This is the third presidential election in a row that the state's voters have rejected Trump -- after going in 2016 for Hillary Clinton, and in 2020 for President Joe Biden.

Donald Trump has said he wouldn’t be a dictator — “except for Day 1.” According to his own statements, he’s got a lot to do on that first day in the White House.

Elon Musk’s super PAC spent around $200 million to help elect Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the group’s spending, funding an effort that set a new standard for how billionaires can influence elections.

Trump’s first picks for immigration policy jobs spent the last four years angling for this moment.

President-elect Donald Trump is starting to fill key posts in his second administration.

Denver police sergeant Stephanie Neblock was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence assault in Douglas County, the Denver Police Department said in a press release. 

The mountain lion was considered a public threat and had activated a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents.

“While the investigation takes place, the town will refrain from any additional comment on this matter," according to a press release.

The 2025 budget is the city's most conservative when it comes to spending growth in any year not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic since 2011.

Philippine institutions and governance structures must be strengthened as part of any effort to reform the country's financial supervisory structure.

What should the transitional economies of Southeast Asia do, if anything, to address their multiple currency situations?

This paper examines the impact of family size on children's education in the Philippines.

This paper examines the costs and benefits of the multiple currency phenomenon in Lao PDR and considers options in terms of policy response.

Bangladesh and India should pursue bilateral economic cooperation to enhance South Asian regional cooperation.

Theoretical and empirical analyses of People's Republic of China's infrastructure and rural development.

This paper is part of a cross-country study on corporate governance in Asia. A consensus has yet to be reached about exactly what factors were behind the crisis of 1998 and how these factors interacted in bringing about the crisis.

Regional disparities within and among Chinese provinces have declined, but are still a serious problem.

Research on ICT and capacity building for poverty reduction, focusing on lessons learned from a distant learning course in microfinance.

Sri Lanka's post-tsunami reconstruction experience provides lessons for future major disasters, particularly for realistic needs assessment.

Lack of access to good road networks is a major constraint on the incomes and welfare of the poor. Using household expenditure survey data for Lao PDR this paper models the causes of poverty and shows the impact on poverty levels of road improvements.

This paper analyses economic and social indicators across provinces in the People's Republic of China.

Nations have begun setting carbon-cutting targets for the decade ahead, and how ambitious these pledges are could make or break global efforts to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

Nearly 200 countries are supposed to publish updated climate plans by early February, but so far only three have done so.

On Wednesday, the UK became the latest, announcing during the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan that it would raise its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

All eyes will be on other big polluters like China, India, and the United States, though future US climate action is unclear following Donald Trump’s election.

Why do they matter?

The world has agreed to try and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but is nowhere near on track.

Above this threshold, scientists say humanity risks disastrous consequences from volatile weather to major ecological “tipping points” at land and sea.

Last month, the United Nations warned that even if all existing plans are implemented in full, temperatures would rise 2.6°C by the century’s end, a catastrophic outcome.

The UN says the next round of climate plans must show a “quantum leap” in ambition to avert the worst.

The G20 — which accounts for 77 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions — is under particular pressure to step up.

Early movers

Just before COP29 opened in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates announced a 47pc reduction in emissions by 2035 compared with 2019 in its updated climate plan.

Observers said the roadmap failed to account for exported emissions —including those from its sales of crude oil abroad.

Next year’s UN climate host, Brazil, has partly unveiled its plan, increasing its emissions reduction target from a 59pc cut by 2035, from 2005 levels, to a 67pc reduction.

It is expected to unveil a more complete plan during COP29.

Plans from other major emitters, like the European Union and China, are not expected until next year.

And the current US government could soon outline Washington’s new pledge, despite questions over Trump following through once in office.

David Waskow, of the World Resources Institute, said it would help guide American cities, states and businesses wishing to continue climate action under Trump.

“It also sends an important signal internationally, a set of benchmarks for what the US ought to do,” he added.

What do countries need to do?

By signing the Paris accord, nearly 200 nations agreed to halt rising temperatures “well below 2°C” and strive for the safer goal of 1.5°C.

But it did not prescribe how to get there.

The deal left it up to countries to voluntarily chart their own plans and targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

These include emission reduction targets and measures to achieve them, such as rolling out renewable energy, electrifying transport, and ending deforestation.

There is no set template for countries to follow but richer countries —historically the largest emitters — have a responsibility to pledge the deepest emission cuts.

The plans must be reviewed every five years, with each update supposed to be more ambitious than the last. This time around countries are expected to improve their 2030 targets and outline economy-wide action they will take to 2035.

What’s the aim?

An agreement at last year’s COP28 climate summit “encouraged” countries to come forward with plans aligned with halting warming to 1.5°C.

To have a hope of meeting that goal, emissions must be slashed 42pc by 2030 and 57pc by 2035, the UN’s Environment Programme said last month.

Currently, however, emissions are continuing to rise.

Keeping 1.5°C on track would require a collective effort “only ever seen following a global conflict”, it added.

Without pulling together “on a scale and pace never seen before… the 1.5°C goal will soon be dead,” said UNEP executive director Inger Andersen.

The big moment for assessing progress towards the 1.5°C goal comes at a crunch COP30 climate summit in Brazil next year.

What about fossil fuels?

Scientists and the International Energy Agency have said that developing new fossil fuel projects is incompatible with halting warming to 1.5°C.

But many fossil fuel-producing countries argue that new oil and gas projects will be needed as the world transitions to net zero emissions.

Countries are under pressure to outline in their updated plans how they intend to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, something all nations agreed on at last year’s COP.

Header image: This picture taken on November 12 shows a wind turbine at the lignite-fired power station operated by German energy giant RWE near Neurath, western Germany. — AFP

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Tuesday it has asked the sport’s governing body to explain India’s refusal to send a team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy next year.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) informed the PCB last week that India would not tour Pakistan for the eight-team tournament, leaving the fate of the event hanging in the balance.

Pakistan had previously rejected the option of a hybrid arrangement that would allow India to play their matches at neutral venues, for example in the United Arab Emirates.

“The PCB has responded to last week’s ICC letter seeking clarifications for the Indian Board’s decision not to travel to Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy,” Sami-Ul-Hasan told AFP.

Deteriorating political ties have meant the bitter rivals have not played a bilateral cricket series for over a decade — squaring off only in ICC multi-nation events.

Pakistani media reported on Tuesday that the PCB would be unwilling to accept security reasons for India’s refusal to visit.

New Zealand have toured Pakistan three times in the past two years, with England visiting twice and Australia once in the same period.

Pakistan also visited India for last year’s ODI World Cup and the PCB had expected the gesture to be reciprocated for the Champions Trophy.

The Champions Trophy is slated to be played across three venues — Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi — from February 19 to March 9 next year.

But a final schedule due to be announced this week has been postponed over the stand-off — which PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi termed disappointing.

“Almost every country wants the tournament to be played in Pakistan and it will be disappointing if they don’t come,” Naqvi, who is also the interior minister, said last week.

“I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter. We’ll give every team as many facilities as we can.” Naqvi said Pakistan would consider pulling out of events in India as a response.

“Pakistan has shown great gestures to India in the past, and we’d like to say clearly India shouldn’t expect such friendly gestures from us every time”.

India is due to host the women’s ODI World Cup and Asia Cup next year and will co-host the Twenty20 World Cup with Sri Lanka in 2026.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money case has put off ruling on whether the president-elect’s conviction should be thrown out on immunity grounds, enabling prosecutors to weigh next steps following his November 5 election victory.

Justice Juan Merchan had been due to rule on Tuesday on Trump’s argument that the US Supreme Court’s decision in July that presidents are immune from prosecution involving their official acts meant the New York state case should be dismissed.

Instead, Merchan granted a request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to have until Nov 19 to consider how to approach the case in light of Trump’s looming inauguration in January 2025, email correspondence made public on Tuesday showed.

Trump’s scheduled Nov 26 sentencing is now widely expected to be postponed.

Trump in May became the first US president — former or sitting — convicted of a crime when a jury in Manhattan found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a potential sex scandal shortly before his first election win in 2016. Trump, who pleaded not guilty, has vowed to appeal the verdict after sentencing.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote there were “competing interests” between ensuring a criminal case proceeds as usual and protecting the office of the president.

“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” Colangelo wrote.

Trump is set to be the first felon inaugurated as president after his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.

At issue in the six-week Manhattan trial was a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with him in 2006 but which he has denied.

Trump’s defense lawyer Emil Bove wrote that the case ultimately needed to be dismissed to avoid interfering with Trump’s presidential duties.

“The stay, and dismissal, are necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern,” Bove wrote.

Trump faced four criminal cases

Trump, 78, is hoping to enter office unencumbered by any of four criminal cases he has faced and which once were thought to have threatened to derail his 2024 candidacy to return to the White House after having served from 2017 to 2021.

The Republican Trump has portrayed the hush money case brought by Bragg, a Democrat, and the three other state and federal criminal indictments brought in 2023 as politically motivated attempts to harm his presidential campaign. He pleaded not guilty in all four cases.

“It is now abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement on Tuesday.

Special Counsel Jack Smith brought two of the cases against Trump, one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and the other involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. A Florida-based federal judge in July dismissed the documents case. The Justice Department is now evaluating how to wind down Smith’s election-related case.

Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia over his bid to reverse his 2020 loss in that state, but the case remains in limbo.

The Supreme Court, in a decision arising from one of Smith’s two cases against Trump, decided that presidents are immune from prosecution involving their official acts and that juries cannot be presented evidence of official acts in trials over personal conduct. It marked the first time that the court recognized any degree of presidential immunity from prosecution.

In making the case for immunity, Trump’s lawyers said the jury that convicted Trump in the hush money case was shown evidence by prosecutors of his social media posts as president and heard testimony from his former aides about conversations that occurred in the White House during his 2017-2021 term.

Bragg’s office countered that the Supreme Court’s ruling has no bearing on the case, which they said concerned “wholly unofficial conduct.” The Supreme Court in its ruling found no immunity for a president’s unofficial acts.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday announced that the recently established constitutional bench will start hearing cases on November 14 and 15.

Earlier, the SC constituted a three-judge committee to fix cases, issue court rosters, form benches, and decide weekly caseload for its recently established constitutional bench.

The committee held a meeting today which was chaired by Justice Aminud Din Khan (head of the constitutional bench) and attended by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who participated through a telephone call from Karachi.

The SC said in a press release, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss matters for the formation of the constitutional bench.

During the meeting, the committee was briefed by the court’s registrar’s office regarding the pending constitutional cases, the statement said adding, “[The] committee resolved that priority shall be accorded to the oldest cases.”

On Nov 5, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), in its maiden session, had picked Justice Amin as head of the constitutional bench by a seven-to-five majority.

Chaired by Chief Jus­tice of Pakistan (CJP) Jus­tice Yahya Afridi, the reconstituted JCP for­m­ed a seven-member con­stitutional bench, inc­­luding Justices Ami­nud Din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muha­m­mad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

Today’s press release mentioned that Justice Ayesha Malik will not be available on Nov 14 and 15 and “a bench comprising all available Judges shall be constituted to proceed with cases on these dates.”

The SC Registrar Muh­ammad Salim Khan released the court roster of a six-member constitutional bench which will begin hearing cases at 9:30am on Nov 14.

The bench will include Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

The SC directed the Registrar to schedule cases for hearing before the bench.

The next meeting of the committee will be held on Nov 13 at 12:30pm after Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar arrives in Islamabad.

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

TEHRAN: Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television reported, as the two countries linked their banking systems in the latest bid to counteract sanctions.

Iranian banks have been excluded since 2018 from the SWIFT international financial messaging service, which governs the vast majority of transactions worldwide.

The move is part of a raft of sanctions that were re-imposed on Iran after the United States withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television channel IRINN said on Monday, showing the withdrawal of money using an Iranian bank card from an ATM in Russia.

Iranians can now use their cards in Russia to pay for in-store purchases

The operation was made possible by connecting Iran’s interbank network Shetab to its Russian equivalent Mir, the channel said.

Iranians can currently withdraw money in Russia, and will in the future be able to use their cards to pay for in-store purchases, it added.

“The plan is also going to be implemented in other countries that have a wide range of financial and social interactions with Iran, for example Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkiye,” it said.

Both Iran and Russia have sought to counteract the effects of sanctions on their economies.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has faced mounting sanctions, and its ties with Tehran have grown closer in parallel.

Ukraine and its Western allies have since the start of the conflict accused Iran of supplying Russia with both drones and missiles for use in the war.

Tehran and Moscow signed an agreement in June to strengthen their cooperation in the banking sector.

In the future, Russians will also be able to use their bank cards in Iran, IRINN said, without specifying when.

Russia has been pushing for the creation of an international payment platform as an alternative to the SWIFT service, from which key Russian banks have also been excluded since 2022.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

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