Renewed hostilities in Gaza must be avoided at all costs: UN Chief

By Deepak Arora

NEW YORK, Feb 11: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Hamas to continue with the planned release of hostages on Tuesday, a day after the Palestinian militant group announced its intention to halt the exchange.

“We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy,” he said in a statement.

Hamas on Monday announced it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it called Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, raising the risk of reigniting the conflict.

“Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume negotiations in Doha for the second phase,” Guterres added.

Global heating is a cold, hard fact: UN Chief

By Deepak Arora

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that today’s assessment makes it clear that global heating is a cold, hard fact, adding that governments must deliver new national climate action plans this year to limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5°C and support the most vulnerable, as well as deal with the devastating climate impacts.

In a statement on the World Meteorological Organization report, the Secretary-General said "We have just endured the hottest decade on record – with 2024 topping the list, and likely to be the first calendar year with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."

Antonio Guterres said "individual years pushing past the 1.5 degree limit do not mean the long-term goal is shot. It means we need to fight even harder to get on track."

He said blazing temperatures in 2024 require trail-blazing climate action in 2025.

Specifically, he ssaid governments must deliver new national climate action plans this year to limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5°C, and support the most vulnerable and deal with devastating climate impacts.

Antonio Guterres said there's still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act – now, he added.