AFP UK

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, under pressure to adopt a 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target, said in an interview published Monday that he may not join this year’s landmark UN climate summit in Glasgow.

The world’s biggest coal exporter and still reliant on the fossil fuel for most of its electricity, Australia has not made a firm commitment on its own greenhouse gas reductions. Morrison has vowed to mine and export fossil fuels as long as there are buyers.

Asked about attending the global climate crisis conference in November, Morrison told the West Australian newspaper: “We have not made any final decisions.”

“I mean it is another trip overseas and I have been on several this year and spent a lot of time in quarantine,” he was quoted as saying.

“I have to focus on things here and with Covid. Australia will be opening up around that time. There will be a lot of issues to manage and I have to manage those competing demands.”

The 12-day meeting in Scotland, the biggest climate conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015, is seen as a crucial step in setting worldwide emissions targets to slow global warming.

Morrison’s government has suggested it will achieve net-zero carbon emissions “as soon as possible”, and preferably by 2050, but has not made any commitments to do so.

The Australian prime minister told the paper he was trying to bring the government and the country together on future commitments so as to provide certainty for the next 20-30 years.

He has been in tough negotiations over setting a net-zero target within the conservative coalition government, an alliance of his own Liberal Party and the Nationals, who have much of their support base in rural and mining communities.

Climate scientists warn extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to manmade global warming.

Environmentalists argue inaction on climate change could cost Australia’s economy billions of dollars as the country suffers more intense bushfires, storms and floods.

Asked if he would commit to a specific climate target in a separate interview with The Australian newspaper, the prime minister replied: “I can assure you we will have a plan.”

Morrison told the paper that Australia’s position as the primary energy exporter in the Asia-Pacific region would change and it was important to make a transition towards a low-emission economy.

The prime minister added, however, that the change had to be managed so “things keep running, things stay open, things keep getting dug out of the ground for some considerable time, you have to keep making stuff, you have to keep eating things and the world needs food”.

A strong earthquake hit off the Philippines’ main island Monday, but there were no immediate reports of damage, the US Geological Survey and local officials said.

The deep 5.7-magnitude quake struck off Batangas province on Luzon island at 1:12 am (1712  GMT), with residents in the nearby capital of Manila woken by their buildings shaking. 

The quake was recorded at a depth of 98 kilometres (60 miles), the USGS said. The local seismological agency warned of damage and aftershocks.

Deep quakes tend to do less damage than shallow tremors.

But authorities near the epicentre said they had not received any reports of damage. 

“It was really strong,” Jose Clyde Yayong, a disaster officer in Tagaytay city in the neighbouring province of Cavite.

“So far there are no untoward incidents relating to the earthquake.”

Leonardo Tristan, a disaster officer in Looc town on Occidental Mindoro island, said the force of the quake sent some residents rushing outside. 

“My wife was shouting ‘there’s an earthquake!'” Tristan told AFP.

The Philippines is regularly rocked by quakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

With growing fears about global warming, deadly floods linked to climate change and a new political landscape as Angela Merkel leaves the stage, it should have been the German Greens’ year.

After launching their campaign for Sunday’s general election in the spring with a youthful, energetic candidate in Annalena Baerbock, the sky seemed to be the limit — perhaps even taking the chancellery.

But although Germany has never seen an election campaign so focused on the climate crisis, the party turned in a third-place finish behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), leading the race by a whisker, and the outgoing Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats.

However Baerbock, 40, proved popular with young voters and her party with around 14 percent strongly improved on its 8.9 percent score from four years ago.

It is now widely expected to play a key kingmaker role in the coalition haggling to form a government.

“We wanted to win the chancellery, unfortunately that wasn’t possible,” Baerbock said late Sunday.

“We made mistakes but we have a clear mandate for our country and we will respect it. This country needs a government that will fight global warming — that’s the voters’ message.” 

A fateful series of missteps by Baerbock as well as a perhaps more tepid appetite for change among Germans than first hoped saw the Greens’ initial lead fizzle by early summer.

It never recovered.

“It was a historic chance for the Greens,” Der Spiegel wrote in a recent cover story on Baerbock’s “catastrophic mistakes”.

“The Greens stand like no other party for the big issue of our time but that doesn’t begin to ensure that they win majorities. They need a broader base.” 

– ‘Shameless and complacent’ –

  

Baerbock captured the imagination of Germans when she announced her candidacy in April, and her promise of a fresh start after 16 years of Merkel rocketed the party to the top of the polls.

But by this week, even her co-party leader Robert Habeck admitted that the Greens had been forced to set their sights lower.

“The distance to the chancellery has grown quite large of course,” he told the daily Die Welt.

“We saw that our political rivals didn’t have much interest in change and kept saying ‘Yes, yes, climate protection is nice but it shouldn’t be too expensive’. Without recognising that not protecting the climate is the most expensive answer.”

He said the Greens’ rivals “want to continue the Merkel era in the campaign, as shameless and complacent as possible”.

– ‘Hold all the cards’ –

Critics sought to portray the Greens as a “prohibition party” that would lead to rises in petrol, electricity and air ticket prices.

The party has advocated stopping coal energy by 2030 instead of the current 2038, and wants production of combustion engine cars to end from the same year.

While Germans pay lip service to climate protection, a recent poll for the independent Allensbach Institute found 55 percent oppose paying more to ensure it.

“The Germans have decades of prosperity and growth behind them — there were hardly limits and that burned its way deep into the public consciousness,” Spiegel said.

“Doing without is linked to dark times — triggering memories among the very old of (wartime) turnip soup and alienation among the young used to having more and more to choose from.”

On the other hand climate activists, who rallied in their hundreds of thousands across Germany on Friday, said even the Greens’ ambitious programme would fall short in heading off climate-linked disasters in the coming decades.   

Meanwhile Baerbock’s relative inexperience was laid bare under the hot campaign spotlight. 

“She overestimated her abilities and then she doubted herself — not a good combination,” Ursula Muench, director of the Academy for Political Education near Munich, told AFP. 

“She should have been more patient and waited until next time.”

Despite the sobering outcome, the Greens nevertheless look well-placed to make the most of a junior role, under either SPD candidate Olaf Scholz or the conservative Armin Laschet, political analyst Karl-Rudolf Korte told ZDF public television as the results came in.

He said “all eyes” would be on the Greens and the other potential kingmaker, the pro-business Free Democrats, who came in fourth place with about 11.5 percent.

“Those two parties hold all the cards,” he said. 

The airport on the Canary island of La Palma reopened on Sunday after a 24-hour closure because of ash emanating from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, but flights remained suspended until conditions improve, operators said.

A clean-up operation was carried out overnight, the airport management company AENA tweeted, adding that flights would be able to resume with the “prior agreement” of air traffic control authorities.

But Spanish carrier Binter said on Sunday afternoon that its flights to and from La Palma were still suspended.

“We are maintaining the temporary stoppage of flights at La Palma until conditions allow for safe flight,” Binter tweeted. 

The Canaryfly airline also said its La Palma flights were temporarily suspended.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano came to life a week ago and has intermittently spewed out lava and ash.

On Friday, a large cloud of thick, black ash forced several airlines to cancel flights.

Then on Saturday AENA announced the full closure of the airport.

New evacuations were also ordered as large explosions and new openings were reported at the volcano on Friday.

So far, more than 6,200 people have been evacuated. However 160 evacuees were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday, the authorities said.

The cancellations have forced some travellers to leave the island by ferry to neighbouring islands, including Tenerife.

– Volcano pressure decreases –

The Involcan volcanology institute said on Sunday that the pressure inside the volcano had decreased in the previous 24 hours.

“This does mean that the eruption is nearing its end,” the institute said.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, lava has so far destroyed 461 buildings — 41 more in the past 24 hours — and covered more than 212 hectares (523 acres) of land. 

Ash has affected 1,314 hectares of land, the programme added.

Miguel Angel Morcuende, the technical director of the Pevolca volcanic emergency plan, told a press conference on Sunday that the ash had fallen in populated areas near the volcano, as well as other areas in the island’s east.

“All this does not affect the air quality of the inhabited area of the island,” he said. “The air quality is still good.”

No casualties have been reported so far but the damage to land and property has been enormous, with the Canaries regional head Angel Victor Torres estimating the cost at well over 400 million euros ($470 million).

The island’s main economic activity is banana cultivation. 

The eruption on La Palma, home to 85,000 people, was the first in 50 years. 

The reappearance of a lava lake in the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano in eastern DR Congo is a good sign, experts said Sunday, four months after a major eruption killed 32 people.

Nyiragongo’s eruption on May 22-23 spewed out lava that buried homes in its wake, stopping just short of the northern outskirts of Goma, a city of some 600,000 people.

Celestin Kasereka Mahinda, the scientific director of the Goma Volcanology Observatory, said the “reappearance of the lava lake in Nyiragongo’s crater” dates from September 18.

“It is not a phenomenon that presents an imminent risk of a new eruption, but rather a phenomenon that allows the volcano to breathe,” he told AFP.

“It is a natural sign. The appearance of this lake of fire in the crater will minimise earthquakes in the volcanic area of Goma.”

Nyiragongo, a strato-volcano nearly 3,500 metres (11,500 feet) high, straddles the East African Rift tectonic divide.

In the days following the eruption in May, mighty tremors shook Goma, and scientists feared a rare but potentially catastrophic event — a “limnic eruption” under nearby Lake Kivu that would send carbon dioxide gas, dissolved in the depths of the water, up to the surface and suffocate everyone in the vicinity.

The Democratic Republic of Congo authorities ordered the evacuation of 400,000 people as a precaution. The residents have largely returned since seismic activity fell back.

After the eruption, the disappearance of lava from the crater sparked fears that it remained buried under Goma. 

“Today Nyiragongo found a way to breathe, which is a good sign,” Mahinda said. 

“Fear would have persisted if the volcanic chimney remained blocked.”

In the previous major eruption in 2002, around 100 people died and swathes of eastern Goma were destroyed.

Nyiragongo’s deadliest eruption, in 1977, claimed more than 600 lives.

The airport on the Canary island of La Palma reopened on Sunday after a 24-hour closure because of ash emanating from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, operators said.

A clean-up operation was carried out overnight, the airport management company AENA tweeted, adding that flights have resumed with the “prior agreement” of air traffic control authorities.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano came to life a week ago and has intermittently spewed out lava and ash.

On Friday, a large cloud of thick, black ash forced several airlines to cancel flights.

Then on Saturday AENA announced the full closure of the airport.

New evacuations were also ordered as large explosions and new openings were reported at the volcano on Friday.

So far, more than 6,200 people have been evacuated. 

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, lava has so far destroyed 461 buildings — 41 more in the past 24 hours — and covered more than 212 hectares (523 acres) of land. 

No casualties have been reported so far but the damage to land and property has been enormous, with the Canaries regional head Angel Victor Torres estimating the cost at well over 400 million euros ($470 million). 

The island’s main economic activity is banana cultivation. 

The eruption on La Palma, home to 85,000 people, was the first in 50 years. 

The discovery of a 3,500-year-old paving stone, described as the “ancestor” of Mediterranean mosaics, offers illuminating details into the daily lives of the mysterious Bronze Age Hittites.

The assembly of over 3,000 stones — in natural shades of beige, red and black, and arranged in triangles and curves — was unearthed in the remains of a 15th century BC Hittite temple, 700 years before the oldest known mosaics of ancient Greece.

“It is the ancestor of the classical period of mosaics that are obviously more sophisticated. This is a sort of first attempt to do it,” says Anacleto D’Agostino, excavation director of Usakli Hoyuk, near Yozgat, in central Turkey.

At the site three hours from Turkey’s capital Ankara, first located in 2018, Turkish and Italian archaeologists painstakingly use shovels and brushes to learn more about the towns of the Hittites, one of the most powerful kingdoms in ancient Anatolia.

“For the first time, people felt the necessity to produce some geometric patterns and to do something different from a simple pavement,” D’Agostino says.

“Maybe we are dealing with a genius? Maybe not. It was maybe a man who said ‘build me a floor’ and he decided to do something weird?”

The discovery was made opposite Kerkenes mountain and the temple where the mosaic is located was dedicated to Teshub, the storm god worshipped by the Hittites, equivalent to Zeus for the ancient Greeks.

“Probably here the priests were looking at the picture of Kerkenes mountain for some rituals and so on,” D’Agostino adds.

– Lost city’s treasures? –

The archaeologists this week also discovered ceramics and the remains of a palace, supporting the theory that Usakli Hoyuk could indeed be the lost city of Zippalanda.

A significant place of worship of the storm god and frequently mentioned in Hittite tablets, Zippalanda’s exact location has remained a mystery.

“Researchers agree that Usakli Hoyuk is one of two most likely sites. With the discovery of the palace remains alongside the luxurious ceramics and glassware, the likelihood has increased,” D’Agostino says.

“We only need the ultimate proof: a tablet carrying the name of the city.”

The treasures of Usakli Hoyuk, for which cedar trees were brought from Lebanon to build  temples and palaces, were swallowed up like the rest of the Hittite world towards the end of the Bronze Age.

The reason is still not known.

But some believe a change in climate accompanied by social unrest is the cause.

– ‘Spiritual connection’ –

Nearly 3,000 years after their disappearance, the Hittites continue to inhabit Turkish imagination.

A Hittite figure representing the sun is Ankara’s symbol. And in the 1930s, the founder of the modern Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, presented Turks as the direct descendants of the Hittites.

“I don’t know if we can find a connection between ancient Hittites and people living here now. Centuries and millenia have passed, and people moved from one place to another,” D’Agostino says.

“But I would like to imagine that some sort of spiritual connection exists.”

In an attempt to honour this connection, the excavation team recreated Hittite culinary traditions, trying ancient recipes on ceramics produced as they would have been at the time using the same technique and clay.

“We reproduced the Hittite ceramics with the clay found in the village where the site is located: we baked dates and bread with them as the Hittites used to eat,” says Valentina Orsi, co-director of the excavation.

“It was very good.”

Father-of-two Shkelqim Kameni took his children out of school because of Austria’s strict Covid testing for pupils and his opposition to the vaccine.

The 28-year-old shop manager from the western city of Salzburg is among a sharp rise in parents opting to homeschool instead.

Even weeks before the new school year started this month, the divisive issue garnered media coverage and has provoked heated exchanges online between parents.

Speaking to AFP at an anti-vaccine demonstration, Kameni said he was afraid that rigorous Covid testing created too much pressure in the classroom.

“Probably a child (who tests positive) will be mobbed… it’s psychological abuse of children; it’s child abuse,” he said at the rally in downtown Vienna this month, attended by thousands.

More than 7,500 children have been withdrawn from school for this academic year, the education ministry says.

Although that’s a small percentage of the 700,000 school-aged children in Austria, it is three times more than in previous years, according to ministry statistics.

“I’m getting contacted by at least 10 people or so per day” who want to take their children out of school, a mother of three who runs a Facebook group for homeschoolers told AFP.

Many of those who get in touch are upset about the latest anti-virus measures in schools, the mum, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

– Rigorous testing – 

Since going back to school this month, children of all ages must now take a Covid test three times a week — at least one must be a PCR test — and tests will continue to be needed for those not vaccinated.

Masks are not required in the classroom but must be worn in the corridors this month while authorities monitor the situation.

Students from the age of 12 are also urged to get vaccinated — mobile teams visit schools to offer jabs and the prospect of no longer needing to test.

Actress Eva Herzig, known for her past role in the TV crime series “Steirerkrimi”, has spoken publicly about her decision to teach her children at home with the help of other parents and teachers who have left the school system.

“I hear from so many mothers that teachers pressure children, saying they expect them to be vaccinated,” she told Oe24 TV news channel last week.

“As a mother, I have to decide on the limits… This is my child and I protect my child,” she added.

– Isolated from peers – 

Unlike other European countries such as Germany where at-home schooling has been illegal since 1919 and presence in school is mandatory, Austrian parents only need to inform authorities in writing to deregister their children.

Education Minister Heinz Fassmann admits that the rise in homeschooling worries him, especially the impact on youngsters no longer learning with others of their own age in a classroom. 

“I hope it is just a wave that comes and goes,” he told AFP.

His ministry plans to require parents considering homeschooling to attend a meeting to ensure they are fully aware of what it entails.

It also wants homeschoolers to sit standard exams twice yearly, rather than just the current end-of-year ones.

But Evelyn Kometter, of the National Parents’ Association, says more support should be available for homeschoolers and their parents who “don’t feel their arguments are taken seriously”.

“The increasing number of parents taking their kids out of school should alert society,” she said in a statement to AFP.

– Not for everyone – 

The Facebook group mum acknowledged that homeschooling was not for everyone and could be challenging without the backup and resources of the education system.

“People (who take their children out of school) have no idea what to expect… It is a lot of work,” she said.

But she stressed the benefits of one-to-one teaching and the flexibility it offered especially for some children, such as those who are highly talented and whose needs may be neglected in the school system.

At a vocational school in a Vienna neighbourhood, several students told AFP they were glad to be back after remote learning for much of the last year due to Covid.

“Distance learning has been exhausting,” Felix Deimler, 19, studying electrical engineering, told AFP.

Marko Guculj, a 16-year-old who studies plumbing, said he’d decided to get his first jab when a mobile vaccination team came to school so he could go to restaurants and travel more easily under the current measures that require people to show proof of being Covid-19 vaccinated, cured or tested.

“I feel pressured (to get vaccinated) because some freedoms have been taken away from me,” he said.

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A “once-in-a-generation” music event circled the world Saturday, with a slew of megastars taking the stage in New York and beyond for Global Citizen Live — 24 hours of shows across the planet to raise awareness on climate change, vaccine equality and famine. 

Between star-studded sets of some of the biggest names in music — including Elton John, BTS, Coldplay, Lizzo, Jennifer Lopez and Billie Eilish — actors, politicians, company executives, royals, actors and activists made appeals or announced donations to tackle major global challenges.

NGO Global Citizen wants one billion trees planted, two billion vaccines delivered to the poorest countries and meals for 41 million people on the brink of starvation.

After the show ended in Paris and handed off to New York, Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, took to the stage to advocate for Covid-19 vaccine access to be treated “as a basic human right.”

“My wife and I believe the way you’re born should not dictate your ability to survive,” the Duke of Sussex said to cheers from the thousands-strong crowd at Central Park.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex followed pop veteran Cyndi Lauper with a rendition of her “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” dedicated to Afghan women.

As night fell, the crowd swelled and attendees roared for shows from headliners, including Eilish, who bounded around the stage in her staple T-shirt and shorts ensemble.

Between sets, funding announcements poured in and calls to action were hammered home, even from the International Space Station.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced in a recorded message the United States would “contribute more than $295 million to countries around the world to stave off famine and extreme hunger, confront gender-based violence and address the urgent humanitarian needs the Covid-19 pandemic is leaving in its wake.”

Global Citizen co-founder and CEO Hugh Evans urged the audience to “take action” to help raise $6 billion needed by the World Food Programme, tackle vaccine inequality and pressure leaders ahead of the UN COP26 climate change conference in November.

“Charity alone… will never be sufficient to end extreme poverty or tackle climate change,” he said. 

“The actions of a movement of people is needed to drive lasting change.”

– ‘Honourable cause’ –

After an appearance by renowned 92-year-old American biologist Edward O. Wilson, the show moved to Los Angeles, opened by pop band 5 Seconds of Summer at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, with Demi Lovato, Adam Lambert and Stevie Wonder, among others, also billed.

Lead vocalist Luke Hemmings celebrated being in their first concert in almost two years “and for an honorable cause.” 

“This is an amazing thing to witness and be part of.”

The broadcast on social media opened with a pre-recorded performance by pop superstars BTS in Seoul before the show kicked off in Paris with Elton John.

The “Rocketman” performed hits including “Tiny Dancer” and “Your Song” in front of the Eiffel Tower in a dazzling green suit. 

“No one should be left behind,” said the 74-year-old pop legend, who appeared despite a hip injury that forced him to cancel the rest of his tour dates this year.

Ed Sheeran was the headliner in Paris alongside Black Eyed Peas and Stormzy.

The concerts required Covid-19 vaccination proof or negative tests.

– Pressuring governments –

Pre-recorded performances were also delivered by Green Day in Los Angeles, DJ superstar Alok in Rio, Kylie Minogue in London and Andrea Bocelli in Tuscany.

This week’s comeback gig by The Fugees in New York — their first in 15 years — was also billed as part of the event.

Global Citizen has been behind other high-profile charity events, including a concert earlier this year that called for global Covid-19 vaccinations.

The organization describes itself as a movement with a mission to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Its app uses incentives such as concert tickets to encourage users into pressuring governments on issues around sustainability and equality.

The New York event included tributes to other major benefit concerts, with Chinese global superstar pianist Lang Lang performing a medley of Queen’s famed Live Aid performance in 1985.

The weekend event also brought charitable pledges from international companies such as Lego, Cisco, Verizon and Pepsico.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus lent his support to the campaign, urging vaccine equality. 

“We now face a two-track pandemic of haves and have-nots,” he said ahead of the event. 

“We cannot disregard this gross inequity or become complacent.”

Saudi Faisal Malaikah’s love for non-venomous snakes has evolved from having just one when he was five to ultimately crossbreeding dozens to produce “live art” in unique colours and patterns.

In the garden of his palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the 35-year-old businessman has a sign on the wall in green block letters that reads: “THE SNAKE ROOM”.

“There are people who collect precious stones or classical cars or paintings; as for me, I like to collect live art,” the father of three told AFP, referring to his collection of more than 100 reticulated pythons — the world’s longest snake — from southeast Asia.

“They are popular in the fashion industry, where their skin is used to make bags, shoes and belts, but one out of every 1,000 snakes hunted is one with a rare colour.

“The hunters sell the unique-coloured snakes to collectors like myself… and I crossbreed to produce rare genetic mutations with patterns and colours unseen before,” he said, pointing at a gold and grey-dotted white snake wrapped around his left arm.

Malaikah said he had no interest in selling to fashion brands, criticised by animal rights group for their unethical use of animal skins.

“I value life, so I love (the snakes) alive and not as bags or shoes,” the breeder said.

In the well-airconditioned room, the creatures slither around in large glass-encased boxes, with holes just big enough for them to flick their tongues out.

Sawdust lines the floor of the boxes, absorbing odours from the snakes’ droppings. 

Crossbreeding the pythons takes time and patience, said Malaikah.

It takes “three or four generations… and about 10 to 12 years” to produce a tri-coloured snake, he added.

In the wild, pythons are constrictors — meaning they coil their bodies around their prey and squeeze until it dies, swallowing it whole. They are not venomous.

At the palace, Malaikah feeds them chicken or rabbit once a week. 

– ‘Some worth $100,000’ –

Working alongside Malaikah is his friend, 32-year-old Ibrahim al-Sharif. 

Sharif said Malaikah, the CEO of a finance company, had spared no expense, bringing in specialists from the United States to learn more about crossbreeding and mutations.

“Malaikah has spent lots of time, effort and money on this hobby,” he said. 

In one of the enclosures is a six-metre (20-foot) long white python with golden markings. The eight-year-old snake weighs 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and moves with great effort.

“The snakes I have are unlike any in the world or very rare, some worth $100,000,” said Malaikah. 

But he said most of his snakes are worth between $200 and $20,000 each.

For Malaikah, living among the widely feared creatures is a dream come true.

“Since I was a boy, I would go to libraries looking for books about snakes and reptiles,” he said.

“You can say that I have always lived in an atmosphere of a biology class,” he added, laughing. 

While collecting snakes may have been an unusual hobby for a child, Malaikah said his family never had a problem with it.

“These are mysterious creatures, and it is natural for people to be afraid of them… but I love them, especially that they are my creations.”