Italy’s Meloni torn between Trump and European allegiance

BRUSSELS: Last year was Ukraine’s worst year for wildfires in more than three decades of record-keeping, as shelling along front lines in the war with Russia triggered an unprecedented number of blazes, scientists said.
Forest fires in Ukraine in 2024 burnt more than twice the area destroyed by fire in the entire 27-country European Union in 2024, the EU’s Joint Research Center — its independent science research service — said in a report published this week.
Satellite data showed nearly 9,000 fires torched a total of 965,000 hectares in Ukraine in 2024. Ukraine has around 10 million hectares, or 100,000 sq km (38,610 sq miles), of forest. Around a third of the area burned last year was farmland.
For comparison, the EU member state with the most land burnt last year was Portugal, which lost 147,000 hectares — its worst annual total since 2017.
The JRC said satellite data showed the fires were concentrated in Ukraine’s east, in areas apparently in close proximity to front lines of the war.
Ukrainian forests have incurred severe damage as both Russian and Ukrainian armed forces blast thousands of shells at each other every day, shredding the earth.
Maksym Matsala, a forest researcher at Sweden’s University of Agricultural Sciences, said the main cause was artillery and falling shells igniting fires.
He said the jump in fires last year was partly because of a large build-up of dead and damaged trees since Russia’s invasion in 2022, which had created plentiful fuel for fires during extremely dry weather in 2024.
“If war is continuous, then sooner or later there will be a lot of inaccessible areas and a lot of areas with accumulating dead wood,” Matsala told Reuters.
Ukraine’s forests are also riddled with land mines and unexploded ordnance that can detonate during fires — making it impossible for firefighters to control the flames.
The EU data only goes back to 2020, but when cross-checked with data from researchers at Ukraine’s National University of Life and Environmental Sciences, 2024 was the worst year for forest fires in Ukraine since at least 1990.
Climate change is exacerbating wildfires by increasing the hot and dry conditions that help them spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely, scientists say. Hotter weather saps moisture from vegetation, turning it into dry fuel.
Ukraine’s fires mostly occurred during summer, when this kind of fire-prone weather is more frequent.

Dhaka: The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, departed on Wednesday for China, where he will meet President Xi Jinping and also mark his first bilateral state visit since assuming the role of chief adviser, his office said.

Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and economics professor, will address the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan, southern China — an annual conference focusing on the changing role of Asia — from where he will travel to Beijing.

His bilateral with Xi is scheduled for Friday, marking their first meeting since Yunus assumed office in August 2024.

“The main focus of this visit is to boost economic cooperation … We are expecting that a number of (memoranda of understanding) will be inked during this visit. The MoUs will cover mostly the areas of economic cooperation,” Azad Majumder, Yunus’ deputy press secretary, told Arab News.

“One of the main focuses of discussion will be bringing more investments from China in our dedicated Chinese Economic Zone.”

Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Dhaka’s former envoy to Beijing, said it was significant that Yunus was choosing China for his first state visit, especially as relations with another regional superpower, India, have soured since the change in government.

India was a close ally of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government. She has also sought refuge in New Delhi after deadly protests that unseated her last year. Until now, India has not responded to Bangladesh’s request to send her home for trial.

The situation opens the door for China — India’s key rival — to expand its footprint.

“For our interim government, this China visit is very significant. It’s the first bilateral visit to any country by Prof. Yunus as the chief adviser,” Ahmad said.

“It’s an opportunity for Bangladesh to boost the relationship with China and explore new areas of cooperation …. It’s an issue of mutual benefit for Bangladesh and China.”

Yunus’ office said he will also seek Chinese investment in healthcare and the establishment of a large hospital in Bangladesh to reduce the trend of medical tourism abroad.

Many Bangladeshis have sought treatment in neighboring India, but it has lately become difficult to obtain Indian visas.

“It has been reported that China is interested in providing a grant of $138 million for building medical facilities. If that proposal moves forward, it will be a good thing. There is a ready opportunity for China, as India is not issuing enough visas for Bangladeshis now. A lion’s share of our medical tourism can be shifted to China,” Humayun Kabir, former Bangladeshi ambassador to the US, told Arab News.

“There are opportunities to attract more investments from China. Our government is very eager in this regard. We have dedicated an economic zone for Chinese investors … Secondly, we are in need of budget support at this moment. If China provides some financial assistance, it would be of great help. Our previous regime also sought this support, but it didn’t materialize.”