CALI: Countries at the U.N. COP16 summit on nature in Colombia on Friday approved a measure to create a permanent body for Indigenous peoples to consult on United Nations decisions on nature conservation.
The consultative body is considered a breakthrough in recognizing the role that Indigenous peoples play in conserving nature globally, including some of the most biodiverse areas of the planet, according to Indigenous and environmental advocates.
Nearly 200 countries convened in the city of Cali aiming to implement the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement, which aims to halt the rapid decline of nature by 2030.
The consultative body - which will also extend to local communities - will help to incorporate traditional knowledge and practices into conservation efforts.
Countries also agreed to adopt a measure that recognizes the role of people of African descent in caring for nature, which COP16 host Colombia said would grant such communities easier access to resources to fund their biodiversity projects and participate in global environmental discussions.
Indian troops kill 2 suspected rebels in disputed Kashmir
- Indian soldiers intercepted a group of militants in a forested area in southern Anantnag district on Saturday, leading to a gunbattle
- India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety
SRINAGAR, India: Two suspected militants were killed in a gunfight with government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Saturday, while troops also exchanged fire in the disputed region’s main city.
India’s military in a statement said soldiers intercepted a group of militants in a forested area in southern Anantnag district on Saturday, leading to a gunbattle that killed two rebels.
In a separate incident in the region’s main city of Srinagar, police and paramilitary soldiers exchanged fire with at least one militant after troops cordoned off a neighborhood on a tip that he was hiding in a house.
Residents said the troops torched the home where the rebel was trapped, a common tactic employed by Indian troops in the Himalayan region. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.
India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Spain braces for more flood deaths, steps up aid
- Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of mud-filled water submerged towns and were slim
- Officials have said that dozens of people remain unaccounted for, but establishing a precise figure is difficult
VALENCIA: Rescuers resumed a grim search for bodies on Saturday as Spain scrambled to organize aid to stricken citizens following devastating floods that have killed more than 200 people.
Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of mud-filled water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure were slim in the European country’s deadliest such disaster in decades.
Almost all deaths have been recorded in the eastern Valencia region where thousands of soldiers, police officers and civil guards were frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.
Officials have said that dozens of people remain unaccounted for, but establishing a precise figure is difficult with telephone and transport networks severely damaged.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Friday told Cadena Ser radio station that 207 people had died and that it was “reasonable” to believe more fatalities would emerge.
It is also hoped that the estimated number of missing people will fall once telephone and Internet services are running again.
Restoring order and distributing aid to destroyed towns and villages — some of which have been cut off from food, water and power for days — is a priority.
Authorities have come under fire over the adequacy of warning systems before the floods, and some residents have also complained that the response to the disaster is too slow.
Susana Camarero, deputy head of the Valencia region, told journalists on Saturday that essential supplies had been delivered “from day one” to all accessible settlements.
But it was “logical” that affected residents were asking for more, she added.
Authorities in Valencia have restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.
Thousands of ordinary citizens pushing shopping trolleys and carrying cleaning equipment took to the streets on Friday to help with the effort to clean up.
Camarero said some municipalities were “overwhelmed by the amount of solidarity and food” they had received.
The surge of solidarity continued on Saturday as around 1,000 people set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia toward nearby towns laid waste by the floods, an AFP journalist saw.
Authorities have urged them to stay at home to avoid congestion on the roads that would hamper the work of emergency services.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez chaired a meeting of a crisis committee made up of top cabinet members on Saturday and is due to address the country later.
The storm that sparked the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.
But scientists warn that climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.
Archaeologists unearth an ancient Middle Kingdom Egyptian tomb in Luxor
- Some items such as jewelry in women’s burials were found intact, including a finely crafted necklace with 30 amethyst beads
CAIRO: Archaeologists from Egypt and the United States unearthed an ancient tomb with 11 sealed burials near the famed city of Luxor, Egyptian authorities said.
Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement Friday the tomb, which dates back to the Middle Kingdom (1938 B.C.-1630 B.C.), was found in the South Asasif necropolis, next to the Temple of Hatshepsut on the Nile’s West Bank in Luxor.
The joint Egyptian-American mission excavating the necropolis found coffins for men, women and children, suggesting that it was a family tomb used for generations during the 12th Dynasty and the beginning of the 13th Dynasty, said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt.
He said ancient floods destroyed most of the burials’ wooden coffins and linen wrappings.
However, some items such as jewelry in women’s burials were found intact, including a finely crafted necklace with 30 amethyst beads and two cylindrical agate beads framing a hippo-head amulet, according to the statement.
Catherine Blakeney, chief American archaeologist with the mission, said they found two copper mirrors, one with a lotus-shaped handle, and the second with a unique design of Hathor, goddess of the sky, women, fertility and love in ancient Egypt.
The discovery came as Egypt has doubled efforts to attract more tourists, a significant source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped North African country. Tourism, which depends heavily on Egypt’s rich Pharaonic artifacts, suffered a long downturn after the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising.
Last month, the Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega project near the famed Giza Pyramids, opened 12 halls exhibiting Pharaonic artifacts for visitors as a trial ahead of the yet-unannounced official opening.
Kyiv comes under heavy Russian drone attack
- Ukraine said on Saturday Kyiv had come under heavy drone attack overnight, as fresh explosions were heard in the capital and other regions were struck
Kyiv: Ukraine said on Saturday Kyiv had come under heavy drone attack overnight, as fresh explosions were heard in the capital and other regions were struck.
“Unfortunately, the attack by Russian drones caused damage and casualties in various districts of Kyiv,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
He said that the “constant terrorist attacks on Ukrainian cities prove that the pressure on Russia and its accomplices is not enough.”
AFP reporters heard new explosions in Kyiv on Saturday afternoon amid an air raid alert.
In the morning Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 39 out of 71 drones launched from Russia overnight.
The drones targeted the Kyiv region surrounding the capital, the Sumy border region as well as the central Kirovograd and Poltava regions.
Twenty-one drones were lost and five returned to Russia, the air force said, adding that the drone attack was continuing.
The air force said debris from downed drones had damaged houses and blocks of flats in four regions including Kyiv, Sumy and the Black Sea Odesa region.
Kyiv’s military administration said that debris from air defenses shooting down drones fell in six districts of the capital, damaging blocks of flats and cars and sparking several fires in buildings that were extinguished.
A policeman was injured, the administration said.
In the Kyiv region outside the capital, an 82-year-old woman suffered head wounds from shrapnel, officials said.
In a village near the southern city of Kherson, a 40-year-old woman was pulled dead from rubble after Russian troops fired artillery and four were injured including three children, the governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
The health ministry said that a hospital in Kherson was struck, damaging two wards and a laboratory.
The medics and patients were uninjured as they had taken shelter.
Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky warned on Saturday that his troops on the ground were “holding back one of the most powerful Russian offensives since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”
BBC staff in open letter accuse broadcaster of pro-Israel bias
- Over 100 employees demand corporation ‘recommit to fairness, accuracy and impartiality’
- Letter signed by more than 230 figures in UK’s media industry, other sectors
LONDON: More than 100 BBC employees have accused the British corporation of pro-Israel bias in its coverage of the Gaza war.
The claim was made in an open letter signed by more than 230 figures in the UK’s media industry and other sectors, who said the public broadcaster has failed to provide “fair and accurate” coverage of the conflict. It was sent to Tim Davie, director general of the BBC.
The letter, first seen by The Independent, said the BBC must “recommit to fairness, accuracy and impartiality.”
The BBC employees who signed the letter did so anonymously, with one telling The Independent that “so many of us feel paralysed by levels of fear.”
They added: “Colleagues have left the BBC in recent months because they just don’t believe our reporting on Israel and Palestine is honest.”
Prominent members of Britain’s political, media and academic class signed the letter, including Sayeeda Warsi, a Muslim member of the House of Lords; historian William Dalrymple; actress Juliet Stevenson; Dr. Catherine Happer, a senior lecturer in sociology and director of media at the University of Glasgow; Rizwana Hamid, director at the Centre for Media Monitoring; broadcaster John Nicolson; and columnist Owen Jones.
The BBC must “robustly challenge Israeli government and military representatives in all interviews,” the signatories said.
In September, BBC Chairman Samir Shah said the board would “seriously consider” a review into the broadcaster’s Middle East coverage.
It followed claims by Jewish groups that the BBC is suffering from an “extreme” anti-Israel bias and that it is failing to properly manage complaints.
The open letter calls on the BBC to make new editorial commitments, including “reiterating that Israel does not give external journalists access to Gaza; making it clear when there is insufficient evidence to back up Israeli claims; making clear where Israel is the perpetrator in article headlines; and including regular historical context predating October 2023.”
One example of a “dehumanizing and misleading headline” cited by signatories related to Israel’s killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab in January this year. The BBC headline read: “Hind Rajab, 6, found dead in Gaza days after phone calls for help.”
The letter to the BBC said: “This was not an act of God. The perpetrator, Israel, should have been in the headline, and it should have been clear that she was killed.”
Another anonymous BBC employee told The Independent: “Palestinians are always treated as an unreliable source and we constantly give Israel’s version of events primacy despite the IDF’s (Israel Defense Forces) well-documented track record of lying.
“We often seem to prefer to leave Israel out of the headline if at all possible or cast doubt on who could be to blame for airstrikes.
“The verification level expected for anything related to Gaza hugely outweighs what is the norm for other countries.”
In response to the letter, a BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster holds itself “to very high standards,” adding: “This conflict is one of the most polarising stories to report on, and we know people feel very strongly about how this is being reported.
“The BBC receives almost equal measure of complaints asserting that we are biased towards Israel, as we do asserting we are biased against it.
“This does not mean we assume we are doing something right, and we continue to listen to all criticism — from inside and outside the BBC — and reflect on what we can do better.”