DOHA: The head of Qatar Airways voiced skepticism on Tuesday over an aviation industry target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, citing inadequate supplies of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and alternative hydrogen designs in their infancy.
“I don’t think that we will be able to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Everybody’s talking about it, but let us be realistic — there is not enough production of sustainable aviation fuel,” Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker told the Qatar Economic Forum, organized by Bloomberg.
The warning by one of the industry’s most high-profile leaders come days before global airlines are due to discuss how to implement the climate pledge at an annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Istanbul in June.
Because aviation emissions are seen as hard to abate without radical technology, the main focus has been on “drop-in” fuels that can be placed in the existing generation of jet engines, like plant- or waste-based SAF and synthetic alternatives.
“Really the only significant contributor by way of change in technology is Sustainable Aviation Fuel. That’s the only thing that moves the needle between now and (2050),” Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told the same Doha event.
In a stand-off with the energy industry over supplies available for aviation, airlines are concerned that a gap would hamper efforts to reach the target. There is also little consensus on who should pay to ramp up production, while some environmental groups say the plans are too modest.
Airbus is promoting efforts to develop a small commercial airplane powered by hydrogen by 2035.
Boeing’s Calhoun said such technology would mature only in the second half of the century.
In 2021, nations at a United Nations body agreed to a long-term aspirational goal for net-zero aviation emissions by 2050, giving political weight to a target adopted by IATA and other industry groups including airports and planemakers in 2019.
Qatar Airways CEO suggests 2050 net-zero goal beyond reach
https://arab.news/vqqdg
Qatar Airways CEO suggests 2050 net-zero goal beyond reach
- "There is not enough production of sustainable aviation fuel,” Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said
California police move in to dismantle pro-Palestinian protest camp at UCLA
- The pre-dawn police crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint for mounting tensions on US college campuses
- Live TV footage showed about six protesters under arrest
LOS ANGELES: Hundreds of helmeted police muscled their way into a central plaza of the University of California at Los Angeles early on Thursday to dismantle a pro-Palestinian protest camp attacked the previous night by pro-Israel supporters.
The pre-dawn police crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint for mounting tensions on US college campuses, where protests over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza have led to student clashes with each other and law enforcement.
Live TV footage showed about six protesters under arrest, kneeling on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs with zip-ties.
Dozens of loud explosions were heard during the clash from flash-bang charges, or stun grenades, fired by police.
Demonstrators, some carrying makeshift shields and umbrellas, sought to block the officers’ advance by their sheer numbers, while shouting, “push them back” and flashing bright lights in the eyes of the police. Others on the opposite side of the camp gave up quickly, and were seen walking away with their hands over their heads under police escort.
Around sunset on Wednesday, officers in tactical gear had begun filing onto the UCLA campus and taking up positions adjacent to a complex of tents occupied by throngs of demonstrators, live footage from the scene showed.
Local television station KABC-TV estimated 300 to 500 protesters were hunkered down inside the camp, while around 2,000 more had gathered outside the barricades in support.
But the assembled police stood by on the periphery for hours before finally starting to force their way into the encampment around 3:15 a.m. PDT (1015 GMT), tearing down barricades and arresting occupants who refused to leave. The raid was led by a phalanx of California Highway Patrol officers carrying shields and batons.
Some of the protesters had been seen donning hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the siege a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.
Prior to moving in, police urged demonstrators in repeated loudspeaker announcements to clear the protest zone, which occupied a plaza about the size of a football field between the landmark twin-tower auditorium Royce Hall and the main undergraduate library.
An initial group of Los Angeles police officers who briefly entered a corner of the camp were overwhelmed by demonstrators and forced to retreat, before reinforcements arrived by the busload about an hour later.
Violent clash precedes crackdown
UCLA had canceled classes for the day on Wednesday following a violent clash between the encampment’s occupants and a group of masked counter-demonstrators who mounted a surprise assault late Tuesday night on the tent city.
The occupants of the outdoor protest camp, set up last week, had remained mostly peaceful before the melee, in which both sides traded blows and doused each other with pepper spray.
Members of the pro-Palestinian group said fireworks were thrown at them and they were beaten with bats and sticks. University officials blamed the disturbance on “instigators” and vowed an investigation.
The confrontation went on for two or three hours into early Wednesday morning before police restored order. A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom later criticized the “limited and delayed campus law enforcement response” to the unrest as “unacceptable.”
As the much-expanded police force entered the campus on Wednesday night to clear the encampment, some of the protesters were heard yelling at them, “Where were you yesterday?“
Taylor Gee, a 30-year old pro-Palestinian protester and UCLA law student, said the police action felt “especially galling” to many protesters given the slow police response a night earlier.
“For them to come out the next night to remove us from the encampment, it doesn’t make any sense, but it also makes all the sense in the world.”
Protests at schools across the US
UCLA officials said the campus, which enrolls nearly 52,000 students, including undergraduates and graduate scholars, would remain shuttered except for limited operations on Thursday and Friday.
The protests follow the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave.
Students have rallied or set up tent encampments at dozens of schools across the US in recent days, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and demanding schools divest from companies that support Israel’s government. Many of the schools have called in police to quell the protests.
The demonstrations across the country have been met with counter-protesters accusing them of fomenting anti-Jewish hatred. The pro-Palestinian side, including Jews opposed to Israeli actions in Gaza, say they are being unfairly branded as antisemitic for criticizing Israel’s government and expressing support for human rights.
The issue has taken on political overtones in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.
Wednesday night’s police action came a day after police in New York City arrested pro-Palestinian activists who occupied a building at Columbia University and removed a tent city from the campus of the Ivy League school.
Police arrested a total of about 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York, Mayor Eric Adams said. Many of those arrested were charged with trespassing and criminal mischief.
The clashes at UCLA and in New York were part of the biggest outpouring of US student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020.
Ninety pro-Palestinian demonstrators — students and outsiders — were arrested at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire on Wednesday, the Hanover Police Department said. They were charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest.
Digital Cooperation Organization to attend Islamic Summit in Gambia
- 15th annual event will be held this weekend in Banjul
RIYADH: The Digital Cooperation Organization, which works to shape the global digital economy, will take part in the upcoming 15th annual Islamic Summit Conference in the Gambian capital Banjul.
DCO Secretary-General Deemah Al-Yahya will head a delegation at the event, which runs from Saturday to Sunday alongside a series of summits organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to enhance cooperation and understanding between Islamic countries.
“The DCO’s participation in the conference embodies our firm commitment to strengthen multilateral action to reduce the digital gap and accelerate digital transformation and prosperity in cooperation with all concerned parties in the public and private sectors and civil institutions, as well as international and regional organizations concerned with development,” Al-Yahya said.
“It is consistent with the goal of the organization, digital cooperation aimed at promoting comprehensive and sustainable development in the global digital economy within a cooperative framework.”
Al-Yahya said she would hold talks with several heads of state as well as the leaders of other delegations during the event.
The agenda of the conference, which is being held under the slogan “Promoting Unity and Solidarity Through Dialogue for Sustainable Development,” covers areas of political, economic, social, cultural and technological interest as well as issues related to the media, law, social affairs, administration and finance.
The DCO has signed a memorandum of understanding with the OIC to provide a framework for cooperation to develop a sustainable digital economy and collaborate in the field of digitization of human resources to help enhance internet connectivity in remote and rural areas.
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Paris Olympics-IOC
- The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris
- IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world“
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday unveiled its largest refugee Olympic team to date for the Paris 2024 Games, with 36 athletes from 11 different countries.
The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris, the third time such a team has formed for the Summer Olympics.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence,” IOC President Thomas Bach said during the team’s announcement.
“This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world.”
For the first time, the team will compete under its own emblem.
The IOC unveiled its first refugee team for the Rio 2016 Olympics with 10 athletes to raise awareness of the issue as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere escaping conflict and poverty.
The team that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was already almost three times as big as the inaugural team at the Rio Games, with a total of 29 athletes competing in 12 sports.
The Paris Olympics refugee team announcement comes shortly after Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who ran as a refugee athlete in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
Universal Music Group artists to return to TikTok after new licensing pact
- New deal to restore label’s song to platform, increase artists’ protection from AI
- Universal Music says TikTok accounts for 1 percent of its annual revenue in 2023
LONDON: Universal Music Group and TikTok said on Thursday they had reached a new licensing agreement that will restore the label’s songs and artists to the social media platform as well as give musicians more protections from artificial intelligence.
TikTok began removing Universal’s content from its app after their licensing deal expired in January and the two sides failed to reach agreement on royalties, AI and online safety for TikTok’s users.
Describing their new pact as a multi-dimensional deal, the companies said they were working “expeditiously” to return music by the label’s artists to TikTok, and also said they would team up to realize new monetization opportunities from TikTok’s growing e-commerce capabilities.
They will “work together on campaigns supporting UMG’s artists across genres and territories globally,” the two firms said in a joint statement.
The short video app is a valuable marketing and promotional tool for the music industry. TikTok is where 16- to 19-year-olds in the United States most commonly discover music, ahead of YouTube and music streaming services such as Spotify , according to Midia Research.
“Roughly a quarter of US consumers say they listen to songs they have heard on TikTok,” said Tatiana Cirisano, Midia’s senior music industry analyst.
However, Universal Music claimed its artists and songwriters are paid just a fraction of what it receives from other major social media platforms.
The music label says TikTok accounts for 1 percent of its annual revenue or about $110 million in 2023. YouTube, by contrast, paid the music industry $1.8 billion from user-generated content in the 12 months ending in June 2022, according to Midia.
In a move that may well have eroded its bargaining power, Taylor Swift, one of Universal Music’s biggest acts, allowed a selection of her songs to return to TikTok as she promoted her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Swift owns the copyrights to her recordings through her 2018 deal with Universal and can control where her songs are available, according to the Financial Times.
As licensing negotiations resumed in recent weeks, AI remained a major point of contention. Universal has claimed TikTok is “flooded” with AI-generated recordings, including songs that users create with the help of TikTok’s AI songwriting tools.
In Thursday’s deal, TikTok and Universal said that they would work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters.
“TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as (developing) tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution,” the statement said.
Concerns about AI have grown in the creative community. In April, a non-profit group called the Artist Rights Alliance published an open letter urging the responsible use of the technology. The group of more than 200 musicians and songwriters called on technology companies and digital music services to pledge not to deploy AI in a way that would “undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”
The deal comes amid questions over TikTok’s long-term future in the United States. President Joe Biden signed legislation last week that gives TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, 270 days to sell its US assets. TikTok has vowed to file suit to challenge the legislation, which it calls a ban.
More than 170 million Americans use its video service, according to TikTok. Globally, it has more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, according to research firm Statista.
PIA operations to Dubai, Sharjah ‘severely affected’ due to UAE rains
- Extreme weather in UAE expected to continue until Friday, authorities have issued safety advisories for residents
- Latest rains come two weeks after Dubai was hit by unprecedented storms that paralyzed the emirate for days
KARACHI: Pakistan’s national carrier PIA said on Thursday its operations to Dubai and Sharjah had been “severely affected” by a latest spell of heavy rains in the UAE and would remain suspended until further notice.
UAE residents woke up to heavy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds on Thursday morning, as predicted by the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology (NCM) on Wednesday, May 1. The extreme weather is expected to continue until Friday, May 3, and authorities have issued safety adviseries for residents.
The latest rains come two weeks after Dubai was hit by unprecedented storms that paralyzed the emirate for days.
“Air operations to Dubai and Sharjah are severely affected due to heavy rains in UAE,” PIA said in a statement. “Air operations of other airlines including PIA will remain suspended for the time being.”
The airline said passengers of affected flights should contact PIA call center 786 786 111 for their flight information and alternative arrangements.
Last month, Dubai had to endure the towering task of clearing its water clogged roads and drying out flooded homes after a record storm saw a year’s rainfall in a day. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, also struggled for days to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of the deluge.
The rains were the heaviest experienced by the United Arab Emirates in the 75 years that records have been kept. They brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage, flooding trapped residents in traffic, offices and homes and overrunning malls and roads.
