"Our planet is broken," the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, will warn on Wednesday.

Humanity is waging what he will describe as a "suicidal" war on the natural world.

"Nature always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury," he will tell a BBC special event on the environment.

Mr Guterres wants to put tackling climate change at the heart of the UN's global mission.

In a speech entitled State of the Planet, he will announce that its "central objective" next year will be to build a global coalition around the need to reduce emissions to net zero.

Net zero refers to cutting greenhouse gas emissions as far as possible and balancing any further releases by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.

Mr Guterres will say that every country, city, financial institution and company "should adopt plans for a transition to net zero emissions by 2050". In his view, they will also need to take decisive action now to put themselves on the path towards achieving this vision.

The objective, says the UN secretary general, will be to cut global emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.


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PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has offered to be a witness in court for the lawsuit filed by several Gombak voters against their MP, Mohamed Azmin Ali.

In a Facebook post, Mahathir said the letter of demand filed by the plaintiffs had touched on the Sheraton Move amid the political turmoil in February and the formation of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

“I view the people’s bravery to question the credibility and integrity of an MP like Azmin as a process that matures the democratisation of the country.

“I am ready to offer myself as a witness in court if my statement is needed. I am ready to help,” the Langkawi MP said.


Mahathir said he himself had spoken about some of the matters raised by the plaintiffs in their demand letter, adding that the courts were the best forum to confirm the allegations brought up in the suit.

He said elected representatives need to understand that the people chose them to be their voice in Parliament and to lead them, not to grapple for power or to serve their own interests.

Ten Gombak voters filed a suit for deceit and breach of fiduciary duty against Azmin last week, wanting a declaration that the senior minister for economy, as trustee, owes them a fiduciary duty as an elected representative.

The plaintiffs also want a declaration that Azmin committed the tort of deceit against them and that he had violated his constitutional oath under Article 59(1) read together with the 6th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.


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