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Scottish independence campaigners marched in Glasgow yesterday as they try to reignite flagging support for self-rule before a UK general election due this year that is expected to deal a blow to their cause.A series of setbacks, including a fraud scandal involving Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, have left the independence movement at arguably its lowest ebb in recent memory.The march comes after Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, was charged on Thursday for the embezzlement of £600,000 in donations meant for independence campaigning. Murrell, the 59-year-old former chief executive of the ruling pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), was charged more than a year after he was first arrested.Sturgeon, who resigned as the devolved UK administration’s first minister and SNP leader in February 2023, was arrested in June last year, but released without charge.On Friday, she described her husband’s situation as “incredibly difficult,” with current First Minister Humza Yousaf calling it a “really serious matter indeed”.Sturgeon had established herself as one of the figureheads of the independence movement alongside then Scottish first minister Alex Salmond ahead of an independence referendum in 2014. Scotland voted against independence, with 55% of electors choosing “No”, but Sturgeon, 53, put the matter back on the table in 2016 after the UK voted to leave the European Union.She argued Scotland was being forced out of bloc against its will as Scots had voted overwhelmingly to remain in Europe.Sturgeon’s self-assured leadership and excellent communication skills during the Covid-19 pandemic — in contrast to the perceived chaos under former prime minister Boris Johnson’s Westminster government — saw support for Scottish independence climb above 50% in 2021.After being refused another referendum by successive prime ministers, Sturgeon took the issue to the UK’s top court.But in November 2022, judges ruled against the Scottish government, saying that the power to grant a referendum was a “reserved” matter for the UK government. For Westminster, the Supreme Court’s ruling was the final word on another Scottish independence referendum.Sturgeon, who was accused of overplaying her hand, resigned soon after.Support for independence has since fallen to between 41 and 43%, according to three opinion polls taken in April.Current SNP leader Yousaf has vowed to continue the push for independence at the UK general election, which is expected to be held in October or November.He says the SNP will claim “a mandate for independence negotiations” with the British government if it wins at least 29 of the 57 seats up for grabs in Scotland.The party currently has 43 MPs in Scotland but is expected to lose several to a resurgent Labour Party, which is tipped to form the next government.The SNP has a seven-point lead over Labour in voting intentions, according to the polling agency Ipsos, but that is down from 12 points a year ago.“At the next election, page one, line one of our manifesto will say ‘vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country,’” Yousaf told cheering delegates at an SNP conference in Aberdeen in October last year. Yousaf has also vowed to rejoin the EU as fast as possible, but that won’t happen anytime soon with independence not currently on the horizon.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday to demand changes to the model of mass tourism they say is overwhelming the Atlantic archipelago.Rallying under the slogan The Canary Islands have a limit, demonstrators began protesting at midday (1100 GMT), with flag-waving crowds packing the streets of the main towns across all of the archipelago’s seven islands.An estimated 57,000 people joined the protests, Spanish media reports said, citing the central government’s representative in the islands.Chanting and whistling, they waved a sea of placards and banners emblazoned with slogans like “The Canary Islands are not up for sale!” or “A moratorium on tourism” while others simply said: “Respect my home.”The protests were called by some 20 social and environmental groups who say tourist overcrowding perpetuates an economic model that harms local residents and damages the environment.They want the authorities to limit the number of visitors and have proposed introducing an eco tax to protect the environment, a moratorium on tourism and to clamp down on the sale of properties to non-residents.“We are not against tourism,” one woman demonstrator named Rosario Correo told Spain’s TVE public television. “We’re asking that they change this model that allows for unlimited growth of tourism.”Last year, 16mn people visited the Canary Islands, more than seven times its population of some 2.2mn, which the collective says is unsustainable for the archipelago’s limited resources.“We’re tired of the overcrowding, of low salaries, of not having houses to live in and seeing our land bought by foreigners because they have the money to buy our grandparents’ land that we can’t afford,” 59-year-old teacher Nieves Rodrigues Rivera told AFPTV.The constant influx of visitors was exacerbating the housing crisis by pushing up rents, said 22-year-old student Antonio Samuel Diaz Garcia.“We’re seeing holiday homes invading our villages which pushes rents up and makes it increasingly difficult for young people like us to leave home,” he told AFPTV. “We’re also seeing tourism destroy the biodiversity here.”Large crowd of protesters also held parallel rallies of support in Madrid and Barcelona, public television said.Anti-tourism protests have multiplied in recent months across Spain, the world’s second-most visited country, prompting authorities to try to reconcile the interests of locals and a lucrative sector that accounts for 12.8% of Spain’s economy.The islands, which lie off the northwestern coast of Africa, are known for their volcanic landscapes and year-round sunshine attracting millions of visitors every year, with four in 10 residents working in tourism – a sector which accounts for 36% of the islands’ GDP.Before the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic brought the global travel industry to its knees in 2020, overtourism protest movements were already active in Spain, notably in Barcelona.After travel restrictions were lifted, tourism surged with Spain welcoming a record 85.1mn visitors last year.Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo said on Friday he felt “proud” that the region was a leading Spanish tourist destination, but acknowledged that more controls were needed as the sector continues to grow.“We can’t keep looking away. Otherwise, hotels will continue to open without any control,” he told a press conference.

Greater geopolitical instability and a more extreme climate threaten to lead to more supply shocks in future, increasing the chances of global inflation spiking up.Global supply chains often get disrupted because of geopolitical instability such as conflicts or trade disputes. Similarly, extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts, or floods disrupt agricultural production and logistics.These disruptions generally lead to shortages of goods, driving up prices due to increased demand relative to supply.Instability in key regions result in increased costs of production due to factors such as higher transportation costs, tariffs, or sanctions. Similarly, extreme weather events damage infrastructure or agricultural lands, leading to increased production costs.These increased costs are often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods and services.“Over the longer-term, we expect inflation to average around 2%, though this will include longer periods above target than was the norm post-financial crisis,” according to Oxford Economics.After a period of exceptionally low and stable inflation in the 2000s and 2010s, several factors –especially greater geopolitical instability and a more extreme climate – could lead to more supply shocks in the future. This increases the chances of inflation spiking up.“Whether inflation will be generally higher or just more volatile will depend on the economic backdrop and how central banks respond. We expect higher policy rates on average, partly because domestic demand is unlikely to be as persistently weak as in the 2010s, so a repeat of the last decade’s private sector deleveraging and fiscal austerity seems unlikely,” Oxford Economics noted.At the same time, the chances that strong demand will pose a risk of persistently high inflation seem overblown. More spending on defence, the greening of the economy, and ageing doesn’t automatically mean bigger budget deficits.But if they do rise, then policy rates would likely be higher to offset the effect.Although deglobalisation could add to inflationary pressures, analysts see this as a risk rather than an inevitability. Meanwhile, despite the recent strength of inflation, real wage rises have generally lagged productivity growth since 2019.Another factor that could add to inflation overshoots is how firms respond to demand and supply shocks. It is possible they are now more inclined to raise prices.But the post-Covid lockdown resilience of demand to price hikes may have reflected exceptional factors that won’t be repeated. Meanwhile, an AI-driven productivity boom, if it happens, would likely dampen inflation, Oxford Economics says.Despite the severe post-pandemic inflation overshoot, advanced economy central banks belatedly showed a resolute commitment to keeping longer-term inflation expectations anchored. Aggressive hikes proved that central banks were prepared to risk recession to bring inflation back to target.As a result of this and subsiding headline inflation, long-term inflation expectations have quickly fallen back.Although greater geopolitical instability and extreme climate events invariably contribute to inflationary pressures, the actual impact will depend on a range of interconnected factors, including the severity and duration of disruptions, policy responses, and broader economic conditions.That said, longer periods of above-target global inflation may lead to more policy tightening in future.

Max Verstappen continued his dominant start to the season in emphatic style on Saturday by romping to sprint victory then claiming pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix - an “incredible” 100th for his Red Bull team.It was an ominous display from Verstappen, who looks on course to win a fourth grand prix out of five today as he marches towards a fourth consecutive world title. The Red Bull driver was 0.322 seconds clear of Sergio Perez as Red Bull locked up the front row, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third on Formula One’s return to China after five years away.Verstappen clocked a fastest lap of 1min 33.660sec to record the team milestone and his first pole at the Shanghai International Circuit.“Before I jumped in the car (Red Bull chief Christian) Horner told me if you get pole today it could be number 100 for the team, so I was like, ‘OK, that’s nice, I’ll give it a good go’,” Verstappen said.“Of course that’s an incredible achievement for the whole team.”Verstappen won the 19-lap sprint in the morning by a huge 13 seconds from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes as the Dutchman laid down a marker for Sunday’s 56-lap race. “The car worked even better in qualifying,” said Verstappen. “That final lap felt pretty decent and very happy to drive here in the dry, it was a lot of fun.“If the car is even half as good tomorrow as it was in the sprint we will be all right.”Lando Norris will start on the second row in his McLaren alongside Alonso for the first Grand Prix to be held in China since 2019 because of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. Oscar Piastri was fifth fastest in the second McLaren ahead of the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, with George Russell’s Mercedes eighth.Perez was relieved to be on the front row. “Very intense, I nearly got knocked out in Q1,” said the Mexican. “In the final run the track was getting quite a bit better and I managed to put a good lap together.”Leclerc said he hoped Ferrari could be stronger on Sunday.“We compromised our qualifying by prioritising the race tomorrow and struggled slightly more than we expected,” said Leclerc.“Our race pace is strong and it will be a long one, with tyre degradation playing a big role here.”Earlier, Verstappen blasted from fourth on the sprint grid to an easy victory that increased his championship lead over Perez to 25 points.But Hamilton’s joy at coming second turned to despair in Q1 when the Englishman locked up, relegating him to 18th. It was the first time since the 2022 Saudi Grand Prix that the seven-time world champion had been knocked out so early. “I made massive changes into qualifying,” said Hamilton who won the last Chinese Grand Prix in 2019.“It is what it is. We can still have some fun even if we are starting from P18.” Sainz is the only driver apart from Verstappen to win a grand prix in 2024 and he survived a huge scare in Q2.The Spaniard ran wide at the final bend and span across the start-finish straight to lose his nose cone in the barriers.It brought out the red flags but Sainz was able to limp back to the pits and make it to the top 10 shootout. “I had a big moment there, touching the gravel,” Sainz said. “From then on, a tough quali. I just don’t think we have been very quick this weekend. It’s a difficult track for us.”THE GRID1st row: Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull), Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull)2nd row: Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin), Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren)3rd row: Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren),Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari)4th row: Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari), George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)5th row: Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Haas), Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Sauber)6th row: Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin), Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/RB)7th row: Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine). Alexander Albon (THA/Williams)8th row: Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine), Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Sauber)9th row: Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas), Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)10th row: Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/RB), Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams)

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani's three-nation Asia tour is part of the State of Qatar's unwavering approach to beef up strategic relations and partnerships with Asia.His Highness' talks with the leaders of the Philippines, Nepal and Bangladesh will focus on ways to boost relations across various fields, and regional and international issues of common concern.The well-established Qatar-Asia relations have seen steady development thanks to both sides' mutual keenness to develop and enhance them across various areas.Recently, these relations have experienced a drastic growth with both sides exchanging high-profile visits, ramping up the implementation of joint economic and investment projects and coordinating positions on many regional and international issues.Aware of Asia's vital role in consolidating the regional and global economies and achieving global food security, the State of Qatar has dived into Asia with the aim of fostering global and regional economic security. In turn, Asia's fast- growing economies attach overriding attention to further deepening relations with the State of Qatar.These mutually beneficial Qatar-Asia relations serve the two parties' national interests. Bearing in mind economic diversification as a top priority of the Qatar National Vision 2030, Doha considers the ample economic opportunities for diverse investments in Asia across several sectors: agriculture, infrastructure, transportation, financial institutions, and energy sectors.Meanwhile, multiple Asian countries appeal to potential multi-sector Qatari investments in a bid to push their economies, provide further job opportunities, and rocket up their foreign exports.Furthermore, Doha hosts thousands of migrant workers from many Asian countries. Recognizing their contributions to the Qatari economy and the development of their home nations, the State ofQatar has adopted leading labor rights reforms that can serve as a role model for other countries in the region.Among these reforms comes the non-discriminatory minimum wage, a legislation highly commended by the International Labor Organization and other international agencies concerned with workers.With a keen eye for a robust cooperation with Asia, the State of Qatar signed in August 2022 the instrument of accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).The accession, on the sidelines of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was driven by the common will and desire to create a safe and stable region for sustainable economic development and shared prosperity and embracing unity in diversity.Qatar's relations with the 10-state political and economic union in South Asia consolidate cooperation across multiple fields, support all efforts to enhance regional and international security and peace, and develop relations and cooperation with Asia in general, and ASEAN countries in particular.One of HH the Amir's stops in this Asia tour will be the Republic of the Philippines. The Doha-Manila relations were initiated in 1981, and in May 1992, the Philippine embassy was inaugurated in Doha.Over the course of more than 43 years, both nations have shown convergent views on many international issues, and the bilateral relations are gradually progressing to the highest levels of cooperation in a way that benefits the two friendly peoples.The two sides inked many bilateral agreements that are ever evolving through a joint committee meeting that was recently approved to be held annually to elevate bilateral relations to broader horizons.One of the unswerving outcomes of Doha's policy to promote relations with the Philippine government and strengthen ties between the peoples of the two friendly countries was the inauguration of the Qatar Visa Center (QVC) in Manila on Sep. 25, 2019.Part of the Qatar Visa Center Program supervised by the Qatari government, the facility plays a key role in streamlining transparent visa and employment applications of overseas Filipino workers seeking employment in Qatar, according to a systematic manner consistent with the best international standards.Qatar now hosts tens of thousands of Filipino workers across various sectors, and there are over 200 Filipino companies operating in the Qatari market.The private sectors in the two countries are cooperating to increase the trade exchange between both sides.Besides, the two nations leveraged their available resources and expertise to further step up collaboration to boost bilateral trade and investment, and to address the negative impacts of the current global political and economic challenges.One of these resources is the Qatar-Philippines Joint Committee, which serves as a political platform to talk a wide range of topics and issues of common interest, enhance political and economic cooperation, and contribute to finding regional and international solutions to issues of migration and climate change and others.Doha and Manila have shown huge growth in their cooperation in areas of culture and tourism as well.Thanks to its picturesque nature, diversified and hospitable people, the Philippines is an important tourist destination for many Qatari tourists.Qatar Airways was the only airline that never stopped flying amid the Covid-19 pandemic closure to take stranded passengers home on scheduled and charter flights offering all needed vaccines and safety measures.HH the Amir will also stop in Nepal. The Qatar-Nepal relations - inaugurated on Jan. 21, 1977 - have seen a steady development in recent years, with both countries working to strengthen and develop these relations in the areas of trade and investment exchange.To further bolster their historical and deep relations, both sides ramped up their mutual official visits and sealed bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding. Qatari businessmen have been frequently invited to explore the promising investment opportunities in Nepal.A key Asian labor exporter to Qatar, Kathmandu hosted in May 2019 a Qatari Visa Center to facilitate measures to bring Nepalese workers to Doha. In December 2018, the Doha Bank opened a representative branch in Kathmandu, a move that streamlined transaction services for Nepalese laborers based in Qatar and contributed to increasing investment flows between the two countries.Like the Philippines, Nepal offers a competitive tourist destination for Qatari nationals. Containing most of the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, Nepal allures those obsessed with mountain climbing, trekking, paragliding, rafting, and mountain flight-seeing tours.Another important stop in HH the Amir's tour will be the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Diplomatic relations between both countries began in the 1970s, and a Qatari embassy was opened in Dhaka on Jan 15, 1980.Driven by history, culture, religion and common values, the Doha-Dhaka relations have progressed over the years.To support education in the south Asia country, the Qatar Charity opened about 10 new schools in 2023, along with boarding facilities for orphaned and underprivileged students. The facilities are expected to benefit 2,000 male and female students.Constructed across several areas in the country, each school includes classrooms and accommodation for students and teachers.Over the past five years, Qatar Charity has also built approximately 55 schools equipped with boarding sections for students, benefiting over 12,000 students. It also sponsors 4,000 orphans in Bangladesh, providing them with all educational expenses to ensure a good future for the students.Backing Bangladesh's unwavering efforts to find sustainable solutions to the Rohingya refugee crisis, the State of Qatar participated in many high-level meetings on Rohingya refugees and affirmed in international forums that the repercussions of the crisis would go beyond the ASEAN countries.To this end, Doha collaborated with many ASEAN countries and supported many development and relief projects being implemented in the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.It is also working with Bangladesh and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to facilitate Rohingya refugees' access to basic services and to support local authorities and communities hosting Rohingya refugees. (QNA)

Qatar National Bank (QNB) expected global financial conditions to remain tight in the medium term and a below-trend economic growth.In its weekly commentary, QNB said, "Since the beginning of the COVID-pandemic, the global economy experienced a series of extraordinary shocks that propelled inflation rates to levels that had not been seen in decades. By mid-2022, inflation reached 9.1 percent in the U.S., and a double-digit record of 10.7 percent in the Euro-Area. These levels were far from the 2 percent targets of monetary policy. Initially, central banks were hesitant to respond to spiralling prices, given the exceptional circumstances set by a worldwide pandemic, and the risk of a deeper economic collapse. However, it became apparent that high inflation was not a short-lived phenomenon, and policy makers reacted strongly to bring inflation rates down to their targets."In the U.S., the Federal Reserve Board (FRB or "Fed") increased its policy rates by 525 bps to 5.5 percent. The European Central Bank (ECB) embarked on a record tightening cycle, increasing its main refinancing rate by 450 basis points to 4.5 percent. Additionally, the central banks began to revert the large purchases of assets that had been implemented during the Covid-pandemic to inject liquidity into the financial system."These monetary policies led to a tightening of financial markets in advanced economies. A useful measure is the Financial Conditions Index (FCI) for advanced economies, which provides a useful indicator by combining information of short- and long-term interest rates, as well as credit spreads and equity prices. The FCI indicated that markets were at their tightest in October 2023. However, as inflation rates consolidated their downward trends and positive inflation prints reassured analysts, markets began to assimilate the end of the monetary tightening cycles and financial conditions improved. In our view, although financial conditions will continue to improve this year on the back of policy rate cuts by the Fed and the ECB, they will remain in restrictive territory over the next several quarters. We discuss the two main factors that support our analysis."The bank pointed out, "First, although we expect major central banks to start cutting policy rates in 2024, they will be cautious in the pace of rate cuts. The latest readings of headline inflation have come down from their peaks of 9.1 percent and 10.7 percent respectively, in the U.S. and the Euro-Area, to 3.5 percent and 2.4 percent. Furthermore, inflation rates are expected to continue to converge towards the 2 percent targets amid weaker economic growth. In our view, this will allow the Fed to cut its policy rate by 50 bps to 5.0 percent, and the ECB by 100 bps to 3.5 percent by the end of the year. However, this pace of interest rate cuts implies that relatively high interest rates will remain in place over the next several quarters."Second, the ECB and the Fed will continue to drain liquidity in the banking systems by reverting the balance sheet expansions that were put in place during the Covid-pandemic. To mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, central banks in advanced economies purchased large amounts of financial assets from the markets. This strategy, which is termed "quantitative easing" (QE), was implemented to inject liquidity in the financial system, as well as to contribute to lower long-dated interest rates."In order to normalise the unprecedented size of its balance sheet that resulted from QE, the Fed began its reduction in June 2022, and has to date decreased its size by USD 1.3 trillion from the peak of USD 8.9 trillion. Similarly, the assets of the Eurosystem (the ECB plus the national central banks of the Euro-Area) have fallen by EUR 2 trillion from their peak of EUR 8.8 trillion. This process of normalisation will continue through 2024, reducing the excess liquidity in the financial system."High interest rates and lower liquidity levels in the financial system restrain the availability of credit for the private sector. The latest bank lending surveys in the U.S. and the Euro-Zone show that commercial banks continue to tighten their lending standards. Furthermore, private sector credit volumes are contracting in the two largest advanced economies."QNB concluded, "All in all, we expect that decreasing liquidity from the normalisation of central bank balance sheets and restrictive interest rates will maintain tight financial conditions over the next several quarters. This will limit the availability of credit for firms and households, and contribute to below-trend economic growth." (QNA)

Christian Coleman admitted on Friday to being more focused on safely negotiating the notoriously tough US trials than the actual Paris Olympics, where he hopes he will bid for a sprint double. Coleman, who beat teammate Noah Lyles to 60 metres gold in the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in February, had to sit out the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games after missing a drugs test. He donned a US vest at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he ran the heats for the Justin Gatlin-led 4x100m relay squad that was eventually disqualified in the final won by Usain Bolt’s Jamaica. “I can’t even think past June right now, just focused on being our absolute best when we need to be at the trials,” Coleman said ahead of the opening Diamond League meeting of the season in the Chinese city of Xiamen. “If you’re not at your best there then the season’s all for nought, really. “That’s what makes it so special to be on the American team - the fact it’s so hard to make it.” Coleman, along with teammate Fred Kerley - the 2022 world champion and Olympic silver medallist - holds the joint sixth fastest time over 100m ever run (9.76sec) and acknowledged that the United States would have a very strong 4x100m relay squad in Paris. “Hopefully I can start the year off on a good note,” said Coleman, who was world outdoor 100m champion in 2019 before his doping suspension. “Everyone’s goal is first to make the team but whoever makes that team is obviously well capable of getting on that relay pool and doing something special. “The world record is definitely within our reach.” Coleman admitted that competing in an Olympic year felt “a little different because you know the magnitude of it”. “I feel like it would be unrealistic not to acknowledge the fact that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that not many people have the opportunity to even experience, being in your prime and actually having a realistic chance of making it to the Olympics.” Coleman added: “As far as the process is concerned, we do this every year, so it’s really no different. You just try not to pay too much attention to outside factors and outside pressures. “The main thing is focus on what’s right in front of you, one day at a time. That’s the same process every year, it’s just a bigger opportunity.” Today’s meeting in Xiamen, the first of back-to-back Diamond League meets in China, with a second in Shanghai on April 27, will also see women’s world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson in action in the 200m. Coleman dubbed Richardson, who also won 200m bronze at the Budapest worlds, “special”. “She’s somebody who’s at the forefront of women’s empowerment in sport, she’s taken it to a whole different level. “She’s a beast, a special talent, she’s somebody who’s going to continue to propel the sport forward and take it to new heights. “I’m a fan,” he said. “She’s someone I take inspiration from.” Also in action in Xiamen, the first of 15 meets on the elite one-day track and field circuit, are 12 Olympic gold medallists, notably Swedish pole vault star Mondo Duplantis and Qatar’s three-time world high jump champion Mutaz Essa Barshim.

Although news consumption soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, subscriptions have since fallen, and news outlets around the world have been laying off reporters or even shutting down altogether. That is bad news for all of us.Our new Unesco brief highlights recent research that demonstrates just how important high-quality information is to a well-functioning economy, society, and democracy.New studies in economics and political science use rigorous methods to confirm what journalists already knew: that their work has a positive influence on democratic norms, civic engagement, and governmental and corporate accountability. By building social trust and promoting human rights, serious, credible reporting also supports economic performance and sustainable development.The 2021 Unesco Windhoek+30 Declaration – which reaffirmed the importance of information as a public good (one from which everyone benefits, and none are excluded) – was based on numerous studies from Africa, India, Latin America, and the US.This literature shows that high-quality news and journalism promotes accountability and responsiveness even amid rising tides of misinformation and disinformation. Fact-checking can indeed counter the lies and distortions now flooding societies around the world.Moreover, high-quality journalism remains more effective than social media in disseminating accurate, trustworthy news.While technology can enhance the spread of good information, it is currently doing the opposite. Large digital platforms regularly downrank news, claiming that users are more interested in other categories of content.But Pew Research Center data suggest that news consumption across platforms has remained stable (at least in the US) since 2020. And with more people voting in elections this year than ever before, there has never been a greater need for quality reporting.Everyone – even those who do not invest in journalism themselves – benefits from the investigation, curation, and dissemination of trustworthy and useful information. But this public good is unlikely to be adequately provided in a free market, even with the help of public-spirited philanthropists, aid organisations, media companies, and governments. In many markets, their support is not enough.Governments, especially, have a responsibility to ensure the provision of public goods. Enabling high-quality journalism requires legal regimes that protect free expression and the “right to tell.” But that is not enough. For journalists to do their jobs, there also must be laws and enforcement mechanisms in place to ensure the right to access information: the “right to know.”While many countries have passed such laws, they are rarely enforced. When public authorities even bother to respond to information requests, they often do so only after long delays, and with extensive redactions.Legacy media outlets are a key part of the media ecosystem and require continued support; but so do smaller outlets and those targeting underserved areas. Some promising ideas for supporting journalism include providing special funds or tax breaks (such as payroll tax credits or targeted value-added-tax (VAT) reductions) and issuing news-subscription vouchers. During the pandemic, governments around the world launched variations of these policies, thus producing a wide range of models that can now be emulated.Another crucial step is to ensure that journalists are appropriately compensated for their work.Big Tech (the proprietors of search engines, social media, and most artificial-intelligence platforms) relies on news media to engage users and improve its products. Since tech firms do not produce news themselves, they have no way to fulfil users’ demand for high-quality news and search results without the content provided by journalists. However, they have long used content produced by journalists without providing much (if any) compensation, thus depriving media outlets of a major revenue source: advertising. This cycle is destroying the information ecosystem on which they, and our society, depend.Many countries have helped sustain high-quality journalism through investments in independent public broadcasting. Healthy public broadcasting institutions build social trust and generate an important spillover benefit: competition that forces private media companies to hold themselves to a higher standard. The institutional structures that facilitate the development of public broadcasting are well-known; what is required is the political will to establish the necessary frameworks.A general principle in economics is that without public support, there will be an undersupply of public goods. Unfortunately, quality journalism is fast becoming Exhibit A for this principle, despite rigorous scholarship demonstrating its importance.Journalism’s business model is threatened by the rise of AI and the power of tech monopolies that distribute news without paying a fair price for it, and this is happening just as misinformation, disinformation, and political polarisation are magnifying the dangers of journalism’s decline.Around the world, there is a growing sense that democracy is in decline. An important step toward reversing this is to enhance support for quality journalism, starting immediately. The costs of inaction may be enormous. - Project SyndicateAnya Schiffrin is director of the technology, media, and communications specialisation at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.Dylan W Groves is assistant professor of political science at Lafayette College.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 and a Nobel laureate in economics.

Despite the relentless stream of bad news from around the world, there are still reasons for optimism. One notable example is the renewed push to localise pharmaceutical production in Africa, demonstrating how even catastrophic events like a pandemic can lead to positive, unforeseen outcomes.The Covid-19 shock underscored the critical need to fund public-health systems and expand access to essential technologies and preventive and therapeutic drugs, and should have served as a wake-up call for policymakers and public worldwide. But once the virus was brought under control, wealthy countries reverted to the policies and practices that had made the initial pandemic response so unequal.No part of the world has suffered more from these extreme global inequalities than Africa. African countries were the last to receive Covid-19 vaccines, having been crowded out by vaccine-hoarding wealthier countries and denied access to the technologies necessary for domestic production. Although Africa accounts for 18% of the world’s population, the continent received only 3.3% of all administered vaccines by the end of 2021. By the end of 2022, its share had barely increased to 5.5%.Even before Covid-19, Africa was already grappling with the global neglect of major epidemics such as Ebola, Zika, and monkeypox, as well as endemic diseases. One of the biggest obstacles to tackling these health crises is the continent’s dependence on imported drugs.Despite bearing one-quarter of the global disease burden, only 2% of medical research is conducted in Africa, and more than 90% of the continent’s vaccines and 70% of its medicines are imported. Moreover, of the roughly 375 pharmaceutical manufacturers operating in Africa, just 15% are locally owned, and most of these companies focus on formulations rather than the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) crucial for drug production.Fortunately, the bitter experience of Covid-19 appears to have catalysed a much-needed policy shift. During the pandemic, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laid the groundwork for inter-governmental cooperation by bolstering collective regional responses under extremely difficult conditions. More recently, several African governments and international organisations have launched initiatives to boost local pharmaceutical production and promote innovation across the continent.These initiatives face significant challenges, especially their reliance on voluntary technology transfers, which have proven to be very limited in scope. To access essential knowledge and force multinational companies (MNCs) to share their technologies, African countries must expand their use of compulsory licensing, in line with their own patent laws and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.That said, access to knowledge alone is not enough. Given that production processes require specialised expertise, comprehensive education programmes and skills training are crucial to establishing a sustainable foundation for innovation and production in Africa. This requires a broader regional effort, which African governments appear to be considering.Another major obstacle is competition from large pharmaceutical companies. Novartis, which has previously initiated patent disputes in countries like India, has already announced its intention to achieve a fivefold increase in patient outreach in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2025. For localisation efforts to succeed, it is crucial to emphasise local ownership and ensure that the benefits are not monopolised by Big Pharma.Given that Africa’s rich genetic diversity makes it a veritable treasure trove of genomic data, the risk of knowledge and data theft is a pressing concern. While the African CDC’s Pathogen Genomics Initiative was celebrated as a major achievement when it was launched in 2019, there are now valid concerns that the pandemic treaty could make these data globally accessible, potentially benefiting large pharmaceutical companies in rich countries without ensuring fair compensation for Africa. Tellingly, foreign powers are already squabbling over who should control access to this invaluable database.The challenges confronting African countries’ efforts to take control of their health-care destiny are immense. Their determination to localise drug and vaccine production is a promising start.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva bemoaned the slow pace of global growth on Thursday, saying that Europe needed to do more to boost productivity and China should work to unleash greater consumer spending.Georgieva told a news conference during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington that a number of factors are converging to hold back growth in Europe and China, from ageing populations to sub-optimal allocations of capital, while the US has far outperformed expectations.“This is what preoccupies us these days. How can we better stem the slowdown of productivity and growth, and what we can do to reverse it?” Georgieva said.The IMF on Tuesday forecast global growth at 3.2% for 2024 — well below its 20-year pre-pandemic average of 3.8% — citing lacklustre performances in Europe and China and the impact of high interest rates and regional wars on developing economies. And asset managers are bracing for delays in rate cuts as the US Federal Reserve struggles with persistently high inflation.The IMF boosted its US growth forecast by 0.6 percentage point to an above-potential 2.7% for 2024, while cutting the forecast for the euro zone by 0.1 percentage point to 0.8%.Georgieva said the US has done a better job of harnessing technology innovation and turning it into scalable business activity. The US also has benefited from domestic energy production that has kept energy prices low and immigration that has created an ample supply of labour without too much wage inflation.Technology has not brought similar gains to Europe, she said.“We know that in Europe, there is still work to be done to unleash the power of innovation. Just comparing the cost of a patent in the US and the European Union tells you a story,” Georgieva said, referring to higher EU costs and regulations.More also can be done to raise investments in human capital to create more dynamic labour markets and better allocation of capital, she said.Georgieva said China, where domestic demand is suffering because of a property crisis brought on by over-investment, was at a “fork in the road” and should pivot away from its decades-old investment- and export-led growth model to one led by consumer spending.“The time has come to look at domestic sources for growth,” she said of China.This starts with resolving the property sector crisis to give consumers more confidence to spend, and expanding the social safety net, which would give Chinese people the “opportunity to save a bit less and spend a bit more,” the IMF chief said.US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on a recent trip to China made similar arguments that Beijing should work to boost domestic consumption, while warning that the US would not accept Chinese efforts to flood global markets with exports of electric vehicles and solar products as a way to revive growth.Georgieva also called for more fiscal restraint among IMF member countries because fiscal capacity has been exhausted in most countries by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis, with heavy debt burdens more difficult to carry in a high interest rate environment. This message was echoed by the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor on Wednesday, which said the US and other major economies were spending too much during election years.“In a world where crisis keeps coming, countries must urgently build fiscal resilience to be prepared for the next shock,” Georgieva said.

After making his Olympic bow in Tokyo when strict Covid-19 restrictions kept fans away and athletes in a bubble, pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis hopes his second Games in Paris will be more like the way he always imagined them.“It feels like it’s going to be, in a way, my first Olympics,” the Swede, who won gold in the Japanese capital, told Reuters. “It felt like a little test run, Tokyo, and it was also just a very stressful situation and very stressful time when we had the Olympics.”In 2021, with no fans there to cheer them on, athletes had to get used to competing in empty venues and were ordered to follow strict rules to prevent any spread of the virus within the Olympic “bubble”.Duplantis expects Paris to be a lot more fun. “The situation with Covid just brought a lot of stress, on everybody, and you weren’t really able to be as free as you would like to,” he said.“Paris is going to be a completely different experience and it’s going to be great. I’m super excited. It’s also nice to be able to have family members there that can actually watch you.”Duplantis has won everything there is to win as an athlete, including world indoor and outdoor titles as well as setting seven world records, but the 24-year-old is far from content with his achievements. “I feel like I have got a lot of fire in me, I’m very hungry,” Duplantis said. “It definitely helps that it’s an Olympic year, honestly, because I feel like there’s a different level of intensity that comes into the training. Subconsciously, it just happens that way because it’s such a big year.“I feel like there’s a lot left for me still to do on the track, a lot of higher heights to go, and I just want to keep pushing myself, keep improving, keep trying to see what I can get out of myself and just jump higher.”Despite his dominance, Duplantis said it was too soon for him to be included as one of the all-time greats.“I like my chances against any pole vaulter now or in the history of the sport. I feel like I’m going to be the best guy on the track always. But other than that, I don’t really think about it in that way,” he added.

Formula One returns to China for the first time since 2019 with even world champion Max Verstappen facing a new challenge at a circuit that provided his Red Bull team’s first grand prix victory 15 years ago.The weekend will host the first sprint of the season, with only one hour of free practice tomorrow to fine tune the cars and do tyre assessments, and the teams have only simulator data to go on.The last time they raced at the Shanghai International Circuit, the cars had 13-inch tyres and a flat floor instead of the current 18-inch Pirelli rubber and ground-effect aerodynamics.The track has also seen little use since 2019 and could be bumpier than before.“It’s going to be quite hectic anyway with the Sprint weekend,” said Verstappen after winning in Japan for his third victory in four races.“So, yeah, only one practice session to really get into it again. So I think it will be quite interesting.”The 26-year-old has been critical, with some others, of the decision to have a 100km Saturday sprint in China when there are so many unknowns.“It would have been better to have a normal race weekend there. But on the other hand, it probably spices things up a bit more, and that’s maybe what they would like to see,” he said.“We’ll see what we get there. I mean, I always loved driving there. So yeah, hopefully we can hit the ground running as well as we can, and hopefully we don’t need to fine-tune too many things on the car.”Verstappen has won three championships since he last raced in China and such is his domination that another victory on Sunday would mean the Dutch driver has won half of all the F1 races held since Shanghai’s last appearance on the calendar.It would also be his first win in China, which was Lewis Hamilton territory until the Covid-19 pandemic brought down the shutters. Mercedes’ seven times world champion has won a record six times in Shanghai but arrives this time on the brink of 50 successive races without standing on the top step of the podium.Ferrari are likely to be Red Bull’s closest rivals again, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc third and fourth behind Verstappen and team mate Sergio Perez in Japan, and Mercedes beaten by McLaren and Aston Martin.Verstappen is 13 points clear of Perez in the standings and 18 ahead of Leclerc with George Russell the highest placed Mercedes driver in seventh. Hamilton is ninth.“The headline results didn’t necessarily show it, but we made solid progress with our car in Japan,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “We are looking forward to building on that this weekend.”Zhou Guanyu will give the Chinese crowd a first chance to cheer one of their own with China’s first and only Formula One driver making his home debut with Sauber. The race is sold out, previously a rarity, and the excitement is mounting.“F1 is definitely more popular than before. In the past, tickets may have been discounted towards race day, but this year, it was actually hard to get a ticket,” said local chemistry teacher and F1 fan Li Qixiang.“Everyone told me there were no tickets available, so it’s definitely more popular than in the years prior to the pandemic. The main reason for this must have something to do with the fact that Zhou Guanyu is driving this year.”