As the UAE prepares to host Cop28 this year, some in the West are calling the decision to select a major oil and gas producer to hold the UN climate conference controversial. This attitude stems from a narrow western mindset that is increasingly alienating many in the developing world whose buy-in will be critical towards tackling this global challenge.
What amounts to virtue-signalling from some quarters in Europe and the US puts at risk the entire Cop process. After all, the two most recent meetings, Cop26 and Cop27, were held in Scotland and Egypt – both major oil and gas producers – yet they faced little blowback for it. This underscores a double standard to start with.
Also, at Cop26, the oil, gas, nuclear and coal industries, which together produce 90 per cent of global energy, were de-platformed and not even allowed to be part of the conversation, due to a certain agenda that took over the then Cop office. This undermined the entire meeting and impeded its success.
What amounts to virtue-signalling from some quarters in Europe and the US puts at risk the entire Cop process
We also saw finger-wagging during recent Cop meetings at developing countries such as India and others, who have been waiting for the $100 billion in climate finance that was promised to them in Paris, but which has yet to materialise. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since pushed back, stating that now $1 trillion would be needed. And so, the language changed last year in Sharm El Sheikh. The nations representing 7 billion people across the developing world are no longer talking about just the $100 billion. They are now talking in terms of loss and damage – demanding reparations for the climate change caused primarily by emissions from wealthier nations, and for which they, as developing countries, must now suffer the most.
These developing countries are rightly and understandably asking the industrialised western governments: how can you, who colonised large parts of Asia and Africa, and used our resources to fuel your industrial development, now somehow be lecturing us that we shouldn't have stable power while you enjoy it?
And at the first sign of an energy crisis last year, several European nations turned their coal plants back on, despite advocating against the use of this fuel in recent Cop meetings. And practically all European countries, including the UK, are now subsidising energy consumption even as they spent years lecturing developing countries to avoid doing so, masking this policy with labels such as “energy support” and “price caps” when it is of course a clear energy consumption subsidy.
And many of these same countries are now also approaching African countries, such as Mozambique and Tanzania, desperately seeking the natural gas they had previously refused to import for domestic consumption in the name of climate policy – as long as it now goes to Europe as liquified natural gas, to secure Europe’s own electricity supply.
Such hypocrisy is grating on developing countries who see climate policies being used to stunt their own growth and development – and is, therefore, putting at risk the progress of the entire Cop process to reduce global emissions as a common co-operative challenge. It also leads us to why the UAE is the perfect place to host Cop28 and bridge this growing North-South divide.
First, the UAE is a big investor in all forms of energy, including renewables. Masdar, one of the world’s largest investors in clean energy and active in more than 40 countries around the globe, was established in Abu Dhabi in 2006 – well before most other countries made major commitments in this space. And Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Cop28 President-designate, was Masdar’s founding chief executive and continues to serve as its chairman. It is a role he assumed well before his current position at Adnoc. Moreover, countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia will lead the scaling up of hydrogen because they have the resources, both in terms of finance and in natural gas and low-cost solar energy supply, to be able to advance these technologies of the future.
The UAE’s other advantage is its geography. Being centrally located and equipped with superior logistics and travel links to the world, it is the best place to bring together north, south, east and west – which is necessary for a genuine dialogue. Also worth pointing out are the unique relationships the UAE has developed with a number of Asian and African countries. This is important because, ultimately, the climate fight will be won or lost in these countries, since they will account for almost all of the global growth in carbon emissions going forward.
Cop28 will be held at the same venue that hosted Dubai Expo 2020, which became the first world fair to pay for the so-called “least developed countries” to have their own pavilions. In other words, it represents an inclusive venue where all the countries’ views will be welcomed and respected. For all these reasons, Cop28 is going to be an inclusive and successful Cop, with the UAE proving the ideal host – regardless of the conversations being had in Europe.
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Premier League results
Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1
Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 1
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Huddersfield Town 0
Burnley 1 Crystal Palace 3
Manchester United 3 Southampton 2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Cardiff City 0
West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0
Sunday
Watford 2 Leicester City 1
Fulham 1 Chelsea 2
Everton 0 Liverpool 0
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Despacito's dominance in numbers
Released: 2017
Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon
Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube
Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification
Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.
Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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SCORES IN BRIEF
Lahore Qalandars 186 for 4 in 19.4 overs
(Sohail 100,Phil Salt 37 not out, Bilal Irshad 30, Josh Poysden 2-26)
bt Yorkshire Vikings 184 for 5 in 20 overs
(Jonathan Tattersall 36, Harry Brook 37, Gary Ballance 33, Adam Lyth 32, Shaheen Afridi 2-36).
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
