NEW YORK: Global leaders have warned that the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are in “peril,” as they issued calls for a political declaration to accelerate efforts on implementation.
Heads of state told the SDG Summit, held on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly, that intervening years since Agenda 2030 was signed in 2015 had seen a regression.
“The 2030 Agenda remains our overarching roadmap for achieving sustainable development and overcoming the multiple crises we face,” read a statement from the collective.
“At the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda, we are alarmed that the progress on most of the SDGs is either moving much too slowly or has regressed below the 2015 baseline.
“Our world is currently facing numerous crises. Years of sustainable development gains are being reversed.
“Millions have fallen into poverty, hunger and malnutrition are becoming more prevalent, humanitarian needs are rising, and the impacts of climate change more pronounced.”
The statement was part of a political declaration to be submitted to the UNGA that, if endorsed, would commit the international body to doubling down on efforts to reach the 17 SDGs, which include efforts to end hunger and poverty and address climate change.
While COVID-19 was not alone in derailing focus, with the statement noting that the “world was already off track” in 2019, the group expressed concern over the pandemic’s long-term impacts.
Addressing the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was encouraged by the political declaration, noting that beyond mere goals, the SDGs carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people worldwide.
“Yet today, only 15 percent of targets are on track, and many are going in reverse, so instead of leaving no one behind, we risk leaving the SDGs behind,” he added.
“With the world watching (eight years ago) — including 193 young people in the balcony holding blue lamps of hope — you made a solemn promise to build a world of health, progress, and opportunity for all; a promise to leave no one behind.”
UN Sustainable Development Goals in ‘peril,’ global leaders warn
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UN Sustainable Development Goals in ‘peril,’ global leaders warn
- ‘We are alarmed that progress on most of the SDGs is either moving much too slowly or has regressed’
- The statement was part of a political declaration to be submitted to the UNGA
AI ‘reshaping’ organized crime, warns Europol
“We will not let organized crime dictate the rules of the game,” she said
THE HAGUE: Artificial intelligence is turbocharging organized crime, from creating child sexual abuse images to money laundering via cryptocurrency, Europol warned Tuesday, with advances like quantum computing only poised to make things worse.
Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle described the report as a “wake-up call” for law enforcement, telling top officers from around Europe that “the future of European security is in our hands.”
“This is a fight of the rule of law, for our communities, for our businesses, and for the future of our children. We will not let organized crime dictate the rules of the game,” she said.
In its report laying out the threats posed by organized crime, the European police organization said criminals had seized on the opportunities offered by AI as a “catalyst” to accelerate their activities.
“Rapid technological advancements — especially in artificial intelligence (AI) — are reshaping how crime is organized, executed, and concealed,” Europol said in a detailed 80-page “threat assessment” report.
“These shifts are making organized crime more dangerous, posing an unprecedented challenge to security across the EU and its member states,” the police added.
The use of AI and other technologies are helping criminals across the whole of their portfolio — from drug and human trafficking, to cybercrime and identity theft.
Generative AI enables criminal gangs to hit their targets more globally across multiple languages and even generate child sexual abuse images, the police report warned.
“Explicit pictures of adults can be manipulated to make the individual look younger or applications can ‘nudify’ non-explicit images,” the report said.
“The very qualities that make AI revolutionary — accessibility, versatility, and sophistication — have made it an attractive tool for criminals,” noted Europol.
Technology is also making it harder for authorities to recover ill-gotten gains.
Confiscation of proceeds from crime has stagnated at around two percent, the police said, with the challenge “further exacerbated by the increasing criminal exploitation of digital assets.”
Criminal groups are using cryptocurrency to launder money and move funds around, making it hard to track and eventually confiscate.
“The criminal exploitation of cryptocurrency as a payment method now has moved beyond the scope of cybercrime, and is encountered increasingly in more traditional crime areas such as drug trafficking or migrant smuggling.”
As technology improves, the boost to criminal activity is only likely to increase, according to Europol, noting the rapid developments in quantum computing, the metaverse, 6G, unmanned systems and brain-computer interfaces.
“The high levels of anonymity, speed, and sophistication currently demonstrated by criminal networks will only likely increase over the coming years,” cautioned the report.
Quantum computing in particular will enable criminals to crack current encryption technology with ease.
Finally, the police raised the dystopian prospect of criminal gangs run entirely by AI.
“The emergence of fully autonomous AI could pave the way for entirely AI-controlled criminal networks, marking a new era in organized crime,” said the report.
Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order
- The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported
- The court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers, and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal.
The filings made in Baltimore, Maryland, federal court late Monday include statements from officials at 18 agencies, all of whom said the reinstated probationary workers were being placed on administrative leave at least temporarily.
The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported, but the court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration.
Most of the agencies said they had fired a few hundred workers. The Treasury Department terminated about 7,600 people, the Department of Agriculture about 5,700 and the Department of Health and Human Services more than 3,200, according to the filings.
US District Judge James Bredar on March 13 said the mass firings of probationary workers that began last month violated regulations governing the mass layoffs of federal employees, and ordered them to be reinstated pending further litigation.
Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees.
Bredar’s ruling came in a lawsuit by 19 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., who said the mass firings would trigger a spike in unemployment claims and greater demand for social services provided by states.
The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, which is spearheading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has appealed Bredar’s decision and on Monday asked a Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court to pause the ruling pending the outcome of the case.
Hours before Bredar issued his ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco had ordered that probationary workers be reinstated at six agencies, including five also covered by Bredar’s order and the US Department of Defense. The administration has also appealed that decision.
In the filings late Monday, agency officials said they had either reinstated all of the fired employees or were working to do so, but warned that bringing back large numbers of workers had imposed significant burdens and caused confusion and turmoil.
The officials also noted that an appeals court ruling reversing Bredar’s order would allow agencies to again fire the workers, subjecting them to multiple changes in their employment status in a matter of weeks.
“The tremendous uncertainty associated with this confusion and these administrative burdens impede supervisors from appropriately managing their workforce,” Mark Green, deputy assistant secretary at the US Department of the Interior, wrote in one of the filings. “Work schedules and assignments are effectively being tied to hearing and briefing schedules set by the courts.”
Bredar has scheduled a hearing for March 26 on whether to keep his ruling in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve.
At least 18 killed in airstrike on market in northern Mali, separatist group says
- The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants.
- Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups
BAMAKO: At least 18 people have been killed in an airstrike in northern Mali, a separatist group said. The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants.
The Collective for the Defense of the Rights of the Azawad People, which is part of a Tuareg separatist coalition, said Monday the Malian army bombed a market 50 km (30 miles) north of Lerneb, in the Timbuktu region.
Seven people were also injured in the strike on Sunday, the group said in a statement, denouncing a “barbaric act from another age” and a “flagrant human rights violation.”
Mali’s army said Monday in a statement on X it carried out air strikes on a “refuge” in the same area cited by the separatist group, killing 11 “terrorists.”
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Since seizing power in 2021, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to curb violence in central and northern Mali, while the army has been accused of targeting civilians.
Last month, the Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the coalition of Tuareg separatist groups, accused the Malian army and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of “coldly executing” at least 24 people in northern Mali.
Last year, the rights group Human Rights Watch said in a report the army and Russian mercenaries killed at least 32 civilians, including seven in a drone strike, kidnapped four others, and burned at least 100 homes in towns and villages in central and northern Mali between May and December.
Australia slams reported targeting of citizen by Hong Kong
- The letters offered a reward of $128,000 to anyone who could provide information about him
- “The Australian government will not tolerate surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family members here in Australia,” said a spokesperson
SYDNEY: Australia voiced unease on Tuesday over anonymous letters reportedly offering hefty rewards for information on a Hong Kong activist now living in Melbourne.
Australian citizen Kevin Yam, a lawyer and longtime Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, was targeted in letters that carried his photo and alleged national security offenses.
The letters, first reported in The Guardian newspaper, offered a reward of HK$1 million ($128,000) to anyone who could provide information about him and the allegations or “take him to Hong Kong or Australia Metropolitan Police.”
They were sent to homes next to two Melbourne locations cited in the notices as being linked to Yam, the paper said.
“The Australian government will not tolerate surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family members here in Australia — this undermines our national sovereignty and the security and safety of Australians,” said a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“We are raising our concerns directly with Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.”
In a message on social media, Yam said he would continue to live his “everyday life.”
“I will not voluntarily return to Hong Kong before it is free,” he said.
“I will not kill myself.”
Beijing expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to what it called “Australia’s blatant interference” in Hong Kong’s law.
“Hong Kong affairs are purely a Chinese internal affair and brook no interference from any outside powers,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing, when asked about the case concerning Yam.
“China urges Australia to earnestly respect China’s sovereignty... and create favorable conditions and atmosphere for the sustainable development of China-Australia relations,” she added.
The letters were not signed but asked for information to be sent to a Hong Kong police email address used for tip-offs on wanted people.
The Hong Kong government said it does not issue anonymous letters.
Recipients should “remain cautious to verify the authenticity” of any such letters and seek help from local police if needed, a government spokesman told AFP.
Hong Kong law enforcement will pursue overseas suspects in accordance with the law and “take every measure” to stop them from continuing to endanger national security, the spokesman added.
Yam reportedly returned to Australia in 2022 after two decades in Hong Kong.
In 2023, Hong Kong chief executive John Lee called on eight overseas activists including Yam to turn themselves in for violating the national security law.
At the time, he backed a police decision to offer HK$1 million for information leading to their arrests, and warned the activists to surrender or “spend their days in fear.”
All eight fled Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the financial hub in 2020 to quell dissent after huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in 2019 were quashed.
At Delhi’s iconic Jama Masjid, Hindu woman joins Muslims to serve iftar
- Third year for Neha Bharati to serve iftar at the iconic Delhi mosque
- She has been encouraged, supported by her Hindu family members
NEW DELHI: Every afternoon during Ramadan, Neha Bharati makes sure to arrive at the Jama Masjid complex around Maghrib prayer time to bring snacks for her Muslim neighbors and others gathered to break their fast in Old Delhi.
This is the third year that Bharati, a 27-year-old Hindu woman living in the historic heart of India’s capital, has been serving iftar at the iconic 17th-century mosque built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan.
She has been encouraged by her parents who saw the need to act amid what they observed as growing religious tensions since India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014.
“I felt some change needed to be brought about. Then my parents and family suggested that we start ... We would start serving iftar at the main Jama Masjid,” Bharati told Arab News, as she prepared to distribute hundreds of savory pastry snacks among the people coming out of the mosque.
“I wanted this message to reach the people that interfaith harmony is still alive ... There are many people who have become symbols of Hindu-Muslim unity. They are doing good work.”
Bharati is supported in her efforts by both Muslims and Hindus.
“No one is isolated, our blood is the same. We are all working together unitedly. And I am working with this spirit,” she said.
“Some Hindus also donate and ask me to serve iftar at Jama Masjid ... When we all break the fast together. It really feels nice. I want this camaraderie to be alive, that’s why we come here.”
Ramsha Noor, a homemaker, has been helping Bharati in iftar preparations since the very beginning and has observed a growing community involvement.
“This is also a message for girls to come out of homes, help people,” she said.
“Many people feel the change. Now we have a team of five girls. Earlier we were only two.”
India’s Muslim community is the world’s third largest, constituting about 15 percent of its 1.5 billion population.
Anas Ahmad, who has been joining Bharati since she started organizing iftars, said it felt special to break the fast with her and her friends.
“We come here to meet her from far away and I also help her sometimes,” he said.
“When we go to her to take the iftar we get a different kind of feeling. She is doing great work of strengthening brotherhood.”
Mohammad Afroz and Zaid Qureshi, who also broke their fast at Jama Masjid, were full of appreciation for Bharati’s presence and contribution.
“She is spreading love and promoting Hindu-Muslim unity ... this is a great thing,” Qureshi said.
“She will be blessed,” Afroz added. “We should learn from this ... This helps in honing brotherhood and harmony. This helps in spreading camaraderie and love.”
