Latest news with #IRIS
Euronews
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Why do Europeans still believe a nuclear deal with Iran is possible?
Europe hopes to use diplomacy to avoid the threat of all-out war in the Middle East, amid fears that the conflict between Israel and Iran could engulf the wider region. On Friday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, together with the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, will hold talks with representatives of the Tehran regime in Geneva. The meeting aims to de-escalate the fighting between the two Middle Eastern powers, which began when Israel launched airstrikes against Iran and killed some of its top military commanders last Friday. The Europeans seek to initiate a form of shuttle diplomacy between Israel, Iran, Washington and the main European capitals. They would like to reestablish a security dialogue with Tehran, similar to the one interrupted in 2018 when the first Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPA, which was signed by Iran along with China, the EU, France, Germany, Russia and the UK in 2015, stipulated an easing of Western sanctions against the Middle Eastern country in exchange for Tehran's commitment to a drastic reduction of Uranium stockpiles and centrifuges at its nuclear facilities. Such sites are now being targeted by Israeli missile attacks, including those at Natanz and Isfahan. In 2018, despite the UN nuclear agency saying that Tehran was progressively adopting the restrictions required by the agreement, Trump's administration withdrew from the JCPOA, effectively rendering it null and void. By walking back on the JCPOA, the US put an end to one of the main achievements of European foreign policy. David Rigoulet-Roze, an author and associate research fellow at IRIS, a French foreign policy institute, said the cancellation of the Iranian nuclear deal of 2015 was a hasty act. "The agreement had the merit, despite all its imperfections, of existing, of serving as a basis, including for the possible subsequent renegotiation of something more binding', said Rigoulet-Roze. 'Even though, the Europeans were not in control of the process'. The accord represented an opportunity for the EU to reopen trade relations with Iran after decades of US and Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic. However, after the JCPOA's demise, the regime in Tehran stigmatised the EU for the failure of the agreement. 'Somewhat wrongly, because we obviously didn't provoke the cancellation of the accord and we have also suffered the consequences of what is known as the extraterritoriality of American law', Rigoulet-Roze said. He noted the capacity of the US to impose sanctions on a global scale, particularly secondary sanctions, 'which are formidable and which have obviously curbed Europe's desire to develop trade relations that were authorised after 2015'. Iran has been a party to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty since the time of Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was the original founder of Iran's nuclear programme. Therefore, Tehran has been obliged to open up its sites for inspection by UN agencies. This motivated Brussels to treat Iran as a potentially rational actor despite its puzzling decisions and smoke and mirrors regarding its nuclear programme. Years ago, Tehran ended its highly enriched uranium production, yet it continued developing its military conventional ballistic capabilities and financing Middle Eastern proxies, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. "This was a kind of matter of national pride as far as the Iranians were concerned. So I don't think that they, and this is in retrospect, ever planned to negotiate it away,' senior British diplomat and adviser Robert Cooper told Euronews. A strategic nuclear force, Cooper explained, "was going to mark them out as one of the most important powers in the Middle East. And as an international power beyond the Middle East as well." The Iranian nuclear programme and the existence of uranium enrichment equipment and heavy water facilities were officially made public by then-president Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who persuaded France, Germany and the UK to reach a deal that was meant to oblige Tehran to stop the uranium enrichment. Javier Solana, the EU foreign and security policy chief at the time, attended the negotiations in Tehran. The Spanish diplomat was one of the deal's key architects, who believed that a deal is better than any conflict, and that the EU is best poised to broker it. "Solana was fascinated by Iran, and you know, we had a certain admiration for it. Our aim at the time was to persuade the Iranians that a military nuclear programme would make them a target,' Cooper recalled.
Eyewitness News
3 days ago
- General
- Eyewitness News
Sewage, garbage, dirty water: Theewaterskloof is in a mess after years of bad management
CAPE TOWN - In the list of comments on the Theewaterskloof Municipality draft budget, nine residents of Riviersonderend complained about the water being dirty, smelly and undrinkable. An 8% increase in the water tariff has since been passed, yet food and hospitality businesses have had to invest heavily in filtration systems or find alternative sources of water. DA Councillor Piet Stander said the town used to have the best quality water in the Overberg, as it was gravity-fed from the perennial Olifants River in the adjacent mountains, to the reservoir. But Stander said lack of maintenance meant pipe breakages and leaks had not been fixed, so for the past four years, water had been pumped from the Sonderend River, which was polluted by upstream effluent and agricultural runoff, including pesticides. He said the cost of chemicals now needed to treat the water has exceeded what it would have cost to fix the pipes. Riviersonderend is not the only town in the municipality in which the drinking water quality does not meet the minimum national standards. Besides Riviersonderend, the municipality includes Caledon, Greyton, Genadendal, Tesselaarsdal, Botrivier, Villiersdorp, and Grabouw. Only Tesselaarsdal and Botriver have acceptable quality drinking water, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation's Integrated Regulatory Information System (IRIS). The rest are all failing the microbiological standards, having more faecal bacteria in the water than is allowed. IRIS also shows that sewage treatment works in all eight towns are failing, and have been for years in most, releasing sewage that has not been properly treated into the streams and rivers in the area. The Caledon sewage treatment works has just had a R56-million upgrade, paid for in this financial year. But there have been 32 high-level failures this year, with effluent spewed out with E. coli counts of more than double what is allowed, along with high levels of ammonia and other pollution indicators. A visit to the plant found that although new infrastructure and equipment was installed, only half of it appeared to be working. Of four aerators, only two were working, and of two clarifiers, only one was operational. The landfill at Caledon was supposed to have been closed and rehabilitated years only is it still in use, but the refuse dumped there is uncovered, with wind blowing plastic into the surrounding landscape. The management of solid waste in Theewaterskloof is also problematic. The Caledon landfill, carved into the northern side of the Klein Swartberg mountain, is uncovered, and plastic waste is being blown across the landscape. It is also full. The municipality's Spatial Development Framework of 2023 states it should have been closed when a transfer station was completed in the 2020/21 financial year, and the landfill rehabilitated. The transfer station, from which waste is supposed to be taken to Karwyderskraal regional landfill site outside Hermanus, has been completed but is unused, with the paved road in the premises already needing repairs. In Villiersdorp, a transfer station to take waste to Karwyderskraal was built, but has been stripped for use as building material in informal settlements. The Spatial Development Framework states the landfill has been closed and is to be rehabilitated, but as the transfer station is dysfunctional, the landfill, while officially closed, is still used. Residents still use it to dump rubble and garden refuse provided the road there has been graded and is passable. When it is not, they dump their rubbish in the bushes alongside the road. A resident, who asked not to be named, said household refuse is collected and taken to the Caledon landfill. The crumbling pillars of municipal service are reflected in the lack of stability in municipal management. There have been four municipal managers in as many years since the municipal elections and the ousting of Danie Lubbe by the new coalition of the ANC, Patriotic Alliance (PA), EFF, and GOOD. Lubbe was subsequently employed by Langeberg Municipality. The contrast between the two municipalities is stark. The Auditor-General doubts Theewaterskloof can be considered a going concern and racked up more than R300-million in irregular and unauthorised expenditure in 2023/24. But Langeberg received an unqualified audit and no irregular or unauthorised expenditure, and just R5,000 in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The ANC-led coalition, which was heavily reliant on GOOD joining in with its three seats in the 27-seat council, replaced Lubbe with Boy Manqoba Ngubo in June 2022. Manqoba Ngubo's position was finalised with a five-year contract in October that year, but he unexpectedly resigned five months later. The ANC-led coalition then controversially appointed Wilfred Solomons-Johannnes ahead of a better-qualified candidate. Western Cape MEC for local government, Anton Bredell, challenged the appointment, and the high court duly ruled it was illegal. Solomons-Johannes stood down as municipal manager in June 2024. He remains in the municipality as director of community services, but in April was placed on suspension while R41-million in missing disaster relief funds for floods in September 2023 is investigated. Reynold Stevens was then appointed in an acting position from July 2024 until replaced by Walter Hendricks in mid-February. Hendricks was officially appointed from his acting position on 30 May. New municipal manager Walter Hendricks is the fourth municipal manager since Daniel Lubbe was ousted after the 2021 local government elections. Hendricks hopes to get the municipality back on an even financial keel so that municipal services can be improved. Hendricks is frank about the challenges the municipality faces. 'We're in a mess, we don't have money,' Hendricks told GroundUp. 'The first thing we need to do is remain within the boundaries of the law.' Besides the coffers being left empty, he said there were internal challenges with certain people appointed who 'don't add the kind of value you need'. He said his aim was to focus on the municipality's core functions of water, electricity, roads and stormwater, refuse and waste water. 'Luckily, I have a mayor who has bought into that.' He said he was working closely with provincial and National Treasury officials and master plans were in place. Once Theewaterskloof was financially stable again, they could start looking at reinstituting facilities such as swimming pools in the towns, upgrading sports fields and improving libraries. 'We have to eat the elephant bit by bit.'
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
No more Aadhaar photocopies: UIDAI plans to launch app-based verification via QR code
In the coming weeks, Aadhaar holders will be able to share their identity electronically instead of handing over photocopies. A new mobile app from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will let users send either a full or a masked version of the document through a QR code, a TOI report stated. Aadhaar updates from home by November UIDAI will introduce a protocol that lets people update their address, phone number, name and date of birth from home. By November, the only in‑person step will be giving fingerprints and iris scans at an enrolment centre. The move aims to cut paperwork, lower the risk of forged documents and make the process faster for citizens. UIDAI draws data directly from records such as birth certificates, driving licences, passports, PAN, PDS and MNREGA. Talks are also on to link electricity‑bill databases for smoother address checks. New UIDAI app rolls out UIDAI chief executive officer Bhuvnesh Kumar said the agency has shifted about 2,000 of its one lakh enrolment machines to the new app. 'You will soon be able to do everything sitting at home other than providing fingerprints and IRIS,' he told The Times of India. The QR‑code method is set to work for hotel check‑ins, property deals and even identity checks on trains. QR Code method The QR code is designed to limit misuse. 'It offers maximum user control over your own data and can be shared only with consent,' Kumar added. UIDAI is urging states to use the system at property‑registration offices, where document fraud is common. Live Events Focus on children's records UIDAI is also planning drives with school boards such as CBSE to complete mandatory biometric updates for children aged five to seven and again at 15 to 17. Officials estimate eight crore first‑round updates and 10 crore second‑round updates are still pending. Security agencies, hotels and other service providers that are not required to use Aadhaar are in talks with UIDAI to join the system. The wider network is meant to strengthen verification while keeping control with the individual.
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
New report shows more private homes won't end Quebec's housing crisis — it could make it worse
The Montreal skyline as seen from Mount Royal Friday, November 10, 2017 in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press) A new report from the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques (IRIS) shows that building more won't necessarily end Quebec's housing crisis. The research shows that building more through the private sector could have an adverse effect and make housing more expensive. Developers and elected officials have said that the crisis is almost exclusively the result of insufficient supply and that with massive housing construction, prices will decline through a filtering process and vacancy chain. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has also said 3.5 million new units will need to be built by 2030 – 620,000 in Quebec – to restore affordability in the housing sector. But Yaya Baumann and Hélène Bélanger, who co-authored the report, say the real scope of a housing policy based on filtering is uncertain and it does not address the needs of lower-income households. "The housing crisis that has been affecting Quebec since at least the early 2000s shows no signs of slowing down. It is manifested in particular by unprecedented rent increases, worsening health and safety issues, a surge in evictions, rising homelessness, and a shortage — not of housing per se ... — but of housing that meets the needs of low- and moderate-income households," the researchers wrote. They say the solution is to build the type of housing that is most needed: social housing. However, they say all three levels of government in Canada aren't keen on doing so. Other non-profit housing models the researchers recommend include cooperative housing. 'By targeting almost exclusively wealthy households, a housing policy based on the principle of filtering cannot, in the short term, meet the needs of households that are more vulnerable to the vagaries of the private housing market,' the researchers say. 'We need to build build build, but we need to build differently,' Bélanger told CTV News. 'Trickle down' effect? The researchers explain that the theory of housing filtering developed during the '50s and '60s, based on the observation that newly built housing tends to decline in quality and value over time, making it more accessible to households with lower incomes than those who previously occupied it. 'This 'natural' process, which is fundamentally 'uncontrollable' and ultimately results in inadequate or unsanitary housing, cannot be forced to adequately meet the needs of low- or modest-income households,' according to the researchers. They say the filtering model resembles trickle-down economics, which have shown to be ineffective and increases inequality. The researchers say the model is limited and simplified, often ignoring potential gentrification, which puts pressure on housing units that were once affordable. Two studies out of the United States and Denmark have shown that chains of vacancy generated by the construction of housing for wealthy households rarely reach low- or moderate-income households. In Canada, studies have shown that the filtering model has reversing since the '80s — many homes gained value over time, especially in city centres. Other obstacles to home ownership The filtering model assumes households are constantly looking for a better home and will move as their families grow and age. But, in Quebec, there are fewer families and more people living alone. The researchers say this raises questions about what homes become vacant and their ability to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income households buying their first home, especially if they have a larger family. The researchers were also interested in buyers who never rented and those owning multiple properties as major obstacles to home ownership and vacancy chains. They noted that one fifth of Canadian first-time home buyers never rented and lived with family before purchasing their house, meaning they are not vacating an apartment when moving. Though data is limited in Quebec, in Ontario and British Columbia, about 15 per cent of individual homeowners were considered multiple homeowners in 2022. These homeowners owned 31 per cent and 29 per cent of the housing stock in their provinces. The report notes that renters are also struggling with low vacancy rates and skyrocketing rents. Data published by the CMHC in December supports the researchers' conclusions for renters: even though Montreal's vacancy rate went up for the first time in years, so did rent. The immigration factor The report also calls into question the idea that the population has been growing faster than housing units. Between 2001 and 2021, there were 16,000 more new housing units than new households in Montreal. The number goes up to 17,000 in Quebec City. 'However, politicians, fueled by popular discontent over the challenges posed by the housing market, have demanded that Ottawa radically lower its permanent immigration targets, wrongly attributing responsibility (in whole or in large part) for the housing crisis to immigration,' the report notes. In the last two years, Quebec built a record amount of new housing units, according to the CMHC, but their prices remain high. 'The apparent renewed political interest in the principle of filtering ... does not stem from the crisis of availability and affordability of housing for low- and moderate-income households in the private rental market, but rather from the tightening of the property market for owner-occupiers, both in terms of new construction and the resale market, leading to rising prices,' the report says.
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
BSPHCL GTO exam admit card released at bsphcl.co.in; Clerk, Store Assistant hall tickets from June 13
BSPHCL admit card 2025 for Clerk and Store Assistant out from June 13 at official website BSPHCL admit card 2025: The Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited (BSPHCL) is set to release the admit cards for the posts of Correspondence Clerk and Store Assistant under Employment Notice No.-03/2024. Candidates who have successfully submitted their applications will be able to download their admit cards from June 13, 2025, via the official website — This recruitment drive involves a Computer-Based Test (CBT) scheduled to be conducted across multiple districts in Bihar on various dates between June 20 and June 30, 2025. Candidates must note that separate admit cards will not be sent by post, and downloading it online is mandatory for appearing in the exam. CBT admit card for Junior Electrical Engineer (GTO) already released For the post of Junior Electrical Engineer (GTO) under Employment Notice No.-02/2024, the CBT will be conducted on June 16, 2025, in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, and Darbhanga districts. The admit card for this exam was released on June 9, 2025. Candidates who have applied for the GTO post must download the admit card from the official website before the examination date. Exam schedule and cities The CBT for Correspondence Clerk and Store Assistant posts will be held in Patna, Ara, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, and Purnia districts. The tests will take place across several shifts on June 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30, 2025. The exam will be 90 minutes in duration, featuring 100 objective-type questions. There is no negative marking in the test, offering a fair opportunity for all candidates. How to download BSPHCL admit card 2025 Follow these steps to download the admit card online: Step 1: Visit the official BSPHCL website at Step 2: Click on the admit card download link available on the homepage. Step 3: You will be redirected to the login page: Direct Link Step 4: Enter your login credentials such as Registration Number and Password/Date of Birth. Step 5: Download and print the admit card for future reference. Key guidelines for exam day Candidates must reach the examination centre within the reporting time as mentioned in the admit card. Entry after gate closure will not be permitted under any circumstances. It is mandatory to carry the original and photocopy of the admit card along with a valid photo ID. Footwear such as shoes or high-heeled sandals is prohibited. Candidates should wear slippers or normal flat sandals only. Electronic gadgets, papers, books, or any storage devices are strictly forbidden inside the exam premises. Candidates will be provided plain paper for rough work during the test, which must be returned before leaving. The exam hall will be under CCTV surveillance, and biometric attendance will be recorded via IRIS scan. Mock test and objections To familiarise candidates with the CBT pattern, a mock test link will be available on BSPHCL's website from June 9, 2025. After the exam, the model question paper and answer key will be uploaded on the website. Objections against the model answers for GTO can be submitted online from June 23 to June 25, 2025, and for Correspondence Clerk and Store Assistant, from July 7 to July 9, 2025. Candidates will need to pay a fee of ?200 per question along with valid supporting evidence. Request for scribe facility Candidates covered under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act who require a scribe must email their request along with the admit card and PHP certificate to bsphclrecpat@ between June 13 and June 15, 2025, for Clerk/Store Assistant posts. Contact details for admit card issues Candidates unable to download their admit cards must contact BSPHCL with a copy of their online application at bsphclrecpat@ or call +91-9513253397 for assistance. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! Spaces are limited.
