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EU leaders head to COP27 as countries switch from gas to coal

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EU leaders head to COP27 as countries switch from gas to coal

Leaders from throughout the European Union are gearing up for the COP27, the UN Local weather Change Convention that goals to place the brakes on local weather change and restrict world warming to 1.5 levels Celsius, a theoretical aspiration that has change into more and more indifferent from the fact on the bottom.

There may be “no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place,” a UN environmental report concluded final month.

The EU has lengthy been thought-about a dependable advocate for the inexperienced transition, adopting far-reaching insurance policies and enshrining its 2050 local weather neutrality objective in regulation. The bloc has change into a type of experimental laboratory for local weather laws, with different international locations trying to see what works and what doesn’t.

Ultimately yr’s convention, the EU led efforts to slash methane emissions, defend tropical forests and assist South Africa’s decarbonisation. However issues have modified since Glasgow.

European leaders are heading to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, within the midst of a extreme vitality disaster that threatens to deliver trade to a standstill and households beneath monetary stress.

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Confronted with the prospect of widespread blackouts and rationing, international locations have made safety of provides their prime precedence, even when it comes with a excessive financial and environmental price ticket.

As low-cost Russian fuel vanished in a single day, some member states have been compelled to resort again to coal, essentially the most polluting fossil gas.

Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Hungary have all introduced plans to increase the lifetime of coal vegetation, re-open these which were closed or raise the cap on coal-burning hours.

Austria, which celebrated the closure of its final coal plant in 2020, additionally proposed to re-activate its system to deal with emergency shortages. The concept was blocked in the summertime by the opposition.

The Worldwide Vitality Company (IEA) estimates the EU’s coal consumption rose by 10% within the first six months of 2022, pushed principally by electrical energy demand, and can proceed to extend as winter nears.

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“We count on coal consumption to additionally rise within the second half of the yr, pushed up by the necessity to save fuel for winter amid uncertainty over Russian flows,” the company stated in its July market replace, launched earlier than the indefinite shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

“Germany will account for the most important extra consumption,” it famous.

Globally, the IEA predicts coal consumption to achieve 8 billion tonnes, reversing a downward pattern and matching the all-time excessive set in 2013. Europe will account for about 5% of this burning.

‘We have to catch up’

This sudden rise in coal burning seems to contradict the EU’s said priorities for COP27, which embrace urging different international locations around the globe to “shut the guide on unabated coal via a phasedown and ending inefficient fossil gas subsidies.”

Growing nations typically accuse the West of hypocrisy and selfishness in the case of inexperienced motion, arguing rich international locations have a bigger position to play given their historic accountability in releasing greenhouse fuel emissions and warming up the planet throughout previous industrial revolutions.

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The new-button concern of local weather reparations, the monetary compensations for the irreversible harm attributable to local weather change, is rooted on this very disparity.

The European Fee, which has spearheaded world-class local weather legal guidelines, blames the state of affairs on Russia’s “weaponisation” of vitality provides and estimates the gas-to-coal change may final for as much as three winters.

This can result in a rise in greenhouse fuel emissions within the brief time period however that will likely be offset by an accelerated deployment of homegrown inexperienced vitality, comparable to photo voltaic panels and wind farms, the manager says.

The bloc continues to be legally sure to slash emissions by a minimum of 55% by the top of the last decade.

“What that may imply is that we have to catch up within the second half of the last decade for any influence that the following couple of winters have on our emissions, if there are any, via that further coal use we want on a short-term foundation,” stated a European Fee spokesperson on Thursday, in response to a Euronews query.

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“However I believe that’s a state of affairs which the vast majority of our worldwide companions perceive, they recognize the state of affairs we’re put in in the mean time, and so they perceive that Europe will stay a world chief when it comes to phasing out coal around the globe and when it comes to elevating ambitions.”

The European Fee has unveiled a brand new plan, dubbed REPower EU, that goals to mobilise as much as €300 billion in loans and grants to realize whole independence from Russian fossil fuels earlier than the top of the last decade.

The plans additionally intend to chop down the infamous crimson tape of inexperienced know-how and broaden the EU’s targets for renewable vitality for 2030, from 40% to 45% of all whole vitality produced.

REPower EU continues to be beneath dialogue and no cash has but been launched.

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New Lonely Island Song ‘Sushi Glory Hole’ Premieres on ‘SNL’; Raps About Secret Sushi Spots Around NYC

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New Lonely Island Song ‘Sushi Glory Hole’ Premieres on ‘SNL’; Raps About Secret Sushi Spots Around NYC

In the first Lonely Island song of the 50th season of “SNL,” the beloved trio of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer debuted “Sushi Glory Hole,” a humorous take on a fictional app where you can find sushi in a hole in a bathroom around New York.

“SNL” alumna Maya Rudolph, who has been portraying presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris during the new season, was on hand for the video. “Gentleman, what do you have for us today?” she asked in the video opener.

“Sushi glory hole,” rapped Samberg. “Imagine that. Instead of getting strange [expletive] you’ll be getting a snack.” A long refrain of “Hear us out, hear us out, hear us out,” played on loop as the trio tried to get others on board with their idea.

Dressed as 1980s businessmen, the Lonely Island members, and Bowen Yang, rapped about sushi in bathrooms, with suggestive lyrics, singing, “So drop to your knees and get ready for some fish.” The digital short featured funny evocative imagery of slices of sushi being presented through holes in bathroom walls. The trio rapped, “Hit the bathroom stall, and find a sushi-sized hole in the bathroom wall.”

“Hit the map,” they said, showing a phone with a lit-up map with “SGH” locations all around Manhattan, where one could find a sushi glory hole. They rapped on, defending the unorthodox food-related business idea, saying, “You got nothing to fear. It’s not weird. It’s sushi being through a hole in the wall.”

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They rapped about the different ideal circumstances for a “SGH.” Samberg sang about sushi glory holes in nightclubs and how it’s better than eating in the middle of a street. “Make a wish and prepare for some shockingly high-grade fish.”

“Don’t leave, hear us out. No substitutions or special requests,” they said.

Stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze was this episode’s guest and musical group Coldplay was the musical guest.

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Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei defends missile barrage against Israel in rare sermon

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Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei defends missile barrage against Israel in rare sermon

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared in a rare sermon Friday that his country’s ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this week was “legal and legitimate” and that the “resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders.” 

The public address from Khamenei was his first during Friday prayers in Tehran in nearly five years, according to the AFP.  

Khamenei said Iran will not “procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty” in going after Israel, Reuters reports. 

The news agency cited him as saying that Tuesday’s barrage of nearly 200 missiles fired by Iran at Israel was “legal and legitimate” and the minimum punishment for Israel’s “crimes.” 

IRAN WARNS OF ‘DECISIVE RESPONSE’ IF ISRAEL CROSSES ‘RED LINES’ 

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday Prayers and a commemoration ceremony of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 4. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

“The resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders,” Khamenei reportedly added, mentioning recently slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the speech. 

The remarks came as the Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that Mohammad Rashid Sakafi, the commander of Hezbollah’s Communications Unit, was killed in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. 

“Sakafi was a senior Hezbollah terrorist, who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000,” the IDF wrote on X. “Sakafi invested significant efforts to develop communication capabilities between all of Hezbollah’s units.” 

ISRAEL BANS UN SECRETARY-GENERAL OVER ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIONS 

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that Iran’s missile attack on Israel this week was “legal and legitimate,” Reuters reports.  (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier this week that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was “defeated and ineffective” and that the U.S. military coordinated with the IDF to repel the strikes.  

“U.S. naval destroyers joined Israeli Air Defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and the response from the White House Situation Room, joined in person and remotely by their national security team,” Sullivan said during a briefing.  

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets during the missile attack, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 1. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

 

“This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel and create a situation in which no one was killed in this attack in Israel… We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward,” he added. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report. 

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Protests across Europe as Gaza war anniversary nears

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Protests across Europe as Gaza war anniversary nears

The war in Gaza, which started on 7 October last year, has seen more than 41,000 Palestinians killed and decimated the Strip. Almost 100 Israelis are still being held hostage by Hamas, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive.

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Thousands of people have staged protests in capitals across Europe in support of Palestine in the run-up to the first anniversary of the war on 7 October.

Huge rallies took place in several major European cities, with rallies expected to continue over the weekend and peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.

Italy

In Rome, several thousand demonstrated peacefully until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the centre of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests, citing security concerns.

Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd.

At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local media reported.

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The rally in Rome had been calm earlier, with people chanting “Free Palestine, Free Lebanon,” waving Palestinian flags and holding banners calling for an immediate stop to the conflict.

United Kingdom

In London, thousands marched through the capital to Downing Street amid a heavy police presence.

The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestinian protesters and counterdemonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed one another.

Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon.

At least 17 people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences, supporting a proscribed organisation and assault, the Metropolitan Police said.

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Spain

Thousands also took to the streets of Madrid to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

The protests were peaceful and there were no reported incidents of altercations with police.

“Outrage at this situation, thousands and thousands of people killed in Gaza, now in Lebanon, there are already more than 2,000, more than 10,000 people missing. This has to be stopped one way or another,” said Enrique Quintanilla from the ‘Disarm Madrid’ group.

Germany

In the northern of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags and chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a count by police.

Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.

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Serbia

A smaller protest of around 200 people happened in Belgrade with protesters chanting “Free Palestine” and expressing their anger at their government’s support for Israel.

“The main message is that we, citizens of Serbia and Belgrade, are against arms exports to Israel. The Republic of Serbia is exporting arms to Israel. Since October 7 last year, the value of weapons exported to Israel from Serbia is at least 20 million euros. We are against that,” said protest organiser, Mihajlo Nikolic.

Rallies were also planned in several other countries across Europe including Greece, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.

Increased security

Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that the protests could turn violent.

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Pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate cease-fire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.

A bloody year

On 7 October last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

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Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. 

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