Cop summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, say leading climate policy experts
Future UN conferences should only be held in countries that show support for climate action, urge influential group
Fri 15 Nov 2024 00.01 GMT
Cop summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, say leading climate policy experts
Future UN conferences should only be held in countries that show support for climate action, urge influential group
Future UN climate summits should be held only in countries that can show clear support for climate action and have stricter rules on fossil fuel lobbying, according to a group of influential climate policy experts.
The group includes former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and the prominent climate scientist Johan Rockström.
They have written to the UN demanding the current complex process of annual “conferences of the parties” under the UN framework convention on climate change – the Paris agreement’s parent treaty – be streamlined, and meetings held more frequently, with more of a voice given to developing countries.
South Korea: opposition leader handed suspended jail term
Lee Jae-myung was found guilty of breaching electoral rules by making false claims during the 2022 South Korean presidential election. The 60-year-old intends to appeal.
The leader of South Korea's main opposition party was on Friday found guilty of violating election law and sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
The Seoul Central District Court found that Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, had made a false claim about a land development project while serving as mayor of the city of Seongnam in 2021.
If upheld, the sentence would also see Lee stripped of his parliamentary seat and preclude him from running in any elections for the next five years, including the next presidential election in 2027.
Would banning Marine Le Pen from running for president be a gift for France's far right?
France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen faces the prospect of being banned from running in the 2027 presidential election if found guilty of embezzling EU funds. But a guilty verdict, if it comes, could be a blessing for Le Pen’s photogenic protégé Jordan Bardella, leaving the 29-year-old with a clear path to the Elysée Palace.
It’s been almost ten years since the investigation began, and the walls are finally starting to close in. France’s far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen and two dozen other members of her National Rally (Rassemblement National, or RN) party stand accused of embezzling European Union funds, having allegedly funnelled millions of euros meant for EU parliamentary assistants into paying the salaries of their own party staffers in France.
This week, prosecutors in Paris told the court that they were seeking to ban all of the defendants from public office for five years, in keeping with a 2016 law that automatically bans politicians found guilty of misappropriating public money from political life. Critically, the ban would remain in effect even if the defence appeals. The party itself would be fined €2 million, with Le Pen herself facing a fine of €300,000 as well as up to five years in prison.
Hokkaido town made famous by Apple plans tax for overtourism
By OSAMU HIURA/ Staff Writer
November 15, 2024 at 07:00 JST
This farming town of around 9,300 people has learned it needs financial help to accommodate the 2 million tourists who flood the area annually.
The town is set to levy the first new tax in Hokkaido to mitigate the impact of overtourism.
Biei, located in central part of Japan’s northern main island, is renowned for breathtaking landscapes with rolling hills covered by a patchwork of fields and tall trees.
In Amsterdam, clashes trigger a divisive blame game as old wounds reopen
Violence that marred a football match between Israeli and Dutch teams has scarred the diverse city now searching for healing.
More than a week after clashes in Amsterdam, Tori Egherman, a Jewish writer and researcher who has lived in the Dutch capital for 20 years, still feels angry.
As she sits in a cafe, the poster above her, featuring a black dove, reads “Peace now”.
The image was created by Dutch graphic designer Max Kisman when Israel’s latest war on Gaza began and has been distributed free of charge to tens of thousands since.
Volunteers enter South Africa shaft to aid miners
Nomsa Maseko & Danai Nesta Kupemba
Dozens of volunteers have entered an abandoned gold mine in South Africa to help what could be thousands of illegal miners who have been underground for a month.
Because the miners entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately, desperate to retrieve gold or mineral residues, the authorities have taken a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.
Earlier in the week, one government minister said: "We are going to smoke them out."
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