World
Kerry hopes climate cooperation can redefine US-China ties
John Kerry tells Wang Yi that China and US could use climate cooperation to redefine their troubled diplomatic relationship.
John Kerry, the United States’s envoy on climate, has held talks with China’s top diplomat in Beijing, calling for cooperation to tackle global warming and to redefine the troubled diplomatic relations between the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters.
Kerry told Wang Yi on Tuesday that climate talks could provide a new start for US-China ties, which have been mired in disputes over issues including trade, technology and the self-governed island of Taiwan.
“Our hope is that this can be the beginning of a new definition of cooperation and capacity to resolve differences between us,” Kerry told Wang in the meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
“We are very hopeful that this can be the beginning not just of a conversation between you and me and us on the climate track but that we can begin to change the broader relationship,” he said.
Kerry is the third senior US official in recent weeks to travel to China for meetings with their counterparts there, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
China broke off some mid- and high-level contacts with the administration of US President Joe Biden last year, including over climate issues, to show its anger with then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. Beijing considers the democratically-governed island part of its territory.
Other problems have rocked relations since then, including the transit across the US of what Biden administration officials said was a Chinese spy balloon.
Kerry told Wang that Biden was “very committed to stability within this relationship, but also to achieve efforts together that can make a significant difference to the world”.
“From experience, if we work at it we can find the path again in ways that resolve these challenges,” Kerry said. “The world is really looking to us for that leadership, particularly on the climate issue.”
For his part, Wang described Kerry as “my old friend”, saying they have “worked together to solve a series of problems between both sides”.
He praised Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenzhua, for their “hard work” during the 12 hours of talks they held in a Beijing Hotel on Monday.
US officials have declined to comment on the Kerry-Xie discussions. Beijing said after the talks that “climate change is a common challenge faced by all mankind”.
China would “exchange views with the United States on issues related to climate change, and work together to meet challenges and improve the wellbeing of current and future generations”, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
As the leading emitter of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, China has pledged to ensure its carbon emissions peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The Biden administration aims to decarbonise the US economy by 2050.
While Kerry has sought to ring-fence climate issues from wider diplomatic disputes, China has said that cooperation on global warming could not be separated from broader concerns.
In a commentary published on Sunday, the Xinhua state news agency said recent US-China official interactions are a “good sign for preventing further miscalculations, and steering bilateral relations back on track”. But it added that Beijing was seeking more concessions on the political side – something the US has said it will not provide.
“It is especially true for the White House to bear in mind that seeking to compartmentalize cooperation with – or competition and suppression against – China in bilateral ties is simply unrealistic in practice and unacceptable for Beijing,” Xinhua said.
“For China-US cooperation to be healthy and sustainable, bilateral ties must be treated as a whole,” it said.
World
US military conducts successful airstrikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen
The U.S. military confirmed it conducted airstrikes in Yemen, saying it targeted a missile storage site and a command-and-control center operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the successful strikes in a release Saturday, saying they were meant to “disrupt and degrade” Houthi operations.
“CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a news release.
DISAPPROVAL MOUNTS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD AS US AVOIDS DIRECT ACTION AGAINST HOUTHI REBELS
Footage from CENTCOM showed F/A-18’s taking off. The agency said it also used assets from the Navy and the Air Force.
US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN
“The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect U.S. and coalition personnel, regional partners and international shipping,” it said.
The attacks against shipping are ongoing, and Houthi militants have vowed to continue until Israel ends its campaign in Gaza.
The terrorist group has targeted more than 100 merchant vessels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
World
Fact check: How deadly was 2024 for journalists?
An estimated 104 journalists lost their lives in 2024, with Palestine the most dangerous territory.
An estimated 104 journalists were killed worldwide over the past year, according to data shared earlier this month by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Another report by NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) puts the figure at 54, but its methodology means it only includes killings that are considered “directly related” to journalists’ professional activity.
Both organisations say that Palestine is the deadliest place on earth for journalists. More than half (55) of the 104 killings reported by IFJ were Palestinian media professionals in Gaza, while a further six were killed in Lebanon.
At least 138 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on 7 October 2023, making the country one of the “most dangerous in the history of modern journalism, behind Iraq, the Philippines and Mexico,” according to the IFJ.
Reporters without Borders has described the number of killings in Gaza as “an unprecedented bloodbath”.
Israel firmly denies it has intentionally targeted any journalists, but has recognised some that have been killed in its airstrikes on Gaza.
The 104 total killings reported by the IFJ is a slight decrease on the 129 they reported on in 2023, which is considered the bloodiest year for journalists since 1990.
How do other world regions fare?
Asia Pacific is the world’s second most dangerous region for journalists, after the Middle East, according to the IFJ.
It recorded 20 deaths in the region in 2024, of which 70% happened in the southern Asian countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
The region has seen an “upsurge” in violence, according to the IFJ, with deaths increasing sharply from the 12 recorded in 2023.
Africa was the third most dangerous region for journalists at eight deaths, five of them in war-torn Sudan.
The number of journalists killed in south, central and north America has dropped sharply over the past two years, from 30 in 2022 to six in 2023, and another six in 2024. Mexico, considered to be one of the deadliest places in the world to do journalism, continues to see “threats, intimidation, kidnappings and murders” against journalists, particularly due to reporting on drug trafficking.
Number of journalists behind bars on the rise
According to IFJ estimates on 10 December, there were 520 journalists in prison across the world, considerably more than in 2023 (427) and 2022 (375).
China, including Hong Kong, accounts for most of journalists behind bars, followed by Israel and Myanmar.
The IFJ says the figures show how “fragile” the independent press is and how “risky and dangerous” the profession of journalism has become.
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