Thirsty data centres spring up in water-poor Mexican town

A two-year long drought in the semi-desert municipality of Colón, in the central Mexican state of Querétaro, has left many struggling with dead crops and water rationing.But at the same time, the local government in Querétaro is giving incentives to companies to build data centres that generally use large amounts of water to cool their servers.AI is also set to increase the amount of water data centres use as the power-intensive processors needed have greater cooling requirements than conventional servers.“Querétaro is becoming the data centre valley,” the state’s Secretary for Sustainable Development, Marco del Prete, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.Querétaro’s conservative governor, Mauricio Kuri, is leading the drive to attract data centres to Colón, which has drawn $10bn of investment for new data centres from Microsoft, Google and Amazon.Ana Valdivia, a lecturer in AI at Oxford University, said companies were “going to places that they feel are welcoming, first because maybe the governments are facilitating that with some incentive like tax benefits or land benefits”.Miguel Ángel Carapia, the head of Vórtice IT, a group that represents tech companies in the state, explained Querétaro was ideal for data centres because it was safe, near Mexico City and not prone to earthquakes or other natural disasters.But both the companies building data centres in Colón and Querétaro’s government declined requests for information about how much water they would use and what impact that would have on a population already suffering water shortages.The arrival of data centres in other water-stressed Latin American countries, such as Uruguay and Chile, sparked protests.There are also data centres operating in Mexico City and the state of Nuevo León, where droughts have fuelled protests over water concessions that favour big companies over the parched population.Microsoft said its data centres in Querétaro would use technology to reduce its use of water for cooling and would only consume water “less than 5% of the year”.A spokesperson for Amazon Web Services said it had chosen “an air-cooled data centre design, which will not require the ongoing use of cooling water in operations”.Google said it was partnering with environmentally responsible suppliers that would reduce its water consumption.While some data centres have become more water efficient, they still add to the overall demand for the resource, said Arman Shehabi, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, a US federally funded research centre in California.Environmental activist Teresa Roldán said more data centres would deepen the water shortage and unequal distribution of water resources in the region.“If there is no water for the population, much less will there be water for the companies,” the activist said.Fifty minutes away from Colón, La Salitrera is a community of some 400 small farmers and fishermen that depends on the tourists who come see two dams between the yellowed hills.But for more than two years, the Colón area has suffered drought. From April to July this year, the drought was officially classified as exceptional, the highest level of water scarcity.The dams are now nearly empty and tourist numbers have also fallen. Water is so low in the dams that fish are not growing large enough to be caught in the fishermen’s nets.The drought is related to abnormal rainy seasons and deforestation for cattle ranching, said Ricardo Villarreal, who runs a reforesting project.In the market, farmers sell the scarce produce that survived the heat and drought. Guadalupe Hernández grows blackberries on a small patch of land and gets water only every 15 days. Sometimes the water is stolen at night.“I have lost 60% of my crop. With no crop, there’s no money,” said Hernández, 68, who sells blackberries to tourists.Agripina Nieves, who runs a small restaurant by La Soledad dam, said her home only gets water every eight days.Using plastic water jugs and containers, Nieves stores enough water to drink, wash dishes, clean floors and to use in the restrooms of both her house and restaurant.“We had never had such water scarcity,” she said. “What will poor people do without water?”In 2020, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced a $1.1bn investment by Microsoft in cloud data centres. Three years later, Microsoft obtained a concession to extract 25mn litres a year from underground for just one of its two data centres units in Colón.That equates to 24% of the water allocated to the municipality for public and urban use sourced from springs in the region, according to data by the National Water Commission (CONAGUA).A spokesperson for CONAGUA said it had not granted new water concessions in Querétaro and that Microsoft had legally bought its concession from another owner.Water for the data centre will come from the Valle de San Juan del Río aquifer, which already has a deficit of 56.8bn litres, a water commission analysis showed.Asked about how much water was being allocated to the 20 data centres in the state, Del Prete said he does not “have the data because it is not in my power to request it”, but equated their water consumption to what a restaurant uses in a month.Apart from the Microsoft concession, water for other data centres, CONAGUA said, would come from state infrastructure, or concessions already granted to industrial parks in the region.“There is no way of knowing how water is being distributed to those data centres. The only certainty is data centres are being privileged over the citizens’ well-being,” said Roldán. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690136/international/thirsty-data-centres-spring-up-in-water-poor-mexican-town

Paris mayor says Olympic rings to stay on Eiffel Tower ‘until 2028’

Paris’s mayor said yesterday that she intends to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower until at least 2028 despite criticism of the idea from some residents and lawmakers.The logo of five interlocking rings was erected on the beloved monument before the July 28-August 11 Olympics in Paris and has become a popular backdrop for selfies by visitors.Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor in power since 2014, caused widespread surprise last weekend by saying she intended to retain the symbol.“The proposal that I have made for the rings ... is a proposal that until 2028, until the Games in Los Angeles, we will leave the rings on the Eiffel Tower,” she told reporters at a press conference. “Perhaps after 2028, they’ll stay and maybe they won’t. Let’s see.”The idea has sparked criticism from many opposition Parisian lawmakers, residents as well as conservation groups.The descendants of the tower’s designer, Gustave Eiffel, issued a statement saying that it “does not seem appropriate to us that the Eiffel Tower, which has become the symbol of Paris and the whole of France since its construction 135 years ago, has the symbol of an outside organisation added to it”.Deputy mayor Pierre Rabadan confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that Hidalgo wanted to keep the rings permanently on the tower.The Agitos logo for the Paralympic Games, which wrap up tomorrow, was placed on the Arc de Triomphe but will be moved to a location mid-way up the Champs-Elysees avenue, Hidalgo added.Some critics have slammed the Eiffel Tower announcement as a personal initiative taken without consulting the city’s council, or the capital’s residents more broadly.“The mayor of Paris is not someone who lets opportunities slip by,” Hidalgo told reporters. “When you’re mayor you take decisions because you are legitimate to take them.”The rings belong to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while the Eiffel Tower is the property of the city of Paris.It is on a list of protected monuments which is likely to complicate the task of keeping the logo.The current rings will have to be removed because they are too heavy to keep on the monument, with the IOC financing a technical study to design new, lighter versions that can be attached to an attraction known affectionately by Parisians as “the Iron Lady”. – AFP

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690135/international/paris-mayor-says-olympic-rings-to-stay-on-eiffel-tower-until-2028

Zelensky pushes for promised weapons as Russia advances

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made a fresh appeal yesterday for more weapons to counter the threat from advancing Russian forces in the east of the country and Moscow’s devastating missile strikes.He pressed his nation’s case to allies meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Washington unveiled a new $250mn in military aid for Ukraine.“We need more weapons to drive Russian forces off our land,” said Zelensky, who also met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.The gathering came as Moscow’s forces advance in the Donbas region, Russian President Vladimir Putin having declared on Thursday that capturing the eastern area was his “primary objective” in the conflict.Zelensky urged Kyiv’s supporters to follow through on previous commitments.“The number of air defence systems that have not been delivered is significant,” he said.And he again called for restrictions to be lifted on the use of long-range Western weapons.“We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory,” Zelensky said.Asked about Zelensky’s appeal, US defence chief Lloyd Austin said: “I don’t believe that one specific capability is going to be decisive.“It’s not just one thing, it’s a combination of capabilities and how you integrate those capabilities to achieve objectives,” said Austin.Later in the day Zelensky arrived in Cernobbio, northern Italy, for the European House-Ambrosetti forum on the banks of Lake Como.He is due to hold talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni there today.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – who upset his EU counterparts and Zelensky by meeting Putin in Moscow in July – is also attending the three-day economic forum.Italy has strongly supported Ukraine and has sent weapons to help it defend itself against Russian forces, while insisting these must only be used on Ukrainian soil.At the meeting in Germany, Austin said Washington’s latest military aid package “will surge in more capabilities to meet Ukraine’s evolving requirements”.The assistance will include ammunition for HIMARS precision rocket launchers, artillery rounds, anti-tank and anti-air weapons, the US said.The talks in Germany, with representatives from some 50 nations, focused on areas including bolstering Ukraine’s air defences and encouraging allies to boost their defence industries.Since the start of Russia’s offensive in February 2022 when it failed to seize the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Moscow has adapted its aims, concentrating instead on trying to conquer eastern Ukraine.While Ukraine’s surprise push into Russia’s Kursk region last month caught Russian forces off-guard, Putin stressed that the move had failed to slow Moscow’s advance.Ukraine claimed yesterday to have recaptured a part of the eastern Ukrainian town of New York, in what would be the first success for Kyiv on this part of the front for months.North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking in Oslo yesterday, said that Kyiv needed more military support and that the “quickest way to end this war is to provide weapons to Ukraine.“Putin must realise that he cannot win on the battlefield, but must accept a just and lasting peace where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent nation,” he said.The United States has been Ukraine’s biggest backer during the conflict, providing military aid worth more than $55bn (€50bn) since February 2022.However, uncertainty looms over the future of that funding as a US election in November could see Ukraine-sceptic Donald Trump back in the White House.Germany – Ukraine’s second-biggest backer – has also come under pressure domestically over its aid for Kyiv, which has been at the centre of a protracted row over the 2025 budget.German officials have repeatedly pushed back at criticism over a planned reduction in financial support next year.After talks with Zelensky in Frankfurt yesterday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X that “Germany is and will remain the strongest supporter of Ukraine in Europe”.German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also announced on the sidelines of the meeting that his country would provide 12 artillery pieces valued at €150mn.“I’m grateful to Germany, its government, and its people for all their support,” Zelensky said in a social media post after meeting with Pistorius.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690133/international/zelensky-pushes-for-promised-weapons-as-russia-advances

Former Brexit negotiator Barnier is French premier

French President Emmanuel Macron has named the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as new prime minister, counting on the veteran politician to end two months of political deadlock after snap elections.Barnier, 73, the oldest premier in the history of modern France, has been tasked with forming “a unifying government in the service of the country”, the presidency said.In a striking contrast, the former foreign minister succeeds Gabriel Attal, 35, a man less than half his age and who served only eight months in office during a period of political turbulence unprecedented in recent times in France.Macron’s move towards “cohabitation” with Barnier, a member of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party and not affiliated to the president’s centrist faction, was greeted with dismay by the left which will now seek to topple him with a no-confidence motion.Controversially, the president appears to be counting on the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen to keep Barnier in power by voting against such a motion.A left-wing coalition emerged as France’s biggest political force after the elections earlier this summer, but with not enough seats for an overall majority in an imbroglio that has taken weeks to unravel.Macron’s centrist faction and the far-right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly, with the RN as the single largest party.The president had considered a string of potential prime ministers in recent weeks, none of whom mustered enough support to guarantee a stable government.Macron believes Barnier can find a majority in the fractured National Assembly, according to the presidency.“The president believes the prime minister and the future government can meet the conditions to be as stable as possible,” it said.Barnier has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his party’s nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022 during a campaign where he tacked further right and suggested a moratorium on immigration.The former foreign minister and EU commissioner is “Macron-compatible” and would not be immediately voted out by parliament, an advisor to the president told AFP, asking not to be named.A minister in the outgoing government, who also asked not to be named, said that Barnier is “very popular with right-wing members of parliament without being an irritant on the left”.The RN of Le Pen indicated that it would not automatically vote down Barnier and would wait and see what programme he lays out in his first address to parliament.“We will wait to see Mr Barnier’s policy speech,” said Le Pen.Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande said he believed the RN had “given a kind of endorsement” to Barnier’s appointment.As well as two stints as an EU commissioner and handling the thorny negotiations on Britain’s exit from the bloc, Barnier served as a minister under the right-wing administrations of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed his nomination, saying that she knew Barnier had “the interests of Europe and France at heart”.With a half century career behind him, Barnier who proudly extols his origins in the French Alps rather than Paris, first become a member of parliament aged just 27.The composition of the new cabinet – set to be announced in the coming days – will be closely watched for signs of concessions to Macron’s political foes.Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose Unbowed party (LFI) and allies belong to a left-wing bloc, said Macron naming Barnier meant the election had been “stolen from the French”.He called for street protests tomorrow.Another hard-left lawmaker, Mathilde Panot, called it an “unacceptable democratic coup”.Macron’s decision comes under the gun of a deadline to submit a draft 2025 budget for France’s strained government finances before October 1.It also marks his attempt to acknowledge rejection of his seven-year rule without giving up on hard-fought reforms, chief among them last year’s widely resented increase to the official retirement age to 64 from 62.Barnier’s “task looks tough, but difficulty has never scared him”, said former prime minister Edouard Philippe who earlier this week announced that he would seek to succeed Macron in 2027 presidential elections.After the July election deprived Macron of his relative majority in parliament, the centrist president drew out the appointment of a new prime minister for a period unprecedented since World War II, through the July-August Olympic Games and beyond.Attal, who commentators believe harbours further political ambitions, bowed out by releasing a slick video of his time in office on his social media channels.“The bond we have is the most precious thing I have. Count on me to keep on threading it,” he said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690083/international/former-brexit-negotiator-barnier-is-french-premier

Harris accepts rules to debate Trump, including muted mics

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has accepted the rules of next week’s debate against Republican Donald Trump, including microphones being muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The debate would be the first between Trump and Harris, who took over as the Democratic candidate from President Joe Biden following the latter’s decision to step aside on July 21 after a faltering debate performance in late June against the former president.The source, who declined to be identified, said the Harris campaign was still hoping for moments where ABC News, which will host the September 10 debate, is forced to unmute the mics and let the candidates respond.Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket has re-energised a Democratic campaign that had harboured doubts about Biden’s chances.Polls showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden but Harris has since edged ahead of the Republican candidate in some national opinion polls.Over the weekend, Harris called on Trump to debate her with their microphones switched on throughout the event.So-called “hot mics” can help or hurt political candidates, catching off-hand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public.Muted microphones also prevent the debaters from interrupting their opponent.Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said he is thrilled that Harris and her team had accepted the rules.“Americans want to hear both candidates present their competing visions to the voters, unburdened by what has been,” he said. “No notes, no sitting down, no advance copies of the questions.”Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz and Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance have also agreed to an October 1 debate on CBS News.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690082/international/harris-accepts-rules-to-debate-trump-including-muted-mics

Bangladesh ex-PM should ‘keep quiet’ until trial: Yunus

Bangladesh’s ousted premier Sheikh Hasina should “keep quiet” while exiled in India until she is brought home for trial, interim leader Muhammad Yunus told Indian media yesterday.Hasina, 76, fled to India by helicopter one month ago as protesters marched on her palace in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.An interim government led by Nobel laureate Yunus has been under public pressure to demand her extradition and trial over the hundreds of demonstrators killed during the weeks of unrest that ultimately toppled her.“If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” Yunus, 84, told the Press Trust of India news agency.“Sitting in India, she is speaking and giving instructions. No one likes it. It’s not good for us or for India.”Hasina has remained in India, her former government’s biggest patron and benefactor, since her August 5 overthrow, inflaming tensions between the two South Asian neighbours.She made a public statement the week after her arrival calling for Bangladeshis to gather in Dhaka to mark the 1975 assassination of her father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Hasina’s comments were seen as a provocative effort to galvanise members of her Awami League party and undermine law and order in the fragile first days after Yunus took office.The gathering was prevented by a counter-demonstration outside her childhood home in the capital by a mob that beat suspected Awami League supporters with sticks and rods.Yunus did not say whether a formal extradition request had been made to India. His government has avoided committing itself to demanding her return.Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.Numerous criminal cases have been lodged against Hasina and senior Awami League figures over the deaths of protesters in a police crackdown on the student-led uprising that ultimately ousted her.Thousands attended a demonstration in Dhaka to mark one month since Hasina’s toppling and to remember those killed during the unrest, with some chanting demands for the hanging of the “killer Hasina”.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690074/international/bangladesh-ex-pm-should-keep-quiet-until-trial-yunus

India, Singapore sign deal to co-operate on semiconductors

The leaders of India and Singapore yesterday signed an agreement to partner and co-operate in semiconductors, in a deal aimed at giving Singaporean firms a greater role in supply chains in the Indian market, the two countries said.A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Singapore, his fifth overall and first since 2018.“Singapore and India will leverage complementary strengths in their semiconductor ecosystems and tap on opportunities to build resilience in their semiconductor supply chains,” Singapore’s trade ministry said in a statement. “This will include government-led policy exchanges on ecosystem development, supply chain resilience, and workforce development.”Tiny Singapore has long punched above its weight in the sector, accounting for 11% of the global semiconductor market, with 20% of global semiconductor equipment manufactured in the country.Semiconductors are a key plank of India’s business agenda, with a $10bn package in place to boost the industry’s push to compete in future with countries like chipmaking heavyweight Taiwan. India expects its semiconductor market to be worth $63bn by 2026.In February, it gave the go-ahead to construction of three semiconductor plants worth over $15bn by firms including Tata Group and CG Power, with plans to manufacture and package chips for sectors including defence, autos and telecommunication.Modi met Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former premier Lee Hsien Loong during the visit. Three other agreements were also signed, on digital technologies, education and skills development and on health and medicine, according to India’s foreign ministry. India and Singapore yesterday also called for the peaceful resolution of all maritime disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, without use of force.“Both sides also called on all parties to resolve disputes through peaceful means without threat or use of force and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of actions that could escalate tensions in the region,” they said in a joint statement.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690073/international/india-singapore-sign-deal-to-co-operate-on-semiconductors

1 Killed, 2 Injured in shooting in Germany

One was killed and two others were injured in a shooting incident in the Schoneberg district in northern Germany.The German fire department said that the incident, which took place Wednesday night, has not yet been clarified, and its circumstances are still unclear.According to preliminary data, one of the two men who were at the scene was confirmed to have been seriously injured, the second to have been slightly injured, while attempts to revive the third man at the scene failed.The German police secured the area on a large scale.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690044/international/1-killed-2-injured-in-shooting-in-germany

Hunger reaches highest point in US in decade

Hunger reached its highest point in the United States in nearly a decade last year, with 18 million households, or 13.5%, struggling at some point to secure enough food, US Department of Agriculture report released on Wednesday said. Hunger has been on the rise in the country since 2021, after years of decline. US Census Bureau data last year showed a rise in food insecurity after the end of programs that expanded food aid during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anti-hunger group Feeding America found in May that hungry people in the United States were facing a $33.1 billion shortfall in money to meet their food needs, in part due to higher food prices. Expanding federal food aid and the child tax credit would help address the problem, anti-hunger groups have said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690028/international/hunger-reaches-highest-point-in-us-in-decade

4 dead in US school shooting in Georgia

At least four people died and nine were wounded in a high school shooting in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday, law enforcement authorities said, with a suspect taken into custody.After the latest chapter of America’s gun violence crisis — nearly 400 mass shootings this year alone, by one tally — people gathered at a sports field outside Apalachee High School, some forming a circle with their arms linked.The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four people had been killed. There was no immediate word on a motive.“An additional nine taken to various hospitals with injuries. Suspect in custody and alive. Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralised’ are inaccurate,” the bureau said in a social media post.Earlier, school authorities were reported to have sent a message to parents saying they were enforcing a “hard lockdown after reports of gunfire.”After the all-clear was given, parents were invited to the school to be reunited with their children, with long lines of vehicles visible outside.A student told local media that he saw blood on the floors and a body as he was led out of the building by authorities.“I heard gunshots go off... I thought it was fake until I heard more gunshots and screaming,” said the student, whose name was not given by the Fox 5 News channel.The school is near the town of Winder, about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta, the state capital.US President Joe Biden said he was mourning the dead.“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” he said, referring to the frequency of such attacks across the country.School shootings have become a sadly regular occurrence in the United States, where about a third of adults own a firearm and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.Polls show a majority of voters favour stricter controls on the use and purchase of firearms, but the powerful gun ownership lobby is opposed to additional restrictions and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to act.Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire after the shooting, Vice-President Kamala Harris said it was time to end the “epidemic of gun violence.”Local television footage showed ambulances driving across a school field about two hours after the attack was first reported, and scores of vehicles parked around the school.A crowd of people was visible on the football field, with some gathered in a circle with their arms linked.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690023/international/4-dead-in-us-school-shooting-in-georgia

Xi hosts two dozen African leaders at China’s biggest summit in years

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will host over two dozen African leaders at a lavish dinner in Beijing, kicking off the city’s biggest summit in years with promises of co-operation in infrastructure, energy and education.China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to tap continent’s vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals. It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but also sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.Twenty-five African leaders have arrived in Beijing or confirmed attendance at this week’s China-Africa forum, according to an AFP tally, including some whose countries face a rising risk of debt distress.The forum kicked off yesterday evening with a family photo and a lavish dinner in the Great Hall of the People — followed by an opening ceremony at which Xi will deliver a speech the next day. Chinese state media has this week lauded Xi as a “true friend of Africa”, claiming Beijing’s ties were reaching “new heights” under his stewardship.As of yesterday, the Chinese leader had held talks with over a dozen African counterparts in Beijing, a tally of state media reporting showed.Meeting Tuesday with Bola Tinubu, president of Nigeria — one of China’s biggest borrowers on the continent — Xi called for great co-operation in the “development of infrastructure, energy and mineral resources”, state news agency Xinhua said.And in talks with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa that same day, he promised co-operation in “investment, trade, infrastructure, mineral resources” and others.He also backed Zimbabwe in its struggle against “illegal sanctions” - imposed by the United States in response to corruption and human rights abuses by the country’s leadership.Analysts say that Beijing’s largesse towards the continent is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/690000/international/xi-hosts-two-dozen-african-leaders-at-chinas-biggest-summit-in-years