A truce agreement between Hamas and Israel appears to be in its final stages, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen says Australia will argue for stronger mitigation efforts at COP-28 next week, and in football, Australia beat Palestine 1-0 in Kuwait continuing their positive start in World Cup qualifying.
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TRANSCRIPT
- A truce agreement between Hamas and Israel appears to be in its final stages
- Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen says Australia will argue for stronger mitigation efforts at COP-28 next week
- Australia beat Palestine 1-0 in Kuwait continuing their positive start in World Cup qualifying
The political leader of Hamas says the Palestinian group is nearing a truce agreement with Israel as the deadly assault on Gaza continues and rockets are fired into Israel.
A statement from the leader of the ruling organisation of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, says the group has delivered its response to Qatari mediators and a deal is very close.
The statement gave no more details but a Hamas official says negotiations are centred on how long the truce would last, arrangements for delivery of aid into Gaza and the exchange of Israeli hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
The World Food Programme's (ms) Abeer Etefa has told Al Jazeera any truce must include humanitarian guarantees.
"I think it's really important to have an agreement on safe access for humanitarian aid workers to all people who are in need and the ability to organise safe food distributions. Also the ability so that we can get more staff in and rotate our teams in and out of Gaza."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only said there is progress, but he hopes there will be good news soon.
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Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen says Australia will argue for stronger mitigation outcomes at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP-28, in Dubai next week.
Mr Bowen says he wants the upcoming conference to be ambitious instead of simply maintaining the status quo.
This comes after the latest United Nations Emissions Gap report has found that current emissions pledges to limit climate change would still put the world on track to warm by nearly 3 degrees Celcius this century, far surpassing the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degrees goal.
Mr Bowen says Australia will support a tripling of global renewable capacity.
"We need to stretch our country's efforts. In Dubai we will again be arguing for a strong position and stronger mitigation outcomes. We want this COP to be about stronger practical outcomes, not just maintaining the status quo. We'll also be supporting a tripling of global renewable capacity and a doubling of global energy efficiency efforts."
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Foreign minister Penny Wong and her Indian counterpart have emphasised the importance of the strategic partnership between India and Australia.
Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles arrived for the second India-Australia 2+2 Dialogue yesterday [[21st Nov]].
Australia and India form one half of the Quad, an alliance that includes Japan and the United States, which aims to counter China's rising influence in Asia.
These talks come a few weeks after India hosted U-S officials in New Delhi, where both countries underlined their commitment to boosting security ties, and reaffirmed their support for a free and resilient Indo-Pacific region.
Minister Wong says Australia shares this goal.
"We are comprehensive strategic partners. We're also quad partners. We also share an interest in the sort of region we we live in an Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, stable and prosperous, in which sovereignty is respected and where all countries can benefit from a strategic equilibrium. We can only build and sustain this rich region by working with others. And I can't emphasize sufficiently how important we see India to that to that project."
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In football,
The Socceroos have doubled their wins in the FIFA Wold Cup 2026 qualifiers after beating Palestine 1-0 in Kuwait.
The single goal of he encounter was scored by Harry Souttar [[soo-ter]] who headed in a corner kick by Craig Goodwin just after 18 minutes.
The Australians now have six points from their first two games and will look forward to their next game against Lebanon on March 21st.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has told Channel Ten the main takeaway from the game is the three points for the win.
"Palestine were going to come out with that type of energy, that type of work rate and fight and you've got to give full credit to Palestine. Probably didn't play our best but the most important thing was the three points."
A portion of the match payments have been donated to humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
