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☆ As climate change hits, China weighs new water megaprojects
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"What they have been doing so far is using engineering solutions to try to physically supply water and fix their water problem," said Mark Wang, a geographer at Melbourne University who studies the impact of China's water infrastructure. "If China can reduce water use and increase efficiency, it doesn't need mega-diversion projects." Total investment in fixed water assets exceeded 1.1 trillion yuan ($154 billion) last year, up 44% compared with 2021, analysts said. It rose 15.6% to 407 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2023 and officials say even more funding will be made available. 'CHAIN REACTIONS'Part of the new plan involves the expansion of the South-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP), an ambitious engineering project that diverts surplus Yangtze River water to the arid Yellow River basin in the north.

Persons: Li Guoying, Mark Wang, Wang, Genevieve Donnellon, Gorges, David Stanway, Gerry Doyle Organizations: of Water, Melbourne University, China's Ministry of Water Resources, Oxford Global Society, Diversion, Thomson Locations: China, SINGAPORE, Sichuan, Liangshan County, Poyang Lake, Tibet, India

[1/2] Danielle Smith of the United Conservative Party (UCP) gestures during her party's provincial election night party after a projected win in Calgary, Alberta, Canada May 29, 2023. Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP), defeated left-leaning New Democratic Party leader Rachel Notley on Monday, and immediately targeted Trudeau, threatening the country's ambitious climate goals. Some analysts have said deep emissions cuts are not possible without reducing oil production, which Smith fiercely opposes. "As premier I cannot under any circumstances allow these contemplated federal policies to be inflicted upon Albertans." "One of the challenges is there is a political class in Alberta that has decided that anything to do with climate change is going to be bad for them or for Alberta," Trudeau told Reuters in a January interview.

☆ Factbox: Biggest issues in Canadian province of Alberta's May 29 election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Below are the main issues in the election:HEALTHCAREIn the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare has become a big issue in Alberta. The UCP last month committed to keeping Alberta's publicly-funded healthcare system, contrasting with comments previously made by Smith about dismantling universal healthcare paid for by taxpayers. The UCP has pledged to lower taxes by creating a new 8% tax bracket on income under C$60,000 ($44,033.47). ENERGY AND CLIMATEBoth the UCP and NDP are supportive of the energy sector, recognising it as Alberta's main economic engine. ($1 = 1.3626 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Alberta on high alert for wildfire upsurge over scorching holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A Sky crane helicopter dumps water on the Eagle Wildfire Complex near Fox Creek, Alberta, Canada May 19, 2023. Record-high temperatures and lack of rain this year have led to widespread fires burning nearly 830,000 hectares (2 million acres) of land in Alberta, about 10 times the size of the province's largest city, Calgary, according to Alberta Wildfire. "We will all be on high alert this weekend," Christie Tucker, information unit manager at Alberta Wildfire, said on Friday. The wildfires have tested Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's disaster management skills ahead of a provincial election on May 29. Some 275 houses, businesses and other properties had been damaged, while more than 10,000 people remained evacuated by Friday, according to Alberta government officials.

☆ Ethics official cites Alberta premier for violation, ahead of election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OTTAWA, May 18 (Reuters) - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith interfered with the judicial process, the Canadian province's ethics commissioner said in a ruling released on Thursday, two weeks before a provincial election that is expected to be hard fought. Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler said Smith had breached conflict of interest laws by contacting the province's justice minister about the case of a Calgary pastor facing criminal charges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In statement on Thursday, Smith said she would seek legal advice on how a premier could talk to a justice minister about sensitive matters in the future. Last week Smith apologized for having compared Albertans vaccinated against COVID-19 with followers of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. In March, another UCP candidate resigned after claiming children are exposed to pornography in schools and teachers help them change their gender identities.

OTTAWA, May 13 (Reuters) - Canada's main oil-producing province of Alberta faces another hot and dry weekend, with warnings of more intense wildfires after blazes forced thousands to evacuate homes and temporarily shuttered energy production. Residents forced to evacuate early this month say they are frustrated with the indefinite displacement. "We are expecting hot and dry conditions in most of the province, which will make the wildfire danger climb," Alberta Wildfire official Josee St-Onge told a briefing on Friday. Recent cooling and rain helped firefighters tackle some blazes and restored most of the energy production, but expectations of rising weekend temperatures have fanned worries. On Friday, the town of Drayton Valley told residents in a Facebook post that they should expect to be out of their homes "at least another week."

☆ Over 5,500 still missing in flood-hit east Congo: local official
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoKALEHE, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 9 (Reuters) - More than 5,500 people are still unaccounted for in an area in east Democratic of Congo where floods killed more than 400 people last week, a local official said on Tuesday, as shaken survivors waited for food aid. Kalehe administrator Thomas Bakenga Zirimwabagabo said on Tuesday that 411 bodies had been found so far and that at least 5,525 people were still missing. A government delegation arrived in the area on Monday evening and was expected to bring food and tents for the survivors. Government officials have told humanitarian workers to stop mass burials and wait for coffins to be delivered to the area. Reporting by Djaffar Sabiti Writing by Sofia Christensen Editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Thousands of Albertans evacuated in "unprecedented" wildfire situation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Maiya Keidan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ET), 24,511 Albertans were evacuated from homes with 103 active wildfires across the province, burning 121,909 hectares. "I don't know that I ever recall seeing multiple communities evacuated all at once in fire season," said Smith. So far this year, there have been 43,000 hectares burned from wildfires, Smith said. "It is very unusual for us to see this much fire activity this early in the season," said Christie Tucker, an information unit manager for Alberta Wildfire. "This is a much much busier than average wildfire season so far."

☆ Rebel attacks deepen displacement crisis in Congo's Ituri
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Paul Lorgerie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Semire said members of the Hema herding community started to abandon Drodro in mid-March ahead of a rumoured advance by CODECO. "There are repeated attacks - this delays the return of people here, because it creates doubts," he said. Its population has nearly doubled to 65,000 since the beginning of 2023, according to camp representative Samuel Kpadjanga. The presence of fighters in the forests and fields around the camp makes attacks on those who venture out a regular occurrence, Kpadjanga said. My life is safe, but they took everything from me, my scythe, my money," she lamented back in a hut at Rhoe camp, as a toddler peeked at her from the doorway.

Expressed in terms of annualised run-rates, China's output of 39.9 million tonnes last month was the lowest in a year and down by 1.6 million tonnes from August's record 41.5 million. China's aluminium production is now highly dependent on weather patterns in the south of the country. China's average daily aluminium output and monthly annualised changePRAYING FOR RAINYunnan province accounts for around 12% of China's aluminium capacity and produced 4.2 million tonnes in 2022. WESTERN PRODUCTION FLAT-LINESPrimary aluminium production outside of China was flat year-on-year in the first quarter. WEATHER WATCHHowever, China's dominant position in the global aluminium picture means that it holds the key to future production patterns.

☆ Dozens of POWs freed as Ukraine marks Orthodox Easter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Ukrainian prisoners of war pose for a picture after a swap, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location, Ukraine. "The lives of our people are the highest value for us," Yermak said, adding that Kyiv's goal was to bring back all remaining POWs. At Easter, which from time immemorial has been a family holiday for Ukrainians, a day of warmth, hope and great unity. Others in the line echoed Zaluzhnyy's words about a wartime Easter being a symbol of hope. Despite the shared Orthodox holiday, Russian shelling and missile attacks continued to sow destruction in Ukraine, according to social media statements from Ukrainian regional officials.

☆ Canada's top court upholds Quebec's ban on homegrown cannabis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 14 (Reuters) - The Canadian Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Quebec's provincial ban on cannabis grown in private homes is constitutional, in a blow to cannabis advocates who said it was at odds with a federal law allowing a small number of plants to be grown for personal use. The country's top court sided with the Quebecois provincial government, who banned cannabis plants grown at home after Canada legalized weed federally in 2018. Federal law states that a limited number of plants grown at home for personal use is legal, but Quebec law bans this. He won in Quebec's Supreme Court, but that ruling was overturned by the province's court of appeals, bringing it to the Supreme Court of Canada. "We are satisfied with the judgment of the Supreme Court confirming Quebec’s full capacity to act in the matter," he said on Twitter.

☆ Freezing rain in Canada leaves more than a million without power
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Tony Salador via REUTERSOTTAWA, April 6 (Reuters) - More than 1.2 million people were without power in Canada's two most populated provinces, Ontario and Quebec, on Thursday morning a day after freezing rain and strong winds hit the southeast of the country, toppling trees onto power lines. "We are confident that we can restore power to some of the affected customers today," Hydro-Quebec said in a statement. In Ottawa, crews were expected to restore power for a large portion of some 65,000 affected customers by noon, mayor Mark Sutcliffe said. Some areas in the national capital "remain hazardous due to fallen debris and power outages affecting traffic signals," he said. Montreal is among the worst affected by the power outages after Wednesday's ice storm, according to Hydro-Quebec.

☆ The long road to Northern Ireland's Good Friday Agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File PhotoApril 3 (Reuters) - On April 10, Northern Ireland marks the 25th anniversary since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of conflict in the British-ruled province. The new Northern Ireland parliament, at Stormont outside Belfast, is dominated by pro-British Protestant "unionists", who will control it for the next 50 years. Nov. 30, 1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland. May 30, 1996 - Elections held for a Northern Ireland forum ahead of all-party talks. April 10, 1998 - After negotiations continue through the night, the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, is signed.

[1/3] People gather to receive sacks of free flour, at a distribution point in Peshawar, Pakistan March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizLAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - At least five people have been killed in recent weeks and more injured in Pakistan in stampedes at sites distributing free flour under a government-backed scheme to help families struggling with soaring costs of basic staples. The Pakistani government has launched the flour distribution programme to reach millions of families in need during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan that began last week. Another person was killed in a stampede at a distribution centre last week in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province according to records shared by the provincial food authority. "There were some unfortunate incidents of stampedes and looting," Khan Ghalib, an official at the provincial food department said.

The project is expected to cost 83.7 billion yuan ($12.2 billion), partner Panjin Xicheng Industrial Group said in a statement on WeChat on Sunday. Construction at the complex will start in the second quarter after the project secures the required administrative approvals, Aramco said. Before the pandemic, Aramco signed two other initial agreements for refinery-petrochemical investments in China. The other is with Shandong Energy that includes a potential crude supply agreement and chemical products offtake deal, as well as exploring collaboration on an integrated refining and petrochemical complex in China. Earlier in March, Saudi Aramco also broke ground on a $7 billion project to produce petrochemicals from crude oil at its South Korean affiliate S-Oil Corp's (010950.KS) refining complex in the port city of Ulsan.

☆ Despite opposition, UK's Sunak wins post-Brexit trade vote in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak won the backing of parliament on Wednesday for a key element of a reworked post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland. Despite the opposition, Sunak won the vote by 515 to 29, suggesting that several in his Conservative Party had abstained on the vote. "The Stormont brake is at the heart of the (Windsor) Framework," Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris told parliament ahead of the vote. "It restores practical sovereignty for the United Kingdom as a whole and the people of northern Ireland in particular." Johnson, the face of the campaign to leave the EU, and his successor, Truss, both said they would vote against the brake.

Sunak has tried to end years of wrangling over Brexit by revisiting one of the trickiest parts of the negotiations - to ensure smooth trade to Northern Ireland without creating a hard border with Britain or with European Union-member Ireland. "I welcome parliament voting today to support the Windsor Framework," Britain's Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris said on Twitter. "This measure lies at the very heart of the Windsor Framework which offers the best deal for Northern Ireland, safeguarding its place in the Union and addressing the democratic deficit." Sunak hailed securing the deal last month as a "decisive breakthrough" but by alienating the DUP he has failed in restoring the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told parliament his party could not return to Northern Ireland's power-sharing government "at this stage".

☆ At what cost? UK PM Sunak to win post-Brexit trade vote in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sunak has sought to end years of wrangling over Brexit by revisiting one of the trickiest parts of the negotiations - to ensure smooth trade to Northern Ireland without creating a so-called hard border with Britain or the European Union. He agreed with the EU to introduce the "Stormont brake", aimed at offering Northern Ireland more control over whether to accept any new EU laws, as part of the so-called Windsor Framework of measures to soothe post-Brexit tensions. But in Wednesday's vote in the lower house of parliament, those he most wanted to win over - Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and some Conservative eurosceptics in the European Research Group (ERG) - are set to rebel. The brake enables Britain to prevent new EU laws applying to goods in Northern Ireland if asked to do so by a third of lawmakers in the province's devolved legislature. The DUP has for a year boycotted Northern Ireland's power-sharing government over its opposition to the post-Brexit trade rules, which effectively leaves the province in the EU's single market for goods and means it has to follow some of the bloc's rules.

☆ Kiska, Canada's last captive killer whale, dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Kiska, the last captive orca or killer whale in Canada, swims in her concrete tank in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, February 6, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Phil Demers/ Instagram & TikTok @UrgenSeas/via REUTERSMarch 10 (Reuters) - Kiska, the last captive killer whale in Canada, has died, the Ontario government said late on Friday, adding it was informed of the death by the theme park where Kiska lived. "The ministry was advised by MarineLand that the whale named Kiska passed away at MarineLand on March 9, 2023. Canadian non-profit group Animal Justice, which advocates for animal rights, called for a probe into MarineLand's treatment of the killer whale. "Animal Welfare Services was onsite to determine compliance with the Standards of Care," Ross said.

☆ Blast at Afghanistan journalist event kills at least one, injures eight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, March 11 (Reuters) - A blast hit a cultural centre during an event for journalists in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding eight, according to authorities and journalists, a few days after the province's governor died in an explosion claimed by Islamic State. Takor added that five journalists and three children were among the injured and a security guard was killed. Sajad Mosawi, a journalist in Balkh who was injured in the blast, said it had torn through the centre during an event to celebrate journalists. Taliban authorities were already investigating the explosion that killed provincial governor Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil and two others at his office on Thursday. Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by William Mallard and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Blast in Afghanistan's northern Balkh province kills one, injures 5
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, March 11 (Reuters) - A blast hit the capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province on Saturday, police said, killing one person and wounding five a few days after the death of the province's governor in an explosion claimed by Islamic State. "A blast has taken placed in the second police district of Balkh," said Mohamad Asif Waziri, Balkh's police spokesperson. A journalist based in Balkh, Mohammad Fardin Nowrozi, told Reuters he and other journalists were injured in the explosion, but did not provide further details. Taliban authorities were already investigating the explosion that killed the provincial governor, Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil, and two others at his office on Thursday. The governor of Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar will temporarily run Balkh, his spokesman Haji Zaid told Reuters, until Supreme Spiritual Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada selects a new governor for the northern province, an important trade hub with Central Asia.

☆ Northern Ireland's DUP: New deal does give Stormont ability to apply brake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said a new provision to stop new European Union trade rules from applying to goods in Northern Ireland did appear to give its Stormont regional assembly the ability to apply a brake. "I do think that what has been proposed at first reading does give Stormont the ability to apply the brake where the application of EU law for the purposes of facilitating cross-border trade impacts on our ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom," Jeffrey Donaldson told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday. We continue to have some concerns," he said of the new post-Brexit deal struck between Britain and the EU on Monday. The Stormont brake, unveiled as part of the deal, enables the British government to stop new EU laws from applying to goods in Northern Ireland if requested by a third of lawmakers in Stormont, the British province's regional assembly. Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, Editing by Kylie MacLellanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A risk taken, UK's Sunak announces the Windsor Framework
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Elizabeth Piper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But it was secrecy that fostered suspicion among two big hitters in the years-long Brexit debate - the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's biggest unionist party, and the pro-Brexit Conservative European Research Group (ERG). "I am pleased to report that we have now made a decisive breakthrough, together we have changed the original protocol and are today announcing the new Windsor framework," Sunak told a news conference. Then both former leaders had threatened to rip up the Northern Ireland protocol with legislation in parliament and their administrations had regularly criticised the EU for being overly legalistic and inflexible. Pressing pause on the Northern Ireland Protocol bill which would all but rip up the earlier agreement, he saw solving the Northern Ireland standoff as a concrete "win" for his administration which has struggled to establish itself. But Sunak still has to win over not only some of his lawmakers in the ERG, but more importantly the DUP.

☆ UK, EU inching towards Northern Ireland deal, Irish prime minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Momentum has been building for weeks towards a deal to ease checks on trade that were introduced under the Northern Ireland Protocol - the arrangements agreed to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland when Britain exited the EU in 2020. Lawmakers in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative party have been told to be in parliament on Monday, in a sign that a deal could be imminent. Certainly the deal isn't done yet, but I do think we are inching towards a conclusion," Leo Varadkar told reporters. While an agreement would mark an end to a two-year standoff between Britain and the EU, Sunak could face a battle with pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers and pro-British Northern Irish politicians to make the deal work. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the region's largest pro-British party, has said it will not end its boycott of the assembly unless all checks on goods bound for Northern Ireland from Britain are removed.

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