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Klibi's Farewell...a Prominent Tunisian Politician, Sincere Arab Nationalist

Chedli Klibi (Getty)
Chedli Klibi (Getty)
    Cairo - Mohamed Abdo Hassanein, Tunis: Mongi Saidani
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Klibi's Farewell...a Prominent Tunisian Politician, Sincere Arab Nationalist

Chedli Klibi (Getty)
Chedli Klibi (Getty)

Chedli Klibi, who had been among the most prominent political and cultural figures of modern Tunisian history and the only non-Egyptian Secretary-General of the Arab League, passed away.

Klibi, who died aged 94 in his home in Carthage, a suburb of the capital Tunis, had occupied the position of Secretary-General of the Arab League for 10 years, during what was described as a “critical period” in the history of joint Arab action; the Arab League’s headquarters had recently been relocated to Tunis from Cairo in 1979 because of Egypt’s signing a peace agreement with Israel when he took over.

The Arab League mourned his death and Secretary-General Ahmad Aboul Gheit decided to “half-staff the flag”, and said that “The Arab nation lost a sincere Arab nationalist politician who played an important role during an exceptional period in the contemporary history of the Arab League, in addition to playing a major political role in his country, Tunisia.”

He dealt with many pressing and controversial issues during his time as secretary-general, eventually handing in his resignation on the eve the outbreak of the second Gulf War, citing his objection to "foreign interference".

Klibi managed “to maintain the continuity of the work of the League amid the difficult circumstances facing Arab action during his time in office in the eighties," according to Aboul Gheit, who said that Klibi’s time in office "strengthened the Arab League's great institutional capacity to survive and adapt to crises, and continue to serve the nation regardless of circumstances".

The former Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Klibi handed over the League in an acceptable condition structurally after having played a major in preserving the entity during a turbulent period for the Arab world”.

The prominent Tunisian politician was known for his conspicuous pro-Arab-Nationalist positions and his loyal devotion to joint Arab action. The Egyptian political thinker Dr. Mustafa Al Faqih also told Asharq Al-Awsat that Klibi “clearly played a major role in pushing Tunisian politics towards an Arab orientation because of his strong nationalist ideas, especially in the period during which the league was relocated and Tunisia hosted the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.”

Klibi was the Arab League’s fourth secretary-general, succeeding Abdul Rahman Azzam, Abdul Khalek Hassouna and Mahmoud Riad. They and those whom he preceded, Ahmed Asmat Abdel-Meguid, Amr Musa, Nabil Elaraby, and the current secretary, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, are all Egyptian.

The Arab Parliament also mourned Kilbi’s death, with the Speaker of the Arab Parliament Mishaal bin Fahm Al-Salami saying that “the Arab nation, with Kilbi’s passing, lost a political figure who played a prominent historical role as leader of the Arab League, and in the most critical of circumstances that the Arab peoples ever faced.”

He also played a role in forming the committees for improving Arab ties, and he supported Arab-African cooperation, efforts to establish Arab national security, the Arab boycott of Israel, and the Palestinian Intifada.

Klibi was born to a family linked to the National Movement led by Habib Bourguiba on 6 September 1925. As well as being elected to the Tunisian parliament, he became a member of the central committee of the Constitutional Liberal Party in 1964 and was a member of its political bureau member between 1968 and 1979.

At the beginning of his political career, he was the general director of Tunisia TV and also held several ministerial positions during Bourguiba’s era, including the Minister of Communication and Minister of Culture. In 1965, during his time in the latter ministry, he established the International Festival of Carthage. He also served as chief of staff at the Office of the President.

Most Tunisians have a “favorable view” of Klibi who was an intellectual as well as a politician. He wrote prolifically for most of the country’s newspapers and magazines, publishing many studies and political articles. He also gave literature lectures frequently and wrote several books, gaining a reputation for his bold liberal positions on the problems that faced Arab societies.

He published several prominent texts on controversial issues like the relationship between Arabism and Islam, the issue facing Arab women, oil issues, the new global economic order, and Arab dialogue with Europe and Africa.

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Varieties

Lonely Tree in Wales Is an Instagram Star, but its Fate Is Inevitable

The Lonely Tree, often pictured submerged in water, was first planted in 2010. (Getty Images)
The Lonely Tree, often pictured submerged in water, was first planted in 2010. (Getty Images)
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Lonely Tree in Wales Is an Instagram Star, but its Fate Is Inevitable

The Lonely Tree, often pictured submerged in water, was first planted in 2010. (Getty Images)
The Lonely Tree, often pictured submerged in water, was first planted in 2010. (Getty Images)

It is one of Wales' most-loved beauty spots - but the time of the so-called Lonely Tree being an Instagram star could be slowly coming to an end.

The birch tree's striking setting at Llyn Padarn in Eryri, also known as Snowdonia, draws photographers to capture the sight through the seasons, according to BBC.

But the local authority Cyngor Gwynedd has raised the prospect of the tree, which was planted around 2010, disappearing within the next decade or so.

A lack of nutrients in the soil means birch trees have “a relatively short lifespan” in the area, typically living for around 30 years, but the fact that The Lonely Tree is sometimes submerged in water means its time could be even shorter.

Thousands of walkers and photographers make their way there each year and the tree has many social media sites dedicated to it, including one with 3,500 members on Facebook.

Marc Lock from Bangor, Gwynedd, said: “The Lonely Tree holds a special place in my heart and that of my family.”

He added: “Nestled down by the Lonely Tree, it's a perfect spot for us to sit, reflect and soak in the breath-taking scenery. We often go paddleboarding there in the summer months.”

However, Lock said the area really became his sanctuary after his wife bought him a camera for Christmas and he took up photography.

It was the place he headed to straight away, and he returns regularly at various times of the day and throughout the seasons.

“It's my go-to spot whenever I have some free time and my camera in hand,” he added. “I can't imagine what I would do if anything devastating happened to it like that at the Sycamore Gap tree at Hadrian's Wall. It's simply unthinkable.”

The Sycamore Gap was a much-loved landmark beside Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland that also drew hikers and photographers from far and wide.

It was more than 100 years old and had been the scene of many proposals, with people making the trip there from around the world.

But it was cut down by vandals in September 2023, causing uproar, with thousands of people leaving tributes and posting messages about their love for the beauty spot.

Two men were jailed for four years and three months after admitting the illegal felling.

While maybe not quite as famous as the Sycamore Gap was, The Lonely Tree is every bit as special to those that hold it dear to their heart.

Varieties

Four Signs You're Self-Sabotaging Your Joy

Threat or uncertainty can reduce cognitive regulation and increase avoidance behaviors. (Indiana University)
Threat or uncertainty can reduce cognitive regulation and increase avoidance behaviors. (Indiana University)
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Four Signs You're Self-Sabotaging Your Joy

Threat or uncertainty can reduce cognitive regulation and increase avoidance behaviors. (Indiana University)
Threat or uncertainty can reduce cognitive regulation and increase avoidance behaviors. (Indiana University)

Most of us, at some point in our lives, have stood in the way of our own growth.

We make progress on a project, start to feel hopeful about a relationship, or finally get on track with a goal, and then we do something that undermines it.

We fall into a procrastination spiral, pick a fight, or simply quit; in doing so, we talk ourselves out of something that could potentially bring us happiness.

There’s a name for this kind of behavior: self-sabotage.

Dr. Mark Travers, an American psychologist with degrees from Cornell University and the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote an essay at Psychology Today about four well-studied reasons why people sabotage good things, based on research in psychology.

Avoiding blame

According to Travers, one of the most consistently researched patterns in self-sabotage comes from what psychologists call self-handicapping.

He said this is a behavior in which people create obstacles to their own success so that if they fail, they can blame external factors instead of internal ability.

A prime example comes from classic research in which researchers observed students who procrastinated studying for an important test. The ones who failed mostly attributed it to a lack of preparation rather than a lack of organization or discipline.

Self-handicapping is not simply laziness or whimsy. Rather, it is a strategy people use to protect their self-worth in situations where they might perform “poorly” or where they might be perceived as inadequate.

Fear of failure or success

People often think of the fear of failure as the main emotional driver behind self-sabotage.

But research points to the fear of success as an equal, yet less-talked-about engine of the phenomenon. Both fears can push people to undermine opportunities that are actually aligned with their long-term goals.

He said people who worry that failure will confirm their negative self-beliefs are more likely to adopt defensive avoidance tactics, like procrastination or quitting early.

Fear of success, though less widely discussed, operates in a similar fashion. What motivates this fear is the anxiety that comes with the consequences of success.

So, self-sabotaging success can be a way to stay within a comfort zone where expectations are familiar, even if that zone is unsatisfying.

Negative self-beliefs

Self-sabotage is tightly intertwined with how people view themselves. When someone doubts their worth, their ability, or their right to be happy, they may unconsciously act in ways that confirm those negative self-views.

Psychological theories help explain this.

Self-discrepancy theory proposes that people experience emotional discomfort when their actual self does not match their ideal self. This mismatch can lead to negative emotions such as shame, anxiety, or depression.

Coping with stress and anxiety

Self-sabotage often emerges in moments of high stress or emotional threat. When people feel overwhelmed, anxious, or stretched thin, their nervous systems shift into protective modes. Instead of moving forward, they retreat, avoid, or defensively withdraw.

Threat or uncertainty can reduce cognitive regulation and increase avoidance behaviors. In situations of perceived threat, even if the threat is potential success or evaluation, people can default to behaviors that feel safer, even if they undermine long-term goals.

Varieties

2025 Was the World’s Third-Warmest Year on Record, EU Scientists Say

This photograph taken in Lanester, western France on May 31, 2025, shows smoke rising from a factory. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Lanester, western France on May 31, 2025, shows smoke rising from a factory. (AFP)
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2025 Was the World’s Third-Warmest Year on Record, EU Scientists Say

This photograph taken in Lanester, western France on May 31, 2025, shows smoke rising from a factory. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Lanester, western France on May 31, 2025, shows smoke rising from a factory. (AFP)

The planet experienced its third-warmest year on record in 2025, and average temperatures have ​exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming over three years, the longest period since records began, EU scientists said on Wednesday.

The data from the European Union's European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) found that the last three years were the planet's three hottest since records began - with 2025 marginally cooler than 2023, by just 0.01 C.

Britain's national weather service, the UK Met Office, confirmed its own data ranked 2025 as the third-warmest in records going back to 1850. The World Meteorological Organization will publish its temperature ‌figures later ‌on Wednesday.

The hottest year on record was 2024.

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS

ECMWF ‌said ⁠the ​planet ‌also just had its first three-year period in which the average global temperature was 1.5 C above the pre-industrial era - the limit beyond which scientists expect global warming will unleash severe impacts, some of them irreversible.

"1.5 C is not a cliff edge. However, we know that every fraction of a degree matters, particularly for worsening extreme weather events," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF.

Governments pledged under the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to avoid exceeding ⁠1.5 C of global warming, measured as a decades-long average temperature compared with the pre-industrial era.

But their failure to reduce ‌greenhouse gas emissions means that level could now be ‍breached before 2030 - a decade earlier than ‍had been predicted when the Paris accord was signed in 2015, ECMWF said.

"We are ‍bound to pass it," said Carlo Buontempo, director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. "The choice we now have is how to best manage the inevitable overshoot and its consequences on societies and natural systems."

POLITICAL PUSHBACK

Currently, the world's long-term warming level is about 1.4 C above the pre-industrial ​era, ECMWF said. Measured on a short-term basis, the world already breached 1.5 C in 2024.

Exceeding the long-term 1.5 C limit - even if ⁠only temporarily - would lead to more extreme and widespread impacts, including hotter and longer heatwaves, and more powerful storms and floods.

In 2025, wildfires in Europe produced the highest total emissions on record, while scientific studies confirmed specific weather events were made worse by climate change, including Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean and monsoon rains in Pakistan which killed more than 1,000 people in floods.

Despite these worsening impacts, climate science is facing increased political pushback. US President Donald Trump, who has called climate change "the greatest con job", last week withdrew from dozens of UN entities including the scientific Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The long-established consensus among the world's scientists is that climate change is real, mostly caused by humans, and getting worse. Its main cause ‌is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, which trap heat in the atmosphere.