Foreign News
Scientists release ‘survival guide’ to avert climate disaster
UN chief Antonio Guterres says a major new report on climate change is a “survival guide for humanity”.
Clean energy and technology can be exploited to avoid the growing climate disaster, the report says. But at a meeting in Switzerland to agree their findings, climate scientists warned a key global temperature goal will likely be missed. Their report lays out how rapid cuts to fossil fuels can avert the worst effects of climate change.
In response to the findings, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres says that all countries should bring forward their net zero plans by a decade. These targets are supposed to rapidly cut the greenhouse gas emissions that warm our planet’s atmosphere.
“There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all,” the report states.
Governments had previously agreed to act to avoid global temperature rise going above 1.5C. But the world has already warmed by 1.1C and now experts say that it is likely to breach 1.5C in the 2030s.
(BBC)
Typhoon Mawar, a Category 4 storm, has reached the United States territory of Guam, pummelling the island with fierce wind and rain and knocking out power as residents try to ride out the storm in homes and shelters.
The National Weather Service (NWS) stated that the storm hit the northern tip of Guam on Wednesday evening, with maximum wind speeds of up to 225kph (140mph). The weather service said that conditions are expected to intensify through Thursday.
A senior vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice, PTI) has quit the party while its secretary general has stepped down from his role, marking another blow to the embattled ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Fawad Chaudhry, the senior vice president and a former federal minister, tweeted that he was “parting ways” with Khan and the party.
“I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan,” Chaudhry wrote.
Hours later, during a news conference in the capital Islamabad, Asad Umar announced he was also stepping down from his leadership position but added that he would remain a PTI member.
“In view of the events of May 9, it is untenable for me to continue in party’s leadership position so I am resigning from the post of secretary general and my membership of core committee,” said Umar, who had been released from a two-week stint in jail earlier in the evening.
With their resignations, Chaudhry and Umar join more than two dozen other leaders from ex-PM Khan’s PTI who have either left their positions or quit the party since his arrest earlier this month.
(Aljazeera)
Cathay Pacific Airways has fired three flight attendants after a complaint that they had discriminated against non-English speaking passengers.
They were sacked after an audio clip of the cabin crew apparently mocking passengers went viral. The Hong Kong carrier launched an internal investigation and apologised for causing “widespread concern”.
Chinese state media claimed the airline was “looking down on mainland Chinese people”. A passenger traveling from Chengdu to Hong Kong said the cabin crew mocked passengers who mistakenly asked for a “carpet” instead of a “blanket”. In the audio clip, a flight attendant can be heard laughing as she tells her colleagues: “If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it. Carpet is on the floor.”
The incident has drawn much criticism on social media in China, with some users calling for a boycott of Cathay Pacific.
Hong Kong chief executive John Lee also said the incident had “hurt the feelings of compatriots in Hong Kong and the mainland”.
The airline’s CEO Ronald Lam apologised for the incident and said he will personally lead a task force to conduct a review into the company’s code of conduct.
(BBC)
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