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India’s federal power minister on Tuesday asked the states that are away from coal resources to consider setting up nuclear-based power plants, besides identifying and listing the power utilities to meet investments to support growing power demand.

The Indian government in its federal budget this year had proposed to partner with private players to develop small nuclear reactors to increase the amount of electricity from sources that do not produce carbon dioxide emissions.

States should consider setting up nuclear power plants at the sites where coal-based thermal power plants have completed their life, Manohar Lal, the country’s power minister, told states as per a government statement.

India’s stringent nuclear compensation laws have hampered talks with foreign power plant builders such as General Electric GE.N and Westinghouse.

The country, which currently has about 8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, aims to increase it to 20 GW by 2032.

The minister also asked the states to identify and list their power utilities in the country’s stock exchange to meet increasing investment demand in the power sector as well as improve the transmission system to add more renewable capacity.

India has pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emission target by 2070 and has a target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan during talks, after a car bombing near Karachi’s airport that was seen as a major security breach, sources said.

Last month’s airport bombing that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing’s interests in Pakistan.

The attacks have angered China, which has pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system.

Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and government sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations and demands on condition of anonymity, as the talks are sensitive, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad.

“They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security,” said one official, who sat in on a recent meeting, adding that Pakistan had not so far agreed to such a step.

According to the official, a written proposal sent to Islamabad by Beijing, and forwarded to Pakistani agencies for review, mentioned a clause allowing the dispatching of security agencies and military forces into each others’ territory to assist in counter-terrorism missions and conduct joint strikes.

The dispatching would be done after discussions, but Pakistan was averse to the proposal, one official said.

Neither Beijing nor Islamabad confirmed the talks officially.

Dawn.com has also reached out to the Foreign Office for a comment.

The source, and two other officials, said there was a consensus on setting up a joint security management system, and that Pakistan was amenable to Chinese officials sitting in on security meetings and co-ordination.

But there was no agreement on their participating in security arrangements on the ground.

The first official said Pakistan had asked China for help in improving its intelligence and surveillance capabilities instead of direct involvement.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry told Reuters it was not familiar with talks on a joint security scheme, but added, “China will continue to strengthen co-operation with Pakistan and make joint efforts to do its utmost to maintain the security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions.”

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, declined to comment to Reuters while the interior and planning ministries did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In a statement last week, Pakistan’s interior ministry said both sides agreed to develop a joint strategy to prevent similar incidents in the future.

‘Grave security breach’

The nature of the Karachi bombing has angered Beijing, which is now pushing harder to achieve a long-standing demand to control security arrangements for its citizens.

A pick-up truck rigged with nearly 100 kilogrammes of explosives waited unchecked for about 40 minutes near the outermost security cordon of the heavily guarded airport before its driver rammed it into a vehicle carrying Chinese engineers, officials said.

“It was a grave security breach,” admitted one of the officials investigating the bombing, which came just a week before Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Islamabad, the first such trip in a decade.

The official said investigators believe the attackers had “inside help” in securing details of the itinerary and route of the engineers, who had returned from a month off in Thailand.

They were to be escorted back to a power plant set up as part of plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Longtime Pakistan ally China has thousands of nationals working on projects grouped under the CPEC, a $65-billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s global reach by road, rail and sea.

‘Chinese frustrations’

Publicly, China has mostly backed Pakistan’s arrangements, even as it calls for enhanced security.

Privately, Beijing has expressed frustration. At one recent meeting, the Chinese side provided evidence that Pakistan had failed to follow security protocols agreed on twice in recent months, three officials said. Such protocols usually feature high standards for the deployment and movement of Chinese officials.

However, earlier this month, China’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, while speaking at an event, had expressed frustration over the attacks, stating it was “unacceptable” and urging Islamabad to strengthen security measures for Chinese nationals and crack down on anti-China elements.

In response, Foreign Office Spokes­person Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had called the statement “perplexing” and a stark departure from the longstanding diplomatic norms between the two nations.

Chinese nationals have been in the crosshairs of banned outfits who accuse Beijing and Pakistan of exploiting minerals in Balochistan, where China has a strategic port and mining interests.

Thousands of Pakistani security officers from the army, police and a dedicated force called the Special Protection Unit are posted to guard Chinese nationals.

Only China’s embassy in Islamabad and its consulates are allowed Chinese official security personnel, the Pakistani officials said.

JERUSALEM: Aid agencies slammed Israel for continuing to obstruct the delivery of aid to Gaza, despite Tel Aviv’s claims that it had opened an additional crossing into the besieged territory on the eve of a US deadline to boost relief deliveries.

The United States last month warned Israel to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk a cut to its military support.

A day before the deadline, the Israeli military said it opened the Kissufim crossing “as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid” to Gaza.

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and eight humanitarian groups said Israel was still not doing enough to get aid in as the situation in the besieged north becomes especially “catastrophic”.

On eve of US deadline to restore aid supplies to Gaza, Tel Aviv claims to have opened another border crossing

The eight organisations, including Oxfam and Save The Children, said Israel “failed to comply” with US demands — “at enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza”.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023,” they said in a joint statement.

Asked about whether there were signs the situation had improved ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA emergencies officer, highlighted that “aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months”.

No food was permitted to enter besieged northern Gaza for an entire month, Wateridge said, adding that UN requests to access the area have been repeatedly denied.

Wateridge said that testimonies from the north painted “an endlessly horrific” picture that was becoming “more critical” by the hour.

“Hospitals have been bombed, the doctors inform us that they have run out of blood supplies, they have run out of medicine… there are bodies in the streets.”

Separately, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council told Al Jazeera that Israelis were obstructing aid from entering through the crossings.

“Aid is arbitrarily rejected and essential supplies are not allowed in, including timber to help people build shelters as they face winter. Sometimes the requests to access those crossings are denied for over a month,” Shaina Low, NRC’s communications adviser, told Al Jazeera.

Once the aid enters Gaza, aid workers must request safe routes through which they can safely distribute the aid.

“Israel often denies requests to move from place to place in order to reach Palestinian families that are in desperate need,” Low said.

However, the US State Department on Tuesday said that Israel was not violating US law on the level of aid entering Gaza, but called for further progress.

Asked if Israel had met the US demands, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said of Israel, “We have not made an assessment that they are in violation of US law,” but added: “The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be unsatisfactory”.

“But in the context of the letter, it’s not about whether we find something satisfactory or not; it’s what are the actions that we’re seeing,” he said, adding that Tel Aviv was taking steps in the right direction.

Attacks on Gaza

Gaza’s civil defence agency said that at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, residents said Israeli tanks advanced deeper in Beit Hanoun and besieged four displaced families before ordering them to leave towards Gaza City.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,665 people have been killed in more than 13 months.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

BERLIN: Germany is headed for snap elections on February 23, the main parties agreed on Tuesday, aiming to form a stable government after Chan­cellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed last week.

The country’s two biggest parties agreed on the early timetable, which will see centre-left leader Scholz seek a vote of confidence on December 16, said the parliamentary leader of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), Rolf Muetzenich.

This would pave the way for the February vote in a compromise hammered out with the conservative opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian allies CSU.

The agreement seeks to quickly restore political stability at a time when Europe’s biggest economy is set to shrink for a second year in a row and amid heightened geopolitical volatility, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.

As per agreement between two biggest parties, Chancellor Scholz will seek trust vote on Dec 16

The election date would mean Germany will be ruled by a lame-duck chancellor and stuck in the middle of its campaign period when Donald Trump is inaugurated as US president on January 20.

Embattled Scholz, who wants to run again despite poor poll ratings, initially suggested an election in late March but came under heavy pressure from all other parties to speed up the process.

The CDU is riding high in the polls and its leader Friedrich Merz had pushed strongly for an election as early as possible — a demand backed by two thirds of voters, according to a recent survey.

“We don’t have unlimited time to elect a new government in Germany, regardless of who leads it… because the world around us is not waiting,” Merz said on Tuesday.

“It’s not as if everyone is holding their breath and watching Germany in fascination, as decisions are taken in Europe, Asia and the United States.

“The world expects a Germany that is capable of taking action.”

Winter election campaign

The February 23 date would force politicians to run their campaigns in the dark and cold of winter, when voters will be less enthusiastic to flock to outdoor events than during the usual summer campaign seasons.

Scholz is expected to lose the confidence vote in the lower house of parliament, after which President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will have 21 days to dissolve the Bundestag.

Elections have to be held within 60 days of the dissolution.

Scholz took office in late 2021, taking over from the CDU’s Angela Merkel, in a three-way coalition with the left-leaning Greens and the liberal and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

But mounting differences over economic and fiscal policy came to a head last week when Scholz fired the rebellious FDP finance minister Christian Linder, prompting the small party to leave the government.

Since then, Scholz’s SPD and the Greens have carried on in a minority government that would need opposition support to pass any laws — something the CDU/CSU had rejected in the absence of clarity on an election date.

Future scenarios

Scholz’s coalition marked the first time a tripartite alliance has ruled at the federal level, and it may not be the last, given Germany’s increasingly fragmented political party landscape.

Fears about immigration have driven the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. It is now polling at close to 20 per cent, but other parties have pledged to shun it as a coalition partner.

The latest polls put the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance firmly in the lead at 32pc.

To win a majority, however, the conservatives would likely need the future backing of the SPD, which is currently polling at 15.5pc, in a so-called grand coalition, plus a third party.

Contenders for that spot, according to current polling, would be either the FDP, with five percent support, or possibly the Greens, who are polling at 11pc.

Lindner, who has said he wants to be finance minister again, on Tuesday welcomed the date for new elections, saying:“Happily we now have clarity on this question.” He earlier said that he thought Merz “will almost certainly be the next chancellor of Ger­many. The only question is: Who will chancellor Merz govern with?”

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

• At COP29 leaders’ summit, Shehbaz Sharif reminds West of broken promises, calls for overhaul of global climate financing framework
• Links humanity’s survival with health of glaciers, says Pakistan ready to work with world for their protection
• Meets British, Danish, Turkish, Central Asian leaders among others on sidelines of climate summit

BAKU: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tues­day said that debt cannot become the “acceptable new normal” in climate financing, as he addressed the challenges faced by developing countries within the global climate finance framework.

“We stand at a crucial threshold where global climate finance framework must be redefined to effectively meet the needs of vulnerable nations,” he told a Climate Finance Round Table Conference organised by Pakistan on the sidelines of the two-day World Leaders Climate Action Summit.

He explained that finan­c­ing in the form of loans increases the debt of developing nations and pushes them towards “mounting debt traps” which he ref­erred to as “death traps”.

“Debt cannot become the acceptable new normal in climate financing which is why we must resume focus on non-debt financing solutions enabling countries to fund climate initiatives,” the PM said.

“Despite years of promises and commitments, the gaps are growing, leading to aggregate barriers in achieving objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).”

Pakistan is ranked among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countr­ies, according to the Glo­bal Climate Risk Index 2021. It has faced increasingly frequent and severe weather events, such as unprecedented floods, int­ense monsoon rains, devastating heat waves, rapid glacial melting and glacial lake outburst floods.

Calling climate financing an “urgent need of the hour”, PM Shehbaz said that developing countries need to deliver Nationally Determined Contribu­ti­ons (NDCs) and “need an estimated $6.8 trillion by 2030 to implement less than half of their current NDCs”.

He further urged donor countries to “fulfil their commitment”, which is 4.7 per cent of their gross nat­io­nal product and capitalise on existing climate funds.

The PM said that Pakis­tan can relate to the “agony and pain of other vulnerable countries”, highlighting how the country faced two devastating floods.

While emphasising tra­n­sparency and coordination in financial commitments made to developing countries, he stated that Pakistan alongside other developing countries, calls for stronger more equitable climate finance mechanisms under the UNFCCC.

He reiterated the pertinent need for reform of international financial architecture saying that “now is the time to build up on the momentum for international financial reforms” so that no nation is left behind in the global response to climate change.

Call to protect glaciers

In remarks delivered later at an event on glaciers, the PM linked the survival of mankind with the health of glaciers, adding that Pakistan, as one of the most affected country, was ready to work with the international community to protect these valuable natural resources.

Addressing Glaciers 2025; Actions for Glaciers, hosted by Tajik President Emamoli Rahmon, the prime minister called upon all the countries to unite in the efforts of protecting glaciers from pollution and snow melt by taking concrete and decisive actions to secure the future of glaciers as well as protect the mankind.

He said Pakistan was home to 7,000 glaciers which provided an approximately 60 to 70 per cent water for the Indus River flow, supporting 90pc of agriculture and serving its 200 million people.

However, the glaciers that provide water for this river have been shrinking over a period of time and at an alarming time, which is estimated at about 23pc decrease since 1960, he added.

The prime minister said this retreat was driven by rising temperatures and the consequences of these changes were glaringly visible.

He shared that accelerated glacial melt had led to the formation of more than 3,000 glacial lakes in the northern areas of Pakistan which were posing great threat. Out of these, he said, about 33 lakes were estimated at the risk of outburst flooding, putting lives of over 7 million people in danger.

Meetings with world leaders

On the sidelines of COP29, PM Shehbaz interacted with UAE President Sheikh Moha­m­med bin Zayed Al Nahyan and discussed cooperation on climate change.

Mr Sharif also met with UK PM Sir Keir Starmer, where the two leaders discussed enhan­c­­i­ng bilateral ties.

He also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan, where they discussed environmental pollution as well as matters of mutual interest between the two friendly nations, the report added.

PM Shehbaz also met with the Czech PM Petr Fiala and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen and stressed the need to enhance bilateral cooperation as well as build global consensus on the key climate change priorities.

In his interactions with Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel and Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus, PM Shehbaz discussed growing temperatures, the threat of rising sea levels, and forest conservation in South Asia.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and PM Shehbaz explored strengthening bilateral relations. In his meetings with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Tajikistan’s Rahmon, the leaders spoke about the conservation of glaciers and water resources in Central Asian countries and Pakistan.

With input from APP

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

Tremors were felt in various cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as Islamabad on Wednesday after a quake jolted Afghanistan’s Badakhshan region.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.1, while the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) reported it as having a 5.3 magnitude.

The USGS said the quake’s centre was located 37 kilometres west-southwest of Afghanistan’s Ishkashim town and had a 220.7km depth.

The earthquake struck at 10:13am (Pakistan time), both the USGS and PMD confirmed.

No casualties have been reported so far.

DawnNewsTV reported that the tremors were felt in Peshawar and its adjoining areas, as well as Islamabad.

Speaking to DawnNewsTV, two correspondents based in the cities said the quake caused people to evacuate buildings.

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