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General view of the coal power plant of German LEAG energy company, in Jaenschwalde, Germany, Oct 21, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel) - 

Leaders of the 20 richest countries will acknowledge the existential threat of climate change and will take urgent steps to limit global warning, a draft communique seen ahead of the COP26 summit shows.

As people around the world prepared to demonstrate their frustration with politicians, Pope Francis lent his voice to a chorus demanding action, not mere words, from the meeting starting on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Group of 20, whose leaders gather on Saturday and Sunday in Rome beforehand, will pledge to take urgent steps to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

While the 2015 Paris Agreement committed signatories to keeping global warming to "well below" 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5 degrees, carbon levels in the atmosphere have since grown.

"We commit to tackle the existential challenge of climate change," the G20 draft, seen by Reuters, promised.

"We recognise that the impacts of climate change at 1.5 degrees are much lower than at 2 degrees and that immediate action must be taken to keep 1.5 degrees within reach."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the world was rushing headlong towards climate disaster and G20 leaders must do more to help poorer countries.

"Unfortunately, the message to developing countries is essentially this: the cheque is in the mail. On all our climate goals, we have miles to go. And we must pick up the pace," Guterres said.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has berated politicians for 30 years of "blah, blah, blah" is among those who took to the streets of the City of London, the British capital's financial heart, to demand the world's biggest financial companies withdraw support for fossil fuel.

Demonstrators in the United States also protested outside several Federal Reserve Bank buildings and other banks.

US President Joe Biden will join leaders at the G20 meeting after a setback on Thursday when the House of Representatives abandoned plans for a vote on a US$1 trillion infrastructure bill, which would have represented the biggest investment in climate action in US history.

Biden had hoped to reach an agreement before COP26, where he wants to present a message that the United States has resumed the fight against global warming.

The world's political leaders, he said, must give future generations "concrete hope" that they are taking the radical steps needed.

"These crises present us with the need to take decisions, radical decisions that are not always easy," he said. "Moments of difficulty like these also present opportunities, opportunities that we must not waste."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting COP26, said this week the outcome hangs in the balance.

On Friday, Britain sought to align business more closely with net-zero commitments by becoming the first G20 country to make a set of global voluntary disclosure standards on climate-related risks mandatory for large firms.

But leaders of Europe's biggest oil and gas companies, among big firms conspicuous by their absence at COP26, said only governments can effectively curb fossil fuel demand.

The statement from the G20 countries, which are responsible for an estimated 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, said members acknowledged "the key relevance of achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emissions or carbon neutrality by 2050".

But countries on the climate frontline struggling with rising sea levels want steps taken now.

"We need concrete action now. We cannot wait until 2050, it is a matter of our survival," said Anote Tong, a former president of Kiribati.

Tong has predicted his country of 33 low-lying atolls and islands was likely to become uninhabitable in 30 to 60 years' time.

UN climate experts say a 2050 deadline is crucial to meet the 1.5 degree limit, but some of the world's biggest polluters say they cannot reach it, with China, by far the largest carbon emitter, aiming for 2060.

Britain's Johnson said he had urged Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday to do more to reduce his country's reliance on coal and to bring forward its prediction for peak emissions.

"I pushed a bit on (peak emissions), that 2025 would be better than 2030, and I wouldn't say he committed on that," Johnson said.

Xi is not expected to attend the conference in person.

In the G20 draft communique, the 2050 date for net zero emissions appears in brackets, indicating it is still subject to negotiation.

Curent commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions put the planet on track for an average 2.7C temperature rise this century, a United Nations report said on Tuesday.

Pacific Island leaders said they would demand immediate action in Glasgow.

"We do not have the luxury of time and must join forces urgently and deliver the required ambition at COP26 to safeguard the future of all humankind, and our planet," said Henry Puna, former Cook Islands prime minister and now secretary of the Pacific Islands Forum//CNA

FILE PHOTO: A child wears a face mask on the first day of New York City schools, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. September 13, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo - 

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday (Oct 29) authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years, making it the first COVID-19 shot for young children in the United States.

The shot will not be immediately available to the age group. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still needs to advise on how the shot should be administered, which will be decided after a group of outside advisers discuss the plan on Tuesday.

Pfizer said it will begin shipping pediatric vials of the vaccine on Saturday to pharmacies, pediatricians' offices and other places where the shots may be administered.

The FDA decision is expected to make the vaccine available to 28 million American children, many of whom are back in school for in-person learning.

It comes after a panel of advisers to the regulator voted overwhelmingly to recommend the authorisation on Tuesday.

Only a few other countries, including China, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates, have so far cleared COVID-19 vaccines for children in this age group and younger.

The FDA authorised a 10-microgram dose of Pfizer's vaccine in young children, lower than the 30 micrograms in the original vaccine for those age 12 and older.

Advisers on the FDA panel said a lower dose could help mitigate some of the rare side effects after paying close attention to the rate of heart inflammation, or myocarditis, that has been linked to both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, especially in young men.

The regulator said on Friday that known and potential benefits of the Pfizer vaccine in individuals aged between 5 and 11 outweigh the risks.

For the pediatric shots, the FDA has authorised a new version of the vaccine, which uses a new buffer and allows them to be stored in refrigerators for up to 10 weeks.

In the United States, around 58 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, lagging other nations such as the UK and France. Many adults, who have been hesitant to get a vaccine, may be more cautious about giving the shot to their children.

"We certainly hope that as people see children getting vaccinated, and being protected and being able to participate in activities without concern, that more people will get their kids vaccinated," Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said at a press conference.

"And as we accumulate more experience with the vaccine, more comfort with the safety will occur."

Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine showed 90.7 per cent efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children aged 5 to 11.

"This is a day so many parents, eager to protect their young children from this virus, have been waiting for," Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in a statement

The United States started administering the vaccine to teens between ages 12 and 17 in May. Vaccination coverage among the age group is lower than in older groups, according to the CDC.

Pfizer's vaccine was the first to be authorised for emergency use in the United States in December last year for those age 16 and older and was granted full US approval in August.

Earlier this week, Moderna reported interim data showing that its vaccine generated a strong immune response in children ages 6 to 11 years. It is awaiting a US regulatory decision on the authorisation for children between ages 12 and 17//CNA

This photo taken by the Vatican Media on Oct 29, 2021 shows Pope Francis and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in exchanging gifts during a private audience at The Vatican, ahead of an upcoming G20 summit. (Photo: Handout / AFP / VATICAN MEDIA) - 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Pope Francis on Friday (Oct 29), giving him a cross made from barbed wire from the peninsula's demilitarised zone and again urging him to visit North Korea.

Moon, who is Catholic, was in Rome for the G20 summit of world leaders. He held private talks with the Pope for about 25 minutes, the Vatican said.

Moon's office said the president, who will leave office in May, had told Pope Francis that a papal visit to Pyongyang would help revive the peace process on the Korean Peninsula.

"If you send me an invitation, I will gladly go to help you, for the sake of peace. Aren't you brothers who speak the same language? I'm willing to go," it quoted the pope as saying.

The Vatican said in a statement that the two sides discussed "the promotion of dialogue and reconciliation between Koreans" and the hope that "joint effort and goodwill may favour peace and development in the Korean peninsula, supported by solidarity and by fraternity".

When he met the Pope in 2018, Moon relayed a verbal invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the pontiff to visit North Korea.

Vatican officials said at the time that the Pope, who has made many appeals for rapprochement between the two Koreas, would consider such a trip under certain conditions if it could help the cause of peace.

North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion as long as it does not undermine the state.

But beyond a handful of state-controlled places of worship - including a Catholic church in the capital Pyongyang - no open religious activity is allowed and the authorities have repeatedly jailed foreign missionaries.

There is little information on how many of North Korea's citizens are Catholic, or how they practice their faith.

Negotiations between Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes have been stalled amid efforts by both Koreas to develop increasingly sophisticated weapons.

North Korea last week confirmed it test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman arrives at the opening session of the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 26, 2021. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo - 

Saudi Arabia intends to bid to host the Expo 2030 world fair, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Friday (Oct 29), part of the de facto ruler's push to transform the kingdom's economy and diversify it away from oil.

The Saudi capital Riyadh has submitted a formal request to host Expo 2030 under the theme "The era of change: Leading the planet to a foresighted tomorrow", a statement said.

Gulf neighbour and regional business hub the United Arab Emirates, which is increasingly in economic competition with Saudi Arabia, is currently hosting the Expo 2020 world fair, which was delayed for a year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UAE Vice President and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum tweeted his support for the Saudi bid, saying "We will give our brothers access to the knowledge and experience we gained throughout seven years of preparation for the Expo".

The bid, which was submitted to the expo organising body the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), will be led by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City.

Prince Mohammed said the 2030 Expo in Riyadh would coincide with the culmination of the kingdom's economic reform program known as Vision 2030, and allow the kingdom to share lessons from that programme//CNA