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US joins COP28 push to end fossil fuels but keeps on pumping

LOS ANGELES – Bronny James, the 19-year-old son of NBA superstar LeBron James, made his collegiate basketball debut Sunday (Monday Manila time), less than five months after suffering cardiac arrest during practice.

With his famous father sitting courtside and catching the action on his cellphone, Bronny James came off the bench in the first half of the University of Southern California’s 84-79 overtime loss to Long Beach State.

James played 16 minutes, scoring four points with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.

He was given medical approval to return to basketball activities in November and returned to training with his USC teammates shortly thereafter.

James, a prized high school prospect closely scrutinized because of his father, opted to play for USC in May.

But in a July workout he collapsed and was hospitalized for three days. His family revealed in August that he had been diagnosed with and treated for a congenital heart defect.

The Galen Center in downtown Los Angeles was packed, LeBron James making his entrance to courtside seats accompanied by daughter Zhuri and son Bryce, who plays basketball for Sierra Canyon high school.

Bronny James got a standing ova tion when he entered the game with 12:58 remaining in the first half. He missed his only shot in the first half but drew a roar with a chase-down block that evoked the moves of his famous father.

He scored his first po ints with a second-half three-pointer that again had fans, including his dad, on their feet.

On Thursday, James said his son’s return to the court meant “everything and more.

“I can’t wait to see him run out with his teammates,” James said. “And then once he checks into t he game, whenever that case may be, it’s going to be a big moment for our family.

“It’s a big milestone for our family, for sure, and it’s another step for him on his journey in his basketball career.”

Dwyane Wade, who teamed with LeBron James to win two NBA titles in Miami, noted the moment on the X social media platform.

“Watching Bronny walk out on that court gave me chills…” Wade posted. “Welcome back to the game you love Bronny”

Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns also offered a shout-out posting “Welcome back Bronny”.

DUBAI, United Arab of Emirates — The United States is helping lead the charge at UN climate talks to phase out fossil fuels, but the superpower’s status as the world’s top oil producer is already casting doubt on its credibility.

Often cast by environmentalists as a laggard or even villain in climate diplomacy, especially under Republican presidents, the United States has startled some veteran observers at the COP28 summit by supporting calls to end extraction of oil, gas and coal, with major oil exporter Saudi Arabia the most vocal opponent.

The cooperative approach marks a new legacy-making effort by US climate envoy John Kerry, a former secretary of state, senator and presidential contender who turns 80 on Monday in the heat of negotiations.

Recalling his role in the 2015 Paris accord, which set an ambition of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Kerry said he felt a sense of “mission and urgency” in Dubai following a slew of record temperatures and disasters.

US President Joe Biden has poured money into climate projects, with his signature legislative package, the $1.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act, funding major investment in electric cars, power grid upgrades and other green areas.

But the United States, after years of expansion driven by new technologies, is also by far the world’s largest oil producer, pumping last year an average of 20 million barrels a day, or 21 percent of the global total, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

“We ourselves are drunk on oil and natural gas that the United States exports every single day,” Senator Ed Markey, a member of Biden’s Democratic Party elected to Kerry’s former seat, told reporters at COP28.

“Our companies don’t want to stop doing that either,” he said, warning the United States was in little position to “teach temperance”.

Biden has kept up the pace of his climate-sceptic predecessor Donald Trump in approving drilling on public lands, in part citing a need to make up for shortfalls after Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

“While it’s talking about a phase-out here, we also need the Biden administration to do more at home,” said Allie Rosenbluth of the advocacy group Oil Change International.

She also said the administration was betting on “technologies that we know don’t work and that are prohibitively expensive” — a reference to the heavy investment in carbon capture, which aims to reduce emissions from fossil fuels.

Draft texts at COP28 talk of reducing “unabated” emissions from fossil fuels — code for still allowing oil, gas and coal but trying to reduce their impact.

Still, some environmentalists were pleasantly surprised that the United States appeared to be going along with strong language on ending fossil fuel extraction.

“There is a tangible shift that we’ve seen in the US foreign policy on climate where they are moving away from reliance on carbon capture and storage and other technologies and pure market mechanisms to address the climate emergency,” said Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity.

There is one elephant in the room at COP28 — US elections are less than a year away, with Trump seeking to return to the White House.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from oil- and gas-producing Alaska, acknowledged the climate effects of fossil fuels but questioned, especially in remote areas, “this approach that we can just keep it in the ground.”

“To move to a phase-out, I think, does not recognise the transition reality that we are currently facing,” said Murkowski, the only Republican in the US Senate delegation at COP28.

But Trump and many other hardline Republicans take a more confrontational approach and deny the scientific consensus on climate change.

Kerry argued that presidential leadership will matter less as US companies and state and local governments had already committed to go green.

“There was a time when that might have made all the difference, but not now,” Kerry said.

“Even when Donald Trump was president, 75 percent of the new electricity in the United States came from renewables. I assume he didn’t know it — he would have tried to stop it.”

Many Republicans also adamantly oppose climate assistance — a key part of UN-backed talks with wealthy countries promising to help hardest-hit nations.

Vice President Kamala Harris, visiting COP28, promised $3 billion to a Green Climate Fund.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons, however, voiced optimism on aid and noted that many of Biden’s climate investments are going to parts of the United States that usually vote Republican.

“Am I suggesting that were the former president to be our next president that everything would be fine? Not at all,” Coons said.

“But I am saying that there is broad enough and deep enough support for continuing investments to combat climate change.”

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