The UN's former climate chief said she was "giving up hope" that fossil fuel firms will be part of the solution to warming as pivotal COP28 talks start Thursday in oil-rich United Arab Emirates.
With the UN climate negotiations expected to feature a showdown on the future of fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres expressed concern over reports the UAE planned to use its role as host to strike oil and gas deals.
Starvation, torture, robbery -- young Ethiopian migrant "returnees" recount the horrors they endured on their fruitless journeys in search of a better life in the Gulf.
"I was imprisoned and beaten for money. I have a scar on my back which has lasted five months," said 23-year-old Abu Gizaw Assefaw, now back home nursing his shattered dreams of a job in oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in Jerusalem that killed three people on Thursday, shortly after the extension of a truce between Israel and the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip.
Police said the two gunmen who carried out the attack were from annexed east Jerusalem and were shot dead at the scene, near a bus stop on the western side of the city, where there are no checkpoints controlling entry.
Nearly 200 nations agreed Thursday to launch a fund to support countries hit by global warming, in a "historic" moment at the start of UN climate talks in the oil-rich UAE.
The announcement came as the Emirati host of the COP28 talks declared that fossil fuels must be part of any climate deal negotiated over the next two weeks.
The talks in Dubai come at a pivotal moment for the planet, with emissions still rising and the UN on Thursday declaring 2023 on track to become the hottest year in human history.
The COP28 climate conference should aim for a complete "phaseout" of fossil fuels, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Wednesday, warning of "total disaster" on humanity's current trajectory.
"Obviously I am strongly in favor of language that includes (a) phaseout, even with a reasonable time framework," Guterres said in an interview before flying off to the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich nation hosting the two-week UN climate summit beginning Thursday.
Thai hostages freed after weeks being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip spoke Thursday of their relief after returning to Bangkok, where they were welcomed home by overjoyed relatives.
Seventeen Thais flew back from Israel after Bangkok's foreign ministry and Thai Muslim groups worked to negotiate their release.
At least 32 Thais were abducted by the Palestinian militants when they attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240, according to Israeli authorities.
A US Navy warship shot down a drone on Wednesday launched from a part of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the American military's Central Command said.
The Huthis, who control much of Yemen and are part of an "axis of resistance" arrayed against Israel, have launched a series of drones and missiles since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month.
Four-year-old American hostage Abigail is surrounded by family in Israel who "brought her life back" after seven weeks of captivity, her great aunt said Wednesday, as relatives stressed they will not rest until everyone held by Hamas is freed.
The young girl, whose parents were murdered in front of her on a kibbutz near Gaza as militants stormed Israel on October 7, is the first confirmed US citizen to have been freed by Hamas among the 60 hostages released during an extended truce.
The United States on Wednesday condemned an Iranian drone flight near the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier the previous day as "unsafe" and "unprofessional."
The Eisenhower is the centerpiece of one of two carrier strike groups deployed as part of US efforts to deter Iran and its proxy forces in the Middle East from escalating the Israel-Hamas war into a broader regional conflict.
Ever since Hamas's deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel, the father of 17-year-old hostage Mia Leimberg had been praying for her safe release from captivity in Gaza -- and the return of the family pet.
To Moshe Leimberg's great joy, his daughter was finally freed on Tuesday as part of a group of hostages 12 -- 10 Israelis and two Thais -- that also included her mother and aunt.
And the release of the hostages under an agreement to pause fighting between Israel and Hamas also solved the mystery of what happened to Mia's pet dog Bella.
