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Geologist Engineer Prince MKD Songs, Royal Warri, Nigeria's Oil City. Sealed with the map of Ghana on my wrist as natural birthmark indicating our family in Ghana and Nigeria is the major orchestrator of independence on the continent starting with Ghana. MIrakilo is abbreviated MKD Songs
Trump teases speedy environmental permitting for $1bn investments in US
December 11, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has teased the prospect of faster environmental approvals for companies and individuals investing at least $1bn in the United States.
As part of a flurry of social media posts on Tuesday, Trump indicated he planned to streamline the permitting process, as part of his plan to boost the US economy.
Any person or company investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS, OR MORE, in the United States of America, will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social. “GET READY TO ROCK!!!”
But the post instantly sparked a backlash among advocacy groups, which saw the proposal as a means of undermining the country’s environmental protections.
The Sierra Club, one of the most prominent environmental groups in the US, even compared Trump’s plan to a “bribe”.
“Donald Trump’s plan to sell out the highest bidder confirms what we’ve long known about him,” said Mahyar Sorour, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy.
“Donald Trump’s plan to sell out the highest bidder confirms what we’ve long known about him,” said Mahyar Sorour, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy
He’s happy to sacrifice the wellbeing of American communities for the benefit of his Big Oil campaign donors.”
Trump has yet to reveal how he might implement this scheme within existing government frameworks. Longstanding laws like the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act require permitting and environmental studies for any major project that receives federal funding.
But Trump has previously burnished a reputation for cutting back environmental policy.
During his first term as president, from 2017 to 2021, Trump took aim at what he called “unnecessary and inappropriate” environmental regulations, accusing them of overburdening US industries.
A New York Times analysis tallied that, by the end of his four-year term, Trump achieved the full rollback of approximately 112 environmental rules, with others weakened or partially dismantled.
Among the laws he targeted were standards for greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and offshore drilling.
On the campaign trail this year, Trump once again pledged to scale back restrictions on oil and gas production, including through the repeal of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, one of the most substantive climate change laws in US history.
“We will slash the red tape. We will get the job done,” Trump said in August at a campaign stop in Potterville, Michigan. One of his many campaign slogans was “Drill, baby, drill”.
Also as part of his “America First” platform, Trump promised the return of American manufacturing jobs from overseas, largely through the implementation of protectionist trade policies like tariffs. But his plan also includes incentives for companies that invest in the US.
Dozens of civilians killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan
More people killed in North Darfur and Greater Khartoum attacks as fighting between the army and the RSF turns bloodier
December 11, 2024. Pray for the nation of Sudan
Dozens of people have been killed over two days in Sudan as fighting between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies, according to officials, activists and rights groups.
The 20-month conflict, which has killed tens of thousands, has become increasingly bloody, with the army stepping up air attacks in areas under the RSF control and the paramilitary forces staging raids and carrying out intense artillery strikes.
On Monday, an air attack on a busy market in the town of Kabkabiya, a town about 180km (110 miles) west of North Darfur’s capital El Fasher currently surrounded by the RSF, killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds, including women and children, according to rights group Emergency Lawyers.
The army denied responsibility for the attack, insisting that it had the right to target any location used by the RSF for military purposes, according to the Reuters news agency. There was no immediate comment from the RSF
On Tuesday, the RSF aimed heavy artillery fire at an army-controlled sector of Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum that forms part of Sudan’s wider capital, according to residents. State-aligned Khartoum Governor Ahmed Othman Hamza reported that at least 65 people had been killed and hundreds wounded.
According to Hamza, who called the attack a “massacre”, attributing it to “the terrorist militia”, a shell hit a passenger bus and “killed everyone on board and turned 22 people into body parts”
A medical source in Omdurman’s Al-Nao hospital, one of the last facilities receiving patients in the area, told the AFP news agency that the hospital received 15 of those killed in the attack on the bus, with another seven dying later in the hospital.
The hospital had also “received 45 injured from different areas” of Omdurman, the source added, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.
On Tuesday, the RSF shelled famine-stricken Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, killing five people, according to civil society group the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees.
Emergency Lawyers also reported six people were killed in North Kordofan state when a drone that had crashed on November 26 exploded.
Power struggle
Sudan’s war broke out in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and the RSF before a planned transition to civilian rule.
Both sides have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes, including attacking civilians, a United Nations fact-finding mission said in September.
The violence has killed tens of thousands, pushed 11 million people from their homes and unleashed the world’s biggest hunger crisis, according to the UN.
On Tuesday, the UN warned almost 10,000 people a day are fleeing across the border to South Sudan, with daily arrivals having tripled in recent weeks.
The healthcare system, already fragile before the war, has been severely crippled with up to 80 percent of health facilities in affected areas either closed or barely operational, the UN says
Nigeria on right track to fighting corruption – UN
December 11, 2024
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, has said that Nigeria was making progress in fighting corruption, with more citizens rejecting the practice and demanding accountability.
Country Representative of UNODC, Mr Cheikh Toure, who stated this at the 2024 International Anti-Corruption Day commemoration in Abuja on Tuesday, cited a recent national corruption survey showing encouraging signs of progress.
He said a significant 70 per cent of Nigerians, including youth, have refused to pay bribes on at least one occasion, as reported in the UNODC national corruption survey.
According to him, there is also a nearly threefold increase in formal procedures against corrupt public officials, rising from 16 per cent to 45 per cent between 2019 and 2023.
“This statistic is not just a number; it represents a growing culture of integrity and resistance against corruption.
”Moreover, 42 per cent of respondents refused to pay bribes simply because it was the right thing to do
This moral stance is the foundation upon which we must build our anti-corruption efforts,” he added.
Toure stressed that in spite of the positive developments, there was still much work to be done, stressing the need to further foster integrity, transparency, and accountability in the public sector.
He called for the empowerment of youth to be an integral part of the solution, quoting Felipe Paullier, the Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, who noted that corruption impacts young people disproportionately.
He said it diminished resources for education, healthcare, social development, and climate action, and stifles creativity, limits job prospects, and even affects the fairness of sports and public life.
The UNDOC Country Representative, however, expressed hope, saying that young people were not merely victims of corruption but powerful agents of change.
As climate change intensifies, vulnerable states seek legal redress against polluters
December 11, 2024
- At a landmark hearing Tuesday on climate change law at the United Nation’s top court in The Hague, Britain argued that only existing climate treaties should have any bearing on a state’s obligations to address the crisis, echoing calls from other big economies.
Small island states have told the court that global warming poses an existential risk, arguing that international human rights laws must apply, in addition to any negotiated climate agreements. Such an outcome could pave the way for compensation claims against big polluting nations.
The hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is one of several legal cases that has the potential to reframe global climate change negotiations.
Some 99 countries are participating in the two-week hearing at the ICJ, making it the largest case in the court’s history. It has pitted small island nations against big polluters and fossil fuel producers.
At the heart of the case is whether international law obliges nation states to prevent climate change and pay for the damage caused by their greenhouse gas emissions.
Britain argued that the only legal obligations are derived from existing climate treaties such as the 2015 Paris Agreement, which set a target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
“The climate crisis can only be met by states working together,” British Attorney General Richard Hermer told the court on Tuesday. “The most constructive, the most concrete, and thus the most legally effective way is through the legally binding agreements setting out states’ obligations to tackle the challenges of climate change. … At the heart of the global response to climate change is the landmark Paris Agreement.”
‘Escape accountability’
Critics accused Britain of trying to avoid legal responsibilities.
“The United Kingdom laid out contemptuous arguments in front of the International Court of Justice with one key goal: escape accountability and responsibilities for decades of climate harms,” Sébastien Duyck, a senior attorney at the Washington-based Center for International Environmental Law, said in a statement sent to VOA.
“By claiming that the Paris Agreement contains the sum total of States’ legal obligations on climate change, the U.K. effectively asked the Court to ignore both science and history: decades of fossil-fueled emissions, and the ample evidence that they knew far too well that such conduct would push the world to the brink of a catastrophe,” Duyck added.
Island states
Small island and coastal states, led by Vanuatu, have argued that rising sea levels caused by global warming threaten their existence — and therefore international human rights laws must be relevant, in addition to the binding agreements made in negotiated climate treaties.
“The conduct responsible for this existential harm cannot, I repeat, cannot be lawful under international law,” Vanuatu Attorney General Arnold Kiel Loughman told the court last week.
The 15 judges will offer an advisory opinion that has the potential to reframe climate change negotiations, according to analyst Elena Kosolapova of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
“The expectation is for the court’s advisory opinion to provide a clear legal benchmark and remove any ambiguity around countries’ obligations under international law. And U.N. negotiations would certainly benefit from legal clarity,” Kosolapova told VOA.
Global hearings
Scientists say climate change is driving extreme weather events around the world. That has put the spotlight on the rights of the communities affected.
The ICJ hearing is one of three international courts asked to provide legal clarity on climate change.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held hearings in Brazil and Barbados earlier this year and is expected to give its opinion on nation states’ legal obligations in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, judges at the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled in May that greenhouse gas emissions are subject to international law, and that all states are obliged to limit global warming and protect marine environments.
“If a state fails to comply with this obligation, international [legal] responsibility would be engaged for that state,” Judge Albert Hoffmann explained at the time of the ruling.
Small island states praised that advisory opinion, claiming it gave teeth to climate change laws.
The hearing at the ICJ is due to finish on Friday. The judges are expected to take several more weeks to issue their opinion
Somali migrants recount ordeal of 16 days helpless, drifting at sea
December 11, 2024
In the early evening of November 11, after four days at sea, the passengers of two boats carrying 75 Somali migrants spotted distant lights and a hill. They could hear the muezzin calling for the Maghreb, Muslim evening prayers. Their destination, Mayotte, a French island in the Indian Ocean, was finally in sight.
The lead skipper confirmed what they saw and heard — they were close to shore. However, he expressed a concern. He said he feared that gangsters on the beach might attack them. He decided to stop the boats and informed the passengers they would spend the night at sea and go ashore in the morning, according to a Swahili-speaking migrant who served as the interpreter.
Little did the migrants know their journey, so close to a successful ending, was about to descend into unspeakable horror.
The skippers, who were also human traffickers, had been with the passengers since November 7, when they set off in the two boats from a mothership anchored off Kenya’s southern coast, near Mombasa.
The skippers’ role was to take Somalis on the final leg of their journey to Mayotte, the French island off the northwest coast of Madagascar that has recently become a magnet for asylum seekers hoping to reach Europe.
November 23
On the first boat, 17 people died, 14 of them women. Ten others died on the second boat. One boy, realizing the boat was going nowhere, jumped into the water, confident in his ability to swim. He was seen swimming away, but moments later, the waves carried him in the opposite direction. He was never seen again.
The last three days, as everyone lost energy, the boats moved swiftly, carried by strong winds. Rain gave the drifting migrants some desperately needed water, but most were losing hope of survival.
Then, after a dark night with no moon, Anas recalls, “At dawn, there was light, we saw the mountain and then a coastline.”
Madagascar. After 16 days at sea, the migrants had finally reached land. The migrants were able to guide the boats close to shore and staggered onto the beach.
Nearby fisherman shied away at first, Anas said. Then they saw the bodies in the boats.
“They were moved. They gave us water, rice and fruits,” Luul said.
The fishermen made a phone call. Another boat came. They tied their boat to the migrants’ and pulled them onto the beach.
“They were good people, they helped us, they changed our clothes, they gave us warm water to get our energy,” Luul said.
The migrants were transferred to authorities in Madagascar
Luul, the 31-year-old mother of five, was the only person from her family on the boat. She says she survived because “everyone has their time to die” — and this wasn’t hers, although she felt it was close.
“I was thirsty, I was hungry; my voice has changed, the last day my throat was not opening, it was swollen. I had lots of spots, and from sitting on the boat. I was weak,” she said.
Out of the 75 passengers, 47 survived the grim journey. The Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the social media platform X that it chartered a plane for the survivors, including Luul and Anas, and brought them back to Mogadishu on Saturday.
This story originated in VOA’s Horn of Africa Service.
Ghana: John Mahama officially wins election
December 11, 2024
John Dramani Mahama, Ghana’s former president, has been declared the winner of the presidential election, securing 56.5% of the vote. His campaign, focused on tackling the economic crisis, resonated with young Ghanaians seeking change. Celebrations have erupted nationwide as supporters of his National Democratic Congress partied in vibrant colors.
S Korea ex-minister linked to martial law move attempts to take his life
December 11,2024
South Korea’s former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who claimed full responsibility for the president’s failed attempt to place the country under martial law last week, has tried to take his own life, an official said.
Authorities found him while making the attempt in his detention centre on Tuesday night, Shin Yong-hae, the justice ministry’s correctional agency chief, told lawmakers.
In the wake of Yoon’s shock martial law order, Kim resigned last week along with other top presidential staff.
He had been detained on Sunday for investigation, before he was formally arrested on insurrection charges.
S Korea ex-minister linked to martial law move attempts to take his life
Former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun
South Korea’s former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who claimed full responsibility for the president’s failed attempt to place the country under martial law last week, has tried to take his own life, an official said.
Authorities found him while making the attempt in his detention centre on Tuesday night, Shin Yong-hae, the justice ministry’s correctional agency chief, told lawmakers.
In the wake of Yoon’s shock martial law order, Kim resigned last week along with other top presidential staff.
He had been detained on Sunday for investigation, before he was formally arrested on insurrection charges.
Kim was in stable condition following the attempt, Shin said.
Kim is among top officials who are facing investigations for their role in Yoon’s short-lived martial law order, which has sparked widespread fury in South Korea.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets calling for the president’s resignation or impeachment.
Yoon is also being investigated for alleged insurrection. While he has apologised for the martial law declaration, he has not accepted growing calls for him to step down.
Kim, who was named defence minister in September, said he apologised “deeply” in a statement on Tuesday and said “all responsibility for this situation lies solely with me”.
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