RIO DE JANEIRO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called on G20 leaders gathering in Rio de Janeiro to rescue stalled concurrent UN climate talks in Azerbaijan by showing “leadership” on cutting emissions.
“A successful outcome at COP29 is still within reach, but it will require leadership and compromise, namely from the G20 countries,” Guterres, who will attend the summit of the world’s biggest economies starting Monday, told a press conference in Rio.
The annual UN talks in Baku are deadlocked at the midway point, with nations no closer to agreeing a $1 trillion deal for climate investments in developing nations after a week of negotiations.
The talks are stuck over the final figure, the type of financing, and who should pay, with Western countries wanting China and wealthy Gulf states to join the list of donors.
All eyes have turned to Rio in the hope of a breakthrough.
“The spotlight is naturally on the G20. They account for 80 percent of global emissions,” Guterres said, calling on the group to “lead by example.”
COP29 success requires G20 ‘leadership’: UN chief
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COP29 success requires G20 ‘leadership’: UN chief
- Annual UN climate talks in Baku deadlocked at midway point
Russia warns strike on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant could cause ‘Chernobyl-style catastrophe’
Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant and was built by Russia
ST PETERSBURG: The head of Russia’s nuclear energy corporation warned on Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a “Chernobyl-style catastrophe.”
An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had struck the site, but an Israeli military official later called this statement “a mistake” and said he could neither confirm nor deny that the Bushehr site on the cost of the Gulf had been hit.
Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant and was built by Russia.
President Vladimir Putin told journalists in the early hours of Thursday that Israel had promised Russia that Moscow’s workers — who are building more nuclear facilities at the Bushehr site — would be safe, even as Israel tries to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities by force.
The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom warned on Thursday that the situation around the plant was fraught with risk.
“If there is a strike on the operational first power unit, it will be a catastrophe comparable to Chernobyl,” the state RIA news agency cited Alexei Likhachev as saying.
Likhachev was referring to the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, when a reactor exploded at Chernobyl in Soviet Ukraine.
An attack on Bushehr would be “beyond... evil,” Likhachev added.
Russia has evacuated some of its specialists from Bushehr, he said, but the core workforce — which Putin said numbered hundreds of people — remained on site.
“We are prepared for any scenario, including the rapid evacuation of all our employees,” RIA cited Likhachev as saying.
’GOD FORBID’
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Israeli attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities were unacceptable and illegal.
“We are especially concerned about the safety of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in whose operation Russian specialists are involved,” she told reporters.
“We would like to especially warn Washington against military intervention in the situation, which would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences,” Zakharova added, underlining a warning that Moscow first issued on Wednesday.
Putin, in his comments early on Thursday, was defensive when asked what more Moscow would do to help Tehran. He said it had not asked for military assistance, that ties were strong, and that the continued presence of Russian workers building more nuclear facilities at Bushehr showed Russia’s support for Iran.
But Putin also stressed the importance of Russia’s ties with Israel — even though he later condemned its behavior in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping — and said he believed a diplomatic solution that would satisfy Israel’s concerns about its own security and Iran could be found.
Russia signed a strategic partnership with Iran in January and also has a relationship with Israel, although that has been strained by Moscow’s war in Ukraine. A Russian offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict has so far not been taken up.
Mikhail Bogdanov, another Russian deputy foreign minister, recoiled on Thursday when asked by Reuters about the possibility of the US joining Israel’s war with Iran.
“God forbid, the consequences would be hard to predict,” he said.
Philippines passes law designating national day for hijab awareness
- Muslim women say new law means they are seen as equal in nation-building
- National Day of Awareness on Hijab to be observed each year on Feb. 1
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed a law recognizing the Muslim headscarf as part of the country’s traditional garment culture and designating a special day to increase awareness of it.
The new law, signed on Wednesday, declares Feb. 1 each year as the National Day of Awareness on the Hijab and Other Traditional Garments and Attire “to promote diversity, awareness, and tolerance of the various religious and cultural beliefs through the wearing of indigenous and traditional clothing, head garments and coverings.”
Government institutions, in coordination with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, will under the law organize events “that promote the cultural values of wearing the hijab and other traditional garments and attire.”
Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the country’s 110 million predominantly Catholic population. Most Philippine Muslims live on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, as well as in the central-western province of Palawan.
The move to recognize the Muslim garment was welcomed by the community as a step toward promoting inclusion.
“When the government does that, it’s a recognition of the importance of hijabs to the Muslims. It’s really promoting inclusiveness in society, and it is honoring the Muslim women,” Dr. Potre Dunampatan-Diampuan, a Filipina Muslim scholar from the United Religions Initiative, told Arab News.
For Samira Gutoc, chairperson of the rights advocacy group Ako Bakwit, the new law meant that she was being seen as equal in nation-building.
“We, hijabis, aim to be part of the workforce — not just in the Philippine National Police or army, but to work alongside all,” she said.
“It is a vital measure promoting awareness, respect and acceptance of the hijab, reinforcing the rights of Muslim women to practice their faith freely.”
The National Day of Awareness on the Hijab and Other Traditional Garments and Attire will coincide with World Hijab Day, which has been observed on Feb. 1 since 2013 to promote understanding and awareness about Muslim religious and cultural practices.
“Muslim women in the Philippines had been looking forward to the time when they would be seen as equal — treated equally, without any judgment,” Princess Habibah Sarip-Paudac, the Philippines’ first news anchor to wear a hijab on national television, told Arab News.
“We are so happy with this (law’s) passage. It only means that the government is acknowledging the concerns of its people and it is after inclusivity.”
Afghans start fleeing Iran in fear of Israeli bombings
- Iran hosts the largest population of Afghan refugees and migrant workers
- Traffic at one of the main border crossings surges to 8,000 crossings per day
KABUL: Abdulsaboor Seddiqi was in the middle of his mid-term exams at a university in Tehran when Israeli bombardment started to wreak havoc in the city. He decided to leave as soon as classes were suspended, and traveled 1,200 km to cross to Afghanistan.
Israeli airstrikes on Iran began last week, when Tel Aviv hit more than a dozen Iranian sites — including key nuclear facilities and the residences of military leaders and scientists — claiming it was aiming to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Daily attacks have been ongoing for the past seven days after Iran retaliated with ballistic missile strikes against Israel. The Israeli military has since been increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure.
“During the last week, we didn’t have proper phone and internet connectivity. Power cuts were more frequent,” Seddiqi, a computer science student, told Arab News.
“My family back in Herat was worried for my safety. I decided to leave.”
He is one of the thousands of Afghans who are now crossing the border every day.
At the Islam Qala crossing alone — part of the main route connecting Herat and Iran’s Mashhad — the number of people crossing daily has surged from 1,500 to as high as 8,000.
“The number of Afghans returning from Iran has drastically increased during the last week. The majority of the returnees were individuals prior to the conflict, while a lot of families also returned in the last week,” said Naser Azimi, a health worker at the Islam Qala health center.
“The number of Afghans returning through Islam Qala every day increased to 3,000 and even reached 8,000 people in a day.”
Abdulbasit Qazizada, who has been working in Tehran for the past two years, arrived in Herat on Monday.
“There was an unusual rush at the Islam Qala border crossing when I was coming back,” he said. “There’s so much fear and anxiety across all cities of Iran, especially Tehran. Many Afghans also work or live there.”
Over decades of armed conflict at home, about 5 million Afghan refugees and migrant workers settled in neighboring Iran, according to official data. Iran is home to the largest Afghan diaspora in the world. Most of them live in Tehran.
Some Afghan families have lost contact with their relatives living in the Iranian capital since the outbreak of violence.
“My brother went to Iran a few months ago for work. We heard in the news on Friday that Israel attacked Iran and killed a lot of people,” said Mohammad Naser, a resident of Kabul, whose brother and two cousins were in Tehran.
“It’s been a week that we don’t know anything about them. My mother and my family members are very concerned. We don’t know if they are OK. We feel helpless because we can’t do anything.”
According to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, at least 224 people have been killed and 1,481 wounded in Israeli attacks. Various media outlets have reported, however, that casualty numbers could be at least twice as high.
Russia, Ukraine say have completed fresh POW exchange
- “Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said
KYIV: Russia and Ukraine said Thursday they had completed another exchange of captured soldiers, part of an agreement reached earlier in June at peace talks in Istanbul.
“Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, as Russia’s defense ministry also confirmed the exchange. Neither side said how many soldiers had been freed.
SpaceX Starship explodes during routine test
- The Starship 36 suffered ‘catastrophic failure and exploded’ at the Starbase launch facility
- The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean
HOUSTON: One of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starships exploded during a routine test in Texas late Wednesday, law enforcement officials said, in the latest setback to the billionaire’s dream of turning humanity into an interplanetary species.
The Starship 36 suffered “catastrophic failure and exploded” at the Starbase launch facility shortly after 11:00 p.m. (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by Cameron County authorities said.
A video shared with the post showed the megarocket attached to the launch arm and then a flash and a towering, fiery explosion.
Musk’s Space X said the rocket was preparing for the tenth flight test when it “experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase,” without elaborating on the nature of the complication.
“A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” Space X said on social media.
“There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue.”
The Starship was not scheduled for launch on Wednesday evening when the explosion occurred during a “routine static fire test,” according to the Cameron County authorities.
During a static fire, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship’s Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.
Starbase, on the south Texas coast near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk’s space project.
Musk appeared to downplay the incident early on Thursday.
“Just a scratch,” he posted on his social media platform X, although without context it was unclear if he was referring to the fiery explosion of the rocket.
Standing 123 meters tall, Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and is central to Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars.
The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tonnes.
The latest setback follows the explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.
The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off from the Starbase facility on May 27, but the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.
However, the failures will likely do little to dent Musk’s spacefaring ambitions.
SpaceX has been betting that its “fail fast, learn fast” ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.
The company has caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s giant robotic arms three times – a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.
NASA is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX, whose Dragon spacecraft is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 in early May, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment.
The decision overruled objections from conservation groups that had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.
