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The Olympic flame is set to arrive in the French port of Marseille on Wednesday in front of a crowd of up to 150,000 people in a first major test of the hugely ambitious plans for the Paris Games.The transfer of the flame onshore from a 19th-century tall ship will mark the start of a 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) torch relay across mainland France and the country's far-flung overseas territories.Organisers are hoping the first public spectacle of their much-hyped "iconic" Olympics - just 79 days away - will help build excitement after a damaging row about ticket prices and ongoing concerns about security."It's something we've been waiting for for a very long time," chief organiser Tony Estanguet told reporters on Monday. "It's here. One hundred years after the last Games, the Games are coming home."When the Paris opening ceremony begins on July 26, it will be the first time the city has played host for a century after previous editions in 1924 and 1900.France sees itself at the heart of the modern Olympic movement after a French aristocrat, Pierre de Coubertin, revived the idea of the Games as practised by the Greeks until the 4th century BC.After the Covid-hit edition in Tokyo in 2021 and the corruption-tainted Rio de Janeiro version in 2016, the Paris Olympics are seen as an important moment for the sporting extravaganza as a whole.A measure of public excitement will come when the flame is handed over on Wednesday evening from the Belem, a historic French trade vessel that has made a 12-day trip from Greece."We are going to do beautiful, grandiose, sober and accessible at the same time," Marseille mayor Benoit Payan promised to AFP ahead of the flame arriving, while recalling how his gritty port city was founded by Greek traders in 600 BC.- 'Beautiful, grandiose' - Over 1,000 other boats will accompany its approach to the harbour and organisers expect around 150,000 people to witness the transfer in the revamped marina of Marseille, which will host the sailing events during the Olympics.Fireworks and a free concert will complete the show which will be broadcast live on French TV.In the background, around 6,000 members of the security forces are expected to be on duty in a major test of the vast security plans put in place at a time when the country is on its highest terror alert."It's completely unprecedented for the national police to mobilise so many people on the same day at the same place," regional police coordinator Cedric Esson told reporters on Monday.The honour of being the first torch bearer will fall to four-time Olympic medal-winning swimmer Florent Manadou.Other stars scheduled to take part in the parade, which continues on Thursday, include NBA-winning basketball player Tony Parker and footballer Didier Drogba, as well as charity and entertainment figures.One beach-cleaning charity has boycotted it to protest Olympics sponsor Coca-Cola, while there is no scheduled against role for Marseille's most famous sporting son, football legend Zinedine Zidane.- Opening ceremony - Extremely tight security will be a constant feature as the torch travels through more than 450 French towns and cities, and passes by dozens of tourist attractions including the Mont Saint Michel.Around 200 security forces are set to be positioned permanently around it, including an anti-terror SWAT team and anti-drone operatives.Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has referred to the risk of protests, including from far-left groups or environmental activists such as Extinction Rebellion.Organisers have promised a "spectacular" and "iconic" Olympics, with much of the sport set to take place in temporary venues around the City of Light including at the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides.In the absence of a much-feared security scare, the opening ceremony will take place in boats on the river Seine in a radical departure from past Games which have opened in the main stadium.All of the major infrastructure has been completed with only two new permanent sporting venues built in a bid to reduce the financial cost and carbon emissions of the global extravaganza.The idea of the torch rally harks back to the ancient Olympics when a sacred flame burned throughout the Games.The Paris Olympics will run from July 26-August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28-September 8.

Kristalina Georgieva’s reappointment as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a welcome development, but it also highlights a major flaw in the IMF’s governance structure.In a world reeling from debt crises, violent conflict, climate change, and the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fund’s importance is difficult to overstate. But to fulfil its proper role, it must be accountable to all member states, not just the powerful countries that currently wield disproportionate influence.The reappointment process bears directly on this issue. On its website, the IMF informs readers that the Executive Board (where all countries are represented) may select a managing director by a majority of votes cast, though it has traditionally done so by consensus. In fact, a longstanding agreement between the Europeans and the Americans dictates that the former decides who will lead the IMF, while the latter chooses who will lead the World Bank. (The IMF has formally adopted “an open, merit-based, and transparent process” for selecting its managing directors, but this has served merely as a quality check on the Europeans’ pick.)It should be obvious why this arrangement is a problem. The IMF needs all countries to believe that it is acting in an even-handed manner when it makes tough decisions about whom to help, and on what terms. And though it has formal rules, the most powerful countries regularly push hard for exceptions. The eurozone crisis underscored this conflict of interest. The IMF’s own subsequent evaluation criticized the “perfunctory manner” in which it followed its policies, and called out its decision to short-circuit the usual process by modifying its 2002 framework to grant European countries exceptional access.The IMF’s response cannot be divorced from its European-nominated managing directors, both of whom had previously served as France’s economy and finance minister. As Harold James recounts in his recently published history of the crisis, “the amount of time and energy that the managing director [Dominique Strauss-Kahn and especially Christine Lagarde] personally spent on these programmes – including attending countless meetings in Brussels and other European capitals – was unprecedented in relation to the attention given to even the largest and most important [IMF] programs in Latin America or Asia. Lagarde, unlike her predecessors, regularly attended the meetings of the European finance ministers (ECOFIN).”James does note that the IMF was trying to adapt to new circumstances. But from the point of view of countries beyond Europe and the US, the special treatment seemed clear to see. Until the appointment process changes, the managing director will always be open to the charge that he or she is overly responsive to European governments.And the problems don’t end there. In addition to cutting out other countries that are equally invested in the IMF, the current process also distorts the international character of the institution’s formal governance structure. The IMF has a carefully crafted Executive Board of Directors who represent all its members (albeit unequally). The board is permanently based in Washington, DC (at considerable cost), so that it can guide and oversee the organisation’s mandate and work. There is no good reason why reappointments and performance evaluations shouldn’t be (genuinely) decided through this existing representative structure.While every managing director’s performance is subject to luck and other circumstances beyond their control, an objective scorecard could be distilled to three metrics of success. The first is the degree to which a managing director has brokered agreement among all countries –working to keep the powerful engaged while restraining them to ensure that others’ interests are considered. This often means quietly organising coalitions of less powerful states.Georgieva’s record on this front is strong. At a time when the US has called for the IMF to step back from leading on climate issues, she has persuaded many countries to permit the Fund to add climate-related risks and opportunities to its monitoring of their economies. Similarly, although wealthy countries want heavy-handed lending conditionalities (despite the IMF’s own evidence that these are unlikely to work), Georgieva has instead found new ways to lend. And, finally, in a world of intensifying geopolitical rivalry, she has worked steadfastly to keep China engaged, such as in sovereign-debt restructurings.Second, a managing director must be effective in persuading member countries to commit resources. Here, too, Georgieva has succeeded. This past December, the IMF Board of Governors approved a 50% increase in quotas (meaning core funding, not special funds for specific projects).Georgieva also previously persuaded wealthier countries to commit more resources should the institution ever need them (though donors still maintain special control over these so-called arrangements to borrow). And during the pandemic, she secured agreement on a historic $650bn allocation of special drawing rights (the IMF’s reserve asset) to bolster member states’ balance sheets. (Her tireless efforts to persuade wealthier countries to redirect their allocations to poorer countries, however, have been less successful.)Lastly, the managing director must demonstrate effective leadership within the organisation itself, where there is a constant need to overcome bureaucratic inertia; attract, develop, and retain excellent and diverse staff; and foster a culture of learning and integrity. With about 60% of low-income countries at high risk of or in debt distress, the IMF must be able to deploy resources at maximum possible speed and with the right recommendations and conditionalities. There is much room for improvement on this front. The IMF should get money out the door much faster, and it should tailor its programmes to a world where geopolitical tensions are trumping the principles of free trade that it favours.With a strong scorecard overall, Georgieva is a good pick. But that is a happy coincidence. It does not change the fact that the IMF’s reappointment process is woefully out of step with the world of the 2020s. — Project Syndicate? Ngaire Woods is Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

Around the world, populist nationalism is on the rise, often shepherding to power authoritarian leaders. And yet the neoliberal orthodoxy – government downsizing, tax cuts, deregulation – that took hold some 40 years ago in the West was supposed to strengthen democracy, not weaken it. What went wrong?Part of the answer is economic: neoliberalism simply did not deliver what it promised. In the US and other advanced economies that embraced it, per capita real (inflation-adjusted) income growth between 1980 and the Covid-19 pandemic was 40% lower than in the preceding 30 years.Worse, incomes at the bottom and in the middle largely stagnated while those at the very top increased, and the deliberate weakening of social protections has produced greater financial and economic insecurity.Rightly worried that climate change jeopardises their future, young people can see that countries under the sway of neoliberalism have consistently failed to enact strong regulations against pollution (or, in the US, to address the opioid crisis and the epidemic of child diabetes). Sadly, these failures come as no surprise. Neoliberalism was predicated on the belief that unfettered markets are the most efficient means of achieving optimal outcomes. Yet even in the early days of neoliberalism’s ascendancy, economists had already established that unregulated markets are neither efficient nor stable, let alone conducive to generating a socially acceptable distribution of income.Neoliberalism’s proponents never seemed to recognise that expanding the freedom of corporations curtails freedom across the rest of society. The freedom to pollute means worsening health (or even death, for those with asthma), more extreme weather, and uninhabitable land. There are always tradeoffs, of course; but any reasonable society would conclude that the right to live is more important than the spurious right to pollute.Taxation is equally anathema to neoliberalism, which frames it as an affront to individual liberty: one has the right to keep whatever one earns, regardless of how one earns it. But even when they come by their income honestly, advocates of this view fail to recognise that what they earn was made possible by government investment in infrastructure, technology, education, and public health.Rarely do they pause to consider what they would have if they had been born in one of the many countries without the rule of law (or what their lives would look like if the US government had not made the investments that led to the Covid-19 vaccine).Ironically, those most indebted to government are often the first to forget what government did for them.Where would Elon Musk and Tesla be if not for the near-half-billion-dollar lifeline they received from president Barack Obama’s department of energy in 2010? “Taxes are what we pay for civilised society,” the Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously observed. That hasn’t changed: taxes are what it takes to establish the rule of law or provide any of the other public goods that a twenty-first-century society needs to function.Here, we go beyond mere tradeoffs, because everyone – including the rich – is made better off by an adequate supply of such goods. Coercion, in this sense, can be emancipatory. There is a broad consensus on the principle that if we are going to have essential goods, we have to pay for them, and that requires taxes.Of course, advocates of smaller government would say that many expenditures should be cut, including government-managed pensions and publicly provided healthcare. But, again, if most people are forced to endure the insecurity of not having reliable health care or adequate incomes in old age, society has become less free: at a minimum, they lack freedom from the fear of how traumatic their future might be. Even if multibillionaires’ well-being would be crimped somewhat if each were asked to pay a little more in taxes to fund a child tax credit, consider what a difference it would make in the life of a child who doesn’t have enough to eat, or whose parents cannot afford a doctor’s visit. Consider what it would mean for the whole country’s future if fewer of its young people grew up malnourished or sick.All these issues should take centre stage in this year’s many elections. In the US, the upcoming presidential election offers a stark choice not only between chaos and orderly government, but also between economic philosophies and policies. The incumbent, Joe Biden, is committed to using the power of government to enhance the well-being of all citizens, especially those in the bottom 99%, whereas Donald Trump is more interested in maximising the welfare of the top 1%. Trump, who holds court from a luxury golf resort (when he is not in court himself), has become the champion of crony capitalists and authoritarian leaders around the world.Trump and Biden have vastly different visions of the kind of society we should be working to create. In one scenario, dishonesty, socially destructive profiteering, and rent-seeking will prevail, public trust will continue to crumble, and materialism and greed will triumph; in the other, elected officials and public servants will work in good faith toward a more creative, healthy, knowledge-based society built on trust and honesty.Of course, politics is never as pure as this description suggests. But no one can deny that the two candidates hold fundamentally different views on freedom and the makings of a good society. Our economic system reflects and shapes who we are and what we can become. If we publicly endorse a selfish, misogynistic grifter – or dismiss these attributes as minor blemishes – our young people will absorb that message, and we will end up with even more scoundrels and opportunists in office. We will become a society without trust, and thus without a well-functioning economy.Recent polls show that barely three years after Trump left the White House, the public has blissfully forgotten his administration’s chaos, incompetence, and attacks on the rule of law. But one need only look at the candidates’ concrete positions on the issues to recognise that if we want to live in a society that values all citizens and strives to create ways for them to live full and satisfying lives, the choice is clear.Joseph E Stiglitz, a former chief economist of the World Bank and former chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, is university professor at Columbia University, a Nobel laureate in economics, and the author, most recently, of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society (W. W. Norton & Company, Allen Lane, 2024).

Gold has returned to the international monetary system. Over 50 years ago, US president Richard Nixon “closed the gold window” (ended the dollar’s fixed-rate convertibility into gold), and the world moved on from its obsession with precious metals. A new era of fiat currency had begun. But now, fiat money is being challenged by fiscal worries and new technology (blockchains/distributed ledgers), and the price of gold has reached all-time highs above $2,400 per ounce.Goldbugs, of course, argue that the metal remains an ideal investment for preserving value over the long term. But it is a mistake to believe that gold is uniquely stable.On the contrary, its price measures a fever curve of discord, with spikes indicating a rush for assurance in a world where other values are endangered.The price slumped in the 1990s, when the end of the Cold War – and the “end of history” – had instilled a new sense of peace and stability. At the turn of the millennium, the price was under $300 per ounce, and its rise since the 1970s was below the general rate of inflation.But the price surged after the 2008 financial crisis and after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic; and it has done so again this year.Much of the heightened demand for gold is driven by central banks. China, which had relatively small gold reserves of 395 tonnes in 2000, now has 2,260 tonnes.Notably, it increased its stock of gold substantially in 2009 and 2015, which we now know to be watershed years for a world that was becoming more sceptical about globalisation.Russia and Turkiye too, started building up massive war chests after 2015, and the same trend is also evident more recently in the European Union, where the Czech Republic and Poland have both been augmenting their reserves.Security concerns are at the heart of the new politics of gold. When the Czech Republic joined Nato in March 1999, it immediately sold almost its entire gold stock. The message could not have been clearer: a reliable security guarantee obviated any need for a monetary defence.Yet in the last quarter of 2023, the Czech National Bank bought 19 tonnes, and it has signalled its intention to get that figure up to 100 tonnes.The message this time is equally clear: Nato membership is not enough. And with its closer proximity Russia, Poland has also made its motivations clear, so much so that the central bank building currently features a giant poster announcing that it holds 360 tonnes of gold.The association of gold with security has deep historical underpinnings in Poland, where it was fundamental to the original idea of statehood.When Poland was re-established after World War I – following the destruction of the Austrian, German, and Russian empires – its new currency took as its name the Polish word for “golden” (złoty). Then, in September 1939, Poland conducted a dramatic operation to evacuate its gold to France, by way of Romania, Turkiye, and Lebanon. That sent the message that Poland still existed, despite the German invasion.But the most remarkable use of gold as a source of stability was the Soviet experiment in 1922. Pushed by the most prominent Polish Bolshevik leader, Felix Dzerzhinsky, the chief of the secret police, the state issued chervonets (“red gold” coins) to ward off inflation.When the gold standard emerged as the basis of monetary order in the early 1870s, it ushered in a new international political system. One country after another – including the US, Germany, and Italy – wanted to stabilise its currency in the wake of destructive civil wars. At the same time, the previous monetary standard, silver, was receding, following France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The French had previously run a joint gold and silver system, but they were obliged to pay a costly reparations bill in silver coins. Silver flooded the market, and its price collapsed. Gold was all that was left.The abandonment of a parallel silver currency system in the 1870s might be a precedent for the world of 2024. After all, there is rampant speculation about the imminent dethronement of the dollar, which would be the modern equivalent of the demonetisation of silver.Since 2020, the US government has been amassing large fiscal deficits, and now one must consider the risk that a new Trump administration would try to devalue the dollar in order to destroy foreign competitors and create more American jobs.Moreover, one also must worry about the stability of the financial system, and about US rivals’ own efforts to replace the dollar.The search for golden stability is thus a response to a world in flux. It reflects a growing belief that a new political order is emerging.The Shanghai-based New Development Bank (or “BRICS bank”) is actively pursuing a substitute for the dollar in the form of a synthetic currency, and more and more countries are trying to join the Brics grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, plus Egypt Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE). They regard the greenback today as the equivalent of silver in the late nineteenth century: an outdated monetary hegemon.A century ago, as the world was going back to the gold standard after WWI, John Maynard Keynes described the metal as a “barbarous relic,” because it was the currency of conflict.When political stability returns, the gold price will fall. In the meantime, governments and central banks that have invested in gold will have bought themselves a hedge in an insecure world. - Project SyndicateHarold James, Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University, is the author, most recently, of Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalization (Yale University Press, 2023).

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits held steady at a low level last week, pointing to a still fairly tight labour market that should continue to underpin the economy in the second quarter.Economists largely shrugged off other data from the Labor Department on Thursday showing growth in worker productivity almost stalled in the first quarter, noting that the trend in productivity remained solid. They also argued that there was a seasonal quirk, which tended to bias gross domestic product and productivity lower in the first quarter.At face value, the sharp slowdown in productivity and accompanying surge in labour costs would raise concerns about inflation pressures building up as well as profit margins being squeezed, which would impact demand for labour.“We believe such fears are misplaced,” said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital. “We have identified residual seasonal adjustment bias in the quarterly GDP growth measures that depress first-quarter growth, and since productivity is measured by the sector’s GDP divided by hours worked, this bias also depresses productivity.”Initial claims for state unemployment benefits were unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 208,000 for the week ended April 27. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 212,000 claims in the latest week. Claims have been bouncing around in a 194,000-225,000 range this year.Though demand for labour is softening, with job openings falling to a three-year low in March, layoffs remain very low as companies hang on to their workers following challenges finding labour during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept the US central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the current 5.25%-5.50% range, where it has been since July. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on Wednesday that progress lowering inflation had stalled. Powell described the labour market as having remained “relatively tight,” but also noted that “supply and demand conditions have come into better balance.” He pushed back against chatter of stagflation and the central bank needing to raise rates again.Since March 2022, the Fed has hiked its policy rate by 525 basis points. Labour costs and inflation jumped in the first quarter.The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, was also unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 1.774mn during the week ending April 20, the claims report showed.The claims data have no bearing on April’s employment report, which is scheduled to be published on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 243,000 jobs in April after a gain of 303,000 in March, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The unemployment rate is forecast unchanged at 3.8%.In a separate report on Thursday, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistic said nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 0.3% annualised rate in the first quarter after rising at a 3.5% pace in the October-December period.The government on Friday corrected productivity data from 2019 through 2023 due to a computation error.Economists had forecast productivity would increase at a 0.8% rate. Productivity advanced at a 2.9% pace from a year ago. Economists are keeping an eye on productivity to gauge how quickly labour costs can rise without re-igniting inflation.Unit labour costs — the price of labour per single unit of output — jumped to a 4.7% rate in the January-March quarter after being unchanged in the prior quarter. Labour costs increased at a 1.8% pace from a year ago.Compensation shot up at a 5.0% rate last quarter after rising at a 3.5% pace in the October-December quarter. It increased at a 4.7% rate from a year ago.

Few finance ministers would dare pose smiling with a pair of scissors before making cuts to the national budget, but Finland’s Riikka Purra did exactly that before a recent announcement of new spending cuts to trim the Nordic country’s deficit.Efforts to rein in debt levels by tightening purse strings tend to be politically dicey in Europe. However nationalist Finns Party leader Purra bets the typically frugal Finns will be happy to back her austerity cure.Likened by her political opponents to Britain’s pro-austerity late premier Margaret Thatcher, Purra in February posted on social media a picture of a gift she had received: two wooden chopping boards in the shape on an axe, with her face and the text “now is the time to cut” printed on them. Many viewers were shocked. But a few weeks later a member of Purra’s party posted another picture on social media with an unapologetic and smiley Purra holding a big pair of scissors.“Think about how easy it is to distribute borrowed money here and there, but how incredibly difficult it is to tame a stubborn debt curve!” Purra, who has stressed the chopping board picture was just a joke, posted on X last week.She declined Reuters’ request for comment.Even more than other predominantly Protestant countries in northern Europe, Finland has a long tradition of emphasising frugality in both household and national finances.Finland’s economy has been one of the worst performing in the eurozone in recent years, putting pressure on its public finances, already strained by the Covid-19 pandemic and an ageing population.Headwinds from the energy crunch that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as rising defence spending and loss of business with Russia, have hit Finland particularly hard.As a result, Finland has found itself among the dozen or so EU member states that risk penalties set out in the bloc’s excessive deficit procedure for deficits above 3% of gross domestic product and overall debt above 60% of GDP.Purra and the four-party right-wing coalition have announced cuts to welfare benefits and social and healthcare services funding, plus a 1.5% point increase to Finland’s value added tax to 25%, and plans to shed potentially thousands of public sector jobs. Finland’s deficit is expected to grow to 3.5% of gross domestic product this year from 2.5% in 2023, but the government’s cuts will curb it to 2.8% in 2025. Public debt is still expected to rise to 82.8% of GDP next year. Many Finns — such as Juha Kuisma, the small entrepreneur who made and sent the chopping boards to Purra — are in favour.“It’s crystal clear that in this situation, we are forced to make substantial cuts,” he told Reuters.Purra’s opponents accuse her of targeting the poorest to crumble Finland’s long-standing welfare model, which has earned it the title of the world’s happiest country for seven years in a row.She is no stranger to controversy. Within days of assuming power in June last year, the government was in turmoil after the media found online postings by ministers from the Finns Party, including Purra, that were deemed racist by critics. In July, Purra herself apologised for anonymous comments she acknowledged she had posted online about 15 years ago — though she said many had been taken out of context.So far the government’s supporters have taken the controversies and austerity plans in their stride.Polls have shown only a small drop in support for the government allies, the latest one by Finland’s largest daily Helsingin Sanomat seeing the Finns Party at 17.8%, down 2.3 percentage points (pps) from year-ago election results, and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s National Coalition at 19.9%, down 0.9 pps. Both are now narrowly behind opposition Social Democrats at 21.6%, who are up 1.7 pps from the election it lost.The Finns Party’s rising star, 28-year-old Miko Bergbom, who smiled together with Purra in the scissor picture, said he saw no reason to fear loss of voter support, pointing to the economic hardships faced by Greeks after their country’s debt crisis.“If we do not succeed with these measures, then the outcome could practically be Greek-sized adjustments, and I do not believe that is in the interest of any low-income person. It seems that this view is quite strongly shared among our supporters,” he told Reuters.Yannick Lahti, an author and researcher on the politics of populism, said it remained to be seen whether the majority of Finns would accept Purra’s uncompromising take on frugality.“There’s something about it that bites, but at the same time, it’s fair to remember that it’s immensely divisive,” he said. — Reuters

With global cross-border trade and industrial production continuing to exhibit a steady upward trajectory, 2024 is poised to emerge as a robust year for the air cargo industry. .text-box { float:left; width:250px; padding:1px; border:1pt white; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 20px; }@media only screen and (max-width: 767px) {.text-box {width: 30%;} } **media[170938]** The air cargo sector stands as an indispensable linchpin in the realm of global trade, boasting unparalleled attributes of speed, global connectivity, reliability, and efficiency. In the fast-paced world of commerce, where time is of the essence, air cargo transportation reigns supreme as the swiftest mode for shipping goods across vast distances. This rapid transit capability proves especially invaluable for the transport of perishable goods, high-value commodities, and time-sensitive deliveries, empowering businesses to meet stringent deadlines and swiftly adapt to dynamic market demands. Spanning the globe with its extensive networks, air cargo services form the vital arteries that interconnect distant markets, fostering seamless international trade. This expansive reach not only facilitates access to diverse suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers worldwide but also empowers businesses to actively engage and thrive within the global economic landscape. Underpinning the seamless operation of air cargo services are substantial investments by airlines in cutting-edge infrastructure, advanced technology, and stringent safety measures. This unwavering commitment to excellence ensures the dependable and secure transportation of goods, thereby enabling businesses to mitigate supply chain disruptions and uphold consistent product availability in the marketplace. While it is a fact that air cargo transportation entails higher costs compared to alternative modes such as sea or land freight, its efficiency for specific types of goods and shipments cannot be overstated. By circumventing congested ports, customs delays, and curbing inventory carrying costs, air cargo emerges as a compelling and cost-effective choice for countless businesses seeking optimal logistics solutions. In essence, the air cargo sector stands as a cornerstone of global commerce, embodying the epitome of speed, reliability, and efficiency, and continues to serve as a driving force behind the interconnectedness and prosperity of the global economy. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global air cargo markets continued to show strong annual growth in demand based on its data in March. Total demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs), rose by 10.3% to 23.1bn CTKs in March compared to March 2023 levels (11.4% for international operations). This is the fourth consecutive month of double-digit year-on-year growth. Capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres (ACTKs), increased by 7.3% compared to March 2023 (10.5% for international operations). Middle Eastern carriers, including airlines based in the GCC, saw a 19.9% year-on-year demand growth for air cargo in March – the strongest of all regions. The Middle East–Europe market was the strongest performing with 38.3% growth, ahead of Middle East-Asia which grew by 19.6% year-on-year, IATA said and noted March capacity increased 10.6% year-on-year. Several factors in the operating environment should be noted, IATA noted. Global cross-border trade and industrial production increased by 1.2% and 1.6% respectively in February. In March, the manufacturing output Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) climbed to 51.9, indicating expansion. The new export orders PMI also rose to 49.5, remaining slightly below the 50 threshold that would indicate growth expectations. Inflation saw a mixed picture in March. In the European Union and Japan, inflation rates fell to 2.6% and 2.7% respectively, while rising in the US to 3.5%. In contrast, China experienced a slight deflation of -0.01%. This latest figure marks a return to deflation after February's brief period of inflation. IATA Director General Willie Walsh said, "Air cargo demand grew by 10.3% over the previous March. This contributed to a strong first quarter performance which slightly exceeded even the exceptionally strong 2021 first quarter performance during the Covid-19 crisis. With global cross-border trade and industrial production continuing to show a moderate upward trend, 2024 is shaping up to be a solid year for air cargo." Undoubtedly, air cargo sector serves as a vital artery of global trade, facilitating the movement of goods across borders with speed, reliability, and efficiency, thereby contributing significantly to economic growth and development on a global scale. Pratap John is Business Editor at Gulf Times. Twitter handle: @PratapJohn

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf announced his resignation yesterday ahead of two confidence votes this week sparked by his ditching of junior coalition partners in a row over climate policy.The 39-year-old quit following a turbulent year as head of the Scottish government, during which support for his pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) has fallen.The Scottish parliament now has 28 days to choose a new first minister. If the SNP’s new leader is unable to command support in parliament, a Scottish election will be held.Yousaf said he had “underestimated” the hurt he had caused by ending a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens in the Scottish parliament last week.His government had earlier abandoned ambitious targets for the transition to net-zero carbon emissions, angering the Greens.The opposition Scottish Conservatives then lodged a vote of no-confidence in Yousaf, which was set for tomorrow and which the first minister was at risk of losing.Scottish Labour lodged another no-confidence vote against his government.The Tories, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens all said they would vote against Yousaf in the personal vote, forcing him to seek the backing of the sole lawmaker from the pro-independence Alba party.Yousaf – the first Muslim leader of a major UK political party – told reporters at his official residence that he thought winning was “absolutely possible”.However, he added that he was “not willing to trade in my values or principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power”.“I have concluded that repairing our relationships across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm,” Yousaf said.Yousaf became Scotland’s leader 13 months ago, after Nicola Sturgeon announced her surprise resignation after eight years in the job.He won a bruising contest that exposed splits in the party between those on the left-wing and others closer to the right.Yousaf said he would continue as first minister until a successor was elected “in order to ensure a smooth and orderly transition”, adding that the contest should start “as soon as possible”.Ex-deputy first minister John Swinney quickly emerged as the frontrunner, receiving the backing of several senior SNP figures, including the party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn.Kate Forbes, who lost to Yousaf, was also spoken of as a contender.Yousaf’s leadership hit trouble shortly after he took office when Sturgeon was arrested with her husband, Peter Murrell, over claims of mismanagement of SNP finances.Murrell was charged in the case this month. Sturgeon has not been charged.She oversaw a surge in support for the SNP, particularly after Brexit – in which Scotland opposed leaving the European Union – and during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.However, the SNP, which has run the Scottish government since 2007, has suffered a drop in popularity under Yousaf.He came under pressure over controversial new laws which made it an offence to stir up hatred against a number of groups, including transgender people.The law has been heavily criticised, most prominently by Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh.Relations between the SNP and the Greens were also strained by the recent pause in prescribing puberty blockers in Scotland.Some within the SNP wanted Yousaf to end the coalition because they felt the deal was pulling the party further leftwards.“He mismanaged the break-up and failed to plan how he would govern without the Greens,” James Mitchell, politics professor at Edinburgh University, told AFP. “It was yet another example of the poor, often rash, decision making that has marked his leadership.”The SNP’s slump has also come in the context of a resurgent Labour party, which is tipped to win a UK general election due later this year.The SNP has 63 members in the 129-seat Scottish parliament – two short of a majority – and now runs a minority administration.The next election is due in 2026.This month, polling firm YouGov said Labour overtook the SNP in voting intentions for a Westminster election for the first time in a decade, raising the prospect of a reversal of the tide that swept most of Scotland’s seats in the UK parliament to the SNP in recent elections.Labour’s resurgence in Scotland adds to the challenge facing British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which is lagging far behind Labour in UK-wide opinion polls.Critics have accused the SNP, in power in Edinburgh for 17 years, of focusing on pursuing independence at the expense of issues like the cost-of-living, health and education.The party has struggled to build momentum for another independence vote since Scotland voted against leaving the UK in a 2014 referendum.The Scottish Parliament, re-established in 1999, has limited powers to set policy in areas such as health, education, transport and the environment.The UK government retains powers for countrywide issues such as defence and foreign policy.

Unesco, in collaboration with Qatar National Committee for Unesco, and Al Jazeera Media Institute organised the second two-day National Consultation in Qatar on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) that kicked off on Monday at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE).The second MIL is intended to build on the first national consultation organised in 2019, and for broadening the scope of discussion through a multi stakeholder approach.In the opening speech, Dr Ali al-Maarifi, secretary general of Qatar National Commission to Unesco, said: “This consultation is aiming at better understanding the MIL framework in the country, identify areas where support is needed, and build a plan of action to support MIL development and dissemination in Qatar.”The first panel discussion was an introduction to MIL and overview of MIL initiatives in Qatar. This was followed by a panel discussion titled 'The role of the media in promoting MIL', where Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka, Gulf Times Editor-in-Chief and Iman al-Kaabi, director, Qatar Media Center; Jaber al-Harami, Editor-in-Chief, Al Sharq Newspaper; and Kamel Hamidou, associate professor, Department of Media, Qatar University, focused on MIL in journalism and journalism education.Al-Mudahka said: “There are three stages, first making the news. If you are capable of making the news but you do not have a means of transmitting it. Today, the old media i.e. newspapers, radio, and even the current media, including social media, have a specific industry and know how, which is represented by algorithms. Do we know how to deal with it? Because if we don't know how to deal with it, we won't be able to disseminate the news. For this reason, new names (for journalists) are emerging, because they are using modern ways and media."Today, the recipient in the Middle East, Qatar, or the region in general is between 17 and 30 years old. Do we have professionals who address (speak) to this age group? Or has this class left the media which we deal with or produce?Then there is no issue of lack of trust but it is the lack of use of technology."In recent years, those working in the media in Qatar have become more confused and experienced at the same time. For example, the topic of the World Cup can be divided into three components: media literacy, because we faced many media campaigns and fake news. Did the public in the Middle East or in Qatar have media literacy? No, They looked at the big institutions, BBC, CNN, with no suspicion. How we dealt with them, whether the local press, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, or the Arab press, which has a national or patriotic feeling or support for Qatar or the World Cup? It was always defending Qatar."Here you find the official bearing all the burden, and he finds himself explaining why we hosted the World Cup, and explaining the goal or a specific policy that reduces the impact of attacks or electronic flies. Secondly, media literacy: Do our students or the age group targeted by the campaign have the idea that there is/are so-called electronic flies or algorithms used by parties that pay huge sums of money to spread this false news?"If we look at Covid-19, we still see this news on X. I am glad that we are discussing MIL because in Qatar we are located in an important geopolitical region, and in an active country. Among the news, the lie about Covid-19 is that you will recover if you drink bleach. Someone died because of this fake news, and it has become a political issue. Does the public know about this? We are not talking about the level of Qatar and whether I trust the press or not? There is a large media wave."We move to Qatari mediation and the war in Gaza. If we look at it as a case study, many people believe that you have a just cause and in which resolutions were taken by the United Nations, but sometimes we see the Israeli narrative winning because it has an electronic army, it has a program, it is proficient in algorithms, and it has an army of people against the Palestinian cause. But at the same time, we see that this narrative has changed, and there is awareness in universities because students understand, and the new generation understands and sees that this news is false. This narrative is no longer as true as its promoters want."I am happy to debate this important topic, which is the topic of the hour, even if we are late in bringing it up. MIL is an important and complex topic for understanding fake news, for instance how to verify images via GPS, and whether the demonstrations whose images have been disseminated are true or false, and the process of verifying them via Google and other techniques to verify the authenticity of the news are all very important.This is the fourth time in Qatar that we have been exposed to media campaigns and electronic flies because the state is active. If it were a normal state, we would not be exposed to such attacks, but we are always at the center of the decision and in an important geopolitical area,” al-Mudahka concluded.

Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) will honour the personal triumphs of its newest graduating class in May.Their unique stories are a testament to how GU-Q’s holistic education enriched their sense of purpose, a statement said.Moza al-Kaabi, an International Politics major, excelled academically and in leadership roles. Serving as president of the Qatari cultural organisation, Al Liwan Club, and chair of the Georgetown Leadership Ambassadors programme, she planned a number of events and acted as university ambassador for a roster of diplomatic speakers, scholars, and foreign affairs practitioners visiting GU-Q.“Georgetown University offers many opportunities that encourage undergraduate students to realise and exercise their full potential,” she reflects, highlighting the connections she made including enriching experiences such as a semester abroad and helping to organise the Georgetown Model United Nations.Internships at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and mentorship from senior diplomats through the Diplomat for a Day programme were also pivotal to her growth, laying a solid foundation for her career aspirations in the political sphere.For social justice advocate Renee Vongai Mutare, GU-Q allowed her gain a broader perspective on how to address the underlying challenges facing her country, Zimbabwe. “I aimed to lay a strong groundwork in health justice and economics,” she said, majoring in International Economics, and conducting grant-funded health research. She also co-authored a conference paper with a Georgetown post-doctoral fellow on Covid-19 governance.But it was the way the university encouraged her to live her values that really made an impact, as a leader on campus of the Black Student Association, and through her community service. Her work has been recognised through prestigious awards from the university including the Education and Social Justice Fellowship, Human Fraternity Fellowship, Penner Family Award, and the Lena Landegger Community Service Award.Brought up in Nepal during and after the 1996-2006 civil war, Pragyan Acharya said “the impact of conflict and political turmoil on my education was significant, and inspired me to pursue education and conflict as a course of study.”Working with his advisors, he personalised his International Politics major with an Education, Inquiry and Justice minor, completed during a semester abroad at the Washington, DC campus. An Education and Social Justice Fellowship, and an Honors thesis allowed him to conduct substantive research on education, while an experiential learning trip to Nepal through the Zones of Conflict, Zones of Peace programme further allowed him explore his interests and share his experiences with his peers, laying a solid foundation for graduate studies in the field.Pragyan is also a champion debater and debate leader. He contributed to GU-Q’s dominance on the national debate league, and served as a board member and coach for Debate Network Nepal.

Thousands of supporters of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rallied at the headquarters of his Socialist party imploring him not to step down over a graft investigation against his wife.The 52-year-old premier, who has been in office since 2018, stunned Spain on Wednesday when he put his resignation on the line after a Madrid court opened a preliminary investigation into suspected influence peddling and corruption against his spouse Begona Gomez.Sanchez said he would suspend all public duties until he announces his decision tomorrow.The normally hyperactive premier has since remained out of sight and silent.According to Madrid city authorities, the crowd rallying yesterday to beg Sanchez to stay on numbered around 12,500.Supporters held up placards saying “Spain needs you”, “Pedro don’t abandon us’, and shouted slogans such as “Pedro leader”.“I hope that Sanchez will say on Monday that he will stay,” said Sara Dominguez, a consultant in her 30’s, adding that his government had “taken good steps for women, and the minorities”.Jose María Diez, a 44-year-old government official who came from Valladolid in northern Spain to express his support, said there is a real possibility that the far-right could take power if Sanchez quit.“This will mean a step backwards for our rights and liberties,” he warned.“I hope he continues, because Spain has to continue with him. If not, it scares me. We are afraid of what could come,” Leonor Romero, 56, a councillor from Huelva, southern Spain, told Reuters.“He must continue. I think he is not going to resign. He will leave us orphans,” Jose Luis Trigo, 74, a pensioner, said.Inside the party headquarters, there were similar passionate appeals.“Pedro stay. We are together and together we can ... take the country forward, Spain can’t step back,” said Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero, the government number two.“Today all democrats, all progressives, are summoned to Madrid against a pack whose only aim is to overthrow a democratic and legitimate government,” said Felix Bolanos, the minister of the presidency, justice and parliamentary relations.At one point, Socialist leaders took to the streets to thank those gathered.“They won’t succeed,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria told the crowd.The court opened the investigation into Sanchez’s wife in response to a complaint from anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), whose leader is linked to the far-right.The group, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, said on Wednesday that its complaint was based on media reports and could not vouch for their veracity.While the court did not give details of the case, online news site El Confidencial said it focused on links Gomez had to Spanish tourism group Globalia when carrier Air Europa was in talks with the government to secure a huge bailout.The airline sought the bailout after it was badly hit by plunging passenger numbers during the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.At the time, Gomez was running IE Africa Centre, a foundation linked to Madrid’s Instituto de Empresa (IE) business school, which had signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020.Spain’s public prosecutor’s office on Thursday requested the dismissal of the investigation, which Sanchez said was part of a campaign of “harassment” against him and his wife waged by “media heavily influenced by the right and far-right”.If Sanchez decides to remain in office, he could choose to file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers.If he resigns, an early election could be called from July – year after the last one – with or without Sanchez at the helm of the Socialist party.The right-wing opposition has accused the prime minister of being irresponsible for putting the country on hold while he mulls his decision.“I ask all citizens not to be fooled. Spain does not have a problem, the one who has a judicial problem is Sánchez, his government, his party and his circle. Let them solve it,” Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), told a meeting in Tarragona in Catalonia.A survey, carried out for the PP by the polling company Sigmados, found 54.1% believed Sanchez’s period of reflection was a “political strategy” to gain support before the Catalan elections on May 12 and European Parliamentary elections in June.Some 56.4% of the 1,527 people questioned, said they believe Sanchez will not resign tomorrow while 21.2% said they thought the prime minister will call for a motion of confidence in parliament.

Joe Biden said yesterday that he is ready to face off against his White House challenger Donald Trump in a debate ahead of their likely presidential rematch in November.Candidate debates have been important milestones in US presidential elections for decades, helping make or break voters’ opinions of the contestants’ personal style and demeanour as much as their policy chops.However, Biden’s team has for months been non-committal about his willingness to participate in the tradition, which is usually held in front of an audience and moderated by a well-known journalist.“I am happy to debate him,” Biden told radio host Howard Stern yesterday. “I am, somewhere. I don’t know when.”“Ok, let’s set it up!” Trump campaign adviser Chis LaCivita said on X in response to Biden’s comments.Presumptive Republican nominee Trump declined to face off against his primary opponents in any debates during the 2024 cycle.However, he has indicated his eagerness with the man who beat him in 2020, saying on social media earlier this year that he was ready to hold a presidential debate with Biden “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!”Biden, who has branded Trump as a threat to democracy, told reporters last month that any agreement to debate the real estate mogul “depends on his behaviour”.The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has already arranged three dates and locations for Trump and Biden to go head-to-head for the 2024 fight, at US universities throughout the country in September and October.However, Trump bashed the CPD as being biased toward Democrat Biden when in 2020 it planned to move a third and final debate to a virtual format amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.Then-president Trump had himself shown up to the second 2020 debate against Biden only three days before testing positive for Covid-19.Biden at the time had said he would not participate in another in-person debate with Trump while the Republican was still ill.A verbal spar could be a useful opportunity for both the 77-year-old former president and 81-year-old current president to display stamina, as Biden is still dogged by Trump’s old “Sleepy Joe” nickname – and Trump faced online teasing when he appeared to nod off during his criminal trial in New York last week.Biden has a lead among registered voters of 41% to 37% over Trump, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found earlier this month.Asked during a trip to Las Vegas in early February about Trump calling for Biden to debate him, Biden said: “If I were him, I would want to debate me too. He’s got nothing to do.”