Politics
2025 on track to tie second hottest year on record: EU monitor

The planet is on track to log its second hottest year on record in 2025, tied with 2023 after a historic high in 2024, Europe’s global warming monitor said Tuesday.
The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service reaffirms that global temperatures are on course to exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels — the threshold considered safer in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Temperatures rose by 1.48C on average between January and November, or “currently tied with 2023 to be the second-warmest year on record”, according to the service’s monthly update.
“The three-year average for 2023-2025 is on track to exceed 1.5C for the first time,” Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at Copernicus, said in a statement.
“These milestones are not abstract — they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change and the only way to mitigate future rising temperatures is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Burgess said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in October that the world would not be able to contain global warming below 1.5C in the next few years.
Last month was the third warmest November on record at 1.54C above pre-industrial levels, according to Copernicus, with the average surface air temperature reaching 14.02C.
Such incremental rises may appear small but scientists warn that is already destabilising the climate and making storms, floods and other disasters fiercer and more frequent.
“The month was marked by a number of extreme weather events, including tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia, causing widespread, catastrophic flooding and loss of life,” the monitor said.
Fossil fuel fight
The Philippines were ravaged by back-to-back typhoons that killed some 260 people in November, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were hit by massive floods.
The global average temperature for the northern hemisphere autumn, from September to November, was also the third highest on record after 2023 and 2024.
“Temperatures were mostly above average across the world and especially in northern Canada, over the Arctic Ocean, and across Antarctica,” the monitor said, adding that there were notable cold anomalies in northeastern Russia.
Copernicus takes its measurements using billions of satellite and weather readings, both on land and at sea, and their data extends back to 1940.
Global temperatures have been stoked ever higher by humanity’s emissions of planet-heating gases, largely from fossil fuels burned on a massive scale since the industrial revolution.
Nations agreed to transition away from fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023 but ambitions have stalled since then.
The COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, concluded last month with a deal that avoided a new, explicit call to phase out oil, gas and coal following objections from fossil fuel-producing countries.
Politics
Iran’s response to mediation efforts is ‘clear’: President Pezeshkian

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has affirmed that several countries have initiated mediation efforts to halt the brutal, imposed war waged against the Islamic Republic by the United States and the Israeli regime.
In a post on the social media platform X on Friday, President Pezeshkian said, “Some countries have begun mediation efforts and our response to them is clear.”
He stressed that these efforts must target the true aggressors, the US and Israel, who launched this unprovoked aggression.
He reiterated Iran’s unwavering commitment to “lasting” peace in the region, declaring, “Yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation’s dignity, sovereignty, and the rights of our great people.”
The president emphasized that any genuine mediation must confront those who underestimated the resilience of the Iranian nation and deliberately ignited this war through their criminal attacks.
The US and the Israeli regime unleashed a new wave of savage aerial aggression against Iran on February 28, barely eight months after their previous unprovoked assaults on the country.
These barbaric strikes resulted in the martyrdom of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei—a profound loss for the Islamic Ummah and a heinous crime against humanity.
In response, the Iranian government declared 40 days of national public mourning and seven days of official holidays to honor the Supreme Leader’s martyrdom and rally the nation in unity and resolve.
These latest aggressions came even as Tehran and Washington had engaged in three rounds of indirect negotiations in the Omani capital of Muscat and the Swiss city of Geneva, with plans underway for technical talks in Vienna, Austria—demonstrating Iran’s consistent pursuit of diplomacy despite relentless hostility.
Unyielding in the face of this aggression, Iran has launched powerful and precise retaliatory barrages of missiles and drones targeting military sites in the Israeli-occupied territories and US bases across the region, exercising its legitimate right to self-defense and sending a clear message that the Iranian nation will never submit to bullying or occupation.
Politics
Iran destroys US radars in UAE, Jordan, satellite images show

Satellite images show that several US military radars in the UAE and Jordan have been successfully hit by Iranian missiles and drones as the Iranian Armed Forces continue a retaliatory campaign against American and Israeli aggression.
New images from several military installations across the Arabian Peninsula suggest that Iran has focused on disabling the radar infrastructure that forms the backbone of US-supplied missile systems.
One such radar, supporting an American THAAD missile battery at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, appears to have been hit and destroyed in the opening days of the war, according to satellite imagery captured Monday.
The base lies more than 500 miles from Iran, underscoring the reach of Tehran’s retaliatory operations.
Similar damage has also been detected in the United Arab Emirates.
Satellite analysis shows that buildings housing radar-related infrastructure were struck at two locations—near Ruwais and Sader—between February 28 and March 1.At least three structures in Ruwais and four in Sader sustained visible damage, including pull-through vehicle sheds typically used to store radar systems linked to THAAD batteries.
The radar component is considered a critical element of the high-end missile interceptor system, enabling the detection and tracking of incoming ballistic missiles and drones. Without it, the interceptor batteries’ ability to respond to threats is significantly degraded.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) earlier said such strikes were part of its expanding Operation True Promise 4, a campaign launched in retaliation for the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression.
“With the successful destruction of more than seven advanced radars, the eyes of the US and the usurping Zionist regime in the region have been blinded,” the IRGC said in a statement on Wednesday, announcing the 17th stage of the operation.
The latest developments come after the United States and Israel launched a new round of aggression against Iran on February 28, eight months after earlier unprovoked attacks against the country.
The strikes has led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and more than 1,200 civilians, including women, children and senior military commanders.
Iran responded swiftly, unleashing waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli-occupied territories and US bases across the region.
Iranian officials insist the war was imposed on the country and say their ongoing military campaign is a legitimate act of self-defense aimed at neutralizing the infrastructure used to sustain further aggression.
Politics
Russia ‘providing Iran intelligence’ to target US forces: report

- US refrains from commenting on alleged Russian support.
- Officials say information includes locations of US warships.
- Russia says it was in dialogue with representatives of Iran.
Russia is providing Iran with targeting information that includes locations of US warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing three officials familiar with the intelligence.
The extent of Russia’s support to Iran was not entirely clear, but the Iranian military’s own ability to locate US forces has been degraded since the US and Israel launched strikes against Tehran last week, the Washington Post reported.
The war has since escalated, triggering retaliatory strikes by Iran, and ensnared its neighbours as it seeks to impose a high cost on the US, Israel and their allies.
The US military has identified six reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait when a drone slammed into a US military facility in Port Shuaiba. Trump and other senior officials have warned the conflict will likely result in more US military deaths.
A White House spokesperson did not directly comment on the alleged Russian support to Iran.
“The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed. Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement, responding to questions from Reuters.
Russia was in dialogue with representatives of Iran’s leadership, the Kremlin said on Friday. It declined to provide details when asked by reporters whether Moscow was helping Tehran.
The conflict has been an unexpected shot in the arm for Russia, with a significant bump in demand for its oil and gas, boosting exports battered in recent years by sanctions linked to its war in Ukraine. The United States has given Ukraine intelligence information during its war with Russia.
The Russian Embassy in Washington and Russia’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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