Human rights activists are expressing surprise at the failure of Israel and Switzerland to participate in a joint statement criticizing China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority. 

France delivered the statement on behalf of 43 countries at the United Nations last month. 

The two countries “have signed previous statements, especially Switzerland, which has always joined collective statements condemning atrocities in East Turkistan,” said Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, who used the Uyghurs’ preferred name for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China in an interview with VOA. 

Varied responses to China and Uyghurs 

In the joint statement, France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière said the signatory countries “are particularly concerned about the situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” He added that credible reports “indicate the existence of a large network of ‘political re-education’ camps where over a million people have been arbitrarily detained.”

The statement called on China to allow “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access” to Xinjiang for independent observers, including the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

China’s U.N. ambassador, Zhang Jun, rejected the joint criticism as “unfounded” and likened the signatory countries the “henchmen” of the United States.

“Xinjiang enjoys stability, development and prosperity, and the Chinese people’s life is getting better day by day,” Zhang said. “The Chinese people are satisfied with and proud of such achievements, and those achievements are widely recognized and praised by people around the world.”

Switzerland and Israel 

In June at the United Nations in Geneva, Israel and Switzerland joined 42 other countries in signing a joint statement concerning Uyghur human rights in China. 

But Switzerland’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told VOA in an email that his country decided not to join in the latest statement because of various factors, including an upcoming “strategic dialogue” with China.

“Switzerland’s substantive position on China and human rights remains unchanged,” Eltschinger wrote. “Switzerland continues to be concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and other parts of China.”

Eltschinger added that Switzerland assesses support for any joint statement on a case-by-case basis. “Switzerland will continue to join joint statements in the future when it deems it appropriate,” he said. 

Israel’s foreign ministry and the embassy of Israel in Washington did not respond to questions from VOA about its decision not to sign the October statement.

However, the Jewish Movement for Uyghur Freedom, a grassroots Jewish rights organization, suggested that the Israeli government is bargaining with China in order to “preserve” relations.

“It was on the right side of the Uyghur issue in June when it signed an earlier statement, and we call on [Israel] to reestablish this position,” the group said in an email to VOA.

Isa said it is not unprecedented at the United Nations for a country to shift its position on Uyghur human rights in the face of diplomatic pressure from China.

“During the last statement in June, Ukraine was initially part of the joint statement delivered by 44 U.N. member states. However, it withdrew its signature shortly after, because of the vaccine diplomacy that China exercised against Ukraine,” Isa said. 

Sixty-two countries including Cuba signed onto a joint statement opposing interference in China’s internal affairs in the name of human rights, according to Chinese state media. 
…

Wealthy Russians didn’t delay their escape. 

Ahead of the imposition this week of new nationwide pandemic restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, they headed to Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Or to Black Sea resorts, such as Sochi, which was anticipating an influx this week of 100,000 tourists from northern Russia.

Travel agencies reported bookings soaring for tour packages. 

The Kremlin hopes the new restrictions, which will see Russians required to take paid leave from October 30 to November 7, will slow record infections and deaths. Russian officials have sought to discourage travel but to little avail.

Last week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow, “Epidemiologists have raised concerns that many people are planning to go on trips and travel.”

Whether the weeklong involuntary public holiday will slow the pace of infections remains to be seen, say health experts. The latest wave of the pandemic — the country’s fourth and most deadly — has been fueled by widespread vaccine hesitancy. 

Only 32% percent of Russia’s population is fully vaccinated, and according to a survey published this week by the Levada Center, a Moscow-based pollster, half of the respondents said they are unafraid of contracting the coronavirus. And three out of four unvaccinated Russians aren’t planning to get inoculated, according to an opinion poll conducted last month by international pollster Gallup.

Former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev publicly warned Monday of the urgency of persuading more Russians to get vaccinated.

“If we do not find ways to convince people of their irresponsibility, even, to put it bluntly, their antisocial behavior, we will face even more difficult times,” he said. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is widely available. 

In the last few weeks, the number of recorded COVID-19 cases has risen inexorably, with records broken day after day. By ordering most state organizations and private businesses to stop work, except for those involved in maintaining critical infrastructure, the Kremlin hopes the trend can be reversed. 

Five regions — Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Samara and Voronezh — started the non-work period earlier than others and are likely to see their off-work period extended beyond November 7. The governor of Novgorod, Andrey Nikitin, has already announced he is prolonging the non-work period in his region by an additional week. 

“We’re extending the period of non-working days by one week, with the preservation of wages,” Nikitin announced Monday.

Rosstat, the Russian government’s statistics department, reported Friday that 201,945 people died from all causes during the month of September — a 45% jump from the same month in 2019. Excess deaths — a measure comparing fatalities from all causes to pre-pandemic levels — is seen by some experts as a more robust indicator of pandemic deaths, because the official coronavirus tallies leave out many people who died without being tested.

The Kremlin has been accused of playing down the COVID-19 death toll since the start of the pandemic. According to the official pandemic tally, 235,000 Russian deaths are COVID-related, the fourth-highest in the world. But excess deaths since the arrival of the coronavirus have reached almost 750,000.

Officially, more than 8.5 million infections have been recorded in the country since the pandemic struck. On Monday, Russia health officials reported more than 40,000 fresh coronavirus cases. 

The pressure on the country’s health service is mounting, which the Kremlin is now acknowledging. Some regions have reported oxygen shortages because of surging cases.

“Of course, the situation is not straightforward. Beds are filled to a large extent, and these days, the situation is not becoming easier,” Peskov told reporters in the Russian capital. “This is an excessive and extraordinary burden on our doctors, who are demonstrating heroism with what is happening.”

Shortly before he spoke, the state-run Tass news agency reported the Kremlin is planning to introduce a nationwide digital pass system similar to the European Union’s which will allow Russians to show proof of vaccination or recent recovery from the coronavirus. Entry to public buildings and events is likely to be restricted to those armed with a digital pass. Many regions have already implemented a pass system and have mandated vaccinations for their public workers.

Officials hope the digital pass system will undermine a roaring trade in counterfeit health certificates. The 47News outlet, which is based in St. Petersburg, reported this week on the sophisticated operations of counterfeiters who offer falsified COVID-19 test certificates. It said clients are charged 2,550 rubles ($36) to receive a fake negative test result within three hours; forged documents contain a QR code that links to a fake laboratory website. 
…

Russia is increasing pressure on independent Russian media by legislating the systematic labeling of many of them as “foreign agents,” a category that in Russia is historically associated with the idea of “enemies of the state.” Jon Spier narrates this report from VOA’s Moscow bureau.
…

Philanthropist Bill Gates says the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $350 million to help small farmers around the world grow crops that will adapt to climate change.

In an interview with VOA from Glasgow where he is attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference, Gates said the money will go to a seed consortium which will help farmers thrive in changing environments.

The interview was edited for brevity and clarity. 

Q: Help us visualize the scope of the problem when it comes to climate change. What are we facing and how much should we be concerned?

A: Well, climate change is one of the biggest challenges mankind has ever faced. Year by year, because of these carbon emissions, the climate will be getting hotter and that means, particularly anywhere near the equator, the ability to do outdoor farming or outdoor construction work will become impossible. And so that’ll really destabilize people who live in these tropical zones. And so we have to do two things: we have to stop those emissions, where there’s an ambitious goal to do that by 2050, and then in the meantime we need to help countries adapt to these changing weather conditions, for example, you know, giving them better seeds.  

Q: How are we going to know that COP 26 is a success? 

A: We’ve deeply engaged the private sector. We’ve identified the need for innovation and how we get every sector working together to drive that innovation. And we’re now paying significant effort to adaptation. And so those three things were not there in Paris. I’m not saying that the commitments here are good enough. We need to see over the next five years the same type of increased engagement on the different issues, you know, better policies, more private sector and more innovation, including the innovation that’s focused on the adaptation.

Q: What else are you referring to in terms of innovation? 

A: A number of countries are announcing increased resources, including President Biden. We’re announcing $350 million over the next three years for the seed consortium which is called the CG System. That makes the seeds for all the different countries and the big priority for that money will be seeds that can be even more productive despite the challenge of climate change.  

And so overall we expect that an additional billion dollars, including our money, will be committed to that effort. That has the potential to benefit literally hundreds of millions of these smallholder farmers. So probably won’t get the attention it deserves, but probably the biggest move for adaptation using innovation for that will be announced here. 

Q: What are your thoughts on the impact of climate change in underdeveloped countries, especially in a region like Africa?

A: Well, as you say, it’s a great injustice. And in fact, my interest in climate change came from seeing that through our agricultural work in Africa the farmers were often having a more difficult time. And so they’re already facing these difficulties, which will get significantly worse between now and the end of the century. And so I studied the issue of climate change and the Gates Foundation took on this adaptation as a big priority. That wasn’t getting much attention. So I joined together with some others to create the ‘Commission on Adaptation’ and we had …a lot of great participation and did a report that highlighted some of these key investments.  

Q: What do you think all of us can do to contribute to this global solution in fighting climate change?  

A: Well, certainly there are products that have lower emissions…In rich countries, you know, we are starting to have food indications of which kinds of food cause what emissions. And we have more and more electric cars. You know we have the ability to heat your home with what’s called an electric heat pump versus using a hydrocarbon like natural gas to your house. You know I would say that for the individual, political engagement is also important because this is a problem where we have to make near-term investments (and) even some short-term sacrifice to get the long-term benefit of having drastic climate change impacts. And so, educating people that this is very worth doing, particularly getting young people engaged.
…

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a sweeping U.S. plan to reduce methane emissions, as leaders from more than 100 nations met for a second day of talks at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Methane, the simplest hydrocarbon, is a gas that contributes directly to global warming, and is produced in the transport and production of coal, natural gas and oil. Livestock, landfills and agricultural practices also produce large amounts of the gas.

On Tuesday, the administration unveiled a plan that pulls together different sectors of the U.S. government — including the departments of energy, agriculture, transportation, housing and the interior –to cut emissions. This plan should bring the United States in line with a Global Methane Pledge, in which the world’s largest emitters aim to reduce overall methane emissions by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

“Cutting methane emissions is essential to keep global warming from breaching 1.5 C,” said Helen Mountford, vice president of climate and economics for the World Resources Institute. “This pledge from over 90 countries to cut methane emissions by at least 30% over the coming decade sets a strong floor in terms of the ambition we need globally. Strong and rapid action to cut methane emissions offers a range of benefits, from limiting near-term warming and curbing air pollution to improved food security and better public health.”

WATCH: Biden Says the U.S. is back to lead on climat​e change

These plans follow Monday’s announcements of new U.S. climate commitments that build on previous global agreements: the unveiling of plans for a $3 billion President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) to tackle climate awareness, financing and adaptation efforts, which are part of Biden’s broader climate financing package. But it is not certain the U.S. leader can deliver on that promise, which still needs congressional approval.

Additionally, Biden touted a raft of domestically focused legislation that aims to shore up American infrastructure while also cutting greenhouse gas pollution by well over one gigaton by 2030.

That legislation has occupied the U.S. Congress for months, with members of the legislative body negotiating fiercely throughout — but ultimately failing to bring the matter to a vote before Biden left for the summit last week.

The U.S. has faltered on its own climate commitments, with former President Donald Trump announcing in 2017 that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. That took effect November 2020, but Biden rejoined the deal on his first day in office.

The president’s critics note that some of his administration’s climate commitments are not as large as those promised by other developed nations. 

China opts out

On Monday, China’s leader announced his nation’s plans to address climate change — a plan that critics said fell short of making any new commitments to reduce emissions.

“Specific implementation plans for key areas such as energy, industry, construction and transport, and for key sectors such as coal, electricity, iron and steel, and cement will be rolled out, coupled with supporting measures in terms of science and technology, carbon sink, fiscal and taxation, and financial incentives,” President Xi Jinping said in a written address to the climate summit Monday, according to a copy posted by China’s Xinhua news agency.

Xi called on developed nations to both “do more themselves” and support developing nations in their climate efforts.

This year’s summit builds on a legally binding agreement that 196 parties, including the U.S., Russia and China, signed six years ago in Paris. The international treaty commits those countries to embark on emissions cuts that aim to limit the planet’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels.

(VOA’s Chris Hannas contributed to this story.)
…

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected accusations French President Emmanuel Macron made about a scrapped $37 billion submarine deal. Macron has recently said Morrison lied when abandoning the submarine deal before Australia joined a new security pact with the United Kingdom and the United States known by its acronym AUKUS. 

The AUKUS alliance and Australia’s cancelation of a lucrative defense contract in favor of U.S.-built nuclear submarines caught Paris off guard. France felt betrayed. In protest, France temporarily recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. Tensions remain. 

French President Emanuel Macron told reporters at the meeting of the G-20 grouping of industrialized nations that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been deceitful despite the two countries enjoying a close relationship. 

“When we have respect, you have to behave in line and consistently with this value,” Macron said to reporters.

Morrison quickly denied he had lied. He insisted he had explained to Macron in June that the submarines to be supplied by French company Naval Group were not going to meet Australia’s military requirements. 

“I was very clear that what was going to be provided to us was not going to meet our strategic interest,” Morrison said.

News reports in Australia have described the dispute between Australia and France as a diplomatic disaster for Canberra and that the “damage looks uncontrollable.” 

Australian Opposition Senator Penny Wong, the shadow foreign affairs minister, believes Australia has been embarrassed by the French president’s allegations. 

“We have got a reputation as a nation for being straight-shooters. That is Australia’s reputation internationally. We do what we say. Mr. Morrison’s failure to be upfront, his failure to, as President Macron says, tell the truth is damaging our interests,” Wong said.

Mark Kenny is a professor at the Australian Studies Institute at the Australian National University. He says rarely are world leaders so openly criticized by their peers. 

“This was really quite a rare level of candor that we see and a very abrupt denunciation of the integrity of a fellow world leader by Emanuel Macron and I thought that was extraordinary,” Kenny said.

U.S. President Joe Biden also conceded that the United States was “clumsy” in its negotiations for a new alliance with Britain and Australia, which cost France billions of dollars. 

The AUKUS pact will allow Australia to become only the seventh country to have nuclear-powered submarines. The new fleet is not expected to be in service for decades, forcing Australia to potentially lease or buy vessels from the United States or Britain in the meantime. 
…

Hopes are already fading that the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow will result in any new deal for a significant cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, after China and Russia declined to attend the conference and India’s pledges fell short of expectations. 

The summit got under way Monday as dozens of world leaders addressed the delegates, defending their performances on climate action and in some cases presenting new emissions targets.

Over 25,000 delegates are attending the two-week conference, including heads of state, government ministers, nongovernmental organizations, official observers and media.

Hundreds of protesters and members of the public are also gathering outside the secure “Blue Zone” on the banks of Glasgow’s River Clyde. The area has become official United Nations territory for the duration of the summit. 

Scientists have warned that a failure to agree to much deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will result in catastrophic and irreversible climate change. 

Global warning

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set a grim tone in his address to world leaders. 

“Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice: Either we stop it, or it stops us. And it’s time to say ‘enough.’ Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves,” Guterres said. 

“The science is clear. We know what to do. First, we must keep the global goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive,” he added, referring to the goal of limiting the average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. 

Will that warning be heeded?

India is the world’s third-biggest polluter. Hopes were high ahead of the summit that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would seek to grab the limelight in presenting ambitious new plans to cut emissions.

“Between now and 2030, India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes (metric tons). … By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions,” Modi told delegates, describing the policies as “an unprecedented contribution by India towards climate action.” 

However, the target date of 2070 is 20 years later than the U.N. target of 2050. 

In his address Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said “we only have a brief window” to fight climate change. Earlier this year, he had pledged that by the end of the decade, the U.S. would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% or more below 2005 levels. 

While Biden was speaking in Glasgow, however, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a fellow Democrat, said he did not yet fully support the $1.75 trillion bill in Congress that included more than $550 billion in climate spending. 

The White House also released on Monday its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

No-shows 

Arguably, the biggest story of the summit is not what’s being said on stage but rather is who hasn’t shown up at all. President Xi Jinping of China, which is by far the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not attending the summit. Xi offered a written statement calling on richer nations to do more to support developing countries in dealing with climate change, but he made no new significant pledges to cut emissions. 

Xi’s absence is a major setback, said China analyst Martin Thorley of the University of Exeter. “Xi Jinping’s no-show at COP26 is an important reality check for those who expect enlightened climate policy from the Chinese Communist Party.” 

Thorley continued, “Whilst it is argued that authoritarian rule gives the leadership more scope to implement ambitious climate policy, it also gives the leaders greater capacity to block out civil society pressure that in other parts of the world is driving change. … Though there is genuine concern about the climate in some quarters within the Party, the threat to the CCP’s supremacy by power shortages mean that continued reliance on coal will be tolerated,” he wrote in an email to VOA. 

“That Xi Jinping addressed COP26 in writing only will be a massive disappointment to organizers and campaigners alike. Until very recently, China was considered a genuine leader on climate change,” Thorley added.

Others argue that COP26 can make significant progress without Xi.

“(Xi’s absence) could be probably because they don’t have too much else to offer,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, head of climate and energy at the World Wildlife Fund and the former president of the 2014 COP20 climate summit in Lima, Peru. 

“And probably they would prefer to avoid the pressure of being in a COP (climate summit); that could be the reality. But let’s recognize that Minister Xie (Xie Zhenhua, China’s special climate envoy), it’s probably his tenth COP. He’s a top-level officer of the Chinese government — I think that is a good signal. But for sure, we are missing President Xi,” he added. 

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which is the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is also absent. 

Among climate campaigners at COP26, the disappointment is already palpable. 

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who has inspired youth protests around the world, told a rally outside the summit, “This COP26 is so far just like the previous COPs. Add that has led us nowhere. They have led us nowhere. 

“Inside COP, there are just politicians and people in power pretending to take our futures seriously. Pretending to take the present seriously of the people who are being affected already today by the climate crisis. Change is not going to come from inside there,” she said. 

COP26 shouldn’t be written off so early, however, said Pulgar-Vidal. “To have finally a collective vision for the world that nobody’s doubting or questioning, I think it is a good thing. But now we need to have more clear actions, not only targets but more clear actions.”

Positives 

Not all hope was lost, however. According to The Associated Press, a coalition moved Monday to put $1.7 billion toward protecting Indigenous peoples and tropical forests in the coming four years. Involved are the governments of the U.S., United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands as well as 17 private investors including The Ford Foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies. 

Amid the bleak warnings from the speakers at the summit, Max Blain, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said “we are seeing some positive signs so far” that leaders are understanding the seriousness of the situation, according to AP. 

“We expect to see countries to come forward with some more commitments” during the summit, Blain said. “We continue to encourage that those are ambitious, measurable targets that can be delivered particularly in the next decade.” 

The president of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, also vowed to increase his country’s climate finance by half by 2023 as part of a global effort by wealthy countries to help developing nations combat and adapt to the changing climate, the AP reported. 

World leaders will address the summit again Tuesday, before most head back to their home countries, while the negotiations continue at ministerial level. COP26 is due to finish November 12, but it could run longer if it looks as though the talks will succeed in reaching a new climate deal. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. 
…

For months, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his aides have been raising expectations for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which they are hosting in Glasgow. But heading into the two-week gathering they have been sounding far less confident.

In Rome at the G-20 summit Saturday, Johnson said the chances of a big enough agreement emerging from COP26, one really capable of containing global warming, were not much better than 50-50.

At the opening ceremony Monday of the critical climate-change talks, Johnson warned fellow leaders from nearly 200 countries that humanity has “long since run down the clock on climate change” and he cautioned that if we don’t get serious today, “it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.”

Earlier his foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said there is no certainty anyone would see the action needed from global leaders. It is “touch and go,” she said, and there will be “really intense negotiations” between leaders over the coming days. The summit represents a “massive opportunity” to “hold these leaders to account,” she added.

A few months ago, Johnson, who by nature prefers the role of optimistic booster, appeared much cheerier about the prospects for COP26, talking breezily about how Britain will use the presidency of COP26 “to galvanize ambitious global action on climate change.” But British ministers and officials now admit it is uncertain whether Britain as host will be able to secure the deals adequate enough to curb irreversible climate change at COP26.

Under the Paris Agreement on climate change made at COP21, nations agreed on the need to limit warming to two degrees and ideally 1.5 above pre-industrial levels. It left them to develop their own action plans and to review them every five years.

At Glasgow, the summiteers will formally review the action plans and evaluate how successful they have been.

Falling short

The review will almost certainly highlight nations have fallen far short of their commitments and goals and that sobering assessment is partly at root of Johnson’s uncharacteristic gloom on the eve of COP26, say British officials.

While noting whatever is agreed at Glasgow “will never be enough to satisfy climate activists,” The Times of London newspaper editorialized Sunday: “You can almost hear the thudding of expectations such is the vigor with which they are being lowered ahead of the COP26 climate summit.”

One source of worry is the absence of two key global leaders. President Xi Jinping of China, the leader of the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, isn’t attending in person. And neither will Vladimir Putin of Russia, another big polluter.

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had been listed among the global leaders expected to speak at the conference Monday, pulled out at the last minute, traveling back to Turkey from the G-20 summit in Rome instead of heading to Glasgow, and giving no reason for his unscheduled return, according to Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency. Later a dispute over security arrangements was cited by aides for his absence.

But the major source for alarm is the scale of the challenge and the huge scope of the action needed to be taken to curb the rise in temperature. “COP26 is a critical summit for global climate action,” says Anna Åberg, a research analyst at Britain’s Chatham House.

“To have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, global emissions must halve by 2030 and reach ‘net-zero’ by 2050. The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report underscores it is still possible to achieve the 1.5-degree-target, but only if unprecedented action is taken now,” she adds.

She explains that the action plans countries submitted in 2015 were not ambitious enough to limit global warming. The signatories of the Paris Agreement are expected to submit at Glasgow new pledges. One of the main ‘benchmarks for success’ in Glasgow is that as many governments as possible submit new plans and “when put together, these are ambitious enough to put the world on track for ‘well below’ 2 degrees, preferably 1.5.”

Eighty-six countries along with the European Union’s 27 member states have submitted new action plans.

“A successful outcome in Glasgow also requires developed countries to honor a promise they made back in 2009 of mobilizing $100 billion per year by 2020 to support climate action in developing countries. The official figures for 2020 will not be available until 2022, but it is clear the goal was not met last year,” she says.

On this score — as well as other key issues — the G-20 summit of leaders held Saturday and Sunday in Rome did not prompt optimism. Leaders of poorer and smaller nations had hoped to see far more emerge from the Rome summit.

There was progress in terms of a significant pledge to reach net zero emissions by around the middle of the century but Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, remained disappointed. “From what I’ve seen it appears we are going to overshoot 1.5C. We are very concerned about that,” he told reporters.

Sonam Wangdi, chair of the Least Developed Countries group, said: “The progress is definitely not enough up to now. We are a long way from a 1.5C pathway. We need them to ramp up ambition.”

Climate activists and scientists say the Glasgow conference needs to see a commitment to large and fast reductions in methane emissions, too, and much more detailed planning for adaptation and resilience so countries, developed and developing, are better able to withstand climate shocks and extreme weather events.

COP26 will set the climate agenda for decades to come and much will hinge on the developed countries stepping up and ratcheting up their efforts. But in the meantime, the leaders of the richer nations are also facing a cash crunch and an energy crisis, both partly thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and some economists have been warning that in the pledge-making rush, Western political leaders are making climate promises they are unlikely to be able to keep without major economic damage and electoral consequences. 

The huge transformation that is going to be needed, and the large costs involved, most of which are likely to be shouldered by Western taxpayers and households, is a challenge for even the richest of countries to pull off. British economist Liam Halligan, among others, questions whether meeting ambitious climate action targets are possible without derailing economies already struggling to regain footing in the wake of a pandemic that has disrupted supply chains, roiled energy markets and boosted inflation.

Policymakers face a trade-off between the high upfront cost of moving quickly toward net zero carbon targets, and the long-term damage to economic growth caused by climate change, if they delay action, say analysts. Glasgow will likely highlight that dilemma.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday announced a range of American commitments aimed at curbing global warming, as leaders from more than 100 countries gathered in Glasgow for the U.N. Climate Change Conference.

“The United States will be able to meet the ambitious target I set at the Leaders Summit on climate back in April, reducing U.S. emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030,” Biden said. “We will demonstrate to the world that the United States is not only back at the table, but hopefully leading by the power of our example. I know it hasn’t been the case, and that’s why my administration is working overtime to show that our climate commitment is action, not words.”

Those new goals include a set of new U.S. climate commitments that build on previous global agreements: the unveiling of plans for a $3 billion President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience to tackle climate awareness, financing and adaptation efforts, and a raft of domestically focused legislation that aims to shore up American infrastructure while also cutting greenhouse gas pollution by well over one gigaton in 2030. 

That legislation has occupied the U.S. Congress for months, with members of the legislative body negotiating fiercely throughout — but ultimately, failing to bring the matter to a vote before Biden left for the summit last week.  

The U.S. has previously faltered on its own climate commitments, with former President Donald Trump announcing in 2017 that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. That took effect in November 2020, but Biden rejoined the deal on his first day in office.  

Biden’s critics note that some of his administration’s climate commitments are not as large as those promised by other developed nations.   

Biden also said, late Sunday, that he is “disappointed” that China and Russia have yet to come up with new commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

“The disappointment relates to the fact that Russia and, and including not only Russia, but China, basically didn’t show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change,” Biden said.  “And there’s a reason why people should be disappointed in that. I found it disappointing myself.”  

China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming, announced last Thursday it has no new significant goals to reduce climate-changing emissions.

On Monday, China’s government announced that President Xi Jinping will only address the summit in the form of a written statement.  

This year’s summit builds on a legally binding agreement that 196 parties — including the U.S., Russia and China — signed six years ago in Paris. The international treaty commits those countries to embark on emissions cuts that aim to limit the planet’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.  

“We go into (the summit) with roughly 65% of the world’s economy in line with a 1.5 degree commitment, with still some significant outliers, one of those significant outliers being China, who will not be represented at the leader level at COP-26,” said U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday. “And who we do believe has an obligation to step up to greater ambition as we go forward

Administration officials have repeatedly described China as the U.S.’ biggest adversary and said the relationship between the two powers is a challenging one. But, Sullivan said, that should have no impact on this globally important issue.

“They are perfectly well capable of living up to their responsibilities,” he said. “It’s up to them to do so. And nothing about the nature of the relationship between the U.S. and China, structurally or otherwise, impedes or stands in the way of them doing their part.”

But, said analyst Sarang Shidore, director of studies at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, this may prove to be a stumbling block.  

“Expectations are low for COP-26 due to two reasons,” he said. ”One is that the U.S.-China tensions continue to be very sharp in the Biden period, and this is detracting from cooperation on climate change.”

And, he said, wealthy nations, while making large promises themselves, can’t do this on their own.   

“Countries are unable to get each other to raise ambition, and wealthy countries are playing a weak game on the sort of robust and urgent financing commitments that the Global South is due, not as charity, but as a right,” he said.  

The summit continues through Tuesday. 
…

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is leaving the bank after a dispute with British financial regulators over how he described his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Staley will be replaced as CEO by Barclays’ head of global markets C.S. Venkatakrishnan, who on Monday pledged to continue his predecessor’s strategy.

Staley’s shock departure comes after Barclays was informed on Friday of the unpublished findings of a report by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority into Staley’s characterization of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.

“In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley’s intention to contest them, the Board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down from his role as Group Chief Executive and as a director of Barclays,” the bank said.

“It should be noted that the investigation makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein’s alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019.” 

Barclays shares fell 2% following the announcement.

‘I thought I knew him well’

Staley dealt with Epstein during his long career at JPMorgan, where Epstein was a major private banking client until 2013.

A college dropout who styled himself as a brilliant financier, Epstein socialized in elite circles, including former and future U.S. presidents. In 2008, he was registered as a sex offender but continued to maintain ties with powerful players in business and finance.

The New York Times reported in 2019 that Epstein had referred “dozens” of wealthy clients to Staley. It also reported that Staley visited Epstein in prison when he was serving a sentence between 2008-09 for soliciting prostitution from a minor, while Bloomberg reported he visited Epstein’s private island in 2015.

Staley told reporters last February that his relationship with Epstein had “tapered off significantly” after he left JPMorgan in 2013, and that he had not seen the disgraced financier since taking over Barclays in 2015.

“I thought I knew him well, and I didn’t. I’m sure with hindsight of what we all know now, I deeply regret having had any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” he said at the time.

Epstein’s links with prominent men have come back to haunt some of them. Leon Black, the billionaire investor, stepped down from Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm he co-founded, earlier this year after an outside review found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.

Britain’s Prince Andrew has quit royal duties over his associations with Epstein, andnMicrosoft co-founder Bill Gates has said it was a “huge mistake” to spend time with him.

The FCA and PRA said in a statement they could not comment further on the Epstein investigation, which was launched after JPMorgan provided the regulators with emails between Epstein and Staley from Staley’s time as head of JPMorgan’s private bank, the Financial Times reported last year.

Right strategy

Staley told staff in an internal memo seen by Reuters that he did not want his ‘personal response’ to the investigations to be a distraction.

“Although I will not be with you for the next chapter of Barclays’ story, know that I will be cheering your success from the sidelines,” he said.

Staley has 28 days to formally notify the FCA that he is contesting its findings, after which an independent committee inside the watchdog will uphold or reject its conclusions, a source familiar with the process told Reuters.

If upheld, the probe passes to an independent Upper Tribunal which again can back or reject the findings, the source said, a process that could take months.

Venkatakrishnan, who followed Staley to Barclays from JPMorgan and is known as Venkat, told staff on Monday the strategy put in place by his predecessor was “the right one,” according to a separate memo also seen by Reuters.

Venkat added that he would announce changes to the organization of the investment bank in the coming days, likely to mean filling his previous role and any other resulting vacancies, sources at the bank said.

Barclay’s share price has fallen 9% since Staley’s tenure began six years ago, a period not without controversy.

His greatest success, insiders and analysts said, was to fight off a campaign launched by activist investor Edward Bramson in 2018 to have Staley removed on the grounds that Barclays’ investment bank was underperforming and should be cut back.

Bramson sold his stake earlier this year, and the bank’s recent results have seen the investment bank perform strongly.

Also in 2018, Britain’s financial regulators and Barclays fined Staley a combined $1.50 million after he tried to identify a whistleblower who sent letters criticizing a Barclays employee.
…

G-20 leaders concluded their two-day summit in Rome on Sunday with an agreement to work to reach carbon neutrality ‘by around mid-century’ and pledged to end financing for coal plants abroad. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara as this report from Rome.
…

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his resignation late Sunday following the heavy defeat of his governing Social Democratic Union in North Macedonia’s local elections.

“The responsibility for this outcome is mine and I’m resigning as prime minister and as leader of the Social Democratic Union,” Zaev said at a news conference at party headquarters.

Zaev came out against early national elections. Instead, he will support a Social Democrat-led government under a new leader.

Although official results were not yet in from the local elections, Zaev conceded defeat in the most important contest — the mayor’s race in the capital, Skopje, with incumbent Petre Shilegov losing to center-right challenger Danela Arsovska.

Candidates supported by the main opposition party, the center-right VMRO-DPMNE, appeared set to win at least half of the country’s 80 municipalities, with the Social Democrats set to win fewer than 20.

At the last municipal elections, in 2017, the Social Democrats won 57 contests and VMRO-DPMNE only five.

 
…

A volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma that has been erupting for six weeks spewed greater quantities of ash from its main mouth Sunday, a day after producing its strongest earthquake to date.

Lava flows descending toward the Atlantic Ocean from a volcanic ridge have covered 970 hectares (2,400 acres) of land since the eruption began on Sept. 19, data from the European Union’s satellite monitoring service, showed. On the way down the slope, the molten rock has destroyed more than 2,000 buildings and forced the evacuation of over 7,000 people. 

But authorities in the Canary Islands, of which La Palma is part, have reported no injuries caused by contact with lava or from inhaling the toxic gases that often accompany the volcanic activity.

Experts said that predicting when the eruption will end is difficult because lava, ash and gases emerging to the surface are a reflection of complex geological activity happening deep down the earth and far from the reach of currently available technology.

The Canary Islands, in particular, “are closely connected to thermal anomalies that go all the way to the core of the earth,” said Cornell University geochemist Esteban Gazel, who has been collecting samples from the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

“It’s like a patient. You can monitor how it evolves but saying exactly when it will die is extremely difficult,” Gazel said. “It’s a process that is connected to so many other dimensions of the inside of the planet.”

Signs monitored by scientists —soil deformation, sulfur dioxide emissions and seismic activity— remained robust in Cumbre Vieja. The Spanish Geographic Institute, or IGN, said that a magnitude 5 quake in the early hours of Saturday was not just felt on La Palma, but also in La Gomera, a neighboring island on the western end of the Canary Islands archipelago.

IGN said the ash column towering above the volcano reached an altitude of 4.5 kilometers (15,000 feet) on Sunday before heavier wind scattered it. Many nearby towns and a telescope base further north that sits on a mountain at 2,400 meters above sea level (7,800 feet) were covered in a thick layer of ash.

The eruption has also turned the island into a tourist attraction, especially as many Spaniards prepared to mark All Saints Day, a Catholic festivity that honors the dead, on Monday.

Local authorities said some 10,000 visitors were expected over the long weekend and 90% of the accommodations on La Palma were fully booked. A shuttle bus service for tourists wanting a glimpse of the volcano was established to keep private cars off the main roads so emergency services could work undisturbed.
…

Thousands of opposition supporters filled the street outside Georgia’s national parliament building Sunday to protest municipal election results that gave the country’s ruling party a near sweep. 

Candidates of the Georgian Dream party won 19 of the 20 municipal elections in runoff votes on Saturday, including the mayoral offices in the country’s five largest cities: Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Batumi and Poti. 

The opposition alleges fraud.

Nika Melia, the head of the main opposition party United National Movement and a mayoral candidate in Tbilisi, claimed that “the victories gained by the opposition in many municipalities were taken away…like they never happened.”

An election observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the “voting and counting were overall assessed positively despite some procedural issues, particularly during counting.”

“The persistent practice of representatives of observer organizations acting as party supporters, at times interfering with the process, and groups of individuals potentially influencing voters outside some polling stations were of concern,” the OSCE observers said in a statement.

Melia told the protest crowd, which shut down the capital’s main avenue, that opposition leaders would be sent to other cities to marshal supporters to come to Tbilisi for a massive rally on Nov. 7. 

The Saturday runoff elections were held after no candidate in the cities won an absolute majority during the first round of nationwide municipal elections on Oct. 2.

The elections were overshadowed by the arrest of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, the founder of the United National Movement, on Oct. 1.

Saakashvili left Georgia in 2013; he was convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison. He returned to Georgia from his home in Ukraine, hoping to boost the opposition in the first round of voting, but was arrested within a day and imprisoned. He called a hunger strike soon after his arrest.
…

G-20 leaders meeting in Rome have agreed to work to reach carbon neutrality “by around mid-century” and pledged to end financing for coal plants abroad by the end of this year.

The final communique was issued Sunday at the end of a two-day summit, ahead of talks at a broader U.N. climate change summit, COP26, this week in Glasgow, Scotland.

Leaders in Rome addressed efforts to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with a global commitment made in 2015 at the Paris Climate Accord to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5 degrees. 

“We recognize that the impacts of climate change at 1.5°C are much lower than at 2°C. Keeping 1.5°C within reach will require meaningful and effective actions and commitment by all countries,” the communique said, according to Reuters.

The group of 19 countries and the European Union account for more than three-quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Two dozen countries this month have joined a U.S.- and EU-led effort to slash methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

Coal, though, is a bigger point of contention. G-20 members China and India have resisted attempts to produce a declaration on phasing out domestic coal consumption.

Climate financing, namely pledges from wealthy nations to provide $100 billion a year in climate financing to support developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change, is another key concern. Indonesia, a large greenhouse gas emitter that will take over the G-20 presidency in December, is urging developed countries to fulfill their financing commitments both in Rome and in Glasgow.

Also on Sunday, the U.S. and EU announced an end to tariffs on EU steel imposed by the Trump administration, ending a dispute in which the EU imposed retaliatory tariffs on American products including whiskey and power boats.

“Together the United States and the European Union are ushering in a new era of transatlantic cooperation that’s going to benefit all of our people both now, and I believe, in the years to come,” Biden told reporters on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

Global supply chain

Biden will hold a meeting at the summit’s sidelines to address the global supply chain crisis.The group of 20 countries in the summit account for more than 80% of world GDP and 75% of global trade.

“The President will make announcements about what the United States itself will do, particularly in respect to stockpiles, to improving… the United States’ capacity to have modern and effective and capable and flexible stockpiles,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA aboard Air Force One en route to Rome, Thursday. “We are working towards agreement with the other participants on a set of principles and parameters around how we collectively manage and create resilient supply chains going forward.”

Addressing global commerce disruptions has been a key focus for the Biden administration, which is concerned that these bottlenecks will hamper post-pandemic economic recovery. To address the nation’s own supply chain issues, earlier this month the administration announced a plan to extend operations around the clock, seven days a week, at Los Angeles and Long Beach, two ports that account for 40% of sea freight entering the country.

“Whether it’s you’re talking about medical equipment or supplies of consumer goods or other products, it’s a challenge for the global economy,” said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Some of the concrete measures to alleviate global supply chain pressure points may need to be longer term, such as shortening supply chains and rethinking dependencies, said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and the Americas program at Chatham House

“Those are not quick fixes,” she said. “But the G-20 is historically set up really to be dealing with short-term crises. So, I think that there will be considerable effort made to really discuss and come to terms with that.”

While global supply chain issues are a key concern for the leaders in Rome, Goodman said he doubts the meeting will result in tangible solutions.

“It’s a very difficult group – the G-20 to get consensus to do very specific things. And this may be one area in which it’s going to be particularly difficult,” he added.

President Xi Jinping of China, considered to be the “world’s factory,” is not attending the summit in person. In his virtual speech to G-20 leaders, Xi proposed holding an international forum on resilient and stable industrial and supply chains, and welcomed participation of G-20 members and relevant international organizations.

Some information in this report comes from the Associated Press and Reuters.

 
…

U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome Sunday amid simmering tensions and strategic disagreements between Washington and Ankara.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters in Rome Saturday that the leaders would discuss a range of regional issues, including Syria and Afghanistan, and defense issues including Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense system and its request to purchase U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

The official said in the Sunday meeting Biden would warn Erdogan that the two countries will need to work to avoid crises such as Ankara’s recent threat to expel the U.S. and nine other countries’ ambassadors who pushed for the release of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala.

“Precipitous action is not going to benefit the U.S.-Turkey partnership and alliance,” a senior administration official told reporters in Rome Saturday. “I’m not actually even sure we would have had the meeting if he [Erdogan] had gone ahead and expelled.”

In 2019, during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the Pentagon kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program because of its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. Now Ankara wants to buy 40 F-16 fighter jets made by U.S. company Lockheed Martin and nearly 80 modernization kits for its air force’s existing warplanes.

U.S. lawmakers have urged the Biden administration not to sell F-16s to Turkey, saying Ankara has “behaved like an adversary.”

“This meeting is important for President Biden to send some messages to Turkey about what is and is not acceptable behavior from a NATO ally,” said Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said Biden will convey his expectations for Turkey as a partner in a range of issues including security challenges following U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, its role in the Black Sea region and performance in NATO.

Bilateral relations between the two NATO allies have also been strained over human rights. As president, Biden has pledged to restore human rights and democracy as pillars of U.S. foreign policy. In August of last year, before taking office, then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden advocated for a new U.S. approach to the “autocrat” Erdogan. Ankara slammed the comment as “interventionist.”

Since then, the two leaders have taken a more pragmatic approach to maintaining a relationship. Biden is keen to avoid another escalating flashpoint in the region following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Erdogan is embattled politically at home.

“The Turkish economy is faltering, he [Erdogan] is actually losing in popularity,” Ellehuus said. “Whether he’ll admit it or not, I think he needs to be perceived as having at least a cooperative relationship with President Biden.”

This is the second in-person discussion between the leaders under the Biden presidency, following a June meeting in Brussels, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. 

 
…

Britain and France faced calls Saturday to sort out their post-Brexit spat over fishing rights in the English Channel, which threatens to escalate within days into a damaging French blockade of British boats and trucks.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the dispute is testing the U.K.’s international credibility, while each country accused the other of being in breach of the post-Brexit trade agreement that Britain’s government signed with the European Union before it left the bloc.

As the war of words intensified, Britain said it was “actively considering” launching legal action if France goes through with threats to bar U.K. fishing boats from its ports and slap strict checks on British catches.

“If there is a breach of the (Brexit) treaty or we think there is a breach of the treaty then we will do what is necessary to protect British interests,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told British broadcasters in Rome, where he and Macron are both attending a Group of 20 summit.

At stake is fishing — a tiny industry economically that looms large symbolically for maritime nations like Britain and France. Britain’s exit from the economic rules of the 27-nation bloc at the start of this year means the U.K. now controls who fishes in its waters.

France claims some vessels have been denied permits to fish in waters where they have long sailed. Britain says it has granted 98% of applications from EU vessels, and now the dispute comes down to just a few dozen French boats with insufficient paperwork.

But France argues it’s a matter of principle and wants to defend its interests as the two longtime allies and rivals set out on a new, post-Brexit relationship.

The dispute escalated this week after French authorities accused a Scottish-registered scallop dredger of fishing without a license. The captain was detained in Le Havre and has been told to face a court hearing next year.

France has threatened to block British boats crossing the English Channel and tighten checks on boats and trucks from Tuesday if the licenses aren’t granted. France has also suggested it might restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands — British Crown dependencies that lie off the coast of France and are heavily dependent on French electricity.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex appealed to the EU to back France in the dispute, saying the bloc should demonstrate to people in Europe that “leaving the Union is more damaging than remaining in it.”

U.K. Brexit Minister David Frost called Castex’s comments “troubling” and accused France of a pattern of threats “to our fishing industry, to energy supplies, and to future cooperation.”

He said if France acted on the threats it “would put the EU in breach of its obligations under our trade agreement,” and said Britain was “actively considering launching dispute settlement proceedings,” a formal legal process in the deal.

He urged France and the EU to “step back.”

Many EU politicians and officials regard Frost, who led negotiations on Britain’s divorce deal, as intrinsically hostile to the bloc.

Macron, who is scheduled to meet Johnson on Sunday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, defended France’s position and said the fishing dispute could hurt Britain’s reputation worldwide.

“Make no mistake, it is not just for the Europeans but all of their partners,” Macron told the Financial Times. “Because when you spend years negotiating a treaty and then a few months later you do the opposite of what was decided on the aspects that suit you the least, it is not a big sign of your credibility.”

Macron said he was sure that Britain has “good will” to solve the dispute. “We need to respect each other and respect the word that has been given,” he said.

Johnson said the fishing issue was a distraction from fighting climate change — top of the G-20 leaders’ agenda at their meeting, which comes before a U.N. climate conference in Scotland next week.

“I am looking at what is going on at the moment and I think that we need to sort it out. But that is quite frankly small beer, trivial, by comparison with the threat to humanity that we face,” Johnson added.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president and chairman of the northern French ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, said the spat was “ridiculous” and urged both sides to resolve it.

He told BBC radio that the dispute was over just 40 boats — “a drop in the ocean” — and that there would be “terrible” consequences if France carried out its threat of blocking British trawlers from French ports.

“If no agreement can be found, it will be a drama, it will be a disaster in your country because the trucks will not cross,” he said. 

 
…

The G-20 heads of state from the world’s major economies will discuss climate change Sunday on day two of their meeting in Rome.

Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi welcomed the heads of state, including U.S. President Joe Biden, to the Italian capital, where they discussed issues of mutual concern, including the pandemic recovery.

The G-20 leaders supported a sweeping global tax deal agreed to by 136 finance ministers earlier this month, including a minimum 15% global corporate tax rate for companies with annual revenues of more than $870 million. It still needs to be implemented within each member country’s legal framework.

On COVID-19, G-20 health and finance ministers announced the formation of a new panel to improve future pandemic preparedness, proposed by the United States and Indonesia, but did not specify funding for it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met on the sidelines with Biden and said they support Biden’s pledge to return the United States to full compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, so long as Tehran does the same. Talks are scheduled for November.

This year’s meeting is the the first face-to-face G-20 meeting in two years. Notably absent were Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who joined virtually, citing pandemic concerns at home.

“Despite the G-20 decisions, not all countries that need them can have access to vaccines,” Putin said. “This happens partly because of dishonest competition, protectionism and because some states, especially those of the G-20, are not ready for mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccination certificates.”

Activists marched Saturday through the streets of Rome protesting the lack of action by G-20 leaders in tackling climate change, before the leaders move on the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

 
…

Parts of the planet that were once thought to be permanently frozen are starting to thaw – posing problems for countries like Russia where permafrost covers vast areas of its territory. The thaw is threatening Russia’s oil economy as Oleksandr Yanevskyy tells us in this report narrated by Amy Katz.
Camera: Oleksandr Yanevskyy
…

A fireworks show that has nothing to do with the Fourth of July and everything to do with the cosmos is poised to be visible across the northern United States and Europe just in time for Halloween.

On Thursday, the sun launched what is called an “X-class solar flare” that was strong enough to spark a high-frequency radio blackout across parts of South America. The energy from that flare is trailed by a cluster of solar plasma and other material called a coronal mass ejection, or CME for short. That’s heading toward Earth, prompting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a warning about a potentially strong geomagnetic storm.

It might sound like something from a science fiction movie. But really, it just means that a good chunk of the northern part of the country may get treated to a light show this weekend called the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.

Geomagnetic storms as big as what might be coming can produce displays of the lights that can be seen at latitudes as low as Pennsylvania, Oregon and Iowa. It could also cause voltage irregularities on high-latitude power grids as the loss of radio contact on the sunlit side of the planet. 

 
…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made stops in Belgrade, Serbia, and Tirana, Albania, this week, seeking to further the Chinese government’s “17+1” effort to promote trade and investment between Beijing and the countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

While Wang was received cordially in both countries, Serbia and Albania have taken somewhat different approaches to economic cooperation with Beijing through China’s Belt and Road initiative, which has funded infrastructure projects throughout the developing world.

A stop in Greece on Wednesday and a scheduled stop in Italy on Saturday served as bookends to Wang’s visit to the Balkans. The trip is widely seen as China’s attempt to shore up economic ties in the region, which has traditionally looked more toward the European Union for development assistance.

Friendship ‘made of steel’

In Serbia, officials presented Wang with a building permit for a stretch of railway from Novi Sad to Subotica, part of a larger project to modernize the railroad between Belgrade and Budapest, Hungary. The move reflects Serbia’s relative openness to Chinese investment in the country.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić reiterated that Belgrade supports the “one China” policy, which considers Taiwan part of China. Wang, in turn, said Beijing respects the territorial integrity of Serbia, a signal that Beijing will continue to refuse to recognize the independence of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Wang said the friendship between the two countries was “made of steel” and added, “Serbia is a country that has its own principles and that Beijing is proud to have such a friend.”

Vučić said that Serbia and China are implementing joint projects worth 8 billion euros ($9.3 billion) and trade between the two countries has tripled.

Large Chinese presence

According to Bojan Stanić, the assistant director for analytics at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in addition to 1.5 billion euros ($1.73 billion) in direct foreign investment from China in the past five years, more than 20,000 people in Serbia work in Chinese-owned companies. Additionally, more than half of the suppliers of the Smederevo Ironworks, which is owned by the Chinese HBIS Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, are Serbian companies.

Serbia and China have had a strategic partnership agreement since 2009 and a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement since 2016. The latter involves more high-level meetings between both country’s officials, and more extensive personnel exchanges. China is the dominant lender for road construction in Serbia. Beijing is also the owner of the Bor mining complex and the Linglong tire factory, which is under construction.

Extensive Chinese ownership of businesses in Serbia has raised concerns about compliance with environmental protection and working condition regulations in factories.

Relationship unclear

Other concerns arise from the difficulty in understanding the relationship between Chinese firms and the Chinese Communist Party’s security services.

Igor Novaković, research director at the Center for International and Security Affairs Centre – ISAC Fund, said it is not always clear where a company’s commercial interest ends and the CCP’s political interests begin.

“I do not claim that companies operating in Serbia are dangerous in themselves, but when there is a connection between politics and business, then there is a danger of using business decisions in favor of the political interests of the country from which investments come,” Novaković said.

Belgrade visit

Wang traveled from Belgrade to Tirana Thursday, ahead of Friday’s meetings with Albanian President Ilir Meta, Prime Minister Edi Rama, and Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Olta Xhaçka.

In Belgrade, officials have historically been much more cautious with regard to Chinese investment and lending.

“The truth is that serious doubts have actually been raised about Chinese funding following the experiences in some African countries and in the Balkans as the time comes for debt refinancing, that is, debt repayment and liabilities that have placed the governments of these countries in great financial difficulties,” said Selami Xhepa, an economist and a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania.

“This has required some kind of renegotiation, or similar diplomacy, with the Chinese authorities,” he added. “I think market discipline is better than diplomatic negotiations.”

UN Security Council

Last year, Albania joined a group of nations, headed by the United States, that has shut out Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE from providing equipment essential to the rollout of 5G wireless service in the country.

Nevertheless, with Albania about to take a seat on the United Nations Security Council, of which China is a permanent member, experts saw Wang’s visit to the country as an important opportunity to cement ties between the two countries and open dialogue about issues important to Albania. Among those issues is China’s continued effort to block the recognition of Kosovo as an independent country, which Albania supports.

“China is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and it is necessary to talk about Kosovo, about Kosovo’s accession to the United Nations, where China is a very big obstacle,” said Besnik Mustafaj, a former foreign minister of Albania who now serves as president of the Council of Albanian Ambassadors. “It is time to say that there is no parallelism between Kosovo and Taiwan, that Albania recognizes only one China.”

Ilirian Agolli of VOA’s Albanian Service and VOA’s Serbian Service contributed to this report.
…