MANILA: The first group of 34 Filipinos evacuated from Gaza reached Manila on Friday, with some forced to leave their family members behind.
Of the 136 Filipinos trapped in Gaza since Israel began its daily bombardment of the densely populated enclave last month, so far 82 have been evacuated to Egypt through the Rafah crossing.
The remaining ones have also received clearance from Israeli authorities to leave, but according to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, many have decided to stay as Israel has not allowed their Palestinian relatives to cross the border.
Most of the Filipinos in Gaza are permanent residents. Two-thirds of them are Palestinian Filipinos who were born or raised there.
One of the evacuees, Lucina Al-Qadiri, a nurse who has been living in Gaza since 2012, told Arab News upon arrival at Manila airport that it was her Palestinian husband who requested her to leave.
“What you see on TV, it’s true … People there are getting pulverized,” she said. “My husband is in the UAE, but my eldest son is still there in Gaza.”
Her son could not join her as his wife, a Palestinian national, was not granted clearance to leave.
“He has a newborn baby, born Oct. 6. The baby had problems with breathing,” Al-Qadiri said.
“I really tried with the Philippine Embassy to bring my daughter-in-law, because they did not include Palestinian spouses … It was very inhumane. My son wouldn’t agree to leave his wife behind. I also wouldn’t allow it.”
Al-Qadiri no longer knew where they were.
“There’s no network, no electricity,” she said. “I’m praying to God that they will be in the next batch (of evacuees).”
Minerva Sabah, who is married to a Palestinian academic, also returned to the Philippines alone.
Her husband was not approved to leave, she told Arab News, not knowing when she would be able to see him again and whether they would have anything to get back to.
“I’m not sure if my house will still be standing there when we return,” she said.
Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 50 percent of all residential units in the besieged enclave have been damaged or rendered uninhabitable.
More than 10,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7.
“No one is safe there. We had no electricity, no food, and everything is closed,” Isabelita Balala, another evacuee who was working in Gaza, told Arab News.
“We’d just tremble whenever there were explosions. Whenever they bombed, it was really intense. Gaza is gone, they pulverized it.”
‘No one is safe there’: First Filipino evacuees from Gaza reach Manila
https://arab.news/9mjva
‘No one is safe there’: First Filipino evacuees from Gaza reach Manila
- Two-thirds of Philippine nationals in Gaza are Palestinian Filipinos who were born or raised there
- Evacuees say that both people and buildings in Gaza are getting ‘pulverized’ by Israeli strikes
Earth’s projected warming hasn’t improved for 3 years. UN climate talks are still pushing
Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker
BAKU: For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — even as countries gather for another round of talks to curb warming, according to an analysis Thursday.
At the United Nations climate talks, hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, nations are trying to set new targets to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task.
But Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of scientists and analysts who study government policies and translate that into projections of warming.
If emissions are still rising and temperature projections are no longer dropping, people should wonder if the United Nations climate negotiations — known as COP — are doing any good, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare.
“There’s an awful lot going on that’s positive here, but on the big picture of actually getting stuff done to reduce emissions ... to me it feels broken,” Hare said.
Climate action is stifled by the biggest emitters
The world has already warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. That’s near the 1.5-degree (2.7 F) limit that countries agreed to at 2015 climate talks in Paris. Climate scientists say the atmospheric warming, mainly from human burning of fossil fuels, is causing ever more extreme and damaging weather including droughts, flooding and dangerous heat.
Climate Action Tracker does projections under several different scenarios, and in some cases, those are going up slightly.
“This is driven highly by China,” said Sofia Gonzales-Zuniga of Climate Analytics. Even though China’s fast-rising emissions are starting to plateau, they are peaking higher than anticipated, she said.
Another upcoming factor not yet in the calculations is the US elections. A Trump administration that rolls back the climate policies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and carries out the conservative blueprint Project 2025, would add 0.04 degree Celsius (0.07 Fahrenheit) to warming projections, Gonzales-Zuniga said. That’s not much, but it could be more if other nations use it as an excuse to do less, she said.
“Fossil fuels and emissions are not peaking,” said Sherry Rehman, chair of climate and environment committee in Pakistan’s senate. After 29 years of climate talks, Rehman said countries are “still talking in bumper stickers.”
“We need a transformative solution. We need strong delivery,” Rehman said.
Experts say $1 trillion is needed in climate cash for developing nations
The major battle in Baku is over how much rich nations will pay for developing countries to decarbonize their energy systems, cope with future harms of climate change and pay for damage from warming’s extreme weather.
A special independent group of experts commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued its own estimate of costs and finances on Thursday, calling for a tripling of the old commitment. It said about $1 trillion a year is needed by developing nations from all outside sources, not just government grants.
“Advanced economies need to demonstrate a credible commitment” to helping poor nations, the report said.
Negotiations on a grand total and structuring the overall amount have taken “a step back” when a draft of just a few pages that was worked on for a year was rejected and the latest proposal with many options has more than 30 pages, said top European negotiator Veronika Bagi of Hungary. European Commission negotiator Jacob Werksman said there’s a “very significant gap″ between what rich and poor nations propose.
German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said “private investment has to be brought to the table” in order to fulfill developing countries needs. But Mariana Paoli of Christian Aid said any number that comes out of negotiations that’s not based in publicly-financed grants “will be meaningless.”
Relying on the private sector means climate cash will not be “needs based, it will be profit-driven,” she said, adding that crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and bank bailouts proves that public funds are available.
“It’s about fairness, it’s about justice,” she said.
Getting climate cash is personal for many activists from vulnerable nations, like Sandra Leticia Guzman Luna, who is from Mexico and the director of the climate finance group for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are observing the climate impacts causing a lot of costs, not only economic costs but also human losses,” she said.
Fraught politics isolates some nations
Argentina withdrew from the climate talks on Wednesday on the orders of its president, climate skeptic Javier Milei. The Argentine government did not respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment.
Climate activists called the decision regrettable.
“It’s difficult to understand how a climate-vulnerable country like Argentina would cut itself from critical support,” said Anabella Rosemberg, an Argentina native who works as a senior adviser at Climate Action Network International.
Also Wednesday, France’s environment minister, who was set to lead the delegation, pulled out of the talks after Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev called out France and the Netherlands for their colonial histories.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher called Aliyev’s remarks on France and Europe “unacceptable.” Speaking at the French Senate on Wednesday, Pannier-Runacher criticized Azerbaijan’s leader for using the fight against climate change “for a shameful personal agenda.”
“The direct attacks on our country, its institutions and its territories are unjustifiable,” she said.
COP29 negotiator Rafiyev declined to comment Thursday on Pannier-Runacher’s decision, but said “Azerbaijan has made sure we have inclusive process.”
“We have opened our door for everyone to come for constructive, critical discussions,” he said.
Dutch reflect on Amsterdam violence one week on
- The attacks have put Amsterdam, famous for its tolerance and diverse community, on edge, with police and authorities ramping up security measures
- Dutch authorities also reported Maccabi fans setting fire to a Palestinian flag before the match, chanting anti-Arab slurs
THE HAGUE: The Netherlands is still dealing with the social and political fallout of violence a week ago in the streets of Amsterdam between supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv and men on scooters.
The attacks have put Amsterdam, famous for its tolerance and diverse community, on edge, with police and authorities ramping up security measures.
Supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv club were chased by men on scooters and beaten after a Europa League match against Ajax in Amsterdam on November 7.
Dutch authorities also reported Maccabi fans setting fire to a Palestinian flag before the match, chanting anti-Arab slurs and vandalising a taxi.
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.
Police, prosecutors and other law authorities have launched a massive probe into the incidents surrounding the Maccabl-Ajax match, making eight arrests so far.
During a parliamentary debate late on Wednesday, Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said the investigation was “racing ahead” and that police so far were targeting 29 suspects, based on images taken on the night.
Van Weel said investigations were hampered by perpetrators wearing hoodies and that the incidents happened at night.
At the same debate, far-right MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, claimed the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans.”
The anti-Islam Wilders called for the attackers to be prosecuted “for terrorism, lose their passports and kicked out of the country.”
But opposition parties condemned Wilders’ statements, saying he was “pouring oil on the fire, abusing the genuine fear and pain of one group to stoke hate against another.”
Many opposition politicians and commentators said although anti-Semitism was abhorrent, the violence was not one-side, pointing out Maccabi supporters had chanted anti-Arab slurs, vandalized a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag.
On Monday, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof promised “hard action” against those responsible for attacks on Maccabi supporters, referring to the perpetrators as men “with a migration background.”
Schoof is widely expected to announce a raft of measures to combat anti-Semitism following a cabinet meeting on Friday.
This includes heavier sentences for people found guilty of anti-Semitism and a proposal by the Christian-based opposition CDA party that they should be obliged to make a visit to Dutch World War II deportation camps for Jews.
Both Amsterdam’s Jewish and Muslim communities are still reeling in the aftermath of last week’s incident.
Schoof told parliamentarians he regarded the outpouring of violence “as an integration problem” in the country and specifically in cities like Amsterdam.
Long known as a refuge for Jews, the Dutch capital’s reputation was tarnished when tens of thousands of Jewish residents were deported to Nazi death camps during the World War II, including Anne Frank and her family.
Today “the Jewish community is under a lot of pressure,” Chanan Hertzberger, chairman of the country’s umbrella Central Jewish Consultation (CJO) group said earlier this week after meeting Schoof.
“Real measures are needed against anti-Semitism, including new legislation and heavier sentences,” Hertzberger said.
But a representative of Amsterdam’s Muslim community said it was unfair from politicians to target a whole community because of the actions of a few.
“It is disappointing that the incident is being politicized and abused,” said Said Bouharrou, board member at the Contact Organization Muslim and Government.
“I am shocked by politicians who, instead of de-escalating, are actually adding fuel to the fire. There is talk of an integration problem and of taking away dual nationality,” he told the NOS public broadcaster.
“In this way, an entire community is being dismissed as a problem case. There are a million Muslims in the Netherlands who are doing incredibly well and who reject any form of anti-Semitism,” Bouharrou said.
Dutch police said on Thursday they had opened an inquiry into alleged police brutality during and after a banned pro-Palestinian protest in Amsterdam in which 281 demonstrators were detained.
Social media footage showed riot police hitting protesters with batons after they were bussed to the outskirts of the Dutch capital following Wednesday night’s protest.
Philippines braces for severe flooding as fifth typhoon hits in a month
- 4 previous storms that hit the country killed at least 159 people
- Authorities have started preemptive evacuations ahead of another tropical storm
MANILA: The fifth major storm to hit the Philippines in a month made landfall on Thursday as authorities warned that it could cause widespread flooding in a country already struggling to deal with the impact of previous disasters.
Four other storms — Trami, Kong-rey, Yinxing and Toraji — that had struck the Philippines since late October killed at least 159 people, displaced millions and caused widespread destruction mainly in the country’s north, having triggered landslides and inundated entire towns with severe flooding.
The government was “on red alert status due to the threats” of Typhoon Usagi — locally known as Ofel — that hit the country’s most populous island of Luzon at about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, the Philippine Office of Civil Defense said.
Authorities were also bracing for yet another severe tropical storm, Man-yi, that was brewing in the Pacific and expected to hit the northern Philippines this weekend.
“Preemptive evacuation will be conducted starting today until Friday night in the Bicol region,” Cesar Idio, officer-in-charge at the Office of Civil Defense, said in a press briefing.
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced in Bicol, southern Luzon, when Tropical Storm Trami swept the region last month.
Typhoon Toraji blew away from the country’s north only two days ago after unleashing floods, knocking down power lines and forcing more than 42,000 people to evacuate their homes.
“National and local governments are still actively responding to the residual needs brought about by Kristine, Leon, Marce and Nika, while response operations for Ofel and preparations for Pepito are ongoing,” Idio added, using the local names of the recent storms.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration has spent more than 1 billion pesos ($17 million) to aid typhoon-hit communities, the Presidential Communications Office said. The government has prepared about 2.2 billion pesos in funds and supplies this week for expected disaster response efforts.
Usagi had weakened and was downgraded from a super typhoon after it made landfall on Thursday, the national weather agency, PAGASA, said.
However, the agency warned that the typhoon still carried a “high risk of life-threatening storm surge” up to three meters in the low-lying and coastal provinces of Batanes, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Cagayan.
The Philippines is the country most at risk from natural disasters, according to the 2024 World Risk Report.
Every year, the Southeast Asian nation sees about 20 tropical storms and typhoons affecting millions of people, as the weather becomes more unpredictable and extreme due to the changing climate.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, displaced millions of people and left more than 6,000 people dead or missing in the central Philippines.
Toxic smog chokes Indian capital as air pollution turns ‘severe’
- Pollution levels in parts of Delhi reach Air Quality Index score of 461
- Delhi was second most polluted city on Thursday after Lahore, Pakistan
NEW DELHI: New Delhi woke to a thick layer of toxic smog engulfing the city on Thursday, with residents afraid to step outside as the air quality deteriorated to severe levels.
Pollution in the Indian capital and surrounding areas was in the severe category for the second day in a row, with some areas reaching an Air Quality Index score of 461, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.
The severe pollution forced many residents to remain indoors to avoid getting sick.
“For the past two days, it has been particularly bad. I have stopped working out and walking in the open. I am doing basic exercises at home. Children are also falling sick,” said Sunieta Ojha, a lawyer in Delhi.
Bhavreen Kandhari, an activist in south Delhi, said it was “heartbreaking” that her children had to grow up in such conditions.
“It feels so disappointing, it is getting worse. I am trying to make things better so that my children don’t face this,” she said.
“There is no running, no walking. Because of the pollution, I withdrew my teenage girls some years back from playing basketball.”
According to IQAir, a Swiss-based Air Quality Index, monitoring group, the Indian capital was the world’s second most polluted city on Thursday, after nearby Lahore, the capital of Punjab province in Pakistan.
“The air pollution levels are already in the severe category and it’s highly toxic to breathe in,” said Shambhavi Shukla, clean air and sustainable mobility program manager at the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.
The main pollutant, she said, was PM 2.5, particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 microns — about 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
“The concentration of these particles is extremely high right now,” she said. “Even a healthy person exposed to this kind of air will have trouble in breathing, so that’s a common thing that they will start developing some breathing issues.”
The sources of Delhi pollution were local — vehicles, construction sites, residential cooking, and waste burning — and those from neighboring areas — mainly the annual fires in India’s northwest and southeast, as farmers clear stubble to prepare fields to plant wheat.
“In the last two days what is also happening is that there is no wind, so there is no movement (of the air),” Shukla said, explaining that the pollution brought earlier from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, which had accumulated in Delhi, was also trapped as a result of the colder weather, which prevented the pollutants from rising and dispersing.
“There is a prediction that in the next three days we will again go back to the very poor air category ... As soon as the wind picks up, this pollution will start dispersing.”
EU top diplomat wants Israel dialogue suspended over Gaza war
- Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors
- EU countries have struggled for a unified position on the Gaza war
BRUSSELS: The EU’s outgoing foreign policy chief has urged the bloc to suspend a political dialogue with Israel over human rights concerns in Gaza but it is likely to be vetoed, diplomats said Thursday.
Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, according to four diplomats involved, and is expected to formalize it when European Union foreign ministers gather in Brussels early next week.
The foreign policy chief has written to member states to ask them to suspend the EU’s political dialogue with Israel – part of a wider agreement governing trade ties – “over alleged abuses” in the Gaza conflict, one diplomat said.
“It is forcing people to talk about the issues,” said the diplomat, adding that “the widespread expectation is that it will not be agreed” – considering that EU foreign policy decisions require unanimity among the 27 member states.
Made “without any forewarning,” Borrell’s proposal “came as a complete surprise,” according to a second diplomat who confirmed that it was “immediately objected to by a large group of member states.”
Key powers Germany and Italy were among the countries said to have raised objections, along with the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Greece.
Two other diplomats confirmed Borrell’s proposal – formulated as he prepares to hand over next month to his designated successor Kaja Kallas – without providing details.
EU countries – which include staunch allies of Israel as well as firm supporters of the Palestinians – have struggled for a unified position on the Gaza war.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement, dating from 2000 and governing bilateral relations, contains legally binding provisions on human rights, which Borrell hopes to invoke to suspend the political dialogue.
The EU formally invited Israel in June to discuss ties under the accord in the context of the Gaza conflict, but no meeting has taken place for want of an agreement on an agenda.
Spain and Ireland – which earlier this year recognized a Palestinian state – have called on the EU to review the entire association agreement over Israel’s Gaza offensive.
The war erupted with the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,665 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
