UN confirms US demand to withdrawal from Paris climate deal

Withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement was a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump. (File/AFP)
Withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement was a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump. (File/AFP)
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Updated 28 January 2025
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UN confirms US demand to withdrawal from Paris climate deal

Withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement was a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump. (File/AFP)
  • “I can confirm to you that the US has notified the secretary-general… of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Dujarric

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations confirmed Tuesday it had received notification from Washington of its withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement, a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump announced the United States would leave the accord, which is managed by the UN climate change body. It brings together almost all the world’s nations and aims to keep global average temperature rise below a critical threshold.
“I can confirm to you that the United States has notified the secretary-general, in his capacity as a depository, of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.
“According to Article 28, paragraph two, of the Paris agreement, the withdrawal of the United States will take effect on January 27, 2026.”
Washington typically provides 22 percent of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat’s budget, with the body’s operating costs for 2024-2025 projected at $96.5 million.
Billionaire entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg has announced that his foundation will step in to meet the shortfall.
The secretariat is tasked with supporting the global response to climate threats, and organizes international climate conferences, the next of which will be COP30 held in Brazil in November.


Macron’s message to Trump: ‘You can’t be weak in the face of Putin’

Macron’s message to Trump: ‘You can’t be weak in the face of Putin’
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Macron’s message to Trump: ‘You can’t be weak in the face of Putin’

Macron’s message to Trump: ‘You can’t be weak in the face of Putin’
Macron will travel to Washington to meet with Trump on Monday, the White House said
Putin “doesn’t know what he (Trump) is going to do, he thinks (Trump) is capable of anything,” Macron said

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said that he intends to tell US counterpart Donald Trump that it’s in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to “be weak” in the face of Russian leader Vladimir Putin amid US-led negotiations to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine.
Macron will travel to Washington to meet with Trump on Monday, the White House said.
In a one-hour question and answer session on social media Thursday, Macron said that he’ll tell Trump: “’You can’t be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest. How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?’”
Trump’s recent statements that echo Putin’s narrative and plans to have direct negotiations with Moscow have left European allies and Ukrainian officials worried. But Macron suggested Trump’s strategy to create “uncertainty” in talks with Russia could actually make Western allies stronger in these talks.
Putin “doesn’t know what he (Trump) is going to do, he thinks (Trump) is capable of anything,” Macron said. “This uncertainty is good for us and for Ukraine.”
Macron said that he would seek to persuade Trump that US interests and Europeans’ interests are the same, telling him: “If you let Russia take over Ukraine, it would be unstoppable.”
That means any peace deal must be negotiated with Ukrainians and Europeans around the table, Macron said.
“We want peace. But we don’t want a ceasefire that means Ukraine surrendering, because that’s dangerous. And we know that would lead to Russia going further. We’ve already experienced it,” he said.
Macron also appeared ready to answer Trump’s call to boost defense spending. “Us, Europeans, we must increase our war effort,” he said.
Asked about whether he’s considering sending French troops to Ukraine, he said he wouldn’t send soldiers to fight in Ukraine but rather to be part of a security force meant to bring “guarantees” once a peace deal is achieved.
“We don’t rule out, within a framework planned with our allies, the possibility of having forces which, once peace has been negotiated, could contribute to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security,” he said.

US envoy for Ukraine war says talks with Zelensky were ‘extensive and positive’

US envoy for Ukraine war says talks with Zelensky were ‘extensive and positive’
Updated 5 min 24 sec ago
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US envoy for Ukraine war says talks with Zelensky were ‘extensive and positive’

US envoy for Ukraine war says talks with Zelensky were ‘extensive and positive’
  • Kellogg said he also had talks with Zelensky’s “talented national security team“

KYIV: The US envoy for the war in Ukraine Keith Kellogg said on Friday he had “extensive and positive” discussions on Thursday with President Volodymyr Zelensky.


Kellogg said on X he also had talks with Zelensky’s “talented national security team” while on his visit to the Ukrainian capital.


EU to suspend Syria banking, energy, transport sanctions

EU to suspend Syria banking, energy, transport sanctions
Updated 21 February 2025
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EU to suspend Syria banking, energy, transport sanctions

EU to suspend Syria banking, energy, transport sanctions
  • Syria’s new leaders have been clamouring for the West to ease sanctions on the country imposed to target Assad’s regime during the civil war

BRUSSELS: The European Union will suspend sanctions on Syria’s banking, energy and transport sectors Monday, diplomats said, in a bid to help the country’s reconstruction after the ouster of Bashar Assad.
Syria’s new leaders have been clamouring for the West to ease sanctions on the country imposed to target Assad’s regime during the civil war.
But Europe and other powers have been reluctant to move before clear signals from the new Islamist-led rulers in Damascus that they are serious on having an inclusive transition.
The step due to be greenlit at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels is a formal move after the bloc struck a preliminary accord last month to suspend sanctions in key areas.
Diplomats talking on Friday said the sanctions could be reimposed if Syria’s new leaders break promises to respect the rights of minorities and move toward democracy.
The United Nations said on Thursday that at current growth rates, Syria would need more than 50 years to get back to its economic level before the outbreak of its devastating civil war.
Much of Syria’s infrastructure was destroyed and the country’s economy ravaged by years of international isolation after Assad’s 2011 crackdown on opposition sparked the civil war.
The EU and other international powers are jostling for influence in Syria after the ouster of Assad, who was backed by Russia and Iran.


Trump cancels protection for 500,000 Haitian migrants

Trump cancels protection for 500,000 Haitian migrants
Updated 21 February 2025
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Trump cancels protection for 500,000 Haitian migrants

Trump cancels protection for 500,000 Haitian migrants
  • The number of Haitians eligible for protection has skyrocketed from 57,000 in 2011 to 520,694 in 2024
  • Temporary Protected Status extension afforded by Joe Biden was ‘far longer than justified or necessary’

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration canceled on Thursday an extension of Temporary Protected Status that was granted to more than 500,000 Haitians by former president Joe Biden.
The United States grants Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.
It had been extended for Haitians by 18 months, to February 2026, by the Biden administration, but will now expire on August 3.
“President Trump and I are returning TPS to its original status: temporary,” Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said in a department statement.
“This is part of President Trump’s promise to rescind policies that were magnets for illegal immigration and inconsistent with the law,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement said.
The number of Haitians eligible for protection has skyrocketed from 57,000 in 2011 to 520,694 in 2024, according to the US government’s estimates.
The TPS extension afforded by Biden was “far longer than justified or necessary,” said a DHS spokeswoman.
Trump – who during his election campaign said that immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the United States – quickly ordered a review of the whole TPS program on returning to office.
During his campaign he made baseless claims that Ohio city had seen a recent influx of Haitian migrants who were stealing and eating residents’ cats and dogs.
“The Trump administration is ripping stability away from half a million Haitians who have built their lives here -children, workers, parents, and neighbors who have become integral to American communities and contributed to our economy,” said Beatriz Lopez, Co-Executive Director of the Immigration Hub, an organization working on advancing policy solutions for aspiring citizens.
“This reckless decision doesn’t just harm them; it destabilizes the very businesses, families, and local economies that rely on them.”
Last month, the Trump administration revoked protection from deportation for more than 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States.
“The people of this country want these dirtbags out. They want their communities to be safe,” Noem said on Fox News in January.
Struck by a devastating earthquake in 2010, Haiti has suffered from chronic political instability for decades and more recently from increasing violence by armed groups.
Despite the election of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime in November and the deployment of a UN-backed security mission to support Haiti’s national police, violence persists.
At least 5,601 people were killed by gang violence in Haiti in 2024, according to the UN.


Myanmar returns 300 more Chinese scam center workers

Myanmar returns 300 more Chinese scam center workers
Updated 21 February 2025
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Myanmar returns 300 more Chinese scam center workers

Myanmar returns 300 more Chinese scam center workers
  • Thousands of foreigners are expected to be sent home from scam compounds in Myanmar over the coming weeks
  • The compounds are run by criminal gangs and staffed by foreigners, many of whom say they were trafficked

BANGKOK: Myanmar handed over 300 Chinese scam center workers to be repatriated through Thailand on Friday, as authorities intensify a crackdown on the illegal operations.
Thousands of foreigners are expected to be sent home from scam compounds in Myanmar over the coming weeks, with the first batch already flown out on Thursday.
The compounds are run by criminal gangs and staffed by foreigners, many of whom say they were trafficked and forced to swindle people around the world in protracted Internet scams.
Myanmar’s junta said in a statement that a second group of 300 Chinese nationals was handed over on Friday via the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge 2 at the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
The statement also said the junta has been working “to identify, arrest, and take action on foreigners who are involved in online scam centers and those who are behind it.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun hailed the “thunder-style cooperation” between China, Myanmar and Thailand to tackle the scam centers.
“China and various countries are firmly determined to fight cross-border online gambling and telecom fraud and protect the lives and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens,” Guo said.
Live footage on Thai media outlet The Reporters showed people disembarking from two double-decker coaches and boarding a Southern China Airlines plane, a scene similar to that witnessed by AFP journalists on Thursday.
It said that the first 50 Chinese nationals boarded a 10:40 am (0340 GMT) flight, with the rest expected to depart on five additional flights throughout the day.
A last set of flights is expected to return more Chinese nationals on Saturday.
Many of those freed from scam centers say they were duped into working in them and held against their will, but the Chinese government and state media have described them all as “suspects.”
Chinese police officers are accompanying them on the repatriation flights and a state TV report on Thursday showed the returnees, handcuffed and dressed in brown jumpsuits, being frogmarched off the plane in China with a police officer on each arm.
They had boarded uncuffed, in casual clothes, without any luggage.
The Thai government said Thursday that biometric data would be collected from repatriated Chinese nationals to prevent “future misuse of Thailand as a criminal transit hub.”
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinwatra also met with her Laos counterpart on Thursday to discuss joint efforts to combat scam centers along their shared border.