Day: April 27, 2024
SYDNEY — The Asian Development Bank holds its annual meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, next week, with discussions on climate change and the world’s aging population high on the agenda.
The four-day summit, starting Thursday, marks the first time that the ADB’s 68 members have gathered for a meeting in Georgia, which joined the multilateral development bank in 2007.
“Georgia sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia,” said Shalini Mittal, a principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“This meeting signifies ADB’s agenda of bridges to the future where technology and expertise from the West can be used to enhance structural reforms in Asia,” Mittal told VOA.
Alongside numerous panel discussions and a keynote speech from ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, finance ministers from Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries Japan, China and South Korea will also meet on the sidelines.
“Given the geopolitical uncertainty with the Ukraine-Russia war and tensions in Asia with China’s problematic relations with its neighbors, I think the meeting is taking place at a crucial time,” said Jason Chung, a senior adviser with the Project on Prosperity and Development at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It provides an additional path to have meaningful discussions on global economic issues,” Chung told VOA.
Climate change stressed
The issue of climate change is set to headline proceedings at the conference, with the ADB now marketing itself as the climate bank for the Asia-Pacific region.
The bank pledged a record $9.8 billion of climate finance in 2023, supporting developing countries to cut greenhouse emissions and adapt to extreme conditions as global warming continues.
“Storm surges, sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, and floods — all our countries suffer from all of the imaginable impacts of climate change,” said Warren Evans, who, as senior special adviser on climate change in the ADB president’s office, acts as the institution’s climate envoy.
The bank says that the Asia-Pacific region was hit by over 200 disasters last year alone, with many of them weather related, a problem that shows no sign of letting up.
“Right now, there’s a heatwave in Bangladesh that is causing severe impacts. Schools are closed, they’re seeing a drop in agricultural productivity, hospitals are getting overloaded with people with heatstroke,” Evans told VOA.
“Mortality rates are going up and, of course, women and children are the most vulnerable to those impacts,” he said.
While much of the Asia-Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to climate change, it is also a huge driver of the phenomenon.
The region contributes more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions, with a heavy reliance on coal as a source of energy, according to the ADB.
To try to reach net zero targets, many Asia-Pacific nations require huge investment to convert to clean energy alternatives.
One way that the ADB is tackling this issue is through a program targeting coal-burning power plants, a major contributor to emissions.
“With private sector partners and sovereign funding, we’re refinancing coal-fired power plants in order to be able to close them down early,” Evans said. The ADB’s “energy transition mechanism” uses private and public capital to refinance investments in coal-fired power, allowing power purchase agreements to be shortened and plants to be closed as much as a decade earlier than planned. The financing is also used to fund clean energy projects to generate the power that would have come from the coal plant.
The project looks to replace these plants with clean energy alternatives, ensuring that power is generated more sustainably.
A coal-burning power plant in Indonesia’s West Java is set to become the first to be retired early under the initiative.
“The communities that are impacted will have support, allowing people to find new jobs or to get social welfare,” Evans said.
Aging population in Asia
During the Tbilisi summit, the ADB will also launch a major report on aging population, which also affects member countries’ economies.
According to the bank, 1 in 4 people in the Asia-Pacific region will be over 60 by 2050, close to 1.3 billion people.
“The speed of aging is very quick in Asia, because of the rapid progress in the social development that has taken place in the region,” said Aiko Kikkawa, a senior economist for the ADB’s Aging Well in Asia report.
Researchers have investigated the implications of this demographic transition, with Kikkawa finding that the Asia-Pacific region is currently “unprepared” for aging populations.
“Large numbers of older people do report a substantial disease burden, lack of access to decent jobs or essential services, such as health and long-term care, and even lack of access to pension coverage,” Kikkawa told VOA.
The ADB has pledged to help to improve the lives of older people across the Asia-Pacific region, by supporting the rollout of universal health coverage and providing infrastructure for ‘age-friendly cities’ that are more accessible for older people.
Poverty to be addressed
While much of the focus in Tbilisi will be on climate change and aging populations, the ADB’s core edict remains to eradicate extreme poverty in its many developing country members.
That task has become even more challenging in an environment of high inflation and growing government debt.
However, Chung, the former U.S. director of the ADB, told VOA he believes that this goal should be at the center of discussions in the Georgian capital.
“The ADB should focus on its core mission of alleviating poverty and creating paths for economic growth in the developing member countries.
“While climate risk is important, I think given the state of uncertainty, it is important to provide support to create economic conditions for growth,” he told VOA.
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Lausanne, Switzerland — The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has backed the World Anti-Doping Agency in a row over its handling of positive drug tests by 23 Chinese swimmers.
“We have full confidence in WADA and the regulations and that WADA have followed their regulations,” Bach told AFP in an exclusive interview Friday at the committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
WADA has faced criticism since media reports last weekend revealed that the Chinese swimmers tested positive for heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) — which can enhance performance — ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The swimmers were not suspended or sanctioned after WADA accepted the explanation of Chinese authorities that the results were caused by food contamination at a hotel where they had stayed.
The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, has called the situation a “potential cover-up” with the positive tests never made public at the time.
Bach stressed that WADA was run independently, despite being funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and he said he had learned of the positive tests via the media.
The IOC was awaiting the results of a new investigation ordered by WADA on Thursday, but Bach said the Chinese swimmers could compete at the Paris Olympics this year if cleared.
“If the procedures are followed, there is no reason for them not to be there,” the 70-year-old former German fencer added.
‘Iconic’ Paris
The Paris Games are set to be important to “revive the Olympic spirit” after the last COVID-affected edition in Tokyo in 2021 saw sport play out in empty stadiums, Bach said.
The hugely ambitious opening ceremony being planned by French organizers remains one of the biggest doubts, with infrastructure for the Games either already built or on track.
Instead of a traditional parade through the athletics stadium on the first night, teams are set to sail down the Seine on a flotilla of river boats in front of up to 500,000 spectators.
Worries about a terror attack have led to persistent speculation that the ceremony might need to be scrapped or scaled back dramatically.
“The very meticulous, very professional approach (from French authorities) gives us all the confidence that we can have this opening ceremony on the river Seine and that this opening ceremony will be iconic, will be unforgettable for the athletes, and everybody will be safe and secure,” Bach said.
Recent grumbling from Paris residents and negative media reports were typical of the run-up to any Olympics, he said, and also a symptom of broader anxiety.
“It’s part of our zeitgeist because we are living in uncertain times. And there are people who are skeptical. Some are even scared. Some are worried about their future,” the IOC president said.
Diplomatic tightrope
As with previous Olympics, international politics and diplomacy are set to intrude on the world’s biggest sporting event.
Bach reiterated his support for the IOC’s policy of excluding Russia from the Paris Games over the “blatant violation” of the Olympic charter when it annexed Ukrainian sporting organizations.
A small number of Russian athletes will be able to compete as neutrals in Paris, providing they have not declared public support for the invasion of Ukraine or are associated with the security forces.
Any Russian athlete that expressed political views on the field of play, including the “Z” sign that has come to symbolize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, could be excluded.
“Immediately a disciplinary procedure would be opened and the necessary measures and or sanctions be taken,” Bach said, adding: “This can go up to immediate exclusion from the Games.”
Addressing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, he said between six and eight Palestinian athletes were expected to compete in Paris, with some set to be invited by the IOC even if they fail to qualify.
Bach dismissed any suggestion that the IOC had treated Russia differently over its invasion of Ukraine compared with Israel and its war in Gaza.
“The situation between Israel and Palestine is completely different,” he said.
He said he had been even-handed in his public statements on Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.
“From day one, we expressed how horrified we were, first on the seventh of October and then about the war and its horrifying consequences,” Bach said.
Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed 34,356 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Bach is in the last year of what should be a second and final four-year term according to IOC rules.
But some IOC members have suggested changing the organization’s statutes to enable him to stay at the helm — an issue he declined to address.
“The IOC Ethics Commission has given me the strict recommendation not to address this question before the end of (the) Paris (Olympics) and I think they have good reasons for this,” he said.
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washington — About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who are not yet retired say they expect to never retire, and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income, an AARP survey finds.
About 1 in 4 have no retirement savings, according to research released Wednesday by the organization that shows how a graying America is worrying more and more about how to make ends meet even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation.
Everyday expenses and housing costs, including rent and mortgage payments, are the biggest reasons why people are unable to save for retirement.
The data will matter this election year as Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump are trying to win support from older Americans, who traditionally turn out in high numbers, with their policy proposals.
Everyday expenses hamper saving
The AARP’s study, based on interviews completed with more than 8,000 people in coordination with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, finds that one-third of older adults with credit card debt carry a balance of more than $10,000 and 12% have a balance of $20,000 or more. Additionally, 37% are worried about meeting basic living costs such as food and housing.
“Far too many people lack access to retirement savings options and this, coupled with higher prices, is making it increasingly hard for people to choose when to retire,” said Indira Venkateswaran, AARP’s senior vice president of research. “Everyday expenses continue to be the top barrier to saving more for retirement, and some older Americans say that they never expect to retire.”
The share of people 50 and older who say they do not expect to retire has remained steady. It was 23% in January 2022 and 24% that July, according to the study, which is conducted twice a year.
“We are seeing an expansion of older workers staying in the workforce,” said David John, senior strategic policy advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute. He said this is in part because older workers “don’t have sufficient retirement savings. It’s a problem and its likely to continue as we go forward.”
In the AARP survey, 33% of respondents 50 and older believe their finances will be better in a year.
Based on the 2022 congressional elections, census data released Tuesday shows that voters 65 and older made up 30.4% of all voters, while Gen Z and millennials accounted for 11.7%.
Biden has tried to court older voters by regularly promoting a $35 price cap on insulin for people on Medicare. He trumpets Medicare’s powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications.
Trump, in an interview with CNBC in March, indicated he would be open to cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The former president said “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”
Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Trump “will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term.”
Candidates court senior voters
A looming issue that will affect Americans’ ability to retire is the financial health of Social Security and Medicare.
The latest annual report from the program’s trustees says the financial safety nets for millions of older Americans will run short of money to pay full benefits within the next decade.
Medicare, the government-sponsored health insurance that covers 65 million older and disabled people, will be unable to pay full benefits for inpatient hospital visits and nursing home stays by 2031, the report forecast. And just two years later, Social Security will not have enough cash on hand to pay out full benefits to its 66 million retirees.
An AP-NORC poll from March 2023 found that most U.S. adults are opposed to proposals that would cut into Medicare or Social Security benefits, and a majority support raising taxes on the nation’s highest earners to keep Medicare running as is.
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sydney — Analysis of more than 25,000 images from divers, tourism operators and recreational boats on Australia’s annual Great Reef Census is getting under way. Now in its fourth year, one of the world’s fastest-growing conservation projects is helping to gauge the health and degradation of the world’s largest coral system, which is suffering from another mass bleaching event.
The Great Reef Census collects a trove of images of what is arguably Australia’s greatest natural treasure.
Each picture can contain vital information about the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Together, the images create a vital evaluation of the state of the ecosystem.
The barrier reef stretches for 2,300 kilometers down Australia’s northeastern coast. It is under increasing threat from global warming, pollution and overfishing, as well as coral-eating crown of thorns starfish.
The surveillance project is urging so-called citizen scientists around the world to help in the analysis of the images. The survey also uses artificial intelligence to scan much of the data.
The public is being asked to analyze the images to see which reefs fared better than others and potentially identify so-called new “key source reefs,” which are those reefs that appear to have escaped the worst of the degradation.
Anyone can help in the effort, said Nicole Senn, impact and engagement lead at Citizens of the Reef, which coordinates the survey.
“Citizen scientists using our A.I assisted platform can actually provide data that is highly comparable in accuracy to a reef expert, and it takes as little as one minute to analyze an image, and the data you are generating helps to prioritize conservation efforts on the reef and identify key source reefs,” she said. “These are healthy reefs that are positioned in a way that they can help nearby reefs recover and this is just one of the many ways your analysis of these images can help.”
The Great Barrier Reef is suffering from another widespread bleaching event.
Scientists say that corals bleach, or turn white, when they are stressed by changes in water temperature, light, or nutrients. In response, the coral expels the symbiotic algae living in their tissues that give them their color and energy, exposing their white skeleton.
Not all bleaching incidents are due to warm water, but experts say the mass bleaching reported on the Great Barrier Reef is caused by a marine heatwave.
Experts say reefs around the world last year and early this year have been affected by high ocean surface temperatures.
Chris Lawson, a data scientist with the Great Reef Census’ Science Committee, told VOA that the situation appears to be dire.
“The latest mass bleaching event has been designated as the fourth global mass bleaching event,” he said. “So, it is not just in Australia, it has been observed globally and by all accounts is the worst one on record in terms of its extent and its severity of bleaching.”
Experts say reefs’ extreme susceptibility to warming sea temperatures makes them one of the world’s ecosystems that is most vulnerable to climate change.
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Washington — Iran’s handing of a death sentence this week to dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi has drawn outrage from the Islamic republic’s domestic and international critics, including a German lawmaker who says Tehran risks fueling the backlash if it moves toward executing the artist.
In an interview for the Friday edition of VOA’s Flashpoint Global Crises program, German parliament member Ye-One Rhie said the Iranian government is using the death sentence to monitor who is still reacting to developments in Salehi’s case and how they are reacting. Rhie has been acting as a “political sponsor” or advocate for the 33-year-old Iranian singer since shortly after his initial arrest in October 2022.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is testing the waters,” Rhie said, noting that Tehran did the same when it staged an unprecedented aerial assault on Israel earlier this month. Israeli forces largely thwarted the attack with military assistance from a coalition of Western allies and Arab neighbors.
Iranian state-approved newspaper Shargh first reported the death sentence against Salehi in an article published Wednesday, citing one of his lawyers who vowed to appeal it.
Salehi was charged upon arrest with “spreading corruption on earth,” an offense punishable by death. Days earlier, he had posted videos on Instagram, showing himself joining a nationwide protest movement against Iran’s Islamist government and releasing a music video denouncing the government for 44 years of “failure.”
The rapper was sentenced last July to six years in prison, but Iran’s Supreme Court reviewed the ruling and declared it flawed, enabling his release in November. He was re-arrested two weeks later, after posting another video online complaining of being tortured in custody.
Wednesday’s report of Salehi’s death sentence drew swift condemnations from other dissidents and artists in Iran and from Iranian teachers’ trade unions.
VOA’s Persian Service also received and vetted several videos that appeared to show protest actions inside Iran. VOA could not verify the videos independently because it is barred from reporting inside Iran.
One video shows a banner with Salehi’s image on a bridge over Tehran’s Modarres Expressway, as a woman filming the scene says the date is April 25.
Another clip shows a Persian slogan citing Salehi scrawled onto a building’s exterior wall in an unidentified location. The graffiti says: “We will return to the streets with strength.”
Criticism of Salehi’s death sentence also came quickly from the United States and U.N. human rights bodies. In a Wednesday post on the X platform, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley said the U.S. “strongly” condemns the move. U.N. rights experts issued a statement Thursday demanding that Iran release Salehi immediately and reverse the sentence.
As those calls were made, some Iranian state media appeared to downplay the possibility of Salehi being executed. In articles published Thursday, they cited Iran’s Judiciary Media Center as saying that even if the Supreme Court confirms Salehi’s death sentence upon appeal, a Pardon and Forgiveness Commission would review the case for possible commutation.
Rhie said her efforts to raise international awareness of Salehi’s plight for the past year-and-a-half have kept his case on the radar and agenda of Western media and governments.
“It is important for the Iranian regime to know that Salehi has a status that they cannot touch. I would warn them against doing anything to him, because they don’t want to know what the backlash would be,” Rhie said.
While Iran has signaled that Salehi’s death sentence could be reversed, the German lawmaker said she will keep up her fight. “I don’t think that there is anything that will stop us from our activism,” she said.
VOA’s Persian Service contributed to this report.
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