Climate crisis threatens world stability
Failure to successfully tackle the climate emergency exposes the planet to global crises and conflicts, with wars, famines and chaos. A week before the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa warned: “We are talking about preserving the stability of nations, of the institutions we have built over so many years.” A large number of the most vulnerable could fall under the yoke of armed or terrorist groups, she added. “It is the greatest challenge that humanity is facing,” concludes Espinosa, admitting the possibility that COP26 results in a stalemate.
Pope laments of inhuman violence, real concentration camps in Libya
Pope Francis has asked the international community for “common, concrete and lasting solutions for the management of migratory flows out of Libya and throughout the Mediterranean”. He appealed for migrants not to be pushed back to Tripoli, where there are “real concentration camps”, and for “priority to be given to the rescue of human lives at sea”. Many of these men, women and children, said Bergoglio, are subjected to inhuman violence. “Once again I ask the international community to keep its promises to seek common, concrete and lasting solutions for the management of migratory flows in Libya and the Mediterranean.” UN refugee agency officials and human rights organisations have long denounced the conditions of detention centres for migrants in Libya, citing practices of beating, rape and forms of torture and insufficient food. The Pope’s plea came as over 400 migrants aboard the German rescue ship Sea-Watch 3 were brought safely ashore over the weekend to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo after Italy allowed it to dock. The migrants had been rescued off the Libyan coast.
Baldwin’s gun used for play with real bullets
TMZ – the tabloid online newspaper owned by Fox Corporation – reports the prop gun that killed director of photography Halyna Hutchins was used by some members of the “Rust” crew for off-set play using real bullets and this may explain why it contained real ammunition. The newspaper quotes sources saying the police found real bullets on the set in the same area, and this could be another explanation of why real ammunition ended up in the prop gun. Meanwhile, a vigil has taken place in New Mexico to mourn Hutchins. Industry professionals were among those who attended the event in Albuquerque, lighting candles for the 42-year-old. Both the Daily Mirror and The Daily Star carry pictures of actor Alec Baldwin hugging the husband of Hutchins. “Forgiven” is the headline in the Star.
US to ask Turkey for clarification on the ambassadors’ expulsion
Washington is to ask Ankara for “clarification” with respect to the situation of the American ambassador in Turkey for whom the expulsion was ordered Saturday by President Erdogan who also wants to expel nine other Western diplomats for having asked for the release of a political dissident. Norway, Denmark and New Zealand also made it known through their foreign ministries that they await official communications from the Turkish authorities. On Saturday, Erdogan had ordered the expulsion of the ambassadors in Turkey of Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the USA for having asked Ankara to free Osman Kavala, a Turkish philanthropist engaged in the defense of human rights who has been in prison for more than four years and on which various charges are pending, including having had a role in the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016. The President of the European Parliament David Sassoli criticised Erdogan’s statement speaking of an “authoritarian drift of the Turkish government”.
11 Picasso works fetch $110 million
Nine paintings and two ceramic sculptures, which Pablo Picasso worked on during 50 years, have beensold at auction at Sotheby’s for a total final price of $110 million dollars (over €94.4 million) euros. The works had adorned the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Among the paintings, the famous is “Woman with a red-orange cap” (1938), which portrays the muse and lover of Picasso at the time, Marie-Thérèse Walter. It collected the highest price – $40.5 million (€34.7 million). Another painting, “Man and Child” from 1959, sold for $24.4 million. Among the other masterpieces that adorned the Picasso Restaurant of the Bellagio, now owned by MGM Resorts, there was also “Still life with a basket of fruit and flowers” painted in 1942 in Nazi-occupied Paris, sold for $16.6 million. The collection of 20 Picasso’s works was acquired by the previous owner of the luxury hotel-casino, Steve Wynn.
