Be Informed

Jamaica, traffic lights or kiwis: Germany’s coalition conundrum

25th September 2021

A narrowing of the polls has turned what looked like a homeward romp for Germany's conservatives into a tight race to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, with multiple potential coalitions after a Sept. 26 national election. With parliament more fragmented than ever, parties will have a scramble to form alliances that clear the magic threshold of 50% of all seats in the Bundestag after the vote. WHAT IF THE SPD COMES FIRST? If Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats come home firs...

Are COVID-19 boosters ethical, with half the world waiting for a first shot? A bioethicist weighs in

21st September 2021

Nancy S. Jecker Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Washington Should countries that can afford COVID-19 booster vaccines offer them to residents if scientists recommend them? The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has made his position clear, calling for countries to impose a moratorium on boosters until 10% of people in every country are vaccinated. His plea comes amid mounting concerns about the slo...

Global Witness reports 227 land and environmental activists murdered in a single year, the worst figure on record

21st September 2021

As the climate crisis intensifies, violence against defenders of the earth is escalating. A new report reveals that 227 land and environmental activists were murdered in 2020 for defending their land and the planet. That constitutes the highest number ever recorded for a second consecutive year. As the climate crisis deepens, forest fires rampage across swathes of the planet, drought destroys farmland, and floods leave thousands dead, the situation for frontline communities and defenders of ...

EU not leading by example on green investing, auditors say

21st September 2021

The European Union is not doing enough to steer its own spending away from polluting activities or to mobilise private funds for green investments, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said. The EU is revamping its financial regulations to help raise money for projects that support its climate change targets, including through its "taxonomy", a complex new rule book to tell investors which activities are truly green. While the EU executive Commission's proposals will make clearer whic...

SPECIAL REPORT-BP gambles big on fast transition from oil to renewables

21st September 2021

Deep in the Oman desert lies one of BP's more lucrative projects, a mass of steel pipes and cooling towers that showcases the British energy giant's pioneering natural gas extraction technology. The facility earned BP Plc more than $650 million in profits in 2019, according to financial filings reviewed by Reuters. Yet the oil major agreed to sell a third of its majority stake in the project earlier this year. The deal exemplifies a larger strategy to liquidate fossil-fuel asse...

Malta: Early school leaving rate higher among men

20th September 2021

The total rate of early leavers from education and training stood at 12.8 per cent in 2020, down from 13.9 per cent the year before. Figures by the National Statistics Office show a steady drop from 2010, when the rate was at 21.4 per cent. The EU targets to bring early leavers to a maximum of 10 per cent in all member states. The rate among females in Malta decreased from 14 per cent in 2010 to 10.2 per cent in 2020. Men registered a early leaver rate of 14.7 per cent in 2020, significantly hi...

Malta: Almost half of population registers a low level of education

20th September 2021

The rate of person with a low level of education stood at 46.4 per cent in 2020, according to figures published by the National Statistics Office. A low educational attainment is defined as an educational level of less than two O level qualifications. The rate has been on a ten-year decline, falling gradually from 64.2 per cent in 2010. The number of men in the low-education bracket is 104,091 while 99,060 women form part of this category. The rate among women, however, stands at 47 per cent, hi...

The case for, and against, COVID-19 vaccine boosters

19th September 2021

The U.S. government aims to begin offering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots widely next week to Americans age 16 and up. A panel of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted against such broad coverage on Friday but backed a shot for people 65 and older, which the agency may or may not follow. President Joe Biden's administration faces criticism within the scientific community over whether the additional shots are needed for the general population. WHAT DO THE DATA SAY ...

EU priorities in Indo-Pacific shift to counter China

17th September 2021

The European Union set out a formal strategy on Thursday to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific and counter China's rising power, although Australia's decision to cancel an arms contract with France may complicate cooperation. Here are the main focus areas of the EU's strategy: - TRADE: The EU will work to finalise trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, seek a deal with India and strengthen stronger ties with countries where it already has a trade deal, such as S...

Tougher EU airport slot rules trigger Asia retaliation threat, risk industry trade war

17th September 2021

Regulators in Asian hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong have threatened to retaliate against European Union plans to force airlines to start using take-off and landing slots frozen during the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could oblige Europe's carriers to fly empty seats for thousands of miles at a loss. Authorities controlling slots at major Asian airports are ready to slap similar 'use it or lose it' conditions on European carriers flying to Asia's cities - raising the prospect of an...

European nations’ plans for coping with COVID-19

15th September 2021

France has introduced mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health and care home workers in an effort to prevent a new wave of the virus in the autumn that would throttle the economy just as it starts to recover. Following is a summary of some of the COVID-19 precautions being taken by France and other big European countries: FRANCE All healthcare and care home workers, home aids and urgent care technicians must have had at least their first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 1...

Inefficiencies in cooperation with non-EU countries limits return of irregular migrants

14th September 2021

The EU’s cooperation with non-EU countries has not been efficient in ensuring that migrants illegally present on EU territory return to their own countries, according to a special report published by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). During the 2015-2020 period, the EU only achieved limited progress in concluding readmission agreements with non-EU countries. In addition, EU actions have not been streamlined enough to ensure that non-EU countries comply with their readmission obligat...

Biden heads to western U.S. to tout climate goals, back California governor

14th September 2021

President Joe Biden heads west on Monday for a three-state tour aimed at highlighting his push to fight climate change and strengthen infrastructure, while helping fellow Democrat Gavin Newsom try to hold on to California's governorship. Fresh off travel last week to view flood damage from Hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey, Biden will visit the National Interagency Fire Center on a stop in Boise, Idaho, before flying to Sacramento, California, to see wildfire d...

What happened on Sept. 11, 2001

11th September 2021

(Reuters) - Here is a timeline for Sept. 11, 2001, when commercial airliners crashed into the New York World Trade Center twin towers, the Pentagon and, after passengers mounted a counterattack, a Pennsylvania field. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, including more than 2,600 at the World Trade Center, 125 at the Pentagon, and 265 on the four planes. THE HIJACKINGS American Airlines Flight 11 0759 EDT: American Airlines 11 departs from Boston for Los Angeles 0814: The flight has i...

EXPLAINER-How bad is the crisis in Lebanon?

11th September 2021

BEIRUT, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Lebanon's financial meltdown has swiftly worsened in the last month, with much of the country crippled by fuel shortages that have ignited country-wide security incidents. Exacerbated by political deadlock, Lebanon's rapid deterioration has prompted Western concern https://www.reuters.com/world/lebanon-free-fall-must-not-become-horror-story-us-senator-warns-2021-09-01. Some senior Lebanese officials have sounded the alarm https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/...

A glimpse under the hood of El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment

9th September 2021

El Salvador on Tuesday rolled out cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender, an unprecedented move that faced some technical hiccups on its first day and left many wondering how it will work. President Nayib Bukele, who has championed the initiative, said the digital currency will be optional in the poor, dollarized country but that using it will eliminate commissions Salvadorans abroad pay to send home remittances. WHAT THE LAW SAYS El Salvador's bitcoin law states the market will es...

Paris Nov. 2015 attacks: key facts about the trial

8th September 2021

Twenty people go on trial in Paris on Wednesday suspected of involvement in a jihadist assault on Nov. 13, 2015, the most deadly attack ever seen in peacetime France, in which 130 were killed and hundreds injured. A specially-built courtroom and additional rooms where the hearings will be broadcast are ready to admit 2,000 people daily at a tribunal in central Paris for a trial of unprecedented proportions that is set to last nine months. Here are the key facts: THE ATTACKS ...

Europe just had its warmest summer on record, EU scientists say

7th September 2021

Europe had its warmest summer on record this year, though only by a small margin over two previous highest temperatures for June-August, European Union scientists said on Tuesday. The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service said the average surface air temperature in June-August was close to 1.0C above the 1991-2020 average, making it the hottest in its dataset. The previous warmest summers, 2010 and 2018, were 0.1C cooler. The 2021 summer temperature marks the latest milestone in a l...

EP Socialists want more gender equality through the EU budget

7th September 2021

The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament noted that only 21.7% of EU programmes had gender-related indicators in the last pluriannual EU budget for the period 2014-2020. This means equality was only written into about €236 billion out of the total €1087 billion in the EU budget, according to S&D MEP Margarida Marques, the host of the webinar and the European Parliament’s negotiator with the other EU institutions for the new pluriannual EU budget. The S&D parliamentarians ...

Afghanistan pullout spurs EU to revive rapid reaction force

5th September 2021

The chaotic withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan has shown that the European Union needs to intervene militarily in a crisis without relying on U.S. troops, senior EU officials say. Two decades after EU leaders first agreed to set up a 50,000-60,000-strong force but failed to make it operational, EU states are once again aiming to create a 5,000-strong "first entry force". They want a deal on its design by March 2022. But as EU defence ministers gather in the Slovenian capita...

Where is Afghanistan?

4th September 2021

Google searches for Afghanistan exploded by ten times in August as foreign affairs made a rare foray into mainstream news across the globe. The Taliban stunned the world with its rapid takeover of the South Asian country, the second time in 25 years. The intelligence community was aware of the risks but expected the US-trained and equipped Afghan forces to hold down the Taliban for at least 18 months. Instead, the army capitulated without a fight and the Islamist group captured Kabul i...

A break from tourism

4th September 2021

by Jesmond Saliba In just one year, global tourism dropped by 70 per cent, sending figures back to what they were 30 years ago. One of the first actions by governments the world over, when the coronavirus shifted its epicentre from China to Italy, was to seal off their borders to prevent Covid-19 imports. Clearly, enough roaming had taken place in the eight weeks between the first reported cluster in Wuhan and the first official case in Lombardy that an immediate travel ban...

A place for the community

4th September 2021

by Dr. Julian Zarb A fifth of the world’s population travelled for tourism purposes in 2019. That year, the United Nations World Trade Organisation estimated a record total international expenditure of $1.4 trillion in the sector. Global tourism has been on an impressive upward trend for decades until the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted the flow in one fell swoop. Last year, all regions around the world registered negative growth in tourism activities, falling sharply by a combined 63...

Travelling with Covid-19

4th September 2021

The International Air Transport Association declared 2020 as the worst-ever year for aviation globally. Operators are estimated to have lost $85 billion collectively, registering an unprecedented net profit margin of 20 per cent in the negative. The pandemic felled some of the most popular airline companies worldwide: Flybe in the UK, Miami Air in the US, AirAsia in Japan, and OneAirlines in Chile are but a few examples. Others were in freefall and had to be pulled back by governments,...

Ewropej: Member states may not always fully respect fundamental rights in migration, MEP says

4th September 2021

“There is some good reason to believe that Member States might not fully respect fundamental rights when it comes to migrants, Member of the European Parliament Birgit Sippel said. The German MEP is rapporteur in the European Parliament on the Migration and Asylum Pact Regulation on the ‘screening’ of migrants at the EU’s external borders who will have to pass through security checks for five days before being redirected to an asylum or return procedure. Sippel said that there...

Ewropej: The EU still feels far away and complicated

4th September 2021

The EU still feels far away and complicated for citizens, companies, and even for political parties and government sometimes, MEP Abir Al-Sahlani said. The Renew MEP said that she wishes to point the many ways in which the EU has an impact on everyday life by showing people that their views matter. She was speaking ahead of the conference on the Future of Europe, a citizen-led series of debates and discussions that will enable people from across Europe to share their ideas.&nb...

Pfizer makes good on Covid M&A capacity

4th September 2021

by Jennifer Saba via Reuters Breakingviews Pfizer is taking its Covid-19 vaccine cash bounty and putting it to use. The U.S. drugmaker, valued at $273 billion at Friday’s market close, on Monday agreed to buy Trillium Therapeutics for $2.3 billion. At $18.50 per share, the price represents a more than 200% premium to Trillium’s stock price. That may seem lofty, even by the biotechnology sector’s standards, but Pfizer had already bought a $25 million stake last year and Trillium’s st...

Xiaomi is primed to scale Mount Microchip

4th September 2021

by Sharon Lam & Robyn Mak via Reuters Breakingviews Xiaomi’s wiring is nearly ready to include microchips. The $82 billion Chinese company shipped 53 million smartphones in the second quarter, overtaking Apple to become the world’s second-largest producer. With greater heft and official support from Beijing, boss Lei Jun should be closer to fulfilling his microchip dreams. Financial results released on Wednesday underscore how quickly the company has capitalised on the woes of r...

Fall of Japan PM Suga triggered by criticism over pandemic, failure to communicate

4th September 2021

When Yoshihide Suga took over as Japan's prime minister last year, hopes were high that skills honed over years as a keen backroom operator, and a common touch from his rural roots, would enable him to lead his nation through the pandemic. Instead, the virus surged back amid a rocky vaccination rollout and a series of "states of emergency" that did little to stop the spread of the more contagious Delta variant. Suga, 72, also insisted on holding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed from la...

Maersk’s green ships have first-mover disadvantage

3rd September 2021

by Ed Cropely via Reuters Breakingviews A.P. Moller-Maersk’s laudable environmental haste could land the Danish shipping giant with a first-mover disadvantage. The $53 billion firm is splurging $1.4 billion on eight container vessels powered by “carbon-neutral” methanol. Customers like Amazon. com may well absorb the elevated costs, yet rivals who hold off could sail away with cheaper and greener halos. Chief Executive Soren Skou’s initiative is undeniably brave – the eight sh...

Islamic State attack signals West’s least bad option for Afghanistan: the Taliban

30th August 2021

The deadly attack on Kabul airport has underlined the realpolitik facing Western powers in Afghanistan: engaging with the Taliban may be their best chance to prevent the country sliding into a breeding ground for Islamist militancy. Almost two weeks after the Taliban's surprise return to power, officials in Europe are beginning to acknowledge that their pragmatic option is to put aside distaste for the country's new leaders and work with them instead. "It is clear: the Taliban are rea...

What we know about Japan’s contaminated Moderna COVID-19 vaccine supplies

30th August 2021

Japan's COVID-19 vaccination push has been dealt a blow by widening reports of contamination in supplies of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine. Here are some key points in the issue so far: WHEN WAS IT FIRST REPORTED AND HOW HAS IT WIDENED? On Aug. 16, the first contamination was reported to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Moderna's local distributor. That led to the discovery of 39 vials containing foreign material in them, all from the same lot of 57,000 vials or about 570,000 dose...

A look at the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K)

27th August 2021

Following are some facts about the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, which was behind suspected suicide bomb attacks outside Kabul airport. Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old term for the region, first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality. Some experts on Islamist militancy in the region say it was founded by hardline elements of the Pakistani Taliban who fled into Afghanistan when Pakistan security f...

Evacuations from Afghanistan by country

26th August 2021

The United States and allies are hurrying to evacuate as many people from Afghanistan as possible before an Aug. 31 deadline amid growing security fears at Kabul airport. Roughly 13,400 people were airlifted from Afghanistan on Wednesday, raising the total number of those evacuated by the U.S. and coalition partners since Aug. 14 to about 95,700, the White House said on Thursday. Here are some more details of the evacuation effort by country: UNITED STATES The U.S. military will...

Malta: Unemployment registers significant drop in July

26th August 2021

The job market registered a positive improvement in July, with the number of persons registering for work decreasing by 2,439 when compared to the corresponding month in 2020. It not stands at 1,542. Data provided by Jobsplus for July 2021 indicates a year-on-year decrease of 2,238 persons registering under Part I, and an additional drop of 201 persons registering under Part II of the unemployment register. Registered unemployment levels decreased across all age groups for both males and ...

EU to start talks on security, migration amid Afghanistan turmoil

24th August 2021

The European Union will kick off discussions this week on what consequences recent developments in Afghanistan may have for security and migration in the 27-nation bloc, a spokesman for the Slovenian EU presidency said. Experts will start looking into the possible effects on migration, assistance to key neighbouring countries as well as security-related issues today, followed by a meeting of EU ambassadors on Thursday. The Slovenian EU presidency aims to convene an extraordinary meeting o...

EU Funds Encouraging Sustainable Waste Practices in Households and Beyond

24th August 2021

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, climate change ranks among the biggest concerns of the Maltese population, with citizens asking for more action to protect the environment. Research shows that citizens want responsibility to be shared by big companies and industry, national governments and the EU, and even themselves. As we become more conscious of the fragility of our Earth, demands increase for effective ways of tackling environmental problems;‘changing the way we consume’ an...

Spain will receive up to 4,000 Afghans at two military bases, source says

24th August 2021

Spain will temporarily host up to 4,000 Afghans, who had worked for the United States, at two military bases used by the U.S. military in southern Spain, a government source told Reuters. According to an agreement signed on Monday between Madrid and Washington, the Afghans will be able to stay in Spain for up to two weeks, the source said. The agreement was first reported by Spanish newspaper El Pais and follows a deal reached over the weekend by U.S. Pr...

Binance: The crypto giant facing pressure from regulators

22nd August 2021

Financial regulators across the world have targeted major cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Some have banned the platform from certain activities, while others have warned consumers that it was unlicensed to operate. Here are answers to some key questions on Binance, the world's biggest exchange by trading volumes, as the regulatory pressure mounts. HOW BIG IS BINANCE? By some measures, it's the biggest platform in the world. Its trading volumes in July were $455 million, down a...

Will the Afghan crisis trigger a new refugee crisis for Europe?

22nd August 2021

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has stoked fears of an exodus of Afghans and a repeat of Europe's 2016/16 migration crisis, when more than a million people from the Middle East fled to the continent and resettled there. Thousands of Afghans have already left or are desperately trying to get on planes leaving Kabul, fearing a return to the austere interpretation of sharia (Islamic law) imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago. WILL THERE BE A MASS EXOD...

Britain asks: Is America back or has it turned its back?

16th August 2021

The humiliation of the lightning Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives has raised a question for the United States' staunchest European ally: Is America really back as President Joe Biden promised? Britain fears the Taliban's return and the vacuum left by the West's chaotic withdrawal will allow militants from al Qaeda and Islamic State to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, just 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United St...

Blood and billions of dollars: NATO’s long war in Afghanistan

15th August 2021

Here are some facts about NATO's military involvement in support of the United States in Afghanistan: * On Sept. 12, 2001, NATO allies invoked their mutual defence clause for the first, and so far only time in the Western alliance's seven-decade history, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by al Qaeda militants. * After U.S.-led forces defeated Taliban leaders harbouring al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, NATO took command of an ...

Factbox: What to watch for as the Taliban inch closer to Kabul

15th August 2021

Aug 14 (Reuters) - The insurgent Taliban have captured Afghanistan's second- and third-largest cities, and a town just south of Kabul, and now have their sights set on the capital. Here are some facts about the city and previous assaults: CURRENT SITUATION - U.S. officials have said the insurgents could make a move within days on the city, whose population of 5 million people has been swollen with thousands fleeing other parts of the country. Thousands of troops from the United States ...

Thunberg: ‘Massive public pressure’ needed to galvanize climate fight

10th August 2021

Calling for "massive" pressure to fight climate change after Monday's dire report by a U.N. science panel, activist Greta Thunberg said she plans to go to this year’s global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, after all. The major U.N. conference will test countries' ambition to limit global warming, which a landmark scientific report on Monday warned was dangerously close to escalating beyond the limits countries agreed on. "I hope that this can be a wake up call, in every...

To save the planet, focus on cutting methane – U.N. climate report

9th August 2021

In four decades of climate negotiations, the world has focused intensely and exclusively on the most abundant climate-warming gas: carbon dioxide. This year, scientists are urging a focus on another potent greenhouse gas – methane – as the planet's best hope for staving off catastrophic global warming. Countries must make "strong, rapid and sustained reductions" in methane emissions in addition to slashing CO2 emissions, scientists warn in a landmark report by the U.N. Intergovernmen...

The U.N. climate report’s five futures – decoded

9th August 2021

The U.N. climate panel report released Monday on the physical science of climate change uses five possible scenarios for the future. The scenarios are the result of complex calculations that depend on how quickly humans curb greenhouse gas emissions. But the calculations are also meant to capture socioeconomic changes in areas such as population, urban density, education, land use and wealth. For example, a rise in population is assumed to lead to higher demand for fossil fuels and wa...

Key takeaways from the U.N. climate panel’s report

9th August 2021

The U.N. climate panel has released its most comprehensive assessment of climate change yet. Here are some of the report's main conclusions: See report here HUMANS ARE TO BLAME - FULL STOP The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) used its strongest terms yet to assert that humans are causing climate change, with the first line of its report summary reading: "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land." The stark language...

Tunisian president’s feud with party elites drove him to seize reins of power

8th August 2021

As he was driven to an urgently scheduled national security meeting with the president, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi was unable to reach the phones of senior officers to discuss the coming conversation. Only when he arrived at the presidential palace in Carthage did Mechichi learn the truth: President Kais Saied was invoking emergency powers to dismiss him, freeze parliament and claim executive authority. The officers he had tried to reach were already there. His moves, lab...

U.N. climate report likely to deliver stark warnings on global warming

8th August 2021

Eight years after its last update on climate science, the United Nations is set to publish a report Monday that will likely deliver even starker warnings about how quickly the planet is warming – and how damaging the impacts might get. Since the last report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013, both greenhouse gas emissions and the average global temperature have only continued to climb. The new report will forecast how much more emissions can be pumped...

Retail coffee prices to go up as frost and freight costs bite

7th August 2021

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The most devastating frost in decades in top coffee producer Brazil and record freight costs sparked by COVID-19 causing massive shipping logjams are expected to push retail prices to multi-year highs in the coming weeks. A hike in coffee prices will further raise the cost of a basket of shopping following increases for other items such as bread, vegetable oils and sugar. The United Nations food agency's index of world food prices for July showed a year-on-year rise...