RIYADH (AFP) – The president of the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai called yesterday for governments to abandon the “fantasy” of hastily ditching existing energy infrastructure in pursuit of climate goals.

“We cannot unplug the energy system of today before we build the new system of tomorrow. It is simply not practical or possible,” Sultan Al Jaber said during the opening session of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week, a United Nations (UN) – organised conference hosted in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“We must separate facts from fiction, reality from fantasy, impact from ideology, and we must ensure that we avoid the traps of division and destruction.”

Climate activists have criticised the appointment of Jaber to lead the COP28 talks which kick off in Dubai next month, given that he is also head of the Emirati state-owned oil firm ADNOC.

But Jaber has garnered the support of COP parties including United States (US) climate envoy John Kerry, partly by emphasising his belief that “the phase-down of fossil fuels is inevitable”.

Energy officials in the United Arab Emirates and other oil-producing countries – notably Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter – have argued for continued investments in fossil fuels to ensure energy security even as they eye an eventual transition away from them.

The talks in Riyadh are intended to “shine a spotlight on challenges and solutions in a region that is among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change”, organisers said yesterday.

The region must already grapple with high temperatures and water scarcity, with more than 60 per cent of the population having “very little if any access to potable water”, the statement said.

“Increasing temperatures are predicted to lead to more persistent and acute drought,” it added.

Jaber also highlighted challenges facing the region, referring to extreme events like hurricane-strength Storm Daniel, which last month caused two dams in eastern Libya to burst and flood the city of Derna.

HONG KONG (AFP) – Hong Kong issued its third-highest storm warning signal – prompting the closure of some transport services and schools – yesterday as Typhoon Koinu skirted the financial hub, bringing rains and powerful gusts.

Koinu comes just a month after the financial hub was lashed by Typhoon Saola, which triggered Hong Kong’s highest “T10” storm alert.

A week after that, the city experienced its highest rainfall in nearly 140 years, flooding subway stations and malls, and causing landslides.

Hong Kong’s weather observatory yesterday warned of strong winds and intense rain bands as Koinu moved towards the Pearl River Estuary and entered within 100 kilometres south of the city.

“Koinu will be closest to Hong Kong tonight, skirting about 70 kilometres south,” said the Hong Kong Observatory, warning the public to avoid low-lying areas in case of a storm surge.

It added that it would assess the need to issue higher storm warning signals based on wind speeds.

Typhoon Koinu’s “T8” signal – the third-highest in Hong Kong’s warning system – is triggered when a storm’s sustained wind speed goes up to 117 kilometres per hour. The storm’s maximum sustained wind speed was observed at 145 kilometres per hour.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Momo the monkey’s taste of freedom is over.

The primate spurred an hourslong search on Indianapolis’ east side after he escaped on Wednesday evening from his owner’s property. But the male patas monkey was finally captured safely on Thursday morning, police said.

Momo was captured by the brother of the monkey’s owner after police tracked the primate to the bathroom of a house under construction, said Lieutenant William Carter of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

“That was more than enough monkey business for us,” the department said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce Momo’s capture.

Carter said police were called to the city’s east side about 6pm on Wednesday on a report of “an aggressive animal” that turned out to be the monkey on the run.

After his capture, Momo was taken into the care of Indianapolis’ Animal Care Services, which turned him over to staff at the Indianapolis Zoo for now, said deputy director Katie Trennepohl of Indianapolis Animal Care Services.

While a permit is not required in Marion County to own such an animal, she said Momo will remain held under the advice of the county’s prosecutor’s office, which will work with Animal Care Services to determine whether Momo will be returned to his owner.

AP – The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has brought colourful displays to the New Mexico sky in an international event that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators every year.

The event started on Saturday with a drone light show before sunrise followed by a mass ascension of hot air balloons. Over nine days, local residents and visitors will be treated to a cavalcade of colourful and special-shaped balloons.

The annual gathering has become a major economic driver for the state’s biggest city. The Rio Grande and nearby mountains provide spectacular backdrops to the fiesta that began with a few pilots launching 13 balloons from an open lot near a shopping centre on what was the edge of Albuquerque in 1972.

The fiesta has morphed into one of the most photographed events in the world, now based at Balloon Fiesta Park. Balloon designs have featured cartoon animals, Star Wars characters and even the polar bear found on Klondike bars.

“But they’re still all about the basics,” said fiesta director Sam Parks, who flies a globe-style balloon modelled after one flown by the fiesta’s late founder Sid Cutter. “You add heat to a big bag of air and you go up.”

Nearly 830,000 people from around the world attended last year’s event. Scheduled nighttime events include fireworks and balloon glows, in which hot air balloons are inflated and lit up from the ground.

One of the biggest events in aviation, the Gordon Bennett competition, also launched on Saturday night. Pilots navigate hydrogen-filled balloons high in the air and the ones who fly the farthest win.

The balloons are different than those featured throughout the Albuquerque fiesta that stay local.

Some 550 balloon pilots are registered to fly during the fiesta, seeking to take advantage of a phenomenon known as the “Albuquerque box,” when the wind blows in opposite directions at different elevations, allowing skillful pilots to bring a balloon back to a spot near the point of takeoff. – Gabe Stern

HERAT (AFP) – The death toll from a series of earthquakes in western Afghanistan rose sharply again yesterday to more than 2,000 as rescuers scrabbled for survivors among the ruins of razed villages.

Saturday’s magnitude 6.3 quake – followed by eight strong aftershocks – jolted hard-to reach areas 30 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital of Herat, toppling rural homes and sending panicked city dwellers surging into the streets.

“2,053 martyrs were killed in 13 villages. 1,240 people are injured. 1,320 houses were completely destroyed,” Taleban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media site X, formerly Twitter, citing the disaster management agency.

As night fell Saturday in Sarboland village of Zinda Jan district, an AFP reporter saw dozens of homes ruined near the epicentre of the quakes, which shook the area for more than five hours.

Men shovelled through piles of crumbled masonry as women and children waited in the open, with gutted homes showing personal belongings flapping in the harsh wind.

“In the very first shake all the houses collapsed,” said 42-year-old Bashir Ahmad.

“Those who were inside the houses were buried,” he said. “There are families we have heard no news from.”

Deputy government spokesman Bilal Karimi said yesterday, as the extent of the damage became clear, that “unfortunately, the casualties are practically very high”.

“We are waiting to see how the final figures will turn out,” he told AFP.

Nek Mohammad told AFP he was at work when the first quake struck at around 11am.

“We came home and saw that actually there was nothing left. Everything had turned to sand,” said the 32-year-old, adding that some 30 bodies had been recovered.

“So far, we have nothing. No blankets or anything else. We are here left out at night with our martyrs,” he said as darkness began to fall.

GUWAHATI (AFP) – At least 77 people are confirmed dead in the floods that hit India’s northeast, authorities said yesterday, with destroyed roads and bridges leaving thousands more still cut off despite waters receding.

Violent torrents struck Sikkim state last Wednesday after a glacial lake suddenly burst.

Scientists warn that similar disasters will become an increasing danger across the Himalayas as global temperatures rise and ice melts, spurred by climate change.

“A total of 29 bodies have been retrieved from different parts of Sikkim,” state relief commissioner Anilraj Rai told AFP by phone.

In neighbouring West Bengal state, Jalpaiguri district police told AFP that another 48 bodies had been recovered.

More than 100 people are still missing, according to official figures.

Water levels along the Teesta river “returned to normal” four days after the floods hit, an official from Sikkim’s state disaster control room told AFP.

The office said more than 2,500 people stranded in the floods had been rescued.

But evacuations have been complicated by the destruction of roads, bridges and telephone lines across much of Sikkim.

Another 3,000 people were still stranded in several relief camps in the state’s north with airlift rescues delayed by bad weather, the office said.

More than 1,200 houses were damaged by the floods, according to the state government.

Among the dead were eight Indian army soldiers posted to Sikkim, which sits on India’s remote frontiers with Nepal and China and boasts a sizeable military presence.

India’s defence ministry said in a Saturday statement that the floods had washed away “firearms and explosives” from military camps.

BEIJING (AFP) – An American mountaineer and her Nepali guide were killed in an avalanche on Mount Shishapangma in Tibet, southwest China, tour companies told AFP yesterday, with two still missing and one seriously injured.

Mount Shishapangma, one of the highest mountains in the world, peaks at 8,027 metres above sea level and is entirely located within Chinese territory.

The accident occurred on Saturday afternoon “at an altitude of between 7,600 and 8,000 metres”, China’s state news agency Xinhua said, citing the Tibet Sports Bureau, which confirmed the toll. Mingma David Sherpa of Elite Exped, which was handling the expedition, told AFP that Anna Gutu, an American mountaineer, had been killed.

“We have received reports that Anna and her guide were hit by the avalanche yesterday, their bodies have been recovered,” he said.

“There are other climbers missing as well and rescue efforts are under way,” he said, adding those efforts were complicated by the fact “helicopters cannot be used” on the mountain due to Chinese restrictions.

LONDON (AFP) – The leader of United Kingdom’s (UK) Labour main opposition warned the party not to become giddy as it eyes a return to power after more than a decade out of office.

Keir Starmer’s words of caution came as the party gathered for its annual conference, ahead of a general election expected next year.

The party, which has enjoyed double digit poll leads for months, has also been buoyed by a big local election win in Scotland.

“It is not going to be giddy, it is not going to be job done,” Starmer told The Observer weekly.

“So you won’t get razzmatazz. You won’t see mistakes that have been made in the past by opposition parties,” he said.

Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has been battling stubbornly high inflation, a cost of living crisis and strikes across the economy including the state-run National Health Service.

Kicking off the four-day conference, Starmer announced a EUR1.5 billion (USD1.8 billion) plan to tackle National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists which have ballooned due to the impact of the strikes on top of a huge pandemic backlog.

The plan, which Starmer outlined in an interview with the Sunday Mirror, would create an estimated 2.2 million NHS appointments a year.

Starmer, 61, will be looking to come out of the event in Liverpool with the party’s poll lead intact, even strengthened, after last week’s Conservative party conference was overshadowed by infighting and the downgrading of a high-speed rail project.

He described Labour’s huge victory in a by-election in Scotland as a big step in the right direction towards becoming the biggest party in Parliament, which would see him become prime minister.

“We’re the party of change in Britain. We’re the party of change right across the whole country,” Starmer said, a clear reference to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claim that only the Tories offer change – despite being in power for 13 years.

Labour last held the keys to 10 Downing Street in 2010, when Gordon Brown was prime minister, and is readying itself to govern again following a general election that must be held by January 2025 at the latest. The last nationwide vote in 2019 saw Labour suffer its worst election defeat since 1935 under far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn.

But after the landslide loss to the Tories, then led by Boris Johnson, Starmer has pulled the party back to the centre ground.

He hailed as seismic on Thursday’s win over the Scottish National Party in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat, southeast of Glasgow, with a 20 per cent vote swing.

Labour needs to win back a sizeable chunk of the 40 seats it lost in Scotland in 2015 if it is to have a chance of ousting Sunak’s Conservative government.

Recent surveys have showed Labour’s poll lead narrowing after Sunak announced populist policies that attempt to put clear water between the increasingly right-wing Conservatives and their opponents.

A constituency-by-constituency survey by the Observer, however, predicted a landslide victory for Labour unless Sunak is able to close the gap.

The analysis, commissioned by the 38 Degrees campaign group and carried out by the Survation polling company, surveyed more than 11,000 voters shortly before the Conservative Party conference.

BERLIN (AP) – A man has been arrested in western Germany after his three-year-old daughter died while apparently locked in a basement room, and he threw her body into a canal, authorities said.

The 40-year-old German went to a police station in his hometown of Dinslaken and told officers that his daughter had died and he had then thrown her body – loaded down with weights – into the canal in nearby Oberhausen, police and prosecutors said in a statement.

Investigators said they believe that the man had shut the girl in a basement room of an apartment building for a few days, possibly as an educational measure.

He had supplied her with food and drink and checked on her repeatedly.

When he checked on her Sunday morning, she was dead, the statement said. He apparently threw her body in the canal that evening.

Divers recovered the body and an autopsy determined that vomited food pulp was the cause of death. There were no indications of any fatal injuries.

The father is being held on suspicion of bodily harm and deprivation of freedom resulting in death. Police and prosecutors said he hasn’t spoken yet on what exactly happened.