Region

DUBAI — The head of the OPEC oil cartel said on Saturday there was no "single solution" to the energy transition as pressure grows to agree a phase-out of fossil fuels at the COP28 climate talks.

"There is no single solution or path to achieve a sustainable energy future," OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said during the UN meeting in Dubai.

"We need realistic approaches to tackle emission, ones that enable economic growth, help eradicate poverty and increase resilience at the same time."

OPEC attracted criticism on Saturday after it emerged that the Kuwaiti on secretary general wrote to the group's 13 members and 10 allies this week urging them to "proactively reject" any language that "targets" fossil fuels instead of emissions.

Negotiators strived for a compromise on phasing out fossil fuels at UN climate talks Friday as momentum gathered to strike a historic deal in Dubai.

After the arrival of ministers for the summit's final stretch, a new draft was released with more options on the most difficult part of an emerging deal, cutting fossil fuels to tame the planet's soaring temperatures.

The third version of the draft, which represents views of various countries, offers five options. One that remains from previous versions calls for not mentioning fossil fuels at all.

Other options include phasing out "unabated" fossil fuels, those whose emissions cannot be captured, with a goal of peaking consumption this decade and aiming for the world's energy sector to be "predominantly free of fossil fuels well ahead of 2050".

A new line calls for ramping up renewable energy to displace fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal, with a goal of "significantly reducing global reliance on non-renewable and high-emission energy sources".

That language is in line with an agreement between the United States and China, the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases, at talks in California last month.

COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber wants to wrap up the talks on schedule at 11 am (07:00 GMT) on Tuesday, which means that all the nearly 200 nations will have to come to a consensus.

"Let us please get this job done," he said.

Scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions, the bulk of which come from burning fossil fuels, must fall by 43 per cent by 2030 for the world to reach the goal of limiting warming to 1.5ºC.

"I think many countries at the end might be able to agree to phase-out if the word unabated is included because unabated will weaken the phase-out and make it more of a phase-down," John Verdieck, director of international climate policy at The Nature Conservancy, told AFP.

This would still "create a good signal because the word phase-out could be in there", said Verdieck, a former climate negotiator at the US State Department.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to end the "decimation" of Palestinian lives there.

Philippe Lazzarini urged, in a statement on Friday, all UN member states to take "actions to implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza.

"It is the opposite. It is a recognition of the equal rights of all people."

In addition to the thousands killed in the fighting, vast areas of Gaza have been reduced to a wasteland.

The UN says about 80 per cent of the population has been displaced and is facing dire shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, along with the growing threat of disease.

On Friday, Hamas pointed the finger in part at UNRWA, accusing it of “humiliating” the population by not distributing flour in some areas, or too slowly in others.

“We have noticed a deliberate slowdown by UNRWA, as if it does not want to put an end to the flour distribution crisis,” the Islamist group said.

In the same statement, Hamas also went on to call for a ceasefire.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that nearly 17,500 people, mostly women and children, had been killed by the war so far.

Warning of an imminent breakdown of social order in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said a “humanitarian ceasefire” is needed to prevent “a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians” and the entire Middle East.

Guterres has convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday for a vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, UN Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths said he saw promising signs on Thursday that a major crossing from Israel into Gaza might be opened soon to allow in aid.

The Kerem Shalom checkpoint was responsible for 60 per cent of goods getting into the besieged Palestinian territory before October 7. 

Griffiths said that in recent days there had been signs that Israel and Gaza’s key neighbour Egypt have become much more open to the idea of gradually reopening Kerem Shalom.

The crossing sits on the triple border between Israel, Gaza and Egypt.

“We’re still negotiating, and with some promising signs at the moment” that access through Kerem Shalom would soon be possible, Griffiths told a press conference in Geneva.

But Israel poured cold water on the idea of fully reopening the crossing, telling AFP following Griffiths’s comments that it would only allow aid truck inspections there, before directing supplies towards the Rafah Crossing, between Egypt and Gaza.

“We will allow a security check of humanitarian aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing, but not trucks crossing to Gaza,” said a spokesman for the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, COGAT.

An Israeli siege has seen only limited supplies of food, water, fuel and medicines enter the Gaza Strip, triggering dire shortages.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is the only one currently open for aid to flow into Gaza.

“We have been arguing for the opening of Kerem Shalom... to go straight through Kerem Shalom up into the northern parts of Gaza, or wherever the need is greatest,” Griffiths said.

“If we get that, it will be the first miracle we’ve seen for some weeks, but it will be a huge boost to the logistical process... it would change the nature of humanitarian access.”

ATME, Syria — Displaced people in camps in northeast Syria have expressed fears about their future after the World Food Programme (WFP) announced the end of food assistance across the war-torn country.

"Stopping aid to the camps will exponentially increase suffering," said Ali Farahat, the director of the Maram camp for the displaced in the town of Atme near the border with Turkey.

"Some have told me 'if aid stops, we will die of hunger'," he told AFP on Wednesday.

In a statement issued on Monday, the WFP said it "regrets to announce the end of its general food assistance across Syria in January 2024 due to lack of funding".

The United Nations' food aid agency said it would "continue supporting families affected by emergency situations and natural disasters across the country through smaller and more targeted emergency response interventions".

It told AFP the "decision is based on funding, which is a global issue that WFP faces".

In September, the WFP had warned that insufficient funds had forced it to reduce assistance in various parts of the world, pushing an estimated 24 million people to the brink of famine.

In July, 45 per cent of aid recipients in Syria were cut from assistance, it said.

"WFP's activities by nature are fully scalable meaning they can be reduced or increased based on needs and available resources," the agency told AFP.

Around 3 million people live in areas controlled by the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham militant group in Idlib province.

Roughly half live in camps for the displaced, while others reside in abandoned buildings or caves, or even in old buildings and rusty buses.

Camps for the displaced are often overcrowded and lack basic needs, with residents depending principally on food, medical and other aid provided by international organisations.

Residents of those camps in north-eastern Syria, including Maram in Atme, are likely to be the hardest hit by the WFP decision.

Maram's residents could be seen queuing up to receive some of the last of their aid rations of the year.

"Stopping assistance will lead to the death of those who subsisted on them because they don't have money to buy food," said Ahmed Adla, 40, who was displaced 11 years ago from the village of Kurin in Idlib's countryside.

Khaled Masri, 45, displaced nearly 13 years ago from the nearby village of Hass along with 11 family members, said: "I hope they come to see our conditions and how we spend the winter. We can't keep our children warm."

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The UN secretary-general, warning he expects public order in Gaza to break down completely and soon, struck a rare and powerful alarm bell in a letter on Wednesday to the Security Council.

Antonio Guterres said he was invoking Article 99 of the UN's charter, which states that "the secretary-general may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security".

While repeating his call for a "humanitarian cease fire", Guterres wrote that the humanitarian conditions amid the Hamas-Israel war are "fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole".

"Amid constant bombardment by the Israeli forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible," he said.

"An even worse situation could unfold, including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into neighbouring countries."

The secretary-general's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, called the move "very dramatic", noting that Article 99 hadn't been invoked in decades.

"He is invoking one of the few powers that the charter gives him," Dujarric said.

'Impossible' conditions 

Guterres, who took office in 2017, also urged the members of the Security Council to "press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe".

"The healthcare system in Gaza is collapsing," he said, adding that "there is no effective protection of civilians".

Israel's foreign minister later lashed out at the UN chief, saying Guterres's tenure was "a danger to world peace" after his invoking of the rare procedure.

"His request to activate Article 99 and the call for a ceasefire in Gaza constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organisation," Eli Cohen wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Security Council is expected to convene on Friday, diplomats said.

"We cannot move further without having the Security Council shouldering its responsibility," said Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour.

The situation threatens "peace and security in the region", Guterres warned.

"With a humanitarian ceasefire, the means of survival can be restored, and humanitarian assistance can be delivered in a safe and timely manner across the Gaza Strip."

In mid-November, after four rejected draft texts, the heavily divided Security Council called for "extended humanitarian pauses" in the Gaza Strip, in what was the first time it broke its silence on the bloody conflict.

According to diplomatic sources, Security Council members are working on a new draft resolution focused on humanitarian aid.

The United Arab Emirates has circulated a draft resolution that calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, according to the text seen by AFP.

But Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said he did not think a Security Council resolution “would be useful at thais point”.

“A lot of the good work that has been going on trying to improve the situation has been happening on the ground in the region, and we need to continue that.”

BEIRUT — The Israeli strike that killed one journalist and wounded six others in Lebanon merits a "war crime" investigation, rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch told AFP on Thursday.

Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, was killed instantly in the strike on October 13 in the south of the country near the Israeli border.

The others present — two more Reuters journalists, two from Al Jazeera, and two from AFP — were all injured.

AFP photographer Christina Assi, 28, was seriously wounded, later had a leg amputated and is still in hospital.

Independent investigations by both rights groups concluded, like an AFP investigation published earlier on Thursday, that the first strike that killed Abdallah and severely wounded Assi was most likely a tank round fired from Israel.

Amnesty said the strikes "were likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime".

"Those responsible for Issam Abdallah's unlawful killing and the injuring of six other journalists must be held accountable," said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"No journalist should ever be targeted or killed simply for carrying out their work. Israel must not be allowed to kill and attack journalists with impunity."

HRW said the two Israeli strikes "were apparently deliberate attacks on civilians, which is a war crime".

Under international humanitarian law, "it is forbidden in any circumstances to carry out direct attacks against civilians", it said.

The group’s investigation indicated that the journalists were “well removed from ongoing hostilities, clearly identifiable as members of the media, and had been stationary for at least 75 minutes before they were hit”.

Amnesty said images it verified showed “the seven journalists were wearing body armour labelled ‘press’, and that the blue Reuters crew car was marked ‘TV’ with yellow tape on its hood”.

“The evidence strongly suggests that Israeli forces knew or should have known that the group that they were attacking were journalists,” HRW’s Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss said.

“This is an unlawful and apparently deliberate attack on a very visible group of journalists.”

‘Justice and accountability’ 

Speaking at a press conference in Beirut, Dylan Collins, the other AFP journalist wounded in the attack, said: “I know they [the investigations] won’t bring Issam back to life. I know they won’t help Christina walk again.

“But what I do hope is that they at least will mark the start of some sort of process of justice and accountability.”

He shared a message from Assi that said: “We chose journalism with a mission to deliver the truth, and despite the inevitable costs, our commitment remains unwavering. Nothing can silence us.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement his government would “take all measures to include” the conclusions of the investigation “in the complaint filed before the UN Security Council”.

The New York-based rights group on Thursday called for “an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation that holds the perpetrators to account” for the strike on journalists in Lebanon.

SAG-AFTRA would then have the right to bargain for compensation on behalf of the actors involved — though critics say it would be hard to identify who they are.

Actors also say that the massive number of viewers a show or film needs to attract to trigger bonuses for its performers is too high for all but the very top echelon of hit shows.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Israeli occupation forces battled fighters of Hamas in Gaza's main southern city on Wednesday in some of the most intense combat of the nearly two-month war sparked by the October 7 surprise attacks.

Israeli troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers have rolled into Khan Yunis in the south, Gaza's second-largest city, forcing already displaced civilians to pack up and flee again, witnesses told AFP.

The focus of the conflict has shifted into the besieged Palestinian territory's south following fierce fighting and bombardment that reduced much of the north to rubble and forced an estimated 1.9 million people to flee.

The streets of Khan Yunis were almost empty on Wednesday morning as residents tried to take shelter from shelling and artillery fire, said AFP journalists, while the dead and wounded continued to pour into the city's hospitals.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the resistance group's October 7 sudden attacks. The latest toll from the Gaza government's media office said 16,248 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, had been killed.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and free 138 hostages still held in Gaza after scores were released during a short-lived truce.

The mass casualties in Gaza have sparked global concern, heightened by dire shortages brought by an Israeli siege that has seen only limited supplies of food, water, fuel and medicines enter.

Hassan Al Qadi, a displaced Khan Yunis resident, said “the whole city is suffering from destruction and relentless shelling”.

“Many people arriving from northern Gaza are facing dire circumstances. Many are homeless and some are searching for their missing children.”

“We are not mere numbers. We are human beings,” he said, speaking in the southern city of Rafah.

Sources in Hamas and Islamic Jihad, told AFP their fighters were battling Israeli forces early Wednesday in a bid to prevent them from breaking into Khan Yunis and surrounding areas.

According to the Hamas media office, dozens were killed and injured in heavy strikes on areas east of Khan Yunis.

The health ministry in Gaza said air strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed six people and wounded 14 others.

Israel had previously told civilians in the north of the densely populated Gaza Strip to seek shelter in the south of the territory, with many fleeing to Khan Yunis believing it would be safer.

The violence in Gaza “now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age”, charged aid group the Norwegian Refugee Council, which also warned of the dire public health threat of the approaching winter.

Israeli warnings telling people to move even further south have sparked “panic, fear and anxiety”, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

People were being pushed into an area that is less than one-third of the Gaza Strip, he said.

 ‘Utter horror’ 

International aid groups have condemned the succession of orders to flee from one area to another, saying that civilians were running out of options.

“Palestinians in Gaza are living in utter, deepening horror,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk told a press conference, calling for an urgent ceasefire and charging that Gazans are being “collectively punished” for the Hamas attacks.

Following demands to create areas where civilians could shelter, Israel’s army published a map it said was intended to enable Gazans to “evacuate from specific places for their safety if required”.

But the UN children’s agency UNICEF criticised the map, saying it was “not possible” to create safe zones for civilians to flee to inside Gaza.

According to UN figure, some 1.9 million people are displaced in Gaza, roughly 80 per cent of the narrow coastal territory’s population.

Fighting resumed after the collapse on Friday of a Qatar-mediated truce that saw scores of Israeli and other hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces said on Wednesday that the number of its troops killed inside Gaza since the war began had risen to 83.

The war has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict, with frequent exchanges of fire with Iran-backed Hizbollah across Israel’s border with Lebanon and a surge of deadly violence in the occupied West Bank.

A Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire on a military post near the country’s southern border on Tuesday, the army said.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops raided the northern Faraa refugee camp early Wednesday, sparking clashes that killed two people, one of them aged 16, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

According to Palestinian authorities, during the Israeli war on Gaza, more than 250 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, by Israeli fire or in settler attacks.

TEHRAN — Schoolchildren and some government employees in Tehran have been ordered to stay at home this week due to severe air pollution in the Iranian capital, a recurring phenomenon in autumn and winter.

The “red warning” for hazardous air quality extends beyond the capital, affecting major cities nationwide, including Ahvaz in the southwest, Isfahan in the centre, and Tabriz in the northwest.

In Tehran, a sprawling metropolis of about 9 million people, kindergartens and schools have shuttered their doors since Sunday, transitioning to online classes.

The provincial governor’s office advises that people deemed “sensitive” — such as children, the elderly, and pregnant women — should refrain from outdoor activities and physical exercise.

Vulnerable public sector workers have been urged to work remotely.

Azam Keyvan, a 40-year-old civil servant, laments, “The situation is horrible. My throat itches as soon as I go out into the street.” She adds that the challenging conditions have deprived her of the ability to exercise for several days.

“We can’t breathe anymore,” decries Saeed Sattari, a 42-year-old street vendor in Tehran who sells cooked meals. He bemoans the economic toll of the pollution, saying, “I’m going bankrupt” since people avoid going outside.

Deadly consequences 

The familiar pattern unfolds as colder weather set in: The clear blue sky at dawn slowly succumbs to thickening, yellowish smog that blankets the affected cities during the day, obscuring the view.

Many experts warn of the grave health and economic consequences of pollution. They say it claims the lives of about 40,000 people each year in the oil-rich country of around 85 million people, as reported by the media.

Tehran, renowned for its congested traffic and high population, makes up about one-sixth of the total casualties, according to a parliamentary report.

City council members Soudeh Nadjafi and Mehdi Pirhadi recently highlighted “burning mazout” in some of Tehran’s power plants as a major contributor to the city’s pollution, a claim rejected by the government.

“Electricity supplies have become more dependent on thermal and gas power plants, which naturally increases the sources of air pollution,” says environmental expert Sadegh Partani.

“Turning to new and sustainable sources of energies, such as solar, is one of the best ways to reduce air pollution caused by electricity producing industries,” the university professor adds.

Consistently earning a top spot among the world’s most polluted cities, Tehran is nestled on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountains. These imposing peaks act as a trap for the city’s contaminated air.

Since March, “Tehran has had nine days of clean air” only, the service responsible for monitoring air quality said on Monday.

Thermal inversion 

The phenomenon known as thermal inversion peaks during winter, when cold air and a lack of wind trap hazardous smog over the capital for days on end.

“Car fuel pollution in climates and weather conditions prone to the inversion phenomenon can be one of the main sources of air pollution,” Partani says.

In 2017, the Iranian parliament adopted the “Clear Air Law” giving authorities including the government, municipality and police a mandate to step up measures to curb pollution.

Despite its enactment, the law has struggled to control the problem, forcing authorities to close kindergartens, schools and universities and in rare cases government offices in the colder seasons.

“Closing schools has nothing to do with reducing air pollution, but it is directly connected to reducing the health risks to vulnerable age groups,” says the expert Partani.

A World Bank report listed heavy vehicles, motorcycles, refineries and thermal power plants as the main causes of pollution.

Air pollution is high on the agenda of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference held in the UAE, which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi skipped to protest the presence of Israel at the summit.

DUBAI — With 2023 confirmed to be the hottest year on record by Europe's climate monitor, the temperature was also rising Wednesday on negotiators thrashing out the thorny issue of fossil fuels at COP28 in Dubai.

Pressure for progress is mounting as the UN climate talks near the end of their first week, with the latest draft of a global climate agreement "probably" expected on Wednesday before it is finalised, in theory, on December 12, said one observer.

The fate of oil, gas and coal, the main drivers of human-caused planet heating — has been the biggest sticking point on the agenda and divisions around their future have dominated the conference.

The situation is "very dynamic", one negotiator said on Tuesday evening, as representatives of nearly 200 countries haggle over the text that responds to a damning stocktake of progress on limiting warming.

Battle lines have previously been drawn on whether to agree to "phase out" or "phase down" fossil fuels.

A new phrase committing to an "orderly and just" phase-out of fossil fuels could signal a consensus candidate, giving countries different timelines to cut emissions depending on their level of development and reliance on hydrocarbons.

But there is another option: no mention at all of fossil fuels, which reflects opposition from nations including Saudi Arabia, Russia and China, according to several observers who attended the closed meetings.

India on Tuesday evening also opposed naming specific sectors or energy sources, one observer said.

The Paris Agreement that emerged from COP21 in 2015 was a “great success for all of us”, Saudi Arabia’s Chief Climate Negotiator Khalid Almehaid told the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum on Tuesday.

“The challenge that we have today is how can we keep that train with all of its passengers,” he added, alluding to the kingdom’s objection to phasing down fossil fuels.

But some of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change on Wednesday urged called for a harder stance on fossil fuels.

The Alliance of Small Islands States “calls on major emitters to enhance their commitments, including... leading the way on fossil fuel phase out, phasing out all fossil fuel subsidies, and ensuring peaking of global emissions before 2025 and halving them by 2030,” the group’s chair Cedric Schuster said in a statement.

As it stands, the draft agreement includes options to phase out fossil fuels or not address the issue at all, setting the stage for tough negotiations due to end next week.

Climate experts, however, have warned that global warming could breach the 1.5ºC  Paris deal limit within seven years if emissions are not slashed.

The new draft of the negotiated text expected on Wednesday must be brought to a large plenary meeting taking stock of the first week of talks ahead of a rest day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 2023 has seen a series of devastating extreme weather events linked to climate change, even as the world’s carbon emissions continue to rise.

Europe’s climate monitor on Wednesday said this year will be the hottest in recorded history after November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row.

‘Temperature will keep rising’ 

Last month smashed the previous November heat record, pushing 2023’s global average temperature to 1.46ºC warmer than pre-industrial levels, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said.

There had been previous warnings this year could take the title of hottest year from 2016, particularly after records toppled in September and October, but this marks the first time it has been confirmed.

November also contained two days that were 2ºC warmer than pre-industrial levels. Not one such day had ever before been recorded.

Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the Copernicus service, said that 2023 has “now had six record-breaking months and two record-breaking seasons”.

“The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2ºC above pre-industrial [levels], mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history,” she said.

Copernicus head Carlo Buontempo said that “as long as greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising we can’t expect different outcomes”.

“The temperature will keep rising and so will the impacts of heatwaves and droughts.”