Global warming target row leaves UN climate deal hanging in the balance - Financial Times

The outcome of key UN climate talks hung on crunch negotiations over global warming targets on Saturday, after the EU made a dramatic threat to walk away from the fraught COP27 summit earlier in the day.

National negotiators said that progress was being made on the previously deadlocked issue of “loss and damage” funding by rich countries for poorer nations suffering the effects of climate change.

But Jennifer Morgan, German climate minister, said a deal would only be approved unless it included measures that would “keep 1.5 alive” — a phrase that became the mantra of last year’s COP26 talks in Glasgow.

It refers to a goal in the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2C from pre-industrial times, and ideally 1.5C, by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

A group of countries known as the “high ambition coalition”, which includes the UK and Germany, said on Saturday evening that both the temperature goals and the loss and damage funding needed to be reflected in the final COP27 agreement.

“One without the other doesn’t make sense, otherwise we would be accepting catastrophe and not pushing forward to avoiding the worst of climate change,” said the coalition.

Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege, flanked by the UK’s Alok Sharma (right) and Germany’s Jennifer Morgan (far left) among others in the so-called High Level Coalition. © SEDAT SUNA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The summit was due to end on Friday but extended into the weekend as negotiators remained in disagreement about key issues.

“We do not want 1.5C to die here today,” said EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, on Saturday, as he issued an ultimatum.

“Everything is on the table, these are high stakes, capitals are being called,” said one European diplomat.

The question of how countries would step up their cuts in emissions remained at stake on Saturday, fuelling some negotiators’ concerns that the 1.5C target might be in jeopardy.

“We’d rather have no decision than a bad decision,” Timmermans told reporters at Sharm el-Sheikh.

“All ministers . . . like myself are prepared to walk away if we do not have a result that does justice to what the world is waiting for, namely that we do something about this climate crisis,” he said.

Sun Zhen, China’s deputy director-general of climate change, is at the COP talks. China is among countries resisting EU proposals © AP

China and Saudi Arabia were among the countries resisting increased action on cutting emissions as well as the proposal by the EU on “loss and damage” funding for the most vulnerable nations, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

While climate COPs are always fractious and rarely end on time, it is unusual for a large group of western countries such as the EU to make a last-minute threat of a walkout.

“No one should underestimate” the EU’s threat to walk out, said Romina Pourmokhtari, Sweden’s minister for climate and the environment. “There is no one here who is willing to return to our countries and explain to them why we took a step back.”

The bloc has stressed the importance of building on last year’s Glasgow Climate Pact, which included a commitment to reduce the use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.

COP27 president Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, said on Saturday that the draft text of the final agreement would keep the 1.5C goal alive while taking a “holistic approach in dealing with the challenges of climate change”.

Shoukry said there was “equal dissatisfaction in all quarters” but insisted the “vast majority” of parties would find a basis for an agreement.

“There is never a perfect solution but there is an effort that I have exerted to provide the basis that we can move forward upon,” Shoukry said. “Reaching a point of convergence takes some effort.”

There were also concerns about how the Egyptian presidency was handling the summit. “I’ve never experienced anything like this: untransparent, unpredictable and chaotic,” said one delegate.

Countries’ negotiating teams were only given a short time to review updated texts for several key outstanding issues in the early hours of the morning; this was “not a usual procedure,” said one EU official.

Additional reporting by Pilita Clark and Emiliya Mychasuk in Sharm el-Sheikh

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2022-11-19 15:37:11Z
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Leave if you can to save energy - Ukraine power boss - BBC

DAVE BULL/BBC

By Catherine Byaruhanga in Kyiv

BBC News

The head of Ukraine's biggest private energy firm says people should consider leaving the country to reduce demand on the country's power network.

"If they can find an alternative place to stay for another three or four months, it will be very helpful to the system," DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko told the BBC.

Russian attacks have damaged almost half of Ukraine's energy system.

Millions of people are without power as temperatures drop for winter.

Blackouts - both scheduled and unscheduled - have become common in many parts of Ukraine, as Russia aims regular waves of missile attacks at parts of the energy infrastructure.

Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggested that the strikes were a "consequence" of Ukraine's refusal to negotiate with Russia.

Several Western leaders have said that targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime.

Mr Timchenko, whose company supplies more than a quarter of Ukraine's power, says the system becomes less reliable with each Russian attack, and reducing electricity consumption is the key to keeping it running.

The government has urged people to limit their use of domestic appliances such as ovens and washing machines.

But the damaged energy system is still unable to produce enough electricity to meet current needs, so any way of reducing usage - including leaving the country - should be seen as helping Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Mr Timchenko explained.

"If you consume less, then hospitals with injured soldiers will have guaranteed power supply. This is how it can be explained that by consuming less or leaving, they also contribute to other people."

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Russia's attacks on infrastructure increased after a series of setbacks on the battlefield, including a major Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region and territorial gains in the south of the country, which eventually led to the recapture of the city of Kherson.

With temperatures in some parts of Ukraine already below freezing, there is concern that millions of people will be left without power and heating throughout the winter.

Until now, blackouts have generally been limited to a few hours, but more Russian attacks could lead to longer periods without power. Fixing the damaged infrastructure is also becoming more difficult.

"Unfortunately we have run out of equipment and spare parts... That's why we appeal to our partners, government officials, companies and equipment producers to help us with the immediate supply of available equipment," Mr Timchenko said.

Russia's historical ties with Ukraine - including in developing its energy system - are also proving a problem.

"They were colleagues, now they are enemies," Mr Timchenko said. "They bring all this knowledge to Russian military forces, educate them, make very concrete targets, know big parts of our grid or power stations."

Despite the difficulties though, Ukrainian engineers continue to work in some of the most dangerous parts of the country, risking their lives to reconnect towns and cities to the grid.

Early on Saturday, the Ukrainian defence ministry announced that the railway station in Kherson was the first building in the city to have electricity.

Kherson regional administration

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2022-11-19 10:13:12Z
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Elizabeth Holmes 'has ambition to rise again' despite being jailed over Theranos case that gripped world - Sky News

Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes "has the ambition to rise again" despite being jailed over a years-long scam that saw her become one of America's most celebrated tech billionaires, the creator of an award-winning podcast about the scandal has said.

The 38-year-old was sentenced to more than 11 years behind bars on Friday, having been convicted on four counts of fraud after a case that gripped the world.

Her astonishing rise and fall - from the youngest self-made female billionaire in US history to her once $9bn-valued company going under in shame - inspired podcast The Dropout, which this year was adapted into an acclaimed TV series of the same name starring Amanda Seyfried.

Host Rebecca Jarvis, an ABC News correspondent, interviewed former employers, investors, and patients over the course of several years, and has since spoken to some of the 12 jurors who decided Holmes's fate.

"It's a bad bet to assume this is the last we've heard from Elizabeth Holmes," she told Sky News.

"She has the ambition to rise again and to do more.

"I have reporting from a handful of sources who were not part of the lawsuit, who lost money in this story, but who ultimately have said they would back her again if she came back with a new idea."

Read more:
How Elizabeth Holmes went from Silicon Valley darling to disgrace

Image: Amanda Seyfried as Holmes in The Dropout: Pic Disney+

Investors could 'try again' if Holmes returns

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Styling herself on her idol Steve Jobs, the famed Apple co-founder, Holmes's firm took Silicon Valley by storm on the promise of groundbreaking blood testing technology that attracted a whole host of big name investors.

Among them were Rupert Murdoch and the American pharmacy giant Walgreens, while former secretaries of state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger were on the board of directors.

They were all hoodwinked by the promise of tech that could test for dozens of diseases with merely a drop of blood, potentially removing the need for trips to the doctor by rolling the gadgets out in stores.

"For a while, you could walk into a Walgreens and visit one of the Theranos wellness centres - and there was this promise that the technology would find its way into most of the Walgreens in the country," said Jarvis.

"If Elizabeth Holmes accomplished her goal, this could have been in the hands of most Americans."

Despite the fact that the technology never worked as advertised, Jarvis says the promise of such an idea would be enough to once again entice investors.

As a female CEO, she had "defied a lot of the odds" by raising hundreds of millions of dollars, helped by crafting a "mesmerising" persona defined by turtleneck jumpers, a strikingly deep voice, and a goal to "change the world".

"We've seen things like that happen with Silicon Valley - major investors who put in money again with founders who… may not have been accused of fraud, but who have lost everything," said Jarvis.

"It's definitely not out of the question, you would see people who lost with her once, try again and see if it works."

Image: Elizabeth Holmes rubbed shoulders with the likes of ex-US president Bill Clinton

Dangerous 'pressure' of big tech

The culture of Silicon Valley, home to companies like Apple, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, and Google owner Alphabet, suffered tremendous scrutiny as the Theranos dream unravelled.

The treacherous "fake it 'til you make it" ethos that permeates American startups creates a pressure that helps personalities like Holmes emerge and will continue to do so, according to Jarvis.

"You don't have an Elizabeth Holmes without some of this ecosystem that exists around her," she said.

"I have been covering tech, business, and the economy for almost two decades, and you see history repeat itself time and time again. Changes can happen - but they're mostly incremental."

Were there to be a positive legacy of the Theranos scandal, Jarvis believes it could lie in the willingness of whistleblowers to speak out against their employers.

Among those key to exposing Holmes were research engineer Tyler Shultz, grandson of board member George, and laboratory assistant Erika Cheung.

Mr Shultz's relationship with his family was hugely strained by his decision to speak out, while Ms Cheung - a fresh graduate at the time - feared for her career prospects.

Both contributed to John Carreyrou's bombshell report in The Wall Street Journal, and they feature in The Dropout podcast and show, on which Jarvis was an executive producer.

"In the near term they faced real consequences, and it wasn't pleasant," Jarvis told Sky News.

"But longer term, what they said was true and was upheld in a court of law - Elizabeth Holmes was convicted, the jury held her responsible for the things they said she was responsible for.

"It shows the power of speaking up when you see something that doesn't seem right. Even if there might be consequences in the near term, the truth will ultimately prevail."

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2022-11-19 02:47:15Z
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Putin deploys deadly weapon known as a 'poor man's nuke' in Ukraine - Metro.co.uk

Vladimir Putin has approved the deployment of a deadly flamethrower known as a ‘poor man’s nuclear weapon’ to his private army.

The TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy thermobaric flamethrower is designed for the complete destruction of fortifications, armoured vehicles and enemy manpower – obliterating all humans in the vicinity.

The weapon is capable of vaporising everything within a 1,000ft blast radius, rupturing lungs and leaving no hope of survival with a blast temperature as high as 3,000°C.

Thermobaric ammunition has been described as ‘the most terrible [conventional] weapon in the world’, and has been dubbed ‘a poor man’s nuclear weapon’ by retired US colonel David Johnson.

The deadly ammunition can either be dropped from the air, or loaded into a rocket and used as artillery.

Now video footage has emerged of the weapon being used in Ukraine by the ragtag members of the Wagner Group, a Russian army of far-right mercenaries loyal to Putin.

The horrifying video, captured by a nearby drone, shows Wagner troops using the artillery version of the weapon to hit Ukrainian forces in Artemovsk and its suburbs, according to state media outlet RIA Novosti.

The first explosive charge opens the container and scatters fuel mixture as a deadly cloud, creating an incendiary mist which penetrates any gaps in buildings or unsealed defences.

Thermobaric rockets can vaporise their victims with temperatures of over 3,000°C and are considered too inhumane to use by most militaries (Picture: East2West)

The shockwave caused by the missiles also creates a vaccum which can suck the air out of nearby victim’s lungs and cause them to suffocate (Picture: East2West)

A second charge then detonates the fuel cloud, triggering a huge fireball, a massive blast wave, and a vacuum which sucks up all surrounding oxygen.

Victims of the horrific weapon can die from the blast or the accompanying shock wave, while the subsequent vacuum causes victims to die painfully by rupturing their lungs.

In recent days the Russian Defence Ministry TV channel Zvezda devoted a prominent slot to the flamethrower which uses thermobaric bombs – also known vacuum or aerosol bombs or fuel air explosives.

The deadly weapon has ‘shown its worth’ in Ukraine, boasted the 38-minute Zvezda TV report.

Its warhead was produced in a secret laboratory called the Institute of Applied Chemistry in Sergiev Posad, Moscow region.

A source told ultra-loyalist news outlet RIA FAN: ‘These weapons are considered the most terrible, there are no analogues in any country in the world.

‘The Americans even tried to ban it, not because it really is a weapon of mass destruction, but because the Americans can’t do anything like that.’

The terrible weapons have been assigned to members of the Wagner Group, Putin’s personal army of mercenaries and convicts (Picture: East2West)

Wagner is headed by billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin, a notorious war criminal and one of Putin’s closest allies.

Estimates say it has up to 35,000 prisoners fighting in the war in Ukraine, or in training for the conflict.

When asked what his recruits should do with Ukrainian captives, Prigozhin responded by saying ‘Do whatever you like to them – torture them, or slit their throats.’

Separately he was quoted saying: ‘I have special powers from the President [Putin].

‘I don’t give a f**k about anyone, I’ve got to win this f*****g war at any cost.’

More: Russia

Earlier this week, Prigozhin was reported as saying that he wanted to create a separate division in Wagner for prisoners who had been raped in jail to ensure that other convict soldiers did not have to serve with such ‘untouchable outcasts’.

He also hit out at the poor performance of Putin’s regular forces.

An inmate told how during a jail recruitment session, Prigozhin said ‘the defence ministry’s army is totally useless’.

Its troops ‘drink, take drugs, and don’t want to fight’.

‘They present their defeats as ‘regroupings’, while [Wagner] are doing well,’ the convict said.

‘This is why he now needs people jailed for murder and robbery.

‘He said he would likely be back for the rapists in November.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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2022-11-18 15:59:00Z
CAIiEC_9wZ2AOQQuLcXLZ2HpAzAqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowzc-JCzDQ5psDML_9oQY

COP27: Fresh hope for climate talks after climate damage offer - BBC

Getty Images

By Georgina Rannard

Climate reporter in Sharm el-Sheikh

A promise from the developed world to foot more of the climate bill has raised fresh hopes of breakthrough at the UN climate summit COP27.

Nations meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, worked late into Thursday night to find agreement over what has been the biggest sticking point.

The European Union has suggested a new fund to help poor nations deal with climate disaster.

Developing nations insist they will push for the best deal on the table.

The summit is nearing its end after two weeks of talks to make progress on tackling climate change, but there were fears it could collapse over the question of money. It was supposed to finish on Friday and is now expected to go on until at least Saturday.

Vulnerable nations including Pakistan, which leads developing countries here, say richer nations owe this money because they historically released most of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

The devastating floods in Pakistan this summer, which killed about 1,700 people, have been a powerful backdrop to talks in Egypt.

But rich nations are worried about signing a blank cheque. At the start of the summit, the US was adamant there would be no new fund, and it has been silent in negotiations, observers say.

In a possible breakthrough on Friday morning, the European Union proposed a special fund that would be funded by a "broad donor base".

That suggests that China, a country which now emits large amounts of greenhouse gases (those gases that warm the atmosphere), could contribute too.

China is usually in the same group as developing nations, and historically contributed little to global warming. But this fund could call on them to help pay the bill.

"It's great to see some leadership finally, but we'll see what we get out of this," Nisha Krishnan from the World Resources Institute told BBC News.

The EU's proposal "comes with strings attached" and it is not supported by all developing nations, says Prof Michael Wilkins at Imperial College Business School in London.

• Deep rift over climate cash clouds summit
• No Greta, but young activists make waves at COP27
• War linked to big release of warming gas - Ukraine
• Key 1.5C climate goal under threat at COP27 summit

The question of this money, known as loss and damage, has dominated COP27. Nations at severe risk from climate disaster were pleased to get it on the agenda, after 30 years of trying.

The deal is not yet over the line.

Talking about the funding, Ms Krishnan said "this is the biggest thing that could make or break this conversation".

It will be important to see what the US does as well as China, she suggests.

Outside of the negotiation rooms, NGOs and activists continue to call for much stronger promises from COP27 on getting rid of fossil fuels.

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2022-11-18 13:34:13Z
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Macron says China's ability to pressure Russia is 'extremely useful' - Financial Times

China’s ability to pressure Russia is proving “extremely useful”, as the international community ramps up efforts to stop the war in Ukraine, according to French president Emmanuel Macron.

Macron met the Chinese president Xi Jinping on Tuesday at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, where he helped secure a joint statement condemning the war in Ukraine.

Xi has refused to blame Moscow directly for the war and its effects, accepting Russian president Vladimir Putin’s argument that Nato’s eastward expansion over recent decades has threatened Russia’s security.

His administration has, however, expressed concern over the Russian president’s threats to use nuclear weapons and has never recognised Moscow’s annexation of various Ukrainian territories, including Crimea in 2014.

“China has an important role . . . to exercise pressure on Russia,” Macron said in an interview with Nikkei and the Financial Times in Bangkok, where he is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leader’s summit.

Xi, he added, had the ability to tell Putin that “we work together, we respect each other but you cannot cross the line on nuclear [weapons] and you have to pay attention to international law”.

“This reminder is extremely useful,” Macron said.

The ability of the G20’s host, Indonesian president Joko Widodo, Macron and other leaders to secure a statement condemning the Ukraine war and its global impact surprised many observers, who expected an intractable divide to wreck what had been billed as “the first global summit of the second cold war”.

“What we decided at the G20 with China, India and a lot of others around the table was very important because we expressed this concern — it was a call for peace,” Macron said. “Russia received the message from the international community, and especially from China, about the fact that peace has to be restored.”

Putin’s last-minute decision not to attend the G20 summit was a relief for Beijing, which used the event to try to stabilise relations with the US and other western nations in what was only Xi’s second trip abroad since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted out of central China almost three years ago.

The prospect that the Ukraine war could spark a larger conflict between Russia and Nato was dramatically illustrated on the G20’s opening day when a missile struck a village in Poland, killing two people. Ukrainian and western military officials are at odds over whether the missile was fired by Russian or Ukrainian forces.

Macron called for an end to the sparring pending the outcome of an investigation by Poland, a Nato member.

“We should not have an open and public confrontation about what happened exactly,” the French president said. “We have to help the Polish authorities to clarify . . . what happened.”

Macron added he was hopeful that, in the wake of the G20 summit, meaningful peace talks could be held in Ukraine.

“The Ukrainians will, this is my hope, will come back to the table with the Russians, and the international community will be around this table,” he said.

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2022-11-18 08:25:30Z
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Mohammed bin Salman: Saudi leader given US immunity over Khashoggi killing - BBC

Reuters

By Oliver Slow & Alys Davies

BBC News

The US has determined that Saudi Arabia's de facto leader - Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - has immunity from a lawsuit filed by murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's fiancé.

Mr Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi critic, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

US intelligence has said it believes Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.

But in court filings, the US State department said he has immunity due to his new role as Saudi prime minister.

Mr Khashoggi's ex-fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that "Jamal died again today" with the ruling.

She - along with the human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), founded by Mr Khashoggi - had been seeking unspecified damages in the US from the crown prince for her fiancé's murder.

The complaint accused the Saudi leader and his officials of having "kidnapped, bound, drugged and tortured, and assassinated US-resident journalist and democracy advocate Jamal Khashoggi".

The secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, said: "Today it is immunity. It all adds up to impunity."

US desire to improve relations with Saudi leaders

The official explanation for this granting of immunity to a man the CIA suspects was complicit in Mr Khashoggi's murder is that the Saudi crown prince's status formally changed in September when he was named prime minister. But this change is largely academic.

In Saudi Arabia power rests with the King, the crown prince and the immediate, blood-related royals. MBS, as the crown prince is known, has been all-powerful since soon after he became crown prince in 2017.

It was always highly unlikely that the US, as Saudi Arabia's strategic partner and arms supplier, was ever going to facilitate the arrest of MBS. But granting him immunity in this way will cause some relief in the Saudi royal court and has provoked a storm of protest from human rights groups as well as Mr Khashoggi's fiancée.

Underlying all this is Washington's desire to improve its poor relations with the Saudi leadership. It's no secret that MBS and President Biden dislike each other and the Saudis' recent refusal to pump more oil to lower US fuel prices was taken as a snub in Washington. Added to that, the Saudis have an increasingly warm relationship with both Russia and China.

There will be many in the royal court who will be quietly hoping for the return of Donald Trump to the White House, who chose Riyadh for his first overseas visit as President.

Prince Mohammed was named crown prince by his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, in 2017. The 37-year-old was then handed the role of prime minister in September this year.

He denies any role in the killing of Mr Khashoggi. 

Justice Department lawyers said that as "the sitting head of a foreign government," the crown prince "enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of US courts as a result of that office."

"The doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law," Justice Department lawyers said.

But the Biden administration was keen to emphasise that the ruling was not a determination of innocence.

"This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law," a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a written statement.

"It has nothing to do with the merits of the case."

Reuters

Saudi Arabia said the former Washington Post journalist had been killed in a "rogue operation" by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom.

However, US officials said the CIA had concluded, "with a medium to high degree of certainty", that MBS was complicit.

The murder caused a global uproar and damaged the image of Prince Mohammed and his country.

It also led to a major downturn in US-Saudi relations, with Mr Biden vowing to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" while he was campaigning for the presidency in 2019.

Mr Biden declined to talk to Mohammed bin Salman when he first became president.

But over the summer, President Biden said he wanted to "reorient" relations, ahead of a visit to Saudi Arabia in July.

His visit - in which he was pictured fist-bumping the crown prince - was criticised as validating the Saudi government following Mr Khashoggi's murder.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Dawn, wrote on Twitter that it was "beyond ironic that President Biden has single-handedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable".

Thursday's decision gave the Saudi leader "a license to kill", according to the son of exiled former Saudi security official Saad al-Jabri, who has accused Prince Mohammed of targeting his family and of sending a hit squad to Canada to kill him.

"After breaking its pledge to punish MBS for Khashoggi's assassination, the Biden administration has not only shielded MBS from accountability in US courts, but rendered him more dangerous than ever with a license to kill more detractors without consequences," Khalid al-Jabri said in quotes cited by AFP.

Amnesty's Agnes Callamard wrote on Twitter: "This is a deep betrayal. Another one. First disregarded by Pres. Trump. Then Pres. Biden's fist bump... At all points, they had other choices."

And Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Biden administration had "sold Jamal Kashoggi's blood for Saudi oil".

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2022-11-18 12:16:33Z
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