The Kremlin has denied reports that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, spoke to the US president-elect, Donald Trump, calling the media reports âpure fictionâ.
The Washington Post first reported that a call had taken place, citing unidentified sources, and said that Trump had told Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war. Reuters also reported on a call.
âIt is completely untrue. It is pure fiction; it is simply false information,â the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said when asked about the call. âThere was no conversation.â
âThis is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,â Peskov said.
Peskov added that Putin had no specific plans to speak to Trump at present.
According to the Washington Post, Trump reminded Putin of âWashingtonâs sizeable military presence in Europeâ. It added that Trump expressed interest in follow-up conversations on âthe resolution of Ukraineâs war soonâ.
The reported call took place after Putin on Thursday congratulated Trump on his election win and expressed admiration for the way Trump reacted to an assassination attempt during the campaign.
Peskov has a history of dismissing media reports that later prove to be true; most recently, he labelled reports of North Korean soldiers arriving in Russia as âfake newsâ, despite credible audio and visual evidence confirming their presence. Still, the Kremlinâs swift denial of the phone call with Trump is likely to raise eyebrows, especially given that both leaders have previously expressed openness to dialogue.
Peskov on Monday also accused European leaders of continuing to seek a âstrategic defeatâ of Russia. Peskov was responding to a question about the possibility that Britain would allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow long-range missile systems to hit targets inside Russia.
The Kremlin repeatedly said Putin was ready to discuss Ukraine with the west but that it did not mean he was willing to alter Moscowâs demands.
On 14 June, Putin staked out a maximalist position for an end to the war: Ukraine would have to drop its Nato ambitions and withdraw all its troops from all the territory of four regions claimed by Russia.
During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war âwithin a dayâ, but did not explain how he would do so. Trump also spoke to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Washington has provided tens of billions of dollars worth of US military and economic aid to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February 2022, funding that Trump has repeatedly criticised and railed against with other Republican lawmakers.
The US president, Joe Biden, will host Trump for a traditional post-election meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, where the current US leader is expected to try to convince the president-elect not to pull support from Ukraine when he takes office.
The meeting will take place against the backdrop of reports that Russia, with support from North Korean soldiers, is planning a significant assault to drive Ukrainian forces out of its western Kursk region.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported that Moscow had assembled a force of 50,000 troops, including North Koreans, in the region bordering Ukraine for an attack. According to US intelligence, 10,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, a figure that Ukraineâs military intelligence chief says includes 500 officers and three generals.
In August, Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region, capturing settlements within Russian territory in what was widely seen as a major embarrassment for Putin. However, Russia has gradually recaptured some of this territory and also made steady advances across much of eastern Ukraine.
Businesses in the private sector must stump up cash for the developing world to invest in a low-carbon economy or face the consequences of climate breakdown, the president of the UN climate summit has said.
Mukhtar Babayev, the environment minister of Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s climate conference, wrote in Monday’s Guardian: “The onus cannot fall entirely on government purses. Unleashing private finance for developing countries’ transition has long been an ambition of climate talks.
“Without the private sector, there is no climate solution. The world needs more funds and it needs them faster. History shows we can mobilise the resources required; it’s now a matter of political will.”
His words come as scores of heads of state and high-ranking officials from nearly 200 countries gathered in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for the UN Cop29 climate summit, which opened on Monday.
The meeting has been overshadowed by the re-election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to remove the US from the Paris climate agreement and scrap commitments to cut carbon emissions. Scientists have said the world is likely to exceed key temperature limits as a result.
At Cop29, countries will try to forge a new global framework for providing the funds that developing nations need to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of worsening extreme weather. Poor countries want climate finance to ramp up from about $100bn a year today to at least $1tn every year by 2035.
Without the US, developed countries are likely to find targets on climate finance harder to meet. They may seek to reduce the component of publicly sourced money – from overseas aid budgets, and through institutions such as the World Bank – making up the climate finance goal.
That could mean an increased role for the private sector in making up the $1tn target. But that is controversial. Private sector cash comes with strings attached and can drive countries further into debt. It is also harder to access for the poorest countries that need it most, particularly in order to help them cope with the impacts of extreme weather, an activity that few private sector companies have been prepared to fund to date.
In a statement that some parties will find controversial, Babayev wrote: “With competing priorities, there simply isn’t enough money in the world to fund developing countries’ transition to clean energy solely through grants or concessional financing – let alone cover adaptation and loss and damage.”
Many civil society groups are wary of an expanded role for the private sector. Mariana Paoli, the global advocacy lead at Christian Aid, said: “Government finance is so much better than private finance when it comes to tackling climate change. Governments are the only ones able to provide finance in the form of grants, which are the only way to address the growing needs of developing countries to address the climate crisis. Private finance is guided by profits and is almost always loans, therefore worsening the debt crisis that many developing countries are facing.”
She argued that it should not be counted towards the sums developing countries are demanding, known as the “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG) in UN jargon. “Private companies are not accountable to the Paris agreement. Any climate change-related investment they make is welcome but it’s separate from what should be discussed at the talks in Baku,” she said.
However, many developing countries accept that private finance must play a role. A spokesperson for the Alliance of Small Island States said: “At the core of the NCQG is developed countries fulfilling their commitments under the Paris agreement. A key focus is the provision of public finance from developed to developing countries. An additional pillar is the mobilisation of substantive private financing, by specific public interventions of developed countries. The onus must be on the public efforts to advance enhanced finance.”
Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, told the opening session of the conference on Monday that inflation would result from a continued reliance on fossil fuels and that tackling the climate crisis would also help to tackle economic problems.
“If at least two-thirds of the world’s nations cannot afford to cut emissions quickly, then every nation pays a brutal price. If nations can’t build resilience into supply chains, the entire global economy will be brought to its knees. No country is immune,” he said.
In a veiled but pointed reference to the new presidency in the US, he warned that all countries must play a role. “Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and wealthiest,” he said.
Developing nations need $1bn a day to pay for climate impacts – UN
Damian Carrington
Finance is at the top of the agenda here at Cop29 but the maths is brutal, with a chasm between what is being supplied and what is needed. That is particularly true for the funding needed by vulnerable communities to build protection against climate impacts, such as flood defences, so-called adaptation.
The world’s developing nations need about $1bn a day just to cope with the extreme weather impacts of today, with only 1.3C of global heating, according to a UN Environment Programme (Unep) report published on Thursday. What they are actually receiving is less than a tenth of that, about $75m a day.
What’s worse is that while adaptation funding is increasing – from $22bn in 2021 to $28bn in 2022 – the deadly impacts of the climate crisis are increasing far faster, said Henry Neufeldt, lead author of the Unep report.
UN secretary general António Guterres put it in typically stark terms: “Climate calamity is the new reality and we’re not keeping up. The climate crisis is here. We can’t postpone protection. We must adapt – now.”
He noted that while adaptation funding is falling far short of what is required, “the purveyors of all this destruction – particularly the fossil fuel industry – reap massive profits and subsidies”.
A visitor to Cop29, Dara Shirley Snead, wears a keffiyeh and a lanyard saying: “Global North, pay up $5tr!” Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP
At Cop26 in 2021, the Glasgow Climate Pact set a goal of doubling adaptation finance to at least $38bn by 2025. That may be achieved, but will remain far below the $230bn – $415bn range estimated by the UN as necessary.
“The gap is extremely large – we need a step change,” said Paul Watkiss, another author of the Unep report.
There are three strands of climate finance: money for cutting emissions, also called mitigation, money for adaptation, and money for disaster recovery, also called loss and damage.
Watkiss said all are interrelated: “If you don’t mitigate and you don’t adapt, you get really high loss and damage. So we’re starting to see these very large scale events [like the recent floods in Spain] coming through. The tragedy is terrible, but hopefully it starts to provide an impetus to say, if you don’t adapt, that will lead to much higher costs overall. It’s much more efficient and effective to finance adaptation than it is to do nothing.”
The negotiators at Cop29 have been told what is at stake. Now the hard work of delivering a meaningful finance deal begins.
Key events
Like most international diplomatic jamborees, Cops take place in fairly lavish surroundings, and Cop29 is no different. Here are a few views of the sights delegates and visitors are enjoying in the Baku conference centre.
People walk through an exhibit in the Cop29 green zone. Photograph: Sergei Grits/APAnother view of the Cop29 green zone. Photograph: Sergei Grits/APPeople look at the floor plan for Baku White City, a real estate development, on display at Cop29. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP
The opening ceremony of Cop29 has begun. Mukhtar Babayev, the summit president-elect, has called it a “moment of truth for the Paris agreement”.
Here are the first of his remarks, filed by Reuters:
Colleagues, we are on a road to ruin. But these are not future problems. Climate change is already here.
Whether you see them or not, people are suffering in the shadows. They are dying in the dark and they need more than compassion, more than prayers and paperwork. They are crying out for leadership and action. Cop29 is the unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone.
We need much more from all of you.
Cop29 is a moment of truth for the Paris Agreement. It will test our commitment to the multilateral climate system. We must now demonstrate that we are prepared to meet the goals we have set ourselves.
Developing nations need $1bn a day to pay for climate impacts – UN
Damian Carrington
Finance is at the top of the agenda here at Cop29 but the maths is brutal, with a chasm between what is being supplied and what is needed. That is particularly true for the funding needed by vulnerable communities to build protection against climate impacts, such as flood defences, so-called adaptation.
The world’s developing nations need about $1bn a day just to cope with the extreme weather impacts of today, with only 1.3C of global heating, according to a UN Environment Programme (Unep) report published on Thursday. What they are actually receiving is less than a tenth of that, about $75m a day.
What’s worse is that while adaptation funding is increasing – from $22bn in 2021 to $28bn in 2022 – the deadly impacts of the climate crisis are increasing far faster, said Henry Neufeldt, lead author of the Unep report.
UN secretary general António Guterres put it in typically stark terms: “Climate calamity is the new reality and we’re not keeping up. The climate crisis is here. We can’t postpone protection. We must adapt – now.”
He noted that while adaptation funding is falling far short of what is required, “the purveyors of all this destruction – particularly the fossil fuel industry – reap massive profits and subsidies”.
A visitor to Cop29, Dara Shirley Snead, wears a keffiyeh and a lanyard saying: “Global North, pay up $5tr!” Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP
At Cop26 in 2021, the Glasgow Climate Pact set a goal of doubling adaptation finance to at least $38bn by 2025. That may be achieved, but will remain far below the $230bn – $415bn range estimated by the UN as necessary.
“The gap is extremely large – we need a step change,” said Paul Watkiss, another author of the Unep report.
There are three strands of climate finance: money for cutting emissions, also called mitigation, money for adaptation, and money for disaster recovery, also called loss and damage.
Watkiss said all are interrelated: “If you don’t mitigate and you don’t adapt, you get really high loss and damage. So we’re starting to see these very large scale events [like the recent floods in Spain] coming through. The tragedy is terrible, but hopefully it starts to provide an impetus to say, if you don’t adapt, that will lead to much higher costs overall. It’s much more efficient and effective to finance adaptation than it is to do nothing.”
The negotiators at Cop29 have been told what is at stake. Now the hard work of delivering a meaningful finance deal begins.
Damian Carrington
As well as hard coverage of the talks, throughout the day our correspondents will be filing lines on some of the experiences that offer some sense of the vibe in Baku. Here is the first, from Damian Carrington:
Azerbaijan Airlines had been given the Cop29 script, with passengers from London to Baku warmly greeted and promised as “inspirational meeting of minds”. We’ll see.
The Cop29 branding is an appealing shade of teal and has some intriguing logos. One shows a factory with a chimney emitting a leaf, while another has a plant which is flowering an electric plug. The industry that underpins the entire Aezrbaijan economy – oil and gas – is understandably absent.
The Cop29 branding is illuminated on the entrance gate outside the conference venue. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Every great arena of international diplomacy comes complete with its own dictionary of jargon, and Cop – being about a particularly complicated and somewhat scientific problem – are in no way an exception. Thankfully, the Reuters news agency has provided a glossary of terms. Here are some you will see peppered throughout our coverage in the coming fortnight.
UNFCCC: This acronym stands for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is the name of both the 1992 treaty committing nearly 200 countries to fighting global warming and the secretariat set up to implement that treaty.
COP: This acronym stands for Conference of Parties, and describes the annual summit of countries that have signed the UNFCCC treaty. This year’s COP29 meeting in Baku marks the 29th such gathering since the UNFCCC took effect in 1994.
NCQG: This relatively new acronym will be focal at COP29. It stands for the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, an annual target for funding developing country climate efforts.
NDC: Most often, these NDCs or Nationally Determined Contributions are referred to simply as “country pledges” and describe national action plans for reducing its emissions and adapting to climate impacts. The next round of NDCs are due in February, though some countries plan to submit new plans in Baku.
GLOBAL WARMING: The term describes the gradual increase in the global average temperature.
CLIMATE CHANGE: While this term is often used interchangeably with “global warming,” it means something different. Climate change describes global warming as well as its consequences, such as extreme weather events. (At the Guardian, we will often use the terms CLIMATE BREAKDOWN or CLIMATE CRISIS to better convey the gravity of the situation.)
GREENHOUSE GASES: These gases, sometimes referred to simply as GHGs, are able to trap solar heat in the atmosphere and cause global warming. The most powerful GHGs are methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), which are also referred to as “carbon emissions” because both molecules contain carbon. The world’s excess carbon emissions come mostly from the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial activities.
PARIS AGREEMENT: Under this 2015 treaty from the COP21 talks in Paris, countries agreed to try to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above the pre-industrial average, with a goal of holding it to 1.5C (2.7F). The Paris pact also calls for national emissions-cutting pledges to be updated every five years
NET ZERO: This term does not mean releasing zero emissions, but rather releasing no more than the amount being recaptured by CO2 abatement technologies, tree planting, or other means. Reaching “net zero” would mean atmospheric GHG concentrations stop increasing.
LOSS AND DAMAGE: Governments last year pledged $800 million toward a new ‘loss and damage’ fund to help poorer nations being hit by climate-fueled disasters. The fund, which now has a director and a host nation, will now be deciding how the funds should be dispersed and calling for more contributions at COP29.
CARBON OFFSET: Also known as a “carbon credit,” these instruments allow a country or company to compensate for some of their carbon emissions by investing in projects to bring emissions down elsewhere.
ARTICLE 6: This term refers to a provision in the Paris Agreement on carbon offsets, and is used as shorthand for UNFCCC efforts to regulate international trading in carbon credits. Governments are hoping to resolve rules for trading carbon offsets at COP29 to allow for these markets to become operational.
Here are some pictures of how things are looking in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, which has been set up in full summit mode.
People walk in front of the venue for Cop29 conference centre in Baku, on the eve of the summit, which begins today. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty ImagesThe illuminated gate outside the conference venue prior. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesTwo Kenyan delegates photograph one another in front of a billboard about climate finance on the Cop29 opening day. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Ajit Niranjan
WHAT IS COP29 IN AZERBAIJAN AND DOES IT MATTER?
The 29th United Nations climate conference has begun, with diplomats descending on Baku, Azerbaijan, to thrash out arguments over planet-heating pollutants and the money needed to deal with them.
Like the 28 “conferences of the parties” that came before, Cop29 is not expected to stop the climate from changing – but delegates say that’s no reason to dismiss it as hot air. Cops are the key diplomatic arenas in which poor countries that have done little to heat the planet can put pressure on rich countries that hooked the world on fossil fuels. In turn, rich countries with the resources to transition quickly can encourage poor countries to clean up faster and sooner.
WHAT WILL BE THE OUTCOME OF COP29?
This year’s meeting will revolve around efforts to stump up the funds needed to cut pollution and adapt to more violent weather. Rich countries missed a goal to get poor countries $100 billion a year in climate finance from 2020, a target set in a previous Cop that experts deemed weak and patchy. Poor countries are now pushing for $1tr a year by 2030 – including cash to fix the destruction caused by extreme weather – but rich countries are reluctant to go higher unless the pool of contributors grows larger.
If diplomats reach a good deal on money this month, it could build trust and spark greater ambition when countries submit sorely-needed action plans to cut pollution at Cop30 in Brazil next year.
WILL COP29 SUCCEED?
More than 32,000 participants have registered for the conference but observers are not expecting them to deliver transformational change. Several prominent world leaders are skipping the summit and sending deputies instead – including the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen, the US’s Joe Biden, China’s Xi Jinping and Germany’s Olaf Scholz. The US just elected Donald Trump as president, who took the country out of the Paris climate agreement when he last sat in the White House. Papua New Guinea has pulled its ministers out of this year’s Cop altogether in protest at the failure of rich countries to live up to their promises.
And beneath the high-level geopolitics, observers have also questioned whether the host is up to the task of shepherding overworked diplomats to find common ground. Azerbaijan, a middle-income country in central Asia that is rich in oil but poor in water, is well-poised to bridge the divide between the different interest groups. But a secret recording last week appeared to show the Cop29 CEO agreeing to facilitate fossil fuel deals.
The hope is that the conference can really bring countries together, and continue to push progress on reducing the world’s CO2 emissions.
Good morning, this is Damien Gayle, your online guide to Cop29 …
The 29th Conference of the Parties is beginning in Baku, Azerbaijan, this morning and, as we do every year, the Guardian environment desk will be blogging every cough and spit by the thousands of delegates, campaigners, lobbyists and others who have travelled to visit the climate talks.
Our team of reporters has already travelled to Baku, and I will be anchoring coverage from London, weaving together their contributions while scanning social media and wires news feeds to achieve as close to total coverage as is possible for one man and a blog.
If you have any comments or suggestions on things we could be covering, or news to share, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line via email. My address is [email protected].
Nationals leader David Littleproud, shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie and Senate Liberal leader Simon Birmingham have all rejected a backbench push to use Donald Trumpâs election in the US to abandon support for net zero by 2050.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has said he is completely committed to the target, attempting to fight the next election on the Coalitionâs vague taxpayer-funded nuclear plan that will likely extend the use of coal and gas rather than the 2050 target.
But after Trumpâs win, several Nationals backbenchers suggested the policy should be reconsidered, with Senator Matt Canavan calling to withdraw from the Paris agreement and MP Keith Pitt praising Trumpâs âbold positionsâ including on climate change.
Asked if the Coalition should rethink its support for net zero, Littleproud told Sky News: âNo.â
He said: âAnd while President Trumpâs made some soundings about that, you have got to understand your place in the world.
âThey are 330 million people, weâre 27 million people, weâre a trading nation. The only people that will hurt out of that will be our farmers and our mining sector.â
Littleproud warned that attempting to âlead the worldâ out of the Paris agreement âwill get a tariff whacked on our commodityâ, in reference to carbon tariffs, such as the European Unionâs carbon border adjustment mechanism.
Littleproud took aim at the Albanese government for its 2030 emissions reduction target, arguing that Australia could reach net zero by â[taking] our time to it and [doing] it properly, so that there isnât an impact on the economyâ.
A consensus of scientists have repeatedly said delaying climate action is worsening catastrophic global heating, including the potential for decades-long megadroughts in Australia.
Littleproud noted that he was âthe first leader to be able to get the Coalition to agree to nuclear energy being part of that grid, to have that complement and supplement with gas and coal, with [carbon capture and storage] and having some renewablesâ, implicitly comparing himself with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce.
âWe will have a balance, weâll do it properly, weâll do it sensibly. But I think we should just take a deep breath on trying to be Trump-esque here in Australia, because there are unintended consequences, and they are farmers and miners.â
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McKenzie said that âthe Coalition is absolutely committed to net zero by 2050â.
âIn fact it is a fundamental pillar of our drive for net zero with nuclear, which will set us up for energy security into the next century,â she told Guardian Australia.
âThe National party has consistently raised issues with the method and aggressive rate of emission reduction and who pays for that ⦠weâve always said net zero would never be net zero cost, that our industries and our communities would be the most significantly impacted.â
McKenzie specified that she was referring to targets set by state governments and the federal Labor government for 43% emissions reduction by 2030. She said this was impacting regional communities through the renewable rollout and resulting in âaggressiveâ EV targets.
Birmingham, the opposition foreign affairs spokesperson and leader of moderate Liberals, said the Coalitionâs position under Dutton âis solid in both the commitment to net zero and taking difficult decisions to get there, such as zero emissions nuclear technologyâ.
Ahead of Trumpâs election the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, noted earlier in November that the Albanese government and the Biden administration had been âclosely aligned in policy and personal termsâ and âobviously, having a United States administration with a very forward-leaning climate policy is a good thingâ.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Bowen suggested a second Trump administration would be unlikely to live up to the former presidentâs anti-climate rhetoric on the climate crisis.
Thousands of oysters released into the Firth of Forth appear to be thriving again after a century-long absence from the Scottish estuary since they were lost to overfishing.
Marine experts from Heriot-Watt University who have helped reintroduce about 30,000 European flat oysters to the estuary said divers and underwater cameras showed they were doing well.
The Firth of Forth was once home to one of the largest native European oyster reefs in the north-east Atlantic, yielding up to 30 million oysters a year during the 1800s, but by the beginning of the 1900s they had been fished to local extinction.
Those reintroduced through the Restoration Forth project, which is also planting 4 hectares of seagrass, have so far had an 85% survival rate.
Naomi Arnold, the Restoration Forth project manager from WWF Scotland, said they were “delighted by the early signs of success”.
Crab and oysters underwater. Photograph: Heriot Watt Dive Team
“This is down to the hard work of not only the staff involved but the hundreds of volunteers who have turned out in all weathers to help us prepare the oysters for deployment and to physically put them in the water,” she said. “This is a key milestone in our project. With this success and the amount we have learned, things are looking very positive for future restoration in the area.”
Since September last year, about 30,000 oysters have been reintroduced at four sites that are being monitored regularly. Edinburgh Shoreline, Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, the Marine Conservation Society, Project Seagrass and the WWF are among those involved in the project.
It has been 100 years since oysters were last present in the estuary. Oysters from the Forth were once transported across the UK and Europe, both for consumption and to restock beds elsewhere. But the pressure of this activity led to the complete collapse of the reefs in the estuary, and the oysters disappeared.
The oysters have so far had an 85% survival rate. Photograph: Callum Bennetts/Maverick Photo Agency
Naomi Kennon, a Heriot-Watt research associate for the project, said: “Over the next year we hope to see these oysters continue to thrive and to start to enhance the biodiversity on the seabed. Oysters enhance water quality through filter feeding, store carbon and enhance biodiversity by creating a complex habitat providing homes and shelter for countless other organisms.”
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Those involved hailed the mammoth community effort that had gone into getting the oysters released, with a community engagement and citizen science scheme helping to educate people about their importance.
Anna Inman, a shellfish engagement officer at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “The community support for oyster restoration has been incredible. This achievement is a testament to the dedication of all the volunteers who have generously given their time.
“The project not only aims to revive marine life but also highlights the cultural heritage of oysters and emphasises our collective responsibility to restore and protect our seas for future generations.”
Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Vladimir Putin on Thursday and discussed the war in Ukraine, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The US president-elect advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of âWashingtonâs sizeable military presence in Europeâ, the Post reported.
It added that Trump expressed interest in follow-up conversations on âthe resolution of Ukraineâs war soonâ.
During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war âwithin a dayâ, but did not explain how he would do so.
According to one former US official who was familiar with the call and spoke to the Washington Post, Trump likely does not want to begin his second presidential term with an escalation in the Ukraine war, âgiving him incentive to want to keep the war from worseningâ.
In a statement to the outlet, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said: âPresident Trump won a historic election decisively and leaders from around the world know America will return to prominence on the world stage. That is why leaders have begun the process of developing stronger relationships with the 45th and 47th president because he represents global peace and stability.â
Trump had also spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Biden has invited Trump to come to the Oval Office on Wednesday, and on Sunday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Bidenâs top message will be his commitment to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. He will also talk to Trump about whatâs happening in Europe, in Asia and the Middle East.
âPresident Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe,â Sullivan told CBS.
Washington has provided tens of billions of dollars worth of US military and economic aid to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February 2022, funding that Trump has repeatedly criticised and rallied against with other Republican lawmakers.
Ukraineâs foreign ministry disputed a claim in the Washington Post article that Kyiv was informed of the call and did not object to the conversation taking place. âReports that the Ukrainian side was informed in advance of the alleged call are false. Subsequently, Ukraine could not have endorsed or opposed the call,â foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters.
On Friday, the Kremlin said Putin was ready to discuss Ukraine with Trump but that it did not mean that he was willing to alter Moscowâs demands.
On 14 June, Putin set out his terms for an end to the war: Ukraine would have to drop its Nato ambitions and withdraw all its troops from all the territory of four regions claimed by Russia.
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Ukraine rejected that, saying it would be tantamount to capitulation, and that Zelenskyy has put forward a âvictory planâ that includes requests for additional military support from the west.
Also on Sunday, Trump spoke to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. âThe chancellor emphasised the German governmentâs willingness to continue the decades of successful cooperation between the two countriesâ governments. They also agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe,â a German government spokesperson said.
In a call last week with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, Trump said the US was interested in working with Seoul in the shipbuilding industry, particularly in naval shipbuilding, as well as âpromoting genuine peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region,â, the South Korean leader said.
Trumpâs call with Putin comes just a day after Bryan Lanza, a senior political adviser to Trump, told the BBC that Ukraine should focus on achieving peace instead of âa vision for winningâ.
âWhen Zelenskyy says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace, once Crimea is returned, weâve got news for President Zelenskyy: Crimea is gone,â Lanza told the BBC.
After his comments, a Trump spokesperson said Lanza âwas a contractor for the campaignâ and that he âdoes not work for President Trump and does not speak for himâ.
One person was killed and 16 others were injured when gunfire erupted at Tuskegee University in Alabama on Sunday, the fourth reported shooting at homecoming events across the US within the last three weeks.
The Tuskegee shooting occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning. The person who was killed was not affiliated with the university, and their parents have been notified, according to the university.
No arrests were immediately announced.
Twelve people were wounded by gunfire, and four others sustained injuries not related to the gunshots, the Alabama law enforcement agency said in a Sunday afternoon update.
“The parents of this individual have been notified. Several others including Tuskegee University students were injured and are receiving treatment at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika and Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery,” the university said in a statement.
An autopsy on the person killed, who is male, was planned at the state’s forensic center in Montgomery, the Macon county coroner Hal Bentley told the Associated Press on Sunday. The city’s police chief, Patrick Mardis, said the injured included a female student who was shot in the stomach and a male student who was shot in the arm.
University officials added that several other students were injured and are currently receiving treatment at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika and Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery.
The Alabama bureau of investigations said it is conducting an investigation into the shooting.
“The university is in the process of completing student accountability and notifying parents. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available,” the statement from Tuskegee University said.
On 19 October one person was killed and four were injured by by gunfire at Albany State University in Georgia during its homecoming weekend festivities. A suspect has since been arrested, according to the Georgia bureau of investigation.
That same day, three people were killed and eight were injured in a shooting at a homecoming event on the outskirts of Lexington, Mississippi.
On 12 October, a mass shooting during a Tennessee State University homecoming parade in Nashville left one person dead and nine injured. Two suspects were arrested days later on murder charges, ABC reports.
There were people on the pitch, Chelsea substitutes to be precise, the joy of everyone connected to the club overflowing. Pedro Neto had produced the equaliser with a vicious low drive from distance and if it did not turn out to be the statement victory that Enzo Maresca and his players wanted â a first against a so-called Big Six rival â they could see the merit in a battling draw.
For Arsenal, this was a better performance than some of those of late and yet it was not the result that Mikel Arteta had called for, the one to silence the noise that has built around his club. It was another example of them losing the lead in a big game â after the draws against Manchester City and Liverpool â and it meant they have not won in four Premier League games, a sequence that has yielded two points. They are now nine behind the leaders, Liverpool. Is it too much to recover?
At least they stopped the rot away from home after the losses at Bournemouth and Newcastle; in the Champions League at Inter on Wednesday night, too â all matches lost to nil.
Arteta had claimed his team were playing better than they did during their difficult four-week period last season which started in early December. But, as he added, for it âto be clear and relevant we have to win ⦠especially to answer certain questionsâ.
Gabriel Martinelli gave them the promise of something glorious, Âfinishing with power after a pass from Martin Ãdegaard, who returned to the starting XI in impressive style. The captainâs fitness was something; he pushed and probed until the very last. Neto, though, would snatch it all away.
Chelsea have been all about consistency of selection in the league under Maresca, although he had a decision to make at left-back. He went for Marc Cucurella over the club captain, Reece James, sticking with Malo Gusto at right-back. Maresca is no respecter of reputation.
Cucurella versus Bukayo Saka was box office; it would end with him catching the Arsenal man with a late tackle in the 79th minute to force him off. Cucurella was booked. More broadly, he was a symbol of Chelseaâs tenacity, emerging with honours.
Cole Palmer was a mixed bag but he pulled off one of his trademark moves on two occasions in the first half, allowing the ball to run across his body and flicking on the afterburners. He did it to Ãdegaard at the outset before extending David Raya with a dipping shot. He did it to Thomas Partey before releasing Neto, whose cross was headed high by Noni Madueke.
Bukayo Saka leaves the pitch after picking up an injury in the second half. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Chelseaâs big chance of the first half came on 24 minutes when Neto went one way and then the other against White, making the room to cross. Gusto got in front of Martinelli but he could not direct the header.
Arsenal, back to 4-3-3 after mainly being 4-4-2 without Ãdegaard, had their moments before the interval â two huge ones, the first leaving Arteta beside himself with frustration. Saka forced the high turnover, blocking a Colwill pass out of defence. It was Ãdegaard back to Saka and when his shot was blocked, the ball broke Âperfectly for Martinelli. He had to score â only to sidefoot weakly at Robert Sánchez.
The fine margins were against Arsenal in the 33rd minute. Declan Rice spotted Kai Havertz in yards of space as he addressed a free-kick and so he took it quickly, fizzing the pass up to him. Havertz manoeuvred himself in front of Caicedo and prodded home only for the video assistant referee to see he was fractionally offside.
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Havertz had been patched up after the head cut he suffered against Inter and he needed more repairs early in the second half, the wound open again. He was booked for failing to leave the field quickly enough for them but he was back on for the breakthrough goal, Martinelli atoning for his earlier miss.
Ãdegaard made it happen, crossing deep to the far post whereupon Martinelli came back inside to widen the angle before banging the shot inside Sánchezâs near post. It was not a good look for the goalkeeper or the Chelsea offside trap, Colwill too deep and playing Martinelli on.
Fernández was involved in the equaliser, rolling a pass up and across for Neto, but really it was all about the wingerâs desire to seize the moment. His touch allowed him to lengthen his stride and he was too quick for Timber and Gabriel Magalhães, who tried to get out. The shot had too much on it for Raya.
The closing stages were frantic, chances at both ends. Arsenal thought they had snatched victory only for the substitute Leandro Trossard to blast high; the offside flag was up. At the very last, Trossard touched wide from a William Saliba cross, taking the ball away from Havertz, who was there for the tap-in behind him. Arteta fell to the ground in anguish. Again, the offside flag had been raised. It was awfully tight.
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Nine boats carrying 572 people have been intercepted while attempting to cross the Channel, according to the Home Office.
The latest crossings come after Keir Starmer announced plans to tackle what he described as the “national security threat” of people smugglers, pledging an extra £75m and a new team of detectives.
The arrivals on Saturday brought the total number of people who had made small boat crossings this year to 32,691. The figure is up 22% on the same time last year (26,699) but 18% less than had been recorded by November 2022 (39,929).
There have also been more deaths in the Channel, with four bodies discovered off the coast of Calais on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the French coastguard.
Excluding the latest deaths, which are still being investigated, there are believed to have been 60 fatalities among people attempting to cross the Channel, five times more than last year.
Kent police also said the body of a man was pulled from the Channel on Tuesday as officers were called to Dover lifeboat station.
The prime minister said during a speech at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow last Monday that the government would double funding to £150m for the border security command, the enforcement agency launched by the government in the summer.
On Thursday Starmer announced deals to boost intelligence sharing, expertise and cooperation with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo at a meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest, Hungary.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, a UK charity, said the government’s “smash the gangs” slogan would not work and appealed for an orderly and fair asylum system to support refugee integration.
Writing in the Guardian, Solomon said: “Smugglers who exploit and endanger the lives of desperate people fleeing brutal wars or tyranny must be stopped and made to face justice. As enforcement tightens, they are cramming more people into boats and pushing off from more dangerous spots.”
For the next two weeks, countries will gather on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss how to increase finance for climate crisis adaptation and mitigation. A global agreement on carbon markets will be high on the agenda as countries try to find ways of generating the trillions they need to decarbonise in order to limit heating to below 2C above preindustrial levels.
Here is what you need to know.
What are carbon markets?
Carbon markets facilitate the trading of carbon credits. Each credit is equal to a tonne of carbon dioxide that has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. They come from a wide range of sources: tree-planting schemes, forest protection and renewable energy projects are all common.
There are two main types of carbon markets: the unregulated voluntary market, which supplies the majority of offsets used by large companies and was worth less than $1bn last year; and compliance markets, which are regulated cap-and-trade systems that place limits on overall pollution, worth more than $900bn globally in 2023. Over time, cap-and-trade schemes become obsolete once they have achieved their overall environmental goal.
Where do they feature in the Paris agreement?
Article 6 of the Paris agreement covers how countries are allowed to collaborate in order to fulfil their national obligations. It permits country-to-country carbon trading and provides for the creation of a regulated global market, although governments have still not finalised its complicated rules. At Cop29 in Azerbaijan, observers say this is likely to change, although this has been complicated by the election of Donald Trump in the US.
In theory, international carbon trading could help countries cut emissions as quickly and cheaply as possible while capping emissions at safe levels. For example, if a major polluter like China, India or the US is struggling to cut emissions at the required pace, it could pay for large-scale reforestation in Nigeria or renewable energy projects in Honduras, ensuring that overall global progress remains on track.
Why are they so controversial?
Historically fraud and poor outcomes have given carbon markets a bad reputation. Governments created an international carbon trading system in 1997 under the Kyoto protocol, known as the clean development mechanism. It fell apart due to low prices, evidence that many schemes were having no impact on slowing climate change, and the failure of the US – then the world’s biggest polluter – to join the system.
More recently, carbon markets have experienced a resurgence as companies scrambled to make net zero commitments. The value of the unregulated voluntary market soared during the Covid pandemic as major companies bought up carbon credits. But a series of exposés about environmentally worthless credits, a recent $100m FBI fraud investigation and human rights concerns have rocked trust.
Why might this time be different?
Political necessity and improvements in technology. Huge sums of money are needed to finance the decarbonisation of the global economy, but major polluters have so far provided limited resources to help with the transition. Under the Biden administration, the US – which has provided tiny amounts of climate finance compared with its emissions – has thrown its weight behind carbon markets as a tool for funding mitigation and adaptation.
Advances in technology and market infrastructure have given carbon market proponents reasons for optimism. For example, reforestation projects can now be monitored quickly and cheaply by satellite, unlike in the early 2000s, making it harder to commit fraud.
What are the risks if it goes badly?
Many observers fear that a poorly designed global carbon market could fatally undermine the Paris agreement for three main reasons: environmentally worthless credits, moral hazard, and secrecy.
By creating lax rules for eligible carbon credits, governments will only meet their commitments on paper while the planet continues to heat if credits do not represent genuine emission reductions and removals. There is an enormous pile of environmentally worthless credits in the unregulated carbon market that many worry could be absorbed into the Paris system.
Next, critics say that carbon markets may disincentivise investment in decarbonisation if a country can simply pay another to do the work for them.
Finally, some countries are lobbying to keep rules about carbon credit trading secret, in effect making the deals impossible to scrutinise.
