Food Is the Answer: Perugia International Journalism Festival

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Credit: Riccardo Gregori – Penumbria Studio #ijf18

PERUGIA, Italy, Apr 13 2018 (IPS) - The twelfth International Journalism Festival on April 12-15 has drawn 710 speakers from 50 different countries, becoming the biggest journalism festival in Europe.

A panel discussion titled “End poverty, protect the planet, ensure prosperity for all? Food is the answer” took place on the opening day in the Sala del Dottorato hall in the center of Perugia, held under the auspices of the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition (BCFN).

Lucio Caracciolo, President and Director of MacroGeo and Limes, presented a report prepared by the BCFN Foundation in collaboration with MacroGeo and CMCC (Centro euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici). The report “Food & Migration: Understanding the geopolitical nexus in the Euro-Mediterranean” , is a research tool “to explore through a geopolitical perspective, flows and trends of the current and future nexus of migration and food in specific areas, particularly the Mediterranean countries.”

Caracciolo emphasized the deep links between migration flows and food security in the Mediterranean region and how addressing the latter could be part of the solution to the former.

Luca di Leo, Head of Communications at BCFN, highlighted the crucial importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN, shedding light on the clear linkages between the 17 SDGs and food choices.

The Director General of IPS Farhana Haque Rahman and IPS Data Analyst Maged Srour participated as panellists.

Food systems are facing the enormous challenge of feeding increasingly growing and urbanised populations generally demanding a more environmentally intensive diet, while restoring and preserving ecosystems for the health of the planet.

Haque Rahman spoke about the urgent need to enhance the capacity of developing country journalists for them to be able to write analytical commentary to enhance awareness of communities on food sustainability and climate change and influence the food choices of the general public while also drawing attention of decision makers to take the right measure on policies.

She highlighted media capacity building and training undertaken by IPS on the SDGs in both developed and developing countries. The IPS Director-General shed light on the importance of giving access to ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) to poor farmers to enable them to better manage planting and marketing their products.

Maged Srour explained the nexus between water and security (the latter in terms of geopolitical security). Srour shared data on water insecurity, specifically in the Mediterranean region, and went on to explain how the increase in variability of water resources also affects the way countries interact.

“Most of the water in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region is actually shared by two or more nations. So, at the moment we also have climate change hitting this area and consequently an increase in water stress. This obviously increases tensions among those states,” he said.

“Climate change, in combination with the increasing population of the world, is definitely a source of instability which could exacerbate migration flows, and could become fertile grounds for extremism and for conflict,” he warned.

The Mediterranean region was at the heart of the panel discussions with most of the speakers discussing the nexus of food security, water security, climate change, migration and geopolitical security in the region.

Ludovica Principato, a researcher at the Barilla Foundation, presented data and in depth analyses on the Food Sustainability Index, which was developed in collaboration between the BCFN Foundation and the Economist Intelligence Unit, to promote knowledge on food sustainability. The index is a global study that measures facts on nutrition, sustainable agriculture and food waste, collecting data from 34 countries across the world.

“Food systems,” said Principato, “are facing the enormous challenge of feeding increasingly growing and urbanised populations generally demanding a more environmentally intensive diet, while restoring and preserving ecosystems for the health of the planet.”

IPS Director General Farhana Haque Rahman spoke about IPS’s work since it was founded in 1964, especially capacity building activities across the world to raise awareness of communities on topics such as food sustainability and climate change. She shed light on the importance of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in the enhancement of sustainable farming and in the overall communication among smallholder farmers to become more productive and consequently climb out of poverty.

Laura Garzoli presented an innovative project which won the 2017 BCFN YES! (Young Earth Solutions) award granted by the BCFN Foundation to encourage innovative projects in the field of food sustainability.

Garzoli’s project, YES!BAT, “promotes Integrated Pest Management strategy to enhance ecosystem services provided by bats in rice agroecosystems”. Employing bat boxes in rice fields, it encourages insect-eating bats into areas where there are few roosting sites

Gaza ministry says Palestinian killed in protest

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Latest on the situation along the Israeli-Gaza border (all times local): 7:30 p.m. Gaza's Health Ministry says a 28-year-old Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli fire in a mass protest on the Gaza-Israel border.

(1 of 8) Israeli soldiers are seen as Palestinian demonstrators protest at the Israel Gaza border, Friday, April 13, 2018.

April 13, 2018

The death brings to 28 the number of protesters killed in two weeks of border protests. In additions, hundreds of Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli fire since March 30. Friday marked the third large-scale protest near the border fence since late March.

6:50 p.m.

The Israeli military estimates that about 10,000 Palestinians participated in the latest round of weekly protests on the Gaza-Israel border and says it's a significantly lower turnout than in previous rallies in the past two weeks.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Friday that Palestinians repeatedly tried to damage the border fence, throwing several explosives and fire bombs.

Conricus told The Associated Press that the army is trying to "minimize" Palestinian casualties, but that open-fire regulations have not changed.

Gaza health officials say 528 Palestinians were hurt Friday, including 122 by Israeli army fire. Since late March, 27 Palestinians were killed in protests.

Rights groups say Israel's open-fire regulations are unlawful because soldiers can use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters. The Israeli military says snipers only target the main "instigators."

6:05 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says 528 Palestinians have been wounded in a mass protest on the territory's border with Israel, including 122 protesters wounded by live Israeli army fire.

The ministry says 406 demonstrators suffered other types of injuries Friday, including being hit by rubber-coated steel pellets and being overcome by tear gas.

The ministry says 203 of those hurt were treated at hospitals and the rest at field clinics.

Friday's protest drew thousands of people, the third large-scale demonstration along the volatile border in as many consecutive Fridays.

4:40 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says 363 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli fire or treated for tear gas inhalation in mass protests on the Gaza-Israel border.

The ministry did not provide a breakdown according to types of injuries.

Friday's protest drew thousands of people, the third large-scale demonstration along the volatile border in as many consecutive Fridays.

3:30 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says 112 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli army fire or treated for tear gas inhalation, but did not provide a breakdown.

The injuries were sustained during a mass protest Friday on Gaza's sealed border with Israel, the third in as many consecutive Fridays.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at five tent camps, several hundred meters (yards) from the border fence. Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, burning Israeli flags, throwing stones and torching tires.

Israeli troops fired live bullets and tear gas.

In all, 27 protesters were killed and hundreds wounded by army fire since late March.

Rights groups say the Israeli military's open-fire regulations are unlawful because soldiers can use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters. Israel says snipers only target the main "instigators."

2:45 p.m.

Thousands of Palestinians are staging a mass protest along Gaza's sealed border with Israel with some burning Israeli flags, throwing stones and torching tires.

Israeli soldiers are firing tear gas and live bullets from across the border fence.

Gaza health officials say at least nine Palestinians have been wounded in Friday's protest, the third of this scale in two weeks. Since late March, 27 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by army fire during such rallies.

On Friday, most demonstrators assembled in five tent camps located several hundred meters (yards) from the border fence. Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, throwing stones, torching tires and burning large Israeli flags.

The Israeli military say demonstrators also hurled an explosive device and several fire bombs near the fence.

11:30 a.m.

Palestinians are streaming to tent camps along Gaza's border with Israel for the third of what are to be weekly mass protests until mid-May.

The marches are organized by Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas, but turnout is also being driven by desperation among the territory's 2 million residents.

Marchers protest against a decade-old blockade and assert what they say is a "right of return" of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.

In two weeks, 34 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, including 27 during protests. Israel alleges Hamas is using protests as a cover for attacks. Rights groups say military's open-fire orders are unlawful.

On Friday, hundreds flocked to one of five camps near Gaza City, stepping on a large Israeli flag laid out on the ground at the entrance

Russia to ban Telegram messenger over encryption dispute

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Friday ordered that access to the Telegram messenger service be blocked in Russia, heralding possible communication disruption for millions of users in the latest clash between global technology firms and Russian authorities.

FILE PHOTO: The Telegram app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The decision came a week after state communication watchdog, Roskomnadzor, filed a lawsuit to limit access to Telegram following the company’s repeated refusal to give Russian state security services access to its users’ secret messages.

As part of its services, Telegram allows its more than 200 million global users, including senior Russian government officials, to communicate via encrypted messages which cannot be read by third parties.

But Russia’s FSB Federal Security service has said it needs access to some of those messages for its work that includes guarding against terrorist attacks. Telegram has refused to comply with the demands, citing respect for user privacy.

“The court decided to meet the requirements of Roskomnadzor, impose restrictions on access to Telegram messenger and stop providing technical conditions for the exchange of messages,” the TASS news agency quoted judge Yulia Smolina as saying.

Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov said the ban would be enforced soon but would not say exactly when, TASS reported. Roskomnadzor later added Telegram to its register of banned websites, paving the way for it to be blocked.

Russia’s top network providers, Megafon and MTS, declined to comment on the ban. Competitor Beeline said it would “act within the framework of the law.”

Telegram founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, said the app will use built-in systems to circumnavigate the ban but could not guarantee 100 percent access without the use of a virtual private network, or VPN.

Pavel Chikov, a lawyer representing Telegram, said the court decision was warning to global technology firms of the dangers of operating in Russia.

“They have demonstrated again and again that the court system is devoted to serving the interests of the authorities. They no longer even care about basic external appearances,” he said on his Telegram channel.

Fallout from the court decision will also be closely watched by investors as Telegram is undertaking the world’s biggest initial coin offering - a private sale of tokens which can be traded as an alternative currency, similar to Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The company has so far raised $1.7 billion in pre-sales via the offering, according to media reports.

KREMLIN USERS

Ranked as the world’s ninth most popular mobile messaging app, Telegram is widely used in countries across the former Soviet Union and Middle East.

As well as being popular with journalists and members of Russia’s political opposition, Telegram is also used by the Kremlin to communicate with reporters and arrange regular conference calls with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Friday, organized using Telegram, that his office would soon move to another messaging service.

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“Limiting access was not the goal in and of itself,” he said. “There is the legal position, which requires the provision of data to certain Russian state bodies. Meetings this condition would have allowed for a consensus. But unfortunately this consensus was not reached.”

Telegram is the second global network to be blocked in Russia after LinkedIn was banned in 2016 for failing to comply with a law that requires companies holding Russian citizens’ data to store it on servers on Russian soil.

Other international technology companies, such as Facebook (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc’s Google GOOG.L, have also clashed recently with Russian regulators.

Roskomnadzor asked Facebook earlier this week about the steps it was taking to meet its requirements under the data law and has said it will carry out an audit of Facebook’s compliance with Russian legislation in the second half of 2018.

Durov himself left Russia in 2014 after selling the country’s biggest social media network, VK, to a businessman close to the Kremlin after coming under pressure from Russian authorities.

Russian users will still be able to access Telegram’s services by using VPNs, which allow people to bypass internet restrictions imposed by authorities.

When Reuters asked a person in the Russian government how they would operate without access to Telegram, the person, who asked not be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, replied by sending a screenshot of his mobile phone with an open VPN app.

Russia’s deputy communications minister, Alexei Volin, said VPNs and other ways of circumnavigating the ban meant Telegram users would not be greatly inconvenienced.

“Many Telegram users have already adopted different messengers, and those who want to stay with this product know a lot of ways to get round the ban and continue using the services they are used to,” Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Oil prices rises on Friday,on track for biggest weekly gain since July

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday, headed for their largest weekly gain since July on support from concerns about geopolitical risk after and reports of dwindling global oil stocks.

Oil barrels are pictured at the site of Canadian group Vermilion Energy in Parentis-en-Born, France, October 13, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/Files

The prospect of Western military action in Syria that could lead to confrontation with Russia hung over the Middle East but there was no clear sign that a U.S.-led attack was imminent. Traders sought to lock in long crude positions ahead of the weekend, said John Kilduff, Partner at hedge fund Again Capital Management.

“The geopolitical jitters just keep getting priced in here more and more, as we get closer to the moment of the strikes, if there are any,” Kilduff said. He noted that Syria poses a large risk to global stability because of its relationship with other powerful oil producers.

“Syria is a client state of both Russia and Iran and the risk for escalation is quite high and I think that is what the market is worried about.”

Brent crude recovered from losses early in the session and was up 50 cents at $72.52 a barrel by 11:12 a.m. EST (15:12 GMT), set for about a $5 weekly gain, or almost 8 percent.

U.S. crude for May delivery rose 28 cents to $67.35, up more than 8 percent for the week.

On Wednesday, both oil benchmarks hit their highest since late 2014 after U.S. President Donald Trump warned missiles “will be coming” in response to a suspected gas attack in Syria and after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles over Riyadh.

On Thursday, Trump tweeted that an attack on Syria “could be very soon or not so soon at all.”

“The Syrian escalation risk cannot be fully written off, but we view that it deserves less of a premium than three days ago,” Petromatrix said in a note.

A global oil stocks surplus is close to evaporating, OPEC said on Thursday, adding that its collective output fell to 31.96 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, down 201,000 bpd from February.

Vienna-based OPEC and its oil producer allies are poised to extend their supply reduction pact into 2019 even as the global glut of crude looks set to be eradicated by September, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo told Reuters.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which coordinates the energy policies of industrialized nations, signalled on Friday that markets could become too tight if supply remains restrained.

“It is not for us to declare on behalf of the Vienna agreement countries that it is ‘mission accomplished’, but if our outlook is accurate, it certainly looks very much like it,” the IEA said.

A oil pump is seen at sunset outside Scheibenhard, near Strasbourg, France, October 6, 2017 . REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/Files

Meanwhile China’s March crude oil imports climbed to the second-highest level on record

China’s rising investment in research and expansion of its higher education system

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HONG KONG (Reuters) - China’s rising investment in research and expansion of its higher education system mean that it is fast closing the gap with the United States in intellectual property and the struggle to be the No.1 global technology power, according to patent experts.

FILE PHOTO: A Chinese national flag flutters at the headquarters of a commercial bank on a financial street in central Beijing, China November 24, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

While U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of punitive tariffs on high-tech U.S. exports could slow Beijing’s momentum, it won’t turn back the tide, they say. Washington’s allegation that the Chinese have engaged in intellectual property theft over many years - which is denied by Beijing - is a central reason for the worsening trade conflict between the U.S. and China.

Forecasts for how long it will take for Beijing to close the technological gap vary - though several patent specialists say it could happen in the next decade. And China is already leapfrogging ahead in a couple of areas.

“With the number of scientists China is training every year it will eventually catch up, regardless of what the U.S. does,” said David Shen, head of IP for China at global law firm Allen & Overy.

Indeed, IP lawyers now see President Xi Jinping’s pledge earlier this week to protect foreign IP rights as projecting confidence in China’s position as a leading innovator in sectors such as telecommunications and online payments, as well as its ability to catch up in other areas.

Last year, China overtook Japan as the No. 2 patent filer in the world, with 13.4 percent annual growth, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation. If maintained, the pace will take it above the United States in just over a year, a strong indication of its ambitions.

That progress has been built on foundations which are likely to strengthen further.

China now spends 2.1 percent of its gross domestic product on research and development, not yet matching U.S. levels of 2.75 percent, but a remarkable increase from just 0.7 percent in the 1990s and nearing the 2.35 percent average among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

World Bank data shows China now produces 1,177 R&D researchers per million of its population, three times the level in the 1990s and in line with the world average. The U.S. produces many more researchers per million - at 4,321 - but that is more than offset by China’s population being about four times the size.

And the number of Chinese researchers is only going to increase.

According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, China now enrols more than 40 percent of its students in tertiary education, half the U.S. percentage, but a staggering rise from 0.1 percent in the 1970s.

“If you’re looking out 5-10 years you’ll see a much more level playing field in terms of innovation, especially around online platforms, digital innovation, machine learning and artificial intelligence,” said Richard Titherington, chief investment officer for Asian emerging markets at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, who overseas $80 billion in assets.

Titherington says online payments is the clearest example where China has leapfrogged the United States, with mobile phones replacing credit cards almost entirely as a form of payment in major Chinese cities, while “many Americans still use cheques.”

He said that stock markets provide one sign of Chinese progress - at least in the eyes of investors. The total returns on Facebook Inc stock since its listing in 2012 were 373 percent, versus 883 percent for its Chinese social media rival Tencent Holdings. In microblogging, Twitter Inc returned a 28 percent loss since its 2014 listing, while Weibo Corp a whopping 656 percent gain.

IP experts, however, say China is still behind in areas such as semiconductors, robotics, and biotech.

QUALITY GAP

Patent numbers also do not tell the whole story. There is a perceived gap in quality, which suggests China will take a while longer to catch up.

Smartphone maker Huawei Technologies is the only Chinese company that made it into Clarivate Analytics’ top 100 innovators last year, a ranking based not only on patent volumes, but also on their influence on other organizations.

In 2016, China produced almost 500,000 scientific papers according to data from global information analytics firm Elsevier, taking the No.2 spot globally and closing in on America’s 600,000. The gap has halved in five years.

But on average, a Chinese paper gets 0.93 citations, versus 1.23 for U.S. documents. Citations are an indication of how valuable a researcher’s work is seen by his or her peers.

On that metric, China is 11 places behind the United States in 33rd, with only countries that published more than 10,000 papers included. Gabriela Kennedy, head of Asia IP at global law firm Mayer Brown JSM, says that could be a proxy for the quality of each country’s research work.

“(The Chinese) are very successful in what they’re doing in some large companies, but if you look beyond that they’re not particularly innovative,” Kennedy said. “But I don’t think it’s going to take them long.”

If Washington wants to slow China’s technological advance, it might consider measures that further restrict what products U.S. companies license to Chinese firms and broaden definitions of trade secrets, lawyers say.

But they also warn tougher rules could be counterproductive as firms can find ways around them, including by setting up entities in non-U.S. jurisdictions to maintain access to the vast Chinese market.

“If the U.S. government were to go to the extreme of not allowing U.S. companies to disclose their IP in China, that could hurt the U.S. companies as well,” said Ling Ho, a partner with law firm Clifford Chance, and a specialist in IP disputes.

POLITICAL WILL

Xi pledged on Tuesday China will protect the intellectual property of foreign firms, saying he hoped foreign countries did the same.

Lawyers say Chinese IP protection laws are comparable to U.S. and European legal standards. The fault is in implementation, with high levels of bureaucracy, court decisions applying on a provincial level rather than nationally and judges often having different interpretations of the laws.

The recent creation of a State Intellectual Property Office, however, shows political intent and should lead to more uniform enforcement, said Loke-Khoon Tan, head of the IP Practice Group in Hong Kong and China at Baker McKenzie and author of the book “Pirates in the Middle Kingdom: The Art of Trademark War”.

“The political will is articulated in a very powerful way and once it’s communicated to each of the bureaucracies lower down I expect very positive things,” he said. “Our clients would be more encouraged and incentivised to test their cases.”

For a graphic on the tech race: tmsnrt.rs/2Hfu2h1

For a graphic on R&D spending: tmsnrt.rs/2GV8zKR