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Virtual Summit Seeks to Galvanize Climate Change Adaptation

Wind turbines are seen on a dike near Urk, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. A group of scientists, including five Nobel laureates, called Friday for more action to adapt the world to the effects of climate change, drawing comparisons with the faltering response to the coronavirus crisis, ahead of a major online conference on climate adaptation starting Monday and hosted by the Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Wind turbines are seen on a dike near Urk, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. A group of scientists, including five Nobel laureates, called Friday for more action to adapt the world to the effects of climate change, drawing comparisons with the faltering response to the coronavirus crisis, ahead of a major online conference on climate adaptation starting Monday and hosted by the Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
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Virtual Summit Seeks to Galvanize Climate Change Adaptation

Wind turbines are seen on a dike near Urk, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. A group of scientists, including five Nobel laureates, called Friday for more action to adapt the world to the effects of climate change, drawing comparisons with the faltering response to the coronavirus crisis, ahead of a major online conference on climate adaptation starting Monday and hosted by the Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Wind turbines are seen on a dike near Urk, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. A group of scientists, including five Nobel laureates, called Friday for more action to adapt the world to the effects of climate change, drawing comparisons with the faltering response to the coronavirus crisis, ahead of a major online conference on climate adaptation starting Monday and hosted by the Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

World leaders are converging - virtually - on the Netherlands Monday for a summit that will seek to galvanize more action and funding to adapt the planet and vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change.

The Netherlands-based Global Center on Adaptation last week called on governments and financiers around the globe to include funding for adaptation projects in their COVID-19 recovery spending.

Dutch Overseas Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Sigrid Kaag got the ball rolling by announcing that the summit's host nation will pump 20 million euros ($24 million) into an adaptation fund for the world's least-developed nations and 100 million euros ($121 million) into a program for sustainable farming in Africa's Sahel region.

Kaag said that by using new and existing adaptation techniques, "we can build a climate-proof future together and promote sustainable economic growth in all parts of Africa."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use the Climate Adaptation Summit to announce a new Adaptation Action Coalition that brings together more than 120 countries along with the European Union and nearly 90 other organizations to double down on climate adaptation efforts.

Other world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also are taking part in the 24-hour summit, along with new US President Joe Biden's climate envoy, John Kerry.

Last Thursday, Kerry spoke remotely to an Italian business conference and lamented "wasted years" under the Trump administration to slow climate change and urged faster work to curb fossil fuel emissions.

Biden, in his first hours in office Wednesday, signed an executive order returning the United States to the Paris climate accord. It reversed the withdrawal by President Donald Trump, who ridiculed the science of human-caused climate change.

Host nation the Netherlands has centuries of experience in adapting to the threat of water, from major rivers that run through the low-lying nation to its long North Sea coast. It shares and exports the know-how around the world, for example to flood-prone Mozambique, where Dutch experts have helped strengthen drainage systems and coastal defenses.

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Serbian War Criminal Mladic to Be Buried with ‘State Honors’, Says Minister

A memorial with the names of 1,601 children killed during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, following the death of Ratko Mladic, a former Serbian general convicted of genocide, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A memorial with the names of 1,601 children killed during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, following the death of Ratko Mladic, a former Serbian general convicted of genocide, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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Serbian War Criminal Mladic to Be Buried with ‘State Honors’, Says Minister

A memorial with the names of 1,601 children killed during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, following the death of Ratko Mladic, a former Serbian general convicted of genocide, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A memorial with the names of 1,601 children killed during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, following the death of Ratko Mladic, a former Serbian general convicted of genocide, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 27, 2026. (Reuters)

Serbia's justice minister Nenad Vujic said Friday that former Bosnian Serb military leader and convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic "will receive all the military and state honors to which he is entitled".

Mladic died on Thursday while serving a life sentence in The Hague for war crimes committed during the 1990s Bosnian war.

"It is certain that General Mladic will receive all the military and state honors to which he is entitled, as far as the state is concerned," Vujic told the K1 broadcaster.

Serbian officials were awaiting details on when authorities in The Hague would release the body, he said.

"We are ready to leave for The Hague as soon as we learn what the next steps are," the minister said.

Mladic, who had suffered several strokes in recent months, was serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war, including for his role in the Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst act of bloodshed since World War II.

His conviction for the wartime killings as the former Yugoslavia descended into carnage after the fall of communism led the international press to dub him the "Butcher of Bosnia".

The 1992-1995 war left around 100,000 people dead and 2.2 million displaced.

Mladic was the military face of a brutal trio, led on the political side by ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

World

Iran Warns Washington That Pressure ‘Doesn’t Work’

A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
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Iran Warns Washington That Pressure ‘Doesn’t Work’

A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)

Iran warned the United States on Friday that "pressure doesn't work" against the Islamic republic, calling on Washington to honor its commitments, after six months of conflict between the sworn enemies.

The Middle East war started in late February with US-Israeli strikes against Iran, which retaliated with attacks mostly against Washington's regional allies and shuttered the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

An April ceasefire put an end to nearly 40 days of intense fighting, but sporadic attacks, mainly around the Strait, have dimmed the prospects for a final peace agreement.

"Putting diplomacy back on track isn't impossible. It hinges on US understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn't work," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.

His statement came a day after he met Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who was visiting Tehran in an effort to revive the diplomatic track, which has been at a standstill for weeks.

Al Thani's visit comes at a time when the United States is increasing its economic pressure on Iran, which has already been under international sanctions for decades.

Tehran has been holding talks on the future of Hormuz with Oman for weeks, while insisting that the strait will remain closed as long as Washington has not fulfilled its commitments under the June memorandum of understanding, which calls for lifting the US counter-blockade of Iranian ports and removing sanctions.

"The US should build trust, speak respectfully, acknowledge our rights, and uphold commitments," Araghchi said.

World

US-hosted G20 Finance Meeting to Target Growth, Imbalances, Iran Sanctions, Treasury Official Says

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (R) arrives during a press conference in Washington, DC on August 24, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (R) arrives during a press conference in Washington, DC on August 24, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)
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US-hosted G20 Finance Meeting to Target Growth, Imbalances, Iran Sanctions, Treasury Official Says

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (R) arrives during a press conference in Washington, DC on August 24, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (R) arrives during a press conference in Washington, DC on August 24, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)

The Trump administration aims to have finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies agree next week on steps to boost economic growth, reduce global imbalances and tackle sovereign debt challenges while pressing them to cut off Iran's economic lifelines, a senior US Treasury official said on Thursday.

After shunning the South Africa-led G20 process last year, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will host G20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Monday and ‌Tuesday in the ‌Blue Ridge Mountains city of Asheville, North Carolina.

The Treasury official ‌said ⁠that the Trump ⁠administration has been focused on addressing global trade imbalances to benefit American workers and leveling the playing field for American firms.

"And so we're really focusing on this head on in our G20 discussions to ensure that our economies compete on productivity, innovation, and investment, and not on just sort of policies that push excess production and excess capacity into global markets," the official said, echoing terms often used by the Trump administration to describe China's export-oriented economic ⁠model.

The official said that other G20 economies have seen "tremendous ‌amounts of dumping on their shores" as the ‌US has tightened its trade barriers, without naming China directly as the source of these goods.

The ‌official said that the US-led growth discussions in the G20 meeting will focus on ‌supporting resilient supply chains for critical resources, including energy, and on supporting private-sector innovators who drive productivity growth.

G20 discussions will include business leaders to discuss barriers to investment, innovation, and productivity, and regulatory reforms.

Asked about how Bessent will address G20 finance leaders' concerns about rising US debt and ‌bond yields, the official said that bond yields, elevated since the start of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, would ⁠fall as inflation cools ⁠over time.

Nonetheless, the Treasury was focused on bringing longer-maturity bond yields lower, as evidenced by Bessent's move to increase buyback sizes of 10- to 30-year Treasuries, the official added.

After the Treasury warned countries on Monday that they face secondary US sanctions if they fail to cut remaining business ties to Iran, the official said that Bessent would be making a "strong statement" to G20 officials that they must adhere to the US sanctions campaign against Iran if they want to continue to do business in the dollar-based, Western financial system.

"I expect that this will come up in every single bilateral meeting that the secretary is hosting with our G20 counterparties over the coming days," the official said. "This is a critical aspect right now of our economic campaign against Iran, and so we want to ensure that there's consistency across all of the G20 members."