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“It is impossible not to touch on the humanitarian crisis taking place in Palestinian territories close to us,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the environmental meeting.

“The incidents taking place in Gaza are a humanitarian crime, a war crime,” added the Turkish leader, while the presidents of Colombia and Cuba both called the Israeli aggression “genocide”.

But Israeli President Isaac Herzog did not appear for his scheduled speech, a day after his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas cancelled his planned visit to COP28.

Qatar’s emir, originally listed as one of Friday’s speakers, was missing from the final line-up.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not attend the meeting, despite being scheduled to give the first speech.

No reason was given for Friday’s last-minute changes.

France said it regrets the end of a truce and called for its restoration. “Rupture of the truce is very bad news, regrettable, because it brings no solution and complicates the resolution of all questions that arise,” Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on the sidelines of the conference. She called a truce resumption “essential”.

Iran’s team abruptly quit COP28 in protest at Israel’s presence, which delegation chief and Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said was “contrary to the goals and guidelines of the conference”, according to the official news agency IRNA.

IRNA had said late on Thursday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would not attend COP28 and Mehrabian would take his place.

Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid used his speech to “condemn the aggressive assault against Gaza”.

“We call upon the international community to stand firm against this assault,” he said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was “appalled at the tragedy that is underway in Gaza”, the aggression against the innocent people.

“Palestine is a war crime that must be ended.” When King Abdullah II of Jordan, one of the first speakers, raised the subject of Gaza, one delegate started clapping, before quickly stopping when no one else joined in.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed their deep regret over the collapse of the humanitarian pause in Gaza when they met at COP28 in Dubai, Sunak’s office said in a statement.

Other leaders also criticised the unrest, but there was no mention from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, a frontline state that shares a border with Gaza.

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed on Friday pledged to establish a $30 billion fund for climate financing as world leaders from almost 200 countries gathered in Dubai for the UN’s COP28 summit.

The fund is intended to support the recently established catalytic climate vehicle, ALTÉRRA, which will spearhead global initiatives to establish a more equitable climate finance framework focusing on enhancing financing accessibility for the Global South, Al Arabiya reported.

With this $30 billion pledge, ALTÉRRA has grown to be the greatest private investment vehicle for climate change action in the world.

Additionally, by 2030, the organisation hopes to raise $250 billion worldwide.

It seeks to nudge private markets in the direction of climate investments while concentrating on underdeveloped economies and emerging markets, where traditional investment has lagged behind because of the greater perceived risks in those regions.

“I am pleased to announce the establishment of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions,” Sheikh Mohamed said at COP28 on Friday. “This fund is designed to bridge the climate finance gap.”

The current lack of climate finance is a significant issue, with emerging markets and developing economies expected to require $2.4 trillion annually by 2030.

COP28 has made fixing climate finance a key pillar of its action agenda.

COP28 President Dr Sultan al-Jaber described the launch of the vehicle as a “defining moment” in the creation of a new era of international climate finance.

Al-Jaber, who will chair the ALTÉRRA’s Board, added: “ALTÉRRA provides a transformational solution for attracting private capital. Its scale and structure will create a multiplier effect in climate-focused investment, making it a vehicle like no other. Its launch reflects the COP Presidency’s Action Agenda and the UAE’s efforts to make climate finance available, accessible and affordable.”

Several finance-led programmes, including ALTÉRRA, were introduced at COP28 aiming to hasten the world’s shift to a low-carbon economy and enhancing climate resilience.

Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General, will serve as ALTÉRRA’s Chief Executive Officer.

He said: “ALTÉRRA is a critical element in the UAE’s efforts to create a global green finance ecosystem that stimulates and empowers the growth of a new climate economy. It will build a vibrant climate investment landscape which further catalyzes investment into the Global South.”

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday stressed that the general elections, which are slated to be held on February 8 next year, should be conducted on time.

“[Holding the elections on time] is the requirement of law and democracy,” said the former prime minister while speaking to journalists after he appeared before an accountability court in Lahore in the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference.

The court had summoned Shehbaz a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alleging that the former chief minister of Punjab misused his authority by using public funds for the construction of a bridge to facilitate the Ramzan mills, owned by his sons.

Shehbaz said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will announce the party manifesto in the election campaign, adding that they are starting the campaign with full preparation.

He also addressed the issues raised by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of not being provided equal opportunities to contest the upcoming polls, Shehbaz said: “I went to court today and this is called the level-playing field and Nawaz Sharif will also produce himself in an Islamabad court today.”

The former premier said that the Sharif family has suffered hardships but Nawaz Sharif still bowed before the law. “Nawaz Sharif ended his exile and came back to Pakistan. We always respected the judiciary,” he added.

Shehbaz, speaking about the May 9 incidents which were followed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case, said that the facilitation of the perpetrators of the May 9 events would be anti-national.

“A conspiracy to overthrow the army was hatched on May 9 and any democratic government will not tolerate treason,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Shehbaz, during the hearing said that he was summoned in the clean water case but was arrested in Ashiana reference.

“I will not discuss the merits of the case, my lawyer will do it,” he told the court, adding that the court gave me justice in the Ashiana case.

“After that, NAB arrested me in the sewer case. I was told that I had issued a directive for the construction of a drain which was built by an MPA,” he said.

The PML-N president told the court that they have installed thousands of clean water projects during his tenure.

Shehbaz said that he transferred their inherited sugar mill to his son and the government did not give subsidies to sugar mills in his tenure.

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are in agreement for the local government system to receive constitutional cover through amendment, as it will strengthen it throughout the country.

The two parties agreed on the decision during a meeting at the residence of PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal in Islamabad on Wednesday, The News reported.

The MQM-P delegation included Farooq Sattar, Mustafa Kamal and Aminul Haq, while the PML-N leadership comprised Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Bashir Memon.

“The MQM delegation handed over a draft of a bill to us and we have promised that a constitutional amendment will be approved by parliament after general elections,” said Ahsan Iqbal during an informal talk with journalists after the meeting.

Iqbal added the PML-N also believed in a strong local government system. He was of the view that for the solution of problems at the grassroots level and training of youth, the best possible way was to ensure that the local body’s system was given constitutional protection.

The PML-N leader said that they also discussed cooperation for the upcoming general elections. In this, he said, it was decided that candidates having chances of winning elections would be supported.

“We will try to secure maximum seats in Sindh,” he said.

Mustafa Kamal said that they did not meet the PML-N leadership to seek seats for elections but they wanted strengthening of local government system.

Farooq Sattar maintained the survival of Pakistan and the solution to people’s problems lies in a strong local government system. “We want the provincial governments not to become the centre of all the power and must share them with the local bodies,” he said.

Earlier this week, MQM-P organised a conference titled “Independent Districts: Strong Pakistan” in Karachi to facilitate “comprehensive” constitutional amendments to decentralise power.

MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, during the conference, said that just as the powers of prime minister and chief ministers are listed in the Constitution, the powers of local governments should also be highlighted.

“The real reason behind the crisis in Pakistan is the lack of honest intention which is more problematic than the unfair distribution of resources. Pakistan needs a constitution in which workers are represented by workers and not landlords or feudals,” he added.

Japan’s coast guard said what appeared to be wreckage from the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and one “non-responsive” person had been found some three kilometres from Yakushima island.

Fishing boats in the area found three people in the surrounding waters, a representative of a local fisheries cooperative said, adding their condition was unknown.

Another Osprey landed safely at the island’s airport on Wednesday afternoon around the time of the crash, a spokesperson for the local government said. US forces in the region were still gathering information, a spokesperson said.

The United States, which pledged to defend Japan after its defeat in World War II, has about 54,000 US troops in the country, many in the strategically important southern island chain, amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea.

The crash happened just before 3pm with witnesses saying the aircraft’s left engine appeared to be on fire as it descended, media reported. Japan, which also operates Osprey aircraft, said on Wednesday it had no plans to ground the aircraft but had asked the US military to investigate the crash.

Developed jointly by Boeing and Bell Helicopter, the Osprey can fly both like a helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft and is operated by the US Marines, US Navy and the Japan Self Defence Forces.

The deployment of the Osprey in Japan has been controversial, with critics saying it is prone to accidents. The US military and Japan say it is safe.

Local people fled the area on the eastern edge of the city at the start of the fighting and did not return until the truce, which was in its sixth day on Wednesday.

“We were shocked to see this destruction. We were shocked to see our homes, our streets, our lands, our yards and everything demolished,” said Gihad Nabil, who was recently married and had been living in Abu Ta’imah with his wife.

Standing on a roof with a view of ruined buildings and mounds of rubble as far as the eye could see, he said the area had been home to about 5,000 or 6,000 people before the Hamas raid. He asked where they would go.

“My house is completely destroyed. My brother’s home, my uncle’s, my neighbour’s, all of them destroyed. We don’t need this truce, we need a complete ceasefire,” he said, likening what he was seeing to an earthquake zone.

As Nabil and another man sat on the roof, talking and smoking a shisha pipe, a group of children down below sat around a small fire built on a pile of rubble and warmed-up bread, which they shared.

The hostilities have displaced 80pc of Gazans from their homes, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Gute­rres, who on Wednesday described the situation as an epic humanitarian catastrophe.