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Fox News Rachel Campos-Duffy sounded the alarm on the border crisis after touring Eagle Pass, Texas, to get a look at the situation firsthand. After riding along with Texas officials and speaking with illegal immigrants attempting to cross into America, Campos-Duffy said the federal government doesnt want Americans to know what is happening.

Campos-Duffy also toured the Rio Grande by helicopter. A border official showed her a migrant facility encircled by a fence that was developed to alleviate the overcrowding in the area.

"They believe that having a fence or barriers is a priority or vital to what theyre doing here," the official told Campos-Duffy. "Yet we dont see that on the border where its needed."

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM ENDING TITLE 42 BORDER EXPULSIONS

She then saw discarded panels that were intended to be used for the border wall construction laying in piles on the ground.

Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez explained that Texas taxpayers are funding the operation to combat the border crisis despite it being the federal governments responsibility.

"This is the federal governments job to secure the border," he said. "But right now, the state of Texas is having to bear this burden by providing all these state resources: troopers, National Guardsmen, putting up fencing."

Immigrant men from many countries are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. Governors from 26 states have formed a strike force to address the crisis at the border. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Campos-Duffy spoke to illegal immigrants who had been intercepted by border agents.

"Each one of them paid about $12,000 to the coyotes to get to this point right here," she reported.

The next group of migrants she encountered agreed to speak with her in an interview, but federal agents quickly took them into custody and didnt allow them to speak further.

EL PASO, TEXAS PLANNING EMERGENCY DECLARATION TO DEAL WITH BORDER CRISIS

"This is just another example of how the federal government doesnt want us to know whats going on," she said. "Ive been shocked by the lack of transparency, and I dont blame Border Patrol."

Lt. Olivarez questioned what happened to children crossing the border illegally.

"Once they make the journey to the United States, where do they end up?" he asked.

Campos-Duffy then traveled to Uvalde, Texas, where a migrant facility hosts unaccompanied minors.

"Not even the mayor is allowed to see what goes on inside," she reported.

MIGRANTS STAY IN WAITING ROOMS ALONG US BORDER: HERE'S A CLOSER LOOK

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told Campos-Duffy that local churches were barred from bringing clothes, food and formula for the children at the facility.

"This is not about security," Campos-Duffy said. "This was entirely a processing program for our federal government."

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"Instead of sending people back, they just build a bigger processing center so they can move people through quicker and send them out to the rest of the country."

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Rachel Campos-Duffy sounds alarm after touring Texas border: 'You'd be amazed at the lack of transparency' - Fox News

By Niamh Kennedy and Donie OSullivan, CNN

When 25-year-old Maria Kozlovskaya gazes out of the window, she sees the green fields of the west of Ireland. Its a far cry from the shelled apartment buildings of her home city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine. Forced into exile by conflict, the young mother has found an unlikely refuge in a 15th-century castle in County Galway.

I never dreamed that I could live in a castle in the future, she says, still in awe after two months of living in Ballindooley Castle with her sons, 5-year-old Illya and 7-year-old Matvey.

Owner Barry Haughian, who bought the castle as a second home in 2016, was inspired to travel to Poland after watching CNN coverage of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Kozlovskaya, who traveled with Haughian to Ireland, admits that she didnt fully grasp the scale of the castle until she arrived.

Great efforts have been made to accommodate the 11 refugees who now call Ballindooley Castle home. The grand Great Hall, once the setting for lavish banquets, now serves as a breakfast table for the young children.

Down south in County Cork, 31-year-old Vera Ruban finds herself in less regal surroundings. She was one of the first Ukrainian refugees to be placed in Irish government emergency accommodation after hotel rooms ran out. The interpreter from Hostomel, near Kyiv, now sleeps on a single bed inside the Green Glens Arena, an equestrian and entertainment venue in the small town of Millstreet.

Although their living situations could not be more different, both women have managed to settle quickly into life in Ireland. The smooth nature of the process has prompted questions from asylum-seekers fleeing conflicts in countries other than Ukraine who say they encountered an arduous asylum process that can take years to navigate.

Ireland, an island of just over 5 million people, has taken in more Ukrainian refugees than many of its larger Western European neighbors. Ukrainian refugees began arriving in early March and so far more than 30,000 refugees have arrived.

Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, an NGO providing services and support to refugees, says the government got off to a positive start by quickly invoking the Temporary Protection Directive, an exceptional measure activated by the European Union that allowed member states to waive visa requirements for refugees for up to three years.

Ukrainian refugees have so far been mainly housed in hotels, B&Bs and volunteers homes. As the approaching tourist season looks set to create a shortage of hotel rooms, the Irish government has plans to repurpose vacant vacation homes, convents and student halls to accommodate further arrivals.

The government has not indicated how long these settings will be used to house refugees. Prime Minister Michel Martin has repeatedly pledged not to place a cap on the number of Ukrainian refugees that Ireland takes in.

Roderic OGorman, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, told CNN that despite it not being all the kind of the gold standard accommodation that wed like, Ireland is doing its best to make sure Ukrainians here have security.

Ruban, who decided to travel to Ireland after hearing about the welcome it offered to refugees, told CNN she didnt have any expectation regarding accommodation.

The arena where she now lives has been partitioned into a series of living spaces, containing a small kitchen, living room area, and separated beds.

The majority of the arenas residents, she believes, are happy to have a roof above their heads.

A lot of people who came here, they left good facilities, a good life and theyre very shocked But they dont complain, she said.

In Galway, Kozlovskaya is thrilled that her sons were able to attend school within five days of arriving and have so far found it easy to make new friends.

Not all are pleased with the Irish governments response, however. Irelands warm welcome of Ukrainian refugees has reignited a fractious debate about its treatment of asylum-seekers fleeing other conflicts in places such as Afghanistan and Syria.

Over the years, the country has been repeatedly criticized for the way it deals with asylum-seekers. Under its direct-provision system, asylum-seekers are housed in temporary accommodation as they wait to find out if they have been granted refugee status. Initially introduced as an emergency measure in 1999 in response to higher numbers of asylum applications, and subsequently formalized in 2020, the reception system has become mired in controversy in the two decades since.

Asylum-seekers have lodged many complaints about the systems lengthy processing times, substandard accommodation and impingement on core rights including, notably, the right to work.

It has drawn criticism from opposition parties, NGOs and, most significantly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who in a 2015 report said long stays in direct provision impeded asylum-seekers from integrating properly into Irish society.

Lucky Khambule is a former asylum-seeker who came to Ireland from South Africa in 2016. He is all too familiar with the workings of the direct-provision system, having spent three years sharing a room in a government-run facility in Cork.

It took me by surprise that I could not do anything. You know, that was the frustrating thing. That I was in the system and suddenly, I could not work. I could not study. I could not make my own meals, you know. And I was just taught to be lazy, sleep and eat, sleep, and eat Every day you hope that something will happen, he told CNN.

According to UNHCR, an asylum-seeker in Ireland can expect to wait 14 months for an initial decision on asylum status.

Khambule, who co-founded the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI), which campaigns for better conditions for asylum-seekers, says the governments response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis has left asylum-seekers from other countries feeling marginalized.

With regard to the treatment of the Ukrainians it showed that all along that the government is capable of treating us better, he said.

According to Khambule, whereas asylum-seekers have to wait on average three to four months to get a blue card simply identifying them, Ukrainian refugees have bypassed this step.

Its not acceptable that we can as a state provide immediate supports to people at an airport when they arrive, (such as) PPS numbers, its like our social security number. But at the same time, theres people living in Dublin for months, who dont get that same support, said Henderson, of the Irish Refugee Council.

Similarly, while Ukrainian children have been enrolled quickly in Irish schools, children of asylum-seekers in emergency accommodation have experienced delays in accessing school. A 2020 report from the Irish Center for Human Rights found that children in direct provision are prevented from attending ordinary school with other non-asylum-seeking children for months on end and are instead segregated in emergency education settings that are unregulated and lacking in resources.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told CNN: In Ireland, all migrant children, including children of international protection applicants, refugees, migrant workers and unaccompanied minors, can access pre-school, first- and second-level education in a manner similar to Irish nationals, until they have reached the age of 18 years. In Ireland, a school must admit all students applying where it is not oversubscribed and places are available.

The statement also noted that schools are not required to check the residency status of refugees, or other applicants seeking a school place.

Khambule highlights that while Ukrainian refugees were allowed to swap their drivers licenses for Irish ones, asylum-seekers were legally not allowed to even drive here until a recent court judgment.

The war in Ukraine caught peoples attention, Henderson said, attempting to explain Irelands change in approach.

Khambule accuses the governments response of being at its core racist, saying that because Ukrainians are their neighbors, because they look like them, they treat them in that way.

We look different, we are treated different, he said.

CNN reached out to the Irish government for a response to Khambules claims. A press officer for the Department of Justice told CNN that Irelands action on the Ukrainian refugee crisis is part of an EU-wide response and in keeping with its obligations as an EU member state.

Historically, when mass displacement of people has occurred as a result of violence and conflict in countries like Syria and Afghanistan, safety and shelter for people forced to flee has largely been provided to them by their closest neighbors, the press officer told CNN.

She said the Department of Justice strives to have decisions on asylum applications made as soon as possible to ensure that those found to be in need of protection from the State can receive it quickly and begin rebuilding their lives.

The press officer also stated that Ireland has historically provided a number of targeted protection programs to assist people fleeing conflict, referencing previous programs in response to conflict in Syria and Afghanistan.

Despite the disparity in treatment, Khambule says asylum-seekers in Ireland are in solidarity with what (Ukrainians) have gone through.

We dont want that to happen to anyone. But we are saying, remember, the other people from other countries who also are fleeing war. Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Congo, he said.

Henderson said the governments response has fundamentally created concern and raised important questions. Why arent we able to do all the things that weve done for Ukrainian refugees and apply that to all people seeking asylum? he asked.

Although Ireland is great at emergency responses, he said, the government must now think of a long-term plan for dealing with the broader refugee crisis.

Back in the grandeur of Ballindooley Castle, Kozlovskaya cannot help but think of the future, too.

Although she hopes that the war will end soon and she will be able to return to Ukraine, she is now sure that Ireland is really a good place for our life now.

The-CNN-Wire & 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

CNNs Lauren Kent contributed to this report.

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Ireland gives warm welcome to Ukrainians fleeing conflict. Asylum-seekers from elsewhere point to unequal treatment - kuna noticias y kuna radio

Hungary's far-right President Viktor Orban called for a worldwide conservative takeover, predicting at the American Conservative Political Action Committee conference held in Budapest that "2024 will be decisive."

"We need to take back the institutions in Washington and Brussels," Orban said Thursday, delivering the opening remarks for the conference in Budapest. "We need to find friends, and we need to find allies. We need to coordinate the movement of our troops, because we have a big challenge ahead of us."

CPAC organizers chose Hungary for its first European conference because it's "one of the bastions of the conservative resistance to the ultraprogressive 'woke' revolution," according to CPAC's website. Orban is a key figure for the right wing, an example for the conservative movement of how to counter the left in western culture wars. Orban touched on some universal themes for conservatives: gender, critical race theory, cancel culture and censorship on tech platforms, among others.

Orban's biggest applause line came from boasting about a wall he ordered built after the Syrian migrant crisis of 2015, when thousands of Syrians tried to enter Hungary through Serbia.

"We decided to stop migration and build the wall on our southern border because Hungarians said that they did not want illegal immigrants," Orban told CPAC. "They said, 'Viktor, build that wall!' Three months later the border barrier was up."

Orban also railed against the media and called for a takeover, arguing "the madness of the progressive left can only be demonstrated if the media is there to help us do it."

He advised conservatives, "Have your own media. It's the only way to point out the insanity of the progressive left. The problem is that the western media is adjusted to the leftist viewpoint. Those who taught reporters in universities already had progressive leftist principles."

Orban lamented that Republicans have their "media allies," but "they can't compete with the mainstream liberal media." He spoke approvingly of "my friend, Tucker Carlson" as "the only one who puts himself out there," and opined that "programs like his should be broadcasted day and night. Or as you say 24/7."

The conference is being hosted by Hungary's Center for Fundamental Rights, which is funded by the government. Attendees came from across the world, from Europe, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and the U.S.

But the press was mostly home-grown, from state-run Hungarian media. Independent European and U.S. outlets were largely denied access, and CBS News was one of a small number allowed access to the conference. CBS Reports correspondent Adam Yamaguchi, who is in Budapest for the conference, told CBS News that he and his crew were initially turned away from the conference by local organizers, but were eventually allowed in after they contacted CPAC.

Yamaguchi said that it served as a reminder that "in spite of the polarized time we live in," when the mainstream press can be villainized by conservatives, "there's still an American recognition of an independent press. And that doesn't exist everywhere including here."

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Hungary's Orban opens CPAC by telling conservatives "we need to coordinate the movement" of allies - CBS News

With crossings expected to surge when the Covid-related closure of the U.S.-Mexico border to migrants ends, activists are pushing for a new immigration pathway for people who are impacted by climate disasters.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has called climate change a threat multiplier that puts compounding pressure on people to move within or outside country borders, and the activists are calling on the Biden administration and Congress to recognize this growing reality by supporting legislation and other efforts to expand legal pathways for climate-displaced people to migrate into the U.S.

Under current law, people impacted by climate may apply for asylum or refugee status in the U.S. only if they can show that the central reason they are fleeing their home country is that they faced or have reason to fear future persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

The ideal solution is a complementary system of protection in addition to refugee and asylum law enacted through Congress that would guarantee a path to citizenship for people impacted by climate disasters, said Julia Neusner, associate attorney of refugee protection at Human Rights First, a non-profit policy center based in New York City and Washington.

She notes, however, that efforts through Congress are slow and that the passage of a bill that expands refugee protections to people impacted by climate is unlikely to happen soon.

In the absence of legislation, 75 immigration policy experts asked the Biden Administration last year to use its executive authority to offer aid and protection to those fleeing the effects of climate change worldwide by granting parole to otherwise ineligible migrants and allowing them to remain in the country legally on humanitarian grounds.

It is getting to the point where, around the world, we see the climate change impacts overriding a lot of peoples ability to adapt, whether its because they dont have access to what they need, or because things are so severe that there really are not solutions to the challenges theyre facing, said Rebecca Carter, the acting director of climate resilience practice at the World Resources Institute, a global research non-profit based in Washington.

The border crisis isnt new. Central Americans, Haitians, Mexicans and others have been making their way to the U.S. border voluntarily and involuntarily due to worsening violence and persecution for years, and Covid-19 exacerbated the need for people to uproot their lives and migrate. But research shows that the conditions motivating migration to the U.S. are deepening from the impacts of climate change in migrants home countries, inevitably resulting in growing displacement across international borders.

Since the U.S. closed its land ports of entry to almost all migrants more than two years ago, the countrys backlog of pending immigration cases grew to its largest size in history. More than 1.7 million people have been expelled without due process under Title 42, a protocol that allows the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to block non-residents from entering the U.S. under certain conditions to protect public health.

The CDC announced in April that it planned to lift the order, saying that it was no longer necessary for mitigating the spread of Covid-19. After the announcement, more than 20 Republican-led states filed lawsuits in federal court in Louisiana in an attempt to keep the rule in place. On Friday, the judge blocked the Biden administration from ending the order for now.

Proponents of the rule argue that lifting it will lead to an influx of illegal immigration. Mayors in U.S. cities along the border have expressed concerns over the health and safety risks from a surge in migrants as they continue to try to recover from the pandemic as well as deal with an inability to provide shelter to the many asylum seekers they expect to settle on the U.S. side of the border.

The Department of Homeland Security is preparing for upwards of 18,000 migrants a day without Title 42 in place.

The public health order was enacted by the Trump administration in 2020 to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, despite pushback from some CDC officials citing no scientific basis to justify the order. The order prompted human rights advocates to argue that it was used as an excuse to limit immigration and that the halt in immigration doesnt align with the increasing reality of climate change, which has only exacerbated the forces driving people to seek asylum.

The number of people attempting to migrate into the U.S dipped at the beginning of the pandemic and has generally been increasing since. They reached a record high last year at the U.S.-Mexico border. Most of the migrants were from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Many of the people migrating north try to cross the border illegally, trekking through the increasingly hot southwestern desert. At least 650 people died last year, many from harsh environmental conditions, while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, the highest death toll along the border since the International Organization for Migration started tracking the number in 2014.

Thousands of people from Central America and Haiti are waiting along the Mexican side of the border in makeshift campsites and migrant shelters. Some of them have been waiting for more than two years. Some have faced violence and discrimination in Mexico as they wait.

The term climate refugee refers to those displaced by climate change but isnt recognized in international law. The U.N. Refugee Agency refers to them as persons displaced in the context of disasters and climate change, and the International Organization on Migration defines them as environmental migrants or environmentally displaced people.

Their numbers are vast and growing. An IPCC report released earlier this year stated that more than 3.3 billion people live in areas highly vulnerable to climate hazards. In the most extreme climate scenarios, more than 30 million migrants would head toward the U.S. border over the course of the next 30 years, according to a 2020 report by the New York Times Magazine. East and Southeast Asia are seeing more tropical cyclones, the Pacific Islands are quickly being submerged as sea level rises and frequent, intensifying hurricanes are striking Central America. About 21.5 million people relocate as a result of suddenly onsetting weather hazards every year.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) reintroduced a bill last year aimed at addressing climate-driven displacement and supporting people displaced by global warming.

Women, children, Indigenous people, and people of color are the most likely to be affected by climate migration, making them even more vulnerable to conflict, violence, and persecution, said Sen. Markey in a statement introducing the proposed bill for the first time in 2019. The United States needs a global strategy for resilience and a plan to deal with migration driven by climate change. We cannot allow climate-displaced persons to fall through the cracks in our system of humanitarian protections simply because they do not meet the definition of refugee.

The bill has been sitting in committee since April, and its passage is unlikely any time soon, according to Carrie Rosenbaum, an immigration law professor at the University of California Berkeley. The immigration crisis is treated as a national security problem and not a humanitarian one, and both Republicans and moderate Democrats dont want more immigration, period, said Rosenbaum, one of the immigration attorneys who signed the letter to the Biden administration last year.

Elizabeth Keyes, the director of the University of Baltimores Immigrant Rights Clinic, said that while the proposed legislation known as the Climate Displaced Persons Act is a worthy pursuit, the challenge will be that migrants dont fit neatly into definitions of a climate displaced person.

Determining who meets that definition is complex. Research shows that peoples decisions to migrate arent sudden, said Robert McLeman, a professor of environmental studies and geography at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, noting that they often come after years of slow-onset disasters.

Most do not want to migrate. If they do end up displaced, the relocation is usually within country borders, and they often return to their homes, said McLeman, who coauthored an IPCC report released in March dealing with climate change impact, adaptation and vulnerability.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimated that of the 38 million displacements within country borders worldwide last year, 23.7 million of them resulted from climate disasters, including extreme temperatures, storms, cyclones, hurricanes and wildfires. The centre noted that not all of the environmental events in these categories were caused by climate change. Upwards of 216 million people around the world are expected to move within their country borders for climate-related reasons by mid-century, according to a report by the World Bank.

It is only after people try to adapt and are still left with no other options that they consider migrating abroad, researchers said. Sea level rise submerging the Pacific Islands is one of the few cases where climate change is the sole factor prompting migration into other countries, according to a report by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.

Hein de Haas, a Dutch sociologist and one of the founding members of the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford, warned that there is no direct correlation between climate change and mobility. The poorest populations in the poorest countries are less likely to move than those who are slightly better off, and climate and weather are not the only factors that determine peoples decision to migrate, he told the EUobserver.

Carter, of the World Resources Institute, said that climate change is rarely the only factor for migration. Data shows that the impacts of climate change can be a real push for people and can lead to greater instability and violence, she said.

In Honduras, for example, weather extremes have caused a chain reaction of pressures to migrate. Farmers in Honduras that are part of Central Americas dry corridor are battling droughts that have disastrous impacts on cultivation, Inside Climate News reported. This leads to dwindling food supplies, creating destabilization and conflict inside the country and in surrounding countries.

Keyes, one of the 75 experts who signed the letter, said that she also sees the linkage of climate change with instability and violence in Central America, where a majority of her clients are from, as resources and arable land in the region diminish due to drought, hurricanes and other extreme climate events. She started seeing more cases that involved climate issues about three or four years ago.

Its not that people are not coming to me saying Im affected by climate, but when you dig around the context, climate is driving a lot of either general violence or specific land disputes, so land-related asylum claims are becoming much more common, said Keyes.

Organized crime heightened by tensions over natural resources is a big driver of migration in the region, said Neusner, of Human Rights First. Farmers who are extorted to give a portion of their income to violent gangs, for example, find themselves in life-or-death situations when droughts and floods devastate their farms, which is happening more frequently and more intensely as a result of climate change. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 60 percent of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world are also affected by armed conflict, including violence from organized crime.

Because organized crime controls so much of many peoples lives, especially in the northern triangle and in Mexico, there are many people whose persecution has been made a lot worse by climate disasters, said Neusner.

In the absence of an asylum process for climate migrants, Keyes said that the U.S. could expand eligibility to more countries to apply for Temporary Protective Status, a designation that enables citizens of certain nations torn by armed conflict or devastated by hurricanes, earthquakes and other environmental disasters to legally remain in the U.S. until it is deemed that they can return home safely.

But Keyes said that while such protective status could help, it is not a solution to the bigger problem of climate-displaced migrants being unable to seek long-term protection in the U.S. in a safe and fair way. Temporary Protective Status doesnt provide a path for permanent residency or citizenship, she said, and is only available to people already in the U.S. In 1998, the U.S. designated Hondurans and Nicaraguans as eligible for Temporary Protective Status after Hurricane Mitch, a storm that killed more than 8,600 people, struck the two countries.

Biden has expanded temporary protection since he took office, and there have been legislative efforts to provide a path for permanent residency and citizenship to TPS holders, but they have been unsuccessful so far.

The 75 immigration experts who wrote to Biden last year also called for an expansion of Temporary Protective Status and a process called Deferred Enforced Departure in which climate-displaced persons would not be subject to removal from the U.S. for a specific period of time. But the experts also noted the temporary nature of Bidens executive powers under current law.

Because the U.S. refugee system was not necessarily designed to receive climate-displaced persons, existing U.S. refugee mechanisms do not adequately meet their needs, the experts wrote. In the United States, current executive powers lend themselves only to temporary solutions. These temporary solutions can help meet urgent immediate need for protection, but we emphasize that climate-displaced persons need statutory protection that recognizes the long-term nature of their displacement.

ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going.

Following two executive orders by President Biden to address the climate crisis impacts in the U.S. and abroad, the National Security Council released a report in October that recognized the relationship between climate change and migration, and they highlighted the importance of supporting efforts that enable people to stay as safe as possible in their home countries.

The report mentions the need to fund resilience and adaptation projects in countries that are also those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These also happen to be the countries that have contributed the fewest greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately are the least responsible for the impacts of climate change.

In their letter to Biden, the 75 experts clearly focused on what the U.S. should be doing for climate migrants, as opposed to adaptation and mitigation efforts in their countries of origin. The experts called on the Biden administration to put climate migrants among others with top priority in the asylum process. And they recommended that the U.N. revise its own resettlement criteria to also give higher priority to climate migrants.

These measures would not only signal to other nations that the United States stands ready to do its part in the fight against climate change, they wrote, but they would also improve our relationships with nations disproportionately affected by climate change and related disasters.

Aydali Campa covers environmental justice as a Roy W. Howard investigative fellow at Inside Climate News. She grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and taught third and fourth grade in Oklahoma City before pursuing a masters degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University. As a bilingual reporter with experience in multimedia, she has covered education, Covid-19 and transborder issues. Her previous work can be seen in The Wall Street Journal, The Arizona Republic and Arizona PBS.

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Climate Migrants Lack a Clear Path to Asylum in the US - InsideClimate News

That is probably all for today.... heres our news story on the main news event of the day, president Zelenskiys speech:

And some background reading about how Davos isnt quite the same this year.

Well be back tomorrow. GW

Updated at 11.54EDT

Finishing on a positive note, David Rubenstein argues that the current crisis is a less serious economic shock than the Covid-19 crisis, the financial crisis, or the dot-com bust.

Itll be a mild recession, if its a recession, he says. [actually, hes been using banana for recession, echoing an advisor to President Carter who didnt want to scare the electorate].

Onto the crypto crash, and David Rubenstein makes a salient point:

And on the turmoil in stablecoins, Georgieva says that when a stablecoin is backed 1-to-1 with its underlying asset, then its stable. If not, then its a pyramid - and pyramids eventually collapse.

Regulating the stablecoins, ensuring interoperability of CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) is something we need to work on, she adds.

Heres a video clip of IMF chief Kristaline Georgieva warning a few minutes ago that 2022 will be a tough year (as it has been already!).

She also points out that the oil price dipped in the last week on signs of economic slowdown, but food kept rising.

Thats because you can shrink petrol use when growth slows, but people still have to eat every day.

Billionaire businessman David Rubenstein tells the Global Economic Outlook panel that the markets have overreacted this year, with Wall Street tumbling to around bear market territory.

And he denies that the slump in technology stocks this year is a repeat of the dot-com crash in 2000.

Back then, companies with little more than a business plan, without revenues let alone profits, had floated in the dot-com boom. Its not the same situation today.

IMF managing director Kristaline Georgieva adds that two countries are already in recesssion -- Ukraine (which could contract by 35% this year), and Russia.

Others, such as Sri Lanka, have been caught up in debt crisis due to the shocks from the war.

A Davos panel on the global economic outlook is also underway.

And it starts with a show of hands -- how many of the brains trust at the World Economic Forum are concerned that we are going into recession?

About half the hands in the room go up.

Q: So are we already in recession in some countries?

International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva says not, but warns that the economic outlook has darkened since the IMFs last forecasts.

She cites the food crisis, saying that anxiety over access to food at a reasonable price, globally, is hitting the roof.

Plus, the climate crisis has gone nowhere and the digital money has hit a little rough spot (the slump in cryptocurrency assets).

Looking ahead, Georgieva says we may see recessions in some countries which were weak, perhaps hadnt recovered from the pandemic, or very dependent on Russian oil.

But we have not seen that yet, she insists.

However, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup is also on the panel, and she warns that Russia, Recession and (interest) Rates are the key factors to watch.

Asked if Europe will experience a recession, Fraser replies Yes, adding that she hopes shes wrong.

[On rates, European Central Bank Christine Lagarde said today the ECB is likely to start raising interest rates in July and exit sub-zero territory by the end of September.

That made the ECN the latest central banker to turn more hawkish, in the face of high inflation].

More from the panel:

Updated at 11.28EDT

With the World Cup in Qatar looming at the end of the year, the event had its own session in Davos.

A feisty affair with over the top tackles it was not, as the panel dished out platitude after platitude.

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, said five billion people would tune in and it would be the best World Cup ever.

Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football, said he couldnt think of a better place to hold the World Cup.

Ronaldo, the Brazilian striker, said it was marvelous he was a role model to todays superstars. Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger spent a couple of minutes talking about how good coaching was about getting the best out of people.

Nobody was going to get into trouble mentioning the circumstances under which Qatar was awarded the right to hold the tournament or the deaths of workers on the construction sites.

The Amir of the State of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, has hit out at criticism over its hosting of the World Cup late this year.

In a keynote speech here in Davos, the Amir says the Middle East has suffered from discrimination for decades - from people not knowing us, and in some cases refusing to get to know us.

He says:

Even today there are still people who cannot accept the idea that an Arab Muslim country would host a tournament like the World Cup.

He adds:

These individuals, including many in positions of influence, have launched attacks at a pace not seen before when a mega sporting event was hosted by other countries on different continents,

He doesnt say any particular countries, but that each had its own particular problems and challenges.

However.... concerns over human rights protections in Qatar are well documented, with Amnesty reporting that tens of thousands of migrant workers still face forced labour.

Last year, the Guardian reported that more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago.

And last week, a group of non-government organisations said Fifa should pay reparations of at least $440m (356m) to migrant workers whose human rights have been compromised by the Qatar World Cup.

Plus, there are also concerns about the safety of LGBTQ+ people in Qatar, given same-sex relationships are directly criminalised under the laws of the Gulf state.

The economic disruption caused by Covid-19 and the Ukraine war will drive up inflation, hit growth and create more food insecurity, a new survey just released show.

The World Economic Forums Community of Chief Economists predicts further declines in real wages in both high- and low-income economies, as inflation rises faster than pay.

The world faces the worst food insecurity in recent history especially in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Developing economies face trade-offs between the risk of debt crisis and securing food and fuel, it adds, (as Sri Lanka showed by defaulting last week).

Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the World Economic Forum, warns the world is on the cusp of a vicious cycle that could impact societies for years, and erase the progress since the end of the cold war.

The pandemic and war in Ukraine have fragmented the global economy and created far-reaching consequences that risk wiping out the gains of the last 30 years.

Leaders face difficult choices and trade-offs domestically when it comes to debt, inflation and investment. Yet business and government leaders must also recognise the absolute necessity of global cooperation to prevent economic misery and hunger for millions around the world.

Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam, says developed economies are neglecting the Covid-19 crisis in emerging economies - with potentially deadly results.

Bucher tells a Davos panel that vaccine injustice is a risk.

The rich world moves on, thinking that Covid is no longer a problem as they are vaccinated. So they forget that global south still faces waves of the virus, and low vaccination rates (just 15% across Africa).

She says:

The focus moves away and that is not addressed.

Bucher explains that the vaccine isnt yet readily available globally at the scale needed. That means that...

...in six months, the complacency that is perhaps felt now could be really deadly.

Modernas CEO, Stphane Bancel, agrees that there are several reasons to worry, both in the south and the north.

In the US, only half of vaccinated people got boosted with a third dose, so he worries about the next fall (autumn) and winter as their antibody levels falls.

Chinas outbreaks are a concern too; a more infectious virus is harder to control with the measures which were very successful in 2020.

We always need to be humble with biology - and remember that a more virulent virus could emerge over time, says Bancel.

It was good news that Omicron was less virulent than Delta, but we are always a day away, a week away, a month away or a quarter away from a new variant thats more virulent.

Updated at 10.05EDT

Michael McCaul, Republican congressman, has warned that the Ukraine conflict could lead to a new hot war between Russia and the West.

Speaking on a panel here in Davos, McCaul says Russias tactics have been almost World War Two-style, and that the US military have been astonished by how incompetent Russias military have been.

Putin has totally miscalculated, he says, having lost a third of its invasion force.

But warning that the conflict could escalate, McCaul (who represents Texas 10th Congressional District) says:

Its a cold war, but its on the verge of becoming a hot war.

He points out that Putin has now brought in the Butcher of Syria (General Aleksandr Dvornikov) and put him in charge of the war.

McCaul says the biggest concern is that the Butcher of Syria could use chemical weapons, or a tactical nuclear weapon.

We need to think about how NATO, and the world, would respond if that happened, he adds.

Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group is also on the panel, which asks if a new Cold War is taking shape between major powers.

Bremmer says we are in a new cold war, and closer to a new hot war than hed like.

But while there has been a forced decoupling, putting Russia into a lot of trouble and a pariah state with the West, it is not a pariah for countries such as India, China, and Brazil.

Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze says the conflict is between world and anti-world, and that Ukraine needs more sanctions, more weapons, more backing.

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Davos day one: Zelenskiy calls for maximum sanctions against Russia; recession fears on the rise business live - The Guardian