International
The EU urges Georgia to withdraw the law on foreign agents that harms its rapprochement with the EU
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Affairs, Josep Borrell, with the support of the European Commission, urged Georgia on Wednesday to withdraw its controversial law on foreign agents, considering that it harms its progress towards the EU.
After the approval of this law on Tuesday in the Georgian Parliament, the EU issued a statement by Borrell that could not be on behalf of the Twenty-seven due to the veto of Hungary and Slovakia, European sources told EFE.
Brussels issued a first statement signed by Borrell and the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, the Hungarian Olivér Várhelyi, and later published a second with the only rubric of the head of European diplomacy, supported by the whole of the college of commissioners.
European sources assured that the publication of the first text was due to an error.
“The approval of this law has a negative impact on Georgia’s progress on the EU path. The decision on the way forward is in the hands of Georgia,” the statement emphasized.
In that context, the Georgian authorities were urged “to withdraw the law, maintain their commitment to the EU path and move forward in the necessary detailed reforms.”
The statement also assured that the EU is willing to continue supporting Georgians who work for a European future.
“The EU is on the side of the Georgian people and their election in favor of democracy and the European future of Georgia,” the text stressed.
The statement states that “intimidation, threats and physical aggressions of civil society representatives, political leaders and journalists, as well as their families, are unacceptable” and calls on the Georgian authorities to investigate these “documented acts.”
He recalls that the European Council granted Georgia the status of candidate for accession, understanding that the country would adopt the nine relevant measures that the European Commission established last November.
These steps require that human rights be protected and that civil society and the media can operate freely, they added.
The measures also refer to the need for depolarization and the fight against disinformation.
However, and “despite the great protests and the unequivocal appeals of the international community,” the ruling majority of the Georgian Government has approved the law in Parliament, in third reading, the statement said.
“The EU has clearly and repeatedly declared that the spirit and content of the law do not conform to the fundamental rules and values of the EU.”
In his opinion, that legislation will undermine the work of civil society and the independent media, while freedom of association and freedom of expression are fundamental rights at the core of Georgia’s commitments as part of the association agreement with the EU and any way of joining the community club.
The Georgian Parliament approved the law on foreign agents on Tuesday despite the protests of the opposition and the West, which compare it to the Russian regulations that the Kremlin uses to silence the opposition, in a new twist of tensions in this Caucasian country.
The controversial legislation, promoted by the Georgian Dream government party and whose official name is “On the transparency of foreign influence,” was approved with 84 votes in favor and 30 votes against.
The president of Georgia, Salomé Zurabishvili, announced on Wednesday that she has created and will soon present a “European platform” to prevent the country from returning to the past.
“I have formed a European platform of common solutions that will mobilize Georgia for the parliamentary elections,” the president said at a press conference, alluding to the elections on October 26.
Zurabishvili made this announcement in a joint appearance with the heads of the diplomacies of Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, who arrived in Tbilisi today on a working visit as representatives of the European Union, who harshly criticized the “Russian law” approved the day before by Parliament.
“This platform will allow us to win the elections and finally put Georgia on the path of peace and stability,” said the president, who stressed her initiative to “save the country from returning to the past.”
Zurabishvili stressed that “between 80 and 85 percent of Georgian society supports the European future (of the country), as can be seen in the protests against the law ‘On the transparency of foreign influence’.”
“It’s about saving Georgia. The approval of this law is an attempt to return Georgia to the past. The authorities don’t listen to their people, they don’t listen to the advice of their Western partners,” he stressed.
The president confirmed that she will veto the regulation, which the opposition calls “Russian law” because of its similarity to that applied in Russia to persecute and silence the opposition.
NATO said on Wednesday that the approval in the Parliament of Georgia of the controversial law on foreign agents keeps the country away from integration into the European Union and the transatlantic area, and urged it to change course.
“The decision of the Georgian Government to approve legislation on the so-called ‘foreign agents’ is a step in the wrong direction and moves Georgia away from European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” said the spokeswoman of the Atlantic Alliance, Farah Dakhlallah through social network X.
In that context, the Allied spokeswoman urged Georgia to “change course and respect the right to peaceful protest.”
The Georgian Parliament approved the law on foreign agents on Tuesday despite the protests of the opposition and the West, which compare it to the Russian regulations that the Kremlin uses to silence the opposition, in a new twist of tensions in this Caucasian country.
The controversial legislation, promoted by the Georgian Dream government party and whose official name is “On the transparency of foreign influence,” was approved with 84 votes in favor and 30 votes against.
Georgia has aspirations to join the European Union and NATO.
In 2008, the leaders of the Alliance agreed at their summit in Bucharest that Georgia, like Ukraine, will be members of NATO when they are prepared for it.
International
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
At least ten people lost their lives this Saturday when a passenger bus fell down a ravine on a highway in the province of Lorestan, in western Iran.
“The bus that left Andimeshk (Juzestan province) to Poldokhtar (Lorestan), went off the road and fell into a ravine so unfortunately at least 10 people have died,” announced the executive director of the Red Crescent of the province of Lorestan, Mohammad Ghadami, reported the Tasnim agency.
The official did not give details about the number of injured in the accident and their state of health.
Ghadami said that four rescue teams were sent to the scene of the incident immediately after it was reported at 12:39 local time (9:10 GMT) this Saturday.
Mortality on roads, one of the highest in the world
Traffic accidents are very common in Iran, where the road mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, with an average of 20,000 deaths per year.
Many of the accidents are due to the poor condition of the vehicles and the poor compliance with traffic rules by drivers.
Last August, at least 28 Pakistani pilgrims died when the bus in which they were traveling overturned in central Iran, in an accident that occurred due to a brake failure.
International
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
Hurricane Helene is one of the extreme climatic events that have starred this 2024 after leaving more than 150 direct deaths and billions of dollars in losses in six states of the southeastern United States, according to preliminary figures.
The deadly Helene, which in the continental United States has only been surpassed by Katrina (2005), ended with more than 150 deaths, at least a hundred in North Carolina, in addition to leaving a path of destruction that reached the mountainous area of that state with special virulence.
After impacting Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula, Helene made landfall on September 26 with winds of 225 kilometers per hour in the Big Bend region of Florida, in the northwest of that state, as the most powerful cyclone in that region since records have been available.
From Florida, where it arrived as a major hurricane, and while it weakened progressively to become a tropical depression, Helene continued on land through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
North Carolina was the one that took the worst part, not only for the number of deaths but for the economic losses, which amount to more than 59.6 billion dollars, according to an update from the state government released this month.
The historic rainfall of up to 76 centimeters caused floods and landslides in this state, which caused serious damage, and long-term, both in homes and in public infrastructure and the agricultural industry.
Million-dollar economic losses
Quantifying at this time the economic losses in all the states impacted by Helene, which generated strong winds and tornadoes, is difficult because there are discrepancies in the damage assessment since it produced “a large-scale disaster,” as Mónica Escaleras, professor of the Department of Economics at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), told EFE.
“The widespread nature of the damage, the diversity of affected sectors and ongoing recovery efforts” are factors that prevent an accurate estimate at present, he added.
Escaleras believes, however, that Helene is a reflection of how in recent years “extreme weather events have become increasingly frequent and intense, altering infrastructure and supply chains.”
A preliminary report from the Institute of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Florida (UF/IFAS) estimates that agricultural losses in this southern state due to Helene can range between 40.3 and 162.2 million dollars, after destroying 6.1 million acres (2.4 million hectares) of arable land.
More hurricanes like Helene in the future
A key factor in Helene’s intensity were the high temperatures in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, whose surfaces were at about 29.4 degrees Celsius when the system began to form.
A preliminary study by the World Weather Attribution network of scientists reflected that this temperature is the result of climate change, which made Helene’s effects worse, responsible for example for 10% more rain.
“It is expected that the growing occurrence of these events will generate higher insurance premiums and may lead to the withdrawal of coverage in high-risk areas, which will affect both the real estate and business sectors,” Escaleras said.
This possible future scenario can, on the other hand, affect unprotected communities more, such as the Hispanic one in the United States. The Climate Power organization revealed last week a report that shows that Latino communities have been the great victims of the extreme weather events that occurred in 2024.
The report in question found that many Latino families in western North Carolina live in trailers flooded or destroyed by the storm, and that not mastering English they had obstacles when it came to receiving information about recovery tasks.
Antonieta Cádiz, executive director of the Climate Power In Action campaign, reminded EFE of the case of the workers of a plastics factory in Erwin (Tennessee) who died after a negligence in their evacuation, which was not carried out due to the imminent effects of Helene, employees who were mostly Hispanic.
The above, he said, is a sample of the disproportionate and “deep inequalities” that affect the Hispanic community when it comes to extreme weather events.
International
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
When the low tide in the Colombian Pacific, a group of women put on rubber boots, take a raft and enter a mangrove forest to collect the piangua, a mollusk that, in addition to providing food to their families, empowers them and gives them a voice in their territory.
They are in the community of La Plata, in the heart of the Uramba-Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, and they have just six hours to work before the sea rises again. Stuck in the mud they sing to liven up their days and regardless of the sun or rain they fill their containers with this mollusk similar to the mussel with which they prepare delicious recipes.
“It is a very important ancestral activity because it allows us to have economic sustainability as women, to be a symbol of resistance to cultural traditions and to take care of our gastronomic traditions,” Matilde Mosquera Murillo, legal representative of the Raíces Piangüeras Association.
Mosquera, 27 years old and a sociologist by profession, took on the challenge of leading that organization created in 2019 and has managed to bring together more than 70 women who are dedicated to this profession in the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, where they play a fundamental role in conservation.
“We monitor mangroves, because we know the importance they have in the ecosystem, they are the cradle of thousands of species. We also make every process sustainable so that all the initiatives we lead allow us to take care of nature,” Mosquera insists.
International recognition
Their work already has international recognition and since 2023 they have held the ‘Meeting of Women of the Colombian Pacific’. In the first edition they asked the National Government to advocate before UNESCO to declare the piangüeo as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
“We believe in the need for a political strengthening of women, that our voice is heard and that we are part of the decisions that are made in the country so that we have votes in public policies and that they recognize our ancestral work in the world,” she adds.
The environmental richness of the La Plata archipelago is enormous and its 32 islands and islets are the habitat of 1,396 species of birds, reptiles, mammals and felines, as well as 60 classes of frogs, 25 of lizards and 52 of snakes.
There are also eight species of sharks, 22 rays and 348 of fish that have six types of mangroves as their home: red mangrove, born mangrove, ped mangrove, button or button mangrove, bobo mangle and feeder mangle.
Unity and awareness
According to Santiago Valencia, leader of the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, women use a ‘piangüímetro’, a tool that works as a rule that allows them to measure the mollusk when it has already passed its reproductive stage.
“Their organization is as strong as the roots of the mangrove and they even come together to reforest when they see it necessary. This unity has made them look for other alternatives because they see that everything is possible and today they see themselves as what they are: powerful women, businesswomen and nature lovers,” says Valencia.
Currently, women piangüeras work in the search for resources that allow them to access studies to improve and strengthen their processes.
Some of them have already created other ventures for the manufacture of ointments based on medicinal plants from the jungle, ancestral drinks and even think about packing the piangua in a vacuum to export it to other countries.
“When we go to the mangrove we sing as a symbol of power, to express our feelings, it also serves to harmonize our activity and understand that we are important; we will leave this inheritance to our children and it will continue for generations,” concludes Mosquera.
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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