WASHINGTON: La Niña, the cool flip side to El Niño, is returning for a second straight winter, forecasters said Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a weak La Niña has formed and is expected to stick around for several months. La Niña is a natural cooling of parts of the Pacific that alters weather patterns around the globe.
La Niña typically brings drier conditions to the US South and wetter weather to the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. Indonesia, the Philippines, northeastern South America and South Africa often see more rain during La Niña winters.
Last year's La Niña was unusually brief, forming in November and gone by February. This one should stick around through the end of winter. While it may last a bit longer than last year's La Niña, it should be just as weak, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
Texas A&M University agricultural economist Bruce McCarl said La Nina years are often bad for Texas and the surrounding region.
US production of most crops — except corn — generally goes down in La Niña years, according to research by McCarl.
The last major La Niña several years ago caused major crop damage and Texas suffered a devastating drought, McCall said.
On average, La Niña years hurt Uß and China gross domestic product about 0.3 percentage points, but lead to growth in India, New Zealand and South Africa, according to Kamiar Mohaddes, a University of Cambridge economist.
Because La Niña shifts storm tracks, it often brings more snow in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys.
"Typically La Niña is not a big snow year in the mid-Atlantic," Halpert said. "You have a better chance up in New England."
Here comes La Niña, El Niño's flip side, but it will be weak
Here comes La Niña, El Niño's flip side, but it will be weak
UN confirms US demand to withdrawal from Paris climate deal
- “I can confirm to you that the US has notified the secretary-general… of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Dujarric
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations confirmed Tuesday it had received notification from Washington of its withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement, a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump announced the United States would leave the accord, which is managed by the UN climate change body. It brings together almost all the world’s nations and aims to keep global average temperature rise below a critical threshold.
“I can confirm to you that the United States has notified the secretary-general, in his capacity as a depository, of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.
“According to Article 28, paragraph two, of the Paris agreement, the withdrawal of the United States will take effect on January 27, 2026.”
Washington typically provides 22 percent of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat’s budget, with the body’s operating costs for 2024-2025 projected at $96.5 million.
Billionaire entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg has announced that his foundation will step in to meet the shortfall.
The secretariat is tasked with supporting the global response to climate threats, and organizes international climate conferences, the next of which will be COP30 held in Brazil in November.
Top Ukrainian defense official sacked amid infighting over procurement
- Ukraine has sought to clean up defense spending as the war grinds toward its fourth year
- As well as requesting Dmytro Klimenkov’s removal, Umerov leveled particular criticism at the Defense Procurement Agency
KYIV: Ukraine’s government on Tuesday sacked a deputy defense minister in charge of weapons purchases amid infighting over procurement that is complicating Kyiv’s attempt to reassure key Western partners at a critical moment in the war with Russia.
The dispute burst into the open last week after Defense Minister Rustem Umerov criticized Ukraine’s arms procurement effort as having failed to deliver results for frontline troops.
Ukraine has sought to clean up defense spending as the war grinds toward its fourth year, an effort that has taken on greater importance as US President Donald Trump considers whether to continue supporting Kyiv’s military.
As well as requesting Dmytro Klimenkov’s removal, Umerov leveled particular criticism at the Defense Procurement Agency, which coordinates weapons purchases for Ukraine’s outgunned military.
The agency was established after a series of allegations earlier in the war of ministry misspending, and has aimed to cut out intermediaries and minimize the risk of corruption.
In a statement on Friday, Umerov said it had “inexplicably transformed into an ‘Amazon’” and its purchases were too publicly visible. Ukraine has long sought to keep details of arms procurement a closely guarded secret.
Umerov also said that he would not renew a contract with agency chief Maryna Bezrukova, a reformer whose appointment last year had been applauded by Kyiv’s Western partners. He pledged to install a new director.
The agency said in response that it had made “significant progress” in boosting supply and lowering prices, and that it would continue working under Bezrukova.
The standoff comes as Ukrainian troops face Russian advances across swathes of the east. Both sides are attempting to gain a battlefield edge ahead of any potential peace talks, but Kyiv’s defenses are buckling amid a shortage of men and weapons.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Western partners to keep arms flowing to Ukraine. The defense ministry’s own anti-corruption council, comprised of elected civic activists, said the infighting could compromise that effort.
“We believe the current situation is harmful to Ukraine, the Ukrainian military and our international relations,” it said on Saturday. “We must be clear and predictable for partners.”
In a statement on Monday, G7 diplomats in Ukraine urged officials to quickly resolve the dispute.
“Consistency with good governance principles and NATO recommendations is important to maintain the trust of public and international partners,” they wrote.
Lawsuit says Russian officials stole millions meant to fortify border region attacked by Ukraine
- The trio was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention on corruption charges in December and January, Russian media reported
- They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty
LONDON: Russian prosecutors are seeking to recover nearly $33 million of funds that they say were allocated for the defense of the western Kursk region, invaded by Ukraine last year, but stolen instead by corrupt officials.
Ukrainian troops stormed across the border in a surprise attack on Aug. 6 and seized a chunk of Russian territory, some of which they still hold — a valuable bargaining chip for Kyiv in any peace talks with Moscow.
A lawsuit filed by the office of Russia’s Prosecutor General orders the head of the Kursk Regional Development Corporation, his deputies and a number of businessmen to repay more than 3.2 billion roubles ($32.7 million) allegedly embezzled from the regional defense budget, state news agency RIA reported.
In the two years prior to Ukraine’s attack, the governor in charge of Kursk at the time had repeatedly told the public that Russia had boosted its fortifications along the region’s 150-mile (240 km) border with Ukraine.
“Right now the risk of an armed invasion of the territory of Kursk region from Ukraine is not high,” Roman Starovoit assured residents in November 2022. “However, we are constantly working to strengthen the region’s defense capabilities.”
The next month, he posed in a snowy field beside a row of pyramid-shaped anti-tank defenses known as “dragon’s teeth.”
But in the autumn of 2023, Ukraine’s National Resistance Center, created by the special operations forces, said in an online post that reconnaissance showed “almost all the strongholds are deserted of personnel and equipment” along the border with Kursk. Corruption was a factor, it said.
Vidео published by Ukrainian paratroopers during the early days of the August incursion showed columns of armored vehicles pouring into Kursk through the rows of dragon’s teeth.
’ILLEGAL ENRICHMENT’
Between 2022 and 2023, some 19.4 billion roubles were pumped from Russia’s federal budget to Kursk, according to RIA, to build defenses such as ditches and dragon’s teeth.
The lawsuit alleges that officials instead funnelled that money into contracts with over a half-dozen companies controlled by several business people. The companies created “the appearance of performing work on the construction of protective structures and put in place a false scheme of expenses,” it says.
The head of the regional development fund and two of his deputies “used their official position for personal purposes...(and) for their illegal enrichment through the wrongful seizure of budget funds allocated for the protection and strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities against enemy invasion.”
The trio was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention on corruption charges in December and January, Russian media reported. They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. One of the businessmen named in the suit, whose firm carried out construction work in Kursk, was placed in pre-trial detention last week.
Reuters was unable to locate lawyers for the detained individuals for comment.
“Everyone who has broken the law should know that there will be no leniency or indulgence for him,” Kursk’s acting regional governor Alexander Khinshtein posted on Telegram on Tuesday.
“Especially when it concerns such a vital topic for all Kurskites as the construction of fortifications!“
Germany scraps Rwanda meeting over DR Congo fighting
- A spokesman for Germany’s development ministry said it had “canceled the government consultations planned for February with Rwanda“
- “There can be no business as usual amid the current escalation”
BERLIN: Germany said Tuesday it had canceled a planned meeting with Rwandan officials next month over Rwanda’s role in fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo.
A lightning offensive in the eastern DRC by fighters from the M23 armed group and Rwandan forces has led to clashes around the besieged city of Goma and a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
A spokesman for Germany’s development ministry said it had “canceled the government consultations planned for February with Rwanda” and was “co-ordinating with other donors about further measures.”
“There can be no business as usual amid the current escalation,” the spokesman said in a statement.
He said “talks on development cooperation can only resume when Rwanda and M23 end the escalation and withdraw.”
At least 17 people have been killed and 367 wounded during two days of fighting, according to reports from Goma hospitals.
The United Nations said Tuesday that food assistance in and around Goma had been “paused” and voiced concern over food shortages.
The UN Security Council was to meet on Tuesday to discuss the conflict.
The United States and France have also condemned the offensive by M23 and Rwandan forces while Britain expressed “deep concern” at the violence and called for de-escalation.
Afghan Taliban leader dismisses foreign ‘threats’ after ICC warrant
- Akhundzada did not reference specific countries, bodies or “threats“
- Since sweeping back to power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law
KABUL: Afghanistan’s supreme leader has said the Taliban will not be intimidated by “threats” in a speech given days after the International Criminal Court prosecutor requested a warrant for his arrest over the persecution of women in the country.
“Whether Westerners or Easterners, how could we believe them and not almighty God’s promises! How can we allow ourselves to be affected by their threats!” Hibatullah Akhundzada said in a recording of a speech shared with journalists on Tuesday.
The address was given at a graduation ceremony for religious scholars in southern Kandahar province on Monday, said the governor’s spokesman, Mahmood Azzam.
The reclusive Taliban leader, who rules by decree from Kandahar, has made only a handful of appearances since inheriting the Islamist movement’s leadership, with only audio recordings released of his rare speeches given in closed settings.
Taliban members are “Muslims who stand for what is right and cannot be harmed by anybody. If anyone stands against them, from the West or East, nobody can harm them,” Akhundzada said.
Akhundzada did not reference specific countries, bodies or “threats,” but the speech came days after the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said he was seeking arrest warrants for the Taliban supreme leader and chief justice over the persecution of women.
Since sweeping back to power in 2021 — ousting the Western-backed government and ending a 20-year insurgency — the Taliban authorities have implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
They have imposed restrictions on women and girls the United Nations has characterised as “gender apartheid.”
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from education.
Women have been ordered to cover their hair and faces and wear all-covering Islamic dress, have been barred from parks and stopped from working in government offices.
The Taliban government claims it secures Afghan women’s rights under sharia but many of its edicts are not followed in the rest of the Islamic world and have been condemned by Muslim leaders.
