World leaders on Saturday called for a united response to the simmering impacts of climate change in an attempt to reverse the harm that has already befallen the planet.

On the occasion of World Environment Day, they underlined that the next 10 years will be crucial in controlling the damage caused by climate change.

A major event was held for the first time in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, marking the day in partnership with the UN Environment Program (UNEP)

Its theme was ecosystem restoration and resetting the relationship with nature.

The event also marked the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which aims to prevent, halt, and reverse ecosystems' degradation on "every continent and in every ocean."

On the first day of week-long World Environment Day celebrations, Prime Minister Imran Khan planted a sapling at Islamabad's Margalla Hills to mark the planting of 1 billion trees across the country.

The milestone is part of Khan's ambitious "10 Billion Tree Tsunami" project, which aims to restore the country's fast-depleting forest cover.

Pakistan is among the countries worst affected by climate change, having been regularly hit by devastating floods in recent years, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying swathes of agricultural land.

Khan urges support for vulnerable countries

Addressing the ceremony, Khan called on the developed world to support those countries vulnerable to climate change.

He observed that the international community as a whole has realized the adverse impacts of climate and ecosystem changes, which is a good sign.

However, he warned, if "serious and immediate" steps are not taken to counter these issues, the world would pay a "heavy price."

"It is a chance for the world to correct its course in terms of its treatment of nature," Khan said.

He said Pakistan has done more than any other country in the world to combat rising emissions in comparison to its economic means while regretting that the world's richest nations have not done enough to tackle the growing problem.

"We are responsible for less than one percent of global carbon emissions. Despite this, we decided to do whatever we can to fight global warming."

Pakistan, he added, has developed 15 protected areas across the country as models for conserving over 7,300 square kilometers of land, which will create over 5,500 green jobs.

Khan said his government is involving the local communities in its fight against climate change challenges by providing them employment in environmental projects.

Guterres called for global response

In his message, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a global response to mitigate the daunting challenges posed by climate change across the world.

"We have to control the damage that we have done to nature. The next 10 years is our last chance to contain the catastrophe," he said, referring to the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030.

The UN chief warned that the rising climate and ecosystem changes could also trigger a global water crisis in years to come.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in his message called for an "efficient" course of action from the international community to protect the environment for sustainable development of humanity as a whole.

Biodiversity and ecosystems are essential for mankind's survival and prosperity, he noted, adding that Beijing was committed to "defending" and "improving" global environmental governance.

China for its part, he went on to say, stands with the international community within the UN framework for a "green and beautiful world."

Hailing Islamabad's environmental initiatives, Xi said Pakistan and China would continue to cooperate with each other to tackle the climate change challenges.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also called for stepped-up efforts to counter the impacts of climate change.

Failure to seriously tackle climate change would be very costly for humanity, he observed.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Anderson and President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende also spoke on the occasion./aa

At least two people were killed and several others wounded in a bomb attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Saturday, an official said.

Abdifatah Hassan, a city police officer, told Anadolu Agency over the phone that the bomb exploded at a small but busy market in the Ex-control Afgoye neighborhood.

"We don't know what caused the bomb blast," Hassan said, "but we suspect that a suicide bomber wearing explosive vests blew himself up in the market, killing at least two people."

He added that security forces have reached the blast site and started an investigation.

Local media reported that eight people, mostly civilians, were wounded in the explosion and were rushed to hospitals for treatment.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, the al-Qaeda-affiliated group al-Shabaab has admitted responsibility for recent attacks in the Horn of Africa country./aa

“Israeli” forces have arrested around one million Palestinians since the 1967 Middle East war, according to a local NGO on Saturday.

“Around 17,000 women and girls and 50,000 children were among those detained,” the Commission on Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a statement.

The NGO said more than 54,000 administrative detention orders were recorded since 1967.

The policy of administrative detention allows “Israeli” authorities to extend the detention of a prisoner without charge or trial.

“A total of 226 detainees have died inside “Israeli” prisons since 1967,” it added.

The NGO said all those detained experienced "some form of physical or psychological torture, moral abuse, and cruel treatment”.

An estimated 4,500 Palestinians are believed to be held in “Israeli” prisons, including 41 women, 140 minors, and 440 administrative detainees, according to data compiled by organizations on the rights of prisoners.

During the 1967 Middle East war, “Israel” occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Syria’s Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which was later returned to Egypt under the country’s 1979 peace deal with “Israel”./aa

Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday began demolition of a church built by Serbs at the garden of a Muslim Bosnian woman.

Fata Orlovic, a 79-year-old Bosnian woman, has been struggling for years to get removed the illegally built Orthodox church in her garden by the Serbs during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995.

Orlovic's lawyer, Rusmir Karkin, announced on social media that construction equipment is on the site and that the work to remove the church started this morning.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2019 ruled to demolish the unauthorized church.

The ECHR said the order should be implemented within three months. However, the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina waited until June 2021.

Orlovic lived with her husband and seven children in Konjevic Polje near Srebrenica before losing 22 relatives, including her husband Sacir, during the war.

She lived as a refugee in different parts of the country and did not leave her native land despite her children living in the US insisting on living with them.

After the war, she returned to her village in 1999 and witnessed a church built in her garden.

Orlovic then filed a lawsuit for the removal of the church and rejected the money offered to her to withdraw it.

In 2010, she won the 11-year legal battle, but the court's decision was never implemented.

The Bijeljina Court had ruled that the church should be demolished, but the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of the country, suspended the verdict./aa

Five Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were killed on Saturday in an attack by the PKK terror group in Iraq's northern Dohuk province, according to a Kurdish deputy minister.

The fatalities occurred in an ambush set by PKK terrorists in Amadiya district in the province, Serbest Lezgin, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) deputy minister of Peshmerga affairs, said in a statement.

The number of injured Peshmerga soldiers was later updated to seven from four.

KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani denounced the PKK terrorist attack against the Peshmerga troops, calling for "standing together against this aggression."

"I condemn in the strongest terms the PKK's attack on the Peshmerga today. My thoughts are with the families of the five martyred and the injured." Barzani wrote on Twitter.

For its part, the Iraqi army also condemned the "coward terror attack" in a separate statement.

Spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool said an investigation had been launched into the attack, adding that those threatening the lives and safety of Iraqis would be punished.

Turkey's Consulate General in Erbil condemned the attack on Twitter and expressed sorrow for the reported losses.

"The PKK terrorist organization is the common enemy of both Turkey, Iraq, and the KRG," it said, adding that it stood with KRG authorities in the fight against the terror threat.

The PKK attack was also condemned by the British Consul-General in Erbil, James Thornton.

"I condemn the PKK attack on the Peshmerga today that left five dead and several injured, and I send my condolences to the families of the victims," the British envoy tweeted.

The PKK takes the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq as its stronghold and is active in many cities and towns. It occupies a large number of villages in the region and launches attacks on Turkey's interior./aa

Turkey's gas discoveries in the Black Sea will reduce the country's annual gas import bill by $6 billion with a 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) production per year, the head of the Natural Gas Distribution Companies Association of Turkey (GAZBIR) said on Friday.

The country continued drilling testing wells after the Fatih drillship's giant discovery of 405 bcm in the Tuna-1 well located in the Sakarya gas field, around 170 kilometers off the Black Sea last year.

It was the largest offshore gas discovery in the world last year while it was the second-largest in overall discoveries.

"The amount of 10 biggest gas discoveries in the world last year was about 3.2 trillion cubic meters," Yasar Arslan told Anadolu Agency, adding that the United Arab Emirates found the biggest discovery reaching 2.3 trillion cubic meters while Russia discovered 220 bcm.

After Turkey's 405 bcm gas discovery in the Black Sea, Fatih drilled the Turkali-1 and Turkali-2 testing wells along with the Amasra-1 well, which is an exploration well located in the northern part of the Sakarya gas field.

Fatih is currently drilling the testing well of Turkali-3 while another drillship, Kanuni, is carrying out completion tests in the Turkali-2 well.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Friday that the Fatih drillship discovered 135 bcm in the Amasra-1 well, which increases Turkey's gas discoveries in the Black Sea up to 540 bcm.

"Production of 15 bcm from Tuna-1 discovery could meet 30% of Turkey's annual gas need which was 48.2 bcm in 2020. It would also meet all of the household need for 25 years," Arslan noted, adding that the new gas find is sufficient enough to meet Turkey's total gas need for three years.

"The new discovery in the Amasra-1 well at the water depth of 1,938 meters and 3,850 meters total depth, will also be included in the Sakarya Gas Field Development Project. The project includes the construction of seabed gas production systems, a gas processing center within the Filyos industrial zone, and pipelines to connect those units," Turkish Petroleum (TPAO), Turkey's national oil company, said in a statement on the new gas find.

Melih Han Bilgin, chairman and CEO of TPAO, said the new discovery in the "world-class" western Black Sea basin, the Sakarya gas field, has a potential to support additional developments.

Production to fractionally increase

The first gas production from the Sakarya gas field is planned for 2023. As a start, the daily gas production from the field will be around 10 million cubic meters which corresponds to 3.5 bcm annually and the production will increase gradually to its plateau level.

He said that the maximum production potential in the Black Sea could increase up to 20 bcm per year with the new discovery.

"In total with Tuna-1 and Amasra-1 discoveries, Turkey's natural gas import bill could reduce by $5-6 billion when production rises to the plateau level of 20 bcm," Arslan said.

Around 155 kilometers of pipeline will be built underneath the sea till Filyos onshore in Zonguldak, a port city in the Black Sea.

Turkish Petroleum will invest 780 million Turkish lira only in the production and transmission facilities in relation to the field although the overall investment volume in the Sakarya gas field is not publicly announced.

The pipeline will carry the natural gas that will be produced underneath the sea to the gas processing facility of which ground breaking ceremony was held Friday in Filyos industrial zone.

Following the processing, the gas will flow into Turkey's gas distribution system.

Discoveries to trigger investments in Turkey's gas sector

Palzor Shenga, vice president for upstream research and analysis at Norway-based Rystad Energy, said the Kanuni drillship is scheduled to conduct well testing in Amasra-1 well hence providing some insight on the productivity of the reservoir encountered.

"Nevertheless, if proven, in combination to the additional resource from future discoveries, it will trigger significant investments in Turkey’s gas sector. The development of the deep-water field will help to meet Turkey’s increasing demand for natural gas," Shenga said.

Turkey is currently dependent on gas imports to meet its demand as domestic production meets 1% of the country's gas need.

"The gas is mainly imported from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan. Rystad Energy also estimates the breakeven price for these fields to be between $3.00 and $3.50 per MMBtu, competitively better than the imported gas. Thus, will aid in substantial reduction to the country’s import costs," Shenga stated.

"Furthermore, although Turkey’s path towards energy self-sufficiency remains very long and uncertain, the country’s newfound hope that low-cost discoveries are feasible will pave the way for further exploration and development programs," he said, pointing out that it is an exciting time for the Black Sea, a frontier basin which has for long not delivered to its expected potential./aa

India recorded 3,380 new coronavirus linked deaths on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry.

It said the country reported more than 120,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 28.69 million. The death toll stands at 344,082.

A statement by the Ministry noted that the cases are the "lowest in 58 days."

After India witnessed an exponential rise in daily infections and deaths last month, there has been a decline in the cases and deaths in many states.

Local broadcaster, NDTV, citing a government study, reported Friday that the variant which was first found in India, known as the Delta strain, is "highly infectious and fast-spreading and drove the savage second surge of COVID-19" in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has faced criticism for failing to handle the second wave.

Now, the country is facing an acute shortage of vaccination.

Government statistics show more than 220 million doses have been administered.

India’s signed a deal on Thursday with domestic vaccine maker Biological-E for 300 million doses./aa

The US ambassador to the UN on Friday said non-governmental organizations have told her that refugees will die in case of the closure of the last remaining humanitarian border crossing between Turkey and Syria.

Speaking to reporters in the capital Ankara, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Cilvegozu is the only open border gate in northwestern Syria, adding: “ If this border crossing is closed, it will cause senseless cruelty.”

She was speaking about her visit Thursday to Turkey’s southernmost province of Hatay on Syrian border.

"Maintaining humanitarian cross-border access into Syria is one place where our values are completely aligned. And I have seen firsthand how Turkey is generously receiving refugees and working to integrate them effectively into the economy and the country," she said.

Noting that Turkey has been "extraordinarily generous and hospitable to refugees," the US envoy said: "The Turkish Government provides a way for refugees to integrate. They were very proud of the fact that even on the other side of the border, they were providing housing for refugees."

Underlining that $240 million in additional humanitarian funding announced on Thursday is of crucial importance for Syrians, the US envoy said there is no alternative to border crossings in delivering humanitarian aid.

"The funding we announced yesterday is an important step and will do tremendous good, but there is no alternative to cross-border aid. The cruelty of closing the final humanitarian border crossing into Syria would be incalculable," she noted.

“So, it is my intention to do everything possible in New York to work with colleagues on the [UN] Security Council to ensure that the border remains open,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding she is also pushing for the reopening of the two borders that were closed last year.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia. The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings, which have frequently been violated by the regime and its allies./aa