Dubai

UAE: At COP28 meeting, oil companies pledge to combat methane. Environmentalists call it a “smokescreen”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030, the president of this year’s United Nations climate talks said Saturday, a move that environmental groups called a “smokescreen.”

UAE: Blinken sees goals largely unfulfilled in Mideast trip, even as Israel pledges to protect civilians

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Mideast this week pressing for agreements to extend the Gaza cease-fire, step up the release of hostages held by Hamas and limit Palestinian civilian casualties if fighting with Israel resumed. He left Friday with his goals largely unfulfilled.

Blinken wrapped up his third Middle East tour since the Israel-Hamas war started in October with decidedly mixed results. He watched as the seven-day cease-fire agreement collapsed under new Hamas attacks and Israeli airstrikes.

PM invites Dutch firms to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture, energy sectors

DUBAI, Dec 01 (APP): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday met Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte wherein he invited the Dutch firms to invest in agriculture, horticulture, water management and renewable energy sectors of Pakistan.

In the meeting held on the sidelines of COP 28, they appreciated the celebrations held in Islamabad and The Hague to mark 75 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.

Cop28: Malaysia Hopes For Togetherness In Addressing Climate Change

DUBAI, Dec 1 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia hope to see countries coming together with ambitious and concrete commitments to address climate change during the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), here.

Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said through innovative solutions, sustainable practices, and collaborative initiatives, our nation will proudly showcase its role as a regional leader in addressing climate challenges at the Malaysia Pavilion.

UAE: U.S. to impose visa bans soon on Israeli extremist settlers for West Bank violence

DUBAI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose visa bans in the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers engaged in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, a senior State Department official said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have let them know that the United States will take its own action against an undisclosed number of individuals.

UAE: King Charles raises eyebrows with his tie choice amid UK-Greece dispute

DUBAI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles wore a tie bearing the colours and symbols of the Greek national flag to a climate conference on Friday, days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak snubbed his Greek peer Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a row over the Parthenon Sculptures.

Charles, who wore the tie when he met Sunak on the sidelines of COP28 in the United Arab Emirates and when he delivered a speech at the event, has Greek lineage through his father, the late Prince Philip who was born on the Greek island of Corfu.

UAE: UN atomic chief backs nuclear power at COP28 as world reckons with proliferation

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The world wants more nuclear energy as a means to fight climate change and supply an ever-growing demand for electricity, part of a generational shift in thinking on atomic power, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday.

Top world leaders talk of climate crisis at UN summit. They say they must act on fossil fuels, war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dozens of world leaders said they know the planet’s dangerously overheating and they are trying to keep it from getting worse. The next step is to turn their soaring rhetoric voiced at the beginning of the United Nations climate conference into action.

In the first of two days of the two-week summit, presidents, prime ministers and royals from nations rich and poor trotted up to the microphone Friday to lay out commitments to reduce how much their countries spew heat-trapping gases and asked their colleagues to do better.

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