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‘Extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Polo intensifies to rare category 5 storm

In the eastern Pacific off Mexico’s southwestern coast, a rapidly intensifying storm has emerged as one of the most powerful Pacific hurricanes of 2026, amplified by the strongest El Niño climate event ever recorded. Hurricane Polo, which has climbed to the highest Category 5 ranking on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, registered sustained wind speeds nearing 180 miles per hour (285 kilometers per hour) with even more powerful gusts, according to direct measurements collected Tuesday by a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hurricane Hunter research aircraft that flew directly into the storm’s eye.

The NOAA National Hurricane Center, based in Miami, has labeled Polo an “extremely dangerous” system, noting that its explosive strengthening over a 24-hour period was “truly remarkable.” The storm is the third Category 5 hurricane to form in the eastern Pacific this hurricane season, drawing its massive energy from unusually warm ocean surface waters supercharged by the ongoing El Niño. Data collected from monitoring stations confirms the current El Niño has already broken historical temperature records: on September 19, daily average sea surface temperatures in the key central-eastern Pacific El Niño monitoring region hit 3.05 degrees Celsius above the long-term average, surpassing the previous record of 3.02 degrees set during the intense 2015 El Niño event. While some longer-term El Niño measurements have not yet hit record highs, climate scientists expect that to change as the event is not forecast to reach its peak until the end of 2026.

El Niño is a naturally recurring climate pattern that develops every two to seven years, persisting for roughly 12 months. The cycle forms when typical east-to-west trade winds across the Pacific weaken or reverse direction, allowing warm water that normally accumulates in the western Pacific to spread eastward across the basin. This shift pushes large volumes of heat from the ocean into the atmosphere, raising global average temperatures and reshaping weather systems worldwide. A well-documented impact of warmer Pacific waters during El Niño is an increased frequency of rapidly intensifying hurricanes, as warm surface water acts as fuel for storm systems, allowing them to gain strength much faster than they would in cooler conditions.

Although current forecasts predict that Polo will follow a northwestward path parallel to Mexico’s southwestern coast and will not make a direct landfall, the slow-moving storm still poses severe threats to coastal communities, NOAA officials warn. As the system drifts along the shore, it will push heavy, prolonged rainfall onto coastal areas, with accumulated totals expected to reach up to six inches (15 centimeters) across most at-risk regions, and as much as eight inches in isolated spots. This intense rainfall creates a high risk of deadly flash flooding and catastrophic mudslides in vulnerable inland areas. In addition to flood risks, Polo is generating large ocean swells that will create life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along Mexican Pacific beaches for the next several days.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Tuesday that current projections do not show a direct landfall, but urged residents across at-risk regions to remain alert and follow guidance from emergency officials. She specifically highlighted the coastal states of Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacan as facing the highest risks from the storm. Data from the Hurricane Hunter mission also indicates that the conditions remain ideal for further strengthening: extremely warm ocean waters and low wind shear have created what NOAA calls a “very conducive” environment for Polo to maintain its Category 5 strength over the next several days. Mexican emergency authorities have already deployed National Guard personnel to coastal areas to prepare for potential response operations as the storm approaches.

22 9 月, 2026
US criticises Australia’s proposed algorithm opt-out laws as ‘censorship’

A global debate over digital regulation has intensified after a proposal from Australia to grant social media users the right to opt out of algorithmic content feeds has drawn sharp public criticism from the United States, which labels the plan a form of censorship. The proposal, which is part of Australia’s draft digital duty of care legislation, mandates that large technology companies must offer all users the clear choice to disable algorithm-driven content recommendation systems, a policy designed to reduce exposure to harmful material online. Firms that fail to comply with the rule would face substantial financial penalties under the draft law.

In an unusually public formal submission to Australian policymakers, the U.S. Embassy in Canberra outlined broad “serious concerns” about the legislation, arguing that the proposal’s vague definitions of harm open the door to systematic viewpoint-based censorship of constitutionally protected speech. The U.S. further argued that the law could inadvertently push tech platforms to pre-emptively restrict or demote content from independent journalists and minority groups that cover sensitive or controversial topics, out of fear of violating the new rules. Beyond impacts on speech, U.S. officials warn that mandating specific platform design changes to enable algorithm opt-outs would create rigid, one-size-fits-all requirements that do not account for differing platform models, and could reshape the user experience for social media users around the world, not just those based in Australia. The submission also echoed technology industry claims that the rule could allow the personal biases of government officials to disadvantage independent or marginalized viewpoints, and ultimately harm Australia’s global reputation as a pro-innovation regulatory environment.

The clash comes as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese traveled to the United States to address the United Nations General Assembly, where he was set to outline his government’s approach to global tech governance. Speaking to reporters in New York local time, Albanese pushed back firmly against U.S. claims that the law amounts to government overreach and censorship. “It’s not about giving government control,” the prime minister said. “It’s about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices.” The proposal gives individual users the choice to opt out of algorithmic feeds that often prioritize engagement over user well-being, putting control of personal digital experiences back in the hands of Australian citizens rather than governments or large tech firms, he added.

The diplomatic friction over the algorithm rule comes amid a broader split on global tech regulation playing out at this year’s UN General Assembly. In his own address to the assembly, former U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed widespread global concerns over unregulated artificial intelligence, rejecting growing calls for binding safety guardrails for the emerging technology. Trump went so far as to suggest AI should be rebranded as “super intelligence,” arguing that the term “artificial” incorrectly frames the technology as inauthentic or dangerous.

This latest push for user protection in Australia follows a sweeping policy introduced by the country less than 12 months ago: a national ban on social media use for children under the age of 16, enacted last December, that marked one of the most aggressive child online protection policies in the developed world. Australian users have widely welcomed the algorithm opt-out proposal, with many saying that giving users a clear choice over what content they see is a long-overdue step to reclaim control from big tech.

22 9 月, 2026
Fergie Chambers faces Spanish court fight over US extradition request

The Spanish government has ignited widespread domestic and international criticism after opting not to block a U.S. extradition request for high-profile American pro-Palestine activist and humanitarian donor Fergie Chambers at the preliminary review stage, clearing the way for the case to advance to the Spanish national court system. Government spokesperson Elma Saiz framed the Tuesday ruling as a strictly procedural step, emphasizing that the executive branch only completed a formal review of the extradition filing rather than a substantive judgment on its merits. Now, Chambers’ legal team will mount a challenge to the extradition before Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, after which the Spanish government will issue a final binding decision on the case. Lead defense counsel Baltasar Garzón — the former Spanish judge renowned for pursuing former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction — warned that the government’s decision establishes a dangerous precedent that undermines global advocacy for Palestinian rights. Garzón argued that Spain cannot credibly claim to uphold international law, defend Palestinian people’s rights, and protect humanitarian workers while advancing an extradition request that bears clear hallmarks of political persecution by the U.S. government. The ruling has also drawn sharp condemnation from across Spanish political circles. Ione Belarra, member of Spain’s Congress of Deputies and secretary-general of the left-wing party Podemos, called the outcome devastating for all those who support Palestinian statehood. “This decision is devastating not just for Fergie Chambers and his family, but for the pro-Palestine movement in Spain and across Europe,” Belarra stated. She went on to label Chambers as the first political prisoner in Spanish history held solely for his advocacy for Palestine, accusing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government of electing to keep him in detention to advance what she called the Trump administration’s politically motivated persecution. Chambers, an heir to the prominent Cox family fortune, was first arrested on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza this past July in compliance with the U.S. extradition request. U.S. federal prosecutors have charged him with international money laundering, riot, and conspiracy to riot, alleging that after relocating from the U.S. in 2023, he moved roughly $7.5 million out of the country with the intention of providing material support to Hamas. As of press time, the U.S. Department of Justice has not issued any response to requests for comment on the case. Prior to Tuesday’s government ruling, Chambers’ legal team submitted a formal argument calling on the executive to block the extradition entirely, pointing to what they described as undeniable political motivations driving the U.S. request. The defense outlined three core legal objections: first, that allowing the case to proceed would enable the political persecution of Chambers; second, that U.S. prosecutors have failed to link Chambers personally to any specific acts of violence or property damage, and the charge of “conspiracy to riot” has no equivalent offense under Spanish criminal law; and third, that the money laundering allegation is baseless, as all of Chambers’ wealth was legally obtained through his family inheritance and fully documented. Stella Schnabel, Chambers’ partner, called the decision deeply alarming, arguing it sends a message that pro-Palestine solidarity can be criminalized even in Europe. “This sends a deeply disturbing message that even in Spain, solidarity with the Palestinian people could be treated as a crime, and risks extending the Trump administration’s repression of pro-Palestine and progressive movements into Europe, setting a dangerous precedent for others,” Schnabel said. She also shared the emotional toll of the ruling, saying she is heartbroken that Chambers will remain behind bars, where he can only meet his children through a glass partition and cannot hold his young son or their unborn child due in the near future. Beyond his political advocacy, Chambers has carried out extensive humanitarian work in Gaza. He provided a $100,000 grant to the Zaynab Project, which expands long-term mental health and psychosocial support for orphaned children in Gaza, connecting vulnerable youth to licensed therapists and ongoing counseling. He also donated $250,000 to the Sameer Project, a Gaza-based humanitarian organization that used the funding to build a bakery in northern Gaza, complete a desalination plant to provide clean drinking water, and operate a free medical clinic for local residents. After Chambers’ arrest in July, the charity paused all its operations, a move that has impacted tens of thousands of vulnerable Palestinians who rely on its services. Ahead of the government’s decision, 150 high-profile global public figures signed an open letter urging the Spanish government to reject the U.S. extradition request as an act of political persecution orchestrated by the Trump administration. Signatories included prominent Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd, veteran civil rights campaigner Angela Davis, musicians Bob Vylan and Lowkey, and actors Riz Ahmed and Richard Gere. The letter condemned what it called the Trump administration’s unprecedented crackdown on individuals and organizations working to oppose what they described as genocide in Gaza and uphold international law, noting that Chambers has dedicated his life to supporting marginalized and vulnerable communities around the world. Last week, public protests in support of Chambers were held in six major Spanish cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Seville, and Galicia, drawing hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators who called for the Spanish government to reject the extradition request entirely. The controversial ruling comes at a moment of significant political upheaval for Spain, and amid already strained bilateral relations between Madrid and Washington. Spain is scheduled to hold a general election by 2027, and Sánchez’s minority coalition government faces pressure from multiple directions: left-wing parties have criticized the ruling as a betrayal of pro-Palestine values, while the conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox — both of which hold strongly pro-Israel positions — have pushed the government to comply with the U.S. request. Sánchez has already clashed repeatedly with U.S. President Donald Trump this year, most prominently over the ongoing war in Iran: his government refused to allow the U.S. to use Spanish military bases in Rota and Morón for operations linked to the conflict, and later barred U.S. military aircraft involved in the war from entering Spanish airspace.

22 9 月, 2026
Playing loud music on the bus? That will cost you hundreds of dollars in Singapore

Singapore has rolled out a new set of legal penalties for disruptive and unhygienic behavior among public bus passengers, bringing bus network rules in line with long-standing regulations governing the city-state’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) rail system. The updated framework, officially announced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Monday, establishes two tiers of fines to address different levels of offending.

Minor nuisance behaviors that make journeys uncomfortable for fellow commuters will now carry a maximum fine of 500 Singapore dollars (equivalent to roughly $391 USD or £293 GBP). This category of offenses includes placing feet on passenger seats, playing loud audio that disturbs others, eating and drinking onboard, and improper littering.

For more severe infractions that put others at risk or cause significant damage to shared transport infrastructure, penalties are far steeper, with maximum fines reaching 5,000 Singapore dollars. Serious offenses cover acts that create obstruction or safety hazards for other commuters within bus terminals and interchanges, as well as the deliberate or negligent soiling of any part of public buses, interchanges or terminals.

In a public statement outlining the reform, the LTA emphasized that the updated rules are designed to cultivate a safer, more considerate and enjoyable commuting environment for all passengers using Singapore’s extensive public transport network.

Previously, standards of behavior on Singapore’s buses were enforced as internal company policies rather than formal legal offenses. Bus drivers were responsible for addressing misbehavior, and could only ask uncooperative passengers to exit the vehicle. With the new regulations in place, these common nuisance behaviors are now classified as official legal violations that carry immediate, formal fines.

Under the new enforcement structure, only authorized personnel — including ticket inspectors and full-time bus interchange staff — are permitted to issue official offense notices to passengers caught violating the rules. Bus drivers, referred to as “bus captains” in Singapore, will not be granted this fining authority, a change intended to allow drivers to keep their full focus on the core responsibility of operating vehicles safely. Drivers still retain the right to request passengers stop disruptive behavior; those who refuse to comply can still be asked to exit the bus, and severe cases of continued noncompliance may result in police intervention.

Singapore’s regulatory update is not an isolated effort to improve public transport experiences. As urban transit networks expand globally, cities across the world have increasingly moved to crack down on unruly passenger behavior to guarantee comfortable, peaceful commutes for all users.

Earlier in 2025, the Polish city of Kraków implemented analogous regulations, imposing maximum fines of 200 Polish złoty (around $52 USD or £39 GBP) on commuters who disturb public peace on transit via loud audio from mobile phones or other electronic devices. In the United Kingdom, national laws already ban anti-social behavior on trains and stations, including the unauthorised use of sound-producing devices that causes annoyance to other passengers. Some UK politicians have recently pushed to expand these rules, introducing specific fines of up to £1,000 for so-called “headphone dodgers” — people who play loud music and videos without using headphones across all forms of public transport, including buses.

The coordinated shift toward formal penalties for disruptive behavior in Singapore, Kraków and the UK reflects a growing global trend of transport regulators taking proactive steps to protect the comfort and safety of the commuting public. Echoing this shared priority, Singapore’s LTA reaffirmed that public transport is a shared community space, and every passenger has a role to play in maintaining a gracious, pleasant journey for everyone.

22 9 月, 2026
Supreme Court stays out of custody case involving surrogate who refused abortion

A high-stakes surrogacy and custody dispute that intersects with America’s ongoing national debate over abortion rights has moved a step closer to resolution, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the conflict between a surrogate mother and the intended biological parents. The case centers on McKenna West, the gestational surrogate hired by California couple Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar to carry their child. When a 20-week prenatal scan revealed the fetus had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe and life-threatening congenital heart defect, Ahmed and Gilkar requested that West terminate the pregnancy.

West refused the abortion request, and instead relocated from California to Texas, where near-total abortion bans are in effect. She gave birth to the baby boy, whom the biological parents have named Rumi, last month. Since the birth, West has pushed for full custody of Rumi, arguing that Ahmed and Gilkar’s initial request for an abortion demonstrates they would not provide the extensive, lifelong medical care the child needs. She has suggested the couple may ultimately choose to place Rumi in hospice care rather than pursue the multiple invasive surgeries required to manage his condition.

West’s legal challenge has drawn high-profile support from prominent Republican officials, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who previously secured an emergency court order to keep Rumi in Texas for immediate post-birth heart surgery. That surgery took place shortly after Rumi was born, and attorneys for the California couple confirmed last month that the infant remains in critical condition, with potential ongoing complications related to his condition. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hypoplastic left heart syndrome leaves the left side of the heart unable to pump sufficient blood throughout the body; while multiple surgeries can extend survival, there is no cure, and patients often face lifelong health complications.

In her appeal to the nation’s highest court, West asked Justice Elena Kagan to block a prior California court ruling that granted full parental rights and custody to Ahmed and Gilkar. Kagan declined to grant the emergency appeal, leaving the lower court’s custody order intact. A Texas court has also issued a restraining order that bars West from unsupervised access to Rumi. West has argued that without Supreme Court intervention, she will be cut off from all updates on her son’s medical status and progress.

In prior court proceedings, Ahmed and Gilkar have pushed back against West’s claims, stating that Rumi is “our child” and “the love of our lives.” They have accused West of traveling to Texas without their advance knowledge and blocking their access to the infant’s medical records. The BBC has reached out to legal representatives for both parties to request additional comment on the Supreme Court’s latest decision, but has not yet received response from either side.

22 9 月, 2026
US judge blocks deportation of DoorDash driver shot by ICE

A high-profile encounter between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and a Venezuelan DoorDash delivery worker in Texas has sparked fierce public debate, legal action, and political pushback after the 28-year-old man was shot during an arrest, with a federal judge now temporarily halting his deportation. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, the immigrant in question, remains in ICE custody holding an unfired bullet in his back with untreated injuries that have raised alarms over inadequate medical care in detention facilities. The incident, which unfolded on a Sunday afternoon in Austin, has reignited long-simmering tensions over federal immigration enforcement tactics in sanctuary jurisdictions.

According to Garces Perez’s immigration attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, her client was on a routine delivery when an unmarked black vehicle — later confirmed to be tied to ICE — sideswiped his car. Unaware that the vehicle belonged to law enforcement, Garces Perez made a U-turn to escape what he believed was an attack or robbery, only to be hit a second time by the ICE truck before agents exited the vehicle and opened fire. The gunshot fractured his clavicle, leaving him with severe swelling, chronic pain, and unexplained loss of mobility that has yet to be fully diagnosed by medical professionals. He currently wears an arm sling to manage his injury.

Following the shooting, Lincoln-Goldfinch filed an emergency federal lawsuit requesting a temporary restraining order to block Garces Perez’s deportation before his case could receive a public court hearing. On Wednesday, Judge Orlando Garcia — a federal district court judge appointed during the Clinton administration — granted the temporary block, scheduling an in-person hearing for Garces Perez on September 30. This ruling means the immigrant cannot be removed from the U.S. before the hearing concludes.

In a social media post following the judge’s ruling, Lincoln-Goldfinch called the order a critical first win, but emphasized that the legal fight is far from over. “For now, we have secured a temporary block on his deportation while his case moves forward,” she wrote. “This is an important step, but our work is not over. Wilber still needs appropriate medical care, and we will continue fighting to protect his rights.”

The attorney has further alleged severe mistreatment of Garces Perez while in ICE detention. She claims that after his initial hospital treatment, he was transferred back to the detention facility while still injured, placed in full restraints — handcuffs, ankle shackles, and a waist chain — and handled roughly by staff. Detention officials later revoked his communication privileges, moved him out of the facility’s infirmary, and confined him to an isolated cell with a non-adjustable hard bed, even as he continued to experience severe pain from his gunshot wound. It was only after he lost all mobility in one arm that he was transported back to the hospital for further care, before being returned to detention once again.

Released police footage from the Austin Police Department, which was not involved in the ICE operation but responded to the scene after the shooting, corroborates that Garces Perez sustained a single gunshot wound to the back. While the footage does not capture the actual shooting, multiple gunshots can be heard on one officer’s dashcam recording, and a separate clip shows officers approaching Garces Perez’s vehicle before cutting away his t-shirt to reveal the entry wound on his back.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, has pushed back aggressively against claims of mistreatment, dismissing widespread public criticism as “false narratives” spread by sanctuary city leaders and media outlets. In a public statement to the BBC, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the agency’s actions and claimed Garces Perez, who entered the U.S. without legal authorization and saw his work permit expire last year, has received top-tier medical care. “Contrary to their claims, this person is an illegal alien who has no legal status to be here and has been given some of the best medical care he’s ever received in his life,” Mullin said. He added that “no amount of smears and false narratives will slow down ICE from doing its job by removing dangerous illegal aliens from our communities and making America safe again.” DHS has also denied claims that Garces Perez was denied pain medication or forced to sleep on the floor, confirming he was placed on a standard bed after returning to detention following hospital treatment.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas declined to comment on the ongoing case when reached by reporters.

This shooting comes just months after another ICE officer fatally shot a man during an operation in Houston, amplifying calls for accountability this time around. Prominent Texas Democrat Congressman Joaquin Castro was among the first public officials to call for Garces Perez’s immediate release from detention, and a coalition of local and state leaders has formally demanded a full independent investigation into the shooting and subsequent handling of the detainee.

Within hours of the shooting, dozens of protesters gathered at the incident location to demonstrate against federal immigration enforcement in Austin. Many carried signs calling for ICE to exit the city, while some waved the national flags of Mexico and Guatemala to show solidarity with immigrant communities. In response to the protests, DHS reiterated Tuesday that the agency has no plans to scale back its operations in Austin.

As the country awaits the September 30 court hearing, the case remains a flashpoint in the ongoing national battle over U.S. immigration policy, law enforcement use of force, and the treatment of immigrants in federal detention.

22 9 月, 2026
Man who sold toxic chemicals should rot in hell, says mother of woman who killed herself

The mother of a 25-year-old British woman who died by suicide after purchasing a lethal poison from a Canadian online vendor has issued a scathing rebuke, saying the man should ‘rot in hell’ for his role in her daughter’s death and the widespread failure of justice that has followed.

Imogen Nunn, a profoundly deaf content creator known affectionately to her loved ones as Immy, died in January 2023 after ingesting a toxic substance she ordered from Kenneth Law, a former chef turned illegal poison seller who targeted vulnerable people active in online suicide discussion forums.

Law has already accepted a plea deal with Canadian prosecutors, entering guilty pleas to 14 counts of aiding suicide across Canada in exchange for having more severe murder charges dropped. As a core term of this agreement, Law will never face criminal prosecution in the United Kingdom, even though official investigations link him to nearly 80 confirmed deaths of British citizens who received toxic products from him.

This agreement has left dozens of bereaved British families, including the Nunns, without access to domestic legal proceedings against Law. Louise Nunn, Imogen’s mother, told the BBC that both she and her late daughter have been failed by cross-border authorities. ‘I think we’ve been let down as families. Our children have been let down,’ she said.

This week, that longstanding frustration is set to be brought into a Canadian courtroom in Ontario, where impact statements from dozens of affected UK families will be presented to the judge overseeing Law’s sentencing. This public testimony marks the only opportunity for British families to share their pain and have their voices heard in the legal process surrounding Law’s crimes.

However, Louise Nunn has revealed that a key section of her personal impact statement has been redacted by authorities, robbing her of the chance to share her full condemnation of Law. In the removed paragraph, Nunn had written directly to Law: ‘You have destroyed my whole world. If Immy was here now, I know exactly what she would say to me, but I’m not Immy and I will never forgive you.’

‘I think we had a chance to say the words we wanted to say in our impact statement, but now I’ve been told they’ve redacted my last paragraph, which felt like our only chance,’ Nunn told reporters. She remembered her daughter as a resilient young woman who used social media to reframe the challenges of her profound deafness, turning personal hardship into satirical, uplifting content that helped her build confidence and close friendships. ‘She tried to put a spin on a sad situation and she tried to take all the negative things in her life and turn it into more positive,’ Nunn said. ‘It changed her, her confidence came back. Social media built up her confidence and friendships.’

In an official response to the BBC’s inquiries, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) defended its decision to agree to the Canadian plea deal and the redactions. CPS officials confirmed they agreed not to pursue extradition and prosecution in the UK on the grounds that Law would likely launch lengthy legal challenges to any extradition request, and integrating British victim impact statements into Canada’s sentencing process was the ‘quickest and most effective route’ to securing any form of justice. The CPS added that redactions were made on the advice of Canadian legal counsel to ensure all statements meet Canadian court admissibility requirements. ‘We recognise the profound impact of Kenneth Law’s offending and are working to ensure all victims and bereaved families have the opportunity to share their individual experiences through the sentencing process,’ a CPS spokesperson said.

Canadian court documents show Law sold roughly 1,200 packages of toxic substances to vulnerable people across 40 countries between his operation began, with approximately 25% of all shipments sent to customers in the UK. Law’s sentencing is scheduled for a date after the conclusion of this week’s impact statement hearings.

22 9 月, 2026
India is producing more green energy – but wasting a lot of it

In a landmark breakthrough for global clean energy transition, India has announced that renewable energy now accounts for 54% of its total 552 gigawatts (GW) of installed power capacity — a target reached five years ahead of its original 2030 deadline. This achievement marks a dramatic turning point for a nation long labeled as dependent on coal, signaling how rapidly emerging economies can scale up non-fossil fuel power.

The turning point was highlighted on a hot July afternoon this year, when renewable sources collectively met more than half of India’s peak national electricity demand for just the second time in the country’s history; the first occurrence took place during the same summer period in 2025. While this record only held for a short window, industry leaders frame it as a transformative milestone that redefines the role of clean energy in India’s power landscape.

“Renewable energy is no longer a marginal source sitting at the edge of the power system,” explained Sumant Sinha, CEO of ReNew Power, one of India’s largest Nasdaq-listed clean energy firms, in an interview with the BBC. A decade ago, India’s total installed renewable capacity stood at barely 4GW. Today, that figure has surged to 300GW, a more than 70-fold expansion that underscores the speed of the country’s clean energy push.

Even with this historic progress, coal still generates around 70% of India’s annual electricity output on average, due to coal plants’ higher capacity factors and ability to operate around the clock, unlike intermittent solar and wind generation. Still, the milestone confirms that India’s decades-long transition to clean energy has reached an irreversible inflection point, experts say.

Despite this remarkable growth, three interconnected challenges threaten to derail India’s ambitious 2030 target of 500GW of non-fossil electricity: strained transmission infrastructure, underdeveloped energy storage capacity, and persistent financing gaps that plague the entire sector.

The most pressing issue is the severe mismatch between the speed of renewable generation build-out and the expansion of the nation’s transmission grid. Development of new generation capacity has drastically outpaced upgrades to transmission lines, a problem that policymakers and analysts call the most critical operational risk to India’s climate goals.

According to global energy think tank Ember, transmission constraints were responsible for nearly two-thirds of all renewable energy curtailment — the practice of turning off working renewable plants when the grid cannot absorb their output — in the first quarter of 2026, totaling 300 gigawatt-hours of wasted clean energy. The root of the problem lies in the vastly different timelines for building generation versus transmission infrastructure, Sinha explained.

“Generation projects can be constructed in 18-24 months… Transmission can take much longer because they involve right-of-way, land acquisition, approvals and coordination across many agencies,” Sinha said. “It is an execution issue that becomes more important as the system gets larger.”

Vibhuti Garg, an energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, added that poor long-term planning has exacerbated the strain. When India was adding just 10-15GW of new renewable capacity annually, the existing grid was able to absorb the new supply. But last year, India added a record 51GW of new renewable capacity, far outstripping what the aging transmission network can handle. The concentration of most new renewable projects in the northwestern states of Gujarat and Rajasthan has further strained the system, making it harder to move surplus clean power to high-demand regions across the country.

A common proposed fix for this mismatch is building large-scale battery storage systems at renewable energy hubs, which would store excess power for later use instead of curtailing it. But storage deployment has stalled in India, held back by spiking battery prices, raw material shortages linked to ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and a depreciation of the Indian rupee that has driven up financing costs for domestic companies. As a result, dozens of planned storage projects have been canceled or put on hold, Garg said.

Financing constraints extend far beyond storage projects, affecting the entire Indian renewable sector. While developed nations have abundant access to low-cost global capital for green transition, Indian clean energy firms have consistently struggled to secure affordable financing, even as the country has emerged as a global leader in renewable scaling. Government economic data shows that roughly 83% of all climate mitigation financing in India currently comes from domestic sources.

India will need an estimated $400-500 billion in total investment to hit its 2030 500GW non-fossil target. While the Paris Agreement committed developed nations to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance to developing countries by 2025, that pledge has yet to be fulfilled. Sinha noted that emerging and developing economies outside of China receive only around 15% of global clean energy investment, despite being home to roughly two-thirds of the world’s population.

Sinha emphasized that India does not require developed nations to fund its entire energy transition, but called for targeted support in the form of lower-interest loans, risk guarantees, and currency risk protection to encourage greater private sector investment in the sector.

Experts warn that addressing these gaps is critical not just for India, but for the entire world’s fight against climate change. India is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and its electricity demand is growing faster than any major emerging economy, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 7% in recent years. Demand is expected to accelerate even further as new energy-intensive industries such as data centers and semiconductor manufacturing expand across the country. The International Energy Agency projects that India’s total electricity demand will rise by 80% by 2035, the fastest increase of any major emerging economy.

Even with current challenges, the IEA has credited India’s rapid renewable expansion as a key factor that helped slow global emissions growth in 2026, even as energy-related carbon emissions rose in advanced economies at the fastest rate since the 1990s. How successfully India navigates its current hurdles and delivers on its clean energy targets will have an outsize impact on whether the world can meet its global climate goals, analysts say.

22 9 月, 2026
Revealed: Cisco talks with pro-Palestine employees over discrimination complaint collapse

A federally mediated conciliation process between tech giant Cisco and a group of its pro-Palestine employees has collapsed entirely after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determined the company refused to participate in good faith, exclusive reporting from Middle East Eye has confirmed.

The dispute dates back to early 2024, when a group of Cisco employees launched Bridge to Humanity (B2H), an organizing body formed to call attention to the firm’s business ties to the Israeli military. In June 2024, B2H published an open letter to Cisco executive leadership demanding the company end technology sales to the Israeli government, divest from targeted Israeli entities, implement equal pay for Palestinian and Israeli staff, and uphold its own internal equity policies. The letter garnered nearly 1,700 employee signatures, but Cisco quickly removed the document from its internal platforms.

In the wake of the open letter’s publication, employees reported a sharp rise in hostile internal conditions. B2H later filed a formal discrimination complaint with the EEOC, alleging anti-Arab and anti-Muslim harassment on internal messaging channels and company-run affinity groups. The group also raised alarms that an employee compiled a spreadsheet of all open letter signatories to monitor their activity, and that multiple signatories had been doxxed. These allegations pushed former Cisco corporate lawyer Reyhan Bilici to resign from the firm publicly on LinkedIn, citing institutionalized Islamophobia within the company. Bilici told Middle East Eye that after she shared her resignation letter across internal employee communities, Cisco leadership forced moderators to remove the post from a space intended for open dialogue.

Following its investigation, the head of the EEOC’s San Jose local office ruled in June that there was reasonable cause to believe Cisco had created a hostile work environment for multiple Muslim and Middle Eastern employees who expressed pro-Palestine views. The agency then scheduled voluntary, confidential conciliation talks — an informal dispute resolution process overseen by the EEOC — to resolve the claims in August.

However, the planned negotiations collapsed before any substantive discussions could begin. Christopher Ho, program director at Legal Aid at Work and lead counsel for B2H, told Middle East Eye that after three hours of waiting for Cisco to engage, the EEOC lead investigator announced the process would be terminated because the company had refused to respond to the agency’s settlement proposal. Ho noted that the abrupt end came as a shock, as B2H had not even had the chance to exchange formal settlement offers with Cisco representatives.

Despite the collapse of mediation, Ho emphasized that the EEOC’s finding of reasonable cause marked an unprecedented win for organized tech workers. “It is significant that a group of tech employees who have organised collectively for such accountability has been harassed or otherwise treated unlawfully for speaking, and then vindicated by a federal agency,” Ho explained.

Cisco has publicly pushed back against the EEOC’s findings, maintaining that it is dedicated to upholding an inclusive, respectful workplace. “We disagree with the EEOC’s district office findings. Aligned with the company’s commitment to being an equal opportunity employer, Cisco thoroughly investigated all concerns and took appropriate action,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. The firm declined to issue any specific comment on the allegation that it refused to participate in conciliation in good faith, nor did it respond to multiple other complaints raised by current and former employees, including claims that pro-Palestine voices were disproportionately targeted in recent layoffs.

In May 2024, Cisco announced plans to cut roughly 4,000 roles, a move that came just after the company reported record quarterly profits of $15.8 billion. The layoff is part of a broader industry-wide restructuring among major U.S. tech firms including Meta, Amazon, and PayPal, which have cut tens of thousands of jobs overall as companies shift resources toward artificial intelligence development. Cisco finance manager Aamir Ahmad, one of the B2H organizers, told Middle East Eye that multiple rounds of layoffs at the company have disproportionately targeted staff who spoke out in support of Palestine.

Ahmad also praised the EEOC’s intervention, noting that even the agency’s finding of reasonable cause underscores the severity of the violations the employees reported. “The fact that the EEOC, now operating under the direction of the [US President Donald] Trump administration, sided with the complainants goes to show how egregious the violations actually were,” Ahmad said. He added that there is a clear disconnect between Cisco’s public branding as an inclusive employer and its internal treatment of vulnerable Muslim and Middle Eastern staff: “The company espouses an inclusive culture, but then exposes vulnerable employees to such vitriol. What kind of message is Cisco sending to the world when they are treating employees in such a fashion? Cisco has partners and employees in the Middle East, and when they try to bring up these concerns, you dismiss them. They go to a third party to get some justice and to have someone see their point of view, and Cisco just dismiss it.”

Ahmad said many pro-Palestine staff at Cisco now face an impossible choice between their personal convictions and their financial livelihoods. “I feel stuck. A lot of people feel the same way. Personally, I’m in a tough spot. People within my professional and personal network have asked me: ‘How can you still work at a company that basically hates you?’ I have tough conversations trying to reconcile that with my financial and familial obligations,” he said.

As of press time, it remains unclear what下一步 steps will be taken in the dispute. The EEOC has not responded to requests for comment on the collapsed talks, and B2H and its legal team have declined to share details about potential future action.

22 9 月, 2026
UN General Assembly 2026: War on Iran and Gaza genocide dominate

The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly kicked off this Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York, with outgoing Secretary-General António Guterres using his final opening address to frame a defining shift in global order and issue an urgent plea to end the bloodshed across the Middle East.

Guterres opened by declaring that the global transition to a multipolar world is an irreversible process, noting that even the world’s most powerful nations are now facing hard limits on the reach of their influence. “Military power alone cannot secure peace. Economic power alone cannot command stability. And technological power alone cannot guarantee security,” he told assembled world leaders. He argued that a interconnected multipolar system can lay the groundwork for more equitable, representative global problem-solving—if that system is anchored by a balanced, inclusive United Nations at its core.

Turning to the escalating crisis in the Middle East, Guterres condemned the hollow ceasefire agreements that have done little to stop civilian harm. “So-called ceasefires have amounted to little more than ‘lesser fires’, with civilians continuing to pay the price,” he said. “Enough is enough. I appeal to the leaders in this chamber to maximise this high-level week for de-escalation and dialogue. Let’s send a clear message from this hall: the fighting must stop.” He warned leaders against abandoning the decades-long push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, marking nearly one year since the October 7 Hamas attacks that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis. He called the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza an “onslaught” of killing and destruction unseen during his tenure as secretary-general, adding that expanding Israeli settlements and escalating violence in the occupied West Bank are erasing the last paths to peace and raising the alarming threat of ethnic cleansing. “We cannot allow the two-state solution to disappear before our eyes,” he stressed.

Following a longstanding UN tradition that grants Brazil the floor as the first member state to address the assembly, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva delivered a sharp rebuke of unilateral power plays and growing global militarism, without directly naming US President Donald Trump. Lula centered his speech on the legacy of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, two architects of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords who he framed as the kind of statesmanship the world desperately needs amid today’s global scourge of war. “We are called to choose between multilateralism and unilateralism. Democracy or extremism. Sovereignty or subordination,” Lula said, warning that trillions of dollars are now fueling a new global arms race. Recounting the legacy of Arafat and Rabin—who were ultimately killed by extremists opposed to their peace deal—Lula said they “challenged the past to envision a future of peace” and were ultimately defeated by hatred.

Lula explicitly condemned what he called Israel’s genocide in Gaza, where official Palestinian health authorities estimate nearly 74,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed since the start of the Israeli campaign. He acknowledged that Israeli civilians also suffer from the “radicalism and intolerance of Hamas terrorist acts,” but said generations of Palestinians will carry the trauma of the killings perpetrated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The Brazilian leader also pushed back against US efforts to undermine the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. “Persecuting the International Criminal Court and its members encourages these crimes to go unpunished,” he said. He also defended UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, who faced US sanctions earlier this year that were only lifted after a federal judge ruled they violated her First Amendment rights to free speech. “The UN special rapporteur must not be silenced for telling the truth,” Lula added.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II followed with a blistering condemnation of Israeli policy, accusing the Israeli government of committing widespread war crimes across Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and warning that its territorial expansionism extends far beyond Palestinian lands. He accused Israel of intentionally inciting a religious war, framing its conflict with Palestinians as a battle between Judaism and Christianity on one side and Islam on the other. “This [Israeli] government’s sense of impunity has reached terrifying levels,” he said. “No one in this assembly should assume this Israeli government’s appetite stops at Palestine,” he added, pointing to Israeli attacks and occupation of Syrian territory.

King Abdullah cited the recent US-Israeli military campaign against Iran as proof that Middle Eastern instability carries global ripple effects. “If anyone had any doubt that conflict in our part of the world stays there, just look at the energy and grocery bills from ordinary families from Mumbai to Madrid to Minnesota,” he said. “The Iran war has shown how quickly instability can disrupt trade, investment and lives beyond the region.” He criticized the international community for choosing to merely manage the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than confront its root causes, with catastrophic results. He detailed widespread abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, where Israeli home demolitions to expand illegal settlements amount to forcible transfer—a war crime—and said Israel is carrying out a de facto annexation of the territory that amounts to a systematic campaign of subjugation. “Gaza and the West Bank are two fronts of the same Israeli strategy. In both, Palestinians are being killed. In both, the reality on the ground is being remade: Gaza through destruction, the West Bank through de facto annexation,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened by condemning the ongoing ban on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addressing the General Assembly, marking the second consecutive year Abbas has been barred from attending. Calling the exclusion a blatant injustice, Erdoğan said Turkey would continue to stand as a voice for an independent, sovereign Palestine, urging all nations that have not yet recognized Palestinian statehood to reverse their position. He described the past 12 months as one of the bloodiest periods for global conflict in three decades, drawing particular attention to the ongoing violence in Gaza. “We lost [thousands of Palestinians] to what we regard as acts of state terror by Israel,” he said.

Erdoğan noted that even after a US- and Turkish-mediated ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Palestinian factions in October 2025, more than 1,500 additional Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. While Palestinian resistance groups have followed through on their commitments to move forward with the second phase of the peace plan, he said the Israeli government continues to refuse to end its occupation of Palestinian territories. He added that the occupied West Bank is facing its worst wave of Israeli settler violence in modern history, with data from the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission showing a 63 percent jump in settler attacks in the first seven months of 2026 compared to the same period last year.

Erdoğan also joined calls for sweeping UN reform, arguing that the current global body structure is controlled by the five permanent members of the Security Council and fails to represent the interests of the broader global community of more than 190 member states. “The United Nations, established 81 years ago to maintain peace and security, has become unable to fulfil this mission, or rather it has been made unable to do so,” he said. On the ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement, Erdoğan said Turkey continues to work with all parties to reach a negotiated end to the conflict, noting that prolonging the fighting benefits no one. Houthi forces have recently stepped up attacks on Saudi territory and taken control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical global energy chokepoint.

Qatar’s ruling Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani warned that the Gulf region is entering one of its most dangerous phases in modern history, brought on by decades of delaying meaningful conflict resolution through temporary fixes and unworkable policy. He stressed the urgent need for a regional collective security framework that respects national sovereignty, territorial integrity, the peaceful resolution of disputes and non-interference in internal affairs. “In the absence of such a system, it becomes possible for a war to erupt,” he said. “It has become possible for one party to drag its neighbours into a war that is not theirs, targeting their vital assets and installations despite their strenuous efforts to avert escalation.”

Qatar has found itself drawn into the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel and Iran despite its best efforts to stay neutral and avoid escalation. Iranian attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan energy complex damaged two major liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing trains and a gas-to-liquids plant, taking roughly 17 percent of the country’s total LNG export capacity offline temporarily, according to QatarEnergy. The conflict has also completely shut down the Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly a quarter of the world’s global energy trade passes—severely disrupting Qatar’s energy exports and roiling global energy markets. As a result, Al Thani said, food and medicine prices have spiked on every continent, harming the livelihoods of ordinary people with no connection to the conflict.

The Qatari emir called for a diplomatic resolution to the Gulf crisis, urging the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a return to negotiations to prevent full-scale regional war. On the Palestinian issue, he condemned Israeli leaders who openly advocate for the forced displacement of Gaza’s population, which they frame as “migration.” He called on Israel to meet its international commitments: end all military operations in Gaza, withdraw all forces from the besieged territory, lift the illegal 19-year blockade on Gaza, and allow unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. “There can be no talk of a just international order as long as Palestine remains a blind spot within it,” he said. “Dealing with Israel, putting an end to the harm it causes, and restraining its unlawful conduct constitutes the true test of the international community’s seriousness in upholding values and the rule of law. The law must apply equally to all.”

22 9 月, 2026