Climate cash should also go to nuclear, says UN atomic chief

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi attends an interview with AFP in Baku on November 12, 2024, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29). (AFP)
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi attends an interview with AFP in Baku on November 12, 2024, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29). (AFP)
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Updated 13 November 2024
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Climate cash should also go to nuclear, says UN atomic chief

Climate cash should also go to nuclear, says UN atomic chief
  • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said he wanted countries from Kenya to Malaysia to go for nuclear, while denying he was pushing for an “irresponsible race” toward civil atomic power

BAKU: The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that atomic power should also be allowed to tap into climate change funds.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said he wanted countries from Kenya to Malaysia to go for nuclear, while denying he was pushing for an “irresponsible race” toward civil atomic power.

“It should. Already at COP28 in Dubai the international community — not just nuclear countries — agreed that nuclear energy needs to be accelerated.
We need to give ourselves the means to make things happen.
The dialogue with international financial institutions has started in a very positive way. I was at the World Bank this summer, and tomorrow we will meet with the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), as well as the Development Bank of Latin America.
Various financing bodies are beginning to see that markets are pushing in this direction.
We are obviously not a commercial lobby (but) a regulatory agency for everything related to nuclear safety, security, and non-proliferation. We are here to provide assurances and to oversee projects.”

“There are cultural, political and ideological barriers. We are coming out of decades of a negative narrative about nuclear, but it has to happen. I am the first to want to see results straight away.”

“That would be a very good thing. There are many countries — such as Ghana, Kenya and Morocco — that are interested in small modular reactors, for example, and they approach us saying, ‘For us, this would be a good solution.’
Others, like those in Eastern Europe, could benefit from European funding and for whom energy security is crucial in reducing dependency on certain suppliers. So it depends on the model. In Asia, we have Malaysia, the Philippines... countries that genuinely need this.”

“Obviously, the agency does not endorse or promote programs or projects that lack the institutional and technological fabric needed.
We have development models. The United Arab Emirates is a very, very interesting case. It’s a country with financial resources but that initially had absolutely no infrastructure, nuclear regulations etc.
We have established programs for newcomers to guide them step-by-step, through 19 chapters, until they establish nuclear capability.”
That’s what we have done. We are not going crazy, in an irresponsible race toward civil nuclear power. But there are a lot of things we can do.”
 

 


More than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesia: UN

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More than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesia: UN

More than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesia: UN
  • Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar
Banda Aceh: More than 100 Rohingya refugees including women and children have been rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Indonesia, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
“We received a report from the East Aceh government that there are 116 refugees in total,” UNHCR’s Faisal Rahman told AFP on Saturday.
“The refugees are still on the beach right now, it has not been decided where they would be taken.”
He said the flimsy wooden boat carrying the Rohingyas was found half-submerged not far from the beach off the coast of northeastern Sumatra island.
A local fisherman, Saifudin Taher said the boat was first spotted entering East Aceh waters on Saturday morning, and a few hours later it nearly sank.
“All passengers survived, but one of them was ill and ...immediately received treatment,” Saifudin told AFP, adding the boat was only 100 meters away from the beach, and the refugees could walk easily to safety.
Rohingya arrivals in Indonesia tend to follow a cyclical pattern, slowing during the stormy months and picking back up when sea conditions calm down.
Last month, 152 Rohingya refugees were finally brought ashore after being anchored for days off the coast of South Aceh district for days while officials decided whether to let them land.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, calling instead on neighboring countries to share the burden and resettle Rohingya who arrives on its shores.
Many Acehnese, who have memories of decades of bloody conflict themselves, are sympathetic to the plight of their fellow Muslims.
But others say their patience has been tested, claiming the Rohingya consume scarce resources and occasionally come into conflict with locals.
In December 2023, hundreds of students forced the relocation of more than 100 Rohingya refugees, storming a community hall in Aceh where they were sheltering and vandalising their belongings.

Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest

Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest
Updated 42 sec ago
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Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest

Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest
  • The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a Oct. 26 parliamentary election
TBILISI: Georgia on Saturday said 107 people were arrested during a second day of protests sparked by the government’s decision to delay European Union membership talks amid a post-election crisis.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a October 26 parliamentary election that the pro-EU opposition said was fraudulent.
The interior ministry said 107 people were detained for “disobedience to lawful police orders and petty hooliganism.”
“Throughout the night... protesters threw various objects, including stones, pyrotechnics, glass bottles, and metal items, at law enforcement officers,” it said, adding that “10 employees of the ministry of internal affairs were injured.”
It had said that 32 police officers were wounded and 43 protesters detained on Thursday.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement Thursday that Georgia will not seek to open accession talks with the European Union until 2028 ignited a furious reaction from the opposition and two days of protests.
He later accused the opposition and the EU ambassador to Georgia of distorting his words, and insisted membership in the bloc “by 2030” remains his “top priority.”
On Friday, AFP reporters saw riot police fire water cannon and tear gas at pro-EU protesters gathered outside the parliament in Tbilisi who tossed eggs and fireworks.
Clashes broke out later between protesters and police, who moved in to clear the area outside parliament, beating demonstrators, some of whom threw objects.
Independent TV station Pirveli said one of its journalists covering the protest was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Protests were also held in other cities across Georgia on Friday, independent TV station Mtavari reported.
At least eight demonstrators were arrested in Georgia’s second-largest city, Batumi, local media said.
Opposition lawmakers have questioned the results of the election.
Brussels has demanded an investigation into what it said were “serious (electoral) irregularities.”
Pro-Western opposition parties are boycotting the new parliament, while President Salome Zurabishvili has sought to annul the election results through the country’s constitutional court.
In recent years, critics accuse Georgian Dream – in power for more than a decade – of having moved the country away from Europe and closer to Russia.

Floods displace 122,000 people in Malaysia

Floods displace 122,000 people in Malaysia
Updated 30 November 2024
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Floods displace 122,000 people in Malaysia

Floods displace 122,000 people in Malaysia
  • The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country’s worst floodings in 2014

Kuala Lumpur: More than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes as massive floods caused by relentless rains swept through Malaysia’s northern states, disaster officials said Saturday.
The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country’s worst floodings in 2014, and disaster officials feared it could rise further as there was no let-up in torrential downpours.
The death toll remained at four recorded across Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak.
Kelantan state bore the brunt of the flooding, accounting for 63 percent of the 122,631 people displaced, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
There were nearly 35,000 people evacuated in Terengganu, with the rest of the displacements reported from seven other states.
Heavy rains, which began early this week, continued to hammer Pasir Puteh town in Kelantan, where people could be seen walking through streets inundated with hip-deep waters.
“My area has been flooded since Wednesday. The water has already reached my house corridor and is just two inches away from coming inside,” Pasir Puteh resident and school janitor Zamrah Majid, 59, told AFP.
“Luckily, I moved my two cars to a higher ground before the water level rose.”
She said she allowed her grandchildren to play in the water in front of his house because it was still shallow.
“But if the water gets higher, it would be dangerous, I’m afraid they might get swept away,” she added.
“I haven’t received any assistance yet, whether it’s welfare or other kinds of help.”
Muhammad Zulkarnain, 27, who is living with his parents in Pasir Puteh, said they were isolated.
“There’s no way in or out of for any vehicles to enter my neighborhood,” he told AFP.
“Of course I’m scared... Luckily we have received some assistance from NGOs, they gave us food supplies like biscuits, instant noodles, and eggs.”
Floods are an annual phenomenon in the Southeast Asian nation of 34 million people due to the northeast monsoon that brings heavy rain from November to March.
Thousands of emergency services personnel have been deployed in flood-prone states along with rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles and helicopters, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National Disaster Management Committee.


China coast guard says it conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea

China coast guard says it conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea
Updated 30 November 2024
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China coast guard says it conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea

China coast guard says it conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea
  • Tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed areas of the South China Sea have escalated throughout the year, particularly over the Scarborough Shoal

BEIJING: China’s coast guard said it had conducted patrols around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Saturday to safeguard China’s territorial rights.
The coast guard has continued to strengthen law enforcement patrols in the territorial waters and surrounding areas of Scarborough Shoal since the beginning of November, and “resolutely safeguarding the country’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” it said in a statement.
Tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed areas of the South China Sea have escalated throughout the year, particularly over the Scarborough Shoal.


13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting

13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting
Updated 30 November 2024
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13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting

13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting
  • Fresh fighting broke out last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims traveling under police escort were ambushed, killing more than 40

Peshawar: Sectarian feuding in northwest Pakistan killed 13 more people, a local government official said Saturday, as warring Sunnis and Shiites defied repeated ceasefire orders in recent conflict claiming 124 lives.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram district — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the border with Afghanistan — has a large Shiite population and the communities have clashed for decades.
Fresh fighting broke out last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims traveling under police escort were ambushed, killing more than 40.
Since then 10 days of fighting with light and heavy weapons has brought the region to a standstill, with major roads closed and mobile phone services cut as the death toll surged.
A Kurram local government official put the death toll at 124 on Saturday after 13 more people were killed in the past two days.
Two were Sunni and 11 Shiite, he said, whilst more than 50 people have been wounded in fresh fighting which continued Saturday morning.
“There is a severe lack of trust between the two sides, and neither tribe is willing to comply with government orders to cease hostilities,” he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Police report that many people want to flee the area due to the violence, but the deteriorating security situation makes it impossible,” he added.
A seven-day ceasefire deal was announced by the provincial government last weekend but failed to hold. Another 10-day truce was brokered Wednesday but it also failed to stymie the fighting.
A senior security official in the provincial capital of Peshawar, also speaking anonymously, confirmed the total death toll of 124.
“There is a fear of more fatalities,” he said. “None of the provincial government’s initiated measures have been fully implemented to restore peace.”
Police have regularly struggled to control violence in Kurram, which was part of the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 79 people had been killed in the region between July and October in sectarian clashes.
The feuding is generally rekindled by disputes over land in the rugged mountainous region, and fueled by underlying tensions between the communities adhering to different sects of Islam.