World
U.N. Chief Warns of ‘Catastrophe’ With Continued Use of Fossil Fuels

WASHINGTON — International locations are “sleepwalking to local weather disaster” in the event that they proceed to depend on fossil fuels, and nations racing to exchange Russian oil, gasoline and coal with their very own soiled vitality are making issues worse, United Nations Secretary Normal António Guterres warned on Monday.
The formidable guarantees world leaders made final 12 months at a local weather summit in Glasgow had been “naïve optimism,” Mr. Guterres mentioned. Nations are nowhere close to the purpose of limiting the typical international temperature rise to 1.5 levels Celsius by the top of this century. That’s the brink past which scientists say the probability of catastrophic impacts will increase considerably. The planet has already warmed a median of 1.1 levels Celsius.
And the air pollution that’s dangerously heating the planet is constant to extend. World emissions are set to rise by 14 p.c within the 2020s, and emissions from coal proceed to surge, he mentioned.
“The 1.5 diploma purpose is on life help. It’s in intensive care,” Mr. Guterres mentioned in remarks delivered to a summit The Economist is internet hosting on sustainability by way of video deal with.
“We’re sleepwalking to local weather disaster,” he mentioned. “If we proceed with extra of the identical, we will kiss 1.5 goodbye. Even 2 levels could also be out of attain. And that may be disaster.”
Mr. Guterres’ speech comes because the European Union is looking for methods to scale back its dependence on Russian oil and gasoline, and international locations like america are scrambling to extend fossil gas manufacturing to stabilize vitality markets. President Biden and European leaders have mentioned that the short-term wants is not going to upend their longer-term imaginative and prescient of shifting to wind, photo voltaic and different renewable sources that don’t produce harmful greenhouse gasoline emissions.
However the U.N. secretary common mentioned he fears that technique endangers the purpose of fast discount of fossil gas burning. Conserving the planet at protected ranges means slashing emissions worldwide 45 p.c by 2050, scientists have mentioned.
In Glasgow in November world leaders promised to stave off local weather change and, for the primary time, deliberate to “part down” coal — the dirtiest fossil gas. Leaders from 100 international locations additionally pledged to cease deforestation by 2030, a transfer thought of important since timber take up carbon dioxide. The US, Europe and about 100 different nations additionally mentioned they’d reduce methane emissions 30 p.c by 2030. Methane is a potent greenhouse gasoline produced from oil and gasoline operations.
However there was virtually no progress, Mr. Guterres mentioned. As well as, wealthy international locations most accountable for polluting the planet haven’t met their obligation to assist the poorest international locations — already “slammed” by excessive inflation, rising rates of interest and debt — to develop clear vitality, he mentioned.
On the similar time, he warned, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is upending international vitality markets, additional undermining local weather objectives.
“As main economies pursue an ‘all-of-the-above’ technique to exchange Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures may create long-term fossil gas dependence and shut the window to 1.5 levels,” Mr. Guterres mentioned.
He cautioned international locations might change into so targeted on the instant have to fill the oil, gasoline and coal hole “that they neglect or kneecap insurance policies to chop fossil gas use.”
Perceive the Newest Information on Local weather Change
“That is insanity,” he mentioned. “Dependancy to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”
Final week the Worldwide Vitality Company warned that the world confronted its first international vitality disaster, and advisable that main economies preserve vitality by implementing 10 methods, from carpooling to touring by practice as an alternative of airplane.
In his speech, Mr. Guterres mentioned rich nations ought to be dismantling coal infrastructure to part it out utterly by 2030, with different nations doing so by 2040. He referred to as for an finish to fossil gas subsidies and a halt to new oil and gasoline exploration. Mr. Guterres additionally mentioned personal sector financing for coal should finish.
“Their help for coal not solely might value the world its local weather objectives,” he mentioned. “It’s a silly funding — resulting in billions in stranded property.”
The American Petroleum institute, which represents oil and gasoline corporations, mentioned in an announcement that the trade “can responsibly develop America’s huge sources whereas on the similar time lowering emissions to deal with local weather change.”
President Biden has promised a fast clear vitality transition in america nevertheless it has not began but. Laws he has championed to hasten the shift to renewable vitality, the Construct Again Higher Act, is stalled in Congress. In the meantime, his plans to cease new oil and gasoline leasing have confronted challenges within the courts.

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Iran's supreme leader says nuclear talks with Trump admin would not be 'wise'

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told air force officers in Teheran on Friday that nuclear talks with the U.S. “are not intelligent, wise or honorable.”
Khamenei added that “there should be no negotiations with such a government,” but did not issue an order to not engage with the U.S., according to The Associated Press.
Khamenei’s remarks on Friday seem to contradict his previous indications that he was open to negotiating with the U.S. over Iran’s nuclear program. In August, Khamenei seemed to open the door to nuclear talks with the U.S., telling his country’s civilian government that there was “no harm” in engaging with its “enemy,” the AP reported.
IRAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER RESPONDS TO TRUMP ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AMID REGIME PANIC
President Donald Trump floated the idea of a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Teheran in a post on his Truth Social platform. In the same post, he also slammed “greatly exaggerated” reports claiming that the U.S. and Israel were going to “blow Iran into smithereens.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and President Donald Trump. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo)
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In 2018, during his first term, Trump exited the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, saying that it was not strong enough to restrain Iran’s nuclear development. At the time, President Trump argued that the deal, which was made during former President Barack Obama’s second term, was “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei alongside a look inside a Uranium plant. (Getty Images)
Just days before his call for a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Iran, Trump signed an executive order urging the government to put pressure on the Islamic republic. He also told reporters that if Iran were to assassinate him, they would be “obliterated,” as per his alleged instructions.
According to the AP, on Friday, Khamenei slammed the U.S. because, in his eyes, “the Americans did not hold up their end of the deal.” Furthermore, Iran’s supreme leader referenced Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, saying that he “tore up the agreement.”
“We negotiated, we gave concessions, we compromised— but we did not achieve the results we aimed for.”
Iran has insisted for years that its nuclear program was aimed at civilian and peaceful purposes, not weapons. However, it has enriched its uranium to up to 60% purity, which is around 90% the level that would be considered weapons grade.

An Iranian military truck carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade on the occasion of the country’s annual army day on April 18, 2018, in Tehran, Iran. (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
IRAN’S WEAKENED POSITION COULD LEAD IT TO PURSUE NUCLEAR WEAPON, BIDEN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER WARNS
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi told Reuters in December 2024 that it was “regrettable” that there was no “diplomatic process ongoing which could lead to a de-escalation, or a more stable equation.”
In addition to his remarks on Iran, President Trump made global headlines with his proposal that the US take over Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war rages on. Khamenei, according to the AP, also seemed to reference the president’s remarks on Gaza without mentioning them outright.
“The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality,” Khamenei told air force officers, according to the AP. “They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind.”
World
Fact check: Did Clinton set the precedent for mass federal worker buyouts?

As unions and Democrats denounced the Trump administration’s effort to slash the federal workforce through worker buyouts, some social media users have said the president’s actions parallel those of former President Bill Clinton.
“To all you Democrats freaking out over President Trump’s buyout programme, I present to you a piece of history,” LD Basler, a retired federal law enforcement officer, wrote on X. His post quoted a 1995 statement Clinton made a year after he signed the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act.
“I guess Clinton didn’t have the authority either, when he did it in the 90s? (Because) the precedent was set BY DEMOCRATS,” another X user wrote.
Is that true?
Under Clinton, the government offered mass buyouts. But there’s a key difference with what’s happening under President Donald Trump: a bipartisan Congress overwhelmingly approved Clinton’s programme following months of review.
By contrast, Trump’s “deferred resignation” offer, conversationally known as a buyout, emerged within a week of his inauguration, with lots of uncertainty about the terms.
“We spent six months, involved several hundred federal workers, and made hundreds of recommendations to Clinton and Gore, some of which they accepted, some they didn’t,” said David Osborne, an adviser to the Clinton-era review that preceded the buyouts.
The status and legality of Trump’s programme remains unclear. The administration set a midnight February 6 deadline for workers to accept the offer, but a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that deadline and set a hearing for February 10.
Federal unions sued and wrote that the administration “has offered no statutory basis for its unprecedented offer”. The lawsuit questions whether the federal government will honour the commitment to pay participants through September 30.
The US Office of Personnel Management said 40,000 employees as of February 5 have taken the offer.
Buyouts under Clinton stemmed from a review and act by Congress
A few weeks into his presidency in February 1993, Clinton issued an executive order telling each government department or agency with more than 100 employees to cut at least 4 percent of its civilian positions over three years through attrition or “early out programmes”.
Congress paved the way for buyouts. In March 1994, Clinton signed HR 3345, the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994. The legislation passed by wide, bipartisan margins: 391-17 in the House and 99-1 in the Senate.
The legislation authorised buyouts of up to $25,000 for selected groups of employees in the executive and judicial branches except employees of the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency or the General Accounting Office (now called the Government Accountability Office). The law set an April 1, 1995, deadline.
Clinton said the plan would enable the “reduction of employment” by 273,000 people by the end of 1999.
“After all the rhetoric about cutting the size and cost of Government, our administration has done the hard work and made the tough choices,” Clinton said in a statement. “I believe the economy will be stronger, and the lives of middle class people will be better, as we drive down the deficit with legislation like this.”
The legislation was an outgrowth of Clinton’s National Performance Review, which launched in March 1993 with the slogan “Make Government Work Better and Cost Less”. Clinton appointed Vice President Al Gore to lead the review and issue a report within six months.
About 250 career civil servants worked on the review and created recommendations with agency employees.
Not everyone agreed with the Clinton-Gore initiative.
“There was opposition,” but union leaders supported reducing the power of middle managers, the target of most of the reductions, and the increased role of unions in bargaining, “so they felt this was an acceptable trade-off”, John M Kamensky, National Performance Review deputy director, told PolitiFact.
Gore visited “federal offices for what are billed as ‘town meetings’ but are more like group therapy sessions that allow workers to air their feelings about their jobs”, The Chicago Tribune wrote in June 1993.
Gore’s September 1993 report made hundreds of recommendations including buyouts. Gore went on David Letterman’s late-night television show to promote the plan.
“So, have you fixed the government?” Letterman asked.
“We found a lot of really ridiculous things that cost way too much money,” Gore said.
Gore brought up government-purchased ashtrays and read the federal regulations about how the ashtrays must break when dropped. Wearing safety goggles, Gore cracked the ashtray with a hammer.
Clinton had a “very deep commitment to change, but it was not hostile”, Paul Light, New York University professor emeritus of public service, said.
Clinton’s effort to reduce the federal workforce stemmed from his campaign platform as a “new Democrat” who said the era of big government was over, said Elaine Kamarck, who helped lead the Clinton-Gore review and is now director of the Brookings Institution’s Centre for Effective Public Management.
“We had a tech revolution going on that did not require as many layers of management as the old days,” Kamarck said.
How the Trump administration wants to cut jobs
The Clinton approach sought to be surgical in determining which employees could be eased out without compromising the government’s overall mission.
The Trump approach, so far, involves buyouts and firings, without a review period or congressional action. On January 28, the Office of Personnel Management emailed federal employees about the “fork in the road”. (Elon Musk, who heads Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, used the same phrase in an all-staff message in 2022 after buying Twitter.)
The email said remote workers must return to work five days a week and offered “deferred resignation”. Employees had until February 6 to resign and be paid through September 30 (until the February 6 court intervention). The email hinted that layoffs were possible.
About two million employees received the offer. The civilian federal workforce is about 2.4 million, setting aside US Postal Service workers, according to the Pew Research Center. The average annual pay is about $106,000.
Some workers were exempt from the offers, including the military, Postal Service employees and workers in immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
Trump’s programme is more generous than Clinton’s, Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told PolitiFact. Clinton’s $25,000 offer is about $55,000 in today’s dollars. Trump’s plan says it will pay people over about eight months, so factoring in the average federal worker salary, that’s higher.
Democratic attorneys general said the payments may not be guaranteed and urged unionised workers to follow the guidance of their union officials. Democratic senators raised similar concerns about the short window for employees to decide and Trump’s authority to do this.
Trump issued an order to reclassify workers so he can more easily fire them – another subject of lawsuits. An order to end federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes led to workers being placed on paid leave.
A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt whether the programme was a way to purge the government of people who disagree with the president.
“That’s absolutely false,” Leavitt said. “This is a suggestion to federal workers that they have to return to work. And if they don’t, then they have the option to resign. And this administration is very generously offering to pay them for eight months.”
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