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The world’s tropical coral reefs have almost certainly crossed a point of no return as oceans warm beyond a level most can survive, a major scientific report announced on Monday.It is the first time scientists have declared that Earth has likely reached a so-called “tipping point” — a shift that could trigger massive and often permanent changes in the natural world.”Sadly, we’re now almost certain that we crossed one of those tipping points for warm water or tropical coral reefs,” report lead Tim Lenton, a climate and Earth system scientist at the University of Exeter, told AFP.This conclusion was supported by real-world observations of “unprecedented” coral death across tropical reefs since the first comprehensive assessment of tipping points science was published in 2023, the authors said.In the intervening years, ocean temperatures have soared to historic highs, and the biggest and most intense coral bleaching episode ever witnessed has spread to more than 80 percent of the world’s reefs.Understanding of tipping points has improved since the last report, its authors said, allowing for greater confidence in estimating when one might spark a domino effect of catastrophic and often irreversible disasters.Scientists now believe that even at lower levels of global warming than previously thought, the Amazon rainforest could tip into an unrecognisable state, and ice sheets from Greenland to West Antarctica could collapse.- ‘Unprecedented dieback’ -For coral reefs, profound and lasting changes are already in motion.”Already at 1.4C of global warming, warm water coral reefs are crossing their thermal tipping point and experiencing unprecedented dieback,” said the report by 160 scientists from dozens of global research institutions.The global scientific consensus is that most coral reefs would perish at warming of 1.5C above preindustrial levels — a threshold just years away.When stressed in hotter ocean waters, corals expel the microscopic algae that provides their distinct colour and food source.Unless ocean temperatures return to more tolerable levels, bleached corals simply cannot recover and eventually die of starvation.Since 2023, marine scientists have reported coral mortality on a scale never seen before, with reefs turning ghostly white across the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. “I am afraid their response confirms that we can no longer talk about tipping points as a future risk,” Lenton told reporters.Rather than disappear completely, scientists say reefs will evolve into less diverse ecosystems as they are overtaken by algae, sponges and other simpler organisms better able to withstand hotter oceans.These species would come to dominate this new underwater world and over time, the dead coral skeletons beneath would erode into rubble.Such a shift would be disastrous for the hundreds of millions of people whose livelihoods are tied to coral reefs, and the estimated one million species that depend on them.- ‘Danger zone’ -Some heat-resistant strains of coral may endure longer than others, the authors said, but ultimately the only response is to stop adding more planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.Exceeding 1.5C “puts the world in a greater danger zone of escalating risk of further damaging tipping points”, Lenton said, including the collapse of vital ocean currents that could have “catastrophic” knock-on impacts.Scientists also warned that tipping points in the Amazon were closer than previously thought, and “widespread dieback” and large-scale forest degradation was a risk even below 2C of global warming.That finding will be keenly felt by Brazil, which on Monday is hosting climate ministers in Brasilia ahead of next month’s UN COP30 conference in Belem on the edge of the Amazon.In good news — the exponential uptake of solar power and electric vehicles were two examples of “positive” tipping points where momentum can accelerate for the better, said Lenton.”It gives us agency back, policymakers included, to make some tangible difference, where sometimes the output from our actions is sometimes disproportionately good,” he told AFP.

US President Donald Trump declared Sunday that the “war is over in Gaza” as he headed on a high-stakes peace trip to Israel and Egypt.Speaking to reporters on Air Force One at the start of the “very special” visit, Trump brushed off concerns about the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.”The war is over. Okay? You understand that?” Trump, 79, said when asked if he was confident that the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas was finished.Asked if the ceasefire would hold, he added: “I think it’s going to hold. I think people are tired of it. It’s been centuries.”In Israel, Trump is due to meet the families of hostages seized by Hamas in its October 7, 2023 cross-border attack, before addressing the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem.Trump will then head to Egypt where he and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a summit of more than 20 world leaders to back his plan to end the Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.The two-term president’s lightning trip is partly a victory lap over the Gaza deal that he helped broker with a 20-point peace plan announced in late September.”Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time. This is a very special event,” Trump said earlier as he prepared to board the plane at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, holding an umbrella as light rain fell.Key US officials were traveling with him including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and top military officer Dan Caine.- ‘Put my feet on it’ -But Trump will also be looking to resolve some of the huge uncertainty around the next phases — including Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s failure to pledge a full withdrawal from the devastated territory.Trump insisted he had “guarantees” from both sides and other key regional players about the initial phase of the deal, and the future stages.”We have a lot of verbal guarantees, and I don’t think they’re going to want to disappoint me,” Trump said.The Republican leader added that his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “very good,” adding: “I had some disputes with him and they were quickly settled.”Trump said he would eventually like to visit Gaza itself, without saying when such a difficult security challenge would be possible.”I would be proud to,” Trump said. “I’d like to put my feet on it at least.”A new governing body for devastated Gaza — which Trump himself would head under his own plan — would be established “very quickly,” he added.But he appeared to take a step back over his plans to involve former British prime minister Tony Blair, a controversial choice in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.”I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody,” Trump said.

US President Donald Trump declared the Gaza war “over” on Sunday as he headed to the region to host a peace summit, while Hamas prepared to release surviving hostages after two years in captivity. Under the US president’s proposed roadmap, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the hostages, Israel will begin releasing around 2,000 detainees in exchange.But negotiators were still wrangling late Sunday over the final arrangements, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.A confident Trump told reporters travelling with him that “the war is over,” as he took off from Washington for “a very special” trip.The US leader is due to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release, and will address the Israeli parliament before heading to Egypt to host a meeting of world leaders to back his plan to end the two-year-old Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Together we achieved tremendous victories, victories that amazed the whole world… But at the same time I must tell you, the fight is not over.””This is an emotional evening, an evening of tears, an evening of joy, because tomorrow our children will return to our borders,” Netanyahu said, quoting a biblical verse.Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, also claimed victory. “The military pressure we applied over the past two years, together with complementary diplomatic measures, constitute a victory over Hamas,” Zamir said.Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office, said the hostage release will begin early Monday, with Israel “expecting all 20 of our living hostages to be released together at one time”.A senior Israeli military official however told reporters: “Unfortunately… we anticipate that not all fallen hostages will be returned tomorrow.”Bedrosian earlier said an “international body” would be set up to locate the remains of those not returned as part of Monday’s exchange.- ‘Completed all preparations’ –   “Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel,” Bedrosian said.Two Hamas sources, meanwhile, told AFP the group was insisting Israel free seven prominent Palestinian figures as part of the exchange — at least one of whom Israel has previously refused to release.The source said that the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages.Under the plan, Hamas is to release the remaining 47 hostages — living and dead — who were abducted on October 7, 2023, during a cross-border Hamas attack that left 1,219 people dead, most of them civilians, and triggered Israel’s devastating campaign.Hamas is also expected to hand over remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war. Among the Palestinian prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.After his Israel visit, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will chair a summit of leaders from more than 20 countries in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.- ‘Fear and worry’ -UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he will attend, as have leaders from Britain,  Italy, Spain, France and King Abdullah of Jordan.No Israeli nor Hamas officials will be present, officials from both camps confirmed. The third day of the ceasefire saw some aid trucks cross into Gaza, but residents in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, said some shipments were being ransacked by starving residents in chaotic scenes that saw food parcels trampled.For Mahmud al-Muzain, a bystander, the scuffle showed that Gazans did not trust that the US-led negotiations would lead to a long-term peace. “Everyone fears the war will return,” he told AFP. “We stockpile food out of fear and worry that the war will come back.”In Israel, the mother of 25-year-old hostage Matan Zangauker described her intense longing.”My emotions are immense, there are no words to describe them — for me, for us, for all of Israel, which wants the hostages home and waits to see them all return,” said Einav Zangauker.- ‘A long-term truce’ -Hamas has over the past two years suffered staggering losses including the killing of its top leaders both in Gaza and in exile.But the movement has not been crushed, and a source close to the its negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that while it would not participate in post-war Gaza governance, it will not lay down its weapons.Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.burs-dc/jd/ser/yad/rlp

President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States wants to help China, not hurt it, striking a conciliatory tone days after threatening an additional 100 percent tariff on the world’s second-largest economy.Trump’s statements on Friday as well as his threat to cancel a meeting with Xi later this month sent Wall Street stocks tumbling into …

Trump says US ‘wants to help China, not hurt it’ Read More »

Israel declared victory on Sunday in its war with Hamas as the militant group prepared to release its surviving hostages, a key step in Donald Trump’s Gaza plan hours before he hosts a peace summit in Egypt. Under the US president’s proposed roadmap, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the hostages, Israel will begin releasing around 2,000 detainees in exchange.But negotiators were still wrangling late Sunday over the final arrangements, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was nevertheless confident.  “This is an emotional evening, an evening of tears, an evening of joy, because tomorrow our children will return to our borders,” Netanyahu said, quoting a biblical verse.”Together we achieved tremendous victories, victories that amazed the whole world … But at the same time I must tell you, the fight is not over,” he said.Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, also claimed victory. “The military pressure we applied over the past two years, together with complementary diplomatic measures, constitute a victory over Hamas,” Zamir said.Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office, said the hostage release will begin early Monday, with Israel “expecting all 20 of our living hostages to be released together at one time”.Trump is to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release, and will address the Israeli parliament before heading to Egypt to host a meeting of world leaders to back his plan to end the two-year-old Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.- ‘Completed all preparations’ –   “Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel,” Bedrosian said.Two Hamas sources, meanwhile, told AFP the group was insisting Israel free seven prominent Palestinian figures as part of the exchange — at least one of whom Israel has previously rejected.The source said that the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages.Under the plan, Hamas is to release the remaining 47 hostages — living and dead — who were abducted on October 7, 2023, during a cross-border Hamas attack that left 1,219 people dead, most of them civilians, and triggered Israel’s devastating campaign.Hamas is also expected to hand over remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war. Among the Palestinian prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.After his Israel visit, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will chair a summit of leaders from more than 20 countries in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.The Egyptian presidency said the meeting will aim “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security”.- ‘Fear and worry’ -UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he will attend, as has Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his counterparts from Italy and Spain, Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sanchez, King Abdullah of Jordan and French President Emmanuel Macron.No Israeli nor Hamas officials will be present, officials from both camps confirmed. The third day of the ceasefire saw some aid trucks cross into Gaza, but residents in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, said some shipments were being ransacked by starving residents in chaotic scenes that saw food parcels trampled.For Mahmud al-Muzain, a bystander, the scuffle showed that Gazans did not trust that the US-led negotiations would lead to a long-term peace. “Everyone fears the war will return,” he told AFP. “We stockpile food out of fear and worry that the war will come back.”Since the ceasefire in the territory took hold, many displaced residents, like 38-year-old Fatima Salem, have been returning to devastated homes.”My eyes kept searching for landmarks I had lost — nothing looked the same, even the neighbours’ houses were gone,” she said. In Israel, the mother of 25-year-old hostage Matan Zangauker described her intense longing.”My emotions are immense, there are no words to describe them — for me, for us, for all of Israel, which wants the hostages home and waits to see them all return,” said Einav Zangauker.- ‘A long-term truce’ -Going forward, mediators still have the tricky task of securing a longer-term solution.Hamas has over the past two years suffered staggering losses including the killing of its top leaders both in Gaza and in exile.Still, the movement has not been crushed, and a source close to the its negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that while it would not participate in post-war Gaza governance, it will not lay down its weapons.”Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.burs-dc/jd/ser

A Gaza ceasefire was holding for a third day on Sunday, ahead of a proposed hostage-prisoner exchange and a summit aimed at charting a path to peace after two years of war.US President Donald Trump is among the leaders expected in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday for the Gaza peace summit co-hosted by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.The following are the latest key developments in the peace process:- Hostage-prisoner exchange -The Gaza peace deal hinges on both sides adhering to an agreement to exchange hostages seized from Israel in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.The initial stage of the ceasefire deal includes the release of 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 Gazans held by Israel since the war broke out.Israel and Hamas said the hostages would be released Monday morning, ahead of a midday (0900 GMT) deadline under the terms of the ceasefire agreement proposed by Trump.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said the Palestinian prisoners would be “released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel”.Later, Netanyahu called for the imminent release of hostages to be a moment of unity in Israel and a “path of healing… a path of united hearts”.- Gaza summit -Trump and Sisi will chair the Gaza peace summit on Monday in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.The gathering aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability”, the Egyptian president’s office said.On Sunday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said a “document ending the war in the Gaza Strip” was expected to be signed during the “historic” gathering.A diplomatic source said mediators US, Egypt, Qatar and likely Turkey would sign a guarantee document during the summit.But neither of the warring parties will attend, with Netanyahu’s office saying no Israeli officials would take part, following earlier confirmation from Hamas that it would not send representatives.Among those expected to attend are UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Egypt has said 21 nations will take part, with representation also expected from the EU and Arab League, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Germany, among others.Iran also said it received an invitation, but did not indicate whether it would attend.- Hamas post-war role -A Hamas source close to the group’s negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that it would not participate in governing post-war Gaza.The source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the Islamist movement has “relinquished control of the Strip”, but stressed it “remains a fundamental part of the Palestinian fabric”.”Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier told AFP the militant group’s disarmament was “out of the question”.- Aid heads for Gaza -More than 200 trucks carrying aid destined for Gaza, including six diesel fuel trucks and five carrying cooking gas, were unloaded on Sunday at the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Palestinian territory, according to an AFP reporter who also saw the empty vehicles return to the Egyptian side. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured back into a shattered Gaza City on Saturday, a day after the guns fell silent.Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas’ authority, said more than 500,000 people had returned by Saturday evening.burs-dv/csp/jsa

Hamas said it had finished preparations for freeing its remaining living hostages, which Israel expects to take place early Monday, fulfilling a key step in Donald Trump’s Gaza plan hours before he hosts a peace summit in Egypt. Under the US president’s proposal, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the hostages, Israel is expected to begin releasing around 2,000 detainees in exchange.But negotiators were still wrangling Sunday over the final arrangements, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, said the hostage release “will begin early Monday morning”, with Israel “expecting all 20 of our living hostages to be released together at one time”.Trump is set to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release, and will address the Israeli parliament before heading to Egypt to host a meeting of world leaders to back his plan to end the two-year-old Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.- ‘Completed all preparations’ –   “Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel,” Bedrosian said.During a previous truce, the identification of deceased hostages was only confirmed after autopsies at Israel’s Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.Two Hamas sources, meanwhile, told AFP the group was insisting Israel free seven prominent Palestinian figures as part of the exchange — at least one of whom Israel has previously rejected.”Hamas insists that the final list include seven senior leaders, most notably Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas Al-Sayyed,” one source said, a claim confirmed by the other. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.The source said that the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages held in Gaza.Under the terms of the plan, Hamas is to release the remaining 47 hostages — living and dead — who were abducted on October 7, 2023, during the brutal cross-border Hamas assault that left 1,219 people dead, most of them civilians, and triggered Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza.Hamas is also expected to hand over remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war. Among the Palestinian prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were arrested by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.After his Israel visit, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will chair a summit of leaders from more than 20 countries in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.The Egyptian presidency said the meeting will aim “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security”.- ‘Fear and worry’ -UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he will attend, as has Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his counterparts from Italy and Spain, Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sanchez, and French President Emmanuel Macron.No Israeli nor Hamas officials will be present, officials from both camps confirmed. The third day of the ceasefire saw some aid trucks cross into Gaza, but residents in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, said some shipments were being ransacked by starving residents in chaotic scenes that saw food parcels trampled.For Mahmud al-Muzain, a bystander, the scuffle showed that Gazans did not trust that the US-led negotiations would lead to a long-term peace. “Everyone fears the war will return,” he told AFP. “We stockpile food out of fear and worry that the war will come back.”Since the ceasefire in the territory took hold, many displaced residents, like 38-year-old Fatima Salem, have been returning to devastated homes.”My eyes kept searching for landmarks I had lost — nothing looked the same, even the neighbours’ houses were gone,” she said. “I missed the smell of my home, even if it’s now just rubble. We will pitch a tent next to it and wait for reconstruction.”- ‘A long-term truce’ -Despite the apparent breakthrough in negotiations, mediators still have the tricky task of securing a longer-term political solution that will see Hamas hand over its weapons.A Hamas source close to the group’s negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that it would not participate in post-war Gaza governance but he pushed back on calls for Hamas to lay down its weapons.”Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.burs-dc/jd/smw