Âu

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Lời chúc không mất tiền mua
Lựa lời mà chúc được nhiều người thương.

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/* src.: https://twitter.com/emmanuelmacron

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Phi trường = Không trường

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Europe's air passenger numbers 'at lowest level since 1995' last year


A passenger, wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of coronavirus, sits at the almost empty departures hall at the Zaventem international airport in Brussels, - Copyright Credit: AP

Air passenger numbers in Europe have fallen to their lowest levels in 25 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report has found.

The study by the European airport trade association (ACI Europe), found that passenger traffic at airports fell by 70.4% in 2020. The loss of 1.72 billion passengers last year meant levels were the lowest since before the turn of the century.

"With just 728 million passengers in 2020 compared to 2.4 billion passengers in the previous year, Europe’s airports were back to their traffic levels of 1995," said Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe.

In their annual traffic report, ACI Europe found that airports in the European Union were more impacted by the pandemic than non-EU ones.

Airports in the bloc lost 1.32 billion passengers in 2020 (-73%), compared to others in the continent that lost 400 million passengers (-61.9%).

This was mainly due to the size and resilience of domestic markets in Russia and Turkey, ACI Europe said, as well as less stringent lockdowns and travel restrictions.

The most severe decrease in passengers at EU airports compared to non-EU airports was noticed between October and December, the association added.

Passenger traffic fell by more than 90% in Q4 at airports in Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia, and Slovakia, with losses in the UK and Germany more than 85%.

Only Bulgaria, France, Greece, and Portugal slightly outperformed the EU average, although passenger traffic still decreased by more than 75%.

"Within the EU, limited variations in extreme passenger traffic losses also reflected the size of domestic markets and/or the extent of lockdowns and travel restrictions," ACI Europe stated.

Meanwhile, airports in large domestic markets in Russia (-44.2%) and Turkey (-60.7%) proved the most resilient at the end of 2020.

Four of Europe's five major airport hubs in 2019 - London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, and Frankfurt - were also displaced in 2020. Istanbul, moving from fifth to first, became the busiest European airport by the end of 2020.

Another Turkish airport, Istanbul-Sabiha Gocken, was in second place, followed by Moscow's three main airports (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo)

Aircraft movements across the European airport network also decreased by 58.6% in 2020 compared to the previous year, ACI Europe found.

"No industry can on its own withstand such a shock," said Jankovec.

"While some states have taken steps to financially support their airports, only €2.2 billion has so far been earmarked for that purpose in Europe," he added, "this is less than 8% of the revenues airports lost last year."

ACI Europe did report that freight traffic in Europe had recovered by the end of 2020, although there was still a noticeable decrease of 11.8% compared to the previous year.

"With further decreases in traffic over the past weeks and no recovery in sight, more needs to be done," Jankovec stated.

"Helping out airports is essential to rebuild air connectivity and effectively support local and regional communities and tourism," as well as airports’ future investment capabilities.

/* src.: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/12/...995-last-year#

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Warnings issued for rough sleepers after Arctic blast hits northern Europe


The German Red Cross have also urged caution on icy surfaces - Copyright Hendrik Schmidt/(c) dpa-Zentralbild

Aid workers are warning that the sharp drop in temperatures across parts of northern Europe this month has put homeless people at serious risk.

German homeless aid group BAGW said Friday that four people have been found frozen to death since a blast of Arctic air brought freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall to much of the country last week.

Authorities in the southern city of Nuremberg said a homeless woman was found with a newborn baby in minus 15 Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures early Friday. A police patrol spotted the 20-year-old woman, a companion and the infant on a ventilation grate outside a subway station. Mother and child were taken to a hospital to warm up and for observation, the DPA news agency reported.

Icy temperatures have also led to numerous accidents on roads and waterways. Police in southwestern Germany said a 49-year-old man was crushed to death Thursday when the tractor he was driving slid and toppled over on an icy field.

In western France, freezing rains turned roads into chutes of treacherous ice. Authorities in Brittany said smaller roads that link towns and villages in the largely rural region were unusable, and urged people to stay home. Large trucks were banned from circulation.

The German Red Cross warned people to be careful when skating or walking on frozen lakes and rivers after several adults and children fell through the ice and had to be rescued in recent days.

Andreas Paatz, the head of the group's water rescue service, said many people don't realize that ice on standing water needs to be at least 15cm (5.9 inches) thick and on running water 20cm (7.9 inches) thick to support a person.

Authorities in northern Germany have for the first time in years deployed icebreakers to smash passages through frozen shipping canals.

In the neighbouring Netherlands, skating fans flocked to the ice Friday, causing a headache for authorities trying to enforce social distancing measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Authorities blocked roads close to some popular skating spots and ordered skaters off dangerously thin ice in some locations. Emergency services had to rescue at least one skater who sank through ice covering a lake next to the Dutch parliament buildings in The Hague.

In the northern German town of Verden, police ordered some 50 skaters and hockey players off the ice, saying it was too thin and they weren’t wearing face masks.

The cold weather that has gripped northern Europe is forecast to make its way toward the southeast in the coming days. The Greek weather service predicted Athens might see snowfall.

/* src.: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/13/...orthern-europe

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Nữ quyền.

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Norway wealth fund tells firms: put more women on your boards

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, wants the companies it invests in globally to boost the number of women on their boards and to consider setting targets if fewer than 30% of their directors are female, top fund officials told Reuters.

One of the world’s largest investors, the fund holds stakes in around 9,200 companies worldwide, owning 1.5% of all listed stocks. It has set the pace on a host of issues in the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) field.

Boards where either gender has less than 30% representation should consider setting targets for gender diversity and report on progress, the fund said in a position paper shared with Reuters ahead of its publication later on Monday.

“We may phrase it politely, but it is pretty clear what we think,” Chief Executive Nicolai Tangen said in an interview.

“What we want to see is better representation of women on the boards,” added Carine Smith Ihenacho, the fund’s chief governance and compliance officer.

“Diversity is good for the board because it brings better perspective, it is better for decision-making and increasingly important for the legitimacy of companies,” said Smith Ihenacho.

“It (a lack of female representation) could also be a red flag, that a company does not have a good process to recruit the best director.”

Most other big institutional investors have a general request for boards to be diverse, and some are increasingly prepared to oppose boards they consider are not diverse enough, but they typically have not set precise targets for female representation.

VOTING

In 2003 Norway became the first country in the world to impose a gender quota, requiring nearly 500 firms, including 175 firms listed on the Oslo bourse, to raise the proportion of women on their boards to 40%.

Some other countries have followed along similar lines, such as Britain, which is aiming for 33% representation on FTSE 350 boards.

Starting with the upcoming AGM season, the Norwegian fund will apply pressure by voting against appointments to the nomination committees of companies that do not have at least two women on the board.

“We will start with developed markets and at companies where women are underrepresented, at large and mid cap companies in the U.S. and Europe,” said Smith Ihenacho.

She did not name names, but candidates for attention this year may include British carmaker Aston Martin and used car online auction firm Copart in the United States, which have one woman, respectively, on their boards.

The fund will refrain from voting against if companies can have a “very good explanation, like a clear plan, with clear targets, or because of a recent resignation that affected the gender balance on this board”, said Smith Ihenacho.

Last year the fund voted against the nomination committees of 16 companies, all large and mid cap companies in the United States and Europe, because they had all-male boards, she said. One of them was London-listed Domino’s Pizza, fund data showed. The firm has since then appointed two women to its board.

Dialogue with companies and voting at AGMs is the focus of the policy, she added, rather than divesting from companies that do not comply with the policy.

Still, the fund can, and does, divest from companies that do not comply with its positions on ESG issues it prioritises: last year, it divested from seven companies over tax transparency.

The fund only has a specific target on gender diversity currently and not on other aspects such as age or ethnicity, for example, because the latter can vary in relevance from sector to sector or from country to country, said Smith Ihenacho.

“But what is relevant for all countries is that women in general are underrepresented and that is why we have a target (on gender),” said Smith Ihenacho.

Globally, 17% of company boards do not have a single woman, she said.

“We really think diversity creates better thinking and better creativity and better business, really,” said Tangen.

“The more diverse the group of people who sit together, the more creative solutions you get and so the better business. You get better innovations, better solutions. It is just good.”

Additional reporting by Simon Jessop in London; Editing by Susan Fenton

/* src.: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-n...-idUSKBN2AF0TX

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BNP hoàn lương.

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France's BNP to stop financing firms farming deforested land in the Amazon


PARIS (Reuters) - France’s largest bank BNP Paribas pledged on Monday to stop financing firms producing or buying either beef or soybeans cultivated on land in the Amazon cleared or converted after 2008.

The lender also said it would encourage clients not to buy or produce beef or soy farmed in the Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna eco-region covering 20% of Brazil, only financing those which adopt a strategy of zero deforestation by 2025.

Environmental campaign groups said BNP Paribas’ move sent a strong signal to companies trading commodities in the region, but pressed for faster action.

“Financial institutions exposed to the agricultural sector in Brazil must contribute to this fight against deforestation. This is the case for BNP Paribas,” the bank said in a statement.

Soy and beef are two of the largest drivers of global deforestation. Population growth and rapidly expanding middle classes in countries like China have fueled an explosion in demand for soy and increases in consumption of meat and dairy.

Some scientists warn the Amazon forest, which spans nine countries, is hurtling towards a death spiral as deforestation continues apace. An area of Amazon rainforest the size of Israel was felled last year, according to Amazon Conservation.

Half of the Cerrado has already been cleared and is one of the planet’s most threatened ecosystems, four environmental NGOs said in a joint statement.

“BNP Paribas is giving traders five more years to clear forests with impunity,” Klervi Le Guenic of Canopee Forets Vivantes said.

BNP and other European lenders including Credit Suisse and Dutch bank ING committed last month to stop financing trade in crude oil from Ecuador after pressure from activists aiming to protect the Amazon.

Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Matthieu Protard; Writing by Matthieu Protard and Richard Lough; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jan Harvey

/* src.: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-e...-idUSKBN2AF14I

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Nữ phi hành gia, phi hành gia khuyết tật.

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European Space Agency in bid to recruit more female and disabled astronauts

The European Space Agency is holding its first recruitment drive in 11 years and is highlighting its desire to achieve greater diversity.

The European equivalent of NASA is seeking to recruit more women astronauts this year, as well as people with disabilities who have always dreamed of going into space.

"We are looking towards the Moon ... and Mars. We need very excellent astronauts for the future," said the ESA’s Director General Jan Worner. "To go farther than we ever have before, we need to look wider than we ever have before."

Only 65 of the more than 560 people who have ever gone into space have been women. Of those 65 women, 51 were American. The ESA has sent only two women into space — Claudie Haigneré and Samantha Cristoforetti — and is now trying to redress the imbalance.

The European agency says the "time has come" to put disabled people into space as part of an initiative called the Parastronaut Feasibility Project. According to the ESA, it’s the first time that a space agency anywhere has opened the application process up to people with disabilities.

"Representing all parts of our society is a concern that we take very seriously," said David Parker, the agency’s Human and Robotic Exploration Director. "Diversity at ESA should not only address the origin, age, background or gender of our astronauts, but also perhaps physical disabilities."

The ESA worked with the International Paralympics Committee to categorise the different kinds and degrees or impairments and establish a list of eligible impairments.

"Red" impairments mean that the kind or level of disability is unfortunately not compatible with tasks astronauts carry out. "Yellow" mean they can become compatible with some adjustments, modifications or innovations, while "green" indicate they are compatible with the tasks.

British astronaut Tim Peake welcomed the approach, saying it "will hopefully change the landscape" so that people from diverse backgrounds "will see that actually there is an opportunity here to become part of Europe’s new space pioneers".

The application process, agency officials say, will take some 18 months, before a handful of successful astronauts will be chosen.

The ESA is seeking candidates with a Master's degree or higher and a minimum of three years experience in natural sciences, medicine, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences.

They will be subjected to psychological test series, practical and psychometric testing, a medical selection and two rounds of interviews. The appointments are to be announced in October 2022.

/* src.: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/16/...led-astronauts

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Nữ đồng minh.

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Macron and Harris agree to closely cooperate on COVID, climate and democracy

French President Emmanuel Macron, left. US Vice President Kamala Harris, right. - Copyright AP Photo/Michel Euler, left. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, right.

French President Emmanuel Macron and US Vice President Kamala Harris agreed on the need for close cooperation on COVID-19, climate change and democracy in their first exchange since the vice president's January inauguration.

Harris expressed her "commitment to strengthening bilateral ties" between the US and France and to "revitalising the transatlantic alliance," the vice president's office said in a readout of the call.

They also discussed regional challenges including those in the Middle East and Africa, the statement said.

Macron tweeted that he was "glad" to have had this first conversation with the vice president.

"Let's move forward together on all the challenges we face: climate, gender equality, regional crises, and our space cooperation with (hopefully) a new step this Thursday with Perseverance’s landing on Mars," Macron tweeted.

Harris thanked Macron for his leadership on gender equality and for France's contribution to NASA's Mars Perserverance rover.

The rover is scheduled to land on Mars on Thursday with the aim of collecting rock and soil samples to better understand the geology of the planet.

Macron was also one of the first foreign leaders to speak with US President Joe Biden shortly after his inauguration.

The leaders pledged to "strengthen bilateral ties" between the countries and closely cooperation on climate change and COVID-19.

Biden has emphasised that he wants to refocus on diplomacy in an effort to rebuild relationships that were strained under the Trump administration.

The new US president reversed several policies of his predecessor in his first days in office including rejoining the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization.

/* src.: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/16/...-and-democracy

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Italy marks one year since country's first known COVID-19 death