THE Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations Cop28 climate conference hit back on Saturday at critics of his appointment, even as the firm he leads increases investment in fossil fuel extraction.
Climate activists have roundly criticised Sultan al-Jaber’s appointment as the president-designate of the talks because he serves as the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
But Mr Jaber dismissed the critics as people who “just go on the attack without knowing anything, without knowing who we are.”
Speaking to an audience in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, Mr Jaber pointed to his 20 years of work on renewable energy as a sign that he and the Emirates represent the best chance to reach a consensus to address climate change worldwide.
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Although Mr Jaber, a trusted confidant of UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has been behind tens of billions of dollars spent or pledged toward renewable energy, he also leads an oil company that extracts some four million barrels of crude every day.
FORMER Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and his left-wing Smer (Direction) party came first in the country’s parliamentary elections today after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-US message.
Mr Fico and his party got more than 23 per cent of the vote, with the pro-West Progressive Slovakia party second with 18 per cent and the left-wing Hlas (Voice) party third with 15 per cent.
The Hlas party, led by Mr Fico’s former deputy in Smer, Peter Pellegrini, alongside the pro-Russian Slovak National Party, which received 5.7 per cent, would have a parliamentary majority if they joined forces in a coalition government.
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Slovakia has backed Ukraine since Russia invaded last February, donating arms and opening the borders for refugees fleeing the war.
During the election campaign Mr Fico, who served as prime minister between 2006 and 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine if he was returned to power.
Mr Fico has blamed “Ukrainian neonazis and fascists” for provoking Russia into launching its invasion in 2022.
During the campaign he said: “The Soviets freed us from the Nazis, we should show some respect.
“We must tell the whole world that freedom comes from the East; war always comes from the West.”
Meanwhile, police officers criticised for searching campaigners’ coach and ‘undermining their right to protest’
A huge protest against the Tories in Manchester, October 1, 2023 Photo: Neil Terry / Neil Terry Photography
THOUSANDS of people marched through the streets of Manchester today telling delegates to the Tory Party conference there that they are not welcome.
Headed by the banner of the Manchester People’s Assembly, which organised the march with the national People’s Assembly, the protesters represented trade unions and a huge diversity of campaign groups expressing their anger at the destruction wrought across society by the Tories.
Disabled people, peace activists and dozens more groups marched noisily through the city centre.
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Protesters from all across the country took coaches to attend the march.
One coach transporting protesters from London was stopped by the police, who signalled the bus to follow them to Knutsford in Cheshire where it was searched by around 30 officers.
The protesters were late as a result. Activists said it undermined their right to protest and was a waste of police time and money.
Lorraine Douglas, from the Communist Party, said: “The sergeant came on and said they’d received intelligence that there were people on the bus set on doing criminal damage and they were going to search the bus for equipment that could cause criminal damage.”
The police went on to read a section of the Public Order Act.
“They refused to say what the intelligence was, and they got us all off the bus and searched the bus, found one flare and it looked like they had some magic markers or pens,” Ms Douglas said.
Study found evidence that 20mph zones also improve walking and cycling in areas. Traffic in South London.
Study in 2018 found most drivers backed plans despite PM’s claim they ‘don’t reflect people’s priorities’
The majority of drivers support 20mph speed limits, according to the government’s own research, despite Rishi Sunak claiming they are an “attack on motorists”.
The prime minister is reportedly set to announce a number of new policies aimed at drivers during the Conservative Party conference that begins this weekend, including possible limits on the powers of councils in England to impose 20mph speed limits.
Sunak today criticised Wales’ new default 20mph speed limit, describing it as “absolutely not right” and saying: “It doesn’t reflect people’s priorities.” Commons leader Penny Mordaunt had previously called the scheme “absolutely insane”.
But research commissioned by the Department for Transport in 2018 found that “20mph limits are supported by the majority of residents and drivers”.
The study, produced by the consultancy firms Atkins and AECOM and professor Mike Maher of University College London, combined “evidence from 12 case study schemes” and “feedback from over 5,400 questionnaires with a range of road users”.
It found that in areas that had introduced 20mph zones: “The majority of residents (78%) and non-resident drivers (67%) felt that 20mph was an appropriate speed for the area.
“There is little call for the limit to be changed back to 30mph (12% support amongst residents and 21% amongst non-resident drivers).”
The study also found evidence that the introduction of 20mph zones encouraged residents to use other forms of transportation or walk more often.
Lowering speed limits to 20mph was at one point Conservative Party policy: the Department for Transport commissioned the study in 2014 to “evaluate the effectiveness of 20mph” limits after publishing guidelines the previous year “encouraging traffic authorities to consider introducing more 20mph limits over time”.
Sunak has sought to present himself as being on the side of motorists following the Conservative Party’s surprise win in a July by-election in Uxbridge. The result came after the Tories campaigned heavily against the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone charge to the most polluting vehicles to outer London.
Following the party’s victory, Sunak ordered a review of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and claimed that the Labour Party was “anti-driver”.
The proposals to limit 20mph would come just weeks after the prime minister U-turned on key net zero pledges by pushing back the deadlines for banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
As a competent adult and member of the human race there’s a responsibility on me to not feck it up for future generations – in this case not to destroy the planet, cause intolerable living conditions and drive the human race as well as many other creatures extinct. I know that the Conservative Party receives huge amounts from the fossil fuel industry and associated cnuts. Are you such a whore to this money that you’re willing to abdicate your responsibilities as an adult, a parent and prime minister?
