Displaying items by tag: António Guterres

On 6 December Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hamas in an expanding offensive into southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians to cram into a city close to the Egyptian border to avoid Israeli bombardment. However, many feared they would not be safe in Rafah either, with their options for refuge dwindling, and at least nine people were killed when a house in the city was shelled. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled to the south during the two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas are now increasingly cornered in an area deemed safe by Israel's military. UN Secretary General António Guterres has called on Security Council members to avert a humanitarian catastrophe In other news, harrowing details have been released about the acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas fighters when they attacked Israel on 7 October. See

UN chief António Guterres warned the COP27 summit that humanity must cooperate or perish. He warned world leaders, ‘We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-63330171 Rishi Sunak said the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices globally are no reason to go slow on climate change. They are reasons to act faster. Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron also urged world leaders to deliver climate justice. The UN said progress on cutting global warming emissions has been ‘woefully inadequate’ since COP26 last year. The planet has warmed 1.1C since pre-industrial times. Scientists say rises must only be 1.5C by 2100 to avoid the worst effects. Continuing current policies would cause a higher rise of 2.8C.

A UN scientific report states that human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. The landmark study warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade. But scientists say a catastrophe can be avoided if the world acts fast. They hope deep cuts in greenhouse gases could stabilise rising temperatures. For political leaders, the report is another in a long line of wake-up calls but, coming so close to November's COP26 global climate summit, it carries extra weight. UN secretary general António Guterres said, ‘If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as the report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success.’ China and India, two of the worst polluters, have not yet submitted updated climate plans.