World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks

World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks
Delegates attend the COP16 biodiversity conference at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy, on February 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 28 February 2025
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World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks

World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks
  • The agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to the 2022 deal, which saw countries agree to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas
  • Countries have already agreed to deliver $200 billion a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30 billion a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones

ROME: Nations cheered a last-gasp deal to map out funding to protect nature Thursday, breaking a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions.
Rich and developing countries hammered out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous meeting in Cali, Colombia, last year.
Delegates stood and clapped in an emotionally charged final meeting that saw key decisions adopted in the final minutes of the last day of rebooted negotiations at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome.
COP16 President Susana Muhamad of Colombia hailed the fact that countries worked together for a breakthrough, enabling progress “in this very fragmented and conflicted world.”
“This is something very beautiful because it’s around protecting life that we have come together, and there cannot be anything higher than that,” she added.
The decision comes more than two years after a landmark deal to halt the rampant destruction of nature this decade and protect the ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation, and economic prosperity.
Scientists have warned that action is urgent.
A million species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and consumption destroys forests, depletes soils and spreads plastic pollution to even the most remote areas of the planet.
The agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to the 2022 deal, which saw countries agree to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas.
Talks were also seen as a bellwether for international cooperation.
The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid — particularly by new US President Donald Trump.
Washington, which has not signed up to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, sent no representatives to the meeting.
“Our efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical uncertainty,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Ousseynou Kasse of Senegal, speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, also threw support behind global cooperation.
“We believe that this is the way that can save the world, and we must continue down this path,” he said.
Countries must be “accountable to our children, to the generations to come,” he added, saying he was thinking of what he would tell his own son when he returns home.
“I will give him good news that we have a compromise, we have a deal.”
The failure to finalize an agreement in Cali was the first in a string of disappointing outcomes at environmental summits last year.
A climate finance deal at COP29 in Azerbaijan in November was slammed by developing countries, while separate negotiations about desertification and plastic pollution stalled in December.
Muhamad, who has resigned as Colombia’s environment minister but stayed on to serve until after the Rome conference, was given a standing ovation as the talks drew to a close in the early hours of Friday.
Countries have already agreed a goal to deliver $200 billion a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30 billion a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones.
The total for 2022 was about $15 billion, according to the OECD.
The main debate in Cali and later Rome was over developing countries’ calls for the creation of a specific biodiversity fund, which has seen pushback from the EU and other wealthy nations, who have argued against multiple funds.
Thursday saw intense closed-door talks based on a “compromise attempt” text that Brazil put forward on behalf of the BRICS country bloc that includes Russia, China and India.
The agreement reached in Rome leaves it to the 2028 COP to decide whether to set up a specific new fund under the UN biodiversity process, or to name a potentially reformed existing fund to play that role.
Georgina Chandler, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the Zoological Society of London, said the finance roadmap was a “key milestone,” but stressed that money is needed urgently.
Other decisions sought to bolster monitoring to ensure countries are held accountable for their progress toward meeting biodiversity targets.
One achievement in Cali was the creation of a new fund to share profits from digitally sequenced genetic data from plants and animals with the communities they come from.
The fund, officially launched on Tuesday, is designed for large firms to contribute a portion of their income from developing things like medicine and cosmetics using this data.
Delegates in Cali also approved the creation of a permanent body to represent the interests of Indigenous people.


China criticizes US ban on Harvard’s international students

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China criticizes US ban on Harvard’s international students

China criticizes US ban on Harvard’s international students
BANGKOK: The Chinese government said Friday that the Trump administration’s move to ban international students from Harvard would harm America’s international standing, and one university in Hong Kong looked to capitalize on the uncertainty by promising to take them in.
Chinese students make up a large part of Harvard University’s international student population. The university enrolled 6,703 international students across all of its schools in 2024, according to the school’s data, with 1,203 of those coming from China.
The Trump administration’s move, announced Thursday, was a hot topic on Chinese social media. State broadcaster CCTV questioned whether the US would remain a top destination for foreign students, noting Harvard was already suing the US government in court.
“But with the long litigation period, thousands of international students may have trouble waiting,” the CCTV commentary said.
It went on to say that it becomes necessary for international students to consider other options “when policy uncertainty becomes the norm.”
Educational cooperation with the US is mutually beneficial and China opposes its politicization, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing in Beijing.
“The relevant actions by the US side will only damage its own image and international credibility,” she said.
She added that China would firmly protect the rights and interests of Chinese students and scholars abroad but she didn’t offer any details on how it would do so in this situation.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology extended an open invitation to international students already at Harvard and those who have been admitted. The institution posted a news release saying it would provide unconditional offers, streamlined admission procedures and academic support to facilitate a seamless transition.
Some people in China joked online about having the university open a branch in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, whose name shares the same character as Harvard’s name in Chinese.
The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the relationship with the United States. During Trump’s first term, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about rising rejections rates and shorter terms for visas in the US
Last year, the Chinese foreign ministry protested that a number of Chinese students had been interrogated and sent home upon arrival at US airports.
Chinese state media has long played up gun violence in the US and portrayed America as a dangerous place. Some Chinese students are opting to study in the UK or other countries rather than the US

Swedish intelligence lowers terror threat level

Swedish intelligence lowers terror threat level
Updated 44 min 40 sec ago
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Swedish intelligence lowers terror threat level

Swedish intelligence lowers terror threat level

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s intelligence service said Friday it was lowering its terror alert level from “high threat” to “elevated threat,” saying the risk of an attack had subsided.
The Swedish Security Service (Sapo) raised the level in August 2023 to “high threat” — the fourth level on a scale of five — after angry reactions to a series of protests involving desecrations of the Qur'an made the country a “prioritized target.”
“Propaganda against Sweden has subsided and Sweden is not specifically mentioned as a target,” Fredrik Hallstrom, head of operations at the Swedish Security Service, told a press conference.
“We do not see the same intense flow of attack threats directed at Sweden,” he added.
Sapo said it now considered the terror alert level to be at “elevated threat” — the third level on its five-point scale.
Hallstrom cautioned that with “an elevated threat, there is room for a terrorist attack to occur.”
A series of Qur'an burnings across the country — most notably by Iraqi Christian Salwan Momika — in the summer of 2023 sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
It strained relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries, and Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
Momika ended up facing charges of inciting ethnic hatred, but in January of this year he was fatally shot in an apartment just hours before the court was due to deliver its ruling.
His co-protester Salwan Najem, also of Iraqi origin, was ultimately found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred during four Qur'an burnings in 2023.
Despite the lowered threat level, Charlotte von Essen, head of Sapo, stressed that “Sweden is in a serious security situation.”
“The worst in many years,” von Essen told reporters.
The Sapo chief pointed to the fact that the war in Ukraine was still ongoing.
“Foreign powers — and Russia in particular — are carrying out extensive security-threatening activities in and against Sweden,” she said.


Congo votes to lift immunity of former president Kabila

Congo votes to lift immunity of former president Kabila
Updated 23 May 2025
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Congo votes to lift immunity of former president Kabila

Congo votes to lift immunity of former president Kabila

Congo’s senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of lifting former President Joseph Kabila’s immunity from prosecution in a late night vote on Thursday over his alleged links to the M23 rebel group.
Kabila is wanted in Congo for alleged crimes against humanity for supporting the insurgency in the east, including a role in the massacre of civilians and personnel. Congo has also moved to suspend his political party and seize the assets of its leaders.
Kabila, who denies any ties to the rebel group, stepped down after almost 20 years in power in 2018, yielding to protests. He has been out of the Central African country since late 2023, mostly in South Africa.
The senate backed lifting his immunity by 88 votes to 5 in a secret ballot.
Kabila has been threatening to return to Congo for weeks to help find a solution to the crisis in the east, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels now control large swathes of territory.
A return to Congo by Kabila could complicate the bid to end the rebellion in eastern Congo, which contains vast supplies of critical minerals that President Donald Trump’s administration is keen to access.
Washington is pushing for a peace agreement between the two sides to be signed this summer, accompanied by minerals deals aimed at bringing billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, told Reuters earlier this month.
Kabila came to power in 2001 after his father’s assassination. He refused to stand down when his final term officially ended in 2016, leading to deadly protests, before agreeing to leave office following an election in 2018.


Bangladesh minister says Yunus ‘not going to step down’

Bangladesh minister says Yunus ‘not going to step down’
Updated 23 May 2025
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Bangladesh minister says Yunus ‘not going to step down’

Bangladesh minister says Yunus ‘not going to step down’
  • Muhammad Yunus had threatened to quit the job if parties did not give him their backing
  • Yunus has promised polls will be held by June 2026 at the latest, but supporters of the BNP demanded he fix a date

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus “needs to remain” in office as interim leader to ensure a peaceful transition of power, a cabinet member and special adviser to Yunus said Friday.

Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over after a mass uprising last year, had threatened to quit the job if parties did not give him their backing, a political ally and sources in his office said.

The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since the student-led revolt that toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, with parties protesting on the streets over a string of demands.

“For the sake of Bangladesh and a peaceful democratic transition, Professor Yunus needs to remain in office,” Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, a special assistant to Yunus, and head of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, said in a post on Facebook.

“The Chief Adviser is not going to step down,” he added. “He does not hanker after power.”

Bangladesh’s political crisis has escalated this week, with rival parties protesting on the streets of the capital Dhaka with a string of competing demands.

Yunus’s reported threat to stand down came after thousands of supporters of the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) rallied in Dhaka on Wednesday, holding large-scale protests against the interim government for the first time.

Yunus has promised polls will be held by June 2026 at the latest, but supporters of the BNP — seen as the front-runners in highly anticipated elections that will be the first since Hasina was overthrown — demanded he fix a date.

Yunus’s relationship with the military has also reportedly deteriorated.

According to local media and military sources, powerful army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said on Wednesday that elections should be held by December.

Taiyeb issued a warning to the army on Friday.

“The army can’t meddle in politics,” he wrote.

“The army doesn’t do that in any civilized country,” he added.

“By saying that the election has to be held by December, the military chief failed to maintain his jurisdictional correctness.”


UK newspaper The Telegraph set for US ownership

UK newspaper The Telegraph set for US ownership
Updated 23 May 2025
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UK newspaper The Telegraph set for US ownership

UK newspaper The Telegraph set for US ownership

LONDON: British right-wing newspaper The Telegraph has agreed a deal that would see it purchased by US investment group RedBird Capital Partners for £500 million ($670 million), the pair announced Friday.
RedBird has struck an “in-principle agreement” to purchase The Telegraph Media Group (TMG), which comprises the 170-year-old paper’s print and online operations, a joint statement said.
It concludes a protracted sale lasting around two years, which has involved an intervention by the previous Conservative government.
US-Emirati consortium RedBird IMI had already struck a deal for TMG in late 2023.
However, the previous UK government triggered a swift resale amid concern over the potential impact on freedom of speech given Abu Dhabi’s press censorship record.
RedBird Capital Partners on Friday said the agreement struck with TMG makes it “the sole control owner” and “unlocks a new era of growth for the title” founded in 1855.
“RedBird’s growth strategy will include capital investment in digital operations, subscriptions and journalism as it looks to expand The Telegraph internationally.”
The US group added it is in “discussions with select UK-based minority investors with print media expertise and strong commitment to upholding the editorial values of The Telegraph.”