WMO Issues ‘Red Alert,’ Says Record-Hot 2024 Is Likely |
The head of climate monitoring from the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said there is a “high probability” that 2024 will be another (Reuters) record-hot year after the agency’s annual report (WMO) found that every major global climate record was broken in 2023. The WMO community “is sounding the red alert to the world,” its Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said yesterday. The UN agency said the “glimmer of hope” in trying to stave off the worst consequences of global warming was that last year also saw nearly a 50 percent increase (AP) in capacity to generate energy from wind, solar, and hydro power.
Global temperatures in 2023 reached 1.45°C (2.61°F) above pre-industrial levels, the report said. It added that last year’s El Niño weather phenomenon made temperatures especially high, and the year following an El Niño event is typically even warmer. Saulo said that last year’s high ocean temperatures, glacier retreat, and Antarctic sea ice loss were especially concerning. |
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“The past year has offered painful reminders that war and conflict can also sap the resources, attention, and stamina necessary for the challenging clean energy transition ahead,” Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff and Harvard University’s Meghan L. O’Sullivan write for Foreign Affairs. “The risks of a slower transition, in turn, will feed those same sources of conflict in the long run, as climate change exacerbates natural disasters, fuels conflict over scarce water supplies and mineral and energy resources, and drives migration into countries where the far right is on the rise.”
“What is more urgent than ever is to grasp the economic opportunities that arise due to the low-cost renewables at our disposal, to decarbonize the electricity sector, and electrify other sectors,” the University of Melbourne’s Malte Meinshausen told the Associated Press.
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Hong Kong Passes Strict New National Security Law |
The law, which enters into effect on Saturday, was fast-tracked (FT) through Hong Kong’s legislature in less than two weeks. It increases the maximum penalty for sedition and broadens the definition of state secrets to include information about economic, technological, and scientific development, sparking concern in the business community.
This Backgrounder by Lindsay Maizland and CFR’s Clara Fong explores China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s civil liberties.
Vietnam: President Võ Văn Thưởng resigned (Bloomberg) today after just over a year in office, the ruling Communist Party said. The party’s statement said he “violated regulations,” though it did not provide further details; his departure marks the shortest presidency in Vietnam’s history and comes amid an anticorruption campaign in the country.
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IMF Agrees to Disburse Last Portion of Pakistan Loan |
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed (VOA) in a preliminary deal today to disburse the final $1.1 billion tranche of a bailout package secured last year that expires in April. The IMF said the new Pakistani government is seeking a longer, larger loan program once the current one is complete. This Backgrounder explains the role of the IMF.
U.S./Afghanistan: The White House and U.S. lawmakers reached a compromise to add (Reuters) twelve thousand new special immigrant visas for Afghans who assisted with the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan to a bill to fund the State Department for the remainder of the fiscal year. Advocates for an increase in such visas had originally pushed for twenty thousand more.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Head of UN Team Probing Islamic State Crimes in Iraq Flags Risks of Early Shutdown |
Investigations will remain incomplete and the fate of evidence gathered remains unclear as the mission approaches a September deadline to shut down, its leader Christian Ritscher told Reuters. International backers had hoped the mission would continue for several years but Iraq’s government moved to close it early. Iraq said the mission had not properly cooperated with Iraqi authorities.
Canada/Israel: Canada will not allow future arms exports to Israel following the passage of a nonbinding resolution on Monday that called for this step as part of efforts to reach peace in the Israel-Hamas war, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told the Toronto Star yesterday. Nonlethal military shipments had already been suspended (NYT), she said.
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South African Police Raid Home of Parliament Speaker in Graft Probe |
Investigators accused (BBC) Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula of soliciting bribes during her previous seven-year tenure as defense minister. She denied any wrongdoing. President Cyril Ramaphosa took office in 2018 on a campaign to tackle government corruption and is up for reelection this May.
South Sudan: Gunmen killed (Reuters) fifteen people, including a county commissioner, in the country’s eastern Pibor region, a senior official said today. Conflict has been on the rise in South Sudan as it prepares for a national election at the end of the year.
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EU Deal Renews Access for Ukrainian Farm Imports, With Some Limits |
Lawmakers in the European Union (EU) agreed (AP) today to renew wartime suspensions of normal tariffs for Ukrainian agricultural goods, but reimpose some tariffs if imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, grains, and honey exceed certain levels. The deal follows weeks of protests by EU farmers who argue that cheap Ukrainian goods are flooding the market.
UK: The Labour Party would aim to reintroduce (BBC) a Treasury unit on economic growth and productivity if they regain power in the United Kingdom (UK), senior Labor politician Rachel Reeves said in an economic policy speech yesterday. Labour is leading (BBC) in the polls for general elections this year.
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Mexico Says It Will Not Accept Deportations From Texas as Courts Weigh Controversial Law |
Immigration policy should be decided between federal governments, Mexico’s foreign ministry said (NYT) amid a legal battle over whether Texas authorities should be allowed to arrest and deport undocumented individuals who cross the southern U.S. border into the state. The U.S. Supreme Court greenlit the law yesterday, only to have a lower court block it (WaPo).
Brazil: Federal police yesterday recommended (FT) former President Jair Bolsonaro be criminally charged with falsifying his COVID-19 vaccine certificate. Bolsonaro denies the claim. This would be the first formal indictment against him despite a series of police investigations into his activities while in power.
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Intel Wins $20 Billion in Grants, Loans in Biggest-Ever CHIPS Act Award |
The U.S. government will provide (Bloomberg) chipmaker Intel with around $8.5 billion in grants and as much as $11 billion in loans as part of an effort to reinvigorate the U.S. domestic chip industry. The money will fund projects including semiconductor production at plants in Arizona and Ohio and research and development at facilities in Oregon and New Mexico.
This episode of the Why It Matters podcast discusses global competition in chipmaking. |
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