Six In The Morning Tuesday 26. October 2021

 

World has wasted chance to build back better after Covid, UN says

Report warns countries face disastrous temperature rises if they fail to strengthen climate ambitions

Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent

Tue 26 Oct 2021 14.15 BST

The world has squandered the opportunity to “build back better” from the Covid-19 pandemic, and faces disastrous temperature rises of at least 2.7C if countries fail to strengthen their climate pledges, according to a report from the UN. By Natsuko FUKUE The bust stems from a German-led police sting earlier this year taking down the “world’s largest” dark web marketplace, which had been used by its alleged operator, an Australian, to facilitate the sale of drugs, stolen credit card data and malware.

Tuesday’s publication warns that countries’ current pledges would reduce carbon by only about 7.5% by 2030, far less than the 45% cut scientists say is needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the aim of the Cop26 summit that opens in Glasgow this Sunday.

Although more than 100 countries have promised to reach net zero emissions around mid-century, this would not be enough to stave off climate disaster, according to the UN emissions report, which examines the shortfall between countries’ intentions and actions needed on the climate. Many of the net zero pledges were found to be vague, and unless accompanied by stringent cuts in emissions this decade would allow global heating of a potentially catastrophic extent.

Coups, cash and political complexity: What next for Sudan?

The Sudanese military has launched a coup attempt against the country's government — even though military officials were already part of that same government. It risks losing crucial international and local support.

Early Monday morning, the Sudanese military appeared to launch a coup against the transitional government of the country. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and his wife have been detained and held at an undisclosed location, according to the Information Ministry.

Reports from inside the country said Cabinet members of Sudan's transitional government have also been arrested.

French left faces presidential election drubbing as right, far right ‘make all the running’

Six months ahead of France’s April 2022 presidential elections, all three major left-wing candidates are flagging in the polls as they struggle to gain traction outside big cities amid a shift to the right among the French electorate.

One of the French language’s most striking expressions is le detail qui tue, meaning “the detail that kills” – the small, devastating detail that says it all. A perfect example can be found in a 2019 Le Monde series on the vertiginous decline of France’s Parti Socialiste (PS). Acute financial difficulties had forced the once-august vehicle of the French left to sell its exquisite headquarters in central Paris and move to the suburbs. When the Le Monde journalists went to the new headquarters, it was so obscure that their Uber driver’s GPS could not find it. They eventually found the party HQ “at the far end” of a “small, anonymous courtyard that turned out to be a company’s parking lot”. 

Six months ahead of the 2022 French presidential elections, the Parti Socialiste’s fortunes have not improved. PS candidate Anne Hidalgo is at just 5 percent of voting intentions, according to Politico’s polling aggregate – even less than the 6 percent drubbing PS’s Benoît Hamon got in the first round of the 2017 presidential elections.  

Princess Mako marries after years of controversy

By Natsuko FUKUE

Princess Mako married her university sweetheart on Tuesday, giving up her title in a union bereft of traditional extravaganza, with the couple reportedly planning a move to the United States.

Women in the imperial family cannot ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, and lose their royal status when they marry a commoner.

Emperor Naruhito's 30-year-old niece Mako is no exception as she weds Kei Komuro, who is the same age and works for a US law firm.

Since announcing their engagement in 2017, the couple has faced tabloid scandals over reports his family had run into financial difficulties.

Police arrest 150 people globally in dark web sting: Europol

Operation DarkHunTOR also recovered millions of euros in cash and Bitcoin, as well as drugs and guns.

Police around the world have arrested 150 suspects involved in buying or selling illegal goods online in one of the largest-ever stings on the dark web, according to Europol.

Operation DarkHunTOR also recovered millions of euros in cash and Bitcoin, as well as drugs and guns, the European Union’s police agency said on Tuesday.

The bust stems from a German-led police sting earlier this year taking down the “world’s largest” dark web marketplace, which had been used by its alleged operator, an Australian, to facilitate the sale of drugs, stolen credit card data and malware.

Biden's refusal of executive privilege claim ignites new firestorm with Trump

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 0444 GMT (1244 HKT) October 26, 2021

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are locked in an extraordinary and escalating clash that has profound political consequences now and into 2024.

Biden took the showdown, which was triggered by the fallout over the US Capitol insurrection, up another notch on Monday by refusing to assert executive privilege over a second batch of documents that Trump wants to prevent the National Archives from turning over to the House select committing probing the January 6 attack. The development was first reported by CNN.

There have been occasions in US history when former presidents have sniped at and tried to undermine their successors. Many presidents have expressed private frustration with the antics of their predecessors. But nothing in the modern era matches the confrontation between the 45th and 46th Presidents.