Politics
Rising oceans to threaten 1.5m Australians by 2050: report
SYDNEY: Rising oceans and flooding caused by climate change will threaten the homes and livelihoods of more than a million Australians by 2050, while deaths from heat-related illness will soar, a landmark report warned Monday ahead of Canberra’s release of emission reduction targets this week.
The long-awaited national climate risk assessment found that rising temperatures will have “cascading, compounding, concurrent” impacts on life in Australia, home to more than 27 million people.
“We are living in climate change now. It’s no longer a forecast, a projection or prediction — it is a live reality, and it’s too late to avoid any impacts,” Climate Minister Chris Bowen said.
The report, prepared independently for the government, found that 1.5 million people living in coastal areas will be at risk of sea level rise and coastal flooding by 2050.
By 2090, about three million people will be at risk from rising oceans.
Sea level rises pose a significant threat to homes, livelihoods, and cultural connections — particularly in locations such as the Torres Strait Islands, the report said.
Scattered through the warm waters off Australia’s northernmost tip, the sparsely populated islands are threatened by seas rising much faster than the global average.
Joanne Hill, community engagement coordinator at Edith Cowan University and an Indigenous woman, said in response to the report “we cannot delay this emergency response anymore”.
“Our coastal and island communities, particularly the Torres Strait Islands, are at immediate risk of losing their homes, their cultural practices and traditions if we do not do anything now,” Hill said.
Monday’s report comes as Australia is set to release its next round of emissions reduction targets in the coming week, a key obligation under the landmark Paris climate agreement.
Many hope the country will reveal more ambitious targets.
‘Terrifying’
Losses in Australian property values are estimated to soar to Aus$611 billion (US$406 billion) by 2050 and could increase to Aus$770 billion by 2090.
Should the temperatures increase by 3°C, heat-related deaths could soar by more than 400% in Sydney, Australia’s most-populated city, the report said.
Australia’s unique species will also be forced to move, adapt to the new conditions or die out as climate change intensifies, the report said.
Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of the Climate Council NGO, described the report as “terrifying”.
“We can choose a better future by cutting climate pollution harder and faster now,” McKenzie said.
“The first step is legislating the strongest possible 2035 climate target and stopping new polluting projects,” she said.
One of the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporters, Australia, has been criticised for treating climate action as a political and economic liability.
The “climate wars” — a years-long domestic fight over emissions policy — were blamed for curtailing progress in cutting heat-trapping carbon emissions.
The centre-left Labour government has stepped up efforts in recent years to bring down emissions and roll out renewable energy.
However, despite its green ambitions, the government continues to approve fossil fuel projects, including granting a 40-year extension to a major liquefied natural gas plant.
The extended lifeline of the North West Shelf project — a sprawling complex of offshore rigs and processing factories pumping out more than 10 million tonnes of LNG and petroleum each year — has angered Indigenous and environmental groups.
Bowen said moving to a greener future presented a “complicated and complex” set of challenges and that gas would remain a necessary backup renewable in the future energy mix.
“But we also face that challenge from a position of strength, because we have the best renewable resources in the world,” he said.
- Cairo “studying” request for Sisi to join board, says FM.
- Canadian PM intends to accept Trump’s invitation: aide.
- Argentine president says it will be an ‘honour’ to join initiative.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” for postwar Gaza began to take shape Saturday, with the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada asked to join.
The announcements from those leaders came after the US president named his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the panel.
Trump had already declared himself the chair of the body, as he promotes a controversial vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory, which lies in rubble after two-plus years of relentless Israeli bombardment.
The moves came after a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo which was attended by Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has partnered with Witkoff for months on the issue.
In Canada, a senior aide to Prime Minister Mark Carney said he intended to accept Trump’s invitation, while in Turkey, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had been asked to become a “founding member” of the board.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo was “studying” a request for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to join.
Sharing an image of the invitation letter, Argentine President Javier Milei wrote on X that it would be “an honour” to participate in the initiative.
In a statement sent to AFP, Blair said: “I thank President Trump for his leadership in establishing the Board of Peace and am honoured to be appointed to its Executive Board.”
Blair is a controversial figure in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Trump himself said last year that he wanted to make sure Blair was an “acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair spent years focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as representative of the “Middle East Quartet” – the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – after leaving Downing Street in 2007.
The White House said the Board of Peace will take on issues such as “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding and capital mobilisation.”
The other members of the board so far are World Bank President Ajay Banga, an Indian-born American businessman; billionaire US financier Marc Rowan; and Robert Gabriel, a loyal Trump aide who serves on the US National Security Council.
Trump has created a second “Gaza executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role.
It was not immediately clear which world leaders were asked to be on each board.
The White House, which said Friday that additional members would be named to both entities, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Israel strikes
Washington has said the Gaza plan had gone on to a second phase – from implementing the ceasefire to disarming Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel prompted the massive Israeli offensive.
On Friday, Trump named US Major General Jasper Jeffers to head the International Stabilization Force, which will be tasked with providing security in Gaza and training a new police force to succeed Hamas.
Jeffers, from special operations in US Central Command, in late 2024 was put in charge of monitoring a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, which has continued periodic strikes aimed at Hezbollah.
Gaza native and former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath was earlier tapped to head the governing committee.
Trump, a real estate developer, has previously mused about turning devastated Gaza into a Riviera-style area of resorts, although he has backed away from calls to forcibly displace the population.
- Private carrier admits misjudgement, planning gaps.
- Regulator orders IndiGo to relieve senior office bearers.
- Operational meltdown linked to new policy of pilot rest.
India’s civil aviation regulator on Saturday imposed a fine of $2.45 million on IndiGo, the country’s biggest airline, for poor roster planning that led to large-scale flight cancellations in December.
Airports across India were thrown into disarray late last year, with the private carrier admitting “misjudgement and planning gaps” in adapting to a new policy of pilot rest.
Over 4,000 mostly domestic flights were either cancelled or delayed for over a week across the country, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The operational meltdown came even though IndiGo had two years to prepare for the new rules aimed at giving pilots more rest periods in between flights to enhance passenger safety.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was levying the penalty for several lapses, including “failure to strike (a) balance between commercial imperatives and crew members’ ability to work effectively”.
The regulator ordered IndiGo to relieve its senior vice president of its operations control centre of his responsibilities, according to a statement released on Saturday.
It also issued warnings to senior officials at the company, including CEO Pieter Elbers “for inadequate overall oversight of flight operations and crisis management”.
There was no immediate response from IndiGo to the fine.
IndiGo, which commands 60% of India’s domestic market, operates more than 2,000 flights a day.
The crisis was one of the biggest challenges faced by the no-frills airline that has built its reputation on punctuality.
India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets. In November 2024, IndiGo reached a daily level of 500,000 passengers for the first time.
- Protesters chant, “Greenland is not for sale.”
- Over “20,000 people” attend protest in Copenhagen.
- Trump says Greenland vital to US security.
COPENHAGEN: Protesters in Denmark and Greenland demonstrated on Saturday against President Donald Trump’s demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the US and called for it to be left to determine its own future.
Trump says Greenland is vital to US security because of its strategic location and large mineraldeposits, and has not ruled out using force to take it. European nations this week sent military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request.
In Copenhagen, demonstrators chanted “Greenland is not for sale” and held up slogans such as “No means No” and “Hands off Greenland” alongside the territory’s red-and-white flag as they marched to the US embassy.
Some wore red baseball caps resembling the “Make America Great Again” caps of Trump supporters, but with the slogan “Make America Go Away”.
In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, hundreds of protesters led by Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen carried flags and similar banners as they headed for the US consulate.
They passed a newly built block where Washington plans to move its consulate – currently a red wooden building with four staff.
Organisers estimated over 20,000 people attended the protest in Copenhagen – akin to the entire population of Nuuk – though police did not provide an official figure. Other protests were held across Denmark.
“I am very grateful for the huge support we as Greenlanders receive … we are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,” said Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark.
Trump triggers diplomatic rift
Trump’s repeated statements about the island have triggered a diplomatic crisis between the US and Denmark, both founding members of the NATO military alliance, and have been widely condemned in Europe.
The territory of 57,000 people, governed for centuries from Copenhagen, has carved out significant autonomy since 1979 but remains part of Denmark, which controls defence and foreign policy, and funds much of the administration.
Some 17,000 Greenlanders live in Denmark, according to Danish authorities.
All five parties elected to Greenland’s parliament ultimately favour independence, but they disagree on the timing and have recently said they would rather remain part of Denmark than join the US
Only 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland, and large majorities of Democrats and Republicans oppose using military force to annex it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Trump called the poll “fake”.
US’ Carter’s Q4 FY25 growth signals improving momentum in retail
Bharat Coking Coal IPO To List Tomorrow: GMP Indicates Over 50% Bumper Gains
Sources: Packers bringing back Matt LaFleur on multiyear deal
-
Tech5 days agoNew Proposed Legislation Would Let Self-Driving Cars Operate in New York State
-
Sports1 week agoClock is ticking for Frank at Spurs, with dwindling evidence he deserves extra time
-
Sports1 week ago
Commanders go young, promote David Blough to be offensive coordinator
-
Entertainment5 days agoX (formerly Twitter) recovers after brief global outage affects thousands
-
Fashion1 week agoSouth India cotton yarn gains but market unease over US tariff fears
-
Fashion1 week agoChina’s central bank conducts $157-bn outright reverse repo operation
-
Business1 week agoSoftBank reduces Ola Electric stake to 13.5% from 15.6% – The Times of India
-
Sports1 week agoUS figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship