Tuvalu’s Minister of Climate Change Maina Talia has told Al Jazeera that his country is fighting to stay above rising sea levels and needs “real commitments” from other countries that will allow Tuvaluans to “stay in Tuvalu” as the climate crisis worsens.
The low-lying nation of nine atolls and islands, which is situated between Australia and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, is fighting to maintain its sovereignty by exploring new avenues in international diplomacy.
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But, right now, the country needs help just to stay above water.
“Coming from a country that is barely not one metre above the sea, reclaiming land and building sea walls and building our resilience is the number one priority for us,” Talia told Al Jazeera in an interview during the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“We cannot delay any more. Climate finance is important for our survival,” Talia said.
“It’s not about building [over the] next two or three years to come, but right now, and we need it now, in order for us to respond to the climate crisis,” he said.
Talia, who is also Tuvalu’s minister of home affairs and the environment, said the issue of financing will be a key issue at the upcoming UN COP30 climate meeting in Belem, in the Brazilian Amazon, in November.
Tuvalu’s Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change, and Environment Maina Talia spoke to Al Jazeera during the UN General Assembly in New York [File: Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo]
‘You pollute, you pay’
Tuvalu is one of many countries already pushing for a better deal on climate financing at this year’s COP, after many advocates left last year’s meeting in Azerbaijan disappointed by the unambitious $300bn target set by richer countries.
Describing the COP climate meeting as having become more like a “festival for the oil-producing countries”, Talia said Tuvalu is also exploring a range of alternative initiatives, from a push to create the world’s first fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to seeking to add its entire cultural heritage to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Representatives of oil-producing countries are now attending the COP climate meetings in “big numbers”, Talia said, in order to try and “really bury our voice as small developing countries”.
“They take control of the narrative. They take control of the process. They try to water down all the texts. They try to put a stop to climate finance,” Talia said.
“It’s about time that we should call out to the world that finance is important for us to survive,” he said.
“The polluter pay principle is still there. You pollute, you pay,” he added.
Talia also said that it was frustrating to see his own country struggling to survive, while other countries continue to spend billions of dollars on weapons for current and future wars.
“Whilst your country is facing this existential threat, it’s quite disappointing to see that the world is investing billions and trillions of dollars in wars, in conflicts,” he said.
A report released this week by the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) found that 39 small island countries, which are home to some 65 million people, already need about $12bn a year to help them cope with the effects of climate change.
That figure is many times more than the roughly $2bn a year they are collectively receiving now, and which represents just 0.2 percent of the amount spent on global climate finance worldwide.
GCA, a Rotterdam-based nonprofit organisation, also found that island states are already experiencing an average $1.7bn in annual economic losses due to climate change.
Tuvalu is not only focused on its own survival – the island state is considered to be facing one of the most severe existential threats from rising sea levels – it is also continuing to find ways to fight climate change globally.
About 16 countries have now signed on to the treaty, with Colombia offering to host the first international conference for the phase-out of fossil fuels next year.
“We see its relevance for us,” Talia said of the treaty.
“We want to grow in number in order for us to come up with a treaty, apart from the Paris Agreement,” he said.
‘We need to hold the industrialised countries accountable’
Even as Tuvalu, a country with a population of less than 10,000 people, is fighting for immediate action on climate change, it is also making preparations for its own uncertain future, including creating a digital repository of its culture so that nothing is lost to the sea.
Talia, who is also Tuvalu’s minister for culture, said that he made the formal preliminary submission to UNESCO two weeks before the UNGA meeting for “the whole of Tuvalu to be listed” on the World Heritage List.
“If we are to disappear, which is something that we don’t want to anticipate, but if worst comes to worst, at least you know our values, our culture, heritage, are well secured,” he told Al Jazeera.
Likewise, Talia said his country doesn’t see its 2023 cooperation pact with Australia, which also includes the world’s first climate change migration visa, as an indication that the island’s future is sealed.
“I don’t look at the Falepili Agreement as a way of escaping the issue of climate change, but rather a pathway,” he said.
“A pathway that we will allow our people in Tuvalu to get good education, trained, and then return home,” he said, referring to the agreement giving some Tuvaluans access to education, healthcare and unlimited travel to Australia.
The agreement text includes an acknowledgement from both parties that “the statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu will continue, and the rights and duties inherent thereto will be maintained, notwithstanding the impact of climate change-related sea level rise”.
Talia also said that a recent ruling from the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, declared that states have a responsibility to address climate change by cooperating to cut emissions, following through on climate agreements, and protecting vulnerable populations and ecosystems from harm.
The ICJ ruling “really changed the whole context of climate change debates”, Talia said.
“The highest court has spoken, the highest court has delivered the judgement,” he said of the case, which was brought before the ICJ by Tuvalu’s neighbour Vanuatu.
“So it’s just a matter of, how are we going to live that, or weave that, into our climate policies,” he said.
“We need to hold the industrialised countries accountable to their actions,” he added.
The American sprinter, who became Olympic Champion four times and the World Champion eight times, won’t be a pundit for the championships
22:32, 24 Aug 2025Updated 22:33, 24 Aug 2025
Huge BBC star and Olympian to disappear from coverage after almost three decades(Image: Getty Images for USSF)
Olympic star Michael Johnson won’t be on the BBC’s coverage of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next month. The American sprinter, who became Olympic Champion four times and the World Champion eight times, won’t be a pundit in their Tokyo studio during the championships running from September 13 to September 21.
He has featured on the BBC as a regular pundit over the last few decades, and the corporation confirmed he won’t be part of the punditry team for next month. His absence comes amid ongoing financial difficulties regarding his newly launched Grand Slam Track league, which still owes money to athletes in prize money and appearance fees.
A representative for the sprinter said: “He has other commitments, unfortunately, but is looking forward to working with the BBC in the future.”
He has featured on the BBC as a regular pundit over the last few decades,(Image: Getty Images)
Last week, Michael said Grand Slam Track is struggling with financial difficulties and blamed the significant loss of funding for the failure to pay athletes.
The league’s inaugural event in Jamaica in April didn’t pull in the expected audience numbers, resulting in less income from broadcast deals and sponsorship agreements.
According to the Express, Grand Slam Track had initially promised athletes around £74,000 ($100,000) for winning their respective events across each of the four planned competitions.
In addition to this, athletes were assured extra payments for appearing, while Johnson touted a total prize pool of over £8.7million ($12m).
Michael said Grand Slam Track is struggling with financial difficulties (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
In April, he told the BBC: “Our athletes deserve to be paid more and we’re doing that.” But in a recent statement over the unpaid fees, he explained: “We promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated, yet here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them.”
Olympian Gabby Thomas was among the athletes who discussed their frustration as they waited for payments. World Athletics president Lord Coe has recognised that the governing body is closely monitoring the situation.
Michael held an emergency meeting to reveal the cancellation of the final Grand Slam Track event in Los Angeles.
He called it “one of the most difficult challenges” and said there won’t be a 2026 series until the debts are settled.
Meanwhile, in a powerful open letter to the Prime Minister, Olympic champions, global medallists and rising stars recently called on the government to back the bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships at the London Stadium with £45million of funding.
If history has taught us anything, it’s that no one is truly safe. That gathering dread fueled some great ’70s paranoid thrillers, such as “The Parallax View” and “The Conversation,” but it’s been difficult to replicate that eeriness in today’s extremely online world, when our devices explain and obfuscate with abandon, conspiracies are lifeblood and we feel persecuted one day, invincibly anonymous the next.
The nifty premise of “Relay,” a new white-knuckle ride from “Hell or High Water” director David Mackenzie, is that a certain type of tech-savvy hero can, if not completely ease your anxiety, at least navigate a secret truce with those out to get you. And Riz Ahmed’s solitary off-the-grid fixer, Ash, who hides in plain sight in bustling New York, can do it without ever meeting or talking to you: His preferred mode of traceless communication is the text-telephone service that hard-of-hearing people use in conjunction with message-relaying operators. Like a ready-made covert operation, it keeps identities, numbers and call logs secret.
For the simple fact that “Relay” is not about an assassin (the movies’ most over-romanticized independent contractor), screenwriter Justin Piasecki’s scenario deserves kudos. Rather, Ash’s broker helps potential whistleblowers escape the clutches of dangerously far-reaching entities — unless, of course, they want to settle for cash. It’s a fascinatingly cynical update: Should we make an uneasy peace with our tormentors? (Hello, today’s headlines.)
Before those questions get their due, however, “Relay” sets itself up with clockwork precision as a straightforward big-city nail-biter about staying one step ahead. Seeking protection from harassment and a return to normal life, rattled biotech scientist Sarah (Lily James) goes on the run with incriminating documents about her former employer. When she’s rebuffed by a high-powered law firm, she’s provided a mysterious number to call. Ash, armed with his elaborate vetting methods, puts Sarah through the paces with rules and instructions regarding burner phones, mailed packages and a detailed itinerary of seemingly random air travel. It doesn’t just test her commitment, though — it’s also a ploy to scope out the corporate goons on her trail: a dogged surveillance team led by Sam Worthington (who should maybe only play bad guys) and Willa Fitzgerald.
As the story careens through airports and post offices and New York’s hidey-holes, the cat-and-mouse chase is dizzyingly enjoyable, worthy of a Thomas Perry novel. We wait for the missteps that threaten everything, of course, and they begin with learning that Ash is a failed whistleblower himself, one who is beginning to question his chosen crusade. Another vulnerability, recognizable in the occasional cracks in Ahmed’s commanding stoicism, is the loneliness of the gig. So when a restive Sarah, on one of their protected calls, gently prods for a smidgen of personality from her mysterious unseen helper, one is inclined to shout, “No feelings! Too risky!”
But that, of course, is the slippery pleasure of “Relay,” which pits individuals against venal institutional might. Flaws are the beating hearts of these movies, triggering the peril that makes the blood pump faster. Some of that effectiveness is undercut by some off-putting music choices, but McKenzie’s command of the material is rock solid, Giles Nuttgens’ cinematography achieves a sleek, moody metallic chill and Matt Mayer’s editing is always fleet. In a year that’s already given us one superlative case of adult peekaboo — Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag” — “Relay” proves there’s still more room for smart, punchy cloak-and-dagger options.
The TSB name could disappear from British High Streets after its Spanish owner announced a sale of the lender to rival Santander.
The £2.65bn deal still has to be agreed by the current owner Sabadell’s shareholders, but if it does go ahead, Santander said it “intends to integrate TSB in the Santander UK group”.
The takeover would create Britain’s third largest bank by share of personal current accounts.
A Santander spokeswoman said: “For now it is business as usual for Santander UK and TSB colleagues,” but she did not rule out branch closures, and said there would be job cuts.
“There will be duplication, particularly in back office roles,” she said, adding: “Where there is an impact on people this will be communicated directly to affected colleagues and their representatives as is right and proper.”
TSB has 175 branches in the UK and 5,000 employees while Santander has around 349 banks, but it has been shutting branches, saying more customers want to do their banking digitally.
The deal is expected to close in the first three months of 2026, and its value could go up to £2.9bn considering TSB’s estimated profits until then, Sabadell said.
Marc Armengol, TSB’s chief executive, said: “Today’s announcement represents the next exciting chapter for this successful business, as part of Santander, a highly regarded banking group.”
He added that he believed it would be “an excellent fit for our loyal customers”.
Santander has a track record of buying up UK banking brands and absorbing them into the business, with past takeovers including Abbey, Bradford & Bingley, and Alliance & Leicester.
Ana Botin, executive chair of Santander Group, said buying TSB shows the Spanish bank’s confidence both in its strategy and the UK market.
A sale would be the latest step in an eventful history for TSB, which can trace its roots back more than 200 years.
It was once owned by Lloyds, which was forced by the European Commission to spin off the business as a separate brand after Lloyds received a £20bn bailout during the global financial crisis in the late 2010s.
Lloyds eventually sold its remaining stake in TSB to Sabadell of Spain in 2015 in a deal worth £1.7bn.
Israel has attacked the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB and interrupted a live broadcast with an explosion, marking another escalation in the conflict with Tehran and replicating its previous attacks on news media targets in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
TV anchor Sahar Emami denounced Monday’s “aggression against the homeland” and the “truth” as a blast went off and smoke and debris filled the screen. The footage then showed her fleeing the studio as a voice is heard calling, “God is greatest.”
The attack came shortly after the Israeli military issued a threat for Tehran’s District Three, where IRIB’s headquarters is located, and Defence Minister Israel Katz said: “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear.”
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Israel of committing a “wicked act” that constitutes a war crime and of being the number one “killer of journalists and media people”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has counted 178 journalists killed in Gaza by Israel since October 2023, making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded.
“The UNSC [United Nations Security Council] must act now to stop the genocidal aggressor from committing further atrocities against our people,” Baghaei wrote on X.
The CPJ said it was “appalled” by Israel’s attack on Iranian state TV and argued impunity for the killings of Palestinian journalists had “emboldened” the country to target media elsewhere. “This bloodshed must end now,” the organisation said on X.
Peyman Jebelli, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), said the organisation’s headquarters was attacked because the Iranian media are “precisely targeting the depth of the enemy’s media strategy”.
In a statement quoted by the semiofficial Mehr News Agency, he said employees at the national media outlet “loudly declare” their determination to play their roles in the “hybrid war” initiated by Israel.
Iranian journalist Younes Shadlou said many of his colleagues were inside the building when the Israeli attack happened. “I don’t know how many of my colleagues are still inside right now,” he reported from outside the burning building in Tehran
“We had been given evacuation warnings, but everyone stayed until the very last moment to show the true face of the Zionist regime to the world.”
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said the strike was highly symbolic because it targeted an entity with close links to the Iranian government. “The head of the network is appointed by the supreme leader directly, so it is a significant part of the establishment,” Jabbari said.
“This is going to be a great shock for the Iranian people,” she continued. The station is located in a large, fortified complex that has a long history dating back to the 1940s. The channel is the most watched inside Iran, and Emami is a renowned anchor.
The attack should, therefore, be seen as “a huge message for Iran and the general public and [it] is going to create all kinds of fears”, Jabbari said.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Israel targeted a glass building known as the IRIB’s central building. The live broadcast was briefly disrupted, but Emami went back on TV shortly after the blast, which would likely increase her popularity, the journalist said.
The number of victims remains unclear.
Foad Izadi, professor of international relations at the University of Tehran, said he feared there would be “a lot of casualties” from the attack. “It’s a huge building,” he told Al Jazeera. “Iran’s news channel is located on the first floor. It has four floors, and on every floor, you have at least 200 to 300 people working.”
Izadi said he expected the attack to spark international outrage and be condemned by international media outlets.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it has bombed the building of Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran. “This centre was used by the armed forces to promote military operations under civilian cover, while using its own means and assets,” it said, without giving any evidence for its accusations.
Late on Monday, Iran issued evacuation warnings for Israeli news channels. “Iran has issued an evacuation warning for the N12 and N14 channels of Israel. This order comes in response to the hostile attack of Zionist enemy against the Islamic republic of Iran’s broadcasting service,” Iranian state TV said.
Israel has a dark history of attacking media organisations and journalists, most recently in Gaza.
In October, it targeted Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV studios in southern Beirut during a wave of strikes on Lebanon.
Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by Israeli forces in May 2022 in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. She was a veteran television correspondent who became a household name across the Arab world for her bold coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
