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UN plastic talks start with call for states to take 'responsibility' for global crisis

UN plastic talks start with call for states to take 'responsibility' for global crisis

Al Etihada day ago
5 Aug 2025 14:27
GENEVA (AFP)Nations must step up and resolve the global plastics crisis, the head of UN talks told negotiators gathered in Geneva Tuesday to forge a landmark binding treaty to curb plastic pollution."We are facing a global crisis," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso said, kicking off the 10-day negotiations."Plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health, and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable," he said.
"The urgency is real, the evidence is clear, and the responsibility is on us."
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Gaza: Alarm over Israeli move to deregister NGOs
Gaza: Alarm over Israeli move to deregister NGOs

Al Etihad

timean hour ago

  • Al Etihad

Gaza: Alarm over Israeli move to deregister NGOs

7 Aug 2025 00:16 NEW YORK (WAM)Aid agencies warned on Wednesday that most partner organisations providing vital relief across Gaza will likely have to shut down their operations within weeks, unless Israel withdraws its demand that they provide sensitive information about Palestinian development, which also applies to the occupied West Bank, is a result of the Israeli requirement introduced on March 9 impacting international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).'Unless urgent action is taken…most international NGO partners could be de-registered by 9 September or sooner – forcing them to withdraw all international staff and preventing them from providing critical, lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians,' said UN and partner aid organisations that are known collectively as the Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).The UN understands that organisations must now submit, amongst others, details of representatives and all employees in-country, including Palestinian and foreign workers, with full identification and contact foreign worker recommendation requirements, applications must now include marital status and family details, including spouse and children's passport numbers and country of UN agencies still operate in Gaza, working closely with NGO partners to reach the war-torn enclave's most vulnerable people. International NGOs are key as they provide critical support to Palestinian NGOs in the form of supplies, funding and technical support.'Without this cooperation, their operations will be severed, cutting off even more communities from food, medical care, shelter and critical protection services,' said the Humanitarian Country Team, which is overseen by the UN's top aid official in OPT and includes heads of UN agencies and more than 200 local and international NGOs which have not registered under the new system are prohibited from sending any supplies to last month, Israeli authorities rejected repeated requests by 29 of them to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza, citing the organisations as 'not authorised'.'This policy has already prevented the delivery of lifesaving aid including medicine, food, and hygiene items,' the humanitarian collective said. 'This most profoundly affects women, children, older people, and persons with disabilities, further aggravating the risk of being subjected to abuse and exploitation.' In a statement urging Israel to reconsider its demand for sensitive employee information from NGOs, the humanitarian country team insisted that impeding its work violates international law 'when we are receiving daily reports of death by starvation as Gaza faces famine conditions'.

Nawrocki: Nationalist historian becomes Poland's president
Nawrocki: Nationalist historian becomes Poland's president

Gulf Today

time3 hours ago

  • Gulf Today

Nawrocki: Nationalist historian becomes Poland's president

Poland's new nationalist president Karol Nawrocki called for a "sovereign Poland" and promised to "fight those who are pushing the nation towards decline" as he was sworn in on Wednesday. Nawrocki, 42, a supporter of US President Donald Trump, won a June 1 election in a major blow for the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council president. "I will be the voice of those who want a sovereign Poland that is in the EU, but a Poland that is not the EU," he told lawmakers after taking his oath of office. "We must fight those who are pushing the nation towards decline and degradation," he said, citing Ignacy Paderewski, a Polish prime minister from the early 20th century. Nawrocki, a historian and political novice, has branded Tusk's government the "worst" in the history of post-communist Poland. Outside the parliament, thousands of people came to show their support for Nawrocki. "He doesn't grovel before Brussels," Jan Smolinski, 75, a retired miner, told AFP, adding: "He's a true Pole, flesh and blood". Marietta Borcz, a 57-year-old dental assistant, said it was "important" to her that Nawrocki "is Catholic and will uphold Christian values". During the election campaign, Nawrocki ruled out easing Poland's near total abortion ban or allowing civil partnerships. A small group of around 20 protesters held up black roses, saying Nawrocki's inauguration was "a black day for Poland". Stanislawa Sklodowska, 72, a retired economist said his election "reflects poorly on us Poles". Nawrocki, who travelled to Washington to seek Trump's backing during the campaign, won a narrow victory against liberal candidate Rafal Trzaskowski. The result showed the high degree of political polarisation in the EU and NATO member state, a key supporter of neighbouring Ukraine. Presidents in Poland can initiate as well as veto legislation, and have some influence over the country's foreign and defence policies. Relations between government and president are likely to be tense ahead of parliamentary elections planned for 2027. "I have no doubt that Nawrocki will do everything to annoy us," said Tusk, who warned that he would not let Nawrocki "demolish" his government. But in a message on social media on Wednesday, Tusk said he had already worked with three presidents in the past. "What will it be like with the fourth? We'll manage," he wrote. Nawrocki has promised to be "an active president" from the start and has said he wants to "stimulate" the government with various bills. The government holds a parliamentary majority and analysts say the two sides may be forced to make some compromises. "Both parties should realise that engaging in intense confrontation is obviously not the way forward," said Piotr Trudnowski, a member of Klub Jagiellonski, a Christian-Democrat think tank. Ewa Marciniak, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw, said that Nawrocki would have to work with the government on foreign policy — in which he has "no experience". During the election campaign, he highlighted the importance of ties with the United States and his close ties with Trump. "It is precisely from this that he will build his foreign policy, at least initially," Marciniak said. One major difference could be relations with Ukraine. Trudnowski said Nawrocki would "not be as enthusiastic" as his predecessor Andrzej Duda on Ukraine. During his campaign, Nawrocki opposed the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine and criticised Kyiv for not having "shown gratitude for what the Poles have done". Under his slogan "Poland First, Poles First", he was critical of some of the benefits received by the more than one million Ukrainians who have fled to the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has congratulated Nawrocki and emphasised the importance of close ties with Poland — a vital transit country for military and humanitarian supplies to his country as it fights off Russia's invasion. After speaking to Nawrocki by phone last week, Zelensky said the two had agreed to visit each other and seek forms of cooperation "that will bring real results for both our countries and our people". Zelensky said he was "thankful for the readiness to work together and for the assurance of continued support for Ukraine". Agence France-Presse

Trump hails envoy talks with Putin, but new sanctions still due
Trump hails envoy talks with Putin, but new sanctions still due

Al Etihad

time4 hours ago

  • Al Etihad

Trump hails envoy talks with Putin, but new sanctions still due

6 Aug 2025 22:13 WASHINGTON (AFP)President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed talks between his envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war, but US officials said sanctions would still be imposed on Moscow's trading partners."Great progress was made!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that he had briefed some European allies on the talks between Steve Witkoff and Putin in Moscow. "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come." A screengrab from Truth Social Minutes later, a senior US official said that "secondary sanctions" were still expected to be implemented on sanctions target Russia's remaining trade partners, seeking to impede Moscow's ability to survive already sweeping Western Russian partners, such as China and India, would aim to stifle Russian exports but would also risk significant international has given Russia until Friday to make progress towards peace or face new penalties. The US president on Wednesday ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi buying Russian oil.

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