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Filipina youth activist brings fight for climate finance justice to COP27

A fierce defender of climate voices from the world's developing countries, Mitzi Jonelle Tan has brought her call for climate justice to the COP27 summit in Egypt.

It is the same fight she takes up daily in her native Philippines, where such activism can be dangerous work.

The 25-year-old sees first-hand the impacts of climate change on her homeland.

Youth activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan witnesses the repression of those struggling to push environmental causes in the Philippines

Iran protests enter third month with deadly clashes

Iran issued a series of death sentences as women-led protests over Mahsa Amini's death in custody entered a third month Wednesday, with clashes reportedly claiming at least seven lives in two days.

That toll did not include six people authorities said were killed by gunmen who attacked protesters and police later Wednesday in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

Street violence raged across Iran as protests sparked by the September 16 death of Amini intensified on the anniversary of a lethal 2019 crackdown.

The protests erupted on September 16 after Mahsa Amini's death was announced

Israel, US blame Iran as 'drone strike' hits tanker off Oman

Israel and the United States blamed Iran Wednesday after what they said was a drone strike against a tanker operated by an Israeli-owned firm carrying gas oil off the coast of Oman.

The Pacific Zircon was "hit by a projectile approximately 150 miles off the coast of Oman" on Tuesday, Singapore-based firm Eastern Pacific Shipping which operates the vessel said in a statement, adding that there were no reports of casualties or any leakage of the cargo.

Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer, owner of the shipping firm, which operates the tanker Pacific Zircon that was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman that Israel has blamed on Iran, is seen here in 2010

Dreams of wealth turn to dust for Qatar migrant workers

Hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to Qatar in recent years to work on giant construction schemes as it boosted its infrastructure ahead of the World Cup.

Drawn by the prospect of making more money than they could ever hope to at home, migrants make up nearly 90 percent of Qatar's population of 2.8 million.

Most come from the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. Others hail from African nations including Kenya and Uganda.

The Gulf state has faced harsh criticism over deaths, injuries, and unpaid wages of foreign labourers.

Bangladeshi Babu Sheikh lost his sight after a work accident at a construction site in Qatar

Falconers hope to draw World Cup fans to Qatar heritage

In the deserts of northern Qatar, children with a falcon perched on gloves on their left arms show off their hunting birds in a bid to preserve an age-old tradition.

These "Little Falconers" have gathered in a tent ahead of the football World Cup in the gas-rich Gulf emirate, in a bid to introduce visitors to a practice inherited from their forefathers.

"This is my first participation in the competition," says 11-year-old Breik al-Marri, dressed in flowing white robes beside his falcon Gasham, a leather hood obstructing the bird's view.

A boy competes in a falconry competition in Qatar, a traditional hunting sport in the Gulf nation

Luxury yachts and 'real VIPs' as Dubai readies for World Cup

A fleet of luxurious yachts bobbing in the harbour are among the five-star options as Dubai pulls out all the stops for well-heeled football fans who want to watch the World Cup in style.

Those without tickets but with thousands of dollars to spare can view games on a big screen from the top deck of a $20,000-a-night yacht, against a backdrop of the Gulf financial hub's skyline.

One of the luxurious yachts bobbing in Dubai harbour which are available to rent and are among the five-star options for wealthy football fans who want to watch the World Cup in style

Brazil's Lula, world leaders bolster UN climate talks

UN climate talks got a boost Wednesday after Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowed to fight Amazon deforestation and global leaders reaffirmed key pledges.

While G20 leaders meeting in Indonesia issued a final communique committing to pursue the more ambitious limits on global heating, action on the sidelines of fraught COP27 negotiations in Egypt generated momentum at the UN climate conference.

Smoke rises from an illegally lit fire in the Amazon rainforest reserve, south of Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil, in this photo taken on August 15, 2020

Indigenous campaigners at COP27 channel 'spirit' of nature

Delegates at COP27 representing Indigenous communities -- some of the world's most vulnerable to the climate crisis -- have used traditional clothing to draw attention to their plight and urge action.

As Indigenous "communities are not the focus of discussions" at the UN climate summit in Egypt, Ninawa Huni Kui said it was important for him to visually represent his constituency as president of the Federation of Huni Kui Peoples in Brazil's Amazon basin.

Ninawa Huni Kui represents Indigenous communities in the Amazon, the world's biggest rainforest

Israel PM says FBI won't quiz troops over journalist's death

Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Tuesday Israeli soldiers "will not be interrogated" by the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The veteran Al Jazeera reporter was shot and killed while covering an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank on May 11.

The Israeli army conceded on September 5 that one of its soldiers had likely shot Abu Akleh after mistaking her for a militant.

Democratic party lawmakers, rights groups and the Abu Akleh family have been pushing for a US-led inquiry.

Palestinian Christian Shireen Abu Aqleh, 51, was a a prominent figure in Al Jazeera's Arabic news service

Jailed Egypt activist ends hunger strike: letter

Jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has ended a months-long hunger strike, his family said Tuesday, after fears for his health grew and amid criticism of Cairo during the ongoing COP27 climate summit.

Abdel Fattah, who had consumed "only 100 calories a day" for seven months, had escalated his strike to all food and then stopped drinking water as the COP27 climate summit opened on November 6 in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Alaa Abdel Fattah, a major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, is currently serving a five-year sentence for "broadcasting false news", having already spent much of the past decade behind bars