TOP NEWS

The Israeli military has attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking, it says, a Hezbollah operative in Dahiyeh.

The attack on Sunday is the latest flagrant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah one year ago to end hostilities that erupted into full-blown war.

Israel has been carrying out near-daily strikes on southern Lebanon and has also attacked the capital Beirut several times.

More to come…

Nov. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said he is “immediately” ending deportation protections for more than 400 Somali immigrants living in Minnesota.

Trumo made the announcement on Truth Social on Friday night.

The East African nation has had protection since 1991, and it was renewed on Sept. 18, 2024, through March 17, 2026, when Joe Biden was president.

“I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota,” he wrote. “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”

He did not offer evidence related to the allegations of terrorist gangs in the state.

In addition, he blamed Democratic Gov. Walz of overseeing a state that had become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” — also without proof.

“It’s not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject,” Walz, who was Kamala Harris‘ vice presidential candidate in the 2024 election against Trump, said less than two hours later in a post on X.

TPS was created in 1979 to allow migrants who escaped “civil unrest, violence or natural disasters” from being deported from the United Stats.

Somalia, which for decades has experienced civil war and instability, is among 17 migrants’ countries with protection. Somalia’s population is 20 million.

There are 705 Somali immigrants approved for the status as of March 31 with 430 in Minnesota, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood east of downtown Minneapolis is nicknamed “Little Mogadishu” because of its large Somali population.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat representing Minneapolis and born in Somalia, blasted the decision.

“Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay,” Omar wrote on X, noting that most Somalian immigrants are U.S. citizens.

Trump in the past has been at odds with Omar.

“I look at somebody that comes from Somalia, where they don’t have anything – they don’t have police, they don’t have military, they don’t have anything,” Trump said in a Nov. 11 interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News. “All they have is crime — and she comes in and tells us how to run our country.”

Since 1979, more than 26,000 Somali refugees moved to Minnesota, according to the state Department of Health.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, said his office is “monitoring the situation and exploring all of our options.

“Somali folks came to Minnesota fleeing conflict, instability and famine, and they have become an integral part of our state, our culture and our community,” Ellison wrote on Facebook. “Donald Trump cannot terminate TPS for just one state or on a bigoted whim.”

“I am confident that Minnesotans know better than to fall for Donald Trump’s scare tactics and scapegoating,” he added.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also spoke out with a Facebook post that he is “standing with our Somali community today. Minneapolis has your back — always.”

Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuthg, who is running for governor against Walz, applauded the decision.

“The unfortunate reality is that far too many individuals who were welcomed into this country have abused the trust and support that was extended to them, and Minnesota taxpayers have suffered billions of dollars in consequences as a result,” Demuth said in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer adding a post posted on X that “accountability is coming.”

Emmers post linked to a report from right-wing Breitbart about a letter he wrote to Daniel Rosen, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, urging him to “open an investigation into reports that Minnesota taxpayer dollars are ending up in the hands of the al-Shabab terrorist network in Somalia.”

The move was criticized by Jaylani Hussein, president of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric,” Hussein told CBS News. “We strongly urge President Trump to reverse this misguided decision.”

He added that the protection provided “a legal lifeline for families who have built their lives here for decades.”

Trump has also ended TPS protections for Afghan, Venezuelan, Syrian and South Sudanese nationals. Those actions from each have been challenged in courts.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Initial reports undercounted the number of students and staff kidnapped by Nigerian gunmen from the St. Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger State, Nigeria.

The Christian Association of Nigeria’s revised number is now is 303 students and 12 staff members, for a total of 315 kidnapped on Friday.

The revised number was obtained after local officials conducted a census count to determine who was missing, Most. Rev. Bulus DauwaYohanna, CAN’s Niger State chapter chairman, announced.

The students taken were male and female and between ages 10 and 18.

School officials initially reported 215 students and staff had been taken, but 88 more were taken while trying to escape, Yohanna’s spokesman, Danial Atori, told CNN on Saturday.

Intelligence reports warned of a potential attack and, although local authorities said school officials were ordered to close all boarding facilities at the school, the order was ignored, the BBC reported.

Several state- and federally run schools in northern Nigeria closed after learning of Friday’s attack to prevent further abductions.

Local police said security agencies are “combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students,” the BBC reported.

The families of those abducted can only wait and hope.

“I just want them to come home,” the aunt of two kidnapped girls, ages 6 and 13, told the BBC.

The father of daughters who attend the school but were not among those taken said the attack has affected everyone.

“Everybody is weak,” Dominic Adamu said. “It took everybody by surprise.”

The number abducted surpasses the 276 who were abducted from Chibok in 2014, and the new number represents about half the students who attended the Catholic school in Papiri.

Papiri, a community in the Nigerian city of Lagos, said the revised number of students kidnapped makes the attack one of the worst in country’s history.

The attack was the third this week in Nigeria in which people were abducted.

Gunmen also attacked a government-run boarding school in Kebbi State and kidnapped 25 female students on Monday.

Gunmen also attacked a church in Kwara State, killed two people and abducted 38 others.

Vote occurs amid rising secessionist rhetoric in the Serb-majority entity and Milorad Dodik’s defiance of the Dayton peace treaty.

People are casting their votes in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority political entity, in a snap presidential election called after electoral authorities stripped separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik of the presidency in August.

Dodik was removed from office for defying Bosnia’s international peace envoy, Christian Schmidt, after his conviction for ignoring rulings by the international appointee, who oversees a peace deal that has held Bosnia together since the end of its 1992-1995 war, which killed tens of thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

The court also handed him a one-year prison sentence, which he avoided by posting bail, and banned him from participating in politics for six years. Bosnia’s top court upheld that ruling in early November.

The election is seen as a crucial test of support for Dodik’s nationalist party, which has been in power for nearly two decades.

The early vote means the winner will serve less than a year before a general election in October. About 1.2 million voters are eligible to choose between six candidates.

The two main favourites to replace Dodik are Sinisa Karan, a 63-year-old former interior minister who is a close ally and Dodik’s personal choice. Dodik remains head of his party, the Union of Independent Social Democrats.

The main opposition group, the Serb Democratic Party, selected Branko Blanusa, a 56-year-old electrical engineering professor who has repeatedly levelled corruption allegations against Dodik and his party.

Preliminary results are expected on election night, but the final official vote count by the Central Election Commission will be announced only after the body also validates all outcomes.

Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities within Bosnia along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, each of which enjoys significant autonomy. The two share equal rights over a third, small self-governing administrative unit within the country, known as the Brcko District.

Republika Srpska was proclaimed by Bosnian Serb leaders in 1992 at the start of the war and was formally established as part of Bosnia’s post-war constitutional structure in 1995 under the Dayton peace agreement.

Today, it is overwhelmingly Serb-populated with Serbs making up 82 percent of its residents alongside smaller Bosniak and Croat minorities, according to the latest census, which was held more than a decade ago in 2013.

Its first president, Radovan Karadzic, has been sentenced to life by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for the 1995 genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica, now a town inside Republika Srpska.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — A 14-year-old boy died and eight other teenagers were wounded in separate shootings in downtown Chicago hours after people were celebrating the start of the holiday season nearby.

The shooting occurred around 9:50 p.m. Friday, about four hours after the city’s official tree lighting at Daley Plaza and a few blocks away, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The mass shooting was outside the Chicago Theater on State Street and the other an hour later near Federal Plaza.

“The holiday season is a time when we come together as a city. It’s when we spend time with our family and our loved ones,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “This is the opposite type of behavior that anybody wants to see. We have too many guns and too many young people who don’t value their own lives or the lives of others.”

According to reports, a so-called teen takeover occurred after the tree lighting, and was described as 300 teens rioting in the streets.

Johnson said the chaos “set us back as a city, and it evokes fear.”

Several ambulances and police presence were seen with police tape wrapped across State Street near the Chicago Theater and Joffrey Ballet, according to WMAQ-TV, and WLS-TV reported gunfire outside its studios.

Officers on patrol “observed a large group on the sidewalk” and heard gunshots that sent people scattering, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Three boys aged 14 to 17 had graze wounds, while two others, aged 14 and 16, suffered leg wounds, while a 14-year-old girl was shot in the hip.

The seventh victim, a 13-year-old girl, was shot in the leg and taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in fair condition.

Alderman Brian Hopkins initially posted on X that “300 juveniles rioting in the Loop now, at least 5 victims shot, one critical with life threatening gunshot wound to torso. Multiple police officers attacked and injured with mace and stun guns, at least one PO hospitalized.”

Less than an hour later at 10:40 p.m., a few blocks away, one person died with multiple gunshot wounds at Northwestern Memorial and an 18-year-old was found in serious condition with a leg wound.

Five weapons were recovered and 18 arrests were made throughout, but those in custody weren’t considered suspects in the shootings, Johnson said.

“No parent wants to get that terrible, life-altering call,” Johnson said Saturday morning at an unrelated event on the West Side. “It is senseless violence like these shootings that makes us all feel unsafe, and it has left too many families in Chicago reeling.”

The city had deployed 700 additional police officers for the tree lighting along with community violence intervention workers.

“Clearly what we put in place did not do enough to prevent what we were concerned about from actually manifesting,” Johnson said.

The mayor said additional police personnel were being deployed for Saturday night’s Mag Mile Lights Festival.

“We will continue to make the necessary adjustments as we move along to ensure that these large, peaceful, citywide events can take place without the terror and the harm of gun violence,” the mayor added.

The City Council has vetoed a “snap curfew” of gatherings of young people anywhere in the city with 30 minutes’ notice.

“I’m the first person to recognize that we have more work to do in this city to provide safe spaces for our young people. But these types of violent gatherings can never be an alternative, nor can they be normalized,” Johnson said.

“We need to deter them from attending large, unsanctioned after-gatherings, where weapons are likely to be present. There’s always more we as adults can do to make sure that we know where our kids are and what they are doing.”

President Donald Trump has decried the violence in the city, though violent crime has decreased for the past several years.

Trump has taken credit for recent declines there, giving credit to the Operation Midway Blitz immigration raids his administration launched in September.

“I am proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois, despite all of the radical opposition and obstruction we have from the Mayor and Governor, has seen Car Theft, Shootings, Robberies, Violent Crime, and everything else drop dramatically,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Nov. 12.

Through Nov. 14, there have been 373 people killed in the city this year, which is 242 less than the same period in 2024, according to tracking by the Chicago Tribune.

In 2024, a total of 573 people were killed in Chicago.

Lando Norris closes in on first Formula One Drivers’ championship after finishing second to Max Verstappen in Nevada.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, but McLaren’s Lando Norris has one hand on the Formula One title after finishing second and stretching his lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 30 points.

Piastri finished fourth after Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who was ahead of the Australian at the chequered flag, had five seconds added for jumping the start.

George Russell, last year’s winner of the floodlit race and, like Norris, making his 150th start, completed the podium for Mercedes.

With two grands prix and a sprint remaining, worth a maximum 58 points, Norris has 408 points to Piastri’s 378 with four-time world champion Verstappen still mathematically in contention on 366.

Norris finished 20.741 seconds behind but can now secure his first title in Qatar next weekend, with McLaren having already clinched the constructors’ crown for the second year in a row.

Quite a decent gap

“The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking,” said Verstappen, ferried to the podium with Norris and Russell in a LEGO pink Cadillac convertible driven by actor Terry Crews as fireworks lit up the sky over the strip.

“It was at the end quite a decent gap.”

It was the 69th win of Verstappen’s career and his sixth of the season, as well as his 125th podium and eighth in a row in the 150th Grand Prix of Red Bull’s partnership with Honda.

Norris lost the lead to Verstappen at the start, dropping to third when he ran wide at the first corner and opened the door for the Dutch driver and Russell.

He retook second from Russell on the 34th of 50 laps but then had to manage fuel to the finish.

“I let Max have a win,” he joked. “I let him go, let him have a nice race. No, I just braked too late,” he added, with an expletive on the live television feed that could land the Briton in trouble with the governing FIA.

“It was not my best performance out there, but when the guy wins by 20 seconds, it’s because he has just done a better job and they’re a bit quicker.”

Antonelli finished fifth with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc sixth and Williams’ Carlos Sainz seventh. Isack Hadjar was eighth for Racing Bulls, and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton completed the top 10.

Piastri dropped from fifth to seventh on the opening lap after contact with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who plunged to last with a badly damaged car.

Verstappen was 20 seconds clear of the field by lap 23 and pitted at the halfway point, rejoining in the lead after Russell and Norris had already switched to the hard tyre.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was taken out by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, as the Brazilian rookie dived aggressively into the first corner and ran out of road, with both retiring immediately.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was also a spinner at the start, and the virtual safety car (VSC) was triggered on the second lap for marshals to retrieve debris between turns one and four.

The VSC was deployed again on lap 16 for more debris on track after Williams’ Alex Albon and Hamilton collided, with the latter racing from 19th and last on the grid to 13th on the opening lap.

Albon, whose team lost radio contact with the car from the start, was handed a five-second penalty for causing the collision and also reprimanded for a starting procedure infringement.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — A Democrat and a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives have co-sponsored a resolution that calls for raising the number of votes needed to censure a colleague from a majority to 60% as a way to force “bipartisan support.”

The two-page resolution introduced by Democrat Don Beyer of Virginia and Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska on Friday comes amid efforts to censure three House members in an escalating numbers of members looking to take action against one another.

“The process of censures and disciplinary measures in the House is broken, and all of us know it,” Beyer said in a joint press release with Bacon announcing the legislation.

“These measures were historically reserved for rare and exceptional cases after a lengthy process that allowed time for investigations and due process, but that precedent has deteriorated,” he said. “Our resolution would break the cycle of censures to help return focus in the House to solving problems for the American people.”

The effort, the duo told colleagues in a letter on Thursday, would fix the problem and raise the level of sanity in the chamber, the New York Times reported.

“A U.S. House ruled by mob mentality cannot function. The institution and American people deserve better than what we’ve seen this week. The vast middle must stand up to the extremes and put commonsense safeguards in place,” Bacon said in the release.

The bill already had 29 sponsors by Friday afternoon, Roll Call reported.

“It has become a political tactic, rather than an action to protect the reputation of the House,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who in past years served as the majority and minority leader, told the Times. “If it becomes common, it will lose its prophylactic effect.”

Since 1832, the House has censured members 25 times and issued reprimands 11 times — and censured members just six times in the 21st century, according to NBC News.

Bacon and Beyer noted in the press release that most censures in history have come “after lengthy ethics investigations that established criminal activity or serious misconduct.”

Expulsion from Congress requires two-thirds approval, with 16 members of the House and five members of the Senate having been ejected from office, according to Congressional records. The vast majority — 17 — got the boot during the Civil War for backing the Confederacy.

The most recent expulsion was former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was later convicted in federal court, although President Donald Trump commuted his sentence after he had served three months in prison.

“The proliferation of resolutions to punish our fellow Members with censure, disapproval or the revocation of committee assignments has become unsustainable, to the point that they now impair our ability to work together to address serious issues. I fear this is inflicting lasting damage on this institution,” Beyer said Friday.

Just this week, there has been a raft of censure efforts introduced in the House, some successful and some not.

On Tuesday, the House rebuked Rep. Jesus Garcia, a Democrat serving Illinois, for hand-selecting his successor after announcing his retirement after the filing deadline for the Democratic primary.

Also on Tuesday, the House voted against censuring Stacey Plaskett, the U.S. delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, amid revelations that she received information via text from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., filed a resolution to censure Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who has been accused of financial misconduct and domestic abuse. In that case, the House voted to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., also threatened to censure, and then expel, fellow Floridian, Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick after she was indicted this week for allegedly stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds.

Officials from the US, Ukraine, and national security advisers from France, UK and Germany to hold talks in Geneva today to discuss plan to end the war.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Two of the United Kingdom’s largest media outlets and traditional competing newspapers would unite under a proposed $655 million sale.

Publisher Daily Mail and General Trust announced it has begun negotiations with RedBird IMI to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers for $655 million

RedBird IMI is a joint venture between U.S.-based RedBird Capital Partners and the United Arab Emirates-based IMI.

“The Daily Telegraph is Britain’s largest and best quality broadsheet newspaper, and I have grown up respecting it,” DMGT Chairman Jonathan Rothermere said in a statement shared with The New York Times.

“It has a remarkable history and has played a vital role in shaping Britain’s national debate over many decades,” Rothermere added.

Any agreement would require the approval of Britain’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to ensure the proposed buyer fulfills “the public interest” and prevents “foreign state influence” of media, the BBC reported.

Such scrutiny prompted U.S.-based RedBird Capital Partners to withdraw a prior offer to buy the news outlet outright.

RedBIrd IMI acquired a tangible interest in the newspaper when the Barclay family announced it was for sale amid financial problems in 2023, according to The Washington Post.

RedBird IMI arranged a debt deal with the Barclays that gave it the inside track on buying The Daily Telegraph and sister publication the Spectator.

The British government blocked the sale, though, partly due to concerns of foreign influence by UAE-based IMI.

RedBird IMI then sold the Spectator to British hedge-fund owner Paul Marshall in 2024, but a potential sale of The Daily Telegraph to New York Sun publisher Dovid Efune did not materialize.

RedBird Capital then tried to buy the newspaper with the help of a minority investor from Britain, while limiting IMI to a 15% ownership stake.

RedBird withdrew that plan in October and now has its hopes pinned on the proposed $655 million deal with DMGT.

Ferran Torres scores brace to send Barcelona to the top of La Liga, level with Real Madrid, who face Elche on Sunday.

Barcelona were back at their beloved Camp Nou and produced a dominant 4-0 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao to add to the homecoming celebrations.

Some 45,000 fans were on hand on Saturday as what is set to be Europe’s largest football stadium reopened at roughly half capacity.

Camp Nou had been closed for more than two years for a major overhaul that the indebted club hopes will boost revenues.

Robert Lewandowski set the tone early, capitalising on an error in Athletic’s defence in the fourth minute. Alex Berenger mishandled the ball while attempting to play out from the back, allowing the Polish striker to seize possession and fire a low effort past Unai Simon at the near post.

Barcelona maintained control throughout, relentlessly pressuring an out-of-form Athletic side. Ernesto Valverde’s charges have only managed three wins since September, losing six of their last nine league fixtures.

Eighth in the table with 17 points, Athletic rarely threatened the hosts.

Barcelona struck again in first-half stoppage time. Lamine Yamal’s expertly delivered long ball into space found Torres, and the Spanish forward took the pass perfectly in his stride, raced into the area and calmly slotted past Simon.

Three minutes into the second half, Barcelona punished another defensive lapse by Athletic. Attempting to play out from the back, the visitors gifted possession to the alert Fermin Lopez, who rifled a bullet strike into the net.

Athletic’s frustrations boiled over when Oihan Sancet was sent off with a straight red card in the 53rd minute following a reckless challenge on Lopez.

In the closing stages, Torres added his second, rounding off another counterattack set up by the 18-year-old Yamal, who provided a second sublime assist.

The win pulled Barcelona level on points with Real Madrid atop the table before Madrid visits Elche on Sunday.

“We played well from the start and took another three points, but the important thing today is being back at Camp Nou,” Lewandowski said. “It is something else to play here. I think when we play at Camp Nou, we are a little bit stronger.”

Barcelona’s fans belted out the club hymn before kickoff amid a celebratory vibe despite the chilly weather.

They had reason to be extra happy. The last time they had been able to attend a game at Camp Nou was May 2023. For the following 900-plus days, Barcelona played their home games at the municipally owned 55,000-seat Olympic Stadium located atop a hill overlooking the city that was more difficult to reach.

“It has been two years at the [Olympic Stadium] and it wasn’t easy, the atmosphere wasn’t the same, you could tell it wasn’t Camp Nou,” the 36-year-old fan Carlos Narváez told The Associated Press.

“This is like coming home. I am sure the players will feel that way, just like we fans do. You can see how excited everyone is.”

But homecoming aside, there is still significant work before the new-look Camp Nou is finished and ready to hold 105,000 fans.

The top tier of Camp Nou remains mostly a skeleton of metal and concrete beams and pillars; huge construction cranes loom over the stadium and are visible from the stands, and there are areas that look like a construction site.

Work on upgrading Camp Nou began in June 2023 to repair, modernise and expand a venue that previously had a capacity of 99,000. The club secured 1.45 billion euros (then $1.6bn) from multiple investors to undertake the remodelling project.

Barcelona had originally planned to be back playing games at Camp Nou as early as November 2024 to coincide with the club’s 125th anniversary. The date was pushed back several times, and the club has not said when it now expects the stadium work to be completed. The club said it plans to seek permission from authorities to open more seating as work progresses.

Barcelona also received authorisation from UEFA this week to host Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou on December 9.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Three teens face charges in a shooting that injured four, including two of the shooters, during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday night in Concord, S.C.

The Concord Police Department has obtained a warrant for the arrest of Nasir Adhmad Bostic, 18, of Concord, on charges accusing him of assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury with the intent to killand inciting a riot.

Bostic was among the four who were shot and was hospitalized in critical condition as of Saturday.

Keyvyonn Rayshaund Bostic, 17, was arrested and uninjured shortly after the 7:30 p.m. shooting and is being prosecuted as an adult on charges that accuse him of being an accessory after the fact and inciting a riot.

A juvenile who also was shot and is hospitalized in critical condition also has a warrant issued for his arrest on assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill, two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied property inflicting serious injury and inciting a riot.

Two 17-year-olds also were wounded and taken to a local hospital for treatment.

One remains in critical condition, while the other has been released.

Local police said the shooting allegedly was between NasirBostic and the unnamed juvenile, who knew each other and were the only ones to fire shots, ABC News reported.

Several first-responders with the Concord Police, Concord Fire Department and Cabarrus County Emergency Medical Services were attending the lighting ceremony and immediately initiated life-saving care on the four wounded youths.

The annual United Nations climate conference has ended with an agreement that urges action to address global warming, but falls short of endorsing a phase-out of fossil fuels.

After two weeks of heated debates, meetings and negotiations at the COP30 summit in the Brazilian city of Belem, world leaders on Saturday agreed to a deal that calls for countries to “significantly accelerate and scale up climate action worldwide”.

The text lays out a series of promises and measures – including a call for developed countries to triple their funding to help poorer nations respond to the crisis – but makes no mention of a fossil fuel phase-out.

Dozens of states had been calling forthe COP30 deal to lay out a framework to ease away from their reliance on oil, gas and coal – the major drivers of the climate crisis – but several countries that rely on fossil fuels had pushed back.

While observers say the deal marks a step forward in the world’s effort to address climate breakdown, several have argued that COP30 fell short of expectations.

Here’s a look at how some world leaders and climate advocates have reacted to the agreement.

COP30 President Andre Aranha Correa do Lago

“We know some of you had greater ambitions for some of the issues at hand. I know that you, civil society, will demand us to do more to fight climate change. I want to reaffirm that I will try not to disappoint you during my presidency,” he said during Saturday’s closing session.

“As [Brazilian] President [Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] said at the opening of this COP, we need roadmaps so that humanity – in a just and planned manner – can overcome its dependence on fossil fuels, halt and reverse deforestation and mobilise resources for these purposes,” he said.

“I, as president of COP30, will therefore create two roadmaps: One on halting and reverting [reversing] deforestation and another to transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

“COP30 has delivered progress,” Guterres said in a statement, including the call to triple climate adaptation financing and recognition that the world is going to surpass the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) target for global warming set under the Paris Agreement.

“But COPs are consensus-based – and in a period of geopolitical divides, consensus is ever harder to reach. I cannot pretend that COP30 has delivered everything that is needed. The gap between where we are and what science demands remains dangerously wide,” the UN chief said.

“I understand many may feel dissapointed [sic] – especially young people, Indigenous Peoples and those living through climate chaos. The reality of overshoot is a stark warning: We are approaching dangerous and irreversible tipping points,” he added.

Wopke Hoekstra, European Union climate commissioner

“We’re not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more, to have more ambition on everything,” Hoekstra told reporters.

“It is not perfect, but it is a hugely important step in the right direction.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro

“I do not accept that the COP30 declaration does not clearly state, as science does, that the cause of the climate crisis is the fossil fuels used by capital. If that is not stated, everything else is hypocrisy,” Petro wrote on social media.

“Life on the planet, including our own, is only possible if we separate ourselves from oil, coal, and natural gas as energy sources; science has determined this, and I am not blind to science.

“Colombia opposes a COP30 declaration that does not tell the world the scientific truth.”

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla

“While the results fell short of expectations, the Belem COP strengthens and demonstrates the importance of multilateralism in addressing major global challenges such as combating #climatechange,” he wrote on X.

“Among its key outcomes are the call for developed countries to provide climate finance for adaptation in developing countries, at least tripling current levels by 2035; the establishment of a mechanism to support our countries in just transitions; and the commitment from developed countries to fulfill their obligations under the Paris Agreement.”

China

“I’m happy with the outcome,” Li Gao, head of China’s delegation at COP30, told the AFP news agency.

“We achieved this success in a very difficult situation, so it shows that the international community would like to show solidarity and make joint efforts to address climate change.”

Alliance of Small Island States

A group representing the interests of 39 small island and low-lying coastal states described the deal as “imperfect” but said it nevertheless was a step towards “progress”.

“Ultimately, this is the push and pull of multilateralism. The opportunity for all countries to be heard and to listen to each other’s perspectives, to collaborate, build bridges, and reach common ground,” the Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement.

Amnesty International

Ann Harrison, climate justice adviser at Amnesty International, noted that COP30 host Brazil had promised to make sure “every voice is heard and made strenuous efforts to broaden participation, which should be replicated”.

“Yet the lack of participatory, inclusive, and transparent negotiations left both civil society and Indigenous Peoples, who answered the global mutirao [working together] call in large numbers, out of the real decision making,” Harrison said in a statement.

Still, she said “people power” had helped achieve “a commitment to develop a Just Transition mechanism that will streamline and coordinate ongoing and future efforts to protect the rights of workers, other individuals and communities affected by fossil fuel phase out”.

Oxfam

Viviana Santiago, executive director of Oxfam Brasil, said COP30 “offered a spark of hope but far more heartbreak, as the ambition of global leaders continues to fall short of what is needed for a liveable planet”.

“A truly just transition requires those who built their fortunes on fossil fuels to move first and fastest – and provide finance in the form of grants, not loans, so front-line communities can do the same. Instead, the poorest countries already in debt are being told to transition faster, with fewer funds,” Santiago said.

“The spark of hope lies in the proposed Belem Action Mechanism, which puts workers’ rights and justice at the centre of the shift away from fossil fuels. But without financing from rich countries, the just energy transition risks becoming stalled in many countries.”

Nov. 22 (UPI) — No agreements were made to phase out the global use of fossil fuels during the United Nations COP30 climate summit in Brazil that ended on Saturda, but discussions to draft one will begin.

Attending nations okayed a voluntary agreement to start discussions to create a plan seeking to gradually end the use of fossil fuels amid strong opposition from nations that produce oil and gas, according to The Guardian.

The climate change conference opened with a draft agreement to address the world’s changing climate, but it did not include a reference to fossil fuels.

In lieu of a fossil fuels deal, the conference produced an agreement from participating wealthy nations to allocate $120 billion to developing nations by 2035 to help them adapt to a changing climate.

The funds would count toward a $300 billion goal to finance climate change efforts in developing nations, the BBC reported.

Representatives from respective COP30 nations also agreed to create a Tropical Forest Forever Facility fund to counteract deforestation. The fund already has $6.6 billion.

Ahead of the climate change conference, many attendees had hoped to create a $1.3 trillion climate change fund, but that did not occur.

Many nations already have initiated measures to address climate change and its effects, but opposition has grown against the notion that a global consensus exists to end the use of fossil fuels to fend off a “climate crisis.”

President Donald Trump is among world leaders who want to expand the domestic use of fossil fuels and favor climate adaptation.

Trump earlier said the United States would not attend the COP30 conference that started on Nov. 10 and ran an extra day into Saturday in Belem, Brazil.

Some state-level representatives and others attended the conference, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, who criticized Trump for not sending a U.S. delegation.

The 2026 U.N. COP30 conference will be held in Turkey.

Drone sightings caused suspension of air traffic at Eindhoven airport, impacting both civilian and military operations.

Air traffic at the Eindhoven airport in the south of the Netherlands has resumed after a suspension that lasted several hours due to multiple drone sightings, the Dutch defence minister has said.

Traffic resumed around 11pm (22:00 GMT), Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Saturday, two hours after he had first reported the disruption.

“Defence has taken measures,” the minister said. “Out of security considerations no further information can be shared.”

Eindhoven serves both as a civilian and as a military airport. All types of air traffic were suspended, Brekelmans said.

Asked if it was clear where the drones had come from, the Ministry of Defence had no additional comment.

The incident comes after drones and other airspace incursions caused considerable disruption across Europe in recent months.

In September, more than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, and three Russian military jets violated Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes.

Since then, many drone flights, the origins of which are mostly unknown, have disrupted airspace operations in Europe.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the incursions “hybrid warfare”.

Military fires at drones

Separately on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said the Dutch military opened fire at drones over Volkel Air Base in the east of the country on Friday, but no wreckage was recovered.

Security staff at the base reported the drones between 7pm and 9pm on Friday (between 17:00 and 19:00 GMT), prompting the air force to fire ground-based weapons to take them down, the ministry said in a statement.

“The drones left the area and were not recovered,” the statement said.

In recent weeks, a series of incidents involving unidentified drone flights have been reported near military sites in the Netherlands and neighbouring Belgium.

Both the Dutch military and civilian police were investigating, according to the ministry, which said it was unclear why the drones were flying above and around the air base. No further details were provided, citing security reasons.

Volkel Air Base is used by the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

In the Netherlands, the use of drones near all airports is prohibited for flight safety reasons in addition to other security reasons around military facilities, the statement said.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — The South Africa-hosted G20 summit began Saturday with some member states weighing a proposed peace plan to end the Russian-Ukraine war.

The two-day event is being held in Johannesburg amid a U.S. boycott due to South Africa’s policies toward Afrikaners.

The 28-point plan would require Ukrainian leaders to concede territorial gains by Russia, which they previously rejected, and limit the size of their military, The New York Times reported.

The proposed plan would give Russia some parts of the eastern Donbas region and force Ukraine to forego any possibility of joining NATO, according to The Guardian.

President Donald Trump presented the peace plan to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this week and advised him to decide whether to accept or reject it by next week.

European leaders attending the G-20 conference held a side meeting to review the plan and generally agreed that it needs to be revised to gain their support.

The plan “includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace,” they said afterward in a joint statement.

“But it is a basis that will require additional work,” they said, adding: “Borders must not be changed by force.”

Representatives from Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the European Union signed the joint statement.

The peace plan is not a final offer, though, Trump said on Saturday.

While several participating nations weighed the peace proposal, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the opening speech for the gathering of the world’s 20-largest economies, minus the United States.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the summit being held in South Africa and said it’s time for the world’s leading economies support sustainable development.

“With Africa hosting the G-20 summit for the first time, now is the right moment for us to revisit our development parameters and focus on growth that is inclusive and sustainable,” Modi said in a post on X.

“India’s civilizational values, especially the principle of integral humanism, offers a way forward,” he added.

The unions demand the laws be withdrawn before nationwide protests they plan to hold on Wednesday.

Ten large Indian trade unions have condemned the government’s rollout on Friday of new labour codes, the biggest such overhaul in decades, as a “deceptive fraud” against workers.

The unions, aligned with parties opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanded in a statement late on Friday that the laws be withdrawn before nationwide protests they plan to hold on Wednesday.

One of the trade unions, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, organised protest marches on Saturday in the eastern city Bhubaneswar, where hundreds of workers gathered and burned copies of the new labour codes.

Modi’s government implemented the four labour codes, approved by parliament five years ago, as it seeks to simplify work rules, some dating to British colonial rule, and liberalise conditions for investment.

It says the changes improve worker protections. While the new rules offer social security and minimum-wage benefits, they also allow companies to hire and fire workers more easily.

Unions have strongly opposed the changes, organising multiple nationwide protests over the past five years.

The Labour Ministry did not immediately respond on Saturday to a Reuters news agency request for comment on the union demands. The government has held over a dozen consultations with unions since June 2024, an internal ministry document on the labour codes shows.

The rules allow longer factory shifts and night work for women, while raising the threshold for firms that need prior approval for layoffs to 300 workers from 100, giving companies greater flexibility in workforce management.

Businesses have long criticised India’s work rules as a drag on manufacturing, which contributes less than a fifth to the country’s nearly $4 trillion economy.

But the Association of Indian Entrepreneurs expressed concern that the new rules would significantly increase operating costs for small and midsize enterprises and disrupt business continuity across key sectors.

It asked the government for transitional support and flexible implementation mechanisms. Not all unions oppose the overhaul.

The right-wing Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, aligned with Modi’s party, called on states to implement them after consultations on some of the codes. Indian states are expected to craft rules aligning with the new federal codes covering wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Tyson Foods is closing its Lexington, Neb., beef-processing plant to better position the food company for long-term success.

Tyson announced the change on Friday and said the plan is to “right size” the food firm’s beef business.

The company also is downsizing its beef facility in Amarillo, Texas, to a single shift that will operate at full capacity, but production will rise at other Tyson facilities to meet customer demand for beef products.

“Tyson Foods recognizes the impact these decisions have on team members and the communities where we operate,” Tyson said in a news release.

“The company is committed to supporting our team members through this transition, including helping them apply for open positions at other facilities and providing relocation benefits.”

Tyson officials said the changes will ensure it continues to “deliver high-quality, affordable and nutritious protein for generations to come.”

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a statement that the Tyson Foods’ Lexington plant closure does not reflect poorly on the state and won’t end Tyson’s investment there.

“Nebraska’s cattle industry is resilient and the envy of the world, and our workforce can outwork anybody,” Pillen said.

“Our excellent cattlemen and cattle feeders have emerging opportunities and will still have the Tyson market to sell into as its planned reorganization will boost capacity and jobs at other Nebraska plants.”

He said Tyson officials have promised to provide new opportunities for Nebraskans.

“The state of Nebraska is ready to build for the future and do what it can do to support employees affected by this change,” Pillen added.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., wasn’t as optimistic about the change.

“As the single-largest employer in Lexington, Tyson’s announcement will have a devastating impact on a truly wonderful community, the region and our state,” Fischer said in a social media post, as reported by Nebraska Public Media.

Lexington has a population of nearly 11,000 and is located 165 miles west of Lincoln.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Saturday said his proposed peace plan to end the war raging between Ukraine and Russia since 2022 is not his final offer.

Trump has given Ukraine a deadline Thursday to accept the 28-point proposal.

When asked by reporters outside the White House whether it is the final offer, Trump responded, “No. We’d like to get to peace.”

“One way or another we’ll get it ended,” he said, adding his familiar refrain that “the Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened.”

Asked what would happen if Ukraine rejects the plan, Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “can continue to fight his little heart out.”

Trump spoke to reporters before playing golf with Jack Nicklaus at the Joint Base Andrews golf course.

The president sent officials to Geneva, Switzerland, to meet Sunday with a Ukrainian delegation, including Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, a top U.S. official told ABC News on Saturday.

National security advisers from Germany, France and Britain are also going to Geneva for talks, a diplomatic source told CNN Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday posted on X about the talks.

“In the coming days, consultations with our partners will take place on the steps needed to end the war,” he said in a video.

“Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and exactly what must be done to prevent Russia from launching a third invasion, another strike against Ukraine — just as it has repeatedly committed crimes against our people and against other nations in the past,” Zelensky said.

His office said Friday noted that “Ukraine never wanted this war and will make every effort to end it with a dignified peace.

“Ukraine will never be an obstacle for peace, and the representatives of the Ukrainian state will defend legitimate interests of the Ukrainian people and the foundations of European security,” they said. “We are grateful for our European partners’ willingness to help.”

There are planned meetings with a Russian delegation.

Russia worked with the United States on the peace plan, which was presented to Ukraine last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin said “it could form the basis of a final peace settlement.”

But the plan includes what Ukraine has said are nonstarters, including giving up land not yet occupied by Russia and cutting its armed forces by more than half.

Ukraine also would be forbidden from possessing long-range weapons and Moscow would retain virtually all the territory it has occupied — notably, its 2014 seizure of Crimea.

Additionally, Ukraine would not be permitted join NATO, which has been a demand by Russia.

“Since the first days of the war, we have taken one, extremely simple position: Ukraine needs peace,” Zelenskyy said in an address on Friday. “And a real peace — one that will not be broken by a third invasion.”

Driscoll met with Zelensky on Thursday about a “collaborative plan to achieve peace in Ukraine,” according to a U.S. official.

Allies: Additional work needed

U.S. allies have been skeptical of the plan, including those attending the G-20 summit in South Africa.

The U.S. is absent because of “human rights violations” in the nation, Trump said on Nov. 8.

Twelve European Union leaders, joined by the Canadian and Japanese prime ministers, released a joint statement saying it welcomed “continued U.S. efforts to bring peace to Ukraine. The initial draft of the 28-point plan includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace.”

Bur it noted the draft proposal “will require additional work. We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”

And these leaders said they must sign off on portions of the agreement that affect them.

“We reiterate that the implementation of elements relating to the European Union and relating to NATO would need the consent of EU and NATO members respectively,” the statement said.

Zelensky, in successive posts on X to leaders, wrote “thank you for your support!”

In a statement ahead of the meeting, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he expected friends and partners of Ukraine to “meet in the margins of the G-20 summit to discuss how we can secure a full ceasefire and create the space for meaningful peace negotiations.”

“We will discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of President Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations,” Starmer added.

Republicans unhappy with plan

The plan was also criticized by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former Republican majority leader, as a way to appease Putin.

“Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool,” McConnell posted Friday on Facebook. “If Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisors.

“Rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests. And a capitulation like Biden’s abandonment of Afghanistan would be catastrophic to a legacy of peace through strength,” he said.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, called parts of the plan “problematic and can be made better” in a post on X.

“The goal of any peace deal is to end the war honorably and justly — and not create new conflict,” Graham said. “Finally, to the world: what about the fate of the almost 20,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped by Putin’s forces? This issue has to be addressed in any negotiated settlement.”

A bipartisan coalition of pro-Ukraine legislators will seek to force a House vote to impose crippling sanctions on Russia

Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said in an X post Friday that he and his allies have “officially notified both the Clerk of the House and House leadership of our discharge petition to force a vote on crushing Russian sanctions immediately upon our return” from the Thanksgiving holiday recess.

World leaders broke with tradition and quickly adopted a new declaration at the start of the G20 summit, despite pressure from the Trump administration to avoid a leaders’ declaration in the absence of an American delegation.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Tatiana Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg‘s daughter and the late President John F. Kennedy‘s granddaughter, has announced she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, with a rare mutation, in 2024.

“My parents and my brother and sister, too, have been raising my children and sitting in my various hospital rooms almost every day for the last year and a half. They have held my hand unflinchingly while I have suffered, trying not to show their pain and sadness in order to protect me from it,” the 35-year-old environmental journalist and mother of two young children wrote in an essay for the New Yorker magazine published Saturday.

“This has been a great gift, even though I feel their pain every day. For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry. Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

She described in detail how she was shocked to be diagnosed when her blood work raised alarms after the birth of her second child last year.

Tatiana, who said she felt healthy and strong at the time, explained all of the treatments she ultimately had to undergo and how the doctor supervising her latest clinical trial cautiously said he might be able to keep her alive for another year at the most.

Tatiana is also the daughter of artist and author Edwin Schlossberg and the older sister of Jack Schlossberg, who announced earlier this month he is running for the House seat being vacated by longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler.

She is the cousin of Robert Kennedy Jr., who serves as U.S. President Donald Trump‘s secretary of Health and Human Services, as well.

In her essay, she criticized Kennedy, calling him an “embarrassment” to his family for his views and policies regarding vaccines, insurance and funding for research.