Category World News

The city of Antalya will host the COP31 summit in 2014, bringing an end to a longstanding conflict between Turkiye and Australia regarding the location of the biggest UN climate meeting.

As Turkiye takes over the presidency of the official meeting, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday morning that Australia and Turkiye had reached an agreement to hold negotiations in the lead-up to the UN climate meeting in 2026.

According to Albanese, “What we’ve come up with is a big win for both Australia and [Turkiye],” Albanese told ABC Radio Perth, an Australian public broadcaster.

The COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, is set to conclude on Friday, according to the announcement.

Low-lying South Pacific nations, which are increasingly threatened by rising sea levels and climate-driven disasters, had been pushing for COP31 to be held as a “Pacific COP” next year.

Turkiye’s bid to host the summit was rejected despite Australia’s efforts.

At its summit, which would have a more global focus than a regional focus, Turkiye had stated that as an emerging economy, it would encourage solidarity between rich and poor nations.

Due to the unusually lengthy process of obtaining hosting duties and the absence of appropriate controls for a situation where two nations wanted to host at the same time, Turkiye will now only have one year to organize the meeting at the Antalya Expo Center.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has a tradition of alternating between five geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe, among others.

Western Europe and others also include Australia and Turkiye, so Australia will now have to wait another five years before submitting an application to host the meeting once more.

Fitsum Assefa Adela, the Ethiopian minister for planning and development, announced last week that the country had already secured African negotiators’ support for COP32 in 2027.

Disappointed that this situation has come to an end.

Australia’s rejection of its bid to cohost the COP with its Pacific island neighbors quickly sparked a furor in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Justin Tkatchenko, the foreign minister of PNG, told the AFP news agency, “We are all not happy and disappointed it’s ended this.”

What has COP accomplished over time? Nothing, according to Tkatchenko. It’s just a talk show and doesn’t hold the major polluters accountable, it says.

Australian senator Steph Hodgins-May of the Australian Greens party claimed Australia’s decision to host the meeting was in line with the Labor government’s “continued coal and gas approvals” as Australia continues to increase its fossil fuel exports.

This is incredibly disappointing, but it demonstrates how much the world acknowledges Australia’s significant contribution to the dangerous deterioration of climate change, according to May.

Both Australia and Turkiye rely heavily on coal, oil, and gas for energy, but both nations have made progress in renewable energy, according to the International Energy Agency.

The conference was being held in Adelaide, the state’s capital, to promote renewable energy progress in the state of South Australia.

The city’s struggle to deal with a significant toxic algal bloom that has been occurring offshore for eight months made the proposal more difficult.

One of the many issues brought on by warming oceans, an issue that climate scientists and other experts believe can be addressed, is the problem of algae blooms, which they claim can only be resolved quickly by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous late sex offender, according to Donald Trump, the president of the United States.

Following months of pressure on his administration to reveal the full scope of Epstein’s crimes and connections to world leaders in politics, business, and entertainment, Trump made the announcement on social media late on Wednesday.

Prior to a press conference, US Attorney General Pam Bondi had stated that the administration would “follow the law” and “encourage maximum transparency” in the case.

The US Department of Justice is required to release all unclassified financial information in “searchable and downloadable format” within the 30-day deadline by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The legislation includes provisions that allow authorities to withhold information that could identify victims, as well as child sex exploitation material and information that is related to active investigations or deemed sensitive to “national defense or foreign policy,” according to provisions that were unanimous in the US Congress.

The text also states that no record should be kept in the event of “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”

Despite the release of thousands of Epstein files, a judge who presided over a case involving the financier earlier this year indicated that about 100 000 pages had not yet been made public.

Trump, who had previously opposed calls for greater transparency in the case, said he wanted Democrats to be more liable for the controversy by announcing the files’ release.

Trump referred to Epstein as a “lifelong” Democrat and his connections to prominent Democrats, including former US president Bill Clinton and former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who took a leave of absence from teaching at Harvard University on Wednesday in response to emails revealing their friendly ties to the late financier.

Clinton and Summers have neither been charged with any criminal activity related to their ties to Epstein, who passed away in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while being charged with sex trafficking.

Because I just signed the bill to release the EPSTEIN FILES, “Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed”! Trump’s platform, Truth Social, contained some writing.

Epstein’s associations included prominent Republicans and Democrats across the political spectrum.

In the 1990s and the early 2000s, Trump himself had a friendly relationship with Epstein, and his name was prominently displayed in his estate’s earlier emails.

Epstein claimed that Trump had spent “hours” with a sex trafficking victim in an email from 2011 to 2011 to Ghislaine Maxwell, his ex-girlfriend.

Trump has repeatedly claimed he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has denied any wrongdoing.

Critics doubted Trump’s administration’s ability to fulfill its pledge to transparency in the matter after his announcement.

California’s Democratic Senator Adam Schiff claimed he was “not at all confident” that the legislation would be put into action as it was intended.

In an interview with MS NOW host Chris Hayes, Schiff said, “If the past is the prelude, what we can expect is more stonewalling, more coverup, and more ingenious ways of explaining why they’re covering up.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials traveled to Syria’s southern province to visit troops stationed in Syrian territory, which they have occupied for months.

As rebel forces overran the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syria.

The UN Security Council was informed on Wednesday by Ibrahim Olabi, Syria’s ambassador to the UN, that “my government strongly condemns this provocative tour, which epitomizes Israel’s ongoing aggression against Syria and its people.”

Following the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, “We reiterate our call on the UN and this council to immediately take action to stop these violations, ensure their non-recurrence, end the occupation, and ratify relevant resolutions, particularly the 1974 disengagement agreement.”

Israel has maintained troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, separating Israeli and Syrian forces, since al-Assad’s regime was overthrown.

Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials’ “very public visit,” according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, was “concerning, to say the least.”

According to Dujarric, Syria’s full sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity were “demanded by UN Resolution 2799,” which was just passed by the Security Council.”

Since al-Assad fled, Israel has asserted that the 1974 agreement has been void and that it has violated Syrian sovereignty through airstrikes, ground infiltration, reconnaissance overflights, the establishment of checkpoints, and the arrest and disappearance of Syrian citizens.

Syria has not responded to the attacks.

“No aggression at all”

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, addressed the ambassador to Syria at the Security Council meeting instead of directly addressing Netanyahu’s visit.

“Show us that Syria is a country that is separating itself from radical and extremist extremism, and that protecting Jews and Christians is a top priority.” Show us that the militias have stopped the cycle of indiscriminate killings, that justice is upheld, and that the militias are restrained, and that the killings are not just, Danon said.

Olabi responded, “Your weight is usually on your shoulders, Mr. Ambassador.” You have hit Syria more than 1, 000 times, and Israel has not shown any signs of aggression against you. We have responded with diplomatic requests. We engaged in a productive way. and we’re still waiting for you to follow suit.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and Shin Bet security service head David Zini traveled to Syria with David Zini, the head of the organization, and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates in Syria “strongly condemned the unlawful visit,” saying that it “violated Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Israel’s army made another offensive in Syria this month, setting up a military post in Quneitra’s southern province.

Since al-Assad was overthrown, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa claimed that since al-Assad’s overthrow, Israel has carried out more than 1, 000 airstrikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria. He added that the actions were “very dangerous.”

Gabriel Elizondo, a journalist for the UN in New York, noted that Syria and Israel are still negotiating a security pact, which analysts believe could be finalized by the year’s end.