23/11/2025

theSun on Sunday NOV 23, 2025

WORLD 8

Climate summit deadlocked

315 seized in Nigerian school kidnapping LAGOS: A group said yesterday 315 students and teachers were seized a day earlier in Nigeria’s second mass school abduction in a week, as security fears mounted in Africa’s most populous nation. The Friday raid on St Mary’s co-education school in Niger state in central Nigeria came after gunmen on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls. The Christian Association of Nigeria said the new number came after verification following the early Friday kidnapping. “The total number of victims abducted is now 303 students and 12 teachers,” it said. The number of boys and girls kidnapped from St Mary’s is almost half of the school’s student population of 629. The Nigerian government has not commented on the number of students and teachers abducted. Authorities in the nearby states of Katsina and Plateau have ordered all schools shut. The Niger state government closed many schools and President Bola Tinubu cancelled engagements, including attending the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to handle the crisis. A UN source said the children abducted on Monday in Kebbi had probably been taken to the Birnin Gwari forest in Kaduna state. As Nigeria grapples with security challenges on several fronts, hostage-taking has spiralled nationwide and become a favoured tactic of bandit gangs and separatists. – AFP West Bank violence surges WASHINGTON: The UN on Friday warned about worsening conditions in the occupied West Bank, reporting a surge in violence. “Our humanitarian colleagues warn that the level of violence there remains deeply concerning, with casualties, property damage, displacement, loss of livelihoods and a strong sense of insecurity for civilians,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. This week, Dujarric said the number of Palestinian children killed this year reached 50. “More than 200 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the year.” In just one week, Dujarric said the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 29 attacks by illegal Israeli settlers that led to 11 injuries and damaged 10 homes, two mosques, nearly two dozen vehicles, and a wide range of agricultural assets. “We continue to call for the protection of civilians, which includes enforcing the law against anyone who carries out attacks, and for lethal force to be used by security forces only in strict accordance with internationally recognised law enforcement standards.” – Bernama

WASHINGTON: of sniping melted away on Friday as New York’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump were all smiles at a White House meeting – promising to set aside their feud and cooperate on the city’s future. Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, had taken on Trump in a bruising war of words, likening the Republican to “bad landlords taking advantage of their tenants”. Washington watchers were bracing for sparks to fly when the self-described Democratic socialist met the Republican leader who has in turn branded the mayor-elect a “communist” and suggested the Ugandan born New Yorker should be deported. But the Oval Office summit was instead the embodiment of civility as a beaming Trump, 79, praised Mamdani’s historic election win, said he could do a “great job”, and called him a “man who really wants to see New York be great again”. “We’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” Trump said. Mamdani described the face to-face as “very productive” and spoke of the leaders’ “shared Months BELEM: The outcome of Brazil’s COP30 climate summit was left hanging in the balance, with the European Union refusing to accept a draft deal it said would fail to advance global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The two-week conference had been scheduled to end on Friday, but blew past that deadline as negotiations continued late into the night. Some emerging economies hit back at the EU’s position, demanding the bloc commit more finance to help poorer nations. “We can’t just work with one pathway. If there is a pathway for fossil fuel, there has to be a pathway for finance as well,” said a negotiator for a developing country. The rifts over fossil fuels, cutting CO2 emissions faster and finance highlighted the difficulty of reaching a consensus at the annual conference. A draft text for a deal, released by Brazil before dawn on Friday, contained no reference to fossil fuels, dropping a range of options

EU rejects draft over weak text

on fossil fuels, which countries could voluntarily sign up to but which would not be agreed by consensus as COP deals need to be. Three sources said the Arab Group negotiating bloc, whose 22 members include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, told a closed-door meeting of negotiators that its energy industries were off limits in discussions. Saudi Arabia delivered a statement from the Arab Group to negotiators, warning that targeting its industries would collapse the negotiations. A deal text would need approval by consensus among the nearly 200 countries present to be adopted. – Reuters

Commissioner for Climate Wopke Hoekstra said. The EU indicated it could “move beyond its comfort zone” on finance for developing nations – but only if the text sections on action to cut emissions were strengthened. By Friday night, some European negotiators said the bloc was considering the option of walking away from the talks. A Brazilian negotiator told Reuters the fossil fuel language was unlikely to be reintroduced, and that the summit presidency was pressing for only small adjustments to the draft. Other options being discussed by negotiators included a separate side deal

that had been included in an earlier version. Scores of countries, including major oil and gas producer nations, had opposed the options. Earlier in the summit, some 80 governments had demanded COP30 deliver a plan to shift away from fossil fuels. But by Friday night, many of those nations had indicated in closed door talks they would accept the deal without it. The 27-member EU said the text was too weak. “Under no circumstances are we going to accept this,” EU

NY mayor-elect and Trump make nice

Mamdani and Trump set aside their feud at the Oval Office. – AFPPIC

the political barricades with a campaign promising rent freezes, free buses and city-run grocery stores – while flooding social media with upbeat videos and dialed-up charisma. He didn’t just win – he shattered records, pulling in more than one million votes, the first New York mayoral candidate to do so since 1969. Since his victory, Mamdani has stressed his desire to work with the president on the “national crisis of affordability.” – AFP

“And I’m looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability,” he said. It was all a far cry from the barbs the pair had exchanged in the run-up to the meeting. Beyond mocking Mamdani’s South Asian name, the president has dangled cuts to federal funding and even National Guard deployments – a tactic he used against other Democratic cities. Mamdani’s rise has been nothing short of electric. Virtually unknown a year ago, he stormed

admiration for America’s financial capital and largest city. By dinnertime, Trump had shared photographs of the meeting on his Truth Social platform, gushing that “It was a great honour meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City!” For his part, Mamdani noted that many New Yorkers had backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election “because of that focus on cost of living”. and love”

Ukraine scrambles to respond to US peace plan KYIV: Ukraine scrambled

walked away from negotiations. Russia would gain territory, be reintegrated into the global economy and rejoin the G8, under a draft of the plan seen by AFP. Trump said Thanksgiving on Thursday was an “appropriate time” for Zelensky to agree a deal, but it could be flexible. – AFP

deal would not “betray” Ukraine’s interests. Zelensky said he would propose alternatives to Trump’s proposal. Putin said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine

leader Vladimir Putin has welcomed the proposal, which would force Ukraine to give up land, cut its army and pledge never to join Nato. President Donald Trump has given Ukraine less than a week to sign but Zelensky on Friday pledged to work to ensure any

yesterday to respond to a US plan to end the war that includes many of Russia’s demands, with Kyiv saying it had discussed the next steps with key European allies. While President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back against the 28-point plan, Russian