potential funder for the radical £1bn rebuilding scheme currently being planned by the museum.\r\nIn the new disclosures, obtained by lawyers acting for the campaign group Culture Unstained, the museum said that “certain terms” of the deal remain in effect, because it has verbally agreed to let BP exercise its “supporter benefits” until the end of 2023.\r\nIt will not specify the supporter benefits, but these are likely to include hospitality privileges, such as use of the museum’s spaces for corporate entertaining. However, this does not relate to any funding of the museum’s activities.\r\nAsked to comment on the disclosures this week, the museum only repeated a previous statement, saying: “BP is a valued long term supporter of the museum, and our current partnership runs until this year.” BP did not respond to a request for comment.\r\nChris Garrard, Culture Unstained’s co-director, said the news represented a “massive victory”. He added: “If it is serious about responding to the climate crisis, the museum must now confirm that there will be no future relationships with fossil fuel producers, take down BP’s name from its lecture theatre and roundly reject the climate-wrecking business it represents.”\r\nThe British-Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who resigned as a trustee of the museum in 2019, partly in protest at the BP deal, said: “It is important that institutions like the British Museum do not give Big Oil the opportunity to look like a force for good in society; denying them this platform is important.”\r\nShe said the institution was “enormously important” and influential – especially among children. She added: “At this time of global crisis, which particularly impacts the young, the museum should be directing its weight, its creativity and its resources to helping to create the world the coming generations need to live in.”\r\nDespite the museum’s repeated insistence of the value of the partnership with BP, there have been hints of embarrassment behind the scenes, as protests over the relationship have grown.\r\nLouise Jolly, a former regular visitor from Hove, wrote to the museum last month saying she was reluctant to bring her children while it was sponsored by BP. She received a reply saying: “Now is a really great time for you and your children to visit us. These exhibitions are not sponsored by BP and we do not currently have any other exhibitions sponsored by BP.”\r\nSpeaking last November, the museum’s chair, George Osborne, announced a “complete reimagination” of the museum and said he wanted it to become a net zero institution.\r\n','2023-06-02','',0,1),(335,'Paris museums prepare for the Olympic Games','Le Monde','Art & Culture',7,74,'https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2023/06/27/paris-museums-prepare-for-the-olympic-games_6038311_30.html','By Miléna Rossi','Paris museums prepare for the Olympic Games\r\nThe capital\'s 14 museums presented their projects for the Olympics and unveiled exhibitions for September.\r\nBy 2022, the 14 City of Paris museums had returned to their pre-Covid-19 attendance levels. In fact, the number of visitors increased to 4.5 million – a \"historic\" peak, according to a report by Carine Rolland, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of culture, and Anne-Sophie de Gasquet, executive director of the public institution Paris Musées, at a press presentation on June 20.\r\nIn 2021, after two years marked by the pandemic and its hindrance to cultural life, exhibitions and collections received 2.2 million visitors. Several establishments – museums like the Musée Carnavalet, the Musée Bourdelle and the Palais Galliera – benefited from major renovations, which have had a positive effect on the number of visitors.\r\nIn the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games, expected to bring to Paris a large number of foreign visitors, Paris Musées has planned either a specific tour or an exhibition for each of its establishments revolving around the theme of \"Art and Sport.\" The Palais Galliera will offer a presentation entitled \"Fashion in Motion.\" The Musée de la Vie Romantique will devote an exhibit to horses painted by Théodore Géricault. And equestrianism will also be given pride of place at the Musée Cernuschi, with a tour focusing on equestrian art in China.\r\n\r\nAthletes involved in the Resistance\r\nThe Musée Carnavalet, dedicated to the history of Paris, will take visitors back to the 1924 Olympic Games, while the Maison Victor-Hugo will look at fencing in the writer\'s family. Meanwhile, the Musée Bourdelle has decided to combine art and archery through encounters, drawings and gouaches on the theme of combat. Finally, the Musée de la Libération de Paris will be highlighting great athletes who took part in the Resistance during the Second World War.\r\nBefore the sports exhibits begin, an attractive line-up is being prepared for September. At the Musée d\'Art Moderne, art lovers will be able to discover a major retrospective of the work of Nicolas de Staël and his private collections, never before unveiled, as well as an exhibition devoted to contemporary American artist Dana Schutz.\r\nThe Musée Carnavalet will focus on La Régence in Paris (1715-1723) and stories from the Fontaine des Innocents (\"Fountain of Innocents\"). The Petit Palais will present prints by great masters such as Rembrandt, Goya, Van Dyck and Toulouse-Lautrec, before Paris at the time of the Belle Epoque and the Roaring Twenties takes center stage in November.\r\nThe Musée Cernuschi will be showcasing the immense Asian art collection of industrialist and art lover Henri Cernuschi, brought back from his trip to Asia in 1873. As for sculpture, the Musée Zadkine will trace the career of Ukrainian artist Chana Orloff. Last but not least, the Palais Galliera will be exhibiting the heritage collections of fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, never before seen by the public.\r\n','2023-07-11','',0,1),(336,'Crisis-hit Pakistan strikes $3bn IMF bailout deal','bbc ','Politics',1,74,'https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66062429','By Annabelle Liang & Peter Hoskins','Crisis-hit Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over $3bn (£2.4bn) of funding.\r\n\r\nThe deal, which still needs to be approved by the global lender\'s board, comes after an eight-month delay.\r\nThe South Asian nation is facing its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1947.\r\nTo help secure the deal, Pakistan\'s central bank raised its main interest rate to a record high of 22% on Monday.\r\nPakistan\'s economy, which was already struggling after years of financial mismanagement, has been pushed to the brink by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that hit the country last year.\r\n\"The economy has faced several external shocks such as the catastrophic floods in 2022 that impacted the lives of millions of Pakistanis and an international commodity price spike in the wake of Russia\'s war in Ukraine,\" Nathan Porter, IMF\'s mission chief for Pakistan said.\r\n\"As a result of these shocks as well as some policy missteps... economic growth has stalled,\" he added.\r\nOnce agreed at staff level such deals are usually granted by the IMF\'s Executive Board. The board is expected to consider the agreement in the coming weeks.\r\n\"This deal gives Pakistan the economic breathing room that it so badly needs,\" Michael Kugelman from the US-based Wilson Center think tank told the BBC.\r\n\"The question is if it can use this IMF deal as an opportunity to pivot from immediate relief to a long-term recovery,\" he added.\r\n\r\nKatrina Ell, a senior economist at Moody\'s Analytics, said: \"High inflation coupled with limited foreign reserves and lacking macroeconomic stability take time and sustained fiscal discipline to overcome.\"\r\nPakistan\'s annual inflation rate hit a fresh record high in May of almost 38%.\r\nThe $3bn of funding, which will be spread over nine months, is higher than expected.\r\nPakistan was awaiting the release of the remaining $2.5bn from a $6.5bn bailout package agreed in 2019, which expired on Friday.\r\nThe nation of more than 230 million people has been struggling for years to stabilise its economy.\r\nThis year the country\'s foreign exchange reserves fell to a level that covered less than three weeks of imports.\r\nDeadly clashes between supporters of Pakistan\'s former prime minister Imran Khan and police have also rattled financial markets.\r\nIn May, Mr Khan was arrested on corruption charges, in a move that has since been ruled as illegal by the country\'s Supreme Court.\r\nOver the last year the Pakistan rupee has fallen by around 40% against the US dollar.\r\nSeparately, donors from around the world have pledged more than $9bn to help Pakistan recover from devastating floods that hit the country in 2022.\r\nIt had been estimated that it needed more than $16bn to recover from the disaster.\r\n','2023-06-30','',0,1),(337,'Wagner still recruiting despite mutiny, BBC finds','bbc ','Politics',1,74,'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66060392','By Sarah Rainsford','The Wagner Group is still recruiting fighters across Russia, days after staging a mutiny that led Vladimir Putin to raise fears of civil war.\r\nUsing a Russian phone number, we called more than a dozen recruitment centres saying, if asked, that we were inquiring on behalf of a brother.\r\nAll those who replied confirmed that it was business as usual.\r\nFrom Kaliningrad in the west to Krasnodar in the south, no-one believed the group was being disbanded.\r\nIn the Arctic city of Murmansk, a woman at the Viking sports club confirmed that she was still signing up fighters for Ukraine.\r\n\"That\'s where we are recruiting for, yes. If someone wants to go, they just have to call me and we\'ll set a day.\"\r\nWagner\'s long list of contact points are mostly based at fight clubs, including martial arts schools and boxing clubs.\r\nSeveral people who picked up the phone stressed that new members were signing contracts with the mercenary group itself, not the Russian defence ministry.\r\n\"It\'s absolutely nothing to do with the defence ministry,\" a man at the Sparta sports club in Volgograd was adamant. \"Nothing has stopped, we\'re still recruiting.\"\r\nThe demand for the mercenaries to transfer to the defence ministry, thus bringing the Wagner Group and its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to heel, was at the root of the fierce feud that exploded into last weekend\'s armed uprising.\r\nIt was the biggest challenge to President Putin\'s authority in his more than 20-year rule, despite the Kremlin\'s scrambling ever since to redefine his response as strong and decisive.\r\nAnd yet the criminal case against the mutineers has been dropped, in a country where multiple opposition activists are serving long prison sentences just for speaking out against Russia\'s war on Ukraine.\r\nEven Wagner\'s leader has been allowed to go free, apparently moving to Belarus - although Prigozhin\'s private jet was tracked flying back to Russia on Tuesday night.\r\nAnd his army, which marched on Moscow and shot helicopters and a plane out of the sky, has still not been disbanded.\r\n\"We are working. If something had changed, they\'d have told us. But there\'s nothing,\" a female recruiter in Krasnodar, southern Russia, was clear.\r\nA Wagner fighter\'s salary remains a generous 240,000 roubles (£2,175) a month; the contracts are for six months.\r\nOn Thursday, the chair of the defence committee in Russia\'s parliament said that Prigozhin had been warned earlier that the deadline for Wagner to be subsumed by the defence ministry was non-negotiable.\r\n\"The defence ministry said all groups…must sign contracts, and they all began doing that. Everyone except Mr Prigozhin,\" Andrei Kartapolov commented, referring to his mutiny as an act of treason.\r\n\"He was informed that Wagner would not participate in the Special Military Operation,\" he used Russia\'s euphemism for its war on Ukraine. \"It also would get no financing or material resources.\"\r\nVladimir Putin, who has spent years denying any official link to Wagner, made a sudden U-turn in the wake of this weekend\'s mutiny. Apparently trying to cut Yevgeny Prigozhin down to size, he claimed that the group was 100% funded by the Russian state.\r\nThe practicalities of Wagner\'s survival, then, are unclear.\r\nOn Saturday, Mr Putin signed a law which means only the defence ministry can now recruit in Russian prisons, previously a key source of fighters for Ukraine for Wagner.\r\nBut the group\'s broader recruitment drive continues.\r\nIn Volgograd, the man we spoke to said that if someone signed up today, \"I could deploy him tomorrow,\" and confirmed that Belarus was now a possible destination.\r\nEarlier this week, Belarus\'s long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko - who has relished describing his role mediating an end to Saturday\'s uprising - said that Wagner fighters were welcome there.\r\nHe suggested the Belarusian army had much to learn from them.\r\nA Belarusian member of Wagner who goes by the call-sign \"Brest\" hinted that the group would be good protection for Mr Lukashenko ahead of next year\'s parliamentary elections, in case there were more mass protests at his authoritarian rule.\r\nIn a video posted on Telegram and filmed in an unknown location, \"Brest\" also reminded subscribers that the Belarusian border was \"less than 300km from Kyiv\". It was a thinly veiled threat.\r\nThere is still no sign that Wagner fighters are moving to Belarus, though.\r\n\"Everything\'s the same as before, for now. Nothing\'s changed,\" said a woman in Saratov, central Russia, confirming that she was still recruiting men to fight in Ukraine.\r\n\"Everyone goes to Molkino, as usual. To the training centre. They get all the information there,\" she added, apparently referring to a shooting range previously linked to Wagner in southern Russia.\r\nSo will anything change after 1 July, I wondered? \"I hope not. I don\'t know. But people are still contacting us, of course.\"\r\n','2023-06-29','',0,1),(338,'Crocodile ramen is Taiwan’s latest food fad','cnn travel','Travel',6,74,':https://edition.cnn.com/travel/crocodile-ramen-taiwan-intl-hnk/index.html','By Lilit Marcus and Wayne Chang, CNN','Crocodile ramen is Taiwan’s latest food fad\r\n — \r\nA noodle shop in southern Taiwan has upped the ante by creating “Godzilla Ramen,” where it looks like the famous Japanese movie icon is about to crawl out of the bowl and grab you.\r\nThe dish, served at Witch Cat Kwai, a restaurant in Douliu City in southern Taiwan, features crocodile meal\r\nThe restaurant’s owner, who asked to be identified only by his surname, Chien, told CNN Travel that the soup is comprised of quail eggs, pork, baby corn, dried bamboo shoots, black fungus and cubes of fish paste, topped with a crocodile leg – specifically, a front one.\r\nChien adds that due to the challenge of getting crocodile legs and the difficulty of making the dish, only two bowls of Godzilla Ramen can be served per day. He charges NTD 1,500 ($50) per bowl.\r\nPart of the cost comes from the amount of work required to create the dish.\r\nAfter the crocodile leg is cleaned, it is rubbed with alcohol and a mix of spices (ginger, garlic and spring onion). Subsequently, it needs to be braised in the restaurant’s signature broth for two hours. Altogether, the whole process takes about three hours.\r\n“A lot of (customers) say crocodile meat tastes like that of chicken but is more springy, soft and elastic,” Chien said. “I think it tastes like braised chicken feet.”\r\nChien’s attention-getting concoction comes just one month after a Taipei restaurant went viral for serving ramen topped with a giant isopod, a 14-legged crustacean.\r\nIn that case, though, the dish preparation was much simpler – the chef reported that he steamed the isopod for ten minutes before adding it to the top of the steaming bowl of ramen.\r\nGuests who want to make the trek to Witch Chat Kwai and try the dish themselves will need to join the waiting list. Currently, Chien says, bookings are full through late August.\r\nIn Taiwan, it’s legal to farm and eat crocodiles that are not designated as protected species\r\n','2023-06-30','',0,1),(339,'Ghanaian photographer Paul Ninson on how he was able to visit the ‘village with no men’','cnn travel','Travel',6,74,'https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/05/travel/paul-ninson-photography-umoja-village-no-men-dikan-center-spc-intl/index.html','By Lamide Akintobi and Ayanda Ntuli, ','Ghanaian photographer Paul Ninson on how he was able to visit the ‘village with no men’\r\n\r\nA place for women, by women: that’s what Umoja, a village in Samburu County, northern Kenya, represents. It looks much like other tribal settlements or manyattas – with surrounding grasslands and huts, where communal living is the norm – except for one thing.\r\n\r\nIt’s void of men.\r\n\r\nUmoja is the Kiswahili word for unity, and it’s evident that this concept is at the core of this community. Founded in 1990 as a sanctuary for women of Samburu escaping gender-based violence, Umoja is home to females of all ages. Men are prohibited from entry to create a safe space for girls and women who are survivors of sexual violence and abuse, ostracized by their families, as well as those escaping child marriage or female genital mutilation (FGM).\r\n\r\nGhanaian photographer Paul Ninson first found out about the Umoja women from a blog post and decided to go to Kenya to photograph this village in 2017, partly because, he said, he felt these stories “needed to be told from (an African) perspective.” With no prior contact with the women, he took the trip blind, knowing only the general location of the village.\r\n\r\nThe first few members of Umoja were from remote Samburu villages scattered across the Rift Valley. Exact numbers ebb and flow, but at its largest, this self-sustained village has been home to about 50 families made up of women and their children, and continues to educate its residents on women’s rights and gender-based violence. Any male children of the women are permitted to live in the village until they turn 18.\r\n\r\nHe says gaining access was very difficult, and he was only welcomed by the women after explaining the purpose behind his visit, adding that they were “very, very happy” when he showed them the pictures he took.\r\n\r\nThe lifestyle of those who live there is modest, with the women working to earn income for food and educational resources for the village’s children and some of the women themselves. Located about a kilometer away from Umoja is a campsite where many tourists stay when visiting the region to explore the famous Maasai Mara wildlife reserve. Tourists who wish to visit Umoja are charged a small entrance fee, and can buy elaborate beaded jewellery and other crafts handmade by the Samburu women.\r\n\r\n“Community storytelling”\r\n“Village with no men” is one of several photography series by Ninson, who said he aims to capture images that “raise awareness about social, environmental, or political issues and inspire people to take action, provoke thought and discussion about important topics.”\r\n\r\nHe decided to travel to other African countries to share “undertold or untold stories of people of the continent” – an element of what he calls “community storytelling.”\r\n\r\n“We [Africa] have narrative problems; how we’ve been depicted over and over again,” Ninson said. This, he added, is a consequence of Africa’s stories being told by outsiders.\r\n\r\nAfter expanding his portfolio with images he shot around Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia, Ninson went to New York to study at the International Center of Photography in 2019, where he worked closely with a friend and mentor, Brandon Stanton, of the storytelling platform “Humans of New York.”\r\n\r\nIn an email to CNN, Stanton said he’s been inspired by Ninson’s talent and drive since the pair first met in Ghana in 2016, when Ninson shared his desire to become a professional photographer. While Ninson says he learned a lot from working with Stanton during that period, Stanton added that Ninson’s faith has been a strong example for him, describing him as his “spiritual advisor of sorts.”\r\n\r\nAfrica’s largest photography library\r\nIt was while exploring New York as a student that Ninson started accumulating photobooks written by and about Africans – books that Africans didn’t have access to back home, he said.\r\n\r\nNinson resolved to buy as many as possible to send to Ghana, keeping them in his apartment until he ran out of space and had to get a storage unit. Eventually, with the support of Stanton and the Humans of New York platform, he raised over $1 million to fund the first stage of the Dikan Center in Ghana’s capital of Accra – Africa’s largest photography library and visual education space, which opened in December 2022.\r\n\r\nStanton, who attended Dikan’s opening, said watching Ninson build the center was “surreal.”\r\n\r\n“He has stepped into a leadership role so effortlessly and intuitively. So many people who meet him walk away feeling as if they have met a future leader of Ghana,” Stanton said, adding that “(Ninson) has been so successful in launching the Dikan Center that it is often overlooked that he is an elite photographer.”\r\n\r\nNinson said Dikan, which means “take the lead” in the Twi language, is a space that has already started to teach other storytellers on the continent through workshops and classes, offering free use of the vast library of photobooks, and putting on photo exhibitions.\r\n\r\nHis goal, Ninson said, is “to connect people with each other and with the world around them,” and plans to return to Umoja within the next year.\r\n\r\n“I believe in the power of storytelling,” he added. “It has the power to bring people together and to help us see the world in new and unexpected ways.”\r\n','2023-07-05','',0,1),(340,'Simone Biles wins record eighth US all-around title as comeback continues','BBC SPORT','Sport',5,75,'https://www.bbc.com/sport/gymnastics/66636944','BBC SPORT ','Simone Biles broke a 90-year record by winning her eighth all-around title at the US Gymnastics Championships.\n\nHer win comes less than a month after the four-time Olympic champion returned to competition, following a two-year break to work on her mental health.The 26-year-old\'s floor routine earned a score of 15.400, giving her an all-around total of 118.450, with Shilese Jones 3.9 points back in second.Biles moves ahead of Alfred Jochim, who claimed his seventh US title in 1933.She was the only competitor to finish the two days of competition in San Jose with two scores of 15 or higher, having taken control of the event with 15.700 on the vault on Friday.Biles first became US all-around champion in 2013 and matched Jochim\'s record in 2021.Later that year she took a break from gymnastics after pulling out of five of her six finals at the delayed Tokyo Olympics.She later explained she had been experiencing \'the twisties\' - a kind of mental block where gymnasts can lose their sense of space in the air.Biles, who did manage to win a balance beam bronze and a team silver in Tokyo, is yet to indicate whether she will aim to compete at next year\'s Olympics in Paris.But she is expected to take part in the World Championships in Antwerp from 30 September to 8 October, where she would have the chance to add to her tally of 25 world medals, including 19 golds.\n','2023-08-28','',0,1),(341,'Japan: IAEA monitoring treated water release from Fukushima nuclear plant','UN News','Health',2,75,'https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/08/1140037','UN News','Japan has begun discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the Pacific Ocean, 12 years on from the major meltdown there, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on Thursday. \nExperts from the UN nuclear watchdog were present to monitor and assess that all relevant international safety standards were applied, as part of a multiyear review of a process that could last for decades.\nThe decision to release the water into the sea has sparked criticism in Japan and the region.\nLong-term commitment\nThe IAEA has been providing real-time data on the controlled release of the treated water, including on water flow rates and radiation monitoring.\n“The IAEA has committed to be present before, during and after this process,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video statement.\nThe Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station suffered major damage during an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.  \nSince then, water has continually been pumped in to cool the plant\'s reactors. Groundwater also seeps into the site, and rainwater falls into the damaged reactor and turbine building.\n‘Negligible radiological impact’\nThe water came in contact with melted fuel, fuel debris and other radioactive substances, resulting in contamination.                                       \nIt was treated and diluted through a filtration process called Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) and stored in specially prepared tanks.\nAs of June, there were some 1,000 of these tanks holding more than a million cubic meters of treated water.\nAn IAEA report issued last month said Japan’s approach and activities to discharge the treated water were “consistent with relevant international safety standards”.  \nFurthermore, the “controlled, gradual discharges” of the treated water would have a “negligible radiological impact” on people and the environment.\n','2023-08-24','',0,1),(342,'What Happened at Burning Man','New York times ','Politics',1,75,'https://www.nytimes.com/article/burning-man-mud-trapped.html ','New York times ','Thousands of people were hoping to leave the festival’s remote desert site in Nevada on Monday after being stranded over the weekend because of rain and mud.\nThousands of attendees of the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert were stranded over the weekend after heavy rain on Friday night led officials to close the road that leads in and out of the makeshift town.\nAttendees were at one point told to conserve food and water, and the festival’s main event, the burning of a towering manlike sculpture, was postponed for a second time until Monday night.\nThe police were also investigating the death of one person at the festival, although they said it did not appear related to the weather.\nHere is what is known so far about this year’s Burning Man.\nHow did people get trapped at Burning Man?\nThe festival is held each year in Black Rock City, a temporary community created in the middle of the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada.\nEach year, it hosts more than 70,000 people who travel from around the world to the desolate, arid landscape. Those people typically have to contend with fine dust, not mud and rain.\nIt is far from major cities — the nearest is Reno, Nev., which is more than 100 miles away.                                                                                                                                                                          \nTo get to Burning Man, people must either travel the two-lane rural highway that leads to the festival’s gate or fly into its small, temporary airport.\nThe rain prompted the closure of the route in and out of Burning Man, but the event’s organizers were expected to announce on Monday morning whether it was safe to reopen. Alternative routes may also be available.\nThe muddy conditions also obstructed the ability of event organizers to move heavy equipment, including for fire safety to the site of the Man Burn, which was twice postponed, according to a social media account affiliated with The Burning Man Project. It is now scheduled for Monday night.\nHow are people getting out?\nSome people walked from the festival to the main roads and hitchhiked.\nIn a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Diplo, the D.J. and producer, said he and Chris Rock had “walked 5 miles in the mud” to get out.\nSome vehicles with four-wheel drive have been able to get through the mud and leave, Burning Man organizers said.\nOrganizers cautioned that other vehicles were getting stuck in the mud, making it more difficult for everyone to leave. Burning Man organizers urged people to avoid driving on Sunday.\nWhat will they do about the mud?\nSteven Adelman, the vice president of the Event Safety Alliance, which recommends safety practices for live events, said he had dealt with unexpected mud at music festivals.\n“You basically have to mobilize every backhoe, tow truck and other types of vehicles within hundreds of miles, and that’s probably what they’ll have to do,” Mr. Adelman said. “And they will have to come from hundreds of miles away because Black Rock City’s nearest metropolitan area is Reno.”\nWhat is the weather forecast?\nWeather conditions were expected to improve on Monday, with clearing skies and warmer temperatures.\nHowever, forecasters with the National Weather Service warned that a low pressure system may bring a chance of light rain showers by nightfall into Tuesday morning.\nThe festival site had been slammed with rain since Friday. Other parts of Nevada were also walloped with fast-moving thunderstorms and flash flooding over the weekend. Heavy flooding was also reported on the Las Vegas Strip.\n\n','2023-09-04','',0,1),(343,'Tourists are flocking to New York City to go on rat tours to see the iconic \'mascots\' of the metropolis, says report','New York times ','Travel',6,75,'https://www.insider.com/nyc-tourists-rat-tours-see-citys-mascots-2023-8 ','Alia Shoaib','Tourists are flocking to New York City to go on rat tours to see the iconic \'mascots\' of the metropolis, says report\nTourists visiting New York City are going on rat tours to get an authentic Big Apple experience, according to a report by The New York Post.\nKenny Bollwerk leads free walking late-night rat tours, taking routes near Rockefeller Center and in Flushing and Sunnyside, Queens.\n\"Rats are like a New York City mascot,\" Bollwerk told the outlet. \"People want to see it for themselves.\"\nHe also live streams on TikTok as he explores rat-infested parts of the city, with up to 10,000 people tuning in at a time.\nHe is not the only one to capitalize on his fascination with the rodents. Luke Miller, the owner of Real New York Tours, also stops near Chinatown for tourists to see the creatures scurrying about.\n\"They are like the new celebs in New York City with all the press they are getting,\" Miller told The Post.\nThe outlet spoke to several rat tour customers, some of whom specifically came to the city to catch a glimpse of the rodents. \n\"It\'s one of those things you just have to see,\" Aaron Lidwell and his wife, from Altoona, PA, who visited the city hoping to see rats, told The Post.                                                                                                                                                                                                            \nLidwell was so thrilled to see a few rat tails poking out at a construction site that he even reached down and gently pinched some — causing Bollwek\'s TikTok livestream to go \"nuts,\" Lidwell said.\nOne man, Patrick Norris of St. Louis, traveled to the city after becoming a fan of \"RatTok\" videos on TikTok.\n\"It made me want to go there and actually see the setting and the scenery and, you know, \'What\'s behind this corner? What\'s behind that corner?\'\" he told the outlet.\nNot just tourists love to see the rats — David Fraticelli and his 12-year-old daughter Noelia from the Bronx regularly attend the tours, with the girl becoming a regular in Bollwek\'s TikTok videos, per The Post.\nRats have long been an iconic fixture of the city, but the population surged during the pandemic.\nReported rat sightings doubled in 2022, with city health inspectors documenting about 60,000 instances of rodent activity, compared to about 30,000 the previous year.\nEarlier this year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed a \"rat czar\" to help eliminate rodents in the city.\n','2023-08-27','',0,1),(344,'Africa can become new global supply chain force: UNCTAD','UN News','Politics',1,75,'https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/08/1139782','UN News','African economies should seize the opportunity to better integrate into technology-intensive global supply chains and boost prosperity, but this depends on their ability to harness key market and investment trends, the UN’s trade and development body UNCTAD said on Wednesday.\nIn a new report, UNCTAD shows that Africa can become a major exporter of higher value-added goods, creating growth and jobs, and fuelling a rise in productivity and wages.\nLaunching the report in Nairobi, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan insisted it would offer a better future for the continent’s economies.\nDiversifying trade “builds resilience and enhances innovation”, Ms. Grynspan said, adding that diversifaction was “key” for private sector development and employment opportunities for Africa’s growing population.\nAfrica’s competitive advantage\nMs. Grynspan highlighted three factors driving the “huge” opportunity for the continent. From a geopolitical point of view, countries and businesses are seeking to diversify their suppliers and thus reduce risk. Africa is well placed to tap into this trend, Ms. Grynspan said, which together with the African Continental Free Trade Area offers “great synergies” for participating in global supply chains.                                                                                                                                                                                                          \nAfrica also has a unique advantage amid the rise of the renewable energy market, as it is a vital source of raw materials for technology-intensive industries – for instance lithium, essential to the production of electric car batteries. It has the possibility to become a destination for manufacturing and should seek to export more complex finished goods rather than just commodities, Ms. Grynspan said. \nAs for demographics, Africa boasts not only a dynamic, young workforce, but also a “burgeoning” middle class offering local consumer markets for hi-tech goods. \n‘Untapped potential’\nThe report analyses “untapped potential” for African countries to strengthen their position in the automobile, solar energy and pharmaceutical industries.\nEncouragingly, Ms. Grynspan noted that Africa’s tech ecosystem growth has already proven impressive, as “hubs in artificial intelligence, 3D printing, blockchain, fintech [financial technology] and e-commerce are thriving” in countries such as Kenya, fostering innovation and strengthening Africa’s chance to capture technology-intensive global supply chains. \nHigher wages and resilience\nCreating an environment conducive to technology-intensive industries will raise wages, the UNCTAD chief said, underscoring that the average wage on the continent is $220 per month while in the Americas, in comparison, it is nearly $670.\nAccording to UNCTAD, deeper integration into global supply chains would also diversify African economies, boosting their resilience to future shocks.\nAttract investment\nHowever, for this to happen, more investment will be needed, Ms. Grynspan said. The report highlights the fact that currently, only about two per cent of global investments in renewable energy go to Africa.\nPaul Akiwumi, Director of UNCTAD’s Division on Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, said that in order to drive more large-scale private investment, regulatory barriers will have to be removed and regional industrial development plans put in place.\nMr. Akiwumi cited the example of a regional agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, allowing for the creation of an industrial zone for the production of electric car batteries. He also highlighted the importance of product registration and intellectual property in order to attract investors. \nUrgent debt relief needed\nMs. Grynspan stressed that in order for Africa to be able to seize its competitive advantage, the continent’s economies need debt relief to create fiscal space so that countries can invest in strengthening supply chains and in education for their workforce.\nShe recalled that African countries pay four times more for borrowing than the United States and eight times more than European nations, as shown in UNCTAD’s recent “World of Debt” report.\n‘Change the rules’\n“This must change if Africa is to achieve its full economic potential and be a major actor in global supply chains,” the UNCTAD chief insisted, pledging the UN’s unwavering support to nations across the continent.\nMs. Grynspan highlighted UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ advocacy to “change the rules that reproduce these asymmetries” and fix the “distorted” perception of risk which international investors hold in relation to developing economies.','2023-08-16','',0,1),(345,'\'This could be the holy grail to replace palm oil\' - research team','BBC Scotland News','Lifestyle',8,76,'https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-66842496 ','By Paul McLaren','\'This could be the holy grail to replace palm oil\' - research team\r\n\r\nA Scottish research team believe they may have produced the \'holy grail\' alternative to palm oil.\r\n\r\nIt is estimated that almost half of all food and cosmetic products on supermarket shelves contain palm oil.\r\n\r\nThe huge demand has led to significant deforestation in areas where oil palm trees can grow near the equator.\r\n\r\nFood experts at Queen Margaret University (QMU) in Edinburgh say their new 100% plant-based ingredient is 70% better for the environment.\r\n\r\nAnd with 80% less saturated fat and 30% fewer calories, they are also hailing PALM-ALT as a significantly healthier option.\r\n\r\nCatriona Liddle, one of the lead developers on the QMU team, said: \'It\'s the holy grail to replace it and still have exactly the same end result in product - to taste the same and have the texture the same - and we\'ve done that.\r\n\r\n\'We\'ve put it through some special sensory testing to see if a panel can tell the difference between our product and traditional palm shortening, and they can\'t.\'\r\n\r\nThe new PALM-ALT product is described as having a mayonnaise-style consistency.\r\n\r\nIt is palm and coconut-free and has no added flavourings, sugar, sweeteners, preservatives or colourings.\r\n\r\nIt is made from a by-product from the linseed industry, plus natural fibre and rapeseed oil.\r\n\r\nPalm oil remains the world\'s most-produced vegetable oil, accounting for 40% of the total, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).\r\n\r\nIt is hugely popular with food and cosmetics firms because it is so useful. Odourless, tasteless and colourless, it does not alter the smell, taste or look of products.\r\n\r\nInstead, it adds a smooth texture, and works as a natural preservative. And it maintains its properties under high temperatures, also making it ideal for cooking with.\r\n\r\nIt is used in everything from chocolate to shampoo, pizza, toothpaste and deodorant.\r\n\r\nThe use of the land for palm oil cultivation, 85% of which is in Indonesia and Malaysia, has increased almost nine-fold from 3.3 million hectares (eight million acres) in 1970 to 28.7 million hectares in 2020.\r\n\r\nIn financial terms, one report valued the worldwide palm oil industry at $62.3bn (£51.2bn) in 2021. And such is the continuing growth in demand, this figure is expected to increase to $75.7bn by 2028.\r\n\r\nCatriona Liddle told BBC Radio\'s Good Morning Scotland programme: \'For the food industry, palm oil is used as a fat but it gives you texture and good shelf-life.\r\n\r\n\'Particularly in baking products, it\'s almost an irreplaceable ingredient because it\'s so functional.\'\r\n\r\nIrreplaceable until now?\r\nBut could that be about to the change, with the QMU team having an international patent application for PALM-ALT and discussions set to begin with prospective manufacturers.\r\n\r\n\'We\'ve started off with bakery products - bread, cakes, biscuits - all the things that everybody loves to eat but are not terribly healthy for us,\' Ms Liddle said.\r\n\r\n\'We\'ve created a product that is over 80% less saturated fat and 30% less calories, so it\'s a significantly healthier product than palm oil itself.\r\n\r\n\'It\'s also about 70% better for the environment in terms of carbon emissions.\r\n\r\n\'Now we\'re looking at having discussions with people to manufacture the product, so it\'s really exciting for us.\'\r\n\r\nWhat is palm oil and why is it thought to be bad?\r\n\r\nIt is cheap to make and there are lots of other reasons it is used in food and other products instead of alternative oils.\r\n\r\nBut the way some palm oil is made is causing serious damage to the environment.\r\n\r\nPalm oil comes from the fruit of the African oil palm. It is in lots of products we use - from toiletries such as shampoos and soap, to cereals and biscuits.\r\n\r\nEnvironmentalists argue that the farming of oil palm trees is extremely bad for the planet.\r\n\r\nDeforestation is when forests and trees are cut down to clear the land to use it for something else.\r\n\r\nPalm oil production is said to have been responsible for about 8% of the world\'s deforestation between 1990 and 2008.\r\n\r\nThis is because forests are burned to clear areas where people can grow oil palms - even if it is illegal.\r\n\r\nBurning forests like this destroys the places where plants and wildlife live, meaning the area has less biodiversity.\r\n\r\nSpecies such as orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers can be affected.\r\n','2023-09-18','',2,1),(346,'Electric car rules could cost carmakers billions','By Theo Leggett','Society',4,76,'https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66889029 ','By Theo Leggett','New Brexit trade rules covering electric vehicles could cost European manufacturers £3.75bn over the next three years, an industry body has said.\r\n\r\nThe rules are meant to ensure that EU-produced electric cars are largely made from locally sourced parts.\r\n\r\nBut manufacturers on both sides of the Channel say they are not ready.\r\n\r\nThe European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) also warned the measures could reduce output from EU factories by 480,000 vehicles.\r\n\r\nAnd they said customers would pay the price.\r\n\r\nThe main problem lies in so-called \"rules of origin\" which come into force in January. They apply to shipments of cars across the Channel under the terms of the Brexit deal, the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.\r\n\r\nThey will effectively ensure that electric vehicles will need to have batteries produced in either the UK or the EU.\r\n\r\nCars that do not meet the criteria will face 10% tariffs - or taxes - when transported across the Channel, in either direction.\r\n\r\nThe rules were designed to protect the European industry from cheap imports.\r\n\r\nBut because battery production in Europe has not ramped up as quickly as expected, carmakers are struggling to meet the new criteria.\r\n\r\nIt is a serious problem for European manufacturers. The UK is by far their largest export market, with 1.2 million vehicles arriving at UK ports last year. Likewise more cars built in the UK are transported to the EU than any other region.\r\n\r\nSteep tariffs could make electric cars more expensive to produce, and potentially push up prices.\r\n\r\nThe ACEA wants the new rules to be delayed for three years, and it is appealing to the European Commission to take action.\r\n\r\n\"Driving up consumer prices of European electric vehicles, at the very time when we need to fight for market share in the face of fierce international competition, is not the right move,\" said Renault chief executive Luca de Meo, who is also acting as ACEA\'s president.\r\n\r\n\"We will effectively be handing a chunk of the market to global manufacturers,\" he added.\r\nFor the rules to be pushed back, an agreement would need to be reached between the UK and the EU.\r\n\r\nThe UK\'s Business Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, said last week she was \"optimistic\" such a deal could be reached.\r\n\r\nBut in an interview with the Guardian on Friday, the EU\'s internal market commissioner Thierry Breton was much less forthcoming.\r\n\r\nHe said it would be wrong to re-open the Brexit deal to satisfy the motor industry.\r\n\r\n\"If something has been negotiated, it shouldn\'t be changed,\" he told the newspaper.\r\n\r\nThe European Commission said: \"Brexit has changed the trade relationship between the UK and the EU, among other things.\"\r\n\r\nIt noted that the Brexit trade deal - the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement - \"is the outcome of a negotiation in which both sides agreed to an overall balance of commitments\".\r\n\r\nIt added that the rules of origin aim to develop a \"strong and resilient battery value chain in the EU\".\r\n\r\nSigrid de Vries, the secretary general of ACEA, said it was unsurprising that the industry\'s appeals were meeting resistance.\r\n\r\n\"The European Commission doesn\'t want to change anything, it seems, when it comes to Brexit-related topics. It\'s politically very sensitive,\" she told the BBC.\r\n\r\n\"We do understand it, and we are not asking to change any of these arrangements in any fundamental way.\"\r\n\r\nMeanwhile the chief executive of the UK\'s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Mike Hawes, told reporters last week that he thought a deal would be done - but it could be a last-minute affair.\r\n\r\n\"We are still optimistic an agreement can be reached. It makes common sense,\" he said.\r\n\r\n\"But I can see this going down, like with Brexit, to Christmas Eve, or something like that.\"\r\n\r\nTrade officials from the EU and the UK are due to meet this week in London. It is not yet known whether the new rules will be on the agenda.','2023-09-25','',2,1),(347,'The newest work perk? Companies are paying employees\' vacations so they can take a proper break','bbc ','Politics',1,76,'https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230918-the-companies-doling-out-thousands-for-workers-holidays ','By Elizabeth Bennett','The companies doling out thousands for workers\' holidays\r\n\r\nThe newest work perk? Companies are paying employees\' vacations so they can take a proper break.\r\n\r\nLazing on the beach, drink in hand. Hiking with friends, a spectacular view at the summit. Exploring a foreign city, eating the most incredible food you\'ve ever tasted. But the best part? You\'ve barely spent a dime of your own money for these experiences.\r\n\r\nPerks have changed in the pandemic era. One emerging incentive stands out: handing out four-figure budgets for employees to see the world.\r\n\r\nThese programmes largely originated at travel-related companies. Airbnb employees receive $2,000 (£1,600) in travel credit each year, and Expedia reimburses staffers between $1,250 to $1,750 annually for travel expenses. Now, more firms across industries are following suit. Scheduling app Calendly offers an annual $1,000 vacation stipend for hotels, flights or rental cars; software company Bamboo HR offers what they call \"paid paid vacations\" via a $2,000 annual stipend to use towards travel.\r\n\r\nMichael König, senior lecturer at the department of strategy and innovation, Vienna University of Economics and Business, attributes this rising trend to the state of labour, which is largely still \"a seller\'s market\" across the world, even amid an uncertain economy.\r\n\r\nFirms that go the extra mile with these unusual perks can attract and retain the talent their companies need, often counteracting decreasing employee loyalty. \"Employers can use this intelligently in their employer-branding strategy,\" says König. \"The message is that employers really care for the wellbeing of their workforce, beyond superficial measures. That certainly pays off in the long run.\"\r\n\r\nThis is especially true for companies trying to recruit and retain workers, says Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at UK-based Alliance Manchester Business School. \"In the UK, for example, with the loss of so many people to Eastern Europe as a result of Brexit, employers are finding it difficult to recruit unskilled and skilled staff in some sectors, and they may look at a variety of incentives like this or other approaches to attract staff.\"\r\n\r\nAnd while this is a global trend, travel perks may be particularly attractive to workers in the US, where paid holiday isn\'t a legal requirement, and 46% of workers who receive paid time off do not take all of it. \"Many organisations have very limited allowable holiday time in the first place, so they could attract and retain staff by lengthening their paid holiday time. In the context of the US, these expenses are likely to be aimed at \'needed\' professional staff, as one perk among others,” says Cooper.\r\n\r\nPlus, in the current economic climate, this travel-budget incentive is more valuable than ever.\r\n\r\n\"The steep increase in the cost of living and rising inflation rates worldwide make holidays a true luxury. Companies that offer paid holiday expenses are addressing this directly,\" says König. For employers, it also makes smart financial sense. \"In many countries, these costs are also tax deductible, and the net benefit might then be even bigger than a pay rise, for both, the employee and the employer.\"\r\n\r\nThese incentives may seem like a win-win for both employers and employees, yet Paula Allen, global leader and senior vice president of research and total wellbeing at TELUS Health, a Toronto-based wellbeing benefits provider, says these perks may be more valuable to some workers than others.\r\n\r\n\"For employees such as working parents or caregivers, travelling might not be feasible. In that case, organisations should consider alternatives, so employees don\'t feel they\'re getting preferential perks over another,\" she says. As the sustainability concerns of air travel also become more pertinent, Allen says companies will also have to think about how they balance offering free travel perks while also considering their climate footprints.\r\n\r\nAllen also says financial incentives shouldn\'t be used as a bandage to address larger issue. \"These perks don\'t replace the need for health and wellbeing support and a strong and effective workplace culture. If a workplace is not psychologically safe, then added financial support does not erase this negative impact,\" she says.\r\n\r\nHowever, moving forward, Allen thinks we\'ll continue to see companies jump on this trend in some form. \"With the rise in nomad workers and work-away policies within companies that enable employees to work from different parts of the world, there\'s clearly an appetite among the workforce to travel,\" she says. Broadly, she adds, \"employers will increasingly focus on support for financial wellbeing, and will increasingly connect financial and mental wellbeing\". \r\n\r\nKönig agrees. \"The whole idea of the contents of a pay package is set to change,\" he says. \"Paid vacation expenses, healthcare support, lifelong upskilling, etc., will become much more important.\"\r\n','2023-09-20','',2,1),