NEW DELHI: New Delhi’s homeless will be given cotton masks to help them survive in the world’s most polluted major city, officials said Monday, although experts said the basic coverings would be useless against deadly smog particles.
Each winter the capital of 20 million chokes through haze so extreme that levels of airborne pollutants eclipse safe limits by more than 30 times.
The poor and homeless suffer the worst, through constant exposure to a toxic brew of car fumes, factory exhaust and construction dust.
Measures to curb the smog — from reducing heavy goods traffic and firecrackers to banning farmers from using fire to clear their fields — have failed to clear the skies.
Bipin Rai from Delhi’s city government told AFP that 10,000 face masks would be given “to homeless families, women, patients and children as pollution levels are on the rise.”
But experts said these masks offered little to no protection against the most poisonous pollutants in the air — particles known as PM2.5 so small they can penetrate the heart and cardiovascular system.
“These masks are redundant, as fine particles harmful to the human body will not be filtered out,” Vivek Chattopadhyay from the Center for Science and Environment told AFP.
“It is ineffective, and the government should instead offer medically approved masks.”
Rai, from Delhi’s Urban Shelter Improvement Board, defended the scheme.
“Has any expert who is commenting on the masks and their durability tested them? How can they comment on something they’ve not tried,” he said.
Levels of PM2.5 measured by the US embassy in Delhi on Monday showed readings hit 378 — more than 15 times safe limits.
The World Health Organization last year said exposure to air pollution killed 600,000 children around the globe every year.
Tiny particles in the air can be absorbed into the bloodstream and have been linked to chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.
The report found that children in poorer countries are far more at risk, with a full 98 percent of all children under five in low- and middle-income countries exposed to PM2.5 levels above WHO air quality guidelines.
Delhi homeless to be given masks as smog worsens
Delhi homeless to be given masks as smog worsens
- The poor and homeless suffer the worst, through constant exposure to a toxic brew of car fumes, factory exhaust and construction dust
- Delhi government said 10,000 face masks would be given “to homeless families, women, patients and children as pollution levels are on the rise”
Kremlin welcomes US sanctions waiver says US and Russia share interest in stable energy markets
DUBAI: Russia sees a U.S. sanctions waiver on its oil as an attempt by Washington to stabilise global energy markets, and the two countries have a shared interest in this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"We see actions by the United States aimed at trying to stabilise energy markets. In this respect, our interests coincide," he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a temporary authorisation allowing countries around the world to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea on Thursday extending a measure that had previously been granted only to Indian refiners.
Bessent stressed in a post on X that the authorisation would not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.
“This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction,” Bessent said on a post on X.
However, the measure received mix reviews in European capitals, with many fearing it could help replenish Russia's assualt on Ukraine.
"I am concerned that we are further filling Putin's war chest," German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said in Berlin on Friday.
Reiche said that she saw both sides to the United States' decision to issue a 30-day waiver for the purchase of Russian oil products, understanding the increasing ecnomic and political turnout from the oil crisis, particurlarly in South Korea and Japan.
"It seems to me that domestic political pressure in the United States is very, very high," Reiche said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was more direct, saying on Friday that it was wrong to ease sanctions against Russia for whatever reason. The sentiment was echoed by Norway’s Prime Minister, who also said sanctions should not be eased.
Oil prices held gains above $100 Friday and most equity markets dropped after Iran's leader called for the blocking of the crucial Strait of Hormuz and the opening up of new fronts in the war against the United States and Israel.
With the conflict heading towards its third week and showing no signs of ending, investors are growing increasingly worried about an extended crisis that could fan inflation and hammer the global economy.
