الكاتب: kafej

Singer Shakira won big at this year’s Latin Grammys – including for a track which took a swipe about former partner and footballer Gerard Pique.

The Colombian artist scooped Song of the Year and Best Pop Song for Shakira: Bzrp Music Session, Vol 53, her collaboration with J Bizarrap, an Argentinian producer.

The 46-year-old split with ex-Barcelona defender Gerard Pique in 2022 after more than 11 years together. The pair have two children.

Pique, 36, later struck up a relationship with then 23-year-old Clara Chia.

In the track, she raps lines such as, “I’m worth two 22-year-olds”, “you swapped a Ferrari for a Twingo” and “a She-Wolf like me isn’t for rookies”.

She also said, “there’s a thin line between love and hate, don’t come back here, trust me” and “when I needed you, you gave me the worst version of you”.

She was presented with the award by Sergio Ramos, former Spanish international teammate and defender for fierce rivals Real Madrid.

In her speech, Shakira thanked fans for being with her through “difficult moments”, widely thought to be a reference to her split with Pique, and dedicated the award to the “Spanish public”.

She also performed her track Acrostico at the ceremony, which was again thought to be about her relationship with Pique.

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But despite her successes, her legal troubles continue to mount over alleged unpaid tax bills.

In her latest case, it is alleged Shakira failed to declare profits of $12.5m (£10.2m) from an advance payment for her El Dorado World Tour, among others. At that time, she was in a relationship with Pique and living in Barcelona with their two children.

Prosecutors accuse her of using offshore bank accounts.

Previously, a spokesperson for the star said she had “always acted in concordance with the law and on the advice of her financial advisers”.

In late November, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) will be launched in Dubai. Coming at the end of a year which broke multiple heat records, the event is supposed to set the stage for a major push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost climate change adaptation globally.

But ahead of the conference, there have already been warnings from climate activists and civil society that unless there is a marked change in the approach to climate policies, COP28 could fail to deliver any meaningful progress.

In the Global South, there is persistent worry that wealthy nations and international corporations will push for policies that allow them to continue business as usual, with poorer nations, which are the least responsible for climate change, bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.

Such tendencies have already been observed at previous climate events, including most recently at the Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi in early September.

The conference, which gathered thousands of representatives from governments, businesses, international organisations and civil society, was a chance for African peoples to agree on a common position on issues such as loss and damage compensation, climate mitigation and climate finance ahead of COP28.

But the final document issued by the summit – the Nairobi Declaration – did not reflect a consensus and the best interest of African nations.

This is not surprising, given that lobbyists for Global North countries and corporations were given the space and high-level access to push for false solutions. Meanwhile, many of the delegates – activists and members of civil society calling for clarity and solutions to support our continent ­– faced access difficulties during proceedings and were left feeling sidelined.

As a result, instead of pushing for policies that would see the Global North compensate African nations for its historic greenhouse gas emissions, which have catalysed global warming, the summit embraced policies that will further hurt African nations.

Its declaration focused heavily on – and legitimised – problematic practices like carbon credits, offsetting, and trading.

These are false solutions and they are not what Africa needs. They constitute a neocolonial tactic that allows the Global North to continue to emit greenhouse gases whilе retaining control over African land and people and taking the credit for African emissions reductions.

Carbon trading is based on the idea that emissions of carbon dioxide in one place can be “offset” by expanding carbon capture activities in another, such as planting new trees or protecting forests to allow for their natural regeneration. This allows the big carbon emitters of the Global North to pay nature-rich countries in the Global South to preserve or expand forested areas.

But a lot of these areas are inhabited by local people who use forests and land for their livelihoods and food. Carbon trading schemes effectively banish the people from their homelands and dispossess them of their rights in the name of preservation and carbon capture.

It has already been well-documented that such schemes are failing to address rising carbon emissions and enable the greenwashing of rich corporations and nations who refuse to reduce their emissions.

If carbon trading is not the solution, then how can the Global North support African countries to finance loss and damage, adaptation and mitigation?

Cap and share is one alternative model that is gaining popularity among climate activists and civil society. The system centres around an international carbon tax that would make polluters – including fossil fuel extractors and major consumers – in the Global North pay.

This tax, applied to fossil fuel extraction, would raise trillions of dollars a year for a global Green New Deal fund, which would finance the transition to renewables and support energy access for all. The fund’s income would also provide grants for loss and damage, adaptation and mitigation in the Global South, as well as universal cash transfers to support ordinary people.

Cap and share would establish a taxation system that operates beyond the nation-state; doing so is key for climate justice and in many ways, it is long overdue.

Modelling suggests that the economic effects of a global carbon tax would be highly progressive, with Africa seeing substantial gains, including the permanent eradication of extreme poverty in all participating nations. This policy can be applied along with universal basic income and tax justice measures.

As we move towards COP28, the mistakes of the Africa Climate Summit and other similar climate events should not be repeated. The voices of climate activists and civil society from the Global South need to be heard.

We say no to carbon markets. We say no to selling Africa’s carbon, forests, and land to the North. We say yes to climate justice, and to climate finance that comes without strings attached.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Australian says divers were injured after the Chinese navy used sonar while they were in the water clearing fishing nets.

Australia’s defence minister Richard Marles said the government had expressed his concerns to Beijing for its “unsafe and unprofessional” use of the technology. It comes after similar complaints from the US, Canada and Australia over alleged actions taken by Chinese forces in the western Pacific.

Mr Marles said the HMAS Toowoomba stopped while it was in international waters on Tuesday in Japan’s exclusive economic zone after the fishing nets became caught on its propellers.

It had been helping the UN enforce sanctions in the region.

He said: “While diving operations were under way, a PLA-N destroyer (DDG-139) operating in the vicinity closed towards HMAS Toowoomba.

“Toowoomba again advised the PLA-N destroyer that diving operations were being conducted and requested the ship keep clear.

“Despite acknowledging Toowoomba’s communications, the Chinese vessel approached at a closer range. Soon after, it was detected operating its hull-mounted sonar in a manner that posed a risk to the safety of the Australian divers who were forced to exit the water.

“The divers sustained minor injuries, likely due to being subjected to the sonar pulses from the Chinese destroyer.”

Sonar uses sound waves to get an image of what is happening in the water.

When used at high levels, it can cause dizziness and in some cases organ damage.

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Opposition politician James Paterson said the incident happened after the prime minister visited China to build closer ties.

“On one hand, China says it wants a better relationship with Australia and on the other hand it takes dangerous manoeuvres that put the safety of Australian personnel at risk,” he told reporters.

China did not immediately respond to the accusations.

Israeli air raids have hit the al-Fakhoora School, run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

“Hundreds of people are taking shelter inside this school,” said an Al Jazeera correspondent.

This is a breaking story. More to follow.

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip – Samar Rabie is wondering how she is going to feed the 15 people living with her. The mother of four has been hosting her husband’s friends and their families, who were displaced from Gaza City, in her home in Khan Younis, and is struggling to find basic items like bread.

“I went to one of the malls to buy some things, but I did not find anything,” the 28-year-old says.

The shelves are empty, with no sugar, legumes, cheese or any other kind of dairy products.

“There is only cooking oil,” Rabie says, pointing out that the price of food has tripled since the war began. “We are being deprived of many staple foodstuffs, as if everything was arranged so that in addition to not having electricity or water, we would be starved.”

Due to the lack of bread, the family and friends have relied on cooking pasta and rice, but supplies of those are drying up rapidly as well.

“I’m just worried about how we will feed each other after two or three days, and what we will live on in these difficult days that are increasingly suffocating us,” Rabie says.

‘Their farms have been destroyed’

Mahmoud Sharab, also a resident of Khan Younis, says that although he is dismayed by the increasing prices, he doesn’t blame grocers for the inflation when it comes to vegetables.

“Their farms have been destroyed by the constant Israeli bombing,” the 35-year-old says. “They cannot reach their lands.”

Sharab goes out every day to scour the shops and markets for food, hoping at the very least to find canned food and grains.

“I can’t find anything,” he says. “I’ve had to ask people if they have extra canned beans or meat so that I can buy them for my family.

“What Israel is doing is a war of starvation for citizens, and this policy is frightening a lot of people including children as well,” he said, adding that the deliberate bombing of bakeries has left people queuing for six or seven hours just to obtain a bag of bread.

According to the United Nations, no bakery in the northern Gaza Strip has been active since November 7 due to the lack of fuel, water and wheat flour and because of structural damage. A total of 11 bakeries in the Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed, while others are unable to operate because of the lack of flour, fuel and electricity.

“There are indications of negative coping mechanisms due to food scarcity, including skipping or reducing meals and using unsafe and unhealthy methods for making fire,” a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

“People are reportedly resorting to unconventional eating, such as consuming combinations of raw onion and uncooked eggplant.”

Since Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip on October 7, aid convoys have barely trickled through, meaning they can provide just a “drop in the ocean” of what the 2.3 million people in the territory need, say humanitarian agencies.

Ninety-one trucks carrying aid entered from Egypt on November 14, bringing the total number of trucks entering Gaza since October 21 to just 1,187. Before the war began, an average of 500 trucks would enter the Gaza Strip each day.

Despite a limited amount of fuel being allowed in on Wednesday for the first time since October 7, Israeli authorities said it would be used exclusively for trucks distributing incoming humanitarian aid to shelters, clinics and other beneficiaries.

Any other use, such as for the operation of generators at hospitals or water and sanitation facilities, is banned.

Furthermore, it has become impossible to deliver aid to the north at all, as access has been largely cut off.

Limited food supplies are distributed primarily to displaced people and host families in the southern Gaza Strip, with only flour provided for bakeries in the southern Strip, while any transportation of food to Gaza City and north of it is not allowed by Israel.

According to the advocacy group Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Israel has sharply escalated a “war of starvation” against civilians in the Gaza Strip as a tool of subjugation as part of its ongoing war.

Before the Israeli war, 70 percent of the Strip’s children already suffered from varying health issues including malnutrition, anaemia and weakened immunity. This number has increased to more than 90 percent as a result of Israel’s bombardment, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said.

The report highlighted that Israel has focused attacks on electrical generators and solar energy units on which commercial establishments, restaurants, and civilian institutions depend to maintain the minimum possible level of operation.

It also warned that Israel’s attacks included the destruction of the agricultural area east of Gaza, flour silos and fishermen’s boats, as well as supply centres for relief organisations, especially the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which provides the majority of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.

Different ways to die

The hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced and sheltering in UN-run schools and hospitals are dependent on UNRWA aid.

“We depend on aid to feed our children,” says Maysara Saad, who was displaced with her nine children from the northern town of Beit Hanoon to a school in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis.

“There is nothing in the shops, and the shelves are empty. We were displaced from our homes in order to protect our children, but we do not want them to die of hunger either.”

The 59-year-old said that the townspeople in Bani Suhaila often come to the schools to see whether there is leftover aid for their families.

“Everything is impossible to obtain and, with winter coming, staying warm has also become one of our responsibilities,” Saad said.

“It is as if the Israelis are telling us that if we do not die from the bombing, they will make us die of thirst, hunger or cold. This is a very cruel war that has no humanity.”