Australia sets conditions for China joining Pacific pact

Sydney (AFP)

Sept 22, 2021

China must end a freeze on contacts with senior Australian politicians if it hopes to join a trans-Pacific trade pact, Canberra's trade minister said Wednesday, setting de facto preconditions for accession.

Dan Tehan linked China's bid to join an 11-nation trading alliance with steps to improve bilateral relations that are at their lowest ebb in decades.

China formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last week, and is lobbying to gain the consensus support of members including Australia.

This comes after a war of words between the two countries, a string of sanctions on Australian goods and a months-long freeze on senior-level government contacts.

"When I became trade minister, I wrote to my Chinese counterpart in January setting out how we can work more closely together. I am still waiting for a reply," Tehan said in a Monday speech.

"One of the most important things about negotiating the accession process of any country into the CPTPP is that you have to be able to sit down at ministerial level, look your economic partner in the eye, and talk about that accession process."

Tehan also indicated China would have to resolve disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) stemming from a slew of politically driven sanctions on Australian imports.

"All parties will want to be confident that any new member will meet, implement and adhere to the high standards of the agreement as well as to their WTO commitments and their existing trade agreements," he said.

"It's in everyone's interests that everyone plays by the rules."

- 'Economic coercion' -

Australia this month asked the WTO to rule against China's imposition of crippling tariffs on Australian wine exports, after initial consultations failed to resolve the dispute.

Wine sales by Australia to China plummeted from over Aus$1 billion ($840 million) to a virtual trickle after Beijing imposed the tariffs, according to industry figures.

Australia is also challenging Chinese tariffs on barley at the WTO and has objected to sanctions on a string of other goods, which Canberra describes as "economic coercion."

The measures are widely seen in Australia as punishment for pushing back against Beijing's operations to impose influence in Australia, rejecting Chinese investment in sensitive areas and publicly calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Chinese embassy in Australia this month lobbied Canberra to join the CPTPP, telling an Australian parliamentary inquiry that China's accession "would benefit all CPTPP members and the rest of the world."

Signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018, the partnership is the region's biggest free-trade pact and accounts for around 13.5 percent of the global economy.

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australia_sets_conditions_for_China_joining_Pacific_pact_999.html.

Activists, WHO in the frame as Nobel Peace guessing starts

October 01, 2021

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — The annual Nobel Peace Prize shines the brightest of lights on the person or group thought to have done most to promote peace. But guessing who it will be is just a stab in the dark.

That’s because the secretive Norwegian Nobel Committee never drops any advance hints. In the past decade, winners have included diplomats, doctors, dissidents and presidents. Who were the other candidates? We can’t know for sure — the panel keeps their ruminations in a vault for 50 years.

Bookmakers have the World Health Organization as the most likely winner for 2021, for its work during the pandemic. But Rupert Adams at William Hill, one of Britain’s biggest bookies, jokes that picking a winner is “the world’s most difficult job,” adding he “can’t think of a harder market to price.” The company has nailed it only once this century — Malala Yousafzai in 2014.

Still, people like to make guesses. Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, says the pandemic is an important backdrop to this year’s prize. But he scrapped plans to make COVAX, the United Nations-sponsored vaccine equity organization, his top pick. Rollout of COVID-19 jabs to poor countries has been too slow, he says.

Instead, the Nobel tipster says “the problems of public disinformation” might be recognized by the panel. He picks Reporters Without Borders as his favorite, saying the committee could recognize an organization “focused on the importance of independent reporting and press freedom in the face of the dire risks.”

As much as the winner always makes the headlines, the delayed nomination process means the judging panel are often sifting through candidates from yesterday’s news. Nominations close at the end of February, meaning the longlist is dominated by movers and shakers from the previous year.

Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 pushed the pandemic off the front pages, and may impress the awards panel. Norwegian lawmaker Petter Eide has said he nominated the group for raising the issue of racial justice around the world.

Headline maker Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya led peaceful protests in Belarus in 2020, as President Alexander Lukashenko won what many saw as a rigged election. She is the bookmakers’ individual favorite. Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, could also be a winner.

Less likely, thinks Urdal, is the selection of former foes who have come to the negotiating table, like 2016 winner Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president who cut a deal with rebels to end 50 years of civil war.

“The main reason we don’t have these kinds of conventional candidates is that there are no peace processes that are sufficiently mature,” Urdal said. He also noted that the panel burnt its fingers in 2019, when it awarded the prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation.” Abiy’s image is today marred by a war that erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in November, triggering a hunger crisis.

“They are wary of engaging too early with any process that could backfire,” says Urdal. Perhaps that is why winners are often named a year after they are most hotly tipped. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who continued to campaign for girls’ and women’s rights after being shot in the head by the Taliban, was a favorite in 2013. But she only received the prize — alongside Indian children’s rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi — in 2014.

Likewise, Dennis Mukwege, the Congolese doctor treating victims of wartime sexual violence, was tipped for several years before finally getting the award, alongside another longtime favorite, campaigner Nadia Murad, in 2018.

A similar cooling-off period might pave the way for climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2021. The Swedish teenager was hotly tipped in 2020 after dominating the news agenda for much of the previous year.

A report in August from a former Nobel winner, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicted fires and floods, helped force the climate back on the news agenda. In this atmosphere, a prize for Thunberg would electrify the world, said Urdal, even if he believes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change would be a more worthy winner.

Unlike the other Nobels, which are handed out in Sweden, the Peace Prize is an all-Norwegian affair. Though the government has no say in the matter, this quirk put the whole country in hot water in 2010, when the independent panel enraged Beijing by awarding the prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

China suspended a bilateral trade deal and restricted imports of Norwegian salmon. Relations were only fully normalized in 2017. If the five-person panel feels like stoking controversy in 2021, it could award the prize to Uyghur activist Ilham Tohti, who was jailed for life in 2014 on charges of promoting separatism. A prize to Nathan Law Kwun-chung would also likely upset Beijing. He is a leading figure in the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded on Friday, Oct. 8. A week of Nobel Prizes kicks off on Oct. 4 with “Physiology or Medicine.” Physics is on Oct. 5, Chemistry Oct. 6, Literature Oct. 7, and Economics Oct. 11.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, lava fountains form in park

September 30, 2021

HONOLULU (AP) — One of the most active volcanos on Earth is erupting on Hawaii's Big Island. Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed Wednesday that an eruption has begun in Kilauea volcano's Halemaumau crater at the volcano's summit.

Webcam footage of the crater showed lava fountains covering the floor of the crater and billowing clouds of volcanic gas were rising into the air. The same area has been home to a large lava lake at various times throughout the volcano's eruptive past.

The eruption is not in an area with homes and is entirely contained within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. "All signs indicate that it will stay within the crater," said Ken Hon, the USGS scientist in charge of Hawaii Volcano Observatory. "We’re not seeing any indications that lava is moving into the lower part of the east rift zone where people live. Currently all the activity is within the park.”

The volcano's alert level has been raised to "warning” and the aviation code changed to red. Earlier Wednesday, officials said increased earthquake activity and ground swelling had been detected, and at that time raised the alert levels accordingly.

Kilauea had a major eruption in 2018 that destroyed more than 700 homes and displaced thousands of residents. Before that eruption, the volcano had been slowly erupting for decades, but mostly not in densely populated residential areas.

Before the major 2018 eruption, Kilauea had been erupting since 1983 and streams of lava occasionally covered rural farms and homes. During that time, the lava sometimes reached the ocean, causing dramatic interactions with the water.

Over four months in 2018, Kilauea spewed enough lava to fill 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, burying an area more than half the size of Manhattan in up to 80 feet (24 meters) of now-hardened lava. The molten rock reduced landmarks, streets and neighborhoods to a vast field of blackened boulders and volcanic shard.

After the 2018 eruption the summit lava lake stopped erupting and for the first time in recorded history began to fill with water, raising concerns about the possibility of an explosive interaction between lava and groundwater.

The same area of the volcano that began erupting Wednesday also erupted in December and lasted until May. Hon said these types of eruptions could be happening for years as the volcano fills up. “We do know that one thing that happens is that the magma keeps coming in to Kilauea at a pretty constant rate and so it’s either filling the inside of the volcano and repressurize it or it’s coming out to the surface.”

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park spokesperson Jessica Ferracane told The Associated Press that she had not yet arrived at the park, but that colleagues reported seeing some lava spatter and glow within the summit crater.

“He saw that from Volcano House, which is at least 2 miles away from the eruption site, so I suspect ... we'll be able to see a pretty glow, and who knows what else,” she said. The Volcano House is a hotel and restaurant within the national park adjacent to the visitor center. The park is open to visitors.

Ferracane said the area that is erupting is not close to where people can hike or drive. Trails downwind from the eruption have been closed for years. "The park is open and there are no road closures at this time," Ferracane said.

Ferracane added that officials are expected tens of thousands of visitors to flock into the park and that people need to be very careful both in terms of natural hazards and COVID-19. “This eruption is going to draw many people to the park, we're already seeing people come into the park, drive in after dark tonight,” Ferracane said. “Really need people to remember that we are in the middle of a pandemic and they need to stay safe and to keep us safe, too.”

She said people must maintain six feet of distance and wear masks. “If you're sick, please don't come. Come visit another day. Enjoy the views from the webcam,” she said. “We really want to not have these current eruption conditions increase the spread of COVID.”

Lava from La Palma eruption finally reaches the Atlantic

September 30, 2021

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — A bright red river of lava from the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island finally tumbled over a cliff and into the Atlantic Ocean, setting off huge plumes of steam and possibly toxic gases that forced local residents outside the evacuation zone to remain indoors on Wednesday.

The immediate area had been evacuated for several days as authorities waited for the lava that began erupting Sept. 19 to traverse the 6½ kilometers (four miles) to the island's edge. On the way down from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, the lava flows have engulfed at least 656 buildings, mostly homes and farm buildings, in its unstoppable march to the sea.

The meeting of molten rock and sea water finally came at 11 p.m. on Tuesday. By daybreak, a widening promontory of newborn land could be seen forming under plumes of steam rising high into the area. Even though initial air quality reading showed no danger in the area, experts had warned that the arrival of the lava at the ocean would likely produce small explosions and release toxic gases that could damage lungs. Authorities established a security perimeter of 3½ kilometers (about two miles) and asked residents in the wider area to remain indoors with windows shut to avoid breathing in any gases.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported from the island’s first eruption in 50 years, thanks to the prompt evacuations of over 6,000 people after the ground cracked open following weeks of tremors.

The flattening of the terrain as it approached the coast had slowed down the flow of the lava, causing it to widen out and do more damage to villages and farms. The local economy is largely based on agriculture, above all the cultivation of the Canary plantain.

Just before it poured down a cliff into the sea at a local point known as Los Guirres, the lava rolled over the coastal highway, cutting off the last road in the area that connects the island to several villages.

“We hope that the channel to the sea that has opened stops the lava flow, which widened to reach 600 meters (2,000 feet) at one point, from continuing to grow, because that has caused tremendous damage,” Ángel Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands regional government, told Cope radio.

Torres said his government is working to house those who have lost their dwellings. Authorities have plans to purchase over 100 currently unoccupied homes. Torres cited one village, Todoque, home to 1,400 people, which was wiped out.

La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa. The island is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point.

Cleaning crews swept up ash in the island’s capital, Santa Cruz, while more small earthquakes that have rumbled under the volcano for weeks were registered by geologists. Favorable weather conditions allowed the first flight in five days to land at airport on La Palma, an important tourist destination along with its neighboring Canary islands, despite a huge ash cloud that Spain’s National Geographic Institute said reached up to seven kilometers (nearly 4½ miles) high.

Laura Garcés, the director of Spain's air navigation authority ENAIRE, said she doesn't foresee any major problems for other airports on the archipelago because of the ash. While the red tongue of lava lolled off the coast, the two open vents of the volcano continued to belch up more magma from below.

Experts say it's impossible to determine how long the eruption will last. Previous eruptions in the archipelago have lasted weeks, even months. “We don’t know when this will be over,” volcano scientist Stavros Meletlidis of Spain’s National Geographic Institute told state broadcaster TVE. “Volcanos are not friends of statistics.”

'My whole life in a van': islanders flee Spanish volcano

September 22, 2021

TODOQUE, Canary Islands (AP) — A wall of lava up to 12 meters (40 feet) high bore down on a Spanish village Wednesday as islanders scrambled to save what they could before the molten rock swallowed up their homes following a volcanic eruption.

The lava still spewing from Sunday’s eruption in the Canary Islands off northwest Africa advanced slowly down hillsides to the coast, where Todoque was the last village between the molten rock and the Atlantic Ocean.

The lava could take several days to cover the remaining 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) to the sea, experts said, but authorities and locals were taking no chances amid the unpredictable seismic activity. Residents hoping to save some belongings queued up so they could be escorted into the village. The lava was advancing in the distance at around 120 meters (400 feet) an hour, with smoke coming from its leading edge as it destroyed everything it touched.

Javier López said his house for the past three decades appeared to be in the lava’s path. He and his relatives had been staying at a friend’s house with the few documents, photos and basic belongings they had been able to take when they were evacuated on Monday.

“I’ve put my whole life in a van,” López told The Associated Press as he waited for his turn to try to recover a vehicle he had left behind and other valuables. “This is probably going to be the last time I see my home,” he said. “Or, in the best-case scenario, the house will remain isolated by the lava and inaccessible for who knows how long.”

Firefighting crews trying to save as many houses as possible from being entombed by lava worked nonstop overnight to open a trench to divert the lava flow. Melisa Rodríguez, another Todoque resident, was trying to stay positive and calm.

“It’s hard to think straight about what you want to save, but we are only allowed in for one hour and you don’t want to take longer because that would be taking time away from others,” she said. As the lava headed toward the island’s more densely populated coast, 1,000 people were evacuated late Tuesday from Todoque, bringing the total number of evacuated on the island of La Palma to over 6,800.

Authorities say more dangers lie ahead for residents, including more earthquakes, possible new lava flows, toxic gases, volcanic ash and acid rain. The lava, whose temperature exceeds 1,000 degrees Celsius (more than 1,800 F), could cause explosions, trigger landslides and produce clouds of toxic gas when it hits the ocean.

As volcanic ash fell over a wide area, authorities advised people to keep children inside as much as possible due to possible breathing difficulties. The volcanic eruption and its aftermath could last for up to 84 days, the Canary Island Volcanology Institute said, basing its calculation on the length of previous eruptions on the archipelago, which like the latest eruption were followed by heavy lava flows and lasting seismic activity.

Tuesday night saw a sharp increase in the number of smaller eruptions that hurl rocks and cinders high into the air, it said. The rivers of lava have swallowed up around 320 buildings so far, mostly homes in the countryside, and now cover 154 hectares (380 acres), the institute said. The lava has also ruined banana groves, vineyards and other crops. Prompt evacuations have helped avoid any casualties.

The volcano has also been spewing out between 8,000 and 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide — which also affects the lungs — every day, it said. Life on the rest of La Palma, which is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point, has been largely unaffected, with undeterred tourists landing for previously scheduled holidays. Air traffic remained normal.

The Canary Islands are a popular destination for European tourists due to their mild year-round climate.

Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.

Lava from Spanish volcano heads toward sea; no injuries

September 20, 2021

EL FUERTE, Spain (AP) — Giant rivers of lava tumbled slowly but relentlessly toward the sea Monday after a volcano erupted on a Spanish island off northwest Africa, destroying everything in their path while prompt evacuations helped avoid casualties.

The eruption occurred Sunday on the island of Palma, in the volcanic Canary Islands, along a ridge called Cumbre Vieja, where two fissures belched bright red magma into the air and set the glowing lava rivers in motion.

Scientists had been monitoring the area in recent days amid a surge in mostly small earthquakes, and authorities evacuated around 5,000 people. The lava was moving at 700 meters (2,300 feet) per hour, according to the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute. Officials said they expected it to reach the Atlantic Ocean around sunset.

The lava left black swathes of destruction through the sparsely populated, green countryside and destroyed around 100 houses, officials said. Authorities told people in areas where volcanic ash was falling to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed.

The lava crept into the town of Los Llanos de Aridane, which lies close to the volcano. Town Mayor Noelia García said people had been evacuated from houses all the way down to the shoreline. Mariano Hernández, head of the island’s government, described the scene in the area affected by the lava as “bleak.”

He said a wall of lava six meters (20 feet) high “is consuming houses, infrastructure, crops in its path to the coast,” state news agency Efe reported. Scientists monitoring the lava measured it at more than 1,000 C (more than 1,800 F). When it hits the Atlantic Ocean, explosions and clouds of acidic steam were expected. Merchant shipping was halted around La Palma.

Scientists say the lava flows could last for weeks or months, but the immediate danger to local people appeared to be over. Daniel Álvarez, a bar owner in Las Manchas, one of the closest villages to the volcano, was evacuated with his family on Sunday and was staying at the El Fuerte military barracks with some other 300 evacuees. He didn’t know whether the lava had consumed his home.

“For now,” he said, “it seems like it’s safe, but the lava is opening many paths. We have all of our lives inside (our house). We would need to start over again.” Canary Islands government chief Ángel Víctor Torres said officials weren't expecting any more eruptions, adding that air traffic in the area wasn't affected.

“There will be considerable material damage,” Torres told SER radio. “We hope there won’t be any personal injuries.” No further evacuations were expected, officials said. “The lava probably won’t take any lives, but it will destroy everything it encounters,” Nemesio Pérez, scientific coordinator at the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, told SER.

The eruption opened two fissures, about 200 meters (650 feet) apart. Officials said the lava streams would likely merge before reaching the sea. The Military Emergencies Unit was increasing its deployment on La Palma to 180 soldiers and 57 vehicles, backed up with three water-dropping aircraft due to arrive later Monday.

People on La Palma largely live from farming. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the affected area Monday after canceling his trip to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly. He praised scientists for monitoring the eruption, saying their work was “fundamental” in avoiding casualties, and promised that his government would help local people rebuild their lives.

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported the initial eruption shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday near the southern end of the island, which saw its last eruption in 1971. A 4.2-magnitude quake was recorded before the eruption, which took place in an area known as Cabeza de Vaca on the western slope as the ridge descends to the coast.

Huge red plumes topped with black-and-white smoke shot out along the Cumbre Vieja ridge, which scientists had been monitoring following the accumulation of molten lava below the surface and days of small earthquakes.

La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight volcanic islands in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.

Authorities closed seven roads. Hernández, the head of the island’s government, asked people to stay away from the eruption. “People should not come near the eruption site where the lava is flowing,” he said. “We are having serious problems with the evacuation because the roads are jammed with people who are trying to get close enough to see it."

The last eruption on La Palma 50 years ago lasted just over three weeks. The last eruption on all the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro island in 2011. It lasted five months.

Barry Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

A previous version of this story was corrected to show that Mariano Hernández is the head of the island’s government, not the mayor.

Volcano erupts on Atlantic island; lava destroys some homes

September 19, 2021

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Spain (AP) — A volcano on Spain’s Atlantic Ocean island of La Palma erupted Sunday after a weeklong buildup of seismic activity, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands as lava flows destroyed isolated houses and threatened to reach the coast. New eruptions continued into the night.

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported the initial eruption shortly after 3 p.m. near the southern end of the island, which saw its last eruption in 1971. Huge red plumes topped with black-and-white smoke shot out along the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, which scientists had been closely watching following the accumulation of molten lava below the surface and days of small earthquakes.

Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands, said that by 11 p.m. some 5,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. Most, he said, had found family or friends to take them in. The rest were in shelters.

La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight volcanic islands in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.

A 4.2-magnitude quake was recorded before the eruption, which took place in an area known as Cabeza de Vaca on the western slope as the ridge descends to the coast. As the eruptions continued, at least two open mouths belched bright red magma into the air that then flowed in tight streams down the mountain slope.

Shortly after the initial explosion rocked the area, one black lava flow with a burning tip immediately slid toward houses in the village of El Paso. Mayor Sergio Rodríguez said 300 people in immediate danger were evacuated, roads were closed and authorities urged the curious not to approach the area.

The lava eventually destroyed at least eight homes, according to local officials, causing at least one chalet with a tower to crumble. Authorities warned that the lava flows could also threaten the municipalities of El Paraíso, Alcalá and surrounding areas.

Carlota Martín was at an agricultural plot her family has in Todoque, just downhill from the eruption site, when she heard a huge explosion. “When we saw the column of smoke, we thought it could not be real, but it kept growing and we knew we had to get out of there,” she told The Associated Press. “You leave, but you are also looking back because you want to see what will happen. Nobody knows how the lava flows will descend, but our plot and lots of houses in the area could be in the way.”

Mariano Hernández, president of La Palma island, said there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries but the lava flows made him concerned “about the populated areas on the coast.” “People should not come near the eruption site where the lava is flowing,” Hernández said. “We are having serious problems with the evacuation because the roads are jammed with people who are trying to get close enough to see it.”

Itahiza Dominguez, head of seismology of Spain’s National Geology Institute, told Canary Islands Television that although it was too early to tell how long this eruption would last, prior “eruptions on the Canary Islands lasted weeks or even months.”

The last eruption on La Palma 50 years ago lasted just over three weeks. The last eruption on all the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro island in 2011. It lasted five months.

Volcanologist Vicente Soler of Spain’s Higher Council said "the material appears to be very fluid, the lava flows will reach the sea sooner or later.” The scientific committee of the Volcano Risk Prevention Plan said part of the island’s southwest coast was at risk for landslides and rock falls.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cancelled his trip to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly so he could travel from Spain’s mainland to the Canary Islands. “The people of La Palma should rest assured that we have all the resources and emergency personal necessary,” Sánchez said after meeting with local officials on the island.

Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona. Renata Brito contributed to this report from Barcelona.