عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Australia Rules Out Co-Hosting Climate Summit with Türkiye 

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before a MIKTA photo session amidst the G20 leaders' summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 15, 2022. (Reuters)
Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before a MIKTA photo session amidst the G20 leaders' summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 15, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Australia Rules Out Co-Hosting Climate Summit with Türkiye 

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before a MIKTA photo session amidst the G20 leaders' summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 15, 2022. (Reuters)
Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before a MIKTA photo session amidst the G20 leaders' summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 15, 2022. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday that Australia would not co-host the COP31 climate summit with Türkiye amid an ongoing stalemate between the two countries over which one should stage the conference next year.

Türkiye has proposed jointly leading next year's UN climate summit with Australia and the discussions on the hosting standoff remain unresolved, Turkish diplomatic sources told Reuters on Sunday.

"No, we won't be co-hosting because co-hosting isn't provided for under the rules of the (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)," Albanese said during a media briefing in Melbourne.

"So that's not an option and people are aware that it is not an option, which is why it has been ruled out."

Australia and Türkiye both submitted bids in 2022 to host COP31 and neither has withdrawn, leading to an attention-sapping impasse that must be overcome at this year's COP30 meeting currently taking place in Belem, Brazil.

Australia's climate change minister Chris Bowen arrived in Belem on Sunday, which "has been a shot in the arm for Australia's bid", said Thom Woodroofe, a senior fellow with the Smart Energy Council in Australia.

Woodroofe said it would be difficult for Australia and Türkiye to co-host COP31 given the two countries have very different priorities, but added that Australia should find a way to accommodate Türkiye’s desire to lead.

UN rules require unanimity among the 28-strong group of countries whose turn it is to host COP31. If neither Australia nor Türkiye compromises, hosting duties would default to Bonn in Germany, which houses the UN's climate headquarters.

German officials have said they do not want to host.

The annual COP, or Conference of the Parties, is the world's main forum for driving climate action. But it has grown over the years from diplomatic gatherings into vast trade shows where host countries can promote economic prospects.

The host matters because they set the agenda and lead the diplomacy needed to reach global agreements.

Albanese this month wrote to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an attempt to resolve the tussle as he pushes to host the summit with Pacific island nations for the first time.

A regional diplomatic bloc of 18 countries, the Pacific Islands Forum, is backing Australia's bid. Several Pacific island nations are at risk from rising seas.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Ankara City Hall Says Water Cuts Due to 'Record Drought'

Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 per cent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara. PHOTO: AFP
Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 per cent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara. PHOTO: AFP
TT
TT

Ankara City Hall Says Water Cuts Due to 'Record Drought'

Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 per cent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara. PHOTO: AFP
Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 per cent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara. PHOTO: AFP

Water cuts for the past several weeks in Türkiye capital were due to the worst drought in 50 years and an exploding population, a municipal official told AFP, rejecting accusations of mismanagement.

Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara, forcing many residents to line up at public fountains to fill pitchers, reported AFP.

"2025 was a record year in terms of drought. The amount of water feeding the dams fell to historically low levels, to 182 million cubic meters in 2025, compared with 400 to 600 million cubic meters in previous years. This is the driest period in the last 50 years,” said Memduh Akcay, director general of the Ankara municipal water authority.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Ankara municipal authorities, led by the main opposition party, "incompetent."

Rejecting this criticism, the city hall says Ankara is suffering from the effects of climate change and a growing population, which has doubled since the 1990s to nearly six million inhabitants.

"In addition to reduced precipitation, the irregularity of rainfall patterns, the decline in snowfall, and the rapid conversion of precipitation into runoff (due to urbanization) prevent the dams from refilling effectively," Akcay said.

A new pumping system drawing water from below the required level in dams will ensure no water cuts this weekend, Ankara’s city hall said, but added that the problem would persist in the absence of sufficient rainfall.

Much of Türkiye experienced a historic drought in 2025. The municipality of Izmir, the country’s third-largest city on the Aegean coast, has imposed daily water cuts since last summer.

Varieties

Rare Copy of the Comic Book That Introduced the World to Superman Sells for $15 Million

This photo shows Action Comics #1, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in New York, a copy of a rare comic book that introduced the world to Superman which has been sold for a record $15 million. (Andrew Wilson/Metropolis Collectibles Inc. via AP)
This photo shows Action Comics #1, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in New York, a copy of a rare comic book that introduced the world to Superman which has been sold for a record $15 million. (Andrew Wilson/Metropolis Collectibles Inc. via AP)
TT
TT

Rare Copy of the Comic Book That Introduced the World to Superman Sells for $15 Million

This photo shows Action Comics #1, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in New York, a copy of a rare comic book that introduced the world to Superman which has been sold for a record $15 million. (Andrew Wilson/Metropolis Collectibles Inc. via AP)
This photo shows Action Comics #1, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in New York, a copy of a rare comic book that introduced the world to Superman which has been sold for a record $15 million. (Andrew Wilson/Metropolis Collectibles Inc. via AP)

A rare copy of the comic book that introduced the world to Superman and also was once stolen from the home of actor Nicolas Cage has been sold for a record $15 million.

The private deal for "Action Comics No. 1" was announced Friday. It eclipses the previous record price for a comic book, set last November when a copy of "Superman No. 1" was at sold at auction for $9.12 million.

The Action Comics sale was negotiated by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, which said the comic book's owner and the buyer wished to remain anonymous.

The comic - which sold for 10 cents when it came out in 1938 - was an anthology of tales about mostly now little-known characters. But over a few panels, it told the origin story of Superman's birth on a dying planet, his journey to Earth and his decision as an adult to "turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind."

Its publication marked the beginning of the superhero genre. About 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are known to exist, according to Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect President Vincent Zurzolo.

"This is among the Holy Grail of comic books. Without Superman and his popularity, there would be no Batman or other superhero comic book legends," Zurzolo said. "It's importance in the comic book community shows with his deal, as it obliterates the previous record," Zurzolo said.

The comic book was stolen from Cage's Los Angeles home in 2000 but was recovered in 2011 when it was found by a man who had purchased the contents of an old storage locker in southern California. It eventually was returned to Cage, who had bought it in 1996 for $150,000. Six months after it was returned to him, he sold it at auction for $2.2 million.

Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, said the theft eventually played a big role in boosting the comic's value.

"During that 11-year period (it was missing), it skyrocketed in value.," Fishler said "The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it."

Fishler compared it to the theft of Mona Lisa, which was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris in 1911.

"It was kept under the thief's bed for two years," Fishler noted. "The recovery of the painting made the Mona Lisa go from being just a great Da Vinci painting to a world icon - and that's what Action No. 1 is - an icon of American pop culture."

Varieties

Australian Bushfires Raze Homes, Cut Power to Tens of Thousands

Smoke billows from the Longwood bushfire along the Goulburn Highway in Victoria, Australia, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
Smoke billows from the Longwood bushfire along the Goulburn Highway in Victoria, Australia, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
TT
TT

Australian Bushfires Raze Homes, Cut Power to Tens of Thousands

Smoke billows from the Longwood bushfire along the Goulburn Highway in Victoria, Australia, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
Smoke billows from the Longwood bushfire along the Goulburn Highway in Victoria, Australia, 09 January 2026. (EPA)

Thousands of firefighters battled bushfires in Australia's southeast on Saturday that have razed homes, cut power to thousands of homes and burned swathes of bushland.

The blazes have torn through more than 300,000 hectares (741,316 acres) of bushland amid a heatwave in Victoria state since the middle of the week, authorities said on Saturday, and 10 major fires were still burning statewide.

In neighboring New South ‌Wales state, several ‌fires close to the Victorian border were ‌burning ⁠at emergency level, ‌the highest danger rating, the Rural Fire Service said, as temperatures hit the mid-40s Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit).

More than 130 structures, including homes, have been destroyed and around 38,000 homes and businesses were without power due to the fires in Victoria, authorities said.

The fires were the worst to hit the state since the Black Summer blazes of 2019-2020 that destroyed an area ⁠the size of Türkiye and killed 33 people.

"Where we can fires will be being brought ‌under control," Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan told ‍reporters, adding thousands of firefighters were ‍in the field.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the nation faced a ‍day of "extreme and dangerous" fire weather, especially in Victoria, where much of the state has been declared a disaster zone.

"My thoughts are with Australians in these regional communities at this very difficult time," Albanese said in televised remarks from Canberra.

One of the largest fires, near the town of Longwood, about 112 km (70 miles) north of Melbourne, has burned ⁠130,000 hectares (320,000 acres) of bushland, destroying 30 structures, vineyards and agricultural land, authorities said.

Dozens of communities near the fires have been evacuated and many of the state's parks and campgrounds were closed.

A heatwave warning on Saturday was in place for large parts of Victoria, while a fire weather warning was active for large areas of the country including New South Wales, the nation's weather forecaster said.

In New South Wales capital Sydney, the temperature climbed to 42.2 C, more than 17 degrees above the average maximum for January, according to data from the nation's weather forecaster.

It predicted ‌conditions to ease over the weekend as a southerly change brought milder temperatures to the state.