Leo Varadkar to become taoiseach as Micheál Martin steps down - BBC

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By Fergal Hallahan and Robin Sheeran

BBC News NI

Ireland has a new taoiseach (prime minister) - Leo Varadkar - as he and Micheál Martin swap roles.

Eighty-seven TDs in the Dáil (Irish Parliament) voted to elect Mr Varadkar, while 62 were against his nomination.

Mr Varadkar takes over from Mr Martin as government leader, while Mr Martin takes on his role as tánaiste (deputy prime minister).

The rotation of power was laid down in the coalition agreement of June 2020.

The deal brought together Mr Varadkar's Fine Gael party, Mr Martin's Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in a historic compromise.

Mr Varadkar, a qualified medical doctor, previously served as taoiseach and minister of defence from 2017 to 2020.

The handover is a first for the Republic of Ireland's political system and takes place between two parties which dominated Irish politics as bitter rivals for almost a century.

Addressing the Dáil following his appointment on Saturday, Mr Varadkar said his mission would be to build on the achievement of 100 years ago and work on what needs to done for this generation and the next.

He said he wanted to provide "new hope and new opportunities for all our citizens" and to see "housing, economic opportunity and a fair start for all".

The new taoiseach said there were many challenges.

"Ireland has never been a failed state," he said, "and it is grotesque and dishonest to claim that we are or we were.

"But we are failing some of our citizens, and it is essential to our success as a country that we put this right."

Mr Varadkar reaffirmed the Irish commitment to stand with fellow Europeans through this "harsh winter".

"Dreams of a better future are not built on stalemate and the status quo", he added.

"I want to work with all parties in this House and in Northern Ireland, as well as with the British government and our partners in the European Union, to make progress on the protocol and restore the institutions of the Agreement."

• Parties agree to form Irish coalition government
• Sinn Féin tops poll in Irish general election

The coalition agreement originally specified that the handover would be on Thursday, 15 December but this was changed in order to allow Mr Martin to participate in the final EU leaders' summit of the year in Brussels this week.

Mr Martin then offered his resignation to President Higgins, automatically dissolving the government.

While addressing the Dáil, Mr Martin referenced Northern Ireland during his speech.

"If we genuinely believe in an Ireland which includes and serves all, then we must be prepared to build new bridges," he said.

"We must be prepared to reach across divides and to do the hard work of learning to understand and respect each other far more than we have in the past.

"We must stop making assumptions about each other and get to know each other," he added.

Civil War opponents

According to the Irish broadcaster RTÉ, the change at the top will be followed by a ministerial reshuffle that will include a second exchange of roles, with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath changing places.

Other ministerial appointments will follow.

When Leo Varadkar first became taoiseach in 2017, he was seen internationally as a symbol of a new and much changed Ireland.

A gay man of Indian heritage, he was certainly a break with the past.

He takes the reins for a second time as issues over the Brexit-related Northern Ireland Protocol remain unresolved between the EU and the UK.

Unionist opposition to the protocol means no government at Stormont.

Damien Storan

And that casts a shadow over planned celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement - the 1998 deal designed to end 30 years of bloody conflict in Northern Ireland.

When he meets Rishi Sunak, another prime minister of Indian heritage, resolving difficulties over the protocol will be the key priority.

Inevitably the responsibility of being in government takes the sheen off most politicians who come to power promising something new.

Domestically, Mr Varadkar and his fellow ministers in the three-party coalition will have to convince a sceptical electorate that they are delivering on housing, heath and the cost of living.

Otherwise there's likely to be a Sinn Féin government in two-and-a-half years time with Mary Lou McDonald replacing him as taoiseach.

Mr Varadkar is also vacating his post as minister for enterprise, trade and employment.

It took four months to negotiate the coalition agreement following the February 2020 election. Under the deal, six senior ministerial posts were each allocated to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and three to the Green Party.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, for decades the largest parties in the Republic of Ireland, trace their origins to the opposing sides in the Irish Civil War of the early 1920s.

The 2020 election saw a rise in popularity for the left-leaning republican party, Sinn Féin, which won the most first-preference votes and ran a close second to Fianna Fáil in the number of seats taken.

Recent opinion polls have suggested that support for Sinn Féin currently stands well ahead of the coalition parties and has done for some time.

A former minister for health, Mr Martin's time as taoiseach has been dominated by Covid, the war in Ukraine and the stand-off between the European Union and the UK over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

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2022-12-17 11:21:06Z
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EU's trading partners accuse bloc of protectionism over carbon tax plan - Financial Times

The EU’s trading partners have hit out at the bloc’s plan to introduce the world’s first carbon border tax, saying it is protectionist and puts export industries at risk, as negotiations to complete the deal stretch into the weekend.

According to two people familiar with the discussions, several developing nations have already begun to negotiate with Brussels for more flexibility in the proposals, including potential waivers.

The plan is provisional until a final set of talks conclude this weekend. After that the agreement must be approved by EU ambassadors. Issues outstanding include the specific dates for its gradual phase-in.

German lawmaker Michael Bloss, a European parliament negotiator, said on Saturday that “a lot was negotiated” on Friday but “little was decided”. The talks “will continue and hopefully conclude the negotiations on Europe’s largest climate protection package”, he told Reuters.

Swedish lawmaker Emma Wiesner said Friday’s talks had achieved a “surprisingly big amount of progress”. Other EU officials told Reuters that deals had not yet been found on the most divisive issues.

The tax will require importers to buy certificates to cover their emissions based on calculations linked to the EU’s own carbon price. Iron, steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity generation will all be covered by the deal. A trial period is set to start in October 2023.

If it is considered a success, the EU plans to expand the scheme to other sectors, including cars and organic chemicals.

The plan has attracted criticism from countries including the US and South Africa, which said that the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will unfairly penalise their manufacturers.

“We are particularly concerned about things like border adjustment taxes, and regulatory requirements that are imposed unilaterally,” Ebrahim Patel, South Africa’s trade minister, told the Financial Times. “If it gets to be an enormous defining thing between north and south, you’re going to have a lot of political resistance.”

“There are a lot of concerns coming from our side about how this is going to impact us and our trade relationship,” US trade representative Katherine Tai said at a conference in Washington this week.

The EU views the CBAM as a core part of its efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050, arguing that it will simultaneously encourage countries outside the bloc to decarbonise their industrial sectors.

“CBAM is just a way to threaten third countries that they should also update their ambitions when it comes to climate,” said Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch socialist politician who has led negotiations on the law for the European parliament.

Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was set to be the country that was most affected by the CBAM. Russian exports made up the biggest proportion of imports from CBAM-affected sectors, according to an analysis by the Berlin-based think-tank Adelphi based on data for EU imports between 2015 and 2019.

The substantial fall in imports from Russia due to the EU’s sanctions regime and the destruction of Ukrainian industry has pushed the burden on to other countries.

China makes up around a tenth of affected imports, according to Adelphi, with Turkey and India also hit. China has frequently attacked the tariff since it was first proposed in July last year.

Developing nations with less economic heft and no systems in place for measuring emissions were more likely to suffer the most from the introduction of the levy, said Faten Aggad, senior adviser on climate diplomacy at the African Climate Foundation.

“The countries that are most likely to mitigate the risk of CBAM are the ones that already have proper carbon counting,” she said. The result could be a “deindustrialisation” in African nations that export to the EU.

“A lot of these sectors risk losing business unless we pump money into their sustainability and it’s very difficult to rebuild.”

Steelmakers in Brazil are concerned that the CBAM will put domestic producers at risk. Instead of shipping their goods to Europe, exporters might target less protected steel markets such as South America.

“Our big worry isn’t exports to [Europe],” said Marco Polo de Mello Lopes, executive president of the Instituto Aço Brasil, but rather that more material is diverted to the region, leaving domestic industry “vulnerable”.

Anger at the measure has been exacerbated by the EU’s insistence that the CBAM will encourage others to decarbonise, while not providing funds to help poorer countries invest in clean technologies.

Revenues from the CBAM are intended to go into the EU’s internal budget with a loose commitment to provide climate finance to countries outside the bloc, according to those familiar with the draft text.

Baran Bozoğlu, chair of the Climate Change Policy and Research Association, a non-profit research outfit in Ankara, said that it would be “beneficial [for the EU] to provide various incentives, supports and technologies so that the Turkish economy is not adversely affected”.

He added that exporters would have to pay to calculate their carbon emissions and have that validated in order to report to the EU. It was a “great injustice” that they had to cover that cost as well as pay the CBAM, he said.

Additional reporting by Reuters, Andy Bounds in Brussels, David Pilling in London and Michael Pooler in São Paulo

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2022-12-17 12:18:48Z
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Malaysia landslide: At least 21 campers dead and more missing - BBC

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By Frances Mao & Laura Gozzi

BBC News

At least 21 people including children have been killed after a landslide hit a holiday campsite in Malaysia's Selangor state.

Families were sleeping in their tents when the landslide happened around 03:00 Friday (19:00 GMT Thursday) at a farm stay in Batang Kali township.

Hundreds of rescuers spent Friday digging through mud to find survivors.

The farm's managers said at least 30 children and 51 adults were registered for an overnight stay.

Local media reported that Malaysian authorities said 14 people were still missing, and that about 700 officials were involved in the search and rescue.

The Malaysian fire department said at least four children were among the dead.

More than 20 primary school teachers and their family members were at the campsite, according to a New Straits Times report.

Malaysia's fire and rescue department said a 30m (100ft) high slope impacted the campsite in "a terrible tragedy". Government authorities noted that the landslide involved about 450,000 sq m of soil.

Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming said the camping site had been operating illegally.

Mr Nga also said he ordered all "high-risk" camping sites - those located along rivers, waterfalls and hillsides - across Malaysia to be immediately closed for seven days.

Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi echoed the message, warning that the weather was expected to worsen in the coming days.

"We have to learn from what has happened today," he said.

It is unclear what triggered the landslide, which happened in a forested, hilly area next to the side of the road in Batang Kali, close to the Genting Highland region.

Locals reported some light rain, but no heavy downpours or any earthquakes in the lead up to it. However, monsoon season is currently underway in Malaysia.

Pictures posted online by Malaysia's rescue agencies showed crews of helmeted workers clambering up uneven ground, past uprooted trees and other debris.

One camper, Teh Lynn Xuan, said she and her mother had survived, but her brother had died and another brother had been injured and taken to hospital.

"We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us," she told Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian.

"My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves."

She said they had been camping with a big group of more than 40 people.

Another survivor, Leong Jim Meng, said he and his family were woken by an explosion before the ground began to shift.

They were briefly trapped in their tents by debris before managing to escape.

"It was too dark to see clearly what was happening," he said.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was due to arrive at the site later on Friday, following visits from several other government ministers.

He offered condolences to the victims and prayers for more survivors on his Facebook page.

MALAYSIA CIVIL DEFENCE FORCE/TWITTER

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2022-12-16 14:11:23Z
1694578916

Malaysia landslide: At least 19 campers dead and more missing - BBC

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By Frances Mao & Laura Gozzi

BBC News

At least 21 people including children have been killed after a landslide hit a holiday campsite in Malaysia's Selangor state.

Families were sleeping in their tents when the landslide happened around 03:00 Friday (19:00 GMT Thursday) at a farm stay in Batang Kali township.

Hundreds of rescuers spent Friday digging through mud to find survivors.

The farm's managers said at least 30 children and 51 adults were registered for an overnight stay.

Local media reported that Malaysian authorities said 14 people were still missing, and that about 700 officials are involved in the search and rescue.

The Malaysian fire department said at least four children were among the dead.

More than 20 primary school teachers and their family members were at the campsite, according to a New Straits Times report.

Malaysia's fire and rescue department said a 30m high slope impacted the campsite in "a terrible tragedy". Government authorities noted that the landslide involved about 450,000 square metres of soil.

Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming reported that the camping site had been operating illegally.

Mr Nga also said he ordered all "high-risk" camping sites - those located along rivers, waterfalls and hillsides - across the country to be closed for seven days with immediate effect.

Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi, who visited the area earlier today, also said all campsites in dangerous locations had to be evacuated as the weather was expected to worsen in the coming days. "We have to learn from what has happened today," he said.

It's unclear what triggered the landslide, which happened in a forested, hilly area next to the side of the road in Batang Kali, close to the Genting Highland region.

Locals reported some light rain, but no heavy downpours or any earthquakes in the lead up to it. However, monsoon season is currently underway in Malaysia.

The landslide began up a slope more than 30m (100ft) higher than the campsite, and rolled through an acre of land.

Pictures posted online by Malaysia's rescue agencies showed crews of helmeted workers clambering up uneven ground, past uprooted trees and other debris.

One camper, Teh Lynn Xuan, said she and her mother had survived, but her brother had died and another brother had been taken to hospital with injuries.

"We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us," she told Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian.

"My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves."

She had been camping with a big group of more than 40 people, she said.

Another survivor, Leong Jim Meng, said he heard an explosion before the ground began to shift.

That had woken him and his family, who were briefly trapped in their tents by debris before managing to get out.

"It was too dark to see clearly what was happening," he said.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was due to arrive at the site later on Friday, following visits from several other government ministers.

He offered condolences to the victims and prayers for more survivors on his Facebook page.

MALAYSIA CIVIL DEFENCE FORCE/TWITTER

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2022-12-16 10:37:05Z
1694578916

Berlin's giant AquaDom aquarium containing 1,500 fish explodes - BBC

Reuters /Michele Tantussi

By Michael Sheils McNamee in London and Jenny Hill and Michael Steininger in Berlin

BBC News

A giant aquarium containing a million litres of water in the lobby of the Radisson Blu in Berlin has burst, flooding the hotel and nearby streets.

The "AquaDom" - home to 1,500 tropical fish - is 15.85m high (52 ft) and was described as the largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world.

Two people were injured by falling glass after the blast.

Police said there had been "incredible" damage. Video showed an empty tank with water pouring into the hotel lobby.

Guests have been moved out of the hotel following the incident at 05:50 (04:50 GMT).

A spokesman for Berlin's fire brigade told the BBC the vast majority of the fish had died, and the cold weather had made rescue attempts more difficult. The tank had contained more than 100 different species.

Outside the Radisson Blu, a pile of debris lay in front of what were the front doors, which now hang into the street - twisted at an angle by the force of the exploding tank.

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Paul Maletzki was staying on the fourth floor with his girlfriend.

He described being woken up by a loud bang and shaking. When he looked down into the lobby, he saw water flowing across it. They and other guests were later escorted out of the hotel by armed police.

The Mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey went to the hotel to see the damage and described the tank burst as being like a tsunami.

She expressed relief it had happened so early in the morning - saying an hour or so later, and the lobby and street outside would have been busy with visitors, many of them children.

Sandra Weeser, a member of the German federal parliament who had been staying at the hotel, told local television that she had been woken up by "a kind of shock wave" and described the scene outside the hotel as a "picture of devastation".

She said fish which may have been saved had frozen to death and recalled seeing a "large parrotfish lying on the ground, frozen".

The aquarium was modernised two years ago, and there is a clear-walled lift built inside for use by visitors. Some of the rooms in the hotel are advertised as having views of it.

Berlin's fire brigade said more than 100 firefighters were sent to the scene and it was not clear what caused the break.

It said it used rescue dogs to check the area inside the hotel for anyone potentially injured, with nobody found.

Police said "massive amounts" of water was flowing into nearby streets and people in the area should drive cautiously.

EPA

A police source told local media there is no evidence the break was the result of a targeted attack.

But there has been speculation that freezing temperature - which dropped as low as -6C overnight - may have caused a crack in the tank.

Berlin's public transport authority said Karl-Liebknecht street outside the hotel had been closed off due to "an extreme amount of water on the road". Trams service in the area was also stopped.

AquaDom was opened in December 2003 and was given the Guinness World Record for being the world's largest cylindrical aquarium.

According to reports at the time of its construction, it cost about €12.8m (£11.2m) to build.

• Clarification: An earlier version said the aquarium was operated by SeaLife. Although the aquarium is in the same building complex as Berlin SeaLife, they are not responsible for the AquaDom

Alamy

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2022-12-16 12:50:28Z
1702337096

Husband of EU vice-president Eva Kaili 'admits role in Qatar bribery scandal' - The Times

Belgian spies uncovered a corruption and bribery scandal that has rocked the European Union after breaking into a key suspect’s home this summer.

Details of the operation run by the country’s secret service are being revealed as EU leaders prepare to demand answers at a Brussels meeting today about huge levels of bribes allegedly paid to members of the European parliament.

In a breakthrough for investigators, Francesco Giorgi, the husband of Eva Kaili, the former European parliament vice-president, is said to have confessed to his role in a bribery network that is claimed to have been set up by Moroccan intelligence, as well as working for Qatar’s government.

Kaili and Giorgi are being detained after their arrest last Friday on suspicion of corruption. Cash totalling

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2022-12-15 14:50:00Z
1692263788

Irish soldier killed in attack on UN convoy in Lebanon - Al Jazeera English

The Irish soldier was serving on a peacekeeping mission when the convoy came under small arms fire.

An Irish soldier on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has been shot and killed and a second is in critical condition after a “hostile” crowd surrounded their armoured vehicle, Ireland’s defence minister has said.

The soldiers, part of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), were on what Simon Coveney, who is also Ireland’s foreign minister, said on Thursday was a standard run from UNIFIL’s area of operations in south Lebanon to Beirut when the incident happened in the Sarafand area late on Wednesday.

“The two armoured vehicles effectively got separated. One of them got surrounded by a hostile mob, I think that’s the only way you could describe them, and shots were fired. Unfortunately, one of our peacekeepers was killed,” Coveney told Irish national broadcaster RTE.

“This was not expected, yes there has been some tension on the ground between Hezbollah forces and UNIFIL in recent months but nothing like this.”

The convoy carrying eight personnel was travelling to Beirut as two of the members were returning to Ireland on compassionate leave following the death of family members, Irish Defence Forces Chief of Staff Seán Clancy told RTE.

The second soldier remains in critical condition in a UN-managed hospital after undergoing surgery, Clancy said.

The two other soldiers in the vehicle are being treated for minor injuries while the remaining four personnel from the other vehicle were not injured.

UNIFIL said it was coordinating with the Lebanese armed forces and had launched an investigation.

“At the moment, details are sparse and conflicting,” it said in a statement.

Reporting from Sarafand, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said that some sources had told her that the vehicle had gotten lost.

“This is not considered to be their normal route; the main highway is adjacent to this road,” said Khodr. “There was a crowd in the street, it was just after the World Cup match. Now what happened after that … Some will say that UN peacekeepers were trying to leave the area, [then] they hit somebody. Others say that people from this area opened fire at the vehicles, resulting in one of the vehicles overturning.”

“No one has yet called this an attack or a deliberate attack,” Khodr added. “But at the same time, it will not be the first time UNFIL convoy gets involved in some sort of incident with the local population in southern Lebanon. In recent months, we have seen minor incidents, skirmishes between the people and the UN forces.”

Lebanon’s caretaker premier Najib Mikati expressed his deep regret over the incident and called for an investigation, urging all parties to “show wisdom and patience”.

The Lebanese army offered its condolences but did not give additional details on the incident.

A senior Hezbollah official said an “unintentional incident” had led to the death of an Irish soldier on a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, saying the armed group was not involved.

Wafiq Safa told Reuters his party offered its condolences “after the unintentional incident that took place between the residents of al-Aqbieh and individuals from the Irish unit,” and urged that the party not be “inserted” into the incident.

Coveney, in New York for a UN Security Council meeting, said he will meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres later on Thursday to discuss the incident.

Irish peacekeepers have been in Lebanon since 1978 and it is the first Irish death there in 20 years, Coveney said.

“We’re all very shocked and deeply saddened, it is a reminder to us of the extraordinary sacrifices that our peacekeepers make on a constant basis,” Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin told reporters in Brussels.

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2022-12-15 10:54:24Z
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