Ukraine war reminder that dependency on Russian fuels unsustainable: EU

 The European Commission President said the energy policy has become the security policy as well

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday said Russia’s war in Ukraine was a stark reminder that the dependency on Russian fossil fuels is not sustainable, and she pitched for a deeper cooperation between India and the EU to expand the use of clean energy. On the first day of her two-day visit to India, von der Leyen went to the TERI Gram campus in Haryana and addressed an event at the headquarters of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

In her address at the ISA, she talked about the need for sustainable ways of doing business using clean energy and also emphasised the need for switching to “home-grown clean energies” in the wake of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The European Commission President said the energy policy has become the security policy as well. “For us, Europeans, it is a stark reminder that our dependency on Russian fossil fuels is not sustainable. Because how can you do business with someone, who openly threatens Europe and wages war against one of your closest neighbours,” she asked….

Pompeo tries to salvage a post-Brexit Britain alliance amid growing rift

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been touting the prospects of a big new trade deal with the United States that can fill the void of Britain’s departure from the European Union on Friday

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits London on Wednesday to salvage a post-Brexit alliance with an old friend whose defiance on China and Iran underscores Washington’s diplomatic isolation.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been touting the prospects of a big new trade deal with the United States that can fill the void of Britain’s departure from the European Union on Friday. But Pompeo’s meetings with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Johnson on Wednesday and Thursday threatens to become a damage limitation exercise for the “special relationship”.

Mike Pompeo had been doing his best to convince Johnson that allowing China’s Huawei tech giant to help build Britain’s next-generation 5G network introduced a long-term security threat. Britain approved a limited but still important role for Huawei on Tuesday. “The United States is disappointed by the UK’s decision,” a senior administration official said in a terse statement. And Johnson had been pushing Washington to send back the wife of a US diplomat who is using the cover of diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution over the death of a teenager in a road accident in England last August.

The United States rejected Anne Sacoolas’s extradition to Britain last week. “We feel this amounts to a denial of justice,” Raab said in response. “The UK would have acted differently if this had been a UK diplomat serving in the US.” Disagreements about Iran and a US prosecutor’s complaint that Prince Andrew was stonewalling an FBI investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein only add to the layers of tensions.

Terrorists kill five migrant labourers from West Bengal in Kashmir

The attack happened on a day a delegation of parliamentarians from the European Union is visiting Kashmir to talk to locals

Five migrant labourers from West Bengal were shot dead by terrorists in Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Tuesday, police said. Another labourer was critically injured by the terrorists, they said. All the victims hailed from Murshidabad district of West Bengal, the police said.

The attack happened on a day a delegation of parliamentarians from the European Union is visiting Kashmir to talk to locals and ask them about their experience after the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution in August.

Since the Centre’s decision on Article 370, terrorists have been targeting truckers and labourers, mainly who have come to the Valley from outside Jammu and Kashmir. On Monday, a trucker from Udhampur district was killed by militants in Anantnag, police said. This was the fourth truck driver to be killed by militants since August 5. On October 24, terrorists killed two non-Kashmiri truck drivers in Shopian district.

On October 14, two terrorists, including a suspected Pakistani national, shot dead the driver of a truck having Rajasthan registration number and assaulted an orchard owner in Shopian district. The driver was identified as Sharief Khan. Two days later, Punjab-based apple trader Charanjeet Singh was killed and Sanjeev injured when terrorists attacked them in Shopian district. The same day, a brick kiln worker from Chhattisgarh was shot dead by militants in Pulwama district.

Scientists say it’ll take $300 billion to halt global warming for 2 decades

The sum is not to fund green technologies or finance a moonshot solution to emissions, but to use simple, age-old practices to lock millions of tons of carbon back into the soil

$300 billion. That’s the money needed to stop the rise in greenhouse gases and buy up to 20 years of time to fix global warming, according to United Nations climate scientists. It’s the gross domestic product of Chile, or the world’s military spending every 60 days.

The sum is not to fund green technologies or finance a moonshot solution to emissions, but to use simple, age-old practices to lock millions of tons of carbon back into an overlooked and over-exploited resource: the soil. “We have lost the biological function of soils. We have got to reverse that,” said Barron J. Orr, lead scientist for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. “If we do it, we are turning the land into the big part of the solution for climate change.”

Rene Castro Salazar, an assistant director general at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said that of the 2 billion hectares (almost 5 billion acres) of land around the world that has been degraded by misuse, overgrazing, deforestation and other largely human factors, 900 million hectares could be restored.

Returning that land to pasture, food crops or trees would convert enough carbon into biomass to stabilize emissions of CO2, the biggest greenhouse gas, for 15-20 years, giving the world time to adopt carbon-neutral technologies…

Read More: Global Warming

Johnson’s Brexit hangs with a thread as European Union seeks more time

With 17 days before the UK is due to leave the EU, Johnson repeatedly pledged to “get Brexit done,” as he spoke in Parliament on Monday

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was hanging in the balance Tuesday, after the European Union Presidency said more time was needed before a summit of its leaders this week.

Antti Rinne, premier of Finland — which currently has the rotating presidency of the EU — said negotiations may need to continue after the EU Council summit that starts Thursday. “I think there is no time in a practical way and in a legal base to reach an agreement before the Council meeting, I think we need to have more time,” Rinne told reporters in Helsinki.

With 17 days before the UK is due to leave the EU, Boris Johnson repeatedly pledged to “get Brexit done,” as he spoke in Parliament on Monday following a Queen’s Speech that laid the ground for a general election. He’s refused to ask for a delay to Brexit, even though the Benn Act says he must do so if he hasn’t finalized a deal with both the EU and UK Parliament by October 19.

The EU plans to decide Wednesday whether there will be a deal for leaders to sign during the Oct. 17-18 summit and has ruled out negotiating during the actual meeting of leaders. Johnson postponed a meeting of his political cabinet to Wednesday, when it may become clearer whether a Brexit deal will be done this week, and the government will then be able to decide whether to call MPs in for a sitting on Saturday. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid also announced Nov. 6 as the date for his annual Budget, but that will only take place if the government gets a Brexit deal.

PM Boris Johnson suspends UK Parliament after latest Brexit defeat

What is usually a solemn, formal prorogation ceremony erupted into raucous scenes as opposition lawmakers in the House of Commons chamber shouted ‘shame on you’ and held up signs reading ‘silenced’

The simmering showdown between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Britain’s Parliament over Brexit came to a head as lawmakers delivered three defeats to the government’s plans for leaving the European Union, before being sent home early Tuesday for a contentious five-week suspension of the legislature.

In a session that ran well past midnight, Parliament enacted a law to block a no-deal Brexit next month, ordered the government to release private communications about its Brexit plans and rejected Boris Johnson‘s call for a snap election to break the political deadlock.

Parliament was then suspended or prorogued at the government’s request until October 14, a drastic move that gives Johnson a respite from rebellious lawmakers as he plots his next move. Opponents accuse him of trying to avoid democratic scrutiny.

What is usually a solemn, formal prorogation ceremony erupted into raucous scenes as opposition lawmakers in the House of Commons chamber shouted “Shame on you” and held up signs reading “Silenced.”

UK stands to lose $16 bn on EU exports in case of no-deal Brexit: UN

The economists said “this is a conservative estimate,” since it only takes into account the raising of tariffs from the current zero percent that Britain pays on exports within the EU

Britain could lose at least USD 16 billion annually on exports to the European Union if it leaves without a deal and possibly billions more on trade beyond the bloc, UN economists said Tuesday.

In a fresh report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) found that “a loss of preferences in the EU market consequent to a no-deal Brexit will result in UK export losses of at least USD 16 billion” (14.6 billion euros), representing seven percent of its overall exports to the bloc. The economists said “this is a conservative estimate,” since it only takes into account the raising of tariffs from the current zero percent that Britain pays on exports within the EU.

“In reality, the losses would be much greater because of non-tariff measures, border controls and disruption of existing UK-EU production networks,” they warned. The UNCTAD economists said Britain’s total merchandise exports last year stood at around USD 450 billion, and that its exports to other EU countries accounted for about half of that amount.

The report was released as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost his working majority in parliament ahead of a showdown with rebel MPs over fears he is steering the country towards a no-deal Brexit next month, which could lead to a snap election within weeks.

“The nearing Brexit deadline, along with increased uncertainty on outcomes, is problematic for UK exporters,” UNCTAD said in a statement, urging London to quickly seek policy solutions to provide at least short-term relief to the “Brexit crunch”.

On Johnson’s request, Queen approves UK Parliament’s suspension till Oct 14

The queen agreed to the date, effectively shutting parliament from mid-September for around a month

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will limit parliament’s ability to derail his Brexit plan by cutting the amount of time it will sit between now and EU exit day on October 31, infuriating opponents who urged Queen Elizabeth to intervene.

In his boldest move yet to take the country out of the European Union with or without a divorce deal, Johnson set October 14 for the Queen’s Speech — the formal state opening of a new session of parliament that is proceeded by a suspension of the House of Commons.

The queen agreed to the date, effectively shutting parliament from mid-September for around a month. Incensed, opposition leaders wrote to the queen to express their concern and asked for a meeting, threatening to drag the 93-year-old monarch into the constitutional crisis.“There will be ample time in parliament for MPs (Members of Parliament) to debate the EU, to debate Brexit and all the other issues, ample time,” Johnson told reporters.

Asked if he was trying to block MPs from delaying Britain’s EU departure, he replied: “That is completely untrue.” While suspending parliament ahead of a Queen’s Speech is the historical norm in Britain, the decision to limit parliamentary scrutiny weeks before the country’s most contentious policy decision in decades prompted an immediate outcry….

What no-deal Brexit means for Britain: Shortage of fuel, food and medicine

A government source blamed the leak on an unnamed former minister who wanted to influence negotiations with the EU.

Britain will face shortages of fuel, food and medicine if it leaves the European Union (EU) without a transition deal, according to leaked official documents reported by the Sunday Times, but whose interpretation was contested by ministers.

Setting out a vision of jammed ports, public protests and widespread disruption, the Times said the forecasts compiled by the Cabinet Office set out the most likely aftershocks of a no- Brexit deal rather than the worst case scenarios.

But Michael Gove, the minister in charge of coordinating no-deal preparations, challenged that, saying that the documents did set out a worst case scenario and that planning had been accelerated in the last three weeks.

The Times said up to 85 per cent of lorries using the main channel crossings “may not be ready” for French customs, meaning disruption at ports would potentially last up to three months before the flow of traffic improves…

Boris Johnson: From failed politician to Britain’s new Prime Minister

This story depends on discussions with parliamentarians, guides and pastors and shows how Johnson persuaded his suspicious associates to put their confidence in him

In a lavish inn in the core of one of London’s most costly neighborhoods, Boris Johnson praised his triumph in the race to move toward becoming UK executive on Tuesday night. Accumulated with his group at the gathering in Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, he and visitors swapped accounts of the six-week challenge over salmon mousse and frankfurters on sticks. They toasted the triumph with glasses of premium rosé champagne. The stimulation was a mystical performer performing card traps.

In any case, the most breathtaking demonstration of wizardry had officially occurred: the change of a government official scorned as a disappointment a year sooner into the most influential man in Britain. This story depends on discussions with parliamentarians, consultants and priests and shows how Boris Johnson persuaded his doubtful partners to put their confidence in him. Presently he needs to keep up that help if he will make due as head administrator and convey his guarantees to arrange a superior Brexit bargain.

In truth, the open substance of the Brexit battle was constantly well known with grassroots gathering individuals frantic to escape the EU. Be that as it may, he confronted one diligent inquiry: would he say he was prominent enough among the 300 or so Conservative individuals from Parliament to be chosen for lead them?

A media star with a present for satire, Johnson won distinction and fans among the British open in a manner couple of government officials ever accomplish. Be that as it may, the general population’s touch at no other time had converted into acknowledgment among his friends in the Westminster….

Punch clocks: Tracking staff’s working hours can plug the productivity gap

An European court deciding that expects organizations to follow representatives’ precise hours could yield helpful efficiency information.

All organizations in the European Union should follow their representatives’ working hours: That was the decision conveyed by the EU’s top court Tuesday. At first sight, this gives off an impression of being a senselessly lumbering measure. In any case, given the innovation accessible today, it might really be a smart thought.

The European Court of Justice administering is the consequence of a legitimate activity by Spanish worker’s organizations against the neighborhood backup of Deutsche Bank. The moneylender said it was following just extra time, as required by Spanish Supreme Court decisions deciphering the neighborhood laborer rights enactment. In any case, the ECJ decided for the associations, bolstered for this situation by Spain’s communist government, saying the EU’s working-time order expected businesses to monitor laborers’ hours, to compute additional time as well as to ensure they get the compulsory rest time frames — at any rate 11 continuous hours daily and in any event 24 continuous hours out of each week, just as rest breaks after like clockwork of work. The court revealed to EU part states to necessitate that all businesses set up “objective, solid and open” time-following frameworks.

This may appear to be pointless and dated — another instance of EU administrative overextend. As the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations said in an announcement, “We businesses are against the general reintroduction of the punch check in the 21st century. One can’t respond to the difficulties of Work 4.0 with Time Tracking 1.0.” Read Full Story 

Brexit: Theresa May needs to outline her ‘Plan B’ or risk second referendum

House of Commons to vote on various Brexit options on January 29

International News: Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been thrown out by Parliament. She’s now in talks with rival politicians to find a way forward before presenting a Plan B on Monday. If her plan isn’t convincing, then British lawmakers will try to take over the process. That could mean keeping much closer ties to the bloc, or even a second referendum. With just 10 weeks to go until the U.K. is due to leave the European Union, what are the most likely scenarios?

Brexit in Name Only, and Not Quite Yet

Keeping close ties to the EU’s single market and customs regime might be the best way of getting a Brexit deal that Parliament can support, though May has ruled it out. It’s known as “Norway-Plus” or “Common Market 2.0” to its supporters and “Brexit in Name Only” to its detractors. Critics have a point: this scenario would leave the U.K. taking rules from Brussels and wouldn’t address one of the main pledges of the referendum campaign — that uncontrolled immigration from Europe would stop. Businesses would mostly be pleased.

To get there, members of Parliament propose motions or amendments that show there’s support for the idea. The government asks for an extension to the Brexit day deadline of March 29 and reopens talks with the EU. The Withdrawal Agreement remains unchanged, including the much-loathed Irish border backstop. But the declaration on future ties is rewritten, making it very unlikely the fallback option will ever be used…

Read More : Brexit Deal