Daily: 09/12/2021

Oil-rich Norway Goes to Polls with Climate on the Agenda

North Sea oil and gas have helped make Norway one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But as Norwegians head to the polls on Monday, fears about climate change have put the future of the industry at the top of the campaign agenda.The ruling Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and the opposition Labor Party, which is leading in opinion polls, both advocate for a gradual move away from the fossil fuels that continue to underpin the economy.But the larger parties rarely rule alone in Norway; smaller players are usually required to build a majority coalition, and they can have an outsize influence on the government agenda. Some are demanding a more radical severing with the country’s dominant industry and income stream.”Our demand is to stop looking for oil and gas, and stop handing out new permits to companies,” says Lars Haltbrekken, climate and energy spokesman for the Socialist Left party — a likely coalition partner for Labor. He claims that after eight years in charge the government is protecting a status quo at a time when the country is thirsty for a post-oil future.A report in August from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting global floods and fires created a wave in Norway that has crested throughout this election campaign.It is also forcing Norwegians to wrestle with a paradox at the heart of their society.With their hydro-powered energy grid and electric cars, they are among the world’s most enthusiastic consumers of green power, but decades of exporting oil and gas means this nation of 5.3 million enjoys a generous welfare buffer and sits on the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.Tina Bru, the oil and energy minister, says it’s unthinkable that the country should force an end to the country’s biggest industry, which is responsible for more than 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce.”My question is always: What happens after you stop? What else are you going to do to make sure the world reaches its climate goals? It might affect our own climate budget, but it’s not going to make a difference globally,” she says.She agrees with a report highlighted by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, an industry group, that says an end to Norwegian production would have a net negative effect on global emissions. Demand would stay the same, and cleaner Norwegian production would be replaced by other countries with higher emissions, she says. She prefers a longer-term approach that focuses on demand.”It is kind of disappointing in this campaign where we see the only way to discuss policy and have credibility on your will to cut emissions is to stop producing oil and gas. It is such a more nuanced issue involving other things like agriculture and transport.”About 70% of all new cars sold in Norway are electric, with consumers continuing to benefit from government subsidies, and the government has signaled that environment taxes will rise. Earlier this month, it also proposed a tweak to the existing tax regime, where some explorers will have to shoulder more of the risk of searching for oil.Labor supports the approach and admits that it charts a similar future for the industry. But it has promised a more interventionist industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.However, any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for Labor. The Socialist Left says it won’t offer support lightly, and the other probable partner, the Center Party, is also demanding a more aggressive approach to the energy shift.”Right now our plan is to run together with our two old friends from these parties,” says Espen Barth Eide, Labor’s Energy spokesman. “We still think this works. But if their opening position is to end exploration, that is not going to happen. … We will try to have a mature dialogue about the next phase of the oil industry.”Most of the country’s oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle — a red line for environmentalists. Eide says a possible compromise might be found by focusing on where oil exploration can be carried out in the future.  However, Haltbrekken, a former chairman of Norway’s Friends of the Earth, a climate charity, says the new government needs to be more urgent.  “The IPCC report made a huge impression on the population,” he said. “But there is one thing I fear more than what was in the report, and that is that apathy and hopelessness will take over. People could think this is such a huge problem that we cannot do anything. But we can. We can do a lot to solve it. It just has to start now.”Election forecasts will be released when voting closes at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday. The final official tally for the 169-member parliament usually comes at some point overnight, but experts believe the results could come quicker this year with a record number of people having already made their choice in advance voting. More than 78% of eligible people in this nation of 5.3 million voted in the last national election.

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РПЦ назвала «образою» встановлення пам’ятника Дзержинському в окупованому Криму

11 вересня в Сімферополі був встановлений відреставрований пам’ятник Феліксу Дзержинському – в річницю його дня народження

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Two Women Join Race to Become France’s 1st Female President

Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France’s first female leader in next year’s spring election.The far-right National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen and Paris’ Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves.  They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right — including another female politician, Valerie Pecresse — and among the Greens.Hidalgo, 62, mayor of the French capital since 2014, is the favorite to win the Socialist Party nomination. She launched her candidacy in the northwestern city of Rouen.  “I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had,” she said, invoking her roots. Hidalgo is the daughter of Spanish immigrants who fled their country in search of freedom amid dictator Francisco Franco’s rule.Le Pen, the 53-year-old leader of France’s far-right party, started her campaign in the southern city of Frejus with a pledge to defend French liberty. In keeping with a hard-right message that critics say has vilified Muslim communities, Le Pen promised to be tough on “parts of France that have been Talibanized.” Although she launched her candidacy earlier this year, on Sunday she made 26-year-old Jordan Bardella the acting head of the party as her campaign shifts into full gear.Le Pen is also remaking her image for this election. Gone is the dark blue wardrobe that has been her trademark. She now will be donning light blue for the campaign, “to show our vision, less partisan, (reaching) higher,” Le Pen’s special councilor Philippe Olivier was quoted as saying by Le Figaro, the conservative daily.  Macron, 43, has not yet announced his reelection bid but is expected to do so. Launching a candidacy in France is a necessary formality for each presidential election.  The vote is expected to boil down to a duel between Le Pen and Macron, as it was during France’s last presidential election in 2017.

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Папа Франциск закликав Угорщину «простягнути руки всім»

84-річний Франциск 12 вересня провів у Будапешті лише сім годин, щоб закрити міжнародний католицький форум, а згодом вирушив до Словаччини, де пробуде до 15 вересня

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Britain Expected to Announce Plans to Inoculate 12-to-15-Year-Olds 

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that it has recorded 224.3 million global COVID-19 infections and 4.6 million global deaths.  The center also said 5.7 billion vaccines have been administered.    Britain is expected to announce this week its plans for inoculating 12- to 15-year-old youngsters in the battle against the coronavirus.   The vaccine campaign will likely start later this month.   More than 50% of Japan’s population has received COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Japanese government.  Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said in a television interview Sunday that the inoculation rate is expected to reach 60% by the end of September.  Myanmar is fighting a third COVID-19 wave at a time of increasing political tensions.FILE – A man receives a COVID vaccine at a vaccination site, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Jan. 29, 2021, just days before a military coup threw the country into turmoil.According to World Health Organization data, more than 400,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Myanmar, with more than 16,000 dead.  Public health officials, however, say they believe the figures are widely undercounted.    The Times of India reported that the northeastern state of Mizoram’s COVID-19 tally reached 70,000, after 1,089 new cases were recorded Sunday, including 245 children.  Johns Hopkins has recorded 33.2 million COVID-19 cases in India and more than 442,000 deaths.  Health officials say they believe that India’s COVID-19 numbers are likely undercounted.   India is second only to the United States in COVID infections.  The U.S. has a COVID-19 tally of 41 million infections and nearly 660,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. COVID-sniffing dogs at Miami AirportTwo COVID-sniffing dogs, a Belgium Malinois and a Dutch shepherd, are smelling the face coverings of employees at Miami International Airport to detect the presence of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease.   Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade county, said in a statement about the pilot program that, “This pandemic has pushed us to innovate to stop the spread.”  Miami International Airport said the dogs, which have been deployed to an employee security checkpoint, were trained at Florida International University, where they “achieved accuracy rates from 96 to 99% for detecting COVID-19 in published peer-reviewed, double-blind trials.”  If the dogs identify someone as carrying the coronavirus odor, that person is then directed to a rapid COVID test.  Miami International said it is the first U.S. airport to utilize COVID-sniffing dogs.  

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Данілов заперечив відновлення роботи російської мережі супермаркетів в Україні

У серпні колишній директор з розвитку Mere в Україні Артем Хоменко повідомив, нібито мережа «вже запустилася в Нікополі та Павлограді»

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Іран дозволить інспекторам МАГАТЕ обслужити камери спостереження на ядерних об’єктах

Раніше цього місяця у звіті МАГАТЕ йшлося, що Іран продовжує збільшувати свої запаси високозбагаченого урану

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На сьогодні лише занепокоєнь від партнерів мало, потрібні активні дії – секретар РНБО

За його словами, ці дії можуть бути різними: економічні, фінансові

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Country Violators to be Scrutinized by UN Human Rights Council 

The human rights records of more than 40 countries will come under scrutiny by the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council during its upcoming four-week session.  
The session promises to be extremely busy.  Nearly 90 reports on a wide range of thematic issues will be presented.  They include torture, enforced disappearances, the right to development, slavery, the rights of people of African descent and racism. As in previous years, the council’s laser-lens focus on the way governments treat their people is expected to garner a lot of attention.  Reported abuses, some amounting to crimes against humanity, will be examined in countries such as Myanmar, Belarus, Syria, Eritrea, Burundi, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet will present an oral update on the situation in Afghanistan Monday as a follow-up to the council’s August 24 special session on that country. The European Union, Mexico and Britain along with human rights activists have criticized the resolution that was adopted for failing to establish a robust independent mechanism to monitor violations by the Taliban. Council President Fiji Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan says discussion on Afghanistan has not ended with the special session. “And, really, it is a matter for states to decide whether they want to take the outcome of the special session further and achieve another result,” she said. “But I do want to note that the Security Council on the 30th of August adopted a resolution on safe passage.  It addressed human rights concerns particularly as it relates to women and children.”   Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth says he is dismayed at the council’s reluctance to take on powerful countries such as Russia and China.  He says he fears the Kremlin will not be held to account for its unprecedented crackdown on opposition parties in advance of this month’s parliamentary elections. “Ideally, we would like to have a resolution.  At minimum, there should be a joint statement.  But, again, this is a situation that just because a government is relatively powerful, should not mean that it escapes scrutiny.  And this is again a bit of a test of the council’s credibility,”  he said.Roth says the same dynamics are playing out regarding China’s abusive treatment of more than a million Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang province. “China has always escaped formal scrutiny by the council.  There has never been a resolution on China.  It is time to end that, given the severity and the atrocities, the crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang,”  he said.China maintains the Uyghurs are being held in reeducation camps and that the vocational training they are receiving is necessary to counter terrorism and alleviate poverty.   Roth is calling on Bachelet to present a report describing the inhumane conditions under which the Uyghurs are being incarcerated and to call for the Chinese government to be held accountable. 

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Папа Франциск зустрівся з прем’єром Орбаном під час кількагодинного візиту в Угорщину

84-річний понтифік має провести всього сім годин у столиці Угорщини

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ФБР розсекретила перший документ про розслідування терактів 11 вересня

Документ, оприлюднений пізно ввечері 11 вересня, є першим матеріалом слідства, опублікованим після того, як президент США Джо Байден минулого тижня розпорядився розсекретити протягом найближчих шести місяців документи ФБР щодо розслідування атак

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Pope Francis Meets Viktor Orban in Worldview Clash

Pope Francis arrives in Budapest on Sunday morning to celebrate a Mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-hour meeting with Orban — accompanied by Hungarian President Janos Ader — in Budapest’s grand Fine Arts Museum, in what could be an awkward brief encounter.On the one side, Orban, a self-styled defender of “Christian Europe” from migration. On the other, Pope Francis, who urges help for the marginalized and those of all religions fleeing war and poverty.But the approach, eminently Christian according to the pope, has often been met with incomprehension among the faithful, particularly within the ranks of traditionalist Catholics.Over the last few years, there has been no love lost between Orban supporters in Hungary and the leader of the Catholic world.Pro-Orban media and political figures have launched barbs at the pontiff calling him “anti-Christian” for his pro-refugee sentiments, and the “Soros Pope”, a reference to the Hungarian-born liberal US billionaire George Soros, a right-wing bete-noire.Eyebrows have also been raised by the pontiff’s whirlwind visit to close the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress.His seven-hour-long stay in 9.8 million-population Hungary will be followed immediately by an official visit to smaller neighbor Slovakia of more than two days.”Pope Francis wants to humiliate Hungary by only staying a few hours,” said a pro-Orban television pundit.Born Jorge Bergoglio to a family of Italian emigrants to Argentina, the pope regularly reminds “old Europe” of its past, built on waves of new arrivals.And without ever naming political leaders he castigates “sovereigntists” who turn their backs on refugees with what he has called “speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934.”In April 2016, the pope said, “We are all migrants!” on the Greek island of Lesbos, gateway to Europe, bringing on board his plane three Syrian Muslim families whose homes had been bombed.Hungary HelpsIn contrast, Orban’s signature crusade against migration has included border fences and detention camps for asylum-seekers and provoked growing ire in Brussels.Orban’s supporters point instead to state-funded aid agency Hungary Helps which works to rebuild churches and schools in war-torn Syria and sends doctors to Africa.”The majority of Hungarians say the same thing: we should not bring the problem to Europe, but should help out where the problem is instead,” said Father Kornel Fabry, secretary general of the congress.Orban’s critics, however, accuse him of using Christianity as a shield to deflect criticism and a sword to attack opponents while targeting vulnerable minorities like migrants.Days before the pope’s arrival posters appeared on the streets of the Hungarian capital — where the city council is controlled by the anti-Orban opposition — reading “Budapest welcomes the Holy Father” and showing his quotes including pleas for solidarity and tolerance towards minorities.During the pope’s time  in Budapest he will also meet the country’s bishops and representatives of various Christian congregations.He will also meet leaders of the 100,000-strong Hungarian Jewish community, the largest in Central Europe.Rounding off his stay he will celebrate the open-air mass on the capital’s vast Heroes’ Square. Orban — who is of Calvinist Protestant background — and his wife, who is a Catholic — are to attend.Around 75,000 people have registered to attend the mass, with screens and loudspeakers placed the length of a main boulevard near the square to allow others to follow the ceremony.The trip to Budapest was at the invitation of the congress and follows the path of John Paul II who also attended the event in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya.It is the first papal trip to Hungary since Pope John Paul II in 1996.”To welcome the Holy Father is an honor for us, but the organizers have asked us to take care of the pope, who is not young anymore,” said Father Fabry.The 84-year-old pontiff’s 34th foreign trip comes two months after a colon operation that required a general anesthetic and a 10-day convalescence in hospital. 

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Секретар РНБО розповів, чи можливі санкції проти Портнова

«Треба мати аргументи, докази. І цим займається не апарат РНБО, цим займаються інші служби», – сказав Олексій Данілов

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Pope in Orban’s Hungary at Start of 4-Day Europe Trip

Pope Francis arrived in Hungary early Sunday at the start of his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. He will celebrate a Mass and meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose right-wing, anti-immigrant policies clash with Francis’ call for countries to welcome refugees.Francis’ arrival at Budapest airport opened his four-day trip primarily to Slovakia with a seven-hour stop Sunday in the Hungarian capital. He is passing through Budapest to celebrate the closing Mass of an international conference on the Eucharist, though he will also meet with Hungarian religious figures and Hungary’s president and prime minister.Organizers expect as many as 75,000 people at the Mass in Heroes’ Square, which is going ahead with few coronavirus restrictions even as Hungary, like the rest of Europe, is battling infections fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.Despite pleas from the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors, congress organizers decided not to require COVID-19 vaccinations, tests, masks or social distancing for attendance. Organizers, however, said they had ordered 30,000 masks to distribute as well as hand sanitizer, and urged all attending to be prudent.During the flight from Rome, Francis seemed in good form and stayed so long greeting journalists at the back of the plane that an aide had to tell him to get back to his seat because it was time to land.Francis said he was happy to be resuming foreign trips again after the coronavirus lull and then his own recovery this summer from surgery to remove a 33-centimeter section of his colon. “Bad weeds never die,” he quipped about his recovery, quoting an Argentine dictum.The Vatican and trip organizers have stressed that Francis has only been invited to Hungary to celebrate the Mass – not make a proper state and pastoral visit as he is doing in Slovakia. But Francis and Orban disagree on a host of issues, top among them migration, and Francis’ limited stay in Budapest could indicate that he didn’t want to give Orban’s government the political boost of hosting a pope for a longer pilgrimage before the general election next spring.“At the beginning there were a lot who were angry (that Francis wasn’t staying longer), but now I think they understand,” said the Rev. Kornel Fabry, secretary general of the Eucharist conference.He noted that a majority of Hungarians back Orban’s migration policies, “that we shouldn’t bring the trouble into Europe but should help out where the trouble is.”Pope Francis, left, leaves by car upon arrival at Budapest International Airport in Budapest on Sept. 12, 2021, for a visit to Hungary.Orban has frequently depicted his government as a defender of Christian civilization in Europe and a bulwark against migration from Muslim-majority countries. Francis has expressed solidarity with migrants and refugees and criticized what he called “national populism advanced by governments like Hungary’s. He has urged governments to welcome and integrate as many migrants as they can.About 39% of Hungarians declared themselves to be Roman Catholic in a 2011 census, while 13% declared themselves to be Protestant, either Lutheran or Calvinist, a Protestant branch with which Orban is affiliated.Still, religious commitment in Hungary lags behind many of its neighbors. According to a 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center, only 14% of Hungarians said religion was an important part of their lives, and 17% said they attend religious services at least monthly.Despite that, registered churches have been major beneficiaries of state support under Orban since he returned to power in 2010. According to estimates by business website G7, contributions to churches from Hungary’s central budget rose from around $117 million in 2009 to more than $588 million in 2016.Additionally, around 3,000 places of worship have been built or restored using public funds since 2010, part of an effort by Orban’s government to advance what he calls “Christian democracy,” an alternative to liberal governance of which he is a frequent critic.Orban has been under fire for recent policies seen as targeting the rights of LGBT people, including a law passed in June forbidding the depiction of homosexuality or sex reassignment in media consumed by minors. The European Union’s executive branch launched two separate legal proceedings against Hungary’s government in July over what it called infringements on LGBT rights. The government says the measures, which were attached to a law that allows tougher penalties for pedophilia, seek only to protect children.Critics, though, have compared the legislation to Russia’s gay propaganda law of 2013, saying it wrongly conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize conservative voters before elections.The Roman Catholic Church, which has a dreadful record on protecting children from priestly predators, holds that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” and Francis recently authorized a statement saying priests can’t bless same-sex unions.But he has also called for the church to accompany the LGBT community and backed civil unions when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires as an alternative to gay marriage. He is seen as being much more welcoming of gays than his predecessors.As a result, some gay Catholics were welcoming Francis’ visit to Hungary, however brief, in hopes he might issue a message of encouragement.“Pope Francis has been extremely accepting of them, and I trust that for those who may still have some prejudices or reservations about LGBTQ people and other minorities, it will open their hearts a little bit and make them more accepting,” said Csaba Hegedus, a member of Hungary’s LGBT community and a practicing Catholic who planned to attend the pope’s Mass.   

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Pope Travels to Hungary, Slovakia in First Post-surgery Trip

Pope Francis travels to Hungary and Slovakia Sunday on his first foreign trip since undergoing surgery in July. He will meet Hungarian officials during a very short visit to Budapest, and preside over the closing mass of a eucharistic congress. Francis then travels to Slovakia, where he is expected to visit three cities before returning to the Vatican on Wednesday.  Francis will spend just seven hours in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where he will be closing the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. The visit to Hungary and Slovakia, the 34th abroad of this papacy, is his first foreign trip since the 84-year-old pontiff underwent intestinal surgery just two months ago.
 
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the visit is intended to be a “spiritual journey.” It starts with the Christian rite of Holy Communion and ends with prayers and celebration of Our Lady of Sorrows, Slovakia’s patron saint, who is believed to watch over Slavic lands wounded by totalitarianism.  
 
Francis asked for prayers for his pilgrimage to the heart of Europe, where he is expected to address issues that affect the entire continent.  
 
These will be days marked by adoration and prayer in the heart of Europe, the pope said, thanking those who helped prepare this visit. The pope sent greetings to those waiting to meet with him and said he was looking forward to this visit.  
The Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, told Vatican Radio that the people of Hungary view the pope’s presence in Budapest as “a real gift.”
 
Francis will meet with the country’s top authorities, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Observers and Catholic media have noted that the brevity of his stay in Hungary compared to Slovakia is likely due to the differences that exist between the pope and the nationalist and anti-immigrant policies of the prime minister.
 
The pope’s meeting with Orban will take place before the closing mass of the Eucharistic Congress, a gathering of clergy, monks, nuns and lay people, in Budapest’s Heroes Square.
 
After the Sunday afternoon mass, Francis will travel to Bratislava, where he will stay until Wednesday, while visiting three other cities in Slovakia. He will meet with the country’s authorities, the Jewish community and the Roma population in the town of Kosice.  
 
The pope will celebrate two open air masses in Slovakia. The leadership in this country is also against uncontrolled immigration but their opposition has not been quite as strong and vocal as in Hungary.
 
This four-day pilgrimage will test the pope’s strength following his recent surgery. Bruni said no special measures have been adopted, except the usual caution for a papal trip. He said there is always a doctor and nurses in the papal entourage.
 

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