UN SLAMS CIVILIAN TOLL AS RUSSIA’S WAR HITS DAY 500

KYIV, Ukraine—The United Nations condemned the civilian cost inflicted by Russia’s war in Ukraine as the fighting passed the 500-day mark with no end to the conflict in sight.

More than 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, have been killed since Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion, the UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said in a statement on Friday, though UN representatives have previously said the real count is likely to be much higher.

“Today we mark another grim milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukraine’s civilians,” Noel Calhoun, the deputy head of HRMMU, said in the statement marking the 500th day since the invasion.

While this year the casualty numbers have been lower on average than in 2022, the figure began to climb again in May and June, the monitors noted.

On June 27, 13 civilians, including four children, were killed in a missile strike on Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

And far from the front line in the western city of Lviv, rescuers found a 10th body in the rubble of buildings on Friday. AFP nately reached the conclusion that the differences are insurmountable. For this reason, I will shortly present my written resignation to the king in the name of the whole government.”

The government later confirmed he had presented his resignation and would visit King Willem-Alexander on Saturday.

The coalition was Rutte’s fourth since he took office in 2010. But it had only taken office in January 2022 after a record 271 days of negotiations and was deeply divided on many issues. Rutte—dubbed “Teflon Mark” after the non-stick pan coating for his ability to avoid political catastrophe –added that he had the “energy” to stand for a fifth term but that he had to “reflect” first.

‘Very disappointing’

The earliest that elections can be held is in mid-November, the Dutch election commission said.

Rutte said he would lead a caretaker government until then that would focus on tasks including support for Ukraine.

The sudden collapse sparked bitter recriminations between the four parties in the year-and-a-half-old coalition, which had been dubbed“Rutte IV”. AFP

On Monday July 3, this curve reached a high of 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.62 degrees Fahrenheit). That record was surpassed on Tuesday with 17.18C (62.92F) and again on Thursday with 17.23C (63.01F).

Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which has a similar tool, later confirmed the records of Monday, then Tuesday, albeit with slightly different figures -- 16.88C (62.38F) and 17.03 (62.65F), respectively. AFP

CHEMICAL WEAPONS ‘IRREVERSIBLY DESTROYED’

THE HAGUE, Netherlands—The world’s chemical weapons watchdog said Friday that all declared stocks had been “irreversibly destroyed” after the United States revealed it had finally got rid of its last toxic arms.

President Joe Biden announced that the Blue Grass Army Depot, a US Army facility in Kentucky, had eliminated its decades-old stocks, completing a global effort started in 1997 to rid the world of chemical weapons.

“The end of destruction of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles is an important milestone”, OrganiZation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons chief Fernando Arias said in a statement.

The Hague-based body said that the step by the United States, the “last possessor state”, meant that “all declared chemical weapons stockpiles (were) verified as irreversibly destroyed”.

But recent use of chemical weapons meant the world still had to be on guard, the Nobel Peace Prizewinning OPCW warned. AFP

Rescue Ship Saves 47 Migrants Off Libya

MARSAILLE, France—The migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking saved 46 people in distress off the coast of Libya on Friday who were trying to reach Europe in a fiberglass boat, the humanitarian NGO said on Twitter.

Those rescued include four single women, a four-year-old girl travelling with her father and around ten unaccompanied minors, according to SOS Mediterranee.

The survivors are “now being cared for”, the group said, adding they were mostly from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.

The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The UN agency has estimated that since the beginning of 2023, 1,728 migrants have disappeared there, compared to 1,417 for the whole of 2022.

Frontex, the EU’s border patrol agency, says boat crossings across the central Mediterranean constitute the principal route for irregular migrant entries to Europe. AFP

US-CHINA COOPERATION ON CLIMATE FINANCE CRUCIAL

BEIJING, China—It is “critical” for Washington and Beijing to keep working together on climate finance, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday, urging deeper cooperation in addressing the “existential threat” of global warming.

Yellen is on a four-day trip to Beijing, as the United States seeks to cool tensions and stress areas of collaboration between the world’s two largest economies.

“As the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases and the largest investors in renewable energy, we have both a joint responsibility –- and ability -– to lead the way,” Yellen told a roundtable of experts in China, underlining a critical area of cooperation despite tense bilateral relations.

“Climate change is at the top of the list of global challenges, and the United States and China must work together to address this existential threat,” she added.

Saying that “climate finance should be targeted efficiently and effectively”, she pressed China to support existing multilateral institutions like the Green Climate Fund, while urging for the inclusion of the private sector in transitioning towards net zero.

“Both our economies seek to support partners in emerging markets and developing countries as they strive to meet their climate goals, and I believe continued US-China cooperation on climate finance is critical.”

China last year briefly said it was suspending talks on the climate after Nancy Pelosi, then-speaker of the House of Representatives, visited

Taiwan -- the self-ruled democracy claimed by Beijing.

But there are signs talks could restart soon, with US envoy John Kerry due to travel to China to discuss cooperation on climate change, a US official said Friday.

Besides working together on climate, Yellen said in a Friday meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang that it was also key for Washington and Beijing to closely communicate on global economic and financial affairs -- while making joint efforts on international challenges such as debt distress.

The Treasury chief’s high-level meeting with Premier Li had likely “set the tone” for the rest of her visit, said Lyu Xiang, a Sino-US relations expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. AFP