Leaders warn sanctions on Russia will remain

ELMAU, Germany – The world should move away from using fossil fuels by the end of this century, G-7 leaders announced Monday, setting an ambitious but distant goal ahead of a global summit on climate change this year.

The leaders of seven wealthy democracies also warned Russia that sanctions imposed for its actions against Ukraine would remain until a cease-fire is fully observed in eastern Ukraine — and those sanctions could be made tougher if the situation requires.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose turn it was to host the annual gathering, pressed for a commitment to “decarbonize” the global economy — that is, to eliminate most carbon dioxide emissions from burning oil, gas and coal. While the goal was set for the end of the century, the seven leaders also asserted that “urgent and concrete action is needed to address climate change.”

Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide, which traps the sun’s

heat and warms the atmosphere. The leaders agreed to press for a reduction, by 2050, of 40 to 70 percent in the 2010 global emission levels of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The range was a disappointment to some environmental activists, but the leaders added they recommended the “upper end” of that range.

They also said they would commit to a “transformation of the energy sectors” in their countries to produce fewer carbon emissions.

The word “decarbonization” implies the replacement of carbon-based fossil fuels by alternative sources such as wind and solar power. The statement did not specify “full” de-carbonization, and the term is open to interpretations that include the use of some fossil fuels. It also does not mean the elimination of nuclear power.

Merkel set climate change as a key topic for the gathering, just like she did the last time she hosted it in 2007.

Her goal was to come up with a united stance among the group’s advanced economies in order to better advocate for the goals at a much broader climate summit to be held in Paris in December. The thinking was that negotiations with other countries — including major greenhouse gas emitters such as China and India — would be easier if the developed world took a united position.

Ulf Moslener, professor of sustainable energy finance at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, said the G-7 statement was “largely a confirmation of what has already been agreed” upon on climate change.

Its chief value was in getting the developed countries on the same page ahead of climate change negotiations with developing countries.

He said “decarbonization” usually refers to a major reduction in the output of carbon emissions to, for example, 20 percent of current emissions.

“That is very ambitious” and does imply substantial change, he said, “though it has to be said it’s a rather long time horizon.”

Merkel and President Barack Obama devoted much of their one-on-one meeting during the summit to Ukraine, where renewed fighting has broken out in recent days.

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Philippines Ferry Accident, Wow !

MANILA, Philippines – A ferry carrying 189 passengers and crew capsized Thursday minutes after it left a central Philippine port in choppy waters, leaving at least 35 dead and 20 others missing, coast guard officials said.

They said at least 134 people from the M/B Kim Nirvana were rescued by nearby fishing boats and coast guard personnel or swam to safety off Ormoc city on Leyte Island.

Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said the wooden outrigger ferry was leaving Ormoc for the Camotes Islands, about 44 kilometers (27 miles) to the south, when it was lashed by strong waves.

He said the captain and some of the crew were rescued and are in custody pending an investigation.

Coast guard officials and survivors said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the 36-ton ferry, which was carrying a heavy cargo of construction materials and bags of rice, to overturn.

Survivors told The Associated Press by cellphone that the bow suddenly rose from the water before the vessel flipped over on one side, turning it upside down and trapping passengers underneath.

Among the passengers who survived were at least three U.S. citizens and a Canadian.

Lawrence Drake, 48, a retired firefighter from Rochester, New York, said he was able to revive a woman who wasn’t breathing while they were in the water via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Drake said he also saved the woman’s pregnant daughter and an 8-year-old boy. He said he saw at least seven bodies floating in the water, including two children.

Many of the passengers were screaming in panic, he said.

Drake’s Filipino wife, Mary Jane, said the ferry was pulling slowly out of the port when it suddenly flipped to the left in strong waves.

“No one was able to jump out because it overturned very swiftly. There was no time to jump,” she said.

TV footage showed coast guard rescuers and army soldiers carrying survivors from rubber boats to a beach. Not far away, the bottom part of the vessel could be seen protruding from the water.

A rescue leader, Ciriaco Tolibao, said army frogmen and coast guard divers were searching the over-turned boat to find more survivors or retrieve bodies. The search was continuing into the night, Balilo said.

Cloudy weather at the time of the accident did not pose any danger that would have prompted the coast guard to stop sea voyages, officials said.

A brewing storm in the Pacific was 550 kilometers (344 miles) east of Ormoc and was too far away to affect any part of the Philippine archipelago, according to forecasters. They said winds in the Ormoc region were not strong enough to whip up dangerous waves.

Ormoc, a regional economic and transportation hub of about 200,000 people, is located in a disaster-prone eastern region that is regularly hit by some of the approximately 20 tropical storms and typhoons that blow in from the Pacific each year.

The city was among those devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 dead and missing and leveled entire villages in 2013.

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Netanyahu apologizes to Israel’s Arab minority

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he knows his “comments last week offended some Israeli citizens.” AP/SEBASTIAN SCHEINER

BY IAN DEITCH

The Associated Press

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Israel’s Arab citizens Monday for remarks he made during last week’s parliament election that offended members of the community.

The move appeared to be an attempt to heal rifts and mute criticism at home and in the United States. Netanyahu drew accusations of racism in Israel, especially from its Arab minority, and a White House rebuke when, just a few hours before polling stations were to close across the country, he warned that Arab citizens were voting “in droves.”

Netanyahu, who’s Likud Party won re-election in the vote, met with members of the Arab community at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday and apologized.

He said he knows his “comments last week offended some Israeli citizens and offended members of the Israeli-Arab community.”

“This was never my intent. I apologize for this,” Netanyahu said. “I view myself as the prime minister of each and every citizen of Israel, without any prejudice based on religion, ethnicity or gender.”

“I view all Israeli citizens as partners in the building of a prosperous and safe state of Israel, for all Israelis,” he also said.

A recently established alliance of four small, mostly Arab parties called the Joint List made unprecedented gains in the March 17 election, earning enough votes to make it the third-largest party in Israel’s parliament. Arab citizens make up 20 percent of Israel’s population. Equality is guaranteed in Israel’s laws but many Arabs have long complained of discrimination, mainly in the job and housing market.

Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List, told channel 2 TV that Netanyahu’s apology was not accepted.

“This is not a real apology,” Odeh said. “He incited against citizens who were exercising their basic right to vote for Knesset.”

Odeh also accused Netanyahu of “zigzagging” by saying one thing one day and a different another.

In the final days of the campaign, Netanyahu angered the U.S. by taking a tough stance toward the Palestinians and by saying a Palestinian state will not be established on his watch in the current climate of regional chaos and violence. Resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in a two state solution is a key U.S. foreign policy priority.

The tough talk was part of a last-ditch attempt by Netanyahu to spur his more hard-line supporters to the polls after it appeared he was losing voters to a more hawkish party.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters Monday that she had not seen the Netanyahu apology but that the Israeli prime minister is hard to read because “he said diametrically opposing things in the matter of a week.”

“When you say things, words matter. And if you say something different two days later, which do we believe,” she said. “What we’re looking for now are actions and policies.”

Netanyahu defended his election-day remarks in the days after the vote. He told NBC last Thursday that he remains committed to Palestinian statehood — if conditions in the region improve — and to the two-state vision first spelled out in a landmark 2009 speech at Israel’s Bar Ilan University. “I haven’t changed my policy,” he said. “I never retracted my speech.”

He told NBC that his government has spent billions in Arab towns to upgrade infrastructure, schools and narrow gaps.

Earlier Monday, Netanyahu secured a majority of backers in the new parliament and will later be tasked with forming the next government.

Israel’s ceremonial president, Reuven Rivlin, has been meeting with the parties in parliament to hear their recommendations before appointing who will form the next coalition government. Kulanu, a new centrist party gave its nod to Netanyahu on Monday, giving him 61 backers out of the 120 in parliament.

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