Billionaire philanthropist and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday promised US$4.5 million to fulfill the US’ commitment to the Paris climate agreement.
“America made a commitment and as an American if the government’s not going to do it we all have responsibility,” he told CBS television’s Face the Nation.
In June last year, US President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw from the pact, championed by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
The president, whose Republican Party has strong ties to the fossil fuel industry, said that the agreement was unfair to the world’s largest economy.
“I’m able to do it. So, yes, I’m going to send them a check for the monies that America had promised to the organization as though they got it from the federal government,” Bloomberg said.
The landmark treaty was agreed by 197 nations in 2015 after intense negotiations in Paris, where all countries made voluntary carbon-cutting pledges running to 2030.
Days after the announcement the US was quitting the agreement, Bloomberg led nearly 1,000 business and government officials in declaring they would honor the accord.
The group, including the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google and known collectively as “We Are Still In,” branded Trump’s decision “a grave mistake that endangers the American public and hurts America’s economic security and diplomatic reputation.”
Meanwhile 76-year-old Bloomberg, who was mayor from 2002 to 2013, also pledged to muster US$15 million for the UN’s climate body.
Trump in January said he would be willing to sign the US back up to the Paris climate accord, but only if the treaty undergoes major changes.
Bloomberg said he hoped Trump would change his mind in time for next year’s payment due from the US.
“He’s been known to change his mind. That is true,” Bloomberg said. “But he should change his mind and say look there really is a problem here. America is part of the problem. America is a big part of the solution, and we should go in and help the world stop a potential disaster.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not