The United States on Friday became only the second country to ever boycott a United Nations review of its human rights record, as President Donald Trump’s administration faced criticism over mounting abuses.US seats were left empty at the world body’s European headquarters in Geneva for the so-called Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which all 193 UN member states have to undergo every four to five years.Some countries have requested postponements since the UPR began in 2008 but Israel was the only previous no-show in early 2013, although it eventually underwent a delayed review 10 months later.As the review was set to begin, UN Human Rights Council president Jurg Lauber looked at the empty seats behind the US nameplate and said: “I note that the delegation of the United States is not present in the room.”The US absence was not a surprise after the Trump administration decided early this year to halt Washington’s cooperation with the rights council, and announced in August it would also boycott the UPR process.But it still angered a number of US local officials and rights groups who had come to Geneva to list their growing concerns since Trump returned to power in January.- ‘Shocking’ -“It’s shocking that the US decided not to participate,” Carolyn Nash of Amnesty International told AFP, accusing Washington of “walking away from even the impression of caring about the safety and security of people in the US and around the world”.This is “really an abdication of US multilateral and human rights leadership,” Uzra Zeya, head of Human Rights First, told AFP.Speaking at one of several events at the UN connected with the aborted US review, she warned the government had created an “unprecedented reprisal environment” with infringements on free speech, government “weaponisation of federal funds” and Trump’s “massive deportation operation”. Others listed the crackdowns on universities, the media and art institutions, as well as lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, among alarming developments.Larry Krasner, who was re-elected district attorney of Philadelphia earlier this week, told AFP he was not surprised that “criminal” Trump “wants to escape accountability”.But he voiced hope the “moral authority” of the people would help “rein in a rough president … who wants to be Adolf Hitler”.The side events were taking place in a room of the UN’s European headquarters where former US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights before its adoption in 1948.”It’s tragic and deeply ironic that we helped to create the norms as well as this (UPR) process that we are now backing out of,” a former senior US official told AFP, asking not to be named.- Need for ‘sunlight’ -Many urged the international community to speak out and support their work to hold the US government in check.”It’s the Human Rights Council, the United Nations system and a community of nations committed to human rights and democracy who can bring necessary sunlight to these abuses,” said Chandra Bhatnagar, head of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s southern California branch.Holly Mitchell, the elected supervisor of the Second District County of Los Angeles, agreed.”When the president sends tanks into the streets and disappears people, people are taken from home, off the street, from their families, from school, without any rights, being held without access to counsel, I believe we’re in trouble,” she said. “It’s going to take the world’s eye and the world’s voice to hold him accountable.”Observers warned the US absence could serve as a bad example.”We hope this doesn’t risk normalising withdrawal from the council,” Sanjay Sethi, co-head of the Artistic Freedom Initiative, told AFP.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday said Earth cannot sustain humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels and without confronting this reality the climate fight will be lost.The leftist leader spoke at a pre-COP30 summit in the Brazilian Amazon where other heads of state and government implored all nations to start weaning off the burning of coal, oil and gas responsible for most of planet-heating pollution.    Evidence of dangerous warming has never been clearer: the decade since the Paris Agreement has been the hottest on record, marked by intensifying hurricanes, heatwaves and wildfires.Lula said tackling the urgent question over the future of energy would determine “success or failure in the battle against climate change,” he added.”Earth can no longer sustain the development model based on the intensive use of fossil fuels that has prevailed over the past 200 years,” Lula told world leaders in Belem where the UN climate talks are taking place.Brazil has stressed that each country would pursue its own course to “transition away from fossil fuels” — a pact made by all nations at a previous COP in Dubai in 2023.Lula is presiding over the world’s top climate negotiations just weeks after his government approved new oil drilling in the Amazon region.Earlier this week he told AFP and other outlets that “it’s not easy” for countries to reduce fossil fuels, but that the subject could be approached through a “roadmap” developed at COP30.Rwanda’s environment minister Bernadette Arakwiye told delegates that they face a stark choice.  “We can continue with incremental progress while the planet burns, or we can rise to meet the scale of this crisis,” she said.  “The fossil fuel era is drawing to a close. We must now ensure the transition is just, inclusive and equitable.”- ‘Fossil age ending’ -The absence of leaders from the world’s biggest polluters, including the United States, where President Donald Trump has dismissed climate science as a “con job,” cast a shadow over talks, but also catalyzed calls for greater mobilization.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the summit that his country was moving forward with others to tax premium-class flights and private jets, one major source of heat-trapping emissions.”It is only fair that those who have more and pollute more should pay their fair share,” he said.UN chief Antonio Guterres said global investment in renewable energy reached two trillion dollars in 2024 — eight hundred million more than polluting forms of energy.”The fossil fuel age is ending,” he told an event in Belem, a rainforest city on the edge of the Amazon.Guterres warned Thursday that the world would fail to keep global warming below 1.5C — the Paris Agreement’s primary target — but must keep to a minimum any overshoot before returning temperatures below this safer limit.Despite this, climate change has slipped down the agenda as nations grapple with economic pressures, trade disputes and wars, as well as the Trump administration’s aggressively pushing for more fossil fuels.- Roadmap support -Lula lamented the “pressure and threats” that led the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to postpone a plan to curb shipping emissions, and also spoke of the need to pursue alternative fuels for transport and industry including ethanol.And the latest round of negotiations to agree a world-first treaty on plastic — a byproduct of oil and gas manufactured by petrochemical companies — collapsed in August.The idea of phasing out hydrocarbons is gaining traction in Europe. Despite their divisions, EU countries noted that they have reduced greenhouse gas emissions for more than three decades and are aiming for a 90 percent cut by 2040.Lula’s “roadmap” presented on day one of the summit — a pathway to halting deforestation, reducing fossil fuel use, and finding the money to achieve those goals — was applauded from the floor.A formal anti-fossil fuel decision in Belem is unlikely, given the requirement for consensus among nearly 200 countries attending the conference.Still, COP30 will put a spotlight on countries’ voluntary pledges and their implementation, which could lead to fresh announcements on methane — a “super pollutant” and the main component of natural gas, prone to leaking from pipelines and installations.burs-np/klm/bgs

Stock markets tumbled Friday as fears of an AI bubble deepened a tech selloff, with investors also rattled by weak economic data and a prolonged US government shutdown.The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was down almost two percent near midday on Wall Street, with shares in the world’s most valuable company, AI chip designer Nvidia, shedding more than four percent.”It’s one thing for equity markets to suffer a general pullback, as happened during the Trump Tariff Tantrum in April,” said David Morrison, analyst at Trade Nation financial services firm.”But it’s quite another to see stocks at the vanguard of AI development getting trashed. What adds to concerns is that there has been no obvious catalyst for the selloff,” he added.Massive investments in artificial intelligence have fuelled a tech rally this year, but some investors fear the valuations are now too high, sparking a selloff this week.”Some analysts warn that this year’s artificial-intelligence-led rally has finally come to a halt,” said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.”Others suggest markets needed to cool down anyway with indices racing to record highs without much pause and new stimulus,” he added.Investors were also rocked by data showing US consumer sentiment dipped in November to its lowest level since mid-2022.The University of Michigan’s index of consumer sentiment dropped by six percent this month, preliminary estimates indicate, to a reading of 50.3 from October’s 53.6 figure.It came a day afer a report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed US layoffs hit the highest level in 22 years last month.Investors have been forced to use private data as a guide to the state of the world’s biggest economy because the longest-running US government shutdown has closed numerous departments.The shutdown also forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Friday after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered reductions to ease the strain on air traffic controllers who are working without pay.While the latest jobs figures came a day after news that private hiring had increased, it sparked concerns about the labour market and put pressure on the Fed to cut borrowing costs for a third successive meeting in December.However, comments from central bank officials suggested another reduction was not certain, echoing boss Jerome Powell’s warning last week.Markets were also pressured by official data showing China’s exports fell in October for the first time in eight months as trade tensions flared in the weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump reached a detente.London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index was dragged down by double-digit falls in the share prices of online property business Rightmove and British Airways owner IAG following earnings updates that undershot market expectations.- Key figures at around 1640 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 46,616.29 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.1 percent at 6,646.42 New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.9 percent at 22,621.37London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 9,682.57 Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,950.18Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 23,569.96Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2 percent at 50,276.37 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 26,241.83 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,997.56 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1576 from $1.1548 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3165 from $1.3135Dollar/yen: UP at 153.05 yen from 153.04 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.83 pence from 87.91 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $63.56 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $59.63 per barrelburs-bcp-lth/tw