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The world’s top conservation body is holding its world congress starting Thursday in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi and will unveil its updated “red list” of threatened species.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose decisions help set the global agenda on environmental protection, will on Friday publish its list ranking at-risk plant and animal species from “least concern” to “extinct”.The congress, held every four years, sheds light on the dire state of the world’s biodiversity. An increasing number of animals suffer from the destruction of their natural habitat, climate change, and water, air and soil pollution.According to the United Nations’s expert scientific panel on biodiversity (IPBES), biodiversity has declined every decade in the past 30 to 50 years.The IUCN congress last convened in the French city of Marseille in 2021.In an update to its “red list” last year, the IUCN said that out of the 169,420 species studied, a total of 47,187 were classified as threatened — more than a quarter.The most impacted species were corals and amphibians, with more than 40 percent of each group under threat.- ‘Urgency’ -“The Congress programme reflects the urgency and ambition of our time,” said Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and IUCN councillor from the West Asia region.IUCN Director General Grethel Aguilar of Costa Rica said the upcoming announcements “reflect the scale of ambition and the real possibility of delivering the solutions we need to build a planet where people and nature thrive together”.The IUCN congress votes on adopting resolutions.Though not legally binding, they can “shape the international agenda” and “accelerate” work on treaties under discussion, an IUCN source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the event freely.- Synthetic biology debate -The most closely watched vote revolves around two competing motions on synthetic biology — a controversial technique widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness.It enables scientists to redesign organisms by engineering them to have new abilities.One motion calls for a moratorium on the technology because “genetic engineering of wild species in natural ecosystems, including in protected areas, is not compatible with the practices, values and principles of nature conservation”.A competing motion argues that synthetic biology could complement conservation efforts, and says IUCN policy “should not be interpreted as supporting or opposing synthetic biology, per se”.Organisers expect 10,000 delegates and 5,000 civil society attendees.The IUCN congress describes itself as “world’s largest and most inclusive nature conservation forum”.Its voting members include government agencies, national and international NGOs, and Indigenous groups.

Now into its second week, the US government shutdown has started impacting federal workers, prompting some to take out new loans to help make ends meet. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed since the shutdown began on October 1, while others deemed essential — including some military personnel — have been required to turn up to work without receiving a paycheck.”We kind of feel like we’re like a bargaining chip to an extent,” a long-serving US Air Force employee told AFP. “We’re not getting paid because people in D.C. who are getting paid can’t get on the same page.””Not only are we working without pay, we’re actually doing more without pay, because our civilian teammates have all gone home on furlough,” added the man, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “That’s not good for troop morale.”The first test will come next week, when federal workers will start seeing their paychecks affected.But if no deal is reached by the end of this month, federal workers will receive nothing in the following paycheck. “It’s very stressful,” said Marilyn Richards, a 46-year-old Air Force and Navy veteran in Missouri, who has been furloughed — forced to take leave — from her job as an administrative support worker at a federal agency.Richards, who is the main breadwinner at home, told AFP that she was concerned about how the shutdown could affect her finances. “For most of us who live paycheck to paycheck, you’re counting on your next paycheck to continue to keep the lights on,” she told AFP. “And that’s what I do.”- Bridging the gap -The uncertainty unleashed by the shutdown is pushing some federal employees to make use of paycheck protection programs being rolled out by credit unions across the country. The Navy Federal Credit Union — which helped around 19,000 people with loans totaling more than $50 million during the last shutdown in 2018-2019 — has already seen applications for its program this time around, according to a spokesperson. These loans are designed to help federal workers get through a few weeks without pay and “bridge the gap” until the shutdown ends and they receive their back pay, Haleigh Laverty, a spokesperson for the Defense Credit Union Council, told AFP. Many of their members are offering short-term, interest-free loans of a few thousand dollars for between 90 days and six months, helping to protect consumers — and their credit scores — during the shutdown.   Among them is the Cobalt Credit Union, which serves around 120,000 members with ties to Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of the US Strategic Command.”We still have active duty and a lot of essential positions on the base that have to report due to missions all over the world,” Cobalt Credit Union president and CEO Robin Larson told AFP. The credit union helped thousands of its members get through the last shutdown, and has received several applications for new loans since October 1. – Mortgage challenges? -While federal workers are the most affected by the shutdown, many in the private sector could also soon feel its effects, according to mortgage brokers who spoke to AFP. The biggest impact of the shutdown on the mortgage market is likely to be a slowing down of the lending process, said Alex St. Pierre, a Charleston, South Carolina-based broker. Flood insurance — which is vital in some coastal areas of the United States — is also likely to be affected, as many state-run lenders are currently shuttered, potentially pushing borrowers to look at more expensive options in the private sector, he told AFP.  Government workers looking for a mortgage face additional pressures, including the very real threat of dismissal by the Trump administration, and delays to identity verification checks while their departments are closed, he said. 

Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday to the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire aimed at ending a war that has killed tens of thousands, razed the Palestinian territory and unleashed a major humanitarian crisis.The deal, to be signed Thursday, includes the release of hostages and prisoners as well as a surge of aid into Gaza after more than two years of war started by Hamas’s unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel. Palestinian militant group Hamas would release all hostages while Israel would pull its troops back to an agreed on line, US President Donald Trump said after talks in Egypt on his 20-point peace plan resulted in a deal.Qatar said the deal was the “first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid”.Hamas will exchange 20 living hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the first phase of a deal, a source within the militant group told AFP Thursday.The exchange will take place within 72 hours of the implementation of the agreement, which is expected to be signed on Thursday, the source familiar with the negotiations said.The hostages will be released in exchange for 250 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 others arrested by Israel since the war began, the source added.”I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.”This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.”Trump also thanked mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, adding: “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would bring the hostages home “with God’s help”.Trump said earlier that he may travel to the Middle East this week as a deal was “very close”.In a dramatic moment, AFP journalists saw US Secretary of State Marco Rubio interrupt an event at the White House and hand Trump an urgent note about the progress of the negotiations in Egypt.”I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday,” Trump said, adding that he was “most likely” to turn up in Egypt but would also consider going to war-torn Gaza.Trump’s plan called for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the territory.Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived at the talks earlier.- ‘Optimism prevails’ -As night fell in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, an AFP contributor described an atmosphere of anticipation before the announcement, with joyful chants of “Allahu akbar”, meaning God is the greatest, and some celebratory gunfire into the air.”We’re closely following every bit of news about the negotiations and the ceasefire,” said 50-year-old Mohammed Zamlot, who had been displaced from northern Gaza.Hamas had submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails in the first phase of the truce.In exchange, Hamas is set to free the remaining 47 hostages, both alive and dead, who were seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the war.Qatar’s prime minister and Turkey’s intelligence chief were also expected at the talks on Wednesday. Hamas said it would be joined by delegations from Islamic Jihad — which has also held some of the hostages in Gaza — as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.The negotiations were taking place under the shadow of the second anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 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.The territory’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas’s authority, said the bombardment of Gaza had not stopped in the hours before the deal. An AFP journalist in Israel near the Gaza border reported hearing multiple explosions in the morning.- Protests, prisoners -Global pressure to end the war has escalated, with much of Gaza flattened, a UN-declared famine unfolding and Israeli hostage families still longing for their loved ones’ return.One key to the negotiations was the names of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas pushed for.High-profile inmate Marwan Barghouti — from Hamas’s rival, the Fatah movement — is among those the group wanted to see released, according to Egyptian state-linked media. Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, also said the Islamist group wants “guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all”.burs-dk/bjt/tc

Concerns over flight delays and missed paychecks due to the US government shutdown escalated Wednesday, as senators rejected yet another bid to end the standoff.Democrats voted for a sixth time to block a Republican stopgap funding measure to reopen government departments, keeping much of the federal workforce home or working without pay.With the shutdown in its eighth day, lines at airports were expected to grow amid increased absenteeism among security and safety staff at some of the country’s busiest hubs.Air traffic controllers — seen as “essential” public servants — are kept at work during government shutdowns, but higher numbers are calling in sick rather than toiling without pay, leading to shortages.Staffing problems have already been reported in almost a dozen airports from Chicago and Boston to Burbank and Houston, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with further issues expected at Newark, a major hub for the New York City area.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNN on Wednesday that he was “encouraging air traffic controllers to show up for work,” after noting an increase in use of sick days earlier this week.”We’re having maybe a bit of rebellion by air traffic controllers caused by the shutdown,” Duffy said. “The problem is, when I’ve talked to them, they are stressed out. They are wondering, how do they put food on the table?”Duffy said little more than half — 53 percent — of current delays are a result of lack of staffing, as compared to about 5 percent in recent months, before the shutdown.”My message to them: they work for me. They got to go to work, show up, control the airspace, and eventually they get paid,” Duffy said.- No end in sight -Aviation monitor FlightAware reported around 10,000 flights delayed on Monday and Tuesday. Although this is not thought to be an unusually high number, the FAA warned it could worsen.”As Secretary Duffy said, there have been increased staffing shortages across the system,” it said in a statement. “When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”There appears to be little hope of a quick end to the shutdown, with Democrats refusing to back any funding bill that doesn’t offer an extension of expiring health care subsidies for 24 million people. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been forcing votes most days on a temporary fix passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives, each one failing to garner sufficient Democratic votes.Meanwhile Trump continues to wield the threat of turning many of the 750,000 enforced absences — known as furloughs — into permanent layoffs.A draft memo circulated by the White House this week said furloughed workers aren’t guaranteed compensation for their time off — meaning many could lose out on back pay.Some federal workers — including US Capitol Police — are set to miss part of their pay for the first time on Friday — amping up pressure for Congress to end the crisis.A bigger so-called pain point comes next Wednesday, when 1.3 million active-duty service members — as well as tens of thousands of National Guard members and thousands of Coast Guard personnel — are due to miss their first paycheck.

A man suspected of deliberately causing one of the deadliest fires in US history appeared in court Wednesday charged with sparking a blaze that tore through Los Angeles in January.The development comes as the nation’s second-largest city was still grappling with the aftermath of two huge fires that together killed 31 people and left thousands of acres (hectares) in ruins, as they displaced thousands of people.Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29-year-old who was arrested on Tuesday, made an initial appearance in a federal court in Florida, where he now lives, charged with destruction of property by means of fire.”The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli said.Rinderknecht did not enter a plea and is expected to appear in court again Thursday, the US Attorney’s Office said.Rinderknecht is alleged to have ignited the Palisades Fire in the early minutes of New Year’s Day on a popular hiking trail above the well-heeled suburb, which is home to celebrities and is one of the most sought-after pieces of real estate in the United States.The blaze was initially contained by firefighters, but smoldered underground in the roots of plants.Investigators believe powerful winds that swept through the area a week later reignited it.Those flames grew to engulf Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu, destroying thousands of homes and killing a dozen people.A separate fire that erupted in the more modest suburb of Altadena at the same time also caused devastation over a wide area, killing 19 people.- AI images -Essayli said Rinderknecht, who lived in Pacific Palisades at the time, was working as an Uber driver in the area and had dropped passengers off moments before he set the fire.At a press conference, investigators showed AI-generated images that they allege the suspect had created in the weeks before the blaze, showing a cityscape in flames.Rinderknecht was also alleged to have repeatedly watched the video for a French rap track that included images of fire.Kenny Cooper of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), one of the agencies that investigated the fire, said he could not speak to motive at this stage.”I wish we could get into somebody’s head, but we can’t,” he said. “Evil people do evil things.”The two major fires that gripped the Los Angeles area in January were among the deadliest blazes in California history.They were also one of the costliest natural disasters ever, with estimates of damage running into hundreds of billions of dollars.Firefighters struggled for days to contain the blazes, hampered by winds up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour that prevented their using helicopters and planes.The sheer scale of the inferno in a city created difficulties, as did an urban water supply that was never designed to cope with such enormous conflagrations.The arrest came after an intense investigation, with speculation that errant fireworks may have sparked the Palisades Fire.In July, the Southern California Edison power company said it would begin paying compensation to those affected by the Eaton Fire that devastated Altadena.While no official cause of the fire has been revealed yet, the finger of blame has been pointing for months at a power line in the hills behind Altadena.Several videos and witness accounts suggest the equipment produced sparks that could have caused the fast-moving flames.

US President Donald Trump will have a “routine” medical checkup on Friday at a military facility near Washington, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.”On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops. While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly checkup,” Leavitt said Wednesday.The doctor’s visit will mark the second such annual medical appointment this year for Trump — who reported feeling “in very good shape” after his annual visit in April. At the time of that checkup, Leavitt said all of Trump’s test results “were within normal limits,” and he had a “normal cardiac structure and function, no signs of heart failure, renal impairment or systemic illness.”At 79, Trump is the oldest serving US president, and has frequently boasted of his vigor, especially in comparison to his adversary, former president Joe Biden.  Trump has repeatedly been accused of a lack of openness about his health despite huge interest in the well-being of America’s commander-in-chief.In September, he dismissed social media rumors swirling about his health — including false posts that he had died. In July, the White House said Trump was diagnosed with a chronic but benign vein condition — chronic venous insufficiency — following speculation about his bruised hand and swollen legs.The hand issue, Leavitt has previously said, was linked to the aspirin he takes as part of a “standard” cardiovascular health program.

A US country music star and military veteran became the latest — and possibly least likely — target of the Trump administration after it took issue with his lyrics about brazen immigration raids.Zach Bryan, a Grammy winner who packs out stadiums with fans of a musical genre that usually appeals to conservatives, sparked the ire of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an as-yet unreleased track in which he sings about ICE agents and police who “come bust down your door.””I hope he understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told a right-wing podcaster after hearing a snippet.DHS assistant secretary of public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said Bryan should “stick to Pink Skies, dude,” in a reference to a previous hit by the songmaker.The department, which has adopted an aggressive social media strategy that revels in the often-violent raids carried out by its Immigration and Customs Enforcment (ICE) officers, put out a montage video of arrests overlaid with another Bryan song, “Revival.”The lyrics in question come from “Bad News,” part of which Bryan posted on Instagram.”My friends are all degenerates, but they’re all I got, the generational story of dropping the plot. I heard the cops came, Cocky motherfuckers, ain’t they? And ICE is gonna come bust down your door,” he sings.”The middle finger’s rising, and it won’t stop showing. Got some bad news, the fading of the red, white, and blue.”On Tuesday, Bryan hit out at the backlash, insisting the song is about his love for his country.Anyone who uses it “as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are,” he said on Instagram.”When you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle.” Bryan, who served in the US Navy, and whose parents are both veterans, said he was not taking an extreme stance.”Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides,” he said. The fracas is the latest between the Trump administration and pop culture figures.Last week officials lashed out over NFL plans for Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, with Noem insisting ICE agents would be present at an event where even the cheapest tickets are well out of reach for most undocumented migrants.Thousands of immigration enforcement officers have fanned out across the United States in recent months as part of Trump’s election pledge to carry out the largest deportation in US history.While their raids are popular among some Trump supporters, the operations have been criticised as unnecessarily violent and apparently unfocused, seemingly targeting people solely on the basis of their skin color or the language they speak.

Concerns over flight delays and missed paychecks due to the US government shutdown escalated Wednesday, as senators rejected yet another bid to end the standoff.Democrats voted for a sixth time to block a Republican stopgap funding measure to reopen government departments, keeping much of the federal workforce home or working without pay.With the shutdown in its eighth day, lines at airports were expected to grow amid increased absenteeism among security and safety staff at some of the country’s busiest hubs.Air traffic controllers — seen as “essential” public servants — are kept at work during government shutdowns, but higher numbers calling in sick rather than toiling without pay leads to shortages.Staffing problems have already been reported in almost a dozen airports from Chicago and Boston to Burbank and Houston, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with further chaos expected at Newark, a major hub for the New York City area. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at Newark Airport on Monday there had already been a “slight” increase nationwide in air traffic controllers calling in sick.”I want to see your flight not be delayed. I don’t want you canceled, but our priorities are safety,” he said.”And so if we have additional sick calls, we will reduce the flow consistent with a rate that’s safe for the American people.”Aviation monitor FlightAware reported around 10,000 flights delayed on Monday and Tuesday. Although this is not thought to be an unusually high number, the FAA warned that snarl-ups could worsen.”As Secretary Duffy said, there have been increased staffing shortages across the system,” it said in a statement. “When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”There appears to be little hope of a quick end to the shutdown, with Democrats refusing to back any funding bill that doesn’t offer an extension of expiring health care subsidies for 24 million people. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been forcing votes most days on a temporary fix passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives, each one rejected by the Democrats.Meanwhile Trump continues to wield the threat of turning many of the 750,000 enforced absences — known as furloughs — into permanent layoffs.A draft memo circulated by the White House this week said furloughed workers aren’t guaranteed compensation for their time off — meaning many could lose out on back pay.Some federal workers — including US Capitol Police — are set to miss part of their pay for the first time on Friday — amping up pressure for Congress to end the crisis.A bigger so-called pain point comes next Wednesday, when 1.3 million active-duty service members — as well as tens of thousands of National Guard members and thousands of Coast Guard personnel — are due to miss their first paycheck.

It’s like the opposite of naming your dream dinner party guests.In a Netflix interview aired posthumously, Jane Goodall, who died last week at 91, said she’d gladly send Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Benjamin Netanyahu off the planet in a SpaceX rocket.Clips from the show “Famous Last Words” have since gone viral with tens of millions of views, drawing praise but also some scorn for the legendary primatologist, and even sparking debate over whether the footage was real or AI-generated.Netflix said she filmed the interview in March with the understanding that it would not be released until after her death.”Do you have people that you don’t like?” host Brad Falchuk asked Goodall, who began the interview by sipping a glass of whiskey — her pre-talk ritual to keep her voice supple.”Absolutely, there are people I don’t like, and I would like to put them on one of Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover,” she replied.Musk, the world’s richest person, has made it his life’s mission to colonize Mars and make humanity a “multiplanetary species.”Goodall added that Musk would “be the host, and you can imagine who I’d put on that spaceship.””Along with Musk would be Trump, and some of Trump’s real supporters, and then I would put Putin in there, and I would put President Xi — I’d certainly put Netanyahu in there, and his far-right government. Put them all on that spaceship and send them off.”The conversation then turned to aggression in chimpanzees and whether the men she’d named were “alphas.”Goodall said among chimps there are two kinds of alpha: those who rely on brute force and burn out quickly, and those who build alliances and endure. Her research, she said, convinced her that aggression is innate to both chimps and humans, who share nearly 99 percent of their DNA.”But I truly believe that most people are decent,” she said.Goodall closed the interview with a message of hope — and a warning to those who would harm “Mother Nature.””If you want to save what is still beautiful in this world, if you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren, then think about the actions you take each day,” she said.She added that she believed in life beyond death and that “consciousness survives.””I can’t tell you what you will find when you leave planet Earth, but I want you to know that your life on planet Earth will make some difference in the kind of life that you find after you die.”

A very much alive Dolly Parton took to Instagram on Wednesday to declare “I ain’t dead yet!” after her sister sent fans into a tailspin when she called for prayers for one of America’s most beloved celebrities.In a video posted to her official account, the 79-year-old Queen of Country thanked the public for their concern, but insisted she was not at death’s door.”There are just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was okay,” she said from what appeared to be a photo studio.”I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me, and I ain’t done working.”The “Jolene” singer posted the video captioned “I ain’t dead yet!” the day after her younger sister Freida Parton sparked panic with a post that some people interpreted as indicating the star’s recent health problems were terminal.”Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly. Many of you know she hasn’t been feeling her best lately,” Freida Parton wrote on her Facebook page.”I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me.”The “9 to 5” singer delayed upcoming Las Vegas gigs last week, citing unspecified “health challenges,” and disclosed that she was set to undergo multiple medical procedures.But on Wednesday she appeared in good health.”I know lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am. Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here,” she said.Parton said she had neglected herself after the death of her long-time husband, but was now undergoing treatment “Nothing major. But I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home” for medical care. “But I wanted you to know that I’m not dying.””Those of you that seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate and I appreciate your prayers, because I’m a person of faith, I can always use the prayers for anything and everything, but I want you to know that I’m okay.”Parton became a major star in the 1970s, with singles including “Coat of Many Colors,” and followed up with smash hits such as “I Will Always Love You,” famously covered by Whitney Houston.She is due to receive an honorary Oscar next month, but Hollywood trade publication Variety said she was no longer expected to attend the Los Angeles ceremony.