While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 12, 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
California Governor Gavin Newsom answering questions on the sidelines of the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, on Nov 11.
PHOTO: AFP
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
California governor seizes COP30 climate spotlight
With US President Donald Trump skipping the UN’s climate summit in the Amazon, California Governor Gavin Newsom grabbed the spotlight on Nov 11 and unleashed a barrage of attacks on the fossil fuel agenda of his political nemesis.
The well-coiffed Democrat – seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate – blasted Mr Trump for twice leaving the Paris climate accord and for “doubling down on stupid” through his support of Big Oil.
Mr Newsom said a future Democratic administration would rejoin the Paris Agreement “without hesitation.”
“It’s a moral commitment, it’s an economic imperative,” Mr Newsom said, in response to a question by AFP in Belem, the Brazilian Amazon city in northern Para state hosting the climate summit known as COP30. It is “an abomination that he has twice, not once, pulled away from the accords.”
Demand for air-con set to triple by 2050, warns UN
PHOTO: AFP
Global demand for air-conditioning could more than triple by 2050, the United Nations warned on Nov 11, calling for more sustainable cooling solutions.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said demand could surge due to increases in population and wealth around the world, combined with more extreme heat.
Rising demand for more polluting and inefficient cooling systems “would almost double cooling-related greenhouse gas emissions over 2022 levels”, said UNEP.
Turkish military plane crashes with at least 20 on board
A Turkish C-130 military cargo plane with at least 20 personnel on board crashed in Georgia on Nov 11 after taking off from Azerbaijan, but the number of casualties and the cause of the incident were not immediately clear.
Initial video from the scene near the Azerbaijan border showed chunks of twisted metal strewn across a grassy knoll, with parts of the fuselage still ablaze and dark smoke rising into a clear sky.
Fire engines stood nearby and a helicopter whirred overhead.
UK lawmakers raise concerns about aquarium penguins
PHOTO: AFP/BORN FREE
Some 75 British MPs on Nov 11 raised concerns about the welfare of 15 penguins being kept in a windowless space at the London Aquarium.
Some of the Gentoo penguins birds have spent years at the Sea Life London Aquarium and some have never seen the sky, according to animal activists.
Lawmakers penned an open letter to the environment minister expressing “deep concern” for the penguins’ welfare.
Mellon Blue diamond ring sells for $32m at auction
PHOTO: AFP
A vivid blue diamond weighing 9.51 carats and previously belonging to Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, the aristocratic philanthropist and a close friend of Jacqueline Kennedy, sold in Geneva for US$25 million (S$32 million), Christie’s auction house said on Nov 11.
The internally flawless pear-shaped diamond mounted at the tip of a swirling ring design is named the “Mellon Blue,” after its former owner who had it set as a pendant.
It sold for US$32.6 million in 2014, the year Mellon died at the age of 103.
