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November
At 97, Malaysia's Mahathir vows one final fight against graft-tainted govt
Written by Nur Yasmin
At age 97, veteran Malaysia leader Mahathir Mohamad said he was determined to fight one final election to oust a government he said was led by "criminals", even if it could mean teaming up once again with long-time rival Anwar Ibrahim.
Mahathir, who served Malaysia for more than two decades in two stints as prime minister, is leading one of several opposition coalitions looking to unseat the graft-tainted Barisan Nasional - led by incumbent premier Ismail Sabri Yaakob - in an election on Nov. 19.
In the previous polls in 2018, Mahathir came out of retirement and joined forces with Anwar to oust the Barisan government as it faced corruption allegations over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
Mahathir promised to hand over the reins to Anwar but their multi-ethnic coalition collapsed in just 22 months due to infighting, paving the way for Barisan, led by Malay nationalist party UMNO, to return to power as part of another alliance.
Analysts say the votes of the country's majority ethnic Malays are expected to be split in the coming election between various Malay-centric parties that have emerged amidst the turmoil, including Mahathir's.
In what he said would likely be his final election foray, Mahathir vowed to fight "against bad Malays, criminal Malays… against the Malays who had destroyed this country."
Several UMNO leaders are facing graft charges brought against them by Mahathir's administration, including former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty in September in a case linked to 1MDB. Najib denied wrongdoing.
Race and religion are divisive issues in multi-racial Malaysia, where ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities form a third of the electorate.
Opinion polls suggest the election will be tightly contested with no single party or bloc likely able to win a simple majority.
Mahathir said he would not work with UMNO, citing corruption allegations against the party he once dominated.
But he did not dismiss the possibility of working with Anwar's alliance, although he said the parties would need to have a discussion on who would be premier after the election.
"We don't agree that any one person should, even before the results come in, claim that he is the candidate for prime minister," Mahathir said.
Anwar in an interview with Reuters last week ruled out working with Mahathir and other coalitions, citing "fundamental differences."
The pair's rivalry has dominated Malaysian politics for decades, after Mahathir as premier sacked and jailed his then-deputy Anwar in 1998, accusing him of sodomy and corruption.
Anwar was released in 2004, rising to become opposition leader, but was re-imprisoned in 2015 on another sodomy charge, and has consistently said that all the accusations against him were politically motivated. He was pardoned in 2018 after the election win that removed UMNO from power for the first time in Malaysia's post-colonial history.
LAST ELECTION?
In what is likely to be his final election, Mahathir does not see his age as a hindrance in winning the support of first-time voters - the youngest of whom, at 18, are nearly eight decades his junior.
“I feel that the youth of today are much more mature than the youth of the past... I think they will look not just at age, but also at capability," Mahathir said.
Mahathir's alliance is not a major player and is not expected to win a significant number of seats.
Nevertheless, he was "reasonably confident" that his alliance could still come out tops, and purge the government of corruption, implement business-friendly policies, and restore the nation's standing as an ‘Asian Tiger’ economy.
The nonagenarian said he had no desire to be prime minister but would do so if asked to serve again.
Mahathir, who is running against four other candidates in his island constituency, Langkawi, said he would retire if he lost.
"I don’t see myself being active in politics until I’m 100 years old," he said. "The most important thing is to transfer my experience to the younger leaders of the party." (Reuters)
November
New Zealand allocates $12 mln to fund climate damage in developing nations
Written by Nur Yasmin
The New Zealand government said on Wednesday it was allocating NZ$20 million ($12 million) of climate funding to address loss and damage in developing countries.
Vulnerable countries have ramped up demands for rich countries to pay compensation for losses inflicted on the world's poorest people by climate change. The issue is on the agenda of the U.N. COP27 climate summit this year.
New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the country's decision to allocate NZ$20 million of funding placed it at the leading edge of wealthy countries.
"International negotiations have in the past struck difficulties regarding calls for climate finance to deal with loss and damage, as some countries are concerned over what it means for liability and compensation," Mahuta said.
Mahuta said New Zealand recognised that loss and damage for Pacific countries takes many forms such as to culture, language, people's mental heath and physical wellbeing.
"We will work with our partners, in particular Pacific governments, to support areas they identify as priorities," said Mahuta.
New Zealand was not opposed to a possible centralised fund for international commitments for loss and damage, but supported a wide range of funding arrangements, she added. (Reuters)
November
Pakistan police name lone shooter in gun attack on ex-premier Khan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Pakistani police on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into a failed assassination attempt on former prime minister Imran Khan and said just one shooter was involved.
Khan, 70, has suggested that there could be two people who shot at him at anti-government rally in the eastern city of Wazirabad last Thursday.
The former cricket star, who has been pressing for early elections since being ousted as premier after losing a parliament vote in April, is recovering from leg wounds at his home in Lahore city.
Police identified the suspect as Mohammad Naveed, man in his 30s.
A copy of the police report, which was seen by Reuters, said a man in the crowd near Khan had taken out a pistol and started shooting, wounding Khan and 10 other people, one of whom later died.
Police said the suspected shooter was arrested after Khan supporter Ibtesam Hasan overpowered him and threw off his aim.
Regional police chief Akhtar Abbas told Reuters that a criminal investigation had been launched after registration of a formal case.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday the suspect was self-motivated.
"The things we got from his cell phone showed that he was fully motivated, fully committed," he told a news conference.
Reuters journalists last Friday visited the district of Wazirabad where the suspect lived in a dingy house with his widowed mother, wife and two sons - the youngest just two weeks old.
Police confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday this was the same man as the suspect Mohammad Naveed named in the case.
Neighbours said he had this year returned from Saudi Arabia where had worked as plumber for several years.
They described him as a quiet person and that his connection with the attack came as a surprise, although he had shown some signs of religiosity since his return to Pakistan.
"I knew him since his childhood, he had no bad habits, his act just shocked us," said neighbour Mohammad Saddiq, adding the man lately had preached to him about saying his prayers.
He attended neighbourhood mosque and had recently objected to a music event at a nearby school, asking to ensure music was not played at prayer time.
Khan said in a Tweet on Tuesday the police case was "farcical".
He has accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and intelligence official Major-General Faisal Nasser and planning to assassinate him. The government and military have denied this.
Khan launched what is known as a long-march protest rally from Lahore to the capital on Oct. 28, which his party said will resume on Thursday at the same place where he was attacked.
Khan supporters blocked roads near the capital Islamabad on Tuesday, disrupting traffic and forcing schools to close. (Reuters)
November
Turkey's Erdogan wants Swedish action on anti-terrorism for NATO bid approval
Written by Nur Yasmin
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara conveyed its expectation to see concrete steps from Sweden to fulfil anti-terrorism obligations under a deal clearing bids by the Nordic country and neighbouring Finland to join NATO.
In a joint news conference after a meeting in Ankara, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he understood Turkey's fight against terrorism and vowed to fulfil security commitments the Nordic country made to get Ankara's backing for its entry into NATO.
"In our meeting, we have openly shared our expectations for concrete steps regarding the implementation of the provisions in the memorandum," Erdogan said.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But Turkey, a NATO member, raised objections, citing security concerns related to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other groups, and over the Nordic states' ban on arms exports.
"I want to reassure all Turks, Sweden will live up to all the obligations made to Turkey in countering the terrorist threat," Kristersson said.
The three countries signed a memorandum in June that lifted Turkey's veto while requiring Sweden and Finland to address its remaining concerns.
In September, following the memorandum, Sweden and Finland reversed a ban against exporting military equipment to Turkey, a move welcomed as a positive step by Erdogan. (Reuters)
November
COP27: Ukraine's Zelenskiy says climate policy impossible without peace
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has distracted world governments from efforts to combat climate change, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video message played at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt on Tuesday.
"There can be no effective climate policy without the peace," he said, highlighting the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on global energy supplies, food prices and Ukraine's forests.
"This Russian war has brought about an energy crisis that has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power generation in order to lower energy prices for their people ... to lower prices that are shockingly rising due to deliberate Russian actions."
"(It) brought an acute food crisis to the world, which hit worst those suffering the existing manifestations of climate change ... the Russian war destroyed 5 million acres of forests in Ukraine in less than six months," Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine is hosting an exhibition space this year for the first time at a U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. But unlike the other booths at COP27 that are festooned in colorful logos, flags and greenery, Ukraine's stood out for its bleakness - covered in gravely grey to symbolize the war at home.
In his video appearance, Zelenskiy wore a trademark green T-shirt and faced the video camera from behind a desk. He criticised world leaders for paying lip service to climate change without delivering real change. He did not name individual states.
"There are still many for whom climate change is just rhetoric or marketing ... but not real action," he said.
"They are the ones who hamper the implementation of climate goals, they are the ones in their offices who make fun of those who fight to save life on the planet, although in public they seem to support the work for the sake of nature."
"They are the ones who start wars of aggression when the planet cannot afford a single gunshot because it needs global joint action."
A GREENER FUTURE
Members of Ukraine's delegation to COP27 said they hoped their presence drew global attention to the climate and environmental consequences of Russia's February invasion.
"It's important to show the situation in Ukraine," said Svitlana Grynchuk, the country's deputy environment minister. "We also try to think about ... our climate-neutral and environmentally friendly future."
Grynchuk described renewable energy projects destroyed in the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops, and offered a hopeful note on what's to come: "We have a lot of plans for rebuilding our country. It will be greener."
Ukraine's environment minister, Ruslan Strilets, is expected at COP27 next week.
The CEO of Ukraine's biggest private power producer DTEK, said at COP27 on Tuesday that half of his company's green energy capacity was now located in Russian occupied territory.
Overall, the country has "lost about 90% of wind capacity, which is on occupied territory, and about 30% of solar" in the fighting, Maxim Timchenko said.
He expressed concerned about the encroaching cold season, saying: "It will be one of the most difficult winters in the history of Ukraine. We should be realistic."
He said DTEK had managed to "quickly" restore a power station damaged in the fighting and reconnected it to the grid. "We do all preparations so that we will survive."
DTEK is a partial sponsor of Ukraine's exhibition center at COP27, where decorations included a tree trunk that delegates said had been scarred by shrapnel in the city of Irpyn.
At the entrance to the exhibition, an elaborate display showcased dozens of Ukrainian soil samples, meant to represent the potential of the country's fertile land.
Julia Guziy, with the Ukrainian non-profit Ecoclub, said she had taken a bus and multiple flights to get to COP27 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"It took us two days because we don't have flights out of Ukraine," she said.
Her group hoped to raise money for solar power plants at six Ukrainian hospitals, she said. (Reuters)
November
COP27 - Corporate climate pledges rife with greenwashing - U.N. expert group
Written by Nur Yasmin
Promises by companies, banks and cities to achieve net-zero emissions often amount to little more than greenwashing, U.N. experts said in a report on Tuesday as they set out proposed new standards to harden net-zero claims.
The report, released at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, is intended to draw a "red line" around false claims of progress in the fight against global warming that can confuse consumers, investors and policy makers.
At last year's climate negotiations in Glasgow, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed 17 experts to review the integrity of non-state net-zero commitments amid concerns about "a surplus of confusion and deficit of credibility" around corporate climate claims.
"Too many of these net-zero pledges are little more than empty slogans and hype", group chair and Canada's former environment minister, Catherine McKenna, said during a news conference launching the report.
"Bogus net-zero claims drive up the cost that ultimately everyone will pay," she said.
Regulators across the world are starting to set tougher rules around what activities can be deemed environmentally friendly, yet progress is patchy and campaigners and activists are increasingly turning to the courts to challenge weak claims.
On Tuesday, an official at Australia's corporate watchdog said it was investigating several companies over greenwashing, in which a company or group makes exaggerated claims over the environmental impact of their products or practices.
Last month, meanwhile, Britain's financial watchdog proposed new rules from 2024 for funds and their managers to prevent consumers being misled about their climate credentials.
An estimated 80% of global emissions are now covered by pledges that commit to reaching net-zero emissions.
The report set out a list of recommendations that companies and other non-state actors should follow to ensure their claims are credible. For example, a company cannot claim to be net-zero if it continues to build or invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure or deforestation.
The report also dismisses the use of cheap carbon credits to offset continued emissions as a viable net-zero strategy, and recommends companies, financial institutions, cities and regions focus on outright emissions and not carbon intensity - a measure of how much carbon is emitted per unit of output.
The report was "potentially very significant, depending on the traction it gets", said Eric Christian Pedersen, head of responsible investments at Nordea Asset Management.
"If this report becomes a legal standard against which one can measure if a net-zero commitment is bona fide or not, then it... can provide ammunition for the lawsuits and regulatory action which are sorely needed to make the absence of climate action more expensive at the individual company level."
The report "gives companies, investors, cities, regions - and by implication, countries - a clear statement of what 'good' looks like", said Thomas Hale, a global public policy researcher at Oxford University and co-leader of the Net Zero Tracker project which measures the effectiveness of such pledges.
"We need to be clear that most net-zero targets are not on track," he told Reuters, noting the tracker found that only half of companies with pledges have robust plans.
Teresa Anderson, global lead for climate justice at poverty-eradication non-profit ActionAid International, said corporations had "long hidden behind net-zero announcements and carbon offsetting initiatives, with very little intention of really doing the hard work of transforming and cutting emissions."
"These recommendations will aim to keep them in line and close any loopholes." (Reuters)
November
COP27: Hosts launch plan to help poorest adapt to climate change
Written by Nur Yasmin
The hosts of the COP27 climate talks on Tuesday launched a global plan to help the world's poorest communities withstand the impacts of global warming.
Unveiling the Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, named after the Egyptian resort where the talks are being held, the plan sets out 30 goals to hit by the end of the decade to enhance the lives of 4 billion people.
The hope is that by setting targets across themes including food and agriculture, water and nature, and coastlines and oceans, the public and private sectors will work with common goals and accelerate adaptation to change.
Urgent targets highlighted by the COP27 Presidency include moving the world to more sustainable agriculture practices that could increase yields by 17% and cut emissions by 21%.
Other goals include protecting 3 billion people from catastrophic weather events by installing early warning systems to help them prepare; investing $4 billion into mangrove restoration, which protects against flooding; and expanding clean cooking options to 2.4 billion people to reduce indoor air pollution.
"The Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda is a critical step at COP27," COP27 President and Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry said in a statement
"The COP27 presidency has long articulated our commitment to bringing together state and non-state actors to progress on adaptation and resilience for the 4 billion people that live in the most climate vulnerable regions by 2030."
In total, the plan seeks to mobilise up to $300 billion a year from private and public investors. By contrast, the world's biggest multilateral development banks spent $17 billion on adaptation finance for poorer countries in 2021, a report by the lenders published last month showed.
The majority of climate finance goes towards mitigation efforts, such as reducing emissions, despite U.N. pleas that half of all funding should be channelled into helping vulnerable countries adapt.
Africa, hosting its first COP, receives just 3% of total climate finance globally and was being "short changed", Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, told a conference session on the theme of adaptation.
Among specific Africa-focused projects to be announced at COP27 that will help meet the adaptation targets are a plan to improve water resilience for 29 million people across 100 cities.
Going forward, the U.N. Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP27, which form a link between the hosts of the COP, other national governments and non-state actors such as companies, said they would continue to refine and expand the targets.
U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said: "The Sharm el-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda firmly puts key human needs at its core, along with concrete, specific action on the ground to build resilience to climate change." (Reuters)
November
China opposes British minister's planned visit to Taiwan
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's foreign ministry said on Monday that Britain must stop any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, following plans by a British minister to visit the self-governed island, which China claims, for trade talks.
Taiwan's authorities need to stop colluding with foreign forces, said Zhao Lijian, a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, at a regular media briefing. (Reuters)
November
Support for New Zealand Labour Party hits 2017 low, poll shows
Written by Nur Yasmin
Support for New Zealand's ruling Labour Party has dropped to its lowest level since Jacinda Ardern took over the leadership, an opinion poll released late on Sunday showed.
The closely watched Newshub-Reid Research poll showed support for Ardern's party at 32.3%, down 5.9 points since the last poll in May. Support for largest opposition party, National, is at 40.7%.
New Zealand is not due to go to the polls until late in 2023 but those figures would leave Labour and its traditional partners without enough support to form a coalition government.
Ardern told Newshub AM Show earlier Monday that she takes every single poll with a grain of salt and instead focuses on what she is hearing from New Zealanders. (Reuters)
November
South Korea's Yoon apologises for Halloween crush, vows justice
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol apologised on Monday for the deadly Halloween crush in Seoul, pledging to hold to account any officials found to be responsible for sloppy responses and to reform police and safety management systems.
The Oct. 29 crush killed 156 people, mostly in their twenties and thirties, and injured another 197 when revellers flooded the narrow alleyways of the popular nightlife district of Itaewon to celebrate the first COVID-19 curbs-free Halloween festivities in three years.
Yoon offered the apology during a meeting to review safety rules, as the country continues to mourn the crush victims. An investigation is under way into authorities' responses to the accident.
"I do not dare to compare myself to the parents who lost their sons and daughters, but as the president who ought to protect the people's lives and safety, I am heartbroken," he said.
"I am sorry and apologetic to the bereaved families who are suffering an unspeakable tragedy, and to the people who share the pain and sorrow."
Police have faced stringent public criticism and scrutiny over its responses during the tragedy, having dispatched just 137 officers to the area despite estimating in advance as many as 100,000 people would gather.
Last week, transcripts of several emergency calls made from the hours leading up to the accident showed that people had warned of a potential crush and urged interventions.
Yoon initially ascribed the authorities' poor handling to flaws in the country's crowd management and safety regulations. Following the reports of the call transcripts, however, he sharply rebuked the police and apologised to the victims and wider public.
At Monday's safety meeting, he vowed to overhaul the national safety management system, carry out a thorough investigation and bring those responsible for failings to account.
"In particular, extensive reform is needed in the police work, which is essential to preparing for danger and preventing accidents, in order to protect the safety of the people," Yoon said.
National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun told parliament on Monday that more officers were dispatched than compared to pre-COVID-19 years and the 137 would have been sufficient to manage crowds of similar scale in general, but authorities could not expect that people would be concentrated into alleyways.
Opposition lawmakers demand the police chief and the interior minister be sacked. Yoon has rejected such calls. (Reuters)