CLIMATE SUMMIT PREDICTS FLOODS ACROSS THE GLOBE
(GIN)—All eyes were on a powerful storm as it sent water cascading into swollen rivers and raised fatalities to 100 at the beginning of the week.
That was Nigeria. This week, from the Carolinas to the Nigerian Delta, from the Philippines to Hong Kong, weather unlike anyone can remember has been pounding the planet. Preparation for super-typhoons in Asia, the “storm of a lifetime” in the Carolinas, or the annual rainy season in Nigeria appears to have softened the blow even while escape routes were closed and roads turned into raging rivers.
Nigeria’s fatalities occurred when the country’s two major rivers, the Niger and the Benue, burst their banks.
Flooding was attributed to blocked drainages, construction along water channels and illegal mining along river banks.
The U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists wrote, “Global warming is making heavy rain more frequent in many areas of the country. With human alteration of the land—like the engineering of rivers, the destruction of natural protective systems, and increased construction on floodplains—many parts of the U.S. are at greater risk of destructive floods.”
This past week, a Global Climate Action Summit was held in San Francisco.
Summit organizer California Gov. Jerry Brown warned, “We’re running out of time. There’s been some backsliding since Paris. Our summit aims to increase the commitments that have already been made in Paris, to make them even greater, and thereby build the momentum going into the Conference of the Parties at Poland.”
Leaders from all sectors of society were there to demonstrate how they are “taking ambition to the next level” with a wave of fresh and brave climate action announcements that, if implemented, will generate more than 65 million new, low-carbon jobs by 2030.
The event was also attended by protestors, who chanted “Tell Jerry Brown to keep it in the ground” and held signs reading “Don’t drill.” There were scuffles as police attempted to remove several protesters. Inside, protesters interrupted former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, chanting, “Our air is not for sale.”
Brown’s critics claim California’s cap-and-trade emissions system, which allows major polluters to trade emissions allowances and offsets, is overly generous to fossil fuel interests.
They have also attacked the governor for allowing more than 20,000 drilling operations during his tenure.
“We are experiencing huge economic losses due to climate change.” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “But the Global Climate Action Summit has brought together actors demonstrating the vast opportunity afforded by climate action. They are betting on green because they understand this is the path to prosperity and peace on a healthy planet.”
PRESIDENT’S SON NABBED WITH $12 MILLION IN JEWELED WATCHES
(GIN)—What does a suitcase full of million dollar watches look like?
Well, it’s blinding for one and it caught the eye of police at the Sao Paulo Viracopos airport in Brazil. They confiscated the gem-encrusted time pieces found in the luggage of the son of the longtime ruler of Equatorial Guinea.
In a second bag also belonging to Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice president and son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, $1.5 million in cash was found, allegedly for medical treatment far from home.
Although Brazilian law prohibits people from entering the country with more than $2,000 in cash, the VP may have diplomatic immunity; the 11-member delegation traveling with him does not.
It’s not the first brush with the law by the president’s son. Last year, a French court delivered a guilty verdict in a case involving embezzlement and money laundering. Teodorin received a three-year suspended sentence. His assets—a 101-room mansion on the exclusive Avenue Foch, two Bugatti Veyrons, the most expensive car in the world, a Porsche Carrera, an Aston Martin and a Mercedes Maybach—were confiscated.
In 2014 Teodorin agreed to pay $30 million for properties in the U.S., Michael Jackson memorabilia and a private jet using money from the public treasury.
At the time, Teodorin was the country’s agriculture minister, earning an official annual salary of less than $100,000.
Despite the country’s significant wealth from oil, roughly half the population lacks clean drinking water and half of all children who begin primary school never complete it. Some metrics, such as vaccination and school enrollment rates, have deteriorated since the start of the oil boom.
Tutu Alicante, founder of the local human rights group EG Justice, questioned the rationale for carrying cash for medical reasons. “Why should the VP of Equatorial Guinea travel to Brazil for treatment when his father claims to have built Central Africa’s best hospital in Equatorial Guinea?”
Meanwhile, a visit by the International Monetary Fund to review a staff-monitored program has found progress on needed reforms but urged that the poor and vulnerable be shielded from any adverse effects of economic adjustment and social protection be strengthened.