UK’s Sunak U-turns and says he will go to COP27 in Egypt

UK’s Sunak U-turns and says he will go to COP27 in Egypt
Britain's Finance Minister Rishi Sunak. (AFP)
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Updated 02 November 2022
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UK’s Sunak U-turns and says he will go to COP27 in Egypt

UK’s Sunak U-turns and says he will go to COP27 in Egypt

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday announced he will attend the UN climate change conference, reversing an initial decision not to go because of “pressing domestic commitments.”
“There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy without investing in renewables,” he wrote on Twitter.
“That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow’s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.”
Sunak’s original decision not to attend the gathering in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh drew the ire of environmental campaigners.
But a U-turn was hinted at on Tuesday when his spokesman said the decision was “under review” and after reports that Boris Johnson would attend.
Johnson, who hosted last year’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow, on Tuesday night confirmed he would be in Egypt after receiving an invitation from the hosts.
That led many political commentators to conclude Sunak would be forced into going, to avoid being upstaged by his controversial predecessor.
There has been bad blood between the pair since Sunak triggered Johnson’s downfall by quitting as his finance minister in July.
Johnson blamed Sunak for causing the resignation of dozens of others in government and pointedly supported Liz Truss in the race to replace him.
Truss’s short-lived tenancy in Downing Street ended last month after just 49 days in which her unfunded tax cuts triggered turmoil in the financial markets.
Sunak, appointed on October 25, has to clear up the fiscal mess, but campaigners said the environment should not be sacrificed as a result.
During his tenure, Johnson championed renewable energy as the key to a greener UK economy and its quest for net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Green Party’s only MP in the UK parliament, Caroline Lucas, called Sunak’s announcement a “screeching U-turn.”
“But what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage,” she tweeted. “Let this be a lesson to him — climate leadership matters.
“Now he urgently needs to increase UK ambition on emission reduction targets & pay what we owe to global climate funds,” she tweeted.


Bus falls from Venice bridge, ‘many victims’, mayor says

Bus falls from Venice bridge, ‘many victims’, mayor says
Updated 6 sec ago
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Bus falls from Venice bridge, ‘many victims’, mayor says

Bus falls from Venice bridge, ‘many victims’, mayor says
  • Many victims after bus fell from bridge onto dry land

ROME: A bus fell from a Venice bridge Tuesday night, resulting in “many victims,” the mayor of the northern Italian city said.
“A tragedy has struck our community this evening,” resulting in “many victims among those present on the bus that fell” from a bridge near Mestre, on dry land, mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote on Facebook, describing it as “an apocalyptic scene.”


UK migration adviser: Scrap special visa rules for shortage occupations

UK migration adviser: Scrap special visa rules for shortage occupations
Updated 03 October 2023
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UK migration adviser: Scrap special visa rules for shortage occupations

UK migration adviser: Scrap special visa rules for shortage occupations
  • The Migration Advisory Committee said making it easier to recruit low-wage workers increased the risk of exploitation
  • Employers can hire migrant workers at 80 percent of a job’s usual “going rate” in Britain for occupations on the list

LONDON: The British government’s independent migration adviser on Tuesday recommended abolishing one of the main routes for businesses to hire migrant workers in sectors where there are severe staff shortages.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which was commissioned to conduct a review of the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), said making it easier to recruit low-wage workers increased the risk of exploitation.
Business lobby groups have previously called for the government to expand the number of occupations on the list to help firms facing significant issues recruiting staff post-Brexit.
But the committee also said low-wage migrants were more likely to result in a net fiscal cost for Britain, and the high administrative burdens of the scheme made it uneconomic for many businesses.
“These concerns mean that we are not convinced that the SOL provides a sensible immigration solution to shortage issues in low-wage sectors, and so our preference is for the government to abolish it,” the committee said in a report.
Employers can hire migrant workers at 80 percent of a job’s usual “going rate” in Britain for occupations on the list, which includes roles such as bricklayers and care workers.
Being a shortage occupation can allow employers to bypass the general minimum salary threshold for a skilled worker visa of 26,200 pounds ($31,610), meaning sectors with a going rate below that level particularly benefited from being on the list, MAC said.
MAC recommended no employer should be able to pay below the going rate, which it said helped to protect resident workers from undercutting and reduced the exploitation of migrants.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Home Office said the government would consider the findings of the report and respond “in due course.”
MAC said in future it could instead examine individual occupations or sectors with particularly acute labor market issues, looking at how far immigration policy is helpful, and focussing on changes to things such as wages, training and investment in technology.
The committee said these actions were “likely to be a more sustainable response to the problems.”


KSrelief launches eye treatment program for 30,000 Bangladeshi schoolchildren

KSrelief launches eye treatment program for 30,000 Bangladeshi schoolchildren
Updated 03 October 2023
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KSrelief launches eye treatment program for 30,000 Bangladeshi schoolchildren

KSrelief launches eye treatment program for 30,000 Bangladeshi schoolchildren
  • More than 6 million Bangladeshis have benefited from KSrelief’s aid projects
  • Campaign is part of KSrelief’s ophthalmological interventions in Bangladesh

DHAKA: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center launched on Tuesday a medical campaign in Dhaka to treat tens of thousands of Bangladeshi schoolchildren suffering from eye disease.

The campaign is part of KSrelief’s ophthalmological interventions in Bangladesh, where volunteer doctors from Saudi Arabia help Bangladeshis retain or regain their eyesight. The center’s Saudi Noor Volunteer Program, which was held in May, reached more than 4,700 people.

“Helping to reduce the rate of blindness and visual impairments in Bangladesh has been (a) top priority for (the) King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center,” Dr. Aqeel Al-Ghamdi, KSrelief’s assistant supervisor-general for planning and development, told reporters as he launched the program in Dhaka.

The campaign will start with training teachers, as they will be the first to identify students who need help.

“The screening program is in 50 schools in Dhaka. It will cover around 30,000 students. This morning, we visited one of the high schools, and we started the program there. They will screen around 1,000 students in the next three days,” Al-Ghamdi told Arab News.

Under the program, KSrelief will provide glasses for students who need them, while those who may require more medical assistance will be sent to doctors.

“It will change a lot for the students in their academic activity (and) in their life, actually. In this program, I hope the best for the students,” Al-Ghamdi said.

Saudi Ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Al-Duhailan said during the event that the medical campaign also illustrates the wide-ranging scope of Saudi-Bangladesh relations.

“Our relationship is a multidimensional relationship. It’s not only concentrated in manpower and Hajj and Umrah visits, but it is more than this,” he told reporters.

KSrelief provides humanitarian and development support to millions of beneficiaries in 94 countries. More than 6 million people have received the center’s assistance in Bangladesh, where 52 projects worth about $25 million have been conducted since 2015.


Kremlin says Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing

Kremlin says Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing
Updated 03 October 2023
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Kremlin says Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing

Kremlin says Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing
  • Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia had not abandoned a moratorium on nuclear testing, and dismissed a suggestion by one commentator that it should detonate a thermonuclear bomb.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know where New York Times reporters had got the idea that Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile, or may have recently tested one.
Margarita Simonyan, hawkish editor-in-chief of the state-owned broadcaster RT, suggested in an interview extract posted online by the foreign-based digital broadcast network RTVI that Russia should detonate a nuclear bomb at high altitude over Siberia as a warning to the West.


Nobel laureate engages young Indians in movement to ‘globalize compassion’

Nobel laureate engages young Indians in movement to ‘globalize compassion’
Updated 03 October 2023
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Nobel laureate engages young Indians in movement to ‘globalize compassion’

Nobel laureate engages young Indians in movement to ‘globalize compassion’
  • Summit on human fraternity, compassion attracts 600 youth leaders
  • Younger generation can protect humanity, planet: Kailash Satyarthi

VIRATNAGAR, RAJASTHAN, India: Indian Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has called on India’s youth leaders to help promote and nurture compassion and human fraternity.

Satyarthi, who won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people, launched over the weekend the Youth Summit on Human Fraternity and Compassion.

The event in Viratnagar, Rajasthan, co-organized by the Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion and the UAE-based Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, attracted 600 youth leaders from different parts of India to discuss initiatives for unity and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

“Young people have a tremendous capacity to make this world a better place. They can protect humanity as well as the planet. It’s because they are much more genuine and much more honest,” Satyarthi told Arab News.

“We realized that when we dream to make this world a better, peaceful, much more humane, sustainable place, then it should be led by the young people. And therefore, this new movement is being started and that is the movement for global compassion.

“We need connectivity, we need unison, we need a moral responsibility, accountability, and a moral compass to lead our world, and therefore this summit is being held.”

For Mohamed Abdelsalam, secretary-general of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, it was important to spread the efforts in India, given its cultural, ethnic, and religious heterogeneity.

“The Indian community faces many challenges at present and that’s why it is telling these values of global compassion and human potential are very important in addressing these challenges to make sure that this community, the Indian people, will be able to prosper and live with the spirit of living together as one harmonious nation,” he told Arab News.

“My message is for us to create more space for peace and dialogue for young people. As individuals, as leaders, as governments, as institutions, we have to fight to ensure that these young people have this spirit.”

The way the summit’s participants were chosen reflected India’s diversity.

“We set some criteria for the selection of the young leaders and the participants,” he said.

“Top of these was to select people coming from different cultures, different parts in India, different faiths, and different ethnicities, and bring them together to give them a role model of understanding each other and building peace among them so they go out of this event and spread the message of peace nationwide and worldwide.”