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‘Conveyor belt of radicals’: GOP slammed over Senate absences that helped Biden score more judges in lame duck

‘Conveyor belt of radicals’: GOP slammed over Senate absences that helped Biden score more judges in lame duck

Senate Republicans faced criticism over several vote absences this week that allowed Democrats to confirm judges or agree to end debate on nominees that otherwise could have been blocked if each of the missing GOP lawmakers were there.  One particularly crucial vote was on Monday for a lifetime appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court, a coveted appeals court slot to which Democrats did not have the votes to confirm President Biden’s nominee, since outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., voted against.  However, since Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., did not vote, the nominee was confirmed by 49 votes to 45 votes.  DSCC HOPEFUL GILLIBRAND SAYS DEMS SHOULD HAVE PUT IMMIGRATION FIX ON TABLE ‘2 YEARS AGO’ “This leftist judge would have been voted down and the seat on the important 11th circuit would have been filled by Donald Trump next year had Republicans showed up,” wrote Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., on X. “Now, the leftist judge will have a lifetime appointment and the people of FL, AL and GA will suffer the consequences.” Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to former Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital, “A senator’s only job is to show up and vote.” “President Biden is jamming through bottom-of-the-barrel radical left-wing judges for lifetime appointments to the federal bench after the American people voted for dramatic change. Senate Republicans must do everything they can to stop this lame-duck conveyor belt of radicals. But if these Senate Republicans cannot even show up to vote, let alone debate for four hours on each judge, why should we vote for these deadbeat senators?” Davis is also founder and president of the Article III Project.  GOP SENATOR DEBUTS BILL TO ABOLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FOLLOWING TRUMP CAMPAIGN PROMISE A senior Senate source confirmed to Fox News Digital that there was irritation among the Republican conference about their colleagues’ absences. The most vocal about it was Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., they said. In a statement, Vice President-elect Vance said, “As a co-chairman of the transition, it’s vital that I’m focused on making sure President Trump’s government is fully staffed with people who support his America First agenda and will be ready to hit the ground running on January 20th.” “However, it’s also important to me to do everything in my power to block more radical judges from getting confirmed. So while it may be outside of the norm for an incoming VP to take Senate votes in the lame duck period, if my colleagues here in the Senate tell me that we have a real chance of beating one of these nominees, I’ll move heaven and earth to be there for the vote,” he added.  SENATE SHOWDOWN: GOP SECURES DEAL WITH SCHUMER TO SAVE COVETED APPELLATE JUDGES FOR TRUMP In a separate statement, Brian Hughes, Trump-Vance Transition spokesman said, “We cannot allow Chuck Schumer to play games with the transition’s ability to staff the incoming administration. Under no circumstances should we allow radical left judges to be jammed through the Senate at the 11th hour, but the Vice President-elect is needed for the transition to continue working ahead of schedule.”  Vance is notably the first senator in over a century to vote on a judicial nomination after being elected to be vice president.  The vice president-elect was at the Capitol during the latter part of the week facilitating meetings between senators and Trump selections for key administration posts.  Vance was in attendance for pivotal votes on Wednesday, while some Republicans were still absent.  A spokesperson for Daines pointed Fox News Digital to an X post from the senator, in which he detailed travel issues he ran into on his way to Washington, D.C. “Runway closed due to ice, then prolonged de-icing, then a medical emergency…then Delta flight attendants timed out. Landed DC at 10 pm and voting until ~ midnight,” he said.  Daines’ office said he went immediately to the Senate floor to vote once he finally landed in the capital.  The offices of Braun, Hagerty and Rubio did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. Rubio was recently selected by Trump to be his nominee for Secretary of State. While the circuit court confirmation was the most important vote that GOP absences helped to advance, it wasn’t the only case of it happening this week.  Braun, Hagerty, Vance, Rubio and Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas were absent for a vote on a district court nominee on Tuesday that was ultimately confirmed, despite Manchin opposing and Democrats not otherwise having enough votes.  Cruz was in Texas on the day of the vote with Trump and billionaire Elon Musk for the launch of a SpaceX rocket. The senator is the soon-to-be chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and told reporters this week that space legislation “will be a significantly higher priority of the full committee.”  DEMOCRAT TAMMY BALDWIN DETAILS RECIPE FOR RUNNING IN A SWING STATE AFTER VICTORY IN TRUMP-WON WISCONSIN He cited his trip to the launch, saying, “My number-one priority is jobs. And commercial space generates tens of thousands of jobs across Texas and across the country.” Cramer’s office did not provide comment in time for publication.  On Wednesday, both Cruz and Braun missed another district judge confirmation that Manchin opposed, handing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Biden another accomplishment.  Braun further missed another Wednesday vote on a district judge that was opposed by outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., allowing the nominee to be confirmed.  On Wednesday, Tillis spoke on the Senate floor on the subject. “Schumer’s trying to ram through Biden’s liberal judicial nominees. We can block some of them, but it requires ALL GOP senators to be here. VP-elect [Vance] is a busy man right now, but he’s still here on the Senate floor holding the line, and so should all of our GOP colleagues,” he wrote on

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Gaetz’s status in the House and the Ethics Committee report

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned from the House last week. That is final. The precedent of the House is that once you bow out, it is done. So, Gaetz cannot revoke his letter of resignation last week. It declared he was stepping aside “effective immediately.” As reported earlier, Gaetz could serve in the new Congress. He was duly re-elected to his seat for the new Congress to be seated on Jan. 3. In his letter to the clerk of the House, Gaetz declared, “I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration.” GAETZ WITHDRAWS AS ATTORNEY GENERAL However, Fox is told that Gaetz would have to inform the clerk of the House that he, in fact, does intend to serve in the new Congress – if he elects to do so. Gaetz has not signaled his future plans. That part of the Gaetz letter is not binding.  Technically, the House Ethics Committee must wrap up its inquiry into Gaetz by the end of this Congress at 11:59:59 am EST on Jan. 3. However, there is precedent for the House Ethics Committee voting to carry over an inquiry from one Congress to another. So it’s not unheard of that this is a done deal. PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP ANNOUNCE PAM BONDI AS HIS NEW PICK FOR US ATTORNEY GENERAL The committee still wants to finish its current work. However, if Gaetz is not going to serve in the new Congress and has withdrawn his nomination for attorney general, this likely diminishes the importance of publicly releasing the report of a former member. Yes, there may be damning information in the report, but the House usually does not release reports about former members – even though there is precedent for doing so. Moreover, the Senate Judiciary Committee isn’t interested in the report, now that Gaetz is not before them as the attorney general nominee.   In addition, if Gaetz does elect to serve in the House, that would help the GOP with their numbers, with Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Michael Waltz, R-Minn. – and maybe more – leaving to join the Trump administration. 

Democrats’ pessimism about party’s future is highest in 8 years: poll

Democrats’ pessimism about party’s future is highest in 8 years: poll

A new poll finds that Democrats are feeling glum about their party’s prospects after Republican President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Democratic pessimism about the party’s future is at its highest point in eight years, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Republicans, on the other hand, are riding high and have the most optimistic outlook about their party recorded since the 2016 election, Trump’s last presidential victory. For the first time since 2016, more Americans say the GOP, not the Democratic Party, represents the interests of “people like them” very or somewhat well, 50% to 43%. Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, winning 312 Electoral College Votes to her 226 votes and sweeping all the battleground states. Republicans also flipped control of the Senate and managed to cling to their majority in the House of Representatives as well – guaranteeing full control of the federal government with a favorable 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. DEMOCRATIC PENNSYLVANIA ELECTION OFFICIAL APOLOGIZES FOR CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS AS SENATE RECOUNT BEGINS Short of a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate, there is not much more Republicans could ask for in terms of power to enact their agenda at the federal level. So Democrats, understandably, are not thrilled about their party. A majority of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents, 51%, still say they are optimistic about the party’s future. However, 49% are pessimistic – an increase of 20 percentage points from how Democrats felt after the 2022 midterm election’s mixed results, according to the Pew Research Center. The number of pessimistic Democrats is also about 10 percentage points higher than when Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in 2016. DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST HINTS AT RUNNING TO LEAD THE DNC IN ORDER TO MAKE ‘DEMOCRATS FUN AGAIN’ Those who are under age 50 and those further to the left than conservative and moderate Democrats tended to be more pessimistic. Republicans, however, are far more optimistic about their party today (86%) than they were after the 2022 midterms (65%) and Trump’s 2016 victory (79%). WHAT WEARY SAN FRANCISCANS ARE SAYING AFTER VOTERS REJECTED ‘STRANGLEHOLD’ OF THE PROGRESSIVE LEFT The Pew Research Center noted the partisan gap in Republican and Democratic views of their respective party’s futures is at 35 percentage points, the largest of any recent election. Additionally, more Americans now say the GOP best represents their interests than those who say it is the Democratic Party who does so. About half of Americans say Republicans best represent “people like them” compared to 43% who say so about Democrats – a shift from recent years when the Democratic Party was believed to be more representative of “people like them.”  That swing of opinion is almost entirely among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 85% of whom now say the GOP represents them well or somewhat well. That is a 14-point gain from a previous Pew Research Center survey in June 2023. Most Democrats, 72%, still say their party represents them at least somewhat well. A small minority on both sides say their respective parties do not represent their interests well.

Matt Gaetz says he will not serve in the upcoming session of Congress

Matt Gaetz says he will not serve in the upcoming session of Congress

Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said on a podcast Friday he will not be joining Congress next year, settling an issue that had been the subject of intense speculation in the hours after he withdrew his name from consideration as attorney general. Gaetz had resigned last week from the 118th session of Congress, but it was unclear whether he would serve in the 119th session, beginning in January. Prior to resigning, Gaetz had been under a monthslong investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and the suggestion he might return to Congress touched off a flurry of speculation from members. MATT GAETZ WITHDRAWS FROM CONSIDERATION TO SERVE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL Gaetz dismissed that speculation Friday in an interview with podcaster Charlie Kirk.  “There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service,”  Gaetz told Kirk in an interview on his eponymous podcast. “And I’m actually excited to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.” Gaetz did say he planned to be part of staffing the incoming Trump administration and praised Trump’s pick of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace him as the top U.S. prosecutor if confirmed by the Senate. “My good friend Pam Bondi is going to be a phenomenal attorney general for Donald Trump,” Gaetz told Kirk. “She has the legal acumen. She hates criminals. She is a bright legal mind and a fellow Floridian.” The interview comes hours after Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as Trump’s nominee for attorney general on Thursday, citing what he described as the “distraction” his nomination had caused due to a swirl of allegations about paying underage women for sex.  “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz said in announcing the decision. The House Ethics Committee had deadlocked days earlier on whether to release their report on their investigation into Gaetz, which kicked off following a Justice Department investigation in 2021 stemming from allegations related to sex trafficking. The DOJ did not press charges in the matter, and attorneys for Gaetz said in 2023 that the Justice Department had dropped the investigation.  “We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice, and they have determined not to bring any charges against him,” Gaetz attorneys Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner said in a statement in February 2023 reported by multiple news outlets. Gaetz has denied all accusations. In an interview Friday, he stressed that he plans to continue to fight on behalf of the president-elect, despite his decision to resign from Congress. “I’m going to be fighting for President Trump,” Gaetz said, adding: “I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”

Trump’s ICE nominee decision could be imminent as deportation plan takes spotlight

Trump’s ICE nominee decision could be imminent as deportation plan takes spotlight

FIRST ON FOX: A decision on whom President-elect Trump will nominate to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is expected within the coming days, sources familiar with proceedings tell Fox News Digital – ahead of what could be significant opposition to mass deportations from some Democratic states next year. Discussions have been held at Mar-a-Lago this week, and a decision could be made as early as Friday. Whoever is nominated will require Senate confirmation. Who is in the running is unclear. One source said on Thursday that there are still multiple candidates being discussed and that the Trump team has yet to whittle the list down.  WHO ELSE COULD BE ON PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION ‘DREAM TEAM?’  Sources had previously suggested that John Fabbricatore, a former ICE field officer, and Todd Lyons, currently leading the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operation (ERO) unit in Boston, were among the top contenders. The transition team is understood to be looking for someone with a deep law enforcement background to lead the agency.  But Fabbricatore is now understood to be out of the running to lead the agency. Lyons is believed to be held in high regard within the agency and by a number of people on the transition team, given his leadership of the Boston unit and his teams’ work in chasing down criminal illegal immigrants who had been released from custody in the sanctuary city. ‘100% ON BOARD’: BORDER STATE OFFERS TRUMP MASSIVE PLOT OF LAND TO AID MASSIVE DEPORTATION OPERATION Whoever leads the agency will be in the media and political spotlight in the next year as they spearhead what President-elect Trump has promised will be a historic mass deportation operation. Trump has appointed former ICE Director Thomas Homan as “border czar,” and he is expected to take a leadership role in the efforts to secure the border and launch the mass deportation operation. He has also announced that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will be his nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The transition team has already been eyeing a significant expansion of detention in order to facilitate the operation, with an increase in beds and expanded detention capacity near major metropolitan areas. Those efforts are already drawing significant opposition from Democratic officials in some states. The governors of Illinois, Arizona and Massachusetts have said they won’t assist the administration in the operation. But some Republican states have offered support, with Texas offering more than 1,400 acres of land to stage mass deportations near the border.

Mike Rogers replacing Wray as FBI director is not happening, Trump adviser says

Mike Rogers replacing Wray as FBI director is not happening, Trump adviser says

Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers is no longer under consideration to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the incoming administration, according to a senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump. Dan Scavino, who will serve as deputy chief of staff in the new White House, posted on social media Friday that a Rogers hire is “not happening.”  “Just spoke to President Trump regarding Mike Rogers going to the FBI. It’s not happening — In his own words, ‘I have never even given it a thought.’ Not happening,” Scavino said. Rogers, the 2024 Republican Senate nominee in Michigan who lost his election last week by a razor-thin margin, was considered a leading candidate to be the next FBI director since Trump intends to fire the current director, Christopher Wray.  FOX NEWS PROJECTS DEMOCRATS HOLD ONTO KEY SEAT IN BATTLEGROUND MICHIGAN A Republican source familiar told Fox News Digital that Rogers met with Trump last week at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago residence. He also met with Trump’s transition team to discuss potentially serving as FBI director, sources familiar said. Trump transition spokesman Brian Hughes declined to comment on Scavino’s post specifically.  MIKE ROGERS IN CONSIDERATION FOR FBI CHIEF AFTER MEETING IN MAR-A-LAGO WITH TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM, SOURCES SAY “For transition, we don’t speculate on selections and don’t get ahead of official announcements from President Trump,” he said. Rogers told “FOX & Friends” earlier Friday that “the culture of the FBI on the seventh floor needs to be changed.” Rogers, who worked as a special agent with the FBI in its Chicago office and served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during the final four years of his decade-long tenure in Congress, was interviewed in 2017 during Trump’s first administration to serve as FBI director after James Comey was dismissed. TRUMP TURNS TO ALLIES AND LOYALISTS TO IMPLEMENT HIS AMERICA FIRST AGENDA But Trump at the time decided to appoint Christopher Wray to the traditional 10-year term steering the federal law enforcement agency. Trump, throughout his 2024 White House bid, campaigned in part on cleaning house at the FBI and has repeatedly claimed — without providing proof — that the bureau is chocked full of politically motivated and corrupt executives. And while not as much as others, Wray at times has been a target of Trump’s criticism. Another name that has been floated in media reports to potentially serve as FBI director in the second Trump administration is Kash Patel, the controversial aide and adviser who served roles at the National Security Council and Defense Department during the final two years of Trump’s first administration. The Department of Justice declined to comment on Scavino ruling out Rogers. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Old is gold: Why Bollywood is turning to re-releases amid string of flops

Old is gold: Why Bollywood is turning to re-releases amid string of flops

New Delhi, India – When Raghav Bikhchandani found out on social media that Gangs of Wasseypur, the acclaimed Indian blockbuster released in 2012, was all set to hit the theatres in New Delhi again, he knew he could not miss it this time and even alerted several film clubs and WhatsApp groups he was part of. For the 27-year-old copy editor, getting to watch the two-part film felt like “finally being introduced to the most memed movie in Indian pop culture” as he found himself commuting for three hours on an August afternoon to a seedy theatre in the city’s Subhash Nagar neighbourhood to catch the movie on the big screen. “I came into Hindi cinema much later in life, and I had missed out on seeing this on the big screen. When I was studying abroad in Chicago, even NRIs in my university would quote dialogues from this movie but I had never gotten a chance to see it. So I knew I couldn’t miss this opportunity,” he told Al Jazeera. Based in a mining town in eastern India on a decades-long feud between rival gangs mainly dealing in coal, “the black diamond”, the Anurag Kashyap-directed duology attained popularity and critical acclaim following its full-house premier at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France. With an inventive cast, sharp dialogues, pitch-black comedy and gritty setting, the five-hour epic crime and political drama cemented its status as one of the most memorable Indian films of the past decade. Actress Reema Sen poses during a Gangs of Wasseypur success party in Mumbai [File: Strdel/AFP] But it isn’t just Gangs of Wasseypur. Bollywood, India’s much-vaunted Hindi film industry based in Mumbai, as well as regional film studios spread across the world’s most populous nation, are witnessing an unprecedented surge in re-releases of films celebrated in the past, some going as far back as the 1950s. Dozens of such films have hit theatres in many cities this year – far more than ever before – as the country’s nearly $200bn film industry looks to revive its fortunes after taking multiple hits in recent years. In a country like India, which produces more films a year than Hollywood, cinema is essentially a mass medium, most enjoyed in the dark and dreamy confines of a film theatre showing its latest offering on a 70mm screen. But the coronavirus pandemic hurt Indian films – as it did with movies globally. Since 2022, theatres across the world have been struggling to get people back, a crisis compounded by the rise of online streaming and OTT platforms. India reeled under two deadly COVID-19 waves in 2020 and 2021, forcing the closure of nearly 1,500 to 2,000 theatres – a majority of them single-screen cinemas, which could not stand up to the corporate franchise-driven multiplexes mostly seen in shopping malls mushrooming across the country. Then there is the rising cost of making a full-length film. Stars, mainly men, are now paid an unprecedented fee, some amounting to nearly half of a film’s budget. Moreover, the expense of their entourage – makeup and publicity crew, vanity vans, hotels and travel – puts further financial strain on producers and studios. Recently, prominent producer and director Karan Johar told journalists the star fees in Bollywood were “not in touch with reality”. Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor promoting his 2011 film Rockstar at a college in Mumbai. The film returned to Indian theatres this year [File: Yogen Shah/The India Today Group via Getty Images] To make matters worse, Bollywood in recent years has been witness to a string of flops, with even big multiplex chains such as PVR INOX incurring heavy losses – and therefore forced to be more imaginative in their offerings. It was against such a backdrop that theatre owners and filmmakers decided to re-release old films. Many of films that have returned to theatres were runaway successes the first time around, while others weren’t – until now. PVR INOX’s lead strategist Niharika Bijli was quoted in a report in September this year as saying the chain re-released a whopping 47 films between April and August this year. While the average occupancy for a new release during this period stood at 25 percent, re-releases enjoyed a higher average of 31 percent, according to the reports. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, whose 2002 hit Tum Bin was released again this year to much fanfare, told Al Jazeera nostalgia has “a large role to play here”. “There are usually two kinds of viewers going in for the re-releases. The first is the people who missed these films in theatres. Maybe they saw it on OTT and felt like having a theatrical experience of it. Or there’s people who have memories, nostalgia attached to a film, and want to revisit it,” he said. Tum Bin’s actors: Sandali Sinha, right, Priyanshu, centre, and Himanshu [File: JSG/CP] Indian film trade analyst Taran Adarsh agreed, saying the success of Tumbbad, a 113-minute mythological horror initially released in 2018, was proof that the formula of reruns was working. “It’s also about nostalgia, some people might want to experience the magic of a film on the big screen again,” he said. Tumbbad did not do well when it first came out. But with rising popularity and critical acclaim, the film was re-released in September this year and went on to perform significantly better than the year it hit the big screen. “When it re-released, Tumbbad actually collected over 125 percent more revenue in its opening weekend than it did back in 2018. People will watch things if there is word-of-mouth publicity and theatre owners and distributors are aware of it. Superstars like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman [Khan] are coming back to theatres, thanks to Karan Arjun getting a re-release,” said Adarsh, referring to the actors, who, despite being in their late 50s, continue to be the top two reigning stars in Bollywood. First released in 1995, Karan Arjun, a rebirth-themed action drama directed by actor-turned-director Rakesh Roshan, is set to

Mapping the impact of climate change on global displacement

Mapping the impact of climate change on global displacement

As the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) concludes in Baku, Azerbaijan, global commitments to address climate change are once again being confronted with the stark realities on the ground of widespread weather-related displacement. According to the 2024 Global Report on Internal Displacement, at least 6.6 million people worldwide were displaced by weather-related disasters by the end of 2023. However, many were displaced multiple times primarily due to floods, storms, droughts and wildfires, resulting in a total of at least 20.3 million forced movements throughout the year. An additional 1.1 million people were displaced by natural disasters not directly attributed to climate change such as earthquakes and volcanic activity. “It is expected that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance will grow exponentially in countries vulnerable to climate change,” the Norwegian Refugee Council’s global lead on climate and environment, Julie Gassien, told Al Jazeera. “Climate change will contribute to much larger numbers of people being displaced and will lead to more, larger and more intense hazardous events”, she added. Where did climate change cause the most displacement? The countries with the highest number of weather-related displacements in 2023 were China (4.6 million) and the Philippines (2.1 million). There, Typhoon Doksuri, one of the most powerful storms of the season, displaced more than a million people and killed dozens. In Africa, Somalia experienced the continent’s highest number of displacements with 2 million, largely due to the “worst floods in decades” forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Weather-related events also increase risks for already vulnerable communities, including those affected by conflict, said Ezekiel Simperingham, global manager for migration and displacement at the International Federation of the Red Cross. “The compounding impacts affect people’s lives, health and livelihoods,” he told Al Jazeera, noting that these communities also struggle to receive the support they need. (Al Jazeera) Floods and storms accounted for the vast majority of displacements with 9.8 million and 9.5 million respectively, followed by droughts (491,000) and wildfires (435,000). Wet mass movements, such as landslides, led to at least 119,000 displacements, while erosion and extreme temperatures caused 7,000 and 4,700 displacements, respectively. The number of weather-related displacement incidents has risen sharply over the past 16 years, since the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) began tracking them in 2008. Floods, in particular, have seen a clear upward trend despite some fluctuations, rising from 272 weather-related incidents in 2015 to a peak of 1,710 incidents in 2023 – an increase of more than six times. Similarly, storm events, including hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons, have experienced a significant surge, growing more than seven times from 163 recorded incidents in 2015 to 1,186 in 2023. Combined, floods and storms were responsible for 77 percent of all weather-related incidents globally from 2008 to 2023. (Al Jazeera) Pushker Kharecha, deputy director of the Climate Science, Awareness, and Solutions programme at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, says human-induced climate change “has certainly played a significant role” in worsening temperature-related extremes. “It has also worsened floods, droughts, storms and extreme sea levels in most inhabited regions,” Kharecha told Al Jazeera. He warned that the “worsening of extremes” is expected to persist if we “miraculously achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 temperature target” – which aims to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century to reduce severe climate impacts. Displacements occurring worldwide Out of the 359 million weather-related global displacements recorded since 2008, nearly 80 percent were from the Asia and Asia Pacific regions, accounting for about 106 and 171 million respectively. China, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan were the top five countries with the most recorded internal displacements over the 16-year period, accounting for 67 percent of global displacements. According to the World Bank, over the past two decades, more than half of South Asia’s population – about 750 million people – have been affected by at least one natural disaster such as floods, droughts or cyclones. The region is projected to experience annual losses averaging $160bn by 2030 if current trends continue. (Al Jazeera) Overall, countries in the Global South, including large parts of Africa, Asia, Asia Pacific, MENA and Latin America, experienced five times (5.13) more displacements relative to their populations compared with countries in the Global North in 2023. Columbia University’s Kharecha called this phenomenon one of the major  ”global injustices” –  where the Global South has contributed the least to the problem but is suffering the most severe impacts, and will continue to bear the brunt of its effects. According to a New York Times analysis, 23 industrialised nations, overwhelmingly in Western Europe and North America, contributed to 50 percent of all the greenhouse gases that have contributed to global warming, released by fossil fuels and industry over the past 170 years. Kharecha explained that the Global South already contains the warmest regions on Earth, and hence even the relatively small increase in global temperature affected those regions more than colder regions. “Also, these countries are the most vulnerable to climate impacts as they generally have the fewest financial and/or technological resources to mitigate the problem,” he added. (Al Jazeera) Are COP members doing enough to tackle displacement? Alice Baillit, policy adviser at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, says addressing disaster displacement requires addressing “both its root causes, including vulnerabilities created by climate change, as well as the losses and damages it creates”. “Current pledges [at COP] are woefully inadequate, in part because they do not fully consider the true costs of displacement,” Baillit told Al Jazeera. Last week, more than 200 former leaders and climate experts in a letter said the UN-led COP summit was “no longer fit for purpose”, and requires a “fundamental overhaul”. Kharecha at Columbia University also expressed scepticism about what summits like COP can achieve. “Just look at any graph of CO2 emissions over time. They continue to grow unabated after decades of these meetings,” he said. “As long as the agreements are not legally binding, ‘commitments’