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golden empire jili BARCELONA – Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in downtown Barcelona on Saturday to protest the skyrocketing cost of renting an apartment in the popular tourist destination. Protesters cut off traffic on main avenues in the city center, holding up homemade signs in Spanish reading “Fewer apartments for investing and more homes for living" and “The people without homes uphold their rights.” Recommended Videos The lack of affordable housing has become one of the leading concerns for the southern European Union country, mirroring the housing crunch across many parts of the world, including the United States . Organizers said that over 100,000 had turned out, while Barcelona’s police said they estimated some 22,000 marched. Either way, the throngs of people clogging the streets recalled the massive separatist rallies at the heigh of the previous decade’s Catalan independence movement. Now, social concerns led by housing have displaced political crusades. That is because the average rent for Spain has doubled in last 10 years. The price per square meter has risen from 7.2 euros ($7.5) in 2014 to 13 euros this year, according to the popular online real estate website Idealista. The growth is even more acute in cities like Barcelona and Madrid. Incomes meanwhile have failed to keep up, especially for younger people in a country with chronically high unemployment. Protestor Samuel Saintot said he is “frustrated and scared” after being told by the owners of the apartment he has rented for the past 15 years in Barcelona’s city center that he must vacate the premises. He suspects that the owners want him out so they can renovate it and boost the price. “Even looking in a 20- or 30-kilometer radius outside town, I can’t even find anything within the price range I can afford,” he told The Associated Press. “And I consider myself a very fortunate person, because I earn a decent salary. And even in my case, I may be forced to leave town.” A report by the Bank of Spain indicates that nearly 40% of Spaniards who rent dedicate an average of 40% of their income to paying rents and utilities, compared to the European Union average of 27% of renters who do so. “We are talking about a housing emergency. It means people having many difficulties both in accessing and staying in their homes,” said Ignasi Martí, professor for Esade business school and head of its Dignified Housing Observatory. The rise in rents is causing significant pain in Spain, where traditionally people seek to own their homes. Rental prices have also been driven up by short-term renters including tourists. Many migrants to Spain are also disproportionately hit by the high rents because they often do not have enough savings. Spain is near the bottom end of OECD countries with under 2% of all housing available being public housing for rent. The OECD average is 7%. Spain is far behind France, with 14%, Britain with 16%, and the Netherlands with 34%. Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for Barcelona’s Tenants Union which helped organize the protest, said that renters should consider a “rent strike” and cease paying their monthly rents in a mass protest movement. “I think we the tenants have understood that this depends on us. That we can’t keep asking and making demands to the authorities and waiting for an answer. We must take the reins of the situation,” Arcarazo told the AP. “So, if they (the owners) won’t lower the rent, then we will force them to do it." The Barcelona protest came a month after tens of thousands rallied against high rents in Madrid. The rising discontent over housing is putting pressure on Spain’s governing Socialist party, which leads a coalition on the national level and is in charge of Catalonia’s regional government and Barcelona’s city hall. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presided over what the government termed a “housing summit” including government officials and real estate developers last month. But the Barcelona’s Tenants Union boycotted the event, saying it was like calling a summit for curing cancer and inviting tobacco companies to participate. The leading government measure has been a rent cap mechanism that the central government has offered to regional authorities based on a price index established by the housing ministry. Rent controls can be applied to areas deemed to be “highly stressed” by high rental prices. Catalonia was the first region to apply those caps, which are in place in downtown Barcelona. Many locals blame the million of tourists who visit Barcelona, and the rest of Spain, each year for the high prices. Barcelona’s town hall has pledged to completely eliminate the city’s 10,000 so called “tourist apartments,” or dwellings with permits for short-term rents, by 2028.SINGAPORE: In the immediate aftermath of the United States election, all Pacific Island leaders sent messages of congratulations to president-elect Donald Trump and expressed hope that cooperation with the new administration would continue. What are the chances that the improved relationship between the US and Pacific Island countries, carefully nurtured under the Biden administration, will continue to grow? What are the areas of potential cooperation and possible conflicts of interest? A look at recent US Pacific Islands policies might provide some clues. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES The Biden administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy in February 2022, the framework for countering Chinese influence, maintaining America's traditional strategic dominance, and signalling its desire to play a greater role in the region. One tool was to strengthen overlapping minilateral alliances, such as AUKUS and the Quad. Others were newly created, such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). After the shock of the China-Solomon Islands security deal in May 2022 , the Biden administration increased its diplomatic and economic engagement with Pacific Island countries. President Joe Biden twice hosted Pacific Island Forum (PIF) leaders at the White House for US-Pacific Summits in 2022 and 2023. The US also announced the US-Pacific Partnership Strategy, a roadmap for strengthening cooperation. Over the past four years, there have been an unusual number of high-level political visits to Pacific Island countries, including visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was in Fiji in early December. The Biden administration also increased its diplomatic presence, opening embassies in Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, and a US Agency for International Development (USAID) office in Fiji. After aid cuts in the years before, Biden announced a US$810 million aid package over 10 years, including US$130 million for climate change projects. This funding still has not received full congressional approval and its future under Trump 2.0 remains unclear. In March, Biden renewed the Compact of Freely Associated States (COFA), announcing an unprecedented package of US$7 billion over 20 years for the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia. The US has a long-standing special relationship with these three strategic countries in the Western Pacific, which receive the lion's share of US Pacific aid and investment. COFA will continue to allow the US to provide defence, deploy forces and operate bases there. CLOSE ALLY AUSTRALIA ASSISTING America’s ally, Australia, has also been doing the heavy lifting in the South Pacific. Already the biggest aid donor to the Pacific Islands countries, Australia has further increased assistance in the last two years. To counter China’s influence with its neighbours, Australia has concluded several security and aid deals, among them the recent security agreement with Tuvalu which gives Australia a veto power in Tuvalu’s foreign and security affairs. In December, Australia concluded a rather controversial agreement with Nauru which gives it veto power of pacts that Nauru might want to conclude with third countries. The five-year deal continues to secure Australia’s detention facility for Australia-bound refugees and comes with a A$140 million budget (US$87 million) and police support for Nauru. The Australia-Solomon Islands security arrangement , announced recently on Dec 20, will fund A$190 million into the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and set up a new police training centre in the capital Honiara. This deal is a major achievement of the Labour-led Albanese government to counter the China-Solomon Islands security agreement. THE SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: WHAT TO EXPECT? Trump is likely to focus primarily on the security aspects. Fiji and Papua New Guinea had become the main beneficiaries of the Biden administration's strategy over the past two years, with landmark defence and security agreements. Increased economic ties between Papua New Guinea and China will loom large over any potential US disengagement or trade sanctions. The Trump administration can be expected to honour previous agreements, so as not to create loopholes for potential Chinese security-related engagement. But the new administration must also be mindful of the growing discontent over the use of the Pacific as a strategic theatre for the US and China. Pacific Island leaders have voiced concerns about ongoing intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing in the Pacific, complaining about an American ICBM test in November that flew over the Marshall Islands and a Chinese ICBM test in the South Pacific in September. PIF Secretary General Baron Waqa recently said: "Geopolitical manoeuvring mean nothing to Pacific peoples who have cyclones on the horizon [and] are focused on building resilience, peace and prosperity for our families, communities and nations." The three COFA nations may also come into focus again. Trump's first administration regarded the ability to use US military installations in these three island nations as an important part of his Indo-Pacific strategy. He hosted the leaders of the three countries at the White House in May 2019. This view of their "usefulness" to the US is likely to prevail. However, a longstanding practice has been to allow citizens of the three COFA states to live and work in the United States and access federal benefits like food stamps and healthcare. This may be at odds with the proclaimed immigration agenda of the second Trump administration. A partial US revision of the COFA articles is unlikely to be acceptable to the three partner countries. There is a strong possibility that the second Trump Administration will leave Biden’s 14-member economic initiative IPEF. Fiji, being the only Pacific Islands member, will probably search for alternative trade agreements. CLIMATE ACTION THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE The biggest obstacle to the relationship between the US and Pacific Island countries will be climate change, as their positions are diametrically opposed. Trump is expected to withdraw from the Paris Agreement a second time and focus US energy policy on oil and gas. Pacific Island countries have become leaders in the global fight against climate change , such as in two United Nations groups – the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Tuvalu's prime minister has called on major polluters to make concrete commitments to phase out fossil fuel production. Current policies – leading to new coal, oil and gas projects - are a "death sentence", he insisted. Samoa rallied UN member states to press for more progress on " loss and damage finance ". And it was Vanuatu that brought about a landmark UN resolution, backed by 130 countries, on climate justice and countries' obligations to address climate change. Under the second Trump administration, there will be difficult discussions at the UN between AOSIS, SIDS and the US. Expect also the Biden climate change package for Pacific Island countries to be reduced or scrapped. PRAGMATIC COOPERATION FOR A LOUDER VOICE The second Trump administration will have to take into account that Pacific Island countries have become more pragmatic and have more options than in the past. Geopolitical wrangling has also meant that other donors, both governmental and non-governmental, are willing to step in. PIF countries have shown that they can overcome some of their internal regional divisions, coordinate their positions and work with like-minded countries outside the Pacific. This pragmatic “New Pacific Diplomacy” has strengthened their climate voice in UN negotiations. The geopolitical power competition has provided Pacific Island leaders the opportunity to leverage their unique position to advance some of their most pressing issues, climate emergency and infrastructure investment. No doubt, they will use it in the next four years.Trump taps Rollins as agriculture chief, completing proposed slate of Cabinet secretaries

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Elon Musk ‘s whopping $56bn compensation package for serving as Tesla’s CEO has been rejected again by a US judge, despite shareholders of the electric vehicle company voting to reinstate it. The ruling by the judge, Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, follows her decision in January which called the pay package “unfathomable” and rescinded it. At the time she said because Musk was a controlling shareholder with a potential conflict of interest, the pay package must be subject to a more rigorous standard. The pay package was 33 times larger than the next biggest executive compensation package, which was Musk’s 2012 pay plan. Musk has not yet commented on the latest ruling. Tesla has said in court filings that the judge should recognise a subsequent June vote by its shareholders in favor of the pay package for Musk, the company’s driving force who is responsible for many of its advances, and reinstate his compensation. McCormick said Tesla’s board was not entitled to hit “reset” to restore Musk’s pay package. “Were the court to condone the practice of allowing defeated parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising judgments, lawsuits would become interminable,” she said in her 101-page opinion. She also said Tesla made multiple material misstatements in its proxy statement regarding the vote, and could not claim the vote was a “cure-all” to justify restoring Musk’s pay. “Taken together,” the problems with Tesla’s arguments “pack a powerful punch,” she wrote. Tesla shares fell 1.4% in after hours trade, after the ruling. McCormick also ordered Tesla to pay the attorneys who brought the case $345m, well short of the $6bn they initially requested. She said the fee could be paid in cash or Tesla stock. “We are pleased with Chancellor McCormick’s ruling, which declined Tesla’s invitation to inject continued uncertainty into Court proceedings,” said a statement from Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, one of the three law firms for the plaintiff. The law firm also said it looked forward to defending the court’s opinion if Musk and Tesla appealed. Musk and Tesla can appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court as soon as McCormick enters a final order, which could come as soon as this week. The appeal could take a year to play out. After the January ruling, Tesla shareholders flooded the court with thousands of letters arguing that rescinding Musk’s pay increased the possibility he would leave Tesla or develop some products like artificial intelligence at ventures other than Tesla. Attorneys for shareholder Richard Tornetta, who sued in 2018 to challenge Musk’s compensation package, had argued that Delaware law does not permit a company to use a ratification vote to essentially overturn the ruling from a trial. McCormick in January found that Musk improperly controlled the 2018 board process to negotiate the pay package. The board had said that Musk deserved the package because he hit all the ambitious targets on market value, revenue and profitability. But the judge criticised Tesla’s board as “beholden” to Musk, saying the compensation plan was proposed by a board whose members had conflicts of interest due to close personal and financial ties to him. After the January ruling, Musk criticised the judge on his social media platform X and encouraged other companies to follow the lead of Tesla and reincorporate in Texas from Delaware, although it is unclear if any companies did so. Musk’s 2018 pay package gave him stock grants worth around 1% of Tesla’s equity each time the company achieved one of 12 tranches of escalating operational and financial goals. Musk did not receive any guaranteed salary. Tornetta argued that shareholders were not told how easily the goals would be achieved when they voted on the package. With agencies

Vanuatu's political uncertainty continues as it prepares for a snap election in January Voters in Vanuatu will go to the polls for a snap election on 14 January next year. This comes after President Nikenike Vurobaravu dissolved parliament two weeks ago. The government and the president, at that time, were both about to face votes of no confidence. Vanuatu has been riven by political instability, with frequent elections and changes of leadership in recent years. The snap election comes despite the people of Vanuatu supporting referendums earlier this year, aimed at establishing greater political stability in the country. The changes aim to make it more difficult for MPs to shift their allegiance. The resulting law changes were not gazetted by the government when the dissolution of parliament was announced. The Vanuatu Electoral Office said registrations close today, 3 December, with qualitied candidates to be announced on 31 December. On the same day, campaigning will be officially allowed to begin. The current government, led by Charlot Salwai, came to power after ousting Sato Kilman in a vote of no-confidence in October 2023. Kilmam himself [https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/497262/sato-kilman-elected-as-vanuatu-s-new-prime-minister won power after a snap election in September 2023, following a leadership challenge against Ishmael Kalsakau. Then in November last year Salwai successfully defeated a vote of no confidence.A desperate confession in my group chat shows the 'mummy cocaine' trend has gone too far. JANA HOCKING reveals what this very middle-class epidemic has done to the women she once adored By JANA HOCKING FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 13:42, 29 December 2024 | Updated: 13:53, 29 December 2024 e-mail View comments Confession time: Last week, I took the 'Peter Pans of Sydney ' to task over their rampant cocaine use , arguing they're far too old to still be risking their health and relationships for a few hours of 'fun' on the weekends. The response was interesting. Yes, I had many women (and men) flooding my DMs to say I was absolutely right. I also had my fair share of abuse from misogynistic little cokeheads who didn't like me pointing out that cocaine causes erectile dysfunction. But then, I was also reminded to look at my own backyard. In focusing on how coke had wrecked a generation of men, I had neglected the women over 40 who are also hopelessly hooked on the stuff. And there are plenty of them doing lines at nightclubs with strangers every single weekend while their poor husbands look after the children at home . It's time to correct the record . I'll always hold my own sex accountable (myself included) so it's only fair I dish the dirt on what it's like on the other side of the fence. Let's start with a Sunday morning that, sadly, wasn't too long ago. I woke up feeling that familiar dread - an emotional hangover paired with a muted sadness. My mouth tasted like the remnants of last night's dirty martinis, and I anxiously scrolled through my texts and Instagram to make sure I hadn't sent or posted anything regrettable. 'Thank God,' I thought as it all came up clear. Then the messages started pinging in on a WhatsApp group created by some new girlfriends. I felt a slightly terrible sense of relief as I realised a few of them were waking up with worse anxiety than my silly little hangover. 'Oh, God. I spent $600 last night just on coke!' wrote one of them, subtly hinting that others who had partaken in her 'party favours' might want to chip in. In focusing on how coke had wrecked a generation of men, I had neglected the women over 40 who are also hopelessly hooked on the stuff, writes Mail+ columnist Jana Hocking Jana (left) was neck deep in the Sydney party scene in the 2010s, when Instagram was new and cocktails didn't cost $25. But many women of her generation are still partying like they're in their twenties and thirties Suddenly, my $120 bar tab seemed like nothing in comparison. A hangover I could handle. A cocaine comedown at my age? No, thank you. I've got deadlines to meet and serotonin reserves I'm clinging onto for dear life. It made me realise something: many of the women I once admired - glamorous, carefree, unstoppable forces of the social scene - are still chasing the same highs they did in their twenties. We all know that one woman at a party desperately asking if we've seen any blokes with 'a bag'. Sure, it may have been cute to flirt with a guy for a cheeky line when you were young and single, but now it just looks desperate. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that now the stakes are higher, and the consequences are etched into these women's faces. Botox appointments are becoming more frequent, not just to fend off natural ageing but to repair the wear and tear of years spent trying to keep up. Take Fiona, for example (name changed, of course). She's a real estate agent in her forties who swears by the 'one line, one dance floor' rule she has followed since 1999. But when I saw her at a Christmas party, I barely recognised her. The spark in her eyes had dimmed, her laugh sounded strained, and her famous cheekbones looked hollow. Over a few glasses of wine, she confessed, 'It's not just once in a while anymore. I think I've forgotten how to have fun without it.' Then there's the alarming trend of women using cocaine as a weight-loss drug in lieu of Ozempic. The so-called 'miracle' injections might be all over the headlines, but their high price and limited availability have driven some women to a more dangerous (and illegal) alternative. 'It curbs your appetite and gives you energy,' one woman whispered at a lunch, as though sharing a life hack. But the reality is very different. Regular cocaine use not only wreaks havoc on your body but also creates a dependency that's hard to escape. The irony is bitter: women are striving for health and vitality (I blame you, Gwyneth Paltrow, and all your Goop glowiness!) but are using a method that is about as far from Goop's kooky wellness philosophy as you can get. They are destroying their bodies from the inside out. As one friend who finally quit put it, 'I wanted to look my best, but I ended up feeling my worst.' And honestly, why would we willingly pile more stress on our bodies? Being a woman in your early forties is tough. Between PMS and the mood swings of perimenopause, we've already got enough emotional chaos to contend with. Why add to that the dreaded Tuesday Blues from a weekend 'on the bags'? No, thanks. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that now the stakes are higher, and the consequences of weekend cocaine binges are etched into these women's faces (stock image) Read More What cocaine has done to the men of my generation is tragic. These are their terrifying confessions Take Amelia, a divorcee in her fifties who recently re-entered the dating world. 'It's just to keep up,' she told me over coffee, explaining her new boyfriend's love of 'kicking on' after a night out had made her revisit her long-abandoned cocaine habit. But the toll was obvious - her radiant complexion had given way to visible exhaustion. And her tales of wild nights? They weren't romantic escapades but cringeworthy stories of lost phones, awkward apologies to babysitters, and comedown-induced arguments. One of the saddest revelations came from Claire, a mother of two who admitted her 'mummy's little helper' wasn't just the odd glass of rosé. 'It started with school fundraisers,' she confessed, 'but now it's my go-to whenever I feel overwhelmed.' The temporary relief is quickly replaced by sleepless nights, anxiety and guilt she carries into every parent-teacher meeting. Don't get me wrong: these women aren't 'bad people' or sad caricatures of their younger selves. They are accomplished, intelligent and loving individuals caught in the same cultural trap: the allure of a quick fix, a temporary high to numb the stress and fear of midlife. But the price they're paying is steep. Physically, the signs are impossible to ignore. Cocaine's damage doesn't discriminate between genders. It steals your glow, accelerates wrinkles and leaves your body crying out for rest. (Honestly, even just one martini can do that to me these days, let alone anything stronger!) Emotionally, the toll is even worse. Relationships fray, trust erodes and self-esteem takes a nosedive. So, why do they keep doing it? The same reasons men do: to escape, to feel alive, to cling to the illusion of youth. But as we all know, illusions shatter. As I reflect on the women I once idolised for their effortless charm and unshakable confidence, I can't help but feel sadness. They deserve better. We all do. So maybe it's time to say bon voyage to 'those' kinds of bags, ladies, and invest in ones that last. Like a Birkin. It might even end up being cheaper in the long term - and it'll definitely go better with the outfit. Instagram Ozempic Gwyneth Paltrow Jana Hocking Share or comment on this article: A desperate confession in my group chat shows the 'mummy cocaine' trend has gone too far. JANA HOCKING reveals what this very middle-class epidemic has done to the women she once adored e-mail Add comment

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