The first zero emission hydrogen-electric commercial flight is expected to take off in 2024, the company building the jet said Wednesday.

The aircraft, currently under development by ZeroAvia, will fly entirely on hydrogen, the British-American hydrogen-electric aircraft developer said in a statement.

ZeroAvia said project partners include Royal Schiphol Group, Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport Foundation and the airport.

Flights are planned between Rotterdam The Hague Airport and London on a 19-seater aircraft.

"The deal sets a solid timeline for the launch of the first zero emission commercial passenger flights between the UK and the Netherlands, and potentially the first international commercial operation in the world," the statement said.

ZeroAvia said it will collaborate with Royal Schiphol Group on testing and demonstrating hydrogen supply chain refueling operations and integration with airport operations.

The two companies will also focus on ensuring the pathway for commercially adopting hydrogen-electric aviation, including establishing the right regulatory framework and understanding industry and public appetite for zero emissions flights powered by hydrogen, it said.

ZeroAvia said it focused research and development on a hydrogen-electric powertrain, which uses hydrogen fuel cells to power electric motors as a viable way to tackle aviation’s climate change impacts at scale.

The only emission is water vapor at manageable temperatures, allowing for sustainable flights, it said.

Hydrogen-electric propulsion will have the additional benefit of lower operating costs, making routes more attractive to airlines and airports and passengers, it added./aa

Amnesty International urged the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to combat the effects of drought in Madagascar.

"Madagascar is on the front line of the climate crisis. This means that one million people are facing a catastrophic drought and violations of their rights to life, health, food and water. This includes the risk of starvation," the head of Amnesty International Agnes Callamard was quoted in the report released Monday.

Droughts will worsen and "disproportionately affect developing populations,” she said, citing projections.

The Malagasy, according to the human rights organization, are facing a devastating drought in the south where 91% of the population lives below the poverty line.

The climatic crisis is causing "terrible suffering and death," it said.

In the southern region, which has been plagued by famine for the last 40 years, 1.14 million people out of more than 27 million are facing a high level of acute food insecurity and 14,000 are in a state of "catastrophe," said Amnesty said, referencing a UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) report published in May.

The same source reported that 95% of the Malagasy people in the south live from agriculture, livestock breeding and fishing activities that have been threatened in recent years by below-average rainy seasons.

Climatic hazards "have led to a severe decline in the production of staple foods, notably rice and cassava, as well as a decrease in the size and condition of herds. The drought has also decimated herds, which has further eroded people's livelihoods," according to FAO as quoted by Amnesty International.

The crisis has also forced migration in search of food, depriving children of a future by forcing them to drop out of school and look for work because of hunger, Amnesty noted.

For all those reasons, Amnesty urged the international community to "immediately" further assist the population with additional funds for the losses and damages suffered.

"Countries that have contributed most to climate change and those with the most resources available must also provide additional financial and technical assistance to help people in Madagascar better adapt to the consequences of climate change, including increasingly long and intense droughts," it said.

World leaders must take “concrete and courageous steps to collectively reduce CO2 emissions by at least 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and to achieve zero emissions by 2050,” said the humanitarian organization.

It also called for the right to information and participation in climate-related decision-making to be guaranteed for affected people at all levels./aa

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 closed in negative territory Wednesday, pulling back from record highs reached during the previous session.

The blue-chip Dow plummeted 266 points, or 0.74%, to close at 35,490, down from an all-time high of 35,892.92 on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell 23 points, or 0.51%, to end the day at 4,551 after hitting a record 4,598.53.

The Nasdaq was basically unchanged -- adding just 0.12 points to close at 15,235.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was down 4.85% to 1.540% and the dollar index fell 0.07% to 93.88.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, increased 6.26% to 16.98 in a volatile session.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $83.42 per barrel on a 2.6% loss and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 3% to $82.11.

Precious metals were mixed with gold adding 0.25% to $1,797 per ounce, Silver decreased 0.35% to $24.07.

The price of Bitcoin was at $58,850, losing 5.4%.

The total value of the crypto market lost around $140 billion in a major selloff, standing around $2.47 trillion, according to data by digital asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap./aa

A Canadian company was reported bankrupt because the Canadian government vetoed arms weapons and technology export to Turkey.

Telemus Systems Inc. of Kanata near the capital of Ottawa lost about CAN$1.5 million as a result of the arms embargo - the contracts called for support systems to a Turkish company for military drone manufacture, bankruptcy trustee KPGM reported in August. Telemus suspended production in July.

“Despite the company’s repeated attempts to reach a resolution with Global Affairs Canada, including explaining the material adverse impact on the company’s financial situation and solvency, the company’s Turkish export permits remained suspended,” the report said. “As a result of the government sanctions, the company was no longer able to generate any revenue."

Defense exports to Turkey were canceled after the Canadian government received a report that suggested Canadian technology, including that of Telemus, was being used to produce drones used by Turkey in a row between Azerbaijan and Armenia, thereby violating Canadian restrictions under the Controlled Goods Regulations. Also, the government said the sale would run counter to international human rights law (IHRL), which protects people not participating in armed conflict.

"...Due to government sanctions, the Company’s export permits for military products and technology were suspended, which prevented the Company from exporting its products to its primary customer in Turkey," the trustee report said.

The Canadian government canceled the Telemus sale to Turkey in April, 2021.

Yet two years before, a Global Affairs report released in April 2019 into whether Turkey was using arms in violation of IRHL in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh cleared Turkey.

"...the department assesses that there is no substantial risk that Canadian exports of military goods and technology to Turkey would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHRL," the report said.

That changed in April 2021 when the Canadian government said it now had "credible evidence' of Canadian hi-tech drone systems in Nagorno-Karabakh, provided to Turkey and used by Azerbaijan against the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Canada and Turkey are allies through membership in NATO./aa

Global wealth has grown overall at the expense of future prosperity and worsening inequalities, the World Bank said Wednesday.

"Wealth and GDP are companions,” the bank said in its Changing Wealth of Nation report. “However, on their own they are not sufficient for ensuring sustainability and human well-being, because they omit additional considerations of critical natural capital and social capital, among others.”

"Although per capita wealth may be similar for countries, the well-being of citizens may be quite different because of factors such as institutions, governance, culture, and social capital that influence but cannot be directly incorporated into monetary values," it added.

The report, which tracks the wealth of 146 countries between 1995 and 2018, measures the economic value of renewable natural capital such as forests, cropland, and ocean resources, nonrenewable natural capital like minerals and fossil fuels and human capital as earnings over a person’s lifetime, produced capital in the form of infrastructure and net foreign assets.

The World Bank warned in a separate statement that countries that are depleting their resources in favor of short-term gains are putting their economies on an unsustainable development path.

"A deeper and more nuanced understanding of the sustainability of wealth is crucial to a green, resilient, and inclusive future," Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships Mari Pangestu said in a statement.

The report showed that global wealth inequality is growing as low-income countries’ share of global wealth has changed little from 1995 to 2018, remaining below 1% of the world’s wealth, despite having around 8% of the world’s population.

Middle-income countries, however, increased their investment in human capital and in turn saw significant increases in their share of global human capital wealth.

Countries that are heavily dependent on fossil fuel wealth were found to have lower shares of wealth from human capital, despite their high income levels, with human capital only comprising 34% of their wealth, it said./aa

The US has issued its first "X" gender passport, the State Department announced Wednesday in what marks a milestone for those who do not identify as male or female.

In announcing the "X" passport, spokesman Ned Price said the State Department looks "forward to offering this option to all routine passport applicants once we complete the required system and form updates in early 2022."

"I want to reiterate, on the occasion of this passport issuance, the Department of State’s commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people – including LGBTQI+ persons," he said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the changes in June, saying the process to update the department's system to include the "X" designation "is technologically complex and will take time for extensive systems updates."

He said at the time that individuals would no longer need to submit medical certification if their "self-selected gender does not match the gender on their other citizenship or identity documents."

The State Department did not identify the individual who received the passport. The designation is for individuals who are non-binary, intersex or gender non-conforming.

Only a handful of other countries allow a passport applicant to select a gender other than male or female./aa