Latest news with #UnitedNation
Sky News AU
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Mass delusion': Energy experts say UN climate boss ‘off with the fairies' after claiming Australia's carbon emissions ‘overheating' the planet
The United Nation's top climate change official Simon Stiell has been rubbished by energy experts for pushing an alarmist message that Australia was 'overheating' the planet without mentioning China's ballooning carbon emissions. The United Nation's climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell piled pressure onto the Albanese government and said that Australia was allowing the planet to 'overheat' and that it should 'not settle for what's easy' when determining its 2035 emission reduction targets. The climate tzar bizarrely declared that fruits would become a 'once-a-year treat' if Labor did not lift its clean energy ambitions and that only countries that acted 'boldly today' would reap the benefits of the energy transition. 'Mega-droughts (will make) fresh fruit and veg a once-a-year treat. In total, the country could face a $6.8 trillion GDP loss by 2050,' Mr Stiell forebodingly warned at an event hosted by the Smart Energy Council on Monday in Sydney. Senior fellow and chief economist at the Institute of Public Affairs Adam Creighton labelled Mr Stiell's comments as 'ludicrous fearmongering' and 'mass delusion.' 'Almost exactly two years ago UN Secretary General Guterres said 'the era of global boiling has arrived'. Informed Australians are likely to see his colleagues' comments as yet another example of ludicrous fearmongering,' Mr Creighton told He also drew attention to the fact that China and India were emitting more coal in a single year than Australia did in a week. 'Steill's demand that Australia reduce its greenhouse emissions further should be ignored and condemned given Australia's contribution to global emissions has fallen to barely more than 1 per cent.' Mr Creighton stressed that Australia should not be expected to bear the weight of climate change when the world's largest polluters continued to increase its emissions and that Mr Stiell's comments were contradictory and false. 'If Steill was serious about reducing global emissions he'd be saving his hysterical words for China and India, none of whom are taking 'net zero' seriously, as has become clear by their soaring use of coal to power their development." China and India's share of global emissions have risen to 40 per cent, more than triple that of America's contribution, with China also increasing its annual carbon dioxide emissions by 7.9 billion tons a year since 2000. Nationals Senator Matt Canavan denounced Mr Stiell's remarks, and told Sky News the UN's climate boss was 'off with the fairies.' 'Agriculture production has never been higher, it's insane, it's ridiculous and we cannot be led by people that have clearly not got a proper grasp on how the world works.' Mr Canavan said the only reason Mr Stiell was in Australia was due to the government vying for hosting rights for the COP 31 conference in 2026 and that the country was 'being taken for mugs.' 'Clearly Chris Bowen wants to bring this climate jamboree to Australia next year, that's why he has got this UN guy here, when the UK hosted the climate conference it costed $500 million, this is going to be The Voice 2.0.' Centre for Independent Studies energy analyst Jude Bilk said the United Nations should not be expect Australia to shoulder any load that is 'not being equally shouldered internationally.' 'We are incredibly naive to presume that we can have any material impact, let alone 'set an example' for these nations,' Mr Bilk said. 'The rhetoric of perma-crisis from the UN is beginning to sound shrill to the Australian public, who are already experiencing rising energy costs – with plenty more problems to come.' Mr Bilk said the appropriate response from Australia would be to 'tell Simon Stiell to stick it up his jumper.' Mr Bowen when pressed about Mr Stiell's verbal spray regarding emission reduction targets said that 'targets were easier set than met' and that Australia would act on advice from domestic bodies. 'Targets are easier set than met – we will set a target informed by the expert advice in the national interest,' Mr Bowen said on Tuesday. The federal government will be required in the coming month to legislate its 2035 emission reduction targets, which will be finalised once the Climate Change Authority chaired by former NSW Liberal Premier Matt Kean hands down its advice.
New York Times
15 hours ago
- New York Times
UNICEF Employees Held Hostage for 3 Weeks in Haiti
Five employees of UNICEF, the United Nation's children's organization, were released Monday night after being held by a gang for three weeks in Haiti, where criminal groups are turning to kidnappings to finance their criminal enterprises. Six people were kidnapped on July 7 during an authorized UNICEF mission in an area controlled by armed groups in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and one was released the following day, UNICEF said in a statement. The agency did not say whether any ransom was paid. Haitian gangs are abducting people for ransom to buy weapons and ammunition as they tighten their violent grip on the capital and surrounding areas. Experts say that gangs are leaning more heavily on their own revenue sources, like extortion, imposing road tolls and kidnappings, allowing them to rely less on elite business leaders, who have traditionally supported them. Nearly 350 people were kidnapped in the first six months of this year, according to U.N. figures. The U.N. said 1,494 people were kidnapped in 2024, a year that saw a major surge in gang violence. While there may have been more kidnappings last year, the trend has been on an upward climb over the past few years. Nearly 300 kidnappings were reported in the first six months of 2023, a figure that matched the total number of documented cases the previous year and was nearly three times the number reported in 2021, according to UNICEF. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNA
5 days ago
- Science
- CNA
Singapore renews agreement with UN nuclear watchdog to help developing nations build nuclear expertise
SINGAPORE: Singapore on Friday (Jul 25) renewed an agreement with the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to help train experts from developing countries in nuclear research. Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu and IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi signed the renewed deal, known as the Third Country Training Programme, at the National University of Singapore. Under the agreement, Singapore will develop training programmes with IAEA to support developing member states in the Asia Pacific region and beyond through fellowships, scientific visits and training courses, said the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) in a separate press release on Friday. 'Topics covered will include human health, industrial radiography, environmental radiography monitoring and analysis, and accelerator science,' MSE said. The agreement will not cover military or defence-related uses of nuclear technology, the ministry confirmed in response to queries from CNA. When asked about how the collaboration has grown and what more Singapore can do to build a safe and peaceful nuclear technology environment in the region, Mr Grossi said the cooperation between Singapore and IAEA has taken on a "number of dimensions" that have to do with nuclear applications. The agency has been working with different Singapore institutions "very successfully", he added. "Now, of course, there is this new ingredient because there is an interest to move into nuclear energy, and this is going to be adding frequency, maybe, and intensity of contacts we are having." The first agreement was inked in 2000 and then renewed in 2015. Singapore has worked with the IAEA to train other nations in building their nuclear expertise under these deals. More than 140 participants from 27 countries were trained through 17 fellowships and seven capacity-building programmes, MSE noted. 'These included both workshops and longer-term fellowship programmes, covering topics such as nuclear medicine, nuclear law, food safety and pest control,' said MSE in the press release. Singapore 'strongly supports' IAEA's focus on building the international community's capabilities for safe, secure and peaceful applications of nuclear technology, said Ms Fu. "As a responsible member of the international community, Singapore actively participates in the IAEA's work to promote and uphold high standards of nuclear safety, security and safeguards, regionally and globally," she added. As the host country for the activities that would take place under the agreement, participants from Singapore would have greater access to IAEA and the international experts conducting these activities, said MSE. Addressing common challenges such as human health, climate change and food security is also in countries' collective interests, it added. There are currently no operational nuclear reactors in Southeast Asia, though some countries, including Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states, have been exploring the use of nuclear power as a potential source of clean energy. Singapore and a few other neighbouring nations have made it clear that no decision has been made on whether to adopt nuclear energy, but the idea is being studied alongside other possible sustainable energy options. Apart from the latest agreement with IAEA, Singapore also has nuclear cooperation agreements with other countries and jurisdictions. This includes the 123 Agreement signed with the United States in 2024, a 30-year deal that furthers civil nuclear cooperation on advanced nuclear energy technologies between both nations. Mr Grossi is in Singapore as part of the S R Nathan fellowship, a high-level programme for foreign leaders and prominent individuals to visit the country. On Friday morning, Mr Grossi also met President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. He later delivered a lecture hosted by the newly launched Singapore Nuclear Research and Safety Institute at NUS and visited the National Environment Agency and the institute's facilities. Mr Wong noted on Friday evening that Singapore has been a member of the IAEA since 1967 and strongly supports its work. "Singapore government agencies contribute to several technical committees, and we have greatly benefited from IAEA's expertise in nuclear medicine, imaging, and oncology," the Prime Minister wrote in a Facebook post.
The Age
11-07-2025
- General
- The Age
Ancient WA rock art given UNESCO World Heritage status after 20-year campaign
Ancient rock art from Western Australia has been given World Heritage status in a landmark decision in Paris after two decades of campaigning by Indigenous leaders to protect the landscape. The decision adds the Murujuga Cultural Landscape to a register of the world's most important sites, after a formal vote by a council of 21 nations at the United Nation's peak cultural agency. The Murujuga petroglyphs, which are at least 45,000 years old and located on the Burrup Peninsula in Australia's far north-west, became the country's 21st World Heritage site alongside the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and Uluru. But the decision was hotly contested after environmental groups and some Indigenous leaders accused gas company Woodside of damaging the landscape. While some members of the community have campaigned against the government as part of a group called Save Our Songlines, traditional owners from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation hailed the outcome at UNESCO. Heritage officer Belinda Churnside addressed the World Heritage Committee in her Indigenous language before thanking them for granting the highest status to the site. 'We have all come here together, from far away, from the Murujuga lands,' she told them after the decision. 'This has been a long-awaited journey and a fight for our elders. And we are thankful to receive this recognition [on] a global scale.'
Sky News AU
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
'If we must return, we will do so': Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz issues new Iran warning
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has declared the nation would break its ceasefire with Iran should Tehran seek to "threaten or harm" its citizens. Israel and Iran are currently upholding a ceasefire agreed in the wake of United States strikes against Tehran's nuclear facilities last month. Prior to the Trump administration's intervention, both nations had exchanged missile and rocket fire for 12 days following what Israel called "preemptive" attacks to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. While the ceasefire appears to be holding, Mr Katz on Thursday, local time, warned Israel remained prepared to resume hostilities in order to defend itself from harm. "Israel's long arm will reach you in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and anywhere you try to threaten or harm Israel. There is no place to hide", he told an air force graduation ceremony, according to a statement from his office. "If we must return, we will do so with greater force." It was not immediately clear what Mr Katz defined as a threat to Israel, although it is likely any resumption of Tehran's nuclear program would likely be deemed worth of a response. While US officials have been insistent Iran's nuclear facilities were "obliterated" by its attacks, little evidence has been made public to back up the claim. Many analysts have acknowledged that while the strikes were successful, assessments of the damage could take months and would require intelligence from agents or assets inside the facilities. As a result estimates over how far back Tehran's uranium enrichment program and other nuclear goals have been set back continues to be a subject of debate. US officials claim Iran's nuclear ambitions have been set back years, possibly decades, while others, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, have suggested a timeline of months. The United Nation's nuclear watchdog has also expressed ongoing concern about the location of almost half a tonne of highly enriched uranium, which remains unaccounted for following the conflict. US officials, including President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, have insisted the material was destroyed in the attacks on Iran's Fordow site. Secretary Hegseth has also claimed there is no evidence Iran moved the material out of the facility before the strikes occurred. However, the IAEA maintains there is still a chance some of the material was either moved or has been recovered from the site, with the watchdog urging Iran to allow inspectors into the facility. Tehran, though, has refused to heed those calls, with the nation's regime also moving to suspend all cooperation with the nuclear watchdog going forward. That move has sparked fears Iran could be seeking to restart its nuclear program immediately, potentially with the intent of quickly producing an atomic bomb as a form of deterrence. With Reuters.
