United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP Friday the world should not be  “intimidated” by Israel and its creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank.In an interview at UN headquarters in New York, he also called for more ambitious climate action saying that efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels were at risk of “collapsing.”Guterres spoke to AFP ahead of the UN’s signature high-level week at which 10 countries will recognize a Palestinian state, according to France — over fierce Israeli objections.The meeting of more than 140 heads of state and government, which paralyzes a corner of Manhattan for a week each year, will likely be dominated by the future of the Palestinians and the war in Gaza.Israel has reportedly threatened to annex the West Bank if Western nations press ahead with the recognition plan at the UN gathering.But Guterres said, “We should not feel intimidated by the risk of retaliation.””With or without doing what we are doing, these actions would go on and at least there is a chance to mobilize international community to put pressure for them not to happen,” he said.”What we are witnessing in Gaza is horrendous,” Guterres said as Israel threatened “unprecedented force” in its ongoing assault on Gaza City. “It is the worst level of death and destruction that I’ve seen my time as Secretary-General, probably my life and the suffering of the Palestinian people cannot be described — famine, total lack of effective health care, people living without adequate shelters in huge concentration areas,” he said.Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for annexation of swaths of the West Bank with an aim to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” after several countries joined the French push on statehood.But Israel’s staunch ally the United States has held back from any criticism of the war in Gaza or vows to annex the West Bank — and excoriated its allies who have vowed to recognize a Palestinian state.- Climate goals face collapse -Also on the agenda will be efforts to combat climate change which Guterres warned are floundering.Guterres said efforts to cap climate warming at 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels were in trouble.The climate goals for 2035 of the countries that signed the Paris Agreement, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), were initially expected to be submitted several months ago. However, uncertainties related to geopolitical tensions and trade rivalries have slowed the process.”We are on the verge of this objective collapsing,” he told AFP.”We absolutely need countries to come… with climate action plans that are fully aligned with 1.5 degrees (Celsius), that cover the whole of their economies and the whole of their greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.”It is essential that we have a drastic reduction of emissions in the next few years if you want to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit alive.”Less than two months before COP30 climate meeting in Brazil, dozens of countries have been slow to announce their plans — particularly China and the European Union, powers considered pivotal for the future of climate diplomacy.Efforts to combat the impact of man-made global warming have taken a backseat to myriad crises in recent years that have included the coronavirus pandemic and several wars, with Guterres seeking to reignite the issue.The UN hopes that the climate summit co-chaired Wednesday in New York by Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be an opportunity to breathe life into efforts ahead of COP30.Guterres said he was concerned that Nationally Determined Contributions, or national climate action plans, may not ultimately support the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”It’s not a matter to panic. It’s a matter to be determined, to put all pressure for countries.”Containing global warming to1.5C compared to the pre-industrial era 1850-1900 is the most ambitious goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. But many scientists agree that this threshold will most likely be reached before the end of this decade, as the planet continues to burn more and more oil, gas, and coal. The climate is already on average 1.4C warmer today, according to current estimates from the European observatory Copernicus.

A Trump-backed health panel questioned Friday the efficacy and safety of Covid-19 vaccines — and declined  explicitly to recommend them — in an argument some experts said center on “myths” and “anecdotes.”The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — a panel stacked with members handpicked by controversial US health secretary and anti-vaccination advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr — said obtaining a Covid-19 shot should be based on individual choice in consultation with a medical professional.The panel also approved language recommending that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urge health care providers to more strongly warn about alleged risks from vaccinations.Many medical and scientific organizations have cited evidence of the Covid shot’s safety and its record of providing strong protection against severe illness or death.Calling the committee’s actions “extraordinarily vague,” Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics said “this was like nothing I’ve ever seen.””What it looked like to me was a lot of clear efforts to sow distrust in vaccines, to instill fear,” he told AFP.”The focus of a lot of the discussion that we saw today around Covid vaccines was around myths, anecdotes, case series, case reports,” O’Leary said. “They were not focused at all on the actual science.”Those comments mirrored criticisms leveled by non-voting observers who attended the meeting.”It’s troubling to see the erosion of the committee’s integrity,” said Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association. President Donald Trump’s Food and Drug Administration has already narrowed approval for Covid shots — which all Americans could once get with relative ease — to the elderly and people with underlying conditions.That followed Kennedy’s spring announcement that the United States would no longer recommend the shots for children and healthy pregnant women.Public health experts have warned these shifts could muddle access for people seeking boosters both in terms of cost and availability, amid a resurgence in cases and hospitalizations. The ACIP committee considered whether to require that any person seeking a Covid vaccine first obtain a prescription — but that measure narrowly failed by a tiebreak vote.”The segment of the population that is under-insured, has lack of access to health care — they’re going to be unable to get a prescription. And those are the people that are at highest risk,” said ACIP member and epidemiologist Catherine Stein in her dissent.- Confusion -The ACIP meeting’s first day ended in confusion and contradiction. The committee recommended no child under four should receive the combination MMRV shot, which covers measles, mumps, rubella and varicella. But they also declared that a federal children’s vaccine program should still pay for it — and in a chaotic twist, they reversed that decision in a second vote Friday morning.Parents will still be offered separate MMR and chicken pox injections for their children younger than four. The combination shot has a small risk of causing temporary, non-life-threatening febrile seizures.Members also were meant to decide whether to recommend against the longstanding practice of immunizing newborns against Hepatitis B within the first 24 hours of life.Public health experts have met the prospect of that move with widespread alarm.Swift vaccination has proven the best way to prevent any maternal transmission of the incurable, highly contagious disease that can cause severe liver damage and cancer later in life, said Adam Langer, a CDC scientist who presented to the voting members.Ultimately the committee decided more debate was needed.Many respected members of medical institutions have criticized the redesigned ACIP panel.”What we’re seeing is what happens when individuals who have don’t have a basic understanding about how vaccines are delivered are making these crucial policy decisions for the American public,” O’Leary said.

Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron will offer “scientific” evidence and photos proving that France’s first lady is a woman, the lawyer representing them in a US lawsuit said Friday. Attorney Tom Clare said the Macrons planned to testify in their case against conservative American commentator Candace Owens, whom the plaintiffs accuse of helping fan online rumors about whether the French president’s wife is a transgender woman.”There will be expert testimony that will come out, that will be scientific in nature, that will also demonstrate the falsity of the statements,” Clare said in an interview on the BBC.  Clare’s comments on “Fame Under Fire,” a BBC podcast, were confirmed to AFP by spokespersons for his law firm.Speculation around Brigitte Macron’s gender has swirled in France for years. The lawsuit against Owens is unfolding as President Macron contends with a low popularity rating in opinion polls and government instability.  Clare said he couldn’t reveal details about his team’s strategy regarding the expert testimony but it was prepared to demonstrate fully that Owens, an influencer with a huge following on social media platforms, had spread falsehoods about the French first lady.The lawyer for the Macrons said that the burden of proof in this defamation case is on the plaintiffs.The plaintiffs, who filed their lawsuit against Owens in a court in the state of Delaware in July, also intend to present photographs showing Brigitte Macron with her children or photos of her when she was pregnant, Clare said. “These falsehoods are like a cancer,” he said. “They metastasize into the mainstream media.”And because Owens has a sizable audience, he added, “people listen to her.”  On Thursday, Owens posted a message on her X channel dismissing the Macrons’ allegations against her as “verifiably false.”    “She [Brigitte Macron] isn’t suing me for saying she’s a man. She has never sued anyone ever for saying she’s a dude. Because she is one,” Owens wrote.Brigitte Macron, 72, has also taken to the courts in France to combat claims she was born a man.Two women were convicted in September 2024 of spreading false claims after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging that Brigitte Macron had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux — who is actually her brother.The ruling against Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy was overturned by a Paris appeals court and Macron appealed to the highest appeals court, the Court de Cassation, earlier in July.