While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 23
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G-20 ministers met in India as extreme weather batters parts of Europe, Asia and the US.
PHOTO: AFP
G-20 ministers fail to reach consensus on fossil fuels, Russia
The Group of Twenty (G-20) energy ministers meeting in India ended without a consensus on the phase-down of fossil fuels, adding to the sluggish progress on climate diplomacy ahead of key meetings this year.
While some countries agreed on the need to phase down unabated use of oil and gas, others argued that concerns over emissions could be addressed by carbon removal technologies, according to the meeting’s outcome document.
Saturday’s talks in the coastal province of Goa were intended to set the tone on energy transition ahead of a meeting of G-20 leaders in September and the COP28 forum in Dubai in December.
The ministers met as extreme weather batters parts of Europe, Asia and the US, including heat waves that have toppled temperature records and led to deaths in India and elsewhere.
30,000 people moved to safety amid Greek island wildfires
Officials on the Greek island of Rhodes said on Saturday they had moved 30,000 people threatened by wildfires to safety, including 2,000 who had to be ferried off beaches.
Mr George Hadjimarkos, regional governor of the South Aegean, told Skai television that the operation, which was still ongoing, had been hampered by fires cutting off some road access.
Tourists and some locals were being taken to gyms, schools and hotel conference centres on the island where they will stay overnight, while firefighters battle the blaze.
Nato, Ukraine to discuss Black Sea grain issue
Nato and Ukraine are to discuss security in the Black Sea next week, particularly the operation of a corridor for grain exports, at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Western alliance said on Saturday.
Nato spokeswoman Oanu Lungescu said the Nato-Ukraine Council, set up at this month’s alliance summit, would discuss the situation following Russia’s withdrawal from the year-old deal overseeing grain exports from Ukrainian ports.
Mr Zelensky said he had requested the meeting in a telephone conversation with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Four killed, 10 injured at Moscow mall after pipe bursts
EPA-EFE
Four people were killed and 10 injured on Saturday after a hot water pipe burst at a shopping mall in western Moscow, officials said.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some of those injured had suffered burns, and that emergency services were working on the scene.
Russian news agencies quoted investigators as saying that there had been no ammonia leak at the site as had been suspected for a time.
Hamilton takes pole at Hungarian GP, first since 2021
After almost two years, Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is back at the front of the grid after taking a record-extending 104th pole position of his Formula One career at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Briton pipped Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen by just 0.003 of a second for what was also a record ninth pole at the same circuit.
It was Hamilton’s first pole position since Saudi Arabia in December 2021.
