CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has stressed the importance of reducing emissions, building resilience, and boosting climate finance for developing countries.
He was speaking at the closed-door meeting of heads of state and government on climate change, organized in partnership with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The meeting, co-chaired by Guterres and El-Sisi, was advertised in advance as a “frank and informal exchange” of views between leaders and an opportunity to discuss key issues ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh in November.
El-Sisi said: “We participated together in this meeting, in preparation for the climate summit in the UK, and today, we are a few weeks away from the 27th climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh.”
The meeting comes in light of events over the past year which have caused political crises and challenges in food, energy, and supply chains, affecting all parts of the world, said El-Sisi.
These challenges represent additional burdens on all countries, especially the developing ones, he added.
“But we must always rely on objective scientific reports, which unequivocally confirm that climate change remains the most dangerous existential challenge,” said the president.
As a result of rising temperatures, El-Sisi pointed to the recent floods that struck Pakistan and the unprecedented forest fires witnessed in Europe and the US, and called for immediate measures to put climate pledges into practice.
“As an international community, aside from any global condition or political dispute, we will not renege on the commitments we have taken on, the pledges we have made,” said the president.
“The policies we have adopted have already made significant gains in the face of climate change.”
Guterres said after the meeting that he had discussed the “triple global crisis” of food, energy, and finance with global leaders, as well as the climate.
He urged the leaders of the world’s major economies to cease their “fossil fuel addiction,” phase out coal use, and increase investment in renewable energy sources.
The fossil fuel industry “is killing us,” he added.
Four pressing problems were covered during the informal discussions: Loss and damage, adaptation, climate finance, and emissions reduction.
El-Sisi attends key meeting on climate change
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El-Sisi attends key meeting on climate change
- The meeting was advertised in advance as a “frank and informal exchange” of views between leaders
- Guterres said after the meeting that he had discussed the “triple global crisis” of food, energy, and finance with global leaders
Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’
- “We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,” said Pezeshkian
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity “under any circumstances” amid ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.
“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Cyprus arrests British man on suspicion of terror-related plot, police say
- The man appeared before a district court on Saturday
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that an Iranian attempt to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus was thwarted
NICOSIA: Police in Cyprus have arrested a British man on suspicion of terror-related offenses and espionage, authorities said on Saturday, with Israel accusing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of trying to attack Israeli citizens on the island.
The man appeared before a district court on Saturday, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries.
Police gave no further details, citing national security.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that an Iranian attempt to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus was thwarted, “thanks to the activity of the Cypriot security authorities, in cooperation with Israeli security services.”
He gave no more details about the nature of the attack, and there was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the individual’s nationality, saying it was in contact with local authorities.
“We are in contact (with) the authorities in Cyprus regarding the arrest of a British man,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
Several Cypriot news outlets reported the suspect was a man of Azeri ethnic descent and had been arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol. The suspect was thought to have had a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance, as well as Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos since mid-April, Cyprus’s ANT1 news portal reported.
Cyprus lies very close to the Middle East and has in recent days been used as a transit point for people either leaving or going to the region amid the conflict between regional foes Israel and Iran.
Terror-related offenses on the island are very rare.
IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
- “There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi said
VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency confirmed on Saturday that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site had been hit, in the latest strike amid Israel’s bombing campaign.
“A centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement quoting its chief Rafael Grossi.
“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi was quoted as saying.
Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
- “Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster,” Fidan said
- He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran
ISATANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward “total disaster” by attacking Iran on June 13.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor,” he told a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” Fidan said.
He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security,” he added.
Speaking after Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.
He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”
“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry — not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC’s 57 member countries.
The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”
Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
- Attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded
TEHRAN: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people since they began last week, Iran’s health ministry said in an updated toll on Saturday, as fighting raged between the two foes.
“As of this morning, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded by missiles and drones,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a post on X.
