Africa’s forests transformed from carbon sink to carbon source, study finds
Africa’s forests have turned from a carbon sink into a carbon source, according to research that underscores the need for urgent action to save the world’s great natural climate stabilisers. They discovered that Africa gained carbon between 2007 and 2010, but since then widespread forest loss has tipped the balance so the continent is contributing more CO 2 into the atmosphere. The authors said the results show that urgent action is needed to stop forest loss or the world risks losing one of its most important natural carbon buffers. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. after newsletter promotion“Policymakers ought to respond by putting better safeguards in place to protect the world’s tropical forests,” Balzter said.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 17:30 UTC
Rebel nuns who busted out of Austrian care home win reprieve – if they stay off social media
He repeatedly accused them of breaking their vows of obedience, a claim the nuns denied. View image in fullscreen The three nuns have been helped by local supporters and former pupils since returning to Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen. Church officials have reportedly said the nuns will be provided with adequate medical care and nursing help, and a priest would be at their disposal to serve regular mass. View image in fullscreen Sister Bernadette leads prayers attended by supporters and former pupils in the chapel at Goldenstein. “Now it’s up to the sisters,” Harald Schiffl, a spokesperson for Grasl, told the Austrian news agency APA.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 16:54 UTC
Putin insists Ukraine has to surrender territory for any deal to be possible
Vladimir Putin has said that the outline of a draft peace plan discussed by the US and Ukraine could serve as a basis for future negotiations to end the war – but insisted Ukraine would have to surrender territory for any deal to be possible. Speaking to reporters during a working visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin said Russia would halt its offensive only if Ukrainian forces withdrew from unspecified areas currently under Kyiv’s control. They would require Ukraine to voluntarily cede territory that Moscow has failed to seize militarily. He told the US magazine the Atlantic: “As long as Zelenskyy is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory.”
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 16:43 UTC
Canada minister resigns from cabinet over Carney’s controversial oil pipeline deal
Mark Carney has agreed an energy deal with Alberta centred on plans for a new heavy oil pipeline reaching from the province’s oil sands to the Pacific coast, a politically volatile project that is expected to face stiff opposition. The move proved politically damaging within hours, with the minister of Canadian culture, Steven Guilbeault, who is the former environment minister, announcing he would leave cabinet. He said the agreement “sets the state for an industrial transformation” and involved not just a pipeline, but nuclear power and datacentres. Carney’s government will exempt a possible pipeline project from the existing coastal oil tanker moratorium and emissions cap. Even before Carney and Smith made their announcement, however, First Nations said any new pipeline was effectively dead on arrival.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 16:35 UTC
US will no longer commemorate World Aids Day, reports say
For the first time since 1988, the US government will no longer commemorate World Aids Day, according to reports. But they should “refrain from publicly promoting World Aids Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public-facing messaging”. “An awareness day is not a strategy,” a state department spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, told the New York Times. World Aids Day is usually when the state department shares Pepfar data about cumulative and annual progress with Congress. The state department has not yet replied to a request for comment.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 15:25 UTC
Beaches reopen after bull shark kills Swiss tourist with police reviewing GoPro footage from scene
Police are reviewing GoPro footage from the scene, which may shed more light on how the attack unfolded. Surf Life Saving NSW said Kylies and nearby North Haven and Crowdy Bay beaches reopened at 12.30pm on Friday. “Until then, it’s a really horrific freak incident, but there’s no indication that this shark will keep biting humans. The Department of Primary Industries deployed five “smart” drumlines at Kylies beach after the attack. Meanwhile, other NSW beaches were closed on Friday after numerous bull shark sightings along with bait ball sightings, where schools of fish group together to form a defensive, tight mass to deter predators.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 14:35 UTC
‘Is this doable?’: why political paralysis threatens an ambitious Brussels arts complex
Housed in a remodelled former Citroën garage on the north-western edge of the city centre, the centre is 95% complete. But in recent weeks, the conversation around Kanal’s opening has moved from “when” to “if”. Neither Brussels’ modern art gallery Wiels nor the more classical Bozar Centre for Fine Arts have their own collections. View image in fullscreen The formalised partnership with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, limited to five years, will cost Brussels €2m a year. “Who thinks this is doable?”The formalised partnership with the Centre Pompidou, limited to five years after Kanal’s opening, will cost Brussels €2m (£1.75m) a year.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 14:31 UTC
Putin praises Orbán’s ‘balanced’ position on Ukraine as leaders meet in Moscow – Europe live
Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AP Welcoming him to the Kremlin, Putin praised Orbán’s “balanced” position on Ukraine, after Hungary repeatedly tried to block further sanctions on Russia. The rest of Russia’s frozen assets would be invested in a US-Russian investment vehicle focused on joint projects. Germany, Sweden, as well as central and eastern European states and von der Leyen, argue the frozen assets plan is the best option. “These risks are unfortunately not academic but real,” he wrote to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Belgium hosts €183bn of Russian assets, around two thirds of Russian assets immobilised in the west, at the Brussels-based central securities depository Euroclear.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 14:23 UTC
Israel still committing genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International says
Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month. Israel’s genocide is not over.”Contacted by Agence France-Presse, the Israeli foreign ministry did not immediately respond to the allegations. In December 2024, Amnesty concluded that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza by three of those acts – including deliberately inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. The international court of justice last year ordered Israel “to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide” in Gaza. The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 14:22 UTC
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy will not give up land in exchange for peace, president’s chief of staff says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not agree to give up land to Russia in exchange for peace, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak told US magazine the Atlantic in an interview published on Thursday. “As long as Zelenskyy is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. The comments were published after Vladimir Putin said Russia will fight on unless Kyiv withdraws from territory Moscow claims as its own. Ukrainian and US delegations will meet this week, Zelenskyy has said, to work on points raised at the Geneva talks to bring peace with Russia and provide security guarantees for Ukraine. “We need a peace, but not a pause that provides Russia a chance to retreat and regroup,” the Kyiv-based human rights lawyer said.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 13:37 UTC
Palestinian-American teenager held in Israeli prison freed after nine months
A 16-year-old American citizen was freed on Thursday after spending nine months in an Israeli prison. Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian-American teenager from Florida whose case was first exposed by the Guardian in July, was released following a guilty plea and suspended sentence, according to his family. View image in fullscreen Mohammed Ibrahim with his father Zaher, following his release from Israeli prison. While reporting on his story, the Guardian learned that his younger cousin Mohammed Ibrahim had been held since February. “There are hundreds of children like Mohammed, unjustly trapped in an Israeli military prison, being subjected to Israel’s abuse and torture,” Kadur said.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 13:34 UTC
Flash flooding in Sumatra kills 69 as rescue crews search rivers for survivors
Flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island have killed 69 people, with 59 missing as emergency workers search in rivers and the rubble of villages for bodies and possible survivors. Monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province on Tuesday. In North Sumatra province the death toll rose to 37 as rescue personnel recovered more bodies on Thursday, said provincial police spokesperson Ferry Walintukan in a statement. Rescuers were searching for 52 residents reported missing, but mudslides, blackouts and a lack of telecommunications were hampering search efforts, he said. View image in fullscreen Flooding in the Lubuk Minturun area of Koto Tangah, Padang City, West Sumatra, caused damage as tree debris and mud affected residential areas.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 13:32 UTC
France to introduce voluntary military service amid threat from Russia
France is to introduce voluntary military service of 10 months aimed mainly at young people aged 18 and 19, as concern grows in Europe about the threat from Russia. Under the new military service, men and women, mostly aged 18 and 19, could volunteer to sign up for 10 months. Photograph: Blondet Eliot/ABACA/ShutterstockThere is so far no suggestion that military service in France could again be compulsory, as it was before the then president, Jacques Chirac, abolished conscription in 1997. After the programme, participants could integrate into civilian life, become a reservist, or stay in the armed forces, he said. Macron’s office said polling data suggested high support for the armed forces among 18- to 25-year-olds.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 12:40 UTC
Fear Santos gas plan may start fracking rush that poses ‘major risk’ to NT water supply
Santos has published plans to drill 12 fracking wells at Tanumbirini Station, a 5,000 sq km cattle station about 340km south-east of Katherine. Dr Kirsty Howey, executive director of the Environment Centre NT, described the plan as “the biggest ever gas play in the Beetaloo for Santos”. “Fracking undoubtedly poses a major risk to this huge, quite incredible aquifer that many Aboriginal communities and pastoralists rely on,” Howey said. Methane bubbles have been observed at hot springs at Tanumbirini Station, suggesting connections between surface water and the shale gas layer to be targeted for fracking. “We’ve already seen incidents of uncontrolled releases of wastewater from shale gas fracking sites in the Beetaloo from other operators,” he said.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 12:31 UTC
Palestinian Australian assaulted and abused on Sydney train ‘shocked’ police charged assailant with assault but not hate speech
Palestinian Australian film-maker Shamikh Badra, who alleged to police that he was assaulted and racially abused on a Sydney train after an anti-immigration march, is “shocked” that police charged his assailant with common assault but not hate speech. The facts state that “due to the escalation of the interaction”, Majed took out his mobile phone and began to film. The facts state that “a short physical confrontation” ensued before the parties separated after the train stopped at Macdonaldtown. 1:12 Palestinian Australian brothers allege racist abuse on Sydney train – videoThe facts reference that the incident was captured on mobile phones and CCTV. Critics of the offence, which came into effect just before the train assault, have accused the Minns government of ignoring its own 2024 review into hate speech.
Source:The Guardian
November 28, 2025 11:35 UTC