COP28: Landmark summit takes direct aim at fossil fuels
13th December 2023, 08:01 PST
By Georgina RannardClimate reporter at COP28
Nations at the UN climate summit have for the first time taken explicit aim at the use of fossil fuels.
But small islands hit hard by climate change protested, saying the deal was rushed through without them.
And it departed from earlier stronger language to "phase out fossil fuels".
Many nations including the US, UK and European Union had pushed for a phase out from the opening of the talks.
Argentina’s new government devalues peso by more than 50%
Package of spending cuts introduced in attempt to tackle country’s worst economic crisis in decades
Argentina has devalued its currency, the peso, by more than 50% as part of a package of large-scale spending cuts intended to address the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
The plans, introduced under the newly inaugurated administration of Javier Milei, include cutting energy subsidies and cancelling tenders for public works.
His economy minister, Luis Caputo, moved to weaken the official exchange rate to 800 pesos a dollar – it had been 366.5 – in a televised address after the local markets closed on Tuesday. He said the central bank would target a monthly devaluation of 2%.
Would Congo prosper if it dumped the dollar?
Next week, voters in Congo will decide whether President Felix Tshisekedi will serve a second term. Many voters want their leader to revive the DRC's fragile economy by dumping the dollar.
Seated on a little chair in the popular Lumumba market, located in the Bandalugwa district of the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, trader Rosette Kungi mixes beans in a large green bucket next to her cardboard price signs that change every day.
In recent months, the Democratic Republic of Congo's local currency, the Franc Congolais, or Congolese franc (CDF), has been heavily devalued.
A year ago, the CDF was trading at around 2,000 to the dollar — now it is trading at around 2,700.
"Prices in Congolese francs are rising all the time," Kungi lamented. "Today, $10 is worth 27,000, or even 28,000 CDF — and soon it will be 30,000."
Tensions simmer in French schools as 12-year-old threatens teacher with knife
A 12-year-old schoolgirl threatened a teacher with a knife at a school in northern France on Wednesday, the latest in a growing number of incidents that have raised tensions in the French education system.
No-one was injured in the incident in the northwestern city of Rennes but prosecutors said that they have opened a criminal investigation.
"This morning, a pupil threatened a teacher with a knife during a lesson. The pupils, shocked, were immediately moved to safety," the local education authority said in a statement.
Born in 2011, the schoolgirl "came to class armed with a large knife with the apparent intention of killing her English teacher," said Rennes prosecutor Philippe Astruc.
"During the lesson, in class, she brandished the knife at the victim who fled running" before she was "disarmed by the staff of the establishment" of the Hautes Ourmes junior high school, he added.
Ex-SDF member says high-profile sex assault case fight was not a waste
A woman who was sexually assaulted while serving in Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force said Wednesday that her fight to get justice was "not a waste," a day after a court convicted three former members for sexual indecency.
"I spent two years of my life fighting against it," Rina Gonoi, 24, said at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. Though she said it would have been better if she had not gone through the painful experience in the first place, her remarks suggested she feels it was worth the effort.
The high-profile case brought the culture of harassment in Japan's armed forces to public attention after Gonoi made the rare move of coming forward to report the offenses.
Chinese influencer charged in Thailand for ‘breaking visa laws’ after video on women’s safety sparks backlash
Thai police are taking legal action against a Chinese social media influencer for allegedly flouting visa rules, days after she came under fire for a video she made that portrayed a popular Bangkok nightlife district as being unsafe for women.
Police Major General Phanthana Nutchanart, deputy chief of Thailand’s Immigration Bureau, told CNN that Ziyu Wang, a Chinese national who has been traveling around Thailand, was found to be selling goods online while on Thai soil – breaking visa laws.
The case comes at a tricky time for Thailand as it tries to woo back Chinese tourists after the Covid-19 pandemic.
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