G20 summit calls for more aid to Gaza, end to war in Ukraine

G20 summit calls for more aid to Gaza, end to war in Ukraine
Leaders attending the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty pose for a group photo after the first session of the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 19 November 2024
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G20 summit calls for more aid to Gaza, end to war in Ukraine

G20 summit calls for more aid to Gaza, end to war in Ukraine
  • Declaration refers to “catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon”
  • Affirms Palestinian right to self-determination, reiterates “unwavering commitment” to two-state solution

RIO DE JANEIRO: Leaders of the world’s 20 major economies called for a global pact to combat hunger, more aid for war-torn Gaza and an end to hostilities in the Mideast and Ukraine, issuing a joint declaration Monday that was heavy on generalities but short of details on how to accomplish those goals.

The joint statement was endorsed by group members but fell short of complete unanimity. It also called for a future global tax on billionaires and for reforms allowing the eventual expansion of the United Nation Security Council beyond its five current permanent members.

At the start of the three-day meeting which formally ends Wednesday, experts doubted Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could convince the assembled leaders to hammer out any agreement at all in a gathering rife with uncertainty over the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, and heightened global tensions over wars in the Mideast and Ukraine.

Argentina challenged some of the language in initial drafts and was the one country that did not endorse the complete document.

“Although generic, it is a positive surprise for Brazil,” said Thomas Traumann, an independent political consultant and former Brazilian minister. “There was a moment when there was a risk of no declaration at all. Despite the caveats, it is a good result for Lula.”

Taking place just over a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the declaration referred to the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon,” stressing the urgent need to expand humanitarian assistance and better protect civilians.

“Affirming the Palestinian right to self-determination, we reiterate our unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where Israel and a Palestinian State live side by side in peace,” it said.

It did not mention Israel’s suffering or of the 100 or so hostages still held by Hamas. Israel isn’t a G20 member. The war has so far killed more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, and more than 3,500 people in Lebanon following Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The omitted acknowledgment of Israel’s distress appeared to run contrary to US President Joe Biden’s consistent backing of Israel’s right to defend itself. It’s something Biden always notes in public, even when speaking about the deprivation of Palestinians. 

During a meeting with G20 leaders before the declaration was hammered home, Biden expressed his view that Hamas is solely to blame for the war and called on fellow leaders to “increase the pressure on Hamas” to accept a ceasefire deal.

Biden’s decision to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of longer-range US missiles to allow that country to strike more deeply inside Russia also played into the meetings,

“The United States strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Everyone around this table in my view should, as well,” Biden said during the summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the meeting , and instead sent his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. Putin has avoided such summits after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant that obliges member states to arrest him.

The G20 declaration highlighted the human suffering in Ukraine while calling for peace, without naming Russia.

“The declaration avoids pointing the finger at the culprits,” said Paulo Velasco, an international relations professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. “That is, it doesn’t make any critical mention of Israel or Russia, but it highlights the dramatic humanitarian situations in both cases.”

The entire declaration lacks specificity, Velasco added.

“It is very much in line with what Brazil hoped for ... but if we really analyze it carefully, it is very much a declaration of intent. It is a declaration of good will on various issues, but we have very few concrete, tangible measures.”

Fraught push to tax global billionaires

The declaration did call for a possible tax on global billionaires, which Lula supports. Such a tax would affect about 3,000 people around the world, including about 100 in Latin América.

The clause was included despite opposition from Argentina. So was another promoting gender equality, said Brazilian and other officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Argentina signed the G20 declaration, bit also had issues with references to the UN’s 2030 sustainable development agenda. Its right-wing president, Javier Milei, has referred to the agenda as “a supranational program of a socialist nature.” It also objected to calls for regulating hate speech on social media, which Milei says infringes on national sovereignty, and to the idea that governments should do more to fight hunger.

Milei has often adopted a Trump-like role as a spoiler in multilateral talks hosted by his outspoken critic, Lula.

Concrete steps for fighting global hunger

Much of the declaration focuses on eradicating hunger — a priority for Lula.

Brazil’s government stressed that Lula’s launch of the global alliance against hunger and poverty on Monday was as important as the final G20 declaration. As of Monday, 82 nations had signed onto the plan, Brazil’s government said. It is also backed by organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

A demonstration Sunday on Rio’s Copacabana beach featured 733 empty plates spread across the sand to represent the 733 million people who went hungry in 2023, according to United Nations data.

Viviana Santiago, a director at the anti-poverty nonprofit Oxfam, praised Brazil for using its G20 presidency “to respond to people’s demands worldwide to tackle extreme inequality, hunger and climate breakdown, and particularly for rallying action on taxing the super-rich.”

“Brazil has lit a path toward a more just and resilient world, challenging others to meet them at this critical juncture,” she said in a statement.

Long-awaited reform of the United Nations

Leaders pledged to work for “transformative reform” of the UN Security Council so that it aligns “with the realities and demands of the 21st century, makes it more representative, inclusive, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable.”

Lula has been calling for reform of Security Council since his first two terms in power, from 2003 to 2010, without gaining much traction. Charged with maintaining international peace and security, its original 1945 structure has not changed. Five dominant powers at the end of World War II have veto power — the US, Russia, China, Britain and France — while 10 countries from different regions serve rotating two-year terms.

Virtually all countries agree that nearly eight decades after the United Nations was established, the Security Council should be expanded to reflect the 21st century world and include more voices. The central quandary and biggest disagreement remains how to do that. The G20 declaration doesn’t answer that question.

“We call for an enlarged Security Council composition that improves the representation of the underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean,” the declaration said.

The United States announced shortly before a UN summit in September that it supports two new permanent seats for African countries, without veto power, and a first-ever non-permanent seat for a small island developing nation. But the Group of Four – Brazil, Germany, India and Japan – support each other’s bids for permanent seats. And the larger

Uniting for Consensus group of a dozen countries including Pakistan, Italy, Turkiye and Mexico wants additional non-permanent seats with longer terms.


Russia launches 85 attack drones, ballistic missile on Ukraine overnight, Ukraine says

Russia launches 85 attack drones, ballistic missile on Ukraine overnight, Ukraine says
Updated 16 sec ago
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Russia launches 85 attack drones, ballistic missile on Ukraine overnight, Ukraine says

Russia launches 85 attack drones, ballistic missile on Ukraine overnight, Ukraine says
  • Frontline territories in the Sumy, Donetsk, Chernihiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the overnight strike
Russia launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile targeting Ukraine’s territory, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Saturday.
Frontline territories in the Sumy, Donetsk, Chernihiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the overnight strikes, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app. It said its air defense units destroyed 61 of the drones. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily morning report that 139 clashes had taken place on the front line over the past day.

Off-duty NYPD officer fatally shoots man on Staten Island pointing fake gun

Off-duty NYPD officer fatally shoots man on Staten Island pointing fake gun
Updated 16 August 2025
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Off-duty NYPD officer fatally shoots man on Staten Island pointing fake gun

Off-duty NYPD officer fatally shoots man on Staten Island pointing fake gun
  • Man told to put the firearm down but instead he pointed it at the officers; one officer then fired at the man

NEW YORK: An off-duty New York Police Department officer fatally shot a man pointing a fake gun at the officer on Friday night on Staten Island, according to law enforcement.

At about 8 p.m., a 911 call came in about a man with a gun at the back of a diner, Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, of the NYPD Patrol Borough of Staten Island, said during a news conference.

An off-duty officer then spotted the same man with what appeared to be a firearm and told another off-duty officer, said Eger.

They told the man to put the firearm down but instead he pointed it at the officers, said Eger, who added that surveillance video captured the events. One officer then fired at the man.

The officers “performed life-saving measures” and then the man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, she said.

“Our officers were confronted with a dangerous and unpredictable situation, and they attempted to de-escalate the situation multiple times,” she said.

An imitation firearm was found at the scene, she said.

The shooting is being investigated.

She said the man has a criminal history, but the details were not immediately clear.


Air Canada flight attendants go on strike, shutting down service

Air Canada flight attendants go on strike, shutting down service
Updated 16 August 2025
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Air Canada flight attendants go on strike, shutting down service

Air Canada flight attendants go on strike, shutting down service
  • The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants, in a legal position to strike as of 12:01 a.m.
  • Air Canada, which transports about 130,000 passengers daily, had said it would gradually wind down operations ahead of the possible strike

TORONTO: Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike Saturday, a work stoppage the airline has said will shut down service and create summer travel chaos for its 130,000 daily passengers.

“We are now officially on strike,” the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants, said in a statement.

Air Canada, which transports about 130,000 passengers daily, had said it would gradually wind down operations ahead of the possible strike.

As of 8:00 p.m. Friday, the airline said it had canceled 623 flights affecting more than 100,000 passengers.

In addition to wage increases, the union says it wants to address uncompensated ground work, including during the boarding process.

Rafael Gomez, who heads the University of Toronto’s Center for Industrial Relations, said it’s “common practice, even around the world” to compensate flight attendants based on time spent in the air.

He said the union had built an effective communication campaign around the issue, creating a public perception of unfairness.

An average passenger, not familiar with common industry practice, could think, “’I’m waiting to board the plane and there’s a flight attendant helping me, but they’re technically not being paid for that work,’” he said.

“That’s a very good issue to highlight.”

Air Canada detailed its latest offer in a Thursday statement, specifying that under the terms, a senior flight attendant would on average make CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027.

CUPE has described Air Canada’s offers as “below inflation (and) below market value.”

The union has also rejected requests from the federal government and Air Canada to resolve outstanding issues through independent arbitration.

Gomez said that if the flight attendants strike, he does not expect the stoppage to last long.

“This is peak season,” he said.

“The airline does not want to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue... They’re almost playing chicken with the flight attendants.”


More than 300 people killed due to heavy rain, floods in Pakistan

More than 300 people killed due to heavy rain, floods in Pakistan
Updated 28 min 21 sec ago
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More than 300 people killed due to heavy rain, floods in Pakistan

More than 300 people killed due to heavy rain, floods in Pakistan
  • Majority of the deaths were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the rains triggered landslides and flash floods
  • Seven killed when government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a mission to deliver relief goods

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Pakistan has crossed 300, local officials said on Saturday.

The majority of the deaths were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Five others, including two pilots, were killed when a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a mission to deliver relief goods, the chief minister of the province, Ali Amin Gandapur, said in a statement.

The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Mansehra and Battagram as disaster-hit areas.

In Bajaur, a tribal district abutting Afghanistan, a crowd amassed around an excavator trawling a mud-soaked hill, AFP photos showed.

Funeral prayers began in a paddock nearby, with people grieving in front of several bodies covered by blankets.

The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for the northwest, urging people to avoid “unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas.”

In the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, a region divided with Pakistan, rescuers pulled bodies from mud and rubble on Friday after a flood crashed through a Himalayan village, killing at least 60 people and washing away dozens more.

The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction.

Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.

Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, a representative of the national disaster agency, told AFP that this year’s monsoon season began earlier than usual and is expected to end later.

“The next 15 days, particularly from August 16 till the 30th of August, the intensity of the monsoon will further exacerbate,” he added.

The provincial government has declared Saturday as a day of mourning, chief minister Gandapur said.

“The national flag will fly at half-mast across the province, and the martyrs will be laid to rest with full state honors,” the statement from his office said.

Scientists say that climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its population is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency.

The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as “unusual” by authorities, have killed more than 320 people, nearly half of them children.

In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan’s 255 million people, recorded 73 percent more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon.

In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people.


Heavy rains expected in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands as Hurricane Erin nears

Heavy rains expected in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands as Hurricane Erin nears
Updated 16 August 2025
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Heavy rains expected in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands as Hurricane Erin nears

Heavy rains expected in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands as Hurricane Erin nears
  • Storm expected to remain over open waters, although tropical storm watches were issued for Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Martin, St. Barts, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: Hurricane Erin strengthened into a Category 2 storm on Friday as it approached the northeast Caribbean, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding and landslides.

The storm is expected to remain over open waters, although tropical storm watches were issued for Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Martin, St. Barts, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten.

Heavy rains were forecast to start late Friday in Antigua and Barbuda, the US and British Virgin Islands and southern and eastern Puerto Rico. Up to 10 centimeters are expected, with isolated totals of up to 15 centimeters, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The hurricane center also warned of dangerous swells but said the threat of direct impacts in the Bahamas and along the east coast of the United States “appears to be gradually decreasing.”

The storm was located 405 kilometers northeast of Anguilla as of the hurricane center’s 11 p.m. EDT advisory. It had maximum sustained wind speeds of 160kph and was moving west north-west at 27kph.

Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin is forecast to eventually take a sharp turn northeast that would put it on a path between the US and Bermuda.

“All of our best consensus aids show Erin turning safely east of the United States next week, but it’ll be a much closer call for Bermuda, which could land on the stronger eastern side of Erin,” he said.

Erin is the Atlantic season’s first hurricane. It is forecast to become a major Category 3 storm late this weekend and pass some 320 kilometers north of Puerto Rico.

The US government has deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution as forecasters issued a flood watch for the entire US territory from late Friday into Monday.

Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Perez Pena said 367 shelters have been inspected and could be opened if needed.

The US Coast Guard said Friday that it closed six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the US Virgin Islands to all incoming vessels unless they had received prior authorization.

Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane.

“These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement,” said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas’ disaster risk management authority.

Dangerous surf and rip currents are expected to affect the US East Coast next week, with waves reaching up to five meters along parts of the North Carolina coast that could cause beach erosion, according to AccuWeather.

“Erin is forecast to explode into a powerful Category 4 hurricane as it moves across very warm waters in the open Atlantic. Water temperatures at the surface and hundreds of feet deep are several degrees higher than the historical average,” said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather’s lead hurricane expert.

Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

This year’s season is once again expected to be unusually busy. The forecast calls for six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 177kph.