EU warns UK over N Ireland food checks
ANEW cross-Channel row erupted on March 3 as Britain threatened to break the terms of the Brexit withdrawal treaty by unilaterally delaying checks on food going to Northern Ireland.
The EU warned it would respond with “legal means” to the announced move, which it said would undermine a pact meant to protect peace on the island of Ireland.
The Irish government called London’s decision “unhelpful”, while France said it was “unacceptable”.
But the UK government, in a statement after talks between Brexit minister David Frost and EU vice-president Maros Sefcovic, said the measures were “limited and technical”.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis triggered the dispute by announcing that London will delay from April until October 1 a grace period under which food and farm products can flow to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain without customs inspections.
A UK statement said: “Lord Frost explained that the measures announced today, following official-level notification to the Commission earlier this week, were temporary technical steps, which largely continued measures already in place.”
The six-month delay is necessary, it argued, “to provide more time for businesses such as supermarkets and parcel operators to adapt to and implement the new requirements in the Protocol”.
Britain has chafed at the terms of the January 2020 Brexit agreement it signed, part of which keeps its territory of Northern Ireland in the EU’s customs area, essentially creating a customs border down the Irish Sea.
Ahead of the Frost-Sefcovic videoconference, the EU said the announcement amounted to a “violation” of the January 2020 Brexit agreement under which Britain left the EU.
“This is the second time that the UK government is set to breach international law,” Sefcovic warned.
That referred to a previous attempt by London – later dropped – to override
the protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement relating to Northern Ireland.
Sefcovic – who co-chairs with Frost a joint EU-UK committee meant to work through issues related to the Brexit treaty – stressed that the agreement aims to protect the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought an end to decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said Britain’s move “clearly undermines” Britain’s commitment to the Northern Ireland protocol.
He said in a statement: “A unilateral announcement is deeply unhelpful to building the relationship of trust and partnership that is central to the implementation of the protocol.”
France’s European affairs minister Clement Beaune told the French senate that London’s move was “obviously illegal and unacceptable”.
Brussels had agreed the initial grace period, which was to end in April, to
allow Northern Ireland supermarkets time to work out new supply chains.
Shelves in the territory had gone bare in the first months of this year, after a post-Brexit transition period ended and Britain left the EU single market on January 1.
The disruption caused widespread confusion among businesses, with some UK suppliers refusing to ship goods across the Irish Sea.
The difficult transition has also had political ramifications, with pro-UK unionists in Northern Ireland warning of tensions within their communities over the protocol.
The EU has signalled it could consider “flexibilities” within the Brexit treaty, but only if Britain first builds the permanent inspection facilities for goods arriving in Northern Ireland it has promised.
Northern Ireland’s agriculture minister said last week construction of
those facilities had been halted over concerns about the new rules.
The UK statement said Frost had argued “that such operational measures were well precedented in other international trade arrangements, and that they were entirely consistent with our intention to discharge our obligations under the Protocol in good faith.
“He and vice-president Sefcovic agreed that both parties would remain in close contact,” it said.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had hailed the Brexit treaty when he signed it, told lawmakers at weekly parliamentary questioning on March 3 that Northern Ireland’s place within the UK internal market was “rock solid and guaranteed”.
He spoke of “some temporary operational easings in order to protect the market in some areas, such as food supplies, pending further discussions with the EU”.
MYANMAR security forces on March 3 fired on protesters, as a UN envoy said 38 died in the Southeast Asian country’s “bloodiest” day since the military coup last month.
Myanmar has been in uproar since February 1 when the military ousted and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending the nation’s decadelong experiment with democracy and sparking daily mass protests.
International pressure is mounting – Western powers have repeatedly hit the generals with sanctions, and Britain has called for a UN Security Council meeting on March 5.
But the junta has ignored the global condemnation, responding to the uprising with escalating strength.
“Only today, 38 people died,” UN envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told reporters on March 3, adding that more than 50 people had died in total since the military takeover, with many more wounded.
“Today was the bloodiest day since the coup happened,” she noted, without providing any further details, including a breakdown of the deaths.
She called for the UN to take “very strong measures” against the generals, adding that in her conversations with them they had dismissed the threat of sanctions.
Earlier, AFP recorded at least 17 deaths across Myanmar on March 3, with Monywa in the central Sagaing
region registering at least seven.
“What we can confirm is seven people have died,” said an emergency doctor, who declined to provide his name.
Multiple medics also said they saw two other individuals being dragged away by security forces, though they could not get close enough to confirm if they had died.
In the outskirts of commercial hub Yangon at least six demonstrators died, according to a rescue worker and local journalist.
Parts of the city were transformed, with protesters using makeshift tyres and barbed wire barricades to block major roads.
Near the famed Sule pagoda intersection, protesters pasted print-outs of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing’s face on the ground – a tactic aimed at slowing down security forces who will avoid standing on the portraits.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, two demonstrators were killed, a doctor confirmed to AFP, adding that one of the victims was 19 years old and was shot in the head.
Another 19-year-old protester, engineering student Aung Myint Myat, died after being shot in Salin.
“It was my friend who was shot in his forehead and died in the hospital,” said Min Pyae Phyo, through tears.
“They shouldn’t have used such lethal force against the peaceful protesters. I won’t forget and forgive them the rest of my life,” he said.
And a demonstration in Myingyan turned deadly when security forces deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds against protesters carrying red home-made shields emblazoned with the three-finger salute – a symbol of resistance for the anticoup movement.
Several medics confirmed a young man was gunned down.
Local media in northern Kachin state also reported similar scenes of violence, publishing images of police bearing down on protesters in Hpakant.
THE past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have played out unevenly across Asia and the Pacific, the region has been spared many of the worst effects seen in other parts of the world. The pandemic has reminded us that a reliable and uninterrupted energy supply is critical to managing this crisis.
Beyond ensuring that hospitals and healthcare facilities continue to function, energy supports the systems and coping mechanisms we rely on to work remotely, undertake distance learning and communicate essential health information. Importantly, energy will also underpin cold chains and logistics to ensure that billions of vaccines make their way to the people who need them most.
The good news is our region’s energy systems have continued to function throughout the pandemic. A new report “Shaping a sustainable energy future in Asia and the Pacific: A greener, more resilient and inclusive energy system” released recently by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) shows the energy demand reductions have mainly impacted fossil fuels and depressed oil and gas prices. Renewable energy development in countries across the region, such as China and
India, has continued at a healthy pace throughout 2020.
As the Asia-Pacific region transitions its energy system to clean, efficient and low carbon technologies, the emergence of the pandemic raises some fundamental questions. How can a transformed energy system help ensure our resilience to future crises such as Covid-19? As we recover from this pandemic, can we launch a “green recovery” that simultaneously rebuilds our economies and puts us on track to meet global climate and sustainable development goals (SDG)?
A clean and sustainable energy is central to a recovery from Covid-19 pandemic. By
emphasising the importance of the SDGs as a guiding framework for recovering better together, we must focus on two critical aspects.
First, by making meaningful progress on the SDGs, we can address many of the systemic issues that made societies more vulnerable to Covid-19 in the first place – health, decent work, poverty and inequalities, to name a few.
Second, by directing stimulus spending to investments that support the achievement of the SDGs, we can build back better. If countries focus their stimulus efforts on the industries of the past such as fossil fuels, we risk not creating the jobs we need, or moving
in the right direction to achieve the global goals that are critical to future generations. The energy sector offers multiple opportunities to align stimulus with the clean industries of the future.
The evidence shows that renewable energy and energy efficiency projects create more jobs for the same investment as fossil fuel projects. By increasing expenditure on clean cooking and electricity access, we can enhance economic activity in rural areas and bring modern infrastructure that can make these communities more resilient and inclusive, particularly for the wellbeing of women and children.
Additionally, investing in low-carbon infrastructure and technologies can create a basis for the more ambitious climate pledges we need to reach the Paris Agreement targets of a 2-degree global warming limit. On this note, several countries have announced carbon neutrality, demonstrating a long-term vision and commitment to an accelerated transformation to sustainable energy. Phasing out the use of coal from power generation portfolios by substituting with renewables, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and implementing carbon pricing are some of the steps we can take.
The Covid-19 crisis has forced us to change many aspects of our lives to keep ourselves and our societies safe. It has shown that we are more adaptive and resilient than we may have believed. Nevertheless, we should not waste the opportunities this crisis presents for transformative change. It should not deflect us from the urgent task of making modern energy available to all and decarbonising the region’s energy system through a transition to sustainable energy. Instead, it should provide us with a renewed sense of urgency.
We must harness the capacity of sustainable energy to rebuild our societies and economies while protecting the environment in the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
CAMBODIANS are going to try to notch up a singular achievement by attempting to set the world record for marathon circus performances starting March 7 at 8:00am.
The circus performers from Phare Ponleu Selpak – the Battambang arts education non-profit and circus troupe – will take to the stage for an incredible 24 hours and 1 minute in a bid to set a Guinness World Record for longest circus performance.
“Nobody has ever attempted to do a 24-hour circus performance before! So we proposed it to Guinness and they agreed that if we can keep the performance going for 24 hours we will take the record,” says Phare Ponleu Selpak executive director Osman Khawaja.
“There will be 90 performers! It’s a true extravaganza!” says Khawaja, “This event is one of the most important in Phare’s whole 27 year history.”
The record-setter must follow the Guinness guidelines, which they formulated specifically for this new record attempt. For example, the performance must last 24 hours and 1 minute and all performers must be up to professional standards and compensated for their participation.
“Acts must be varied and not repeated, independent witnesses must be present and at least 50 people should be in the audience at all times,” say the guidelines.
Khawaja tells The Post: “The performers will change throughout the 24 hour period, but there will always be performers on stage juggling, doing acrobatics, clowning and performing.”
Anyone interested in supporting Phare and joining in the fun can do so most easily by watching the performance’s livestream, but everyone is welcome to attend the show in person at Phare’s Big Top venue in Battambang.
Those who can make it to Battambang for the performance are invited to take part as audience members if they observe strict anti-Covid precautions like wearing facemasks and social distancing.
“Having an audience of at least 50 is a key rule for breaking the record, which means that anyone who attends the event will become a world record-holder themselves and receive a digital certificate that confirms this,” Khawaja says.
The organisers assume that most people won’t be able to attend the show for the whole 24 hours, but if they stay for at least one hour they will qualify as one of the record-holders as well since Guinness requires at least 50 audience members at all times.
“We’ll give them a digital certificate later on proving
they are record-holders. So please just show up when you can and stay for at least an hour and be part of the fun absolutely free. Just make sure you bring your mask and feel well,” says Khawaja.
Anyone unable to attend in person in Battambang is invited to take part online and join the Cellcard live stream of the entire 24 hour circus at https:// youtu.be/xY9jOQisUt8 or sign up for one of their one-hour gala viewing events.
According to Phare’s announcement, “the gala events have been organised at 10am and 8pm [ICT] on Sunday, March 7 so that anyone can
go online and watch part of the record attempt live from Battambang, taking part in an hour of fun and fundraising”.
There are three simple steps for people who want to take part in one of the gala events. The audience can book their seats on www.bit. ly/pharegala21 and then tune in on March 7 from wherever they are in the world and be thrilled by a short segment from Phare’s record-breaking circus and contribute to the fundraising efforts.
People who tune into the virtual viewing events will get to watch
whichever of the 90 performers participating in the marathon circus happen to be on stage at that time. The will also learn more about Phare’s fascinating history through exclusive videos and intimate interviews with Phare artists. “Therewillalsobeuniqueprize draws for every attendee signing up to watch on the streaming platform,” says Phare.
Phare Ponleu Selpak was founded 27 years ago by nine Cambodians who grew up in a refugee camp after surviving the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. The nine founders became interested in visual arts initially under the tutelage of a French teacher volunteering in Cambodia over three decades ago. Today, some of them are now teachers themselves at the arts focused school they founded in Battambang.
Most people know Phare for their circus performances or arts education programmes. However, they also provide a full curriculum in essential school subjects like math, science and English to about a thousand students from impoverished families every year through their schools and
Child Development Centre.
The Covid-19 pandemic has nearly eliminated the tourism sector for the past year and because Phare’s funding comes in part from ticket sales to their circus performances – which have always been heavily attended by tourists and obviously involve large groups of people – this has been a tough year financially for them.
Nevertheless, they are determined that their arts programmes, circus school, education programmes and social support work are going to survive the Covid-19 crisis no matter what.
Phare recently posted on Facebook with the hashtag #pharegala2021 to make a request of their many fans and followers:
“On March 6th and 7th, please support Phare Ponleu Selpak by attending their exciting Virtual Gala and Guinness World Record attempt for the ‘longestever circus performance’!”
Phare’s recent run of performances in Phnom Penh were also cut short due to a Covid19 outbreak and all of this together means the school is facing a budgetary shortfall of $250,000 – money that it needs to make it through 2021.
This loss has left Phare in a state of emergency which could result in cuts to both its education and arts services which will leave hundreds of disadvantaged Cambodians without access to education or the opportunities in life that training in the arts can provide.
Phare says: “The school has already cut back on programmes and all of its staff members have taken voluntary pay cuts, so [we] began looking for creative ideas to help raise emergency funds.”
And thus the World’s Longest Circus Performance came about after the record-breaking attempt was officially endorsed and sanctioned by the Guinness Book of World Records, who drew up a set of rules for the record so that once it is established these rules will make a fair competition possible if someday some other circus decides they want to try and break it.
Khawaja enthuses that “claiming this World Record will help to make Cambodian creativity and culture famous around the world, which is one of our ambitions as an organisation.
“... And it will be a chance to fundraise!”
This world record attempt has been organised in partnership with Cellcard who are helping to raise awareness of Phare’s funding struggles.
Cellcard CEO Ian Watson says his team was committed to growing young Khmer talent and providing platforms for youth to achieve their ambitions.
“Phare is one of modern Cambodia’s cultural icons and we are proud to provide this partnership support and look forward to working with them on other joint projects this year,” he says.
Should Phare succeed they will hold one of just eleven Guinness World Records that were set by Cambodians or in Cambodia, and it will be the first new record set here in three years.
The other records include such oddities as the longest hand-woven scarf (krama) at around 1,150m, the world’s biggest sticky bun weighing in at over four tonnes and the world’s longest dragon boat at over 87m, a record that was set just a few years ago.
Cambodia also holds a couple of records that are rooted in its traditional culture – such as the record for the King with the longest title, King Sihamoni. Or as he is officially known:
“His Merciful Excellent Majesty Protector, King Norodom Sihamoni; who unites the nation, religion, realms, and people of the Khmer state; the Great King who is supported by Buddha and Indra; the Protector of Independence, Unification and Peace; the Great King of the Kingdom of Cambodia”.
The Khmer language holds the record for the most characters used in its script at 74, though some of them have fallen out of common usage.
And of course Cambodia has Angkor Wat, which has held the record for the world’s largest religious structure – with an enclosed area of over 160ha containing 72 monuments – for the past thousand years or so.
You can save your seat and find out more about how to help Phare, have fun and be a world record holder all at once by following @PHARE into the future on Facebook, or inquiring by email: gala@ phareps.org.
THE sun is shining as Salvador Pereira Menaut’s pigs trot between the oak trees in search of acorns – but he does not look happy. Sales of premium “pata negra” dry-cured hams, the “caviar” of Spanish charcuterie, have suffered as restaurants and hotels have closed and celebratory events where it is usually eaten have been put on ice because of the pandemic.
And that has pushed down the value of the hams made by Navarretinto, the company Pereira runs, as well as the 13,000 Iberico pigs raised each year in the sparsely populated region of Extremadura in southwestern Spain.
He said: “We had managed to carve out a place for ourselves in the best restaurants and hotels in Madrid. But almost all of them have closed since the start of the pandemic and they no longer buy.”
A cured leg of “pata negra” can sell for more than €500 ($600) but restaurants are now paying 30 per cent less for the delicacy than they did before the pandemic.
This amount does not cover the cost of the pigs’ feed during the summer months when there are no acorns, Pereira explains.
Navarretinto only transforms a small part of the pigs it raises into hams, and sells the rest to other ham producers. But the price of pigs has also dropped.
Since the pandemic hit last year, the price Spanish pig farmers receive for their livestock has plunged 20-25 per cent, according to the ASICI association of pork producers.
And the plunge in price for purebred Iberico pigs like those raised by Pereira is around 50 per cent.
“If this goes on for too long, it’s possible some [breeders] will disappear, including us,” he said.
No more parties
Farming cooperatives in Andalusia, the main region that produces cured ham, estimate sales have halved within Spain and the loss for pig breeders in 2020 stands at €250 million.
“The industry is facing a lot of uncertainty because it doesn’t know what it’s going to sell,” said ASICI president Antonio Prieto, pointing out that “all traditional and family parties have been cancelled” and many restaurants have closed.
Curing a ham takes a minimum of two to three years so ham makers are paying less for pork because they don’t know how much they will be able to charge for the end product, he explained.
And “cortadores” – those skilled in the art of finely slicing dry-cured legs of ham – have also been hit hard.
Their skill lies in cutting ham into slices so thin they are almost transparent, called “lonchas”, or chunks called “tacos”, and they are often hired to staff special events.
“It affects us a lot because there are no more ceremonies, weddings, banquets, ferias or business meals,” said Florencio Sanchidrian, Spain’s most famous “cortador”.
Exports also hit
Pereira has set up an online sales service but said it is “not enough” to make up for the fall in sales through traditional channels.
His small firm’s efforts to boost exports to make up for declining business in Spain have also struggled owing to travel restrictions preventing its sales manager from going abroad to meet potential new customers.
Exports of Spanish dry-cured hams of all grades fell about three per cent year-on-year in volume in 2020, according to ASICI.
The pandemic is reviving fears of a repeat of the 2008 global financial crisis, which pushed thousands of small ham producers into bankruptcy.
But Prieto said the sector has become more professional, with a system in place to quickly inform farmers of changes in market conditions so they can reduce production when prices fall.
“We may lose money, or not earn the money which we should, that’s for sure,” he said.
“But there have been no closures so far, even if each farm is earning less.”AFP