Once hailed as a rising star in the entertainment industry, Lin Jing'en captured the hearts of millions with her ethereal beauty and exceptional acting skills. Her performances in several blockbuster films and hit TV dramas earned her numerous accolades and a loyal fan base. However, her career took a downturn several years ago, leading to a series of unfortunate events that ultimately left her destitute and homeless.One of the primary objectives of these enhanced policies is to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on businesses and individuals, thereby fostering a more conducive environment for economic resurgence. By bolstering consumer confidence and purchasing power, the government aims to revitalize market activity and stimulate growth across industries.
One of the key reasons cited for the bans on electric cars with problematic windshields is the potential for impaired visibility. It has been observed that certain models of electric cars have windshields that are prone to glare from sunlight, resulting in poor visibility for drivers. This poses a serious safety risk as it may lead to accidents and collisions on the road. Furthermore, the materials used in some windshields have been found to be substandard, increasing the likelihood of shattering upon impact, which can cause serious injuries to occupants of the vehicle and bystanders.
Reducing the carbon footprint of major exports has become more doable as other nations introduce emission charges at their borders, the head of Australia's carbon leakage review says. or signup to continue reading "Carbon leakage" is not a very helpful term because it makes people think it's about something leaking from a pipeline," professor of environmental and climate change economics Frank Jotzo told AAP. "Really it's about carbon competitiveness - that's a better label for it, but that's not the nerdy, technical label it has," Professor Jotzo said. His review focused on the risk of the displacement of jobs and emissions offshore and the feasibility of an Australian carbon border adjustment mechanism. The 2024 review examined ways to sustain Australia's heavy industries in the long term, and make sure local production is not disadvantaged compared to imports from other countries where there is not an equivalent climate policy. Prof Jotzo said a "carbon border adjustment mechanism for a few select commodities and in a measured way" had been identified in the final report as the durable solution, and as a useful way to complement the safeguard mechanism. For almost a decade, Australia has relied on the so-called safeguard mechanism - under Labor and coalition governments - to encourage leading industries to stop increasing emissions and invest in decarbonisation. The review found subsidies for decarbonisation investment also had a role but were not a systematic solution to carbon leakage, and relied on public finance that might not always be available, Prof Jotzo said. and the are introducing levies on carbon-intensive products, which sparked fresh discussions - and support from some industry groups - for Australia to have a version of what is known as a carbon border adjustment mechanism or CBAM. Europe's CBAM may be irrelevant for Australia's major exporters but the main effect was to make it possible for other countries to consider a similar mechanism, according to Prof Jotzo. Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen commissioned the Jotzo review to assess and counter the risk of carbon leakage for Australian industries that produce a lot of heat - and therefore greenhouse gas emissions - during production. The existence of carbon leakage, even if at moderate levels, has important implications for economic, industrial and trade policy design, . But calculations by the global economic body also suggested carbon leakage through international trade was offsetting "modest" domestic emission reductions by aluminium, cement and steel plants. "The main commodities in the spotlight are the heavy industrial commodities where the carbon emissions are high compared to the volume of the product - cement and pre-products like clinker and lime, steel, and ammonia," Prof Jotzo said. "Australia imports these things and we make them ourselves and they are part of the safeguard mechanism in terms of reducing the baseline emissions rates for their production in Australia." Most countries that Australia imports from do not have similar obligations, so that introduces an imbalance that needs to be deal with in some way, he said. There are special provisions in place under the safeguard mechanism for the more trade-exposed heavy industries, which means their facilities are required to reduce baseline emissions less than plants. "But that's complicated and not necessarily the solution you want for the long term," Prof Jotzo said. "It's constantly contested and creates the ongoing need to check whether the bandaid is still the proper size." Labor is expected to stall on adopting the recommendations. Nor has the coalition declared a position, with the latest opinion poll deadlocked heading into the 2025 election. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. 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AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement AdvertisementInfluential people who died in 2024President-elect Donald Trump's tariff threats have been formalized with a pair of social media statements that, while not nearly as steep as promised on the campaign trail, still threaten to complicate relations with the US's three largest trade partners. In a pair of statements yesterday on his Truth Social site, Trump announced plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10 percent tariff on all Chinese goods entering the States "above any additional tariffs" already in place on Chinese-manufactured goods. When he was just candidate Trump prior to the November 5 election, the President-elect promised across-the-board tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all imports, with a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese-made goods. Much of the argument for such aggressive tariffs would be to return manufacturing to the United States – particularly high-tech manufacturing of things like smartphones, computers, and other electronics, much of which is manufactured in China. Those justifications were absent from Trump's social media posts, with the incoming President instead explaining that he was imposing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico because "thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before." "This Tariff [on Mexico and Canada] will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country," Trump continued. "Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!" Trump justified his 10 percent tariff increase on Chinese goods on similar grounds, expressing dissatisfaction that the Chinese government hadn't killed enough drug dealers caught manufacturing fentanyl for import to the US. As The Register and many other publications have pointed out, tariffs don't penalize the country doing the exporting. It's importing companies that pay the tariffs, and importing companies that pass the costs along to consumers – in this case Americans . China , Canada , and Mexico are the US's three largest trade partners. Most imports coming into the US from China involve electronic equipment. Mexico primarily exports vehicles and electronics, while Canada is the US's largest supplier of crude oil and petroleum fuel products. In short, expect electronics, cars, and gas prices to spike if Trump follows through with these tariffs, and it appears he has the legal authority to do so. Whether or not such tariffs would work out for Trump remains unclear, according to William Reinsch, senior advisor on the economics program and Scholl chair in international business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. "No one was expecting [the tariffs proposed yesterday], which is precisely why [Trump] did it," Reinsch told The Register . "As a result, everyone is forced, again, into reacting to whatever he has said. It's a leverage move, and we have to see how the other countries respond." If Trump enacts his proposed tariffs, Reinsch said it would "blow up" the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement that, while due for review in 2026, could prompt retaliation from Canada and Mexico if Trump acted in a way that ignored the current terms of the agreement before the scheduled review. As for IT products coming in from China and elsewhere, Reinsch noted that both the US and China are party to the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement that sought to eliminate import and export duties on six categories of IT equipment: computers, telecommunications equipment, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, semiconductors themselves, software, and scientific equipment – not that the agreement has stopped the US from imposing tariffs on Chinese tech goods before . "If [Trump] intends to cover those items with new tariffs, he is violating that agreement as well, and it will have an impact on high-tech companies all over the world," Reinsch told us. It's likely the entire thing is another set of empty threats. Even if the President-elect doesn't understand how tariffs work, people in his orbit probably do, and they'd know the effects on the American economy. "This is classic Trump strategy – capture the daily media conversation with an unexpected and unconventional announcement based on the principle of retaliate first; negotiate later," Reinsch said. "It's most likely they're a threat intended to produce a negotiation and will probably not be implemented." ®
The World Health Organization (WHO) and public health experts are calling for increased political commitment and funding to fight malaria, especially in endemic regions like Africa. This week's release of the 2024 World Malaria Report by the WHO said there were 11 million more malaria cases compared to the previous year and that Ethiopia and Nigeria recorded their highest death tolls from the disease since 2015. According to Wednesday's report, there were 263 million cases of the mosquito-borne disease and nearly 600,000 deaths worldwide last year. The report indicates global malaria cases grew by about 11 million compared to the year prior while fatalities remained nearly the same. The WHO report said Africa accounted for 95% of global malaria deaths. Most of the victims were children under 5 years of age. Dr. Kehinde Ajayi, an expert on malaria epidemiology and control, said one issue is that since 2020, most developing nations have had a shortage of resources to combat the disease. “Some of the resources like insecticide-treated nets and also funding towards the malaria control programs have been hampered because of ... COVID-19 and the economic imbalance in developing countries,” Ajayi said. Ajayi said climate change and declining effectiveness of anti-malaria drugs are threatening progress. Nigeria bears the world's highest burden of malaria with more than 27% of global malaria cases and 31% of deaths. But the WHO report also showed some progress — estimating that about 2.2 billion cases of malaria and 12.7 million deaths were averted globally since 2000. Ajayi said increased government funding for malaria interventions could change things. "Mosquitoes thrive very well under temperatures that are more than 19 degrees Celsius, and the climate change has made [that] possible,” Ajayi said. “Also, the plasmodium parasite has gained a lot of resistance against malaria drugs. Also, the government needs to invest more in our health sector. Government also needs to fund research that will help us in discovering indigenous drugs." The WHO report said only about half of the $8.7 billion target for malaria intervention last year was achieved. In Nigeria, spending on health care is about 4% of the national budget, much lower than the 15% agreed upon by the African Union in 2001 — in the so-called Abuja Declaration. Authorities have pledged to improve spending on health. On Thursday, Nigeria signed a deal to promote local production of test kits for HIV and malaria. Last week, Nigeria launched its malaria vaccination campaign — becoming the latest African country to provide malaria vaccines to young children. There are now 17 countries giving new malaria vaccines.Man City stumble again while Arsenal and Bayern Munich earn dominant wins
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