Month: November 2024

WHO continues talks to prepare world for pandemics

geneva — World Health Organization member countries resumed negotiations Monday to finalize an agreement on pandemic prevention, with outbreaks of mpox, Marburg and H5N1 stressing the urgency of reaching an agreement without repeating the deadly mistakes of COVID-19.

After more than two years of negotiations, there is hope of reaching an agreement in the next 15 days, especially since the negotiators have agreed to postpone discussions on the most contentious points: the sharing of knowledge and equitable access to medical advances.

Recent negotiations at COP16 in Colombia on biodiversity, which provided for a comparable mechanism, stumbled on this point.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the need to balance timeliness and workable deal.

“Time is not our friend,” Tedros told national negotiators at the opening of the talks. “COVID is still circulating. Mpox is a global health emergency. We have a Marburg outbreak and H5N1 spreading. The next pandemic will not wait.”

Never again

In December 2021, fearing a repeat of the catastrophe caused by COVID-19, which killed millions of people, the 194 member countries of WHO agreed to reach an agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The emergence of a new strain of mpox, the deadly Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda and the spread of H5N1 avian flu in recent months have clarified the issues.

Diplomats have agreed on most of the draft’s 37 articles during 11 rounds of negotiations.

The main section on which consensus will need to be found concerns access to pathogens for the scientific community and medical research, and then to products to combat the pandemic such as vaccines or other tests derived from this research.

In order not to block everything, the idea is to postpone the discussion on the details of the pathogen access and benefit sharing system (PABS) until later.

Battle for fairness

For the moment, there is an impasse between rich and poor countries, which have not forgotten that they were abandoned to their fate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If the world has failed on one thing, it is on the issue of equity” during the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of WHO stressed on Friday.

“Africa was left behind at the time, and this should not happen,” Tedros said.

‘Bitter taste’

Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister, believes that “the South sees the North as protecting its pharmaceutical industries,” and this “has left an incredibly bitter taste between the North and the South.”

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations called for an agreement “allowing the private sector to innovate.”

“Intellectual property must be respected, and technology transfer must always be voluntary and on mutually agreed terms,” the federation insisted.

Among the country representatives, Malaysia, speaking on behalf of a group of developing countries known as the Equity Group, said “major improvements are still desperately needed in many areas.”

It demanded that at least 20% of real-time production of vaccines, tests and treatments go to developing countries.

Tanzania, on behalf of 48 African countries, said it could not “accept an agreement not based on equity.”

The Indonesian negotiator said an agreement that only preserves the status quo is unacceptable, because “empty promises will not save lives.”

China insisted that “quality should not be sacrificed for time.”

Germany’s representative called for an acceleration of the talks to “focus on what is achievable.”

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UN expresses concern for Sudan heritage sites looted amid civil war

UNESCO – the U.N. agency for the protection of cultural heritage – says it is concerned that museums in Sudan are being looted during the ongoing civil war. VOA gained access to one damaged and apparently ransacked museum. VOA’s Henry Wilkins has more from The House of the Khalifa in the city of Omdurman.

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Public funding for nature conservation stalls at COP16, eyes on private investment

CALI, Colombia — Wealthy nations appeared to hit a limit with how much they are willing to pay to conserve nature around the world, instead shifting their focus at the two-week U.N. biodiversity summit toward discussions of private money filling the funding gap.

At the COP16 negotiations in Cali, Colombia, countries failed to figure out how they would mobilize $200 billion annually in conservation funding by 2030, including $30 billion that would come directly from rich nations.

That money, pledged two years ago as part of the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement, is meant to finance activities that boost nature, such as sustainable farming or patrolling wildlife reserves.

But there was no consensus as talks dragged on beyond the summit’s scheduled end on Friday, during which dozens of delegations departed. By Saturday morning’s roll call, there was no longer a quorum among the nearly 200 nations for an agreement to pass, forcing organizers to abruptly suspend the meeting.

“I am both saddened and enraged by the non-outcome of COP16,” said Shilps Gautam, chief executive of project finance firm Opna.

“The wild thing about the nature financing discussions is that the numbers discussed are already a pittance.”

Human activities such as farming, mining, and urban development are increasingly pushing nature into crisis, with 1 million or so plant and animal species thought to be at risk of extinction.

Climate change, a result of fossil fuel burning, is also adding to nature’s woes by raising temperatures and disrupting weather cycles.

Countries will meet again in Azerbaijan next week for the U.N.’s COP29 climate summit, which again will be focused on the steep need for funding from wealthy nations to their poorer counterparts to help shoulder climate costs.

Little money from rich nations

Even before the talks broke down, developed nations had signaled an unwillingness to offer large amounts of cash.

European governments including Germany and the Netherlands have slashed their foreign aid budgets over the last year, while France and the U.K. are also cutting back.

Government development money specifically targeted at nature conservation abroad fell to $3.8 billion in 2022 compared with $4.6 billion in 2015, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

At COP16, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded that countries make significant new contributions to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.

The response was muted. Nations at COP16 pledged $163 million in contributions to the fund, bringing total contributions to roughly $400 million – far from a major contribution to the $30 billion target from nations by 2030.

The United States, which is not a party to U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, has not contributed.

“The public money is already leveraged as much as we can,” Florika Fink-Hooijer, the European Union’s director general of environment, told reporters at the summit.

“We now have to look at other sources of funding.”

Private cash

When it came to going after private capital, delegates at the COP16 summit agreed to a plan to charge pharmaceutical and other companies for their use of genetic information in the research and development of new commercial products.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca and Land Sanofi did not respond to request for comment on the deal.

Experts estimate the plan could generate about $1 billion annually.

That still doesn’t cover the billions needed to halt the collapse of ecosystems, like the Amazon rainforest or coral reefs. The world will need to devise ways for enticing private investment in nature-friendly projects, said Marcos Neto, director of global policy at the U.N. Development Program.

Some tools include green bonds or debt-for-nature swaps, whereby countries refinance their debt at lower interest rates in order to spend the savings on conservation. The World Economic Forum estimates that debt-for-nature swaps could generate $100 billion in nature funding.

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French families sue TikTok over alleged failure to remove harmful content

PARIS — Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said on Monday.

The lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster franceinfo.

The families are taking joint legal action in the Créteil judicial court. Boutron-Marmion said it was the first such grouped case in Europe.

“The parents want TikTok’s legal liability to be recognized in court,” she said, adding: “This is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are, in addition, minors. They must, therefore, answer for the product’s shortcomings.”

TikTok, like other social media platforms, has long faced scrutiny over the policing of content on its app.

As with Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, it faces hundreds of lawsuits in the U.S. accusing them of enticing and addicting millions of children to their platforms, damaging their mental health.

TikTok could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations.

The company has previously said it took issues that were linked to children’s mental health seriously. CEO Shou Zi Chew this year told U.S. lawmakers the company has invested in measures to protect young people who use the app.

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Music titan Quincy Jones dies at 91

Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at 91.

Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.

“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the family said in a statement. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”

Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalog that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him.

Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.

Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”

In a career that began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honors likely go to his productions with Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were albums near-universal in their style and appeal.

Jones’ versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the “King of Pop.”

On such classic tracks as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants. For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.

“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” among others as the best-selling album of all time.

“If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producers fault’; so if it does well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too,” Jones said in an interview with the Library of Congress in 2016. “The tracks don’t just all of a sudden appear. The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion.”

The list of his honors and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography “Q”, including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for “Roots.” He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture.

He was the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.

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US tech firms warn Vietnam’s planned law to hamper data centers, social media

HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. tech companies have warned Vietnam’s government that a draft law to tighten rules on data protection and limit data transfers abroad would hamper social media platforms and data center operators from growing their businesses in the country.

The Southeast Asian nation with a population of 100 million is one of the world’s largest markets for Facebook and other online platforms, and is aiming to exponentially increase its data center industry with foreign investment in coming years.

The draft law “will make it challenging for tech companies, social media platforms and data center operators to reach the customers that rely on them daily,” said Jason Oxman, who chairs the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a trade association representing big tech companies including Meta, Google and data centers operator Equinix.

The draft law, being discussed in parliament, is also designed to ease authorities’ access to information and was urged by the ministry of public security, Vietnamese and foreign officials said.

The ministry of public security and the information ministry did not respond to attempts to contact them via email and phone.

Vietnam’s parliament is discussing the law in its current month-long session and is scheduled to pass it on Nov. 30 “if eligible,” according to its program, which is subject to changes.

Existing Vietnamese regulations already limit cross-border transfers of data under some circumstances, but they are rarely enforced.

It is unclear how the new law, if adopted, would impact foreign investment in the country. Reuters reported in August that Google was considering setting up a large data center in southern Vietnam before the draft law was presented in parliament.

Research firm BMI had said Vietnam could become a major regional player in the data center industry as limits on foreign ownership are set to end next year.

Among the provisions of the draft law is prior authorization for the transfer overseas of “core data” and “important data,” which are currently vaguely defined.

“That will hinder foreign business operations,” Oxman told Reuters.

Tech companies and other firms favor cross-border data flows to cut costs and improve services, but multiple jurisdictions, including the European Union and China, have limited those transfers, saying that allows them to better protect privacy and sensitive information.

Under the draft law, companies will have to share data with Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party and state organizations in multiple, vaguely defined cases including for “fulfilling a specific task in the public interest.”

The U.S. tech industry has raised concerns with Vietnamese authorities over “the undue expansion of government access to data,” Oxman said.

The new law “would cause significant compliance challenges for most private sector companies,” said Adam Sitkoff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, noting talks were underway to persuade authorities to “reconsider the rushed legislative process” for the law.

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‘Venom 3’ tops box office again, while Tom Hanks film struggles

“Venom: The Last Dance” enjoyed another weekend at the top of the box office. The Sony release starring Tom Hardy added $26.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It was a relatively quiet weekend for North American movie theaters leading up to the presidential election. Charts were dominated by big studio holdovers, like “Venom 3,” “The Wild Robot” and “Smile 2,” while audiences roundly rejected the Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Robert Zemeckis reunion “Here.” Thirty years after “Forrest Gump,” “Here” opened to only $5 million from 2,647 locations.

“Venom 3” only fell 49% in its second weekend, which is a notably small drop for a superhero film, though it didn’t exactly open like one either. In two weeks, the movie has made over $90 million domestically; The first two opened to over $80 million. Globally, the picture is brighter given that it has already crossed the $300 million threshold.

Meanwhile, Universal and Illumination’s “The Wild Robot” continues to attract moviegoers even six weeks in (and when it’s available by video on demand), placing second with $7.6 million. The animated charmer has made over $121 million in North America and $269 million worldwide. “Smile 2” landed in third place with $6.8 million, helping to push its worldwide total to $109.7 million.

The time-hopping “Here,” a graphic novel that was adapted by “Forrest Gump” screenwriter Eric Roth, was financed by Miramax and distributed by Sony’s TriStar. With a fixed position camera, it takes audiences through the years in one living room. Critics were not on board: In aggregate it has a lousy 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite playing in almost 1,000 more locations, “Here” came in behind Focus Features’ papal thriller “Conclave” which earned $5.3 million. Playing in 1,796 theaters, “Conclave” dropped only 20% from its debut last weekend and has made $15.2 million so far. Two Indian films also cracked the top 10 in their debuts, “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3” and “Singham Again.”

Jesse Eisenberg’s film “A Real Pain,” a comedic drama about cousins on a Holocaust tour in Poland, launched in four theaters this weekend in New York and Los Angeles. It made an estimated $240,000, or $60,000 per screen, which is among the top three highest per theater averages of the year. Searchlight Pictures will be expanding the well-reviewed film nationwide in the coming weeks, going wide on Nov. 15 to over 800 theaters.

Box office charts don’t always paint a full picture of the moviegoing landscape, however. This weekend several relatively high-profile films playing in theaters did not report full grosses for various reasons, including the Clint Eastwood film “Juror #2,” Steve McQueen’s WWII film “Blitz” and the Cannes darling “Emilia Pérez.” Netflix, which is handling “Emilia Pérez,” never reports box office figures. Apple Original Films is following suit with “Blitz,” a likely awards contender, which is in theaters before hitting Apple TV+ on Nov. 22. 

“Juror No. 2” is a Warner Bros. release, and a well-reviewed one at that. The film directed by Eastwood stars Nicholas Hoult as a juror on a murder case who faces a big moral dilemma. Domestic ticket sales were withheld. The studio did say that it earned $5 million from international showings, where it played on 1,348 screens.

Even major studios withhold box office numbers occasionally. Earlier this year, Disney did not report on the Daisy Ridley movie “Young Woman and the Sea.” Results were most notably withheld during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, were:

  1. “Venom: The Last Dance,” $26.1 million. 

  2. “The Wild Robot,” $7.6 million. 

  3. “Smile 2,” $6.8 million. 

  4. “Conclave,” $5.3 million. 

  5. “Here,” $5 million. 

  6. “We Live In Time,” $3.5 million. 

  7. “Terrifier 2,” $3.4 million. 

  8. “Singham Again,” $2.1 million. 

  9. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $2.1 million. 

  10. “Bhool Bhulaiyaa,” $2.1 million. 

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Mpox cases in Congo may be stabilizing, but more vaccines needed to stamp out virus 

Goma, Congo — Some health officials say mpox cases in Congo appear to be “stabilizing” — a possible sign that the main epidemic for which the World Health Organization made a global emergency declaration in August might be on the decline.  

In recent weeks, Congo has reported about 200 to 300 lab-confirmed mpox cases every week, according to WHO. That’s down from nearly 400 cases a week in July. The decline is also apparent in Kamituga, the mining city in the eastern part of Congo where the new, more infectious variant of mpox first emerged.  

But the U.N. health agency acknowledged Friday that only 40% to 50% of suspected infections in Congo were being tested — and that the virus is continuing to spread in some parts of the country and elsewhere, including Uganda.  

While doctors are encouraged by the drop in infections in some parts of Congo, it’s still not clear what kinds of physical contact is driving the outbreak. Health experts are also frustrated by the low number of vaccine doses the central African nation has received — 265,000 — and say that delivering the vaccine to where it’s needed in the sprawling country is proving difficult. WHO estimates 50,000 people have been immunized in Congo, which has a population of 110 million.  

Scientists also say there needs to be an urgent, broader vaccination effort for the entire continent to halt mpox’s spread and avoid further worrisome genetic mutations, like the one detected earlier this year in Congo after months of low-level circulation.  

“If we miss this opportunity, the likelihood of another significant outbreak increases substantially,” said Dr. Zakary Rhissa, who heads operations in Congo for the charity Alima.  

So far this year, there have been roughly 43,000 suspected cases in Africa and more than 1,000 people have died, mostly in Congo.  

“We’ve seen how past outbreaks, such as the one in Nigeria in 2017, can lead to larger global events if not effectively contained,” he said. The 2017 epidemic ended up leading to the 2022 global outbreak of mpox that affected more than 100 countries.  

Rhissa said the decline in cases in Kamituga — where mpox initially spread among sex workers and miners — is an opening to put more programs in place for vaccination, surveillance and education.  

Georgette Hamuli, an 18-year-old sex worker, hadn’t been aware of mpox until immunization teams arrived last week in the poor neighborhood where she works in Goma, the biggest city in eastern Congo.  

“They told us we’re highly exposed to the risk of infection,” she said. “We insist on condoms with our clients, but some refuse … if they don’t want to use a condom, they double the amount they pay.”  

Hamuli said she and other friends who are sex workers each received 2,000 Congolese francs ($0.70) from a charity to get vaccinated against mpox — but it wasn’t the money that swayed her. 

“The vaccine is also necessary,” she said. “I think we’re now protected.”   

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated Congo needs at least 3 million mpox vaccines to stop the virus, and another 7 million for the rest of Africa. So far, WHO and partners have allocated 900,000 vaccines to nine African countries affected by mpox and expect 6 million vaccines to be available by the end of this year.  

Mpox epidemics in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda had their origins in Congo, and a number of cases in travelers have also been identified in Sweden, Thailand, Germany, India and Britain.  

Fewer than half of the people who are most at risk in Congo have been vaccinated, according to Heather Kerr, Congo director for the International Rescue Committee.  

“We only have a tiny amount of vaccines, and nothing for the kids,” she said.  

The vaccines for Congo are largely coming from donor countries like the U.S and through UNICEF, which mainly uses taxpayer money to buy the shots.  

“We’re getting a charitable approach where we only see very small donations of vaccines to Africa,” said Dr. Chris Beyrer, director of the Global Health Institute at Duke University. “What we need is a public health approach where we immunize populations at scale.”  

Drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, which makes the most widely used mpox vaccine, said it would sell shots destined for Africa at the lowest price possible.  

The advocacy group Public Citizen estimated UNICEF paid $65 per dose of the Jynneos mpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic, far higher than nearly all other vaccines used in public health programs. 

Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, an infectious diseases expert at South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, said mpox outbreaks typically peak and disappear quickly because of how the virus spreads. This time, however, he said there are two complicating factors: the virus’ transmission via sex and the continued spillover from infected animals.  

“We’re in new territory with mpox this time,” he added. “But we’re never going to solve this until we vaccinate most of our people.” 

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Lahore air pollution hits historic high, forcing school closures 

KARACHI — Unprecedented air pollution levels in Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore prompted authorities to take emergency measures on Sunday, including issuing work-from-home mandates and closing primary schools.  

The city held the top spot on a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities on Sunday after recording its highest ever pollution reading of 1900 near the Pakistan-India border on Saturday, based on data released by the provincial government and Swiss group IQAir.  

The government has shut primary schools for a week, advising parents to ensure children wear masks, said Senior Minister of Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb during a press conference, as a thick blanket of smog enveloped the city.  

Citizens have been urged to stay indoors, keep doors and windows shut, and avoid unnecessary travel, she said, adding that hospitals had been given smog counters.  

To reduce vehicle pollution, 50% of office employees would work from home, said Aurangzeb.  

The government has also imposed a ban on three-wheelers known as rickshaws and halted construction in certain areas to reduce the pollution levels. Factories and construction sites failing to comply with these regulations could be shut down, she said.  

Aurangzeb described the situation as “unexpected” and attributed the deterioration in air quality to winds carrying pollution from neighboring India.   

“This cannot be solved without talks with India,” she said, adding the provincial government would initiate talks with its bigger neighbor through Pakistan’s foreign ministry.   

The smog crisis in Lahore, similar to the situation in India’s capital Delhi, tends to worsen during cooler months due to temperature inversion trapping pollution closer to the ground.  

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Ethiopia bans imports of gas-powered private vehicles, but the switch to electric is a bumpy ride 

ADDIS ABABA — As the price of fuel soared in Ethiopia earlier this year, Awgachew Seleshi decided to buy an electric car. That aligned with the government’s new efforts to phase out gas-powered vehicles. But months later, he’s questioning whether it was the right decision.  

He faces a range of issues, from the erratic supply of electricity in Addis Ababa, the capital, to the scarcity of spare parts.  

“Charging my car has been a challenge,” the civil servant said. “Spare parts that are imported from China are expensive, few mechanics are able to fix such cars and the resale value of such cars is poor.”  

Seleshi’s troubles point to wider challenges for Ethiopia. In January, the East African country became the first in the world to ban the importation of non-electric private vehicles. 

 The decision eased pressure on authorities who spend scarce foreign currency to subsidize the cost of fuel, but it also reflected growing enthusiasm for electric vehicles as the world demands more green technologies to reduce climate-changing emissions.  

Earlier this month, Ethiopia’s government raised the price of fuel by up to 8% as part of a plan to gradually end all fuel subsidies in Africa’s second-most populous country.  

Authorities have claimed some success in enforcing the ban on non-electric vehicles entering Ethiopia, and more than 100,000 electric cars are now being imported into the country each month.  

The official target is to increase the monthly import figure to 500,000 by 2030. By that time, a big new dam Ethiopia has built on the Nile River is expected to be producing power at full capacity.  

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in a televised address earlier this year, said the Grand Renaissance Dam will start generating more than 5,000 megawatts of electric power within a year. Authorities say such capacity would support the transition to electric vehicles.  

For now, many in Addis Ababa, a city of more than 5 million people, are doubtful the country can achieve its ambitious goals for electric vehicles without further needed infrastructure and services.  

The few garage owners who can fix broken electric cars say they are overwhelmed, while customers say they are being overcharged amid an apparent lack of competition.  

“There are two or three garages that can fix new energy vehicles in Ethiopia and many consumers lack awareness on how to take care of such vehicles,” said Yonas Tadelle, a mechanic in Addis Ababa. “As mechanics, we also lack the tools, the spare parts and the know-how to fix such cars.”  

Many EVs are now parked in garages and parking lots awaiting parts expected to come from China.  

Ethiopia’s minister in charge of transport, Bareo Hassen Bareo, has said he believes the country can be a model nation with a green economy legacy, with the prioritization of electric vehicles a key component.  

The government will invest in public charging stations, he told The Associated Press, and there are plans to create a plant manufacturing EV batteries locally to reduce reliance on imports.   

Private efforts have included a collaboration, which has since fizzled, between Olympian Haile Gebreselassie and South Korean carmaker Hyundai to make electric vehicles in Ethiopia. That effort is believed to have collapsed over the sourcing of materials.  

Samson Berhane, an economist based in Addis Ababa, said the sudden flood of electric vehicles into the local market despite poor infrastructure is making it difficult for customers to adapt comfortably. Some EVs sell for about $20,000.  

“Very few people are willing to take the risk of buying electric cars due to the lack of infrastructure, shortage of mechanics specialized in EV maintenance and the flooding of the market with Chinese brands that have questionable details and long-term visibility,” Berhane said.  

But he said he believes that Ethiopia is more than able to provide electricity to the expected 500,000 EV’s there within the next decade while fulfilling its industrial ambitions.  

Some Ethiopians are already giving up on electric vehicles, and the secondhand trade in gasoline-powered vehicles continues. There are at least 1.2 million vehicles across Ethiopia, and only a small fraction are electric ones.  

Businessman Yared Alemayehu bought a Chinese-made electric vehicle that he had hoped to use for a taxi service. He knew the car had a mechanical defect, but he believed it could be fixed. A mechanic disagreed.  

In the end, he sold the car at a loss and bought a Toyota Corolla — a car made in 2007 that he felt was more reliable — for the equivalent of $20,000, a sum that included the hefty taxes imposed on gasoline vehicles. Taxes can be higher than the cost of importing the vehicle.  

“In addition to having to charge my old electric car, it frequently broke, and the garage was overcharging, and the lineup at the garage was overwhelming us,” he said.  

Taxi driver Dereje Hailu, who had high hopes for his Chinese-made E-Star electric vehicle when he purchased it earlier this year, said his expectations had been dashed.  

“With such a car, I fear I might be stuck if I go far from Addis Ababa where there are no charging stations,” he said. 

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America’s holiday calendar is increasingly diverse

NEW YORK — John Albert’s daughter didn’t go to school on Friday. And he couldn’t be happier about it.

For the first time, the high school senior and all of New York City’s public school students have the day off to mark the holiday of Diwali, celebrated in India and among the global Indian diaspora as the victory of light over darkness and marked by communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.

To get the holiday added to the school calendar, where it joins other days off for Rosh Hashanah, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr as well as federal holidays like Veterans Day, Christmas and Memorial Day, took years of pushing from those in New York’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities like Albert. But it was worth it.

“It was this feeling of wanting to weave our culture into New York,” he said.

From religious and cultural holidays to region-specific commemorations to days meant to honor the towering figures and moments of U.S. history, the holiday calendars across the 50 states and the country at large are increasingly diverse ones, a reflection of and a window into the many communities that make up the American whole.

Recognizing holidays creates community

Including a smaller culture’s or community’s special days as something to recognize in the larger general culture is an act of unity, said Lauren Strauss, professor of modern Jewish history at American University.

“By doing that in an American context and by including a Muslim feast for the end of Ramadan and by including Diwali and including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, my goodness. You’re just saying it out loud, aren’t you? You’re saying that these cultures, these people, they aren’t visitors, that they are a permanent part of this community, that it is multicultural and multiethnic,” she said.

“Whether or not you think it’s good or bad, certainly it paints a different picture of what it means to be American and what the American calendar is.”

A look at what days are marked as holidays in places around the country can be a crash course into what matters in those places. Louisiana, home to New Orleans, takes a day for Mardi Gras. In Hawaii, the state marks a day for King Kamehameha, who united the Hawaiian islands, as well as a day for becoming a U.S. state. California and some other states mark Cesar Chavez Day, named for the civil rights and labor movement activist. In Texas and in the southwest, there are celebrations scheduled for Friday marking Day of the Dead, the Mexican cultural remembrance of loved ones who have passed.

The federal government, in addition to the 11 days that are days off for federal workers, has a host of days that it marks as national observances, like Harriet Tubman Day in March and Patriot Day on September 11.

It keeps greeting card companies on their toes.

“Celebrating holidays and occasions, big or small, with the people we care about is a vital thread that runs through our shared human experience,” Kelly Ricker, chief product officer at American Greetings, said in a statement. The company is “studying and talking to consumers, continuously” to keep up with the kinds of cards people are looking for.

When Chris Sargiotto started his greeting card company Apartment 2 Cards about 15 years ago, the holiday offerings were limited to Christmas and Hanukkah. In recent years, he’s added Kwanzaa and Ramadan, and is looking to bring Diwali cards onto the roster for next year.

The additional holidays were added because of requests from his customers, the stores around that country that stock Apartment 2 cards, a reflection of increasing demand.

“It was stores asking for it because of their customers are asking for it,” he said. “Whenever we introduce one of these specific cards, it seems to take off. So I think there definitely is the need for these.”

There can be challenges as well

But a holiday is not always uncontested. Take mid-October, when the federal government recognizes Columbus Day. It was added to the federal calendar in the 20th century after efforts from Italian Americans, who pushed for it as a way to stake their community’s place in America.

In the decades after though, Indigenous communities pushed back, citing the impact of colonization on their people and the continuing challenges. That has led to the spread of Indigenous People’s Day marked on the same day, which while not a federally recognized is recognized in states around the country.

And sometimes there’s some learning that needs to happen as well. In Montville, New Jersey, the police department this month put a post on Facebook explaining to the community that with Diwali approaching, they would be more likely to see swastikas, a variation of which are ancient sacred symbols in some religions and not deployed in the way Hitler and the Nazis did.

With both Jewish and Hindu communities in the town, it was done in an attempt to forestall misunderstanding, said Chief Andrew Caggiano, and has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said, “to raise awareness about other cultures that are that are in our community and that are part of our community at this point.”

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Nevada lithium mine will crush rare plant habitat US said is critical to its survival, lawsuit says

RENO, Nevada — Conservationists and a Native American tribe are suing the U.S. to try to block a Nevada lithium mine they say will drive an endangered desert wildflower to extinction, disrupt groundwater flows and threaten cultural resources.

The Center for Biological Diversity promised the court battle a week ago when the U.S. Interior Department approved Ioneer Ltd.’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine at the only place Tiehm’s buckwheat is known to exist in the world, near the California line halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

It is the latest in a series of legal fights over projects President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing under his clean energy agenda intended to cut reliance on fossil fuels, in part by increasing the production of lithium to make electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.

The new lawsuit says the Interior Department’s approval of the mine marks a dramatic about-face by U.S. wildlife experts who warned nearly two years ago that Tiehm’s buckwheat was “in danger of extinction now” when they listed it as an endangered species in December 2022.

“One cannot save the planet from climate change while simultaneously destroying biodiversity,” said Fermina Stevens, director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, which joined the center in the lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Reno.

“The use of minerals, whether for EVs or solar panels, does not justify this disregard for Indigenous cultural areas and keystone environmental laws,” said John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch, another co-plaintiff.

Rita Henderson, spokesperson for Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in Reno, said Friday the agency had no immediate comment.

Ioneer Vice President Chad Yeftich said the Australia-based mining company intends to intervene on behalf of the U.S. and “vigorously defend” approval of the project, “which was based on its careful and thorough permitting process.”

“We are confident that the BLM will prevail,” Yeftich said. He added that he doesn’t expect the lawsuit will postpone plans to begin construction next year.

The lawsuit says the mine will harm sites sacred to the Western Shoshone people. That includes Cave Spring, a natural spring less than 1.6 kilometers away described as “a site of intergenerational transmission of cultural and spiritual knowledge.”

But it centers on alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. It details the Fish and Wildlife Service’s departure from the dire picture it painted earlier of threats to the 15-centimeter-tall wildflower with cream or yellow blooms bordering the open-pit mine Ioneer plans to dig. 

The mine’s permit anticipates up to one-fifth of the nearly 3.6 square kilometers the agency designated as critical habitat surrounding the plants — home to various pollinators important to their survival — would be lost for decades, some permanently.

When proposing protection of the 368 hectares of critical habitat, the service said “this unit is essential to the conservation and recovery of Tiehm’s buckwheat.” The agency formalized the designation when it listed the plant in December 2022, dismissing the alternative of less-stringent threatened status.

“We find that a threatened species status is not appropriate because the threats are severe and imminent, and Tiehm’s buckwheat is in danger of extinction now, as opposed to likely to become endangered in the future,” the agency concluded.

The lawsuit also discloses for the first time that the plant’s population, numbering fewer than 30,000 in the government’s latest estimates, has suffered additional losses since August that were not considered in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion.

The damage is similar to what the bureau concluded was caused by rodents eating the plants in a 2020 incident that reduced the population as much as 60%, the lawsuit says.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said in its August biological opinion that while the project “will result in the long-term disturbance (approximately 23 years) of 146 acres (59 hectares) of the plant community … and the permanent loss of 45 acres (18 hectares), we do not expect the adverse effects to appreciably diminish the value of critical habitat as a whole.” 

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Time to ‘fall back’ an hour as daylight saving time ends

The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark by late afternoon for the next few months in the United States.

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9, when we will again “spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time. 

“Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying to exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days and less sunlight of fall and winter, may struggle, too. 

Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. 

Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — don’t change and stay on standard time. 

Here’s what to know about the twice-yearly ritual. 

How the body reacts to light 

The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we’re more alert. The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens. 

Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness. Too much light in the evening — that extra hour from daylight saving time — delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync. 

How do time changes affect sleep? 

Even an hour change on the clock can throw off sleep schedules — because even though the clocks change, work and school start times stay the same. 

That’s a problem because so many people are already sleep deprived. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults sleep less than the recommended seven-plus hours nightly, and more than half of U.S. teens don’t get the recommended eight-plus hours on weeknights. 

How to prepare for the time change 

Some people try to prepare for a time change jolt by changing their bedtimes little by little in the days before the change. There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep. 

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Agreement signed at UN summit gives Indigenous groups voice

CALI, Colombia — After two weeks of negotiations, delegates on Saturday agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation, a development that builds on a growing movement to recognize the role of the descendants of some regions’ original inhabitants in protecting land and combating climate change. 

The delegates also agreed to oblige major corporations to share the financial benefits of research when using natural genetic resources. 

Indigenous delegations erupted into cheers and tears after the historic decision to create the subsidiary body was announced. It recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples and local communities for the benefit of global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, Executive Director of the Rights and Communities Global Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society. 

“It strengthens representation, coordination, inclusive decision making, and creates a space for dialogue with parties to the COP,” Raj told The Associated Press, also known as the Conference of Parties. 

Negotiators had struggled to find common ground on some key issues in the final week but came to a consensus after talks went late into Friday. 

‘Historical debt’ 

The COP16 summit, hosted in Cali, Colombia, was a follow-up to the historic 2022 accord in Montreal, which included 23 measures to save Earth’s plant and animal life, including putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. 

A measure to recognize the importance of the role of people of African descent in the protection of nature was also adopted in Cali. 

The Indigenous body will be formed by two co-chairs elected by COP: one nominated by U.N. parties of the regional group, and the other nominated by representatives of Indigenous peoples and local communities, the AP saw in the final document. 

At least one of the co-chairs will be selected from a developing country, taking into account gender balance, the document said. 

“With this decision, the value of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities is recognized, and a 26-year-old historical debt in the Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD] is settled,” Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister and COP16 president, posted on social media platform X shortly after the announcement. 

Who owns nature’s DNA was one of the most contentious and fiercely negotiated topics at the summit as tensions spiked between poorer and developed countries over digital sequence information on genetic resources, or DSI. 

Negotiators consented on Saturday morning, however, to bind big companies to share benefits when using resources from animals, plants or microorganisms in biotechnologies. 

Delegations agreed on a genetic information fee of 0.1% of companies’ revenues from products derived from such information. 

“Many of the life-saving medicines we use today come from the rainforest. It is therefore right that a portion of the income companies generate from this information goes back to protect nature,” said Toerris Jaeger, executive director of Rainforest Foundation Norway. “This is the absolute highlight from COP16.” 

Needs exceed pledges

Also adopted was an agreement to protect human health from Earth’s increasing biodiversity issues. Ecosystem degradation and loss of ecological integrity directly threaten human and animal health, environmental groups say. 

Pledges made by countries during the two weeks were far short of the billions needed to tackle plummeting global biodiversity, with only around $400 million in the fund. 

The modest pledges don’t bode well for the next U.N. climate talks, COP29, to take place in Azerbaijan beginning later this month. COP29 is expected to focus on how to generate trillions of dollars needed for the world to transition to clean energies such as solar, wind and geothermal. Raising that money will require major commitments by nations, companies and philanthropies. 

In Montreal’s biodiversity summit, wealthy nations pledged to raise $20 billion in annual conservation financing for developing nations by 2025, with that number rising to $30 billion annually by 2030. 

Global wildlife populations have plunged on average by 73% in 50 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London biennial Living Planet report in October. 

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Mexicans celebrate Day of Dead, grapple with keeping tradition

MEXICO CITY — Every year this time Mexico erupts in celebrations during the Day of the Dead. Families gather at cemeteries across the country on November 1 to reconnect with their dead just as their ancestors have done for centuries. 

For many more in small communities, it’s also about preserving the core of their traditions as celebrations in places in bigger hubs have increasingly been marked by mass tourism. 

“We’re conserving our tradition, part of our heritage that my mother instilled in me,” said 58-year-old Antonio Melendez. “We can’t let it be lost.” 

Observance dates back centuries

Melendez was among throngs of people gathered in the cemetery, tucked away in the maze of canals and brick buildings in Xochimilco, a borough in south of Mexico City that has long carried on traditions that have faded away in other parts of the country. 

He gathered with his two daughters around the grave of his mother, marked by orange flower petals spread out in the shape of a cross and bouquets of pink flowers, his mother’s favorite color. 

Melendez said she died last year, and the loss was still fresh, so he was trying to remember her by continuing with the same rituals he watched her carry out growing up, this time with his daughters. He started preparing for the celebration four days before, making tamales from scratch and building a small altar for her in their home. 

Day of the Dead dates back centuries to ancient Indigenous civilizations, which would organize parties when someone died to guide them on to the next life, and lay out food in altars to nourish them on their journeys. 

When Spanish colonizers arrived and began forcing Catholicism upon Indigenous communities, they would mix Indigenous traditions with Catholic holidays. Celebrations of the dead then synced up with All Saints Day on November 1, ending on November 2. 

While celebrations begin ramping up at the end of October, Mexican tradition says that on that night their deceased are closest to the living world, and people hope to keep them company. Each family celebrates in different ways. 

In San Gregorio Pantheon, elderly women carry massive bundles of orange flowers, the iconic flower of death. Some families sob into each other’s arms. Others sit alone next to loved one’s graves in silence. Many more drink mezcal and tell stories of their family members. 

‘It’s like being with them’

Gathered with her daughter and granddaughter, 60-year-old Beatriz Chavez kneels at the graves of her son, nephew and father, quietly lighting candles. 

“It’s like being with them one more year, feeling like even if they don’t see them, we feel like we’re closer to them,” Chavez said, noting that she planned to sleep in the graveyard, just like she did every year since her father died when she was 10. 

Over the years, the tradition has been the focus of the Disney film Coco. A Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City was also featured in a James Bond film, despite such a parade not existing in real life. Annual celebrations later adopted the idea of the parade from the movie. 

Now, people from all over the world have flocked to the Latin American nation, eager to experience the rich tradition for themselves. 

But once quaint celebrations in hubs for the Day of the Dead like Mexico City, Oaxaca and Michoacan have started to brim with tourists, who snap photos of mourners. In recent years, many Mexicans have also started to mix the celebration with Halloween. Other new traditions — such as the James Bond parade — have popped up. 

Some, like Melendez, prickle at the shifts. 

“Here, Halloween isn’t ours, it’s Day of the Dead,” he said. “It’s sad because it’s getting distorted. We’re losing the essence of who we are. This is a part of us, our roots.” 

For Melendez, it adds an extra level of importance to the celebration in their small cemetery, which he and others say has stayed true to the centuries-old traditions. 

It coincides with a larger conversation playing out across Mexico amid an influx of American “expats” and tourists. As more move to or travel to Mexico City, rents have gotten so high that many Mexicans have been pushed out of areas they’ve lived in for much of their lives, leaving frustration simmering in much of the city. 

Those who wander the graves and sell flowers and food in the streets see the changes less as a loss of tradition, and more as an evolution — a way for younger generations to continue passing on their heritage in their own ways, and share it with new audiences. 

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California attempts to regulate election deepfakes

The state of California has passed several laws attempting to regulate artificial intelligence, including AI used to create realistic looking but manipulated audio or video — known as a deepfake. In this U.S. election season, the aim is to counter misinformation. But it has raised concerns about free speech. From California, Genia Dulot has our story.

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