BRUSSELS, Belgium – The EU’s chief environmental official urged the United States and Australia to do more to cut greenhouse gases, saying Monday their cooperation was critical in the fight against global warming.
At the start of a five-day U.N. climate change conference, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas criticized the two for their reluctance to join the 27-nation EU and other rich countries in fighting climate change.
Dimas said the U.S. should end its “negative attitude” toward international negotiations on a new climate change pact to reduce emissions, which could start in December.
“We expect from the United States to cooperate closer,” Dimas said. “It is absolutely necessary that they move because otherwise other countries, especially the less developing countries, do not have any reason to move.”
Gunmen killed five African Union soldiers in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region along the border with Chad, the AU said Monday – the deadliest attack on the force since it deployed three years ago. At the United Nations in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the U.S. and Britain to hold off on a push for tougher sanctions against Sudan, saying he needed more time to persuade the country to accept the deployment of the U.N. peacekeepers.
Canada’s controversial annual seal hunt opened Monday in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the worst ice conditions in more than two decades have nearly wiped out the herd there. Fisheries officials said the scarcity of seals in the area led to only two of 40 eligible boats participating in the start of the traditional spring hunt.
Fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has killed nearly 400 people – mostly civilians – in the past four days, a Somali human rights group said Monday. The fighting abated long enough Monday to allow thousands of people to flee the ruined coastal city on foot and in donkey carts, cars and trucks. About 47,000 people have abandoned their homes in the last 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Since February, nearly 100,000 people have fled the violence, the agency said.
Saudi Arabia signaled Monday it is unlikely to accept an Israeli invitation to a regional peace conference, saying that Israel must first stop mistreating Palestinians and move to withdraw from Arab lands. Although Saudi and Israeli officials have reportedly held secret meetings in recent months, a public gathering would be seen widely by Arabs as a huge concession to Israel without anything concrete in return.
From Herald news services
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