- Orlando beat Atlanta in MLS playoffs to set up Red Bulls clash
- American McNealy takes first PGA title with closing birdie
- Sampaoli beaten on Rennes debut as angry fans disrupt Nantes loss
- Chiefs edge Panthers, Lions rip Colts as Dallas stuns Washington
- Uruguayans vote in tight race for president
- Thailand's Jeeno wins LPGA Tour Championship
- 'Crucial week': make-or-break plastic pollution treaty talks begin
- Israel, Hezbollah in heavy exchanges of fire despite EU ceasefire call
- Amorim predicts Man Utd pain as he faces up to huge task
- Basel backs splashing the cash to host Eurovision
- Petrol industry embraces plastics while navigating energy shift
- Italy Davis Cup winner Sinner 'heartbroken' over doping accusations
- Romania PM fends off far-right challenge in presidential first round
- Japan coach Jones abused by 'some clown' on Twickenham return
- Springbok Du Toit named World Player of the Year for second time
- Iran says will hold nuclear talks with France, Germany, UK on Friday
- Mbappe on target as Real Madrid cruise to Leganes win
- Sampaoli beaten on Rennes debut as fans disrupt Nantes loss
- Israel records 250 launches from Lebanon as Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv, south
- Australia coach Schmidt still positive about Lions after Scotland loss
- Man Utd 'confused' and 'afraid' as Ipswich hold Amorim to debut draw
- Sinner completes year to remember as Italy retain Davis Cup
- Climate finance's 'new era' shows new political realities
- Lukaku keeps Napoli top of Serie A with Roma winner
- Man Utd held by Ipswich in Amorim's first match in charge
- 'Gladiator II', 'Wicked' battle for N. American box office honors
- England thrash Japan 59-14 to snap five-match losing streak
- S.Africa's Breyten Breytenbach, writer and anti-apartheid activist
- Concern as climate talks stalls on fossil fuels pledge
- Breyten Breytenbach, writer who challenged apartheid, dies at 85
- Tuipulotu try helps Scotland end Australia's bid for Grand Slam
- Truce called after 82 killed in Pakistan sectarian clashes
- Salah wants Liverpool to pile on misery for Man City after sinking Saints
- Berrettini takes Italy to brink of Davis Cup defence
- Lille condemn Sampaoli to defeat on Rennes debut
- Basel backs splashing the bucks to host Eurovision
- Leicester sack manager Steve Cooper
- IPL auction records tumble as Pant, Iyer break $3 mn mark
- Salah sends Liverpool eight points clear after Southampton scare
- Key Trump pick calls for end to escalation in Ukraine
- Tuipulotu try helps Scotland end Australia's bid for a Grand Slam
- Davis Cup organisers hit back at critics of Nadal retirement ceremony
- Noel in a 'league of his own' as he wins Gurgl slalom
- A dip or deeper decline? Guardiola seeks response to Man City slump
- Germany goes nuts for viral pistachio chocolate
- EU urges immediate halt to Israel-Hezbollah war
- Far right targets breakthrough in Romania presidential vote
- Basel votes to stump up bucks to host Eurovision
- Ukraine shows fragments of new Russian missile after 'Oreshnik' strike
- IPL auction records tumble as Pant and Iyer snapped up
Green policies can be vote winners, London mayor says
Green policies can win votes, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Thursday, after winning a record third term despite the war he has waged on polluting vehicles.
"This year, more than half the world's population will be voting, whether it's the USA, whether it's India, whether it's the UK," Khan told AFP on the sidelines of a three-day climate change conference at the Vatican.
"I think the results (in London) two weeks ago show that green policies are popular," he said.
The 53-year-old won London's May 2 mayoral race by a wide margin despite anger in some quarters over the expansion last year of an Ultra-Low Emission Zone into the largest pollution-charging scheme in the world.
Khan said the key was explaining to voters that green policies -- such as targeting polluting cars or inefficient homes -- "are also policies that tackle social injustice, racial injustice and health inequalities as well".
His election shows that "rather than backing down when it comes to green policies, you should double down", he added.
Khan is the co-chair of C40 Cities, a global network of nearly 100 mayors dedicated to fighting climate change.
He said 75 percent of C40 cities were "going faster when it comes to reducing emissions than our national governments".
The mayor, who credits an adult diagnosis of asthma for fuelling his pollution fight, said London now has the "world's biggest clean air zone".
He also said his administration has planted over half a million trees, increased fourfold the amount of cycling in the capital city and aims to have a fully electric bus network by 2030.
The annual UN climate meetings known as Conferences of the Parties (COP) should not just work with national governments "but also cities, mayors, governors, and states, because we can be the drivers for change", he added.
- Adapt or die -
Khan was one of several mayors and governors from across the world addressed Thursday by Pope Francis, who has made protecting the environment one of the major themes of his papacy.
"The effects of climate change loom over every aspect of our lives, threatening water, air, food and energy systems," the 87-year-old pontiff told the conference.
"The refusal to act quickly to protect the most vulnerable who are exposed to climate change caused by human activity is a serious offence," he said, blaming "the greedy pursuit of short-term gains by polluting industries" as well as fake news.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, another conference speaker, echoed the pope's message, saying that "the polluted heart of the climate crisis are these fossil fuel companies that have been lying to us".
"They've known the science. They've denied the science. We have the tools, we have the technology, we have the capacity to address this issue at a global level, and they've been fighting every single advancement," he said.
The Pontifical Academies of Science, the Vatican institution which organised the summit, was set to adopt a climate resilience protocol co-signed by all those present.
"We've got to make sure we give people hope," Khan said.
But he added: "We've got to adapt or die."
M.Odermatt--BTB