Europe

MADRID, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Political leaders and climate diplomats are to meet in Madrid for two weeks of talks amid a growing sense of crisis.

According to UN Secretary General António Guterres, “the point of no return is no longer over the horizon”.

Meanwhile, Save the Children says that climate shocks have left millions in Africa facing hunger.

The charity says 33 million people are at emergency levels of food insecurity due to cyclones and droughts.

VALLETTA, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, under fire over his handling of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, said he would step down after his replacement is chosen in January.

Muscat declined to make a link with Caruana Galizia’s 2017 murder, saying in a televised address that he was resigning “as this is what needs to be done.”

The announcement came after two weeks of mounting pressure and popular protests calling for Muscat to quit for his handling of the probe into Caruana Galizia’s car bomb killing.

MADRID (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday that the world’s efforts to stop climate change have been “utterly inadequate” so far and there is a danger global warming could pass the “point of no return.”

Speaking before the start Monday of a two-week international climate conference in Madrid, the U.N. chief said the impact of rising temperatures — including more extreme weather — is already being felt around the world, with dramatic consequences for humans and other species.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: Without structural reforms, the Russian economy will last for about 20 years in the current mode, and after that the quality of live will decline sharply against the background of global growth, the head of Russia’s Accounts Chamber and former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said.

MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/: Iran, Russia and China will hold joint naval exercises in the Indian Ocean on December 22, 2019 - January 20, 2020, Iranian navy commander Rear Adm. Hossein Khanzadi said on Saturday.

"The aim of those exercises is to ensure collective security and help boost the security in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, where various incidents, including pirate attacks, are taking place," Iran’s Tasnim news agency quoted the official as saying.

Delegations from the three nations drafted a preliminary plan of the drills in October.

CHITA, December 1. /TASS/: A total of 19 people were killed and 22 others were injured after a passenger bus plunged into the river in the Transbaikal Region, in Russia’s Far East, the Emergencies Ministry told TASS on Sunday.

"According to updated information, the bus was carrying 43 passengers and a driver. A total of 41 people were injured in the road accident, 19 of them were killed, including two children. Some 14 people were hospitalized and three of them are in serious condition," a spokesperson for the ministry said.

MADRID, December 1. /TASS/: The stance of the European Union member-states on Russia differs, the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in an interview with El Pais newspaper published on Sunday.

In comment on what position on Russia he would like to see, the new EU foreign policy chief said: "This is a very controversial issue." According to him, while some countries are unwilling to normalize ties with Russia, others are eager to do this.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: The format and timeframe of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky will depend on the schedule of the leaders’ work at the Normandy Four summit, Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said in an interview with the program ‘Moscow. Kremlin. Putin’ on the Rossiya-1 TV Channel on Sunday.

"There are plans to hold this bilateral meeting. A lot will depend on the schedule of the Normandy Four group’s work," Ushakov said. "The two of them could even talk on the sidelines for 30 minutes or for an hour and a half."

1 December 2019; AFP: Tens of thousands rallied in Florence in Italy on Saturday against the far-right League party, the latest in a series of demonstrations called by the new, youth-driven "Sardine Movement".

The sardine has become a symbol of protest against the far-right firebrand leader Matteo Salvini, who served as interior minister and deputy prime minister in the previous coalition government with the Five Star Movement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Convicted terrorists should “not necessarily” serve their full prison terms, the leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour party said on Sunday, after a man freed early from a terrorism sentence killed two people in London.

Usman Khan, wearing a fake suicide vest and wielding knives, went on the rampage at a conference on criminal rehabilitation beside London Bridge on Friday. The 28-year old Briton was wrestled to the ground by bystanders and shot dead by police.