The <a title="EU" href="/index/eu">EU</a> foreign policy chief on March 30 called for the building of bridges between the bloc and <a title="Turkey" href="/index/turkey">Turkey</a>.
“The EU has a strategic interest in the development of a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Turkey,” Josep Borrell wrote on his blog dedicated to EU foreign policy.
Referring to last year’s tensions over the Eastern Mediterranean, Borrell said “the situation remains fragile, but the EU welcomes these forthcoming developments and gestures on the part of Turkey and has responded by extending its hand.”
During a virtual summit, EU leaders last week discussed a report on the future of Turkish-EU relations, prepared by Borrell and the European Commission, and decided to continue negotiations on a constructive agenda.
According to Borrell, the economy is one of the most important areas of cooperation since Turkish exports to the EU total €69.8 billion ($81.8 billion) and the country receives €58.5 billion ($68.6 billion) of its foreign direct investment (FDI) from EU countries
4 areas of differences
At the same time, he acknowledged that the bloc and Turkey have tensions over four main questions, namely the Eastern Mediterranean, the Cyprus issue, regional conflicts such as Libya and Syria, and democratic standards.
“The old disputes deeply affect security interests of the European Union and can no longer be considered just bilateral matters between Turkey and some member states,” he argued.
Turkey has resisted efforts by Greece to turn the dispute with Turkey over maritime borders into a dispute with the EU.
He also said “democratic standards remain a key element, not just for the EU, but also for the people in Turkey.”
It is time to overcome the differences in a constructive way, and “to build this bridge,” Borrell suggested, adding: “I believe we can do this.”
Implying the possibility of Turkey’s EU accession, he said: “Turkey is an important regional power and its historical destiny could well be to join the rest of Europe in the unique peace project that we are building under the banner of the European Union.”
Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the heads of the European Commission and European Council, will visit Turkey next Tuesday to discuss with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the future of Turkish-EU ties.
With countries across the world having agreed through the Paris Agreement to a goal of limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels to mitigate global warming, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed spelled out at the Climate and Development Ministerial Meeting: “We now need to spare no effort to achieve it in this ‘make-or-break year’”.
She painted a picture of climate financing to Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States at 14 and two per cent respectively; one person in three not adequately covered by early warning systems; and women and girls – who make up 80 per cent of those displaced by the climate emergency – often excluded from decision-making roles.
She said the need to adapt and be resilient, was “a moral, economic and social imperative”, pointing out that it receives just one-fifth of total climate finance. She said “we cannot wait until 2030 or 2050 to rectify these failings”.
Year of action
The UN has identified five concrete and achievable actions to help countries throughout the year respond to the climate emergency and “secure the breakthrough that the Secretary-General has called for”, said the Deputy UN chief.
Firstly, donors need to increase their financial support to climate adaptation by least 50 per cent by June, when the United Kingdom hosts the G7 Summit of industrialized countries, followed by national and multilateral development banks once the UN climate conference (COP26) convenes in November.
Access to climate support must be “streamlined, transparent and simplified”, especially for the most vulnerable and for a “significant scale-up” of existing financial instruments designed to handle disasters, along with new instruments to “incentivize resilience-building”.
Next, the deputy UN chief said that developing countries needed to have the tools at their disposal to embed climate risk in all planning, budget, and procurement strategies.
“Risk information is the critical first step for risk reduction, transfer and management”, she said.
The final action highlighted, was to support locally and regionally led adaptation and resilience initiatives in vulnerable countries, cities and communities, at the frontlines of climate disruption.
Information is the critical first step for risk reduction, transfer and management — UN deputy chief
“We must support efforts that provide local actors, including indigenous people, women and youth, with a much greater voice in the decisions that most affect them”, Ms. Mohammed said.
Debt relief
Noting that a “decade of transformation” cannot be delivered with soaring debt levels, she welcomed calls for a massive injection of liquidity and extensive debt relief to provide vulnerable countries with extra resources.
“Equally important will be transforming the international debt architecture so that it ensures all can emerge from this crisis with an equal chance of building back better and differently”, she said.
In closing, the deputy UN chief urged ministers online to seize the opportunity to “push again today for a concrete outcome that is bold, decisive and ambitious” to ensure “an inclusive and climate resilient transition”.
“I very much look forward to working with you all to achieve the success people and planet deserve at COP26.”
Fast-track clean energy
At the same time, top international energy and climate leaders met at the International Energy Agency (IEA)-COP26 Net Zero Summit to discuss how to accelerate clean energy momentum and examine how countries can more effectively work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.
The meeting took stock of the growing list of commitments from countries and companies to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement and focused on implementing the necessary actions to turn the growing number of net zero targets into a reality.
To sort out future measures, participants from more than 40 countries shared insights on what has worked so far.
Using low-cost and abundant feedstock, the EU funded project HIGFLY sets out to produce sustainable aviation fuels that can greatly reduce greenhouse emissions from airplanes.
The corona pandemic has delivered a severe blow to the airline industry, but expectations are that flying will remain an important part of our mobility, with all the associated negative impacts on the environment. TU/e scientists, together with researchers from TNO, major aviation players Boeing and SkyNRG, and other partners from Spain, Germany and UK, are launching HIGFLY, a new research project that aims to create cost-efficient sustainable aviation fuels (also known as SAFs) from waste biomass. “We want to contribute to an airline industry that emits lower amounts of greenhouse gas into the environment. Aviation fuels made from second generation feedstocks can play a huge role in this”, says TU/e researcher Fernanda Neira d’Angelo, who is the coordinator of the HIGFLY project.
According to the EU, direct CO2 emissions from aviation account for 3 per cent of the EU’s CO2 emissions. Globally, aviation accounts for 2.5 percent of CO2 emissions. This may not seem like much, but consider that if global commercial aviation were a country, it would rank number six in the national CO2 emissions, between Japan and Germany.
THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUELS
To meet the CO2 emission reduction targets set by the aviation sector (50 percent reduction by 2050 compared to 2005 levels), the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) needs to increase sharply. Although some airlines, including the Dutch flagship KLM, have been experimenting with SAFs, current global consumption is still less than 0.5 per cent of the overall aviation fuel consumption.
While demand for SAFs is expected to increase over the next decade, their uptake is held back by cost as the price of SAFs is approximately two to five times that of conventional aviation fuel.
Another crucial aspect is the sustainability of the feedstocks used, to guarantee that the net impact of using sustainable aviation fuels is far less negative than with fossil fuels. It is key to use resources that do not sacrifice food security, environment or biodiversity.
HIGFLY
The HIGFLY project, a collaboration between TU/e, TNO, SkyNRG, Boeing, and five more partners from Spain, Germany, and the UK aims to change all that. This consortium made up of academia, research institutes, and industry will develop new and more efficient technologies to produce advanced sustainable aviation fuels using low-cost and abundant second-generation (i.e. non-food) biomass from a broad feedstock pool, such as residues from forestry and farming.
The production of SAFs from biomass involves a reactor where the biomaterial is transformed into molecules that can be used as a precursor for sustainable jet fuel, using novel catalysts and solvents. This product is then separated using ceramic membranes, saving around 35 per cent of the energy during the most energy consuming steps of the process.
According to TU/e researcher and project coordinator Fernanda Neira D’Angelo, the approach taken by HIGFLY is unique. “The technology we are proposing is different than that used by others to produce SAFs. We use furanics as a key precursor in the fuel production process. Combined with our novel catalysts, solvents, and membranes, this promises to make the HIGFLY process not only very efficient, but it also has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions far more effectively than other approaches, with expectations of a decrease in the range of 70 to 90 percent.”
EU FUNDED
HIGFLY has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (under grant agreement N°101006618). Of the total 4 million euro EU grant, one million euro will be used to support TU/e in technology development. The project will run for a total of four years and the first preliminary results are expected in 2022.
Besides TU/e, TNO, SkyNRG and Boeing, the HIGFLY consortium brings together the following organizations and companies: Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC-ITQ), Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung, Johnson Matthey, Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung (ifeu), and KNEIA.
Google will contribute €25 million ($29.3 million) to the newly set up European Media and Information Fund to combat fake news, the company said on Wednesday.
The contribution comes amid criticism that the technology giant isn’t doing enough to debunk online disinformation, which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the U.S. election last year.
The chief executives of Google, Facebook
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and Twitter
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were grilled by U.S. lawmakers last week over the proliferation of disinformation on social media platforms.
Google, which is owned by Alphabet GOOGL, +0.03%,
is the first tech company to contribute to the European Media and Information Fund that was launched last week by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.
The fund, which has a duration of five years, will provide grants to researchers, fact-checkers, not-for-profits and other public interest-oriented organizations working on disinformation research and strengthening media literacy and fact-checking.
“While navigating the uncertainty and challenges of the last year, it has proven more important than ever for people to access accurate information, and sort facts from fiction,” said Matt Brittin, head of Google’s business & operations, in a blog post.
Brittin cited a recent report that showed that fewer than one in 10 Europeans have participated in any form of online media literacy training.
Google’s contribution comes as tech giants face intense regulatory pressure in the European Union over online content. The European Commission — the executive branch of the 27-member bloc — presented sweeping proposals in December 2020 outlining new responsibilities for digital platforms over content they host.
New rules in the Digital Services Act, which requires the approval of the European Council and European Parliament, include the removal of illegal goods, services and content; advertising transparency measures; and obligations for large platforms to take action against the abuse of their systems.
Tech companies could face severe fines for noncompliance, with a very large online platform facing fines of up to 6% of global revenue for a serious breach of the rules. An oversight structure will also be established, with the ability to directly sanction platforms that reach more than 10% of the EU’s population of 45 million users.
The Digital Services Act is expected to directly impact Alphabet, which owns the world’s two most popular search engines in Google and YouTube, and Facebook, the largest social media network with more than 2.5 billion monthly active users.
Nature Bio Foods BV (NBF BV), a 100% subsidiary of Nature Bio Foods (NBF) India, one of leading organic food producers and a subsidiary of LT Foods on Wednesday announced the inauguration of its futuristic organic food processing plant at Maasvlakte near Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The new state-of-the-art integrated organic ingredients processing facility of Nature Bio Foods is another step in the company’s efforts to provide organic food ingredients to customers through a sustainable supply chain.
Nature Bio Foods BV offers a vast bouquet of quality organic food ingredients, which are directly sourced from sustainable organic farms of India, Africa, and other Asian countries. NBF in the past few years has set-up its distribution channels in the US and Europe to fortify its business model and other existing networks across geographies.
Strengthening its establishments further, Nature Bio Foods has setup now food processing capabilities in EU which would allow it to reach its customers and brands directly.
The inauguration of the new state-of-the-art line was presided over by the Ambassador of India to the Netherlands Mr. Pradeep Kumar Rawat.
Commenting on the occasion, chairman Mr. V K Arora said, “Nature Bio Foods has had an impeccable legacy in supplying quality organic food ingredients to its customers in some of the most regulated & demanding markets across the globe. We take immense pride in adding yet another induction of latest technology in our Rotterdam facility which is in-line with the long-term vision of the Company to expand and strengthen its organic business in Europe.”
Buddhist relics said to be 2,100-year-old were found at Vaikuntapuram in Thullur mandal of Guntur district on Tuesday. They surfaced during diggings at Bhavaghni Ashram in the village. An archeologist, who examined the findings, said the locals found a conical polished cup, terracotta tiles once used in the roofs of ‘Buddhist viharas’, a piece of well-polished muller granite and a broken parasol that enshrined a stupa of the Satavahana period.
Seeing the artefacts, asram people contacted Dr. E. Sivanagi Reddy, Buddhist archaeologist and CEO, Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati, who has examined the finds.
Since then, Sivanagi Reddy has found a conical cup of polished ware inserted into a redware stand of Iron Age (1000 BC), pit shreds of redware, terracotta tiles that once covered roofs of Buddhist viharas, a well polished black granite muller, and a broken chatra (parasol) that enshrined a stupa of Satavahana period.
The Buddhists archaeologist says a surprise discovery is a Brahmi inscription, which mentions that the chatra was donated by one household Pusana. He said Dr. K. Muniratnam Reddy, Director, Epigraphy Branch, Archaeological Survey of India, has confirmed that the script in Prakrit language belongs to 1st Century BC.
Dr. Sivanagi Reddy said Bhavagni Asram authorities have told him that the Buddhist finds will be displayed by them in their proposed museum at Vyasabhagavan Temple now under construction. He stated that Buddhist remains in Vaikunthapuram had originally been reported by then British archaeologists 125 years ago.
The Centre on Tuesday said the COVID-19 situation is turning from “bad to worse” and is a huge cause for worry, especially for some states, warning that the whole country is at risk and any complacency at this stage, and at any level, will have “heavy costs”.
Asserting that hospitals and the ICUs have to be readied, the Centre also cautioned that if the coronavirus cases increase rapidly, the healthcare system in the country would be “overwhelmed”.
The Centre simultaneously asked all states and union territories to adopt a district-centric approach to fight the upward swing in cases. Each district, irrespective of whether it is seeing a surge or is with low burden, should formulate an action plan with clear timelines and responsibilities, it said.
Two top Central officials sounded the warning about the country facing an “increasingly severe and intense” coronavirus situation, as the Union Health Ministry reported that India”s COVID-19 tally climbed to 1,20,95,855 with 56,211 more people testing positive in a span of 24 hours, while 271 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,62,114.
“COVID-19 situation is turning from bad to worse. In the last few weeks, especially in some states, it is a huge cause for worry. No state, no part of the country should be complacent,” NITI Aayog member (Health) VK Paul told a media briefing.
“We are facing an increasingly severe and intense situation, more so surely in some districts. But the whole country is potentially at risk and therefore all efforts to contain and save lives should be taken.”
“Hospitals and ICUs have to be readied. If cases increase rapidly, the healthcare system would be overwhelmed,” Paul warned.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said eight of the top 10 COVID-19 high-burden districts of the country are from Maharashtra and that Delhi, taken as one district, is also on the list.
He said the 10 districts with maximum active COVID cases are Pune (59,475), Mumbai (46,248), Nagpur (45,322), Thane (35,264), Nashik (26,553), Aurangabad (21,282), Bengaluru Urban (16,259), Nanded (15,171), Delhi (8,032) and Ahmednagar (7,952).
Though technically speaking, Delhi has many districts, but it has been taken as one district, he said.
Bhushan dashed off a letter to to all chief secretaries saying public health measures can be used by states to contain the virus by quarantining and testing individuals suspected to be positive including close contacts of positive persons (at least 25 to 30 such contacts per positive person), isolating all those who are positive tracing their contacts, quarantining and testing them.
“Where there are clusters of cases simply quarantining individuals or families will not help. In that case, larger containment zones with clear boundaries and stringent controls must be implemented,” he said.
Any complacency at this stage, and at any level, will have heavy costs, he warned.
He said many districts in the country are seeing clusters of cases emerging because of specific events and/or places where crowding happens, or where a large number of people are in close physical contact coupled with lack of Covid appropriate behaviour.
He stressed that efficient implementation of “Test Track and Treat” remains the only proven strategy for control of transmission
Bhushan said some districts that saw a high number of cases in August-November are again reporting a high growth rate.
” In addition, a number of new districts that saw a limited prevalence earlier are worryingly showing a surge in Covid cases. States, UTs and Districts that have current low levels of cases, however, cannot be complacent.”
About the surge in case positivity rates, Bhushan said Maharashtra last week had an average of 23 per cent, followed by Punjab 8.82 per cent, Chattisgarh 8.24 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 7.82 per cent, Tamil Nadu 2.5 per cent, Karnataka 2.45 per cent, Gujarat 2.22 per cent, and Delhi 2.04 per cent.
The average national positivity rate during last week was 5.65 per cent.
The states and UTs that are reporting a surge in cases need to exponentially increase the number of COVID-19 tests. The proportion of RT-PCR tests need to be increased too, Bhushan said.
The daily rise in COVID cases in the worst affected state of Maharashtra has increased from 5,493 on February 17 to 34,456 on 24 March. The average daily deaths have also increased from 32 on 10 February to 118 on 24 March.
This means, simple public health response activities are not being followed, Bhushan said.
About the coronavirus situation in Punjab, Bhushan said in the second week of February 332 daily new cases were recorded which increased to 2,742. The average daily deaths were eight in February which has risen to 52.
“This signifies that neither are you doing an adequate number of tests nor are you able to promptly isolate (COVID-19) positive people,” the health secretary said.
The Punjab government, meanwhile, extended COVID curbs for another 10 days.
According to an official statement, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered to keep schools and colleges shut by another 10 days till 10 April after officials informed him at a meeting that a fall in daily cases is expected only by mid-May and the infection numbers likely to peak around 6 April.
In his letter, Bhushan said that in most states people are not being properly isolated. “Their close contacts must be traced within three days. Close contact does not mean just the family but all those an infected person came in contact with.”
He said states have been also advised to strengthen their healthcare resources.
“Those hospitals which were made non-COVID facilities must be converted to dedicated COVID facilities. There should be no delay in strengthening private as well as public health facilities,” he added.
Registering a steady increase for the 20th day in row, active cases rose to 5,40,720 comprising 4.47 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 94.19 percent, the Health Ministry said.
According to some experts, the relatively low count of daily jump in new cases (56,211) reported on Tuesday could be because of lower testing on account of Holi festival on Monday. India has been recording a daily spike of over 60,000 cases for a few days until Monday.
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State and federal investigators have not ruled out a hate crime in the shooting deaths of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Alleged gunman Craig Stephen Hicks was apparently angry in a dispute over parking spaces, but the victims’ family are asking authorities to investigate further. Vicente Arenas reports on the reaction from both the victims’ and suspect’s families.
