Nations urged to make UN summit a ‘turning point’ for oceans

Nations urged to make UN summit a ‘turning point’ for oceans
Nations will be under pressure to deliver more than just rhetoric at a UN oceans summit in France next week, including much-needed funds to better protect the world’s overexploited and polluted seas. (AFP)
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Updated 02 June 2025
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Nations urged to make UN summit a ‘turning point’ for oceans

Nations urged to make UN summit a ‘turning point’ for oceans
  • Nations will be under pressure to deliver more than just rhetoric at a UN oceans summit in France next week, including much-needed funds to better protect the world’s overexploited and polluted seas

PARIS: Nations will be under pressure to deliver more than just rhetoric at a UN oceans summit in France next week, including much-needed funds to better protect the world’s overexploited and polluted seas.
The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) seeks to build global unity and raise money for marine conservation even as nations disagree over deep-sea mining, plastic trash and overfishing.
On Sunday, hosts France are expecting about 70 heads of state and government to arrive in Nice for a pre-conference opening ceremony, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Oceans are “in a state of emergency” and the June 9 to 13 meeting “will not be just another routine gathering,” said UN under-secretary-general Li Junhua.
“There’s still time to change our course if we act collectively,” he told reporters.
Most countries are expected to send ministers or lower-level delegates to the summit, which does not carry the weight of a climate COP or UN treaty negotiation or make legally binding decisions.
The United States under President Donald Trump — whose recent push to fast-track seabed mining in international waters sparked global outrage — is unlikely to send a delegation at all.
France has promised the summit will do for ocean conservation what the Paris Agreement did for global climate action.
Nations present are expected to adopt a “Nice Declaration“: a statement of support for greater ocean protection, coupled with voluntary additional commitments by individual governments.
Greenpeace has slammed the text — which was agreed after months of negotiation — as “weak” and said it risked making Nice “a meaningless talking shop.”
Pacific leaders are expected to turn out in force and demand, in particular, concrete financial commitments from governments.
“The message is clear: voluntary pledges are not enough,” Ralph Regenvanu, environment minister for Vanuatu, told reporters.
The summit will also host business leaders, international donors and ocean activists, while a science convention beforehand is expected to draw 2,000 ocean experts.
France has set a high bar of securing by Nice the 60 ratifications needed to enact a landmark treaty to protect marine habitats outside national jurisdiction.
So far, only 28 countries and the European Union have done so. Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, France’s oceans envoy, says that without the numbers the conference “will be a failure.”
Bringing the high seas treaty into force is seen as crucial to meeting the globally-agreed target of protecting 30 percent of oceans by 2030.
The summit could also prove influential on other higher-level negotiations in the months ahead and provide “a temperature check in terms of ambition,” said Megan Randles, head of Greenpeace’s delegation at the Nice conference.
In July the International Seabed Authority will deliberate over a long-awaited mining code for the deep oceans, one that Trump has skirted despite major ecological concerns.
That comes in the face of growing calls for governments to support an international moratorium on seabed mining, something France and roughly 30 other countries have already backed.
And in August, nations will again seek to finalize a binding global treaty to tackle plastic trash after previous negotiation rounds collapsed.
Countries and civil society groups are likely to use the Nice meeting to try to shore up support ahead of these proceedings, close observers said.
Nations meeting at UN conferences have struggled recently to find consensus and much-needed finance to combat climate change and other environmental threats.
Oceans are the least funded of all the UN’s sustainable development goals but it wasn’t clear if Nice would shift the status quo, said Angelique Pouponneau, a lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States.
“With so many competing crises and distractions on the global agenda, it’s hard to be confident that the level of ambition needed will actually show up,” Pouponneau told AFP.
Costa Rica, which is co-hosting the conference with France, said public and private commitments of $100 billion with “clear timelines, budgets and accountability mechanisms” could be expected.
“This is what is different this time around — zero rhetoric, maximum results,” Maritza Chan Valverde, Costa Rica’s permanent representative to the UN, told reporters.
Pepe Clarke, oceans practice leader from WWF, told AFP there was “an understandable level of skepticism about conferences.”
But he said Nice must be “a turning point... because to date the actions have fallen far short of what’s needed to sustain a healthy ocean into the future.”


Kremlin says former minister’s suicide is shocking

Updated 1 sec ago
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Kremlin says former minister’s suicide is shocking

Kremlin says former minister’s suicide is shocking
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the suicide of former Transport Minister Roman Starovoit just hours after his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin was shocking.
Starovoit was found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on Monday, hours after Putin fired him.
A presidential decree published on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Starovoit after barely a year in the job.

Philippines summons Chinese envoy over sanctions against former senator

Philippines summons Chinese envoy over sanctions against former senator
Updated 13 min 16 sec ago
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Philippines summons Chinese envoy over sanctions against former senator

Philippines summons Chinese envoy over sanctions against former senator
  • Francisco Tolentino was banned from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau over ‘egregious conduct’ detrimental to relations between Manila and Beijing
  • He lost his bid for a second term in the Philippines’ midterm elections in May

MANILA: The Philippines’ foreign ministry has summoned China’s ambassador to Manila over Beijing’s imposition of sanctions against former senator Francis Tolentino, the president’s office said on Tuesday.

Tolentino, who lost his bid for a second term in the Philippines’ midterm elections in May, was banned from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau over “egregious conduct” detrimental to relations between Manila and Beijing.

Tolentino helped in approving laws last year that defined the country’s sea lanes and maritime zones, which China opposed. He also accused the Chinese embassy of contracting a firm that maintains troll farms to sow disinformation.

“The imposition of punitive measures ... is inconsistent with the norms of mutual respect and dialogue that underpin relations between two equal sovereign states,” presidential press officer Claire Castro told a briefing.

Manila’s foreign ministry said it summoned Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian on Friday. China’s embassy in Manila said in a statement the ambassador notified the Philippines’ foreign ministry of China’s decision to impose sanctions on Tolentino.

“It should be noted that such sanctions fall purely within China’s legal prerogative, and there are consequences for hurting China’s interests,” the embassy said.

The Chinese foreign ministry has previously accused some Filipino politicians of making “malicious remarks and moves” that hurt ties between the two nations.

Relations between China and the Philippines have soured under President Ferdinand Marcos over a longstanding dispute in the South China Sea.

In 2016, an international tribunal ruled Beijing’s sweeping claims to the waterway had no basis in international law. China has rejected the decision. Several other countries in Southeast Asia also claim parts of the South China Sea.


Russia main election monitor closes amid crackdown

Russia main election monitor closes amid crackdown
Updated 49 min 24 sec ago
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Russia main election monitor closes amid crackdown

Russia main election monitor closes amid crackdown
  • Golos said it had “no choice” but to end its activity after the sentencing of its co chair, Grigory Melkonyants, as it put its participants “at risk”

MOSCOW: Russia’s main independent voting observer Golos, which monitored the country’s increasingly tightly-controlled elections for 25 years, announced its closure on Tuesday, two months after its co-chair was jailed.
Golos — which means “voice” in Russian — had for years meticulously recorded voting fraud across the huge country as elections under President Vladimir Putin’s long rule turned into a ritual with little real choice.
Putin faced no real competition at the last presidential election in 2024 and a domestic crackdown accompanying Moscow’s Ukraine offensive has made voicing different views dangerous.
“Justice, alas, does not always win — it must be fought for. And there is always the risk of losing. This is how it turned out this time,” Golos said in an online statement, adding: “Goodbye.”
The group’s co-chair Grigory Melkonyants, Russia’s most respected independent election observer, was sentenced to five years in prison in May as part of the Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown.
Golos said it had “no choice” but to end its activity after the sentencing as it put its participants “at risk.”
Melkonyants, 44, was found guilty of working with a European election monitoring association outlawed as an “undesirable organization” in Russia — which Golos has repeatedly denied.
Golos has described itself as an “all Russian social movement in defense of voters’ rights.”
It had observers across Russia’s regions and had for years published online reports and maps of violations during elections and had a hotline to report voting fraud.
It said Tuesday it had shut down its regional offices.
International observers have for years reported widespread voter intimidation, ballot stuffing and other election fraud in Russia.


Suspect in shooting of Slovakia’s populist leader Fico stands trial on terror charges

Suspect in shooting of Slovakia’s populist leader Fico stands trial on terror charges
Updated 08 July 2025
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Suspect in shooting of Slovakia’s populist leader Fico stands trial on terror charges

Suspect in shooting of Slovakia’s populist leader Fico stands trial on terror charges
  • Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot in the abdomen and was transported to a hospital in nearby Banská Bystrica

BRATISLAVA: A man went on trial Tuesday over last year’s attempted assassination of Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Juraj Cintula, appearing in court in the central city of Banská Bystrica, has been indicted on terror charges.
“Long live democracy, long live free culture,” Cintula shouted as he arrived at the Specialized Criminal Court.
The 72-year-old is accused of opening fire on Fico on May 15, 2024, as the prime minister greeted supporters following a government meeting in the town of Handlová, located 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital.
Cintula was immediately arrested and was ordered by a court to remain behind bars. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
Fico was shot in the abdomen and was transported to a hospital in nearby Banská Bystrica. He underwent a five-hour surgery, followed by another two-hour surgery two days later. He has since recovered.
Cintula originally was charged with attempted murder. Prosecutors later dropped that charge and said they were instead pursuing the more serious charge of engaging in a terror attack, based on evidence the investigators obtained, but they gave no further details.
Government officials initially said that they believed it was a politically motivated attack committed by a “lone wolf,” but announced later that a third party might have been involved in “acting for the benefit of the perpetrator.”
Fico previously said he “had no reason to believe” that it was an attack by a lone deranged person and repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination attempt.
Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond. He returned to power for the fourth time after his leftist Smer, or Direction, party won the 2023 parliamentary election after campaigning on a pro-Russia and anti-American message.
His critics have charged that Slovakia under Fico has abandoned its pro-Western course and is following the direction of Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s pro-Russian stance and other policies.


China says US is in ‘no position’ to point fingers over Tibet issues

China says US is in ‘no position’ to point fingers over Tibet issues
Updated 08 July 2025
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China says US is in ‘no position’ to point fingers over Tibet issues

China says US is in ‘no position’ to point fingers over Tibet issues
  • The Dalai Lama is accused of engaging in anti-China separatist activities

BEIJING: China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the United States was in “no position” to point fingers at the country on Tibet-related issues, urging Washington to fully recognize the “sensitivity” of the issues.

Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks when asked to comment on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement on the Dalai Lama’s birthday.

Mao said at a regular press conference that the Dalai Lama “is a political exile who is engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion,” and has “no right” to represent the Tibetan people.