All posts tagged: world

Former world leaders seek $25bn levy on oil states’ revenues to pay for climate damage | Cop28

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The bumper revenues of oil-producing states should be subject to a $25bn levy to help pay for the impact of climate disasters on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, a group of former world leaders and leading economists has said. Seventy international figures led by the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown signed a letter calling for the measure before a crucial UN climate summit, Cop28, that begins in Dubai on Thursday. The signatories include 25 former prime ministers or presidents. Such a levy would shave off only a small fraction of the bonanza that oil-producing countries have made in recent years, and would help to fill a fund for the “loss and damage” to poor countries afflicted by the impacts of the climate crisis. Brown told the Guardian: “The deadlock on climate finance has to be broken if Cop28 is to succeed. After more than a decade of broken promises, a $25bn oil and gas levy paid by the petrol states and proposed by the UAE as chair of Cop would kickstart finance …

How AI ‘sees’ the world – what happened when we trained a deep learning model to identify poverty

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To most effectively deliver aid to alleviate poverty, you have to know where the people most in need are. In many countries, this is often done with household surveys. But these are usually infrequent and cover limited locations. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have created a step change in how to measure poverty and other human development indicators. Our team has used a type of AI known as a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to study satellite imagery and identify some types of poverty with a level of accuracy close to that of household surveys. The use of this AI technology could help, for example, in developing countries where there has been a rapid change of land use. The AI could monitor via satellite and potentially spot areas that are in need of aid. This would be much quicker than relying on ground surveys. Plus, the dreamy images our deep learning model has produced give us a unique insight into how AI visualises the world. Two villages with different wealth ratings as seen from …

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 642 | World news

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Russia is having to pull air defence systems out of Kaliningrad, its external province on the Baltic Sea, to replace the ones it has lost in the Ukraine war, according to an intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence. “This follows an uptick in losses of SA-21 air defence systems in Russian-occupied Ukraine in late October 2023.” The move shows that Russia is so overstretched by its Ukraine war that it is having to accept additional risk to strategically important Kaliningrad, which is bordered on three sides by Nato member states, according to the MoD. The Russian military death toll in Ukraine has reached 324,830 according to estimates provided by the Ukrainian military. Russia sent waves of kamikaze drones into Ukraine on Saturday in what Kyiv said was the most intensive drone attack since the start of the war. Five people were wounded by falling debris, while several buildings were damaged as about 17,000 people in the Kyiv region were left without electricity, reports said. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 74 of …

It’s aggrieved Everton against the world and that may not be such a bad thing | Everton

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Goodison Park is always noisy, it’s just that sometimes that noise is roars and sometimes it’s boos. When Everton kick off against Manchester United on Sunday, it’s safe to say the mood will be fervently supportive. The annual putting aside of differences to rally behind the flag and fight relegation will come early this season: there’s nothing like the sense of a common enemy to pull people together. The enemy here is legion. It’s the shambolic leadership of their own club, it’s the Premier League for bringing charges and pushing for a 10-point deduction and it’s the independent panel for finding them guilty and imposing the sanction. It might also be the prospective new owners: Everton may be in a frying pan but nobody can look at 777 Partners, their track record and the Fifa sanction against them over unpaid transfer fees and not fear they may represent a fire. Even Genoa, who had been held up as a success story for 777 after promotion last season, stand on the brink of bankruptcy. It’s Everton …

Geert Wilders vows to become Dutch PM by compromising with other parties | World news

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Veteran Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders on Saturday vowed to be prime minister of the Netherlands, after an election in which his party won the most seats. In a long post on X, formerly Twitter, that expressed frustration at other parties for their apparent unwillingness to cooperate with his Freedom party (PVV), Wilders said he would “continue to moderate” his positions if necessary to gain power. “Today, tomorrow or the day after, the PVV will be part of government and I will be prime minister of this beautiful country,” Wilders wrote. Although Wilders’ PVV, which stood on an anti-immigration platform, finished well ahead of rivals in the 22 November vote, his party is forecast to take only 25% of the seats in the Dutch parliament. That means he will have to cooperate with at least two more moderate parties in order to form a government. On Friday, the conservative VVD party of caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte, which shares many of Wilders’ views on immigration, said it would not participate in a cabinet with him. …

Celebrations in the West Bank as first batch of Palestinian prisoners released – video | World news

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Celebrations broke out in parts of the West Bank after a truce mediated by Qatar between Israel and Hamas led to the freeing of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. The 39 released Palestinians were taken from Ofer prison by coach to the West Bank where they were welcomed by large crowds. Laith Othman, one of the released prisoner said: ‘I can’t express my feelings now, thanks to God.’ Earlier on Friday, 24 hostages were released by Hamas, including 13 Israeli citizens, 10 Thais and one citizen from Philippines. They were transported by International Red Cross to the Egyptian border Source link

WW2 bomber crew’s remains identified 80 years after plane shot down over Netherlands | Second world war

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Eighty years after they were shot down by the Germans over Dutch waters, British airmen Arthur Smart, Raymond Moore and Charles Sprack can be laid to rest after the Dutch defence ministry confirmed that their remains had been identified. Two silver-plated cigarette cases were found with the initials of 27-year-old flight engineer Smart and 21-year-old wireless operator Moore. Their Lancaster bomber never returned from a mission targeting Bochum in Germany on 13 June 1943. Instead the “Pathfinder” was tracked on its way home and shot down into the Dutch waters of the IJsselmeer with seven men onboard. While the bodies of four men were washed up and buried in Stavoren, Workum and Hindeloopen, Smart, Moore and 23-year-old mid-upper gunner Sprack were registered as missing in action. Johan Graas, of the Stichting Aircraft Recovery Group, which helped with the investigation, said the men’s families were relieved. “It is good news that all three have been identified and amazing that the cigarette cases of Smart and Moore were found,” he said. “The goal of our foundation is …

When Hollywood Put World War III on Television

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This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The ABC made-for-television movie The Day After premiered on November 20, 1983. It changed the way many Americans thought about nuclear war—but the fear now seems forgotten. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: A Preview of Hell We live in an anxious time. Some days, it can feel like the wheels are coming off and the planet is careening out of control. But at least it’s not 1983, the year that the Cold War seemed to be in its final trajectory toward disaster. Forty years ago today, it was the morning after The Day After, the ABC TV movie about a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Roughly 100 million people tuned in on Sunday night, November 20, 1983, and The Day After holds the record as the most-watched made-for-television movie in …

Brazil v Argentina: 2026 World Cup qualifying – live | Football

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Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Preamble Welcome to a crucial World Cup qualifier between first-place Argentina and fifth-place Brazil, where … … wait … do the standings matter? CONMEBOL, the South American federation, has the simplest and fairest qualification system. No comparisons of runners-up across disparate groups. No draw that creates a “Group of Death.” No “playoff to get into the group stage that determines who goes to the playoff.” Ten teams. Double round-robin. That’s it. It’s a fair format. It’s also quite forgiving. So Brazil are currently in fifth place, looking up not only at eternal rival Argentina and historically accomplished countries such as Uruguay and Colombia but also at Venezuela. If not for a three-point penalty to Ecuador, Brazil would be trailing them, too. And they would still be on course to qualify for the next World Cup, which will include a mind-boggling 48 teams. Even if things were truly horrific, Brazil would have nearly two years to fix the problem(s). The last games …

Palestine v Australia: 2026 World Cup qualifier – live | World Cup 2026

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Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Some of the Palestine players remain in Gaza. Those who travelled to Kuwait via a training camp in Jordan are preoccupied with the safety of their loved one. The Palestine coach Makram Daboub has been discussing the extraordinary circumstances in which this match will take place. Team news: four changes for Socceroos Palestine (possible 4-3-3) Hamadi; Al-Battat, Termanini, Saleh, Saldaña; Rashid, Jaber, Abu Warda; Seyam, Qunbar, Dabbagh.Substitutes: tbc Australia (possible 4-2-3-1) Ryan; Strain, Souttar, Rowles, Behich; Baccus, Irvine; Metcalfe, Boyle, Goodwin; Duke.Substitutes: Burgess, Bos, Silvera, Maclaren, Yengi, Borrello, Gauci, Circati, O’Neill, Maynard-Brewer, Miller, Luongo. ???? Graham Arnold makes four changes from our last match against Bangladesh. Ryan Strain, Kye Rowles, Aziz Behich and Martin Boyle all return to the Starting XI. ???????? v ???????? – 22.11.23 – 1:00am AEDT???????????? Live on Channel 10, Paramount+, 10 Play#PLEvAUS #Socceroos pic.twitter.com/IbxOlWEz8P — Subway Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 21, 2023 Updated at 13.15 GMT Preamble Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of the World Cup qualifier between …