Afghanistan attends U.N. climate talks for first time since Taliban return to power

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — For the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan on Monday sent a delegation to the United Nations climate talks in a bid to garner help in dealing with global warming.

Matuil Haq Khalis, who's head of the country’s environment protection agency, told The Associated Press that Afghanistan needs international support to deal with extreme weather like erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and flash floods.

“All the countries must join hands and tackle the problem of climate change,” said Khalis, speaking through a translator at the talks, taking place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Afghanistan has been hard hit by climate change, with a recent assessment by climate experts ranking it the sixth most climate vulnerable country in the world.

In March, northern Afghanistan experienced heavy rains resulting in flash floods, killing over 300 people. Climate scientists have found that extreme rainfall has gotten 25% heavier over the last 40 years in the country.

Khalis said Afghanistan has prepared national action plans to deal with climate change and will be updating its climate goals within the next few months. He said the country has great potential for wind and solar power but needs international to develop it.

He added that the Afghan delegation was grateful to the Azerbaijani government for inviting them. The delegation will have an observer status at the talks, as the Taliban do not have official recognition as the government of Afghanistan.

Joanna Depledge, a climate historian at the University of Cambridge in England, said Afghanistan should be able to attend.

“By virtue of being a global forum, there are a whole host of politically unsavoury states with all kinds of appalling records of one sort or another that attend. Where would we draw the line?” she said.

Responding to a question about the U.N. assessment that women are more vulnerable than men to climate impacts, Khalis said that “climate change impact doesn't have any boundaries, it can have its impact on women, children, men, plants or animals, so it requires collective work to tackle this issue.”

Khalis said he has requested bilateral talks with a range of countries, including the United States and would be happy to sit down with them if the request is accepted.

“We were not part of the last three conferences ... but we are happy that this time we are here and we will be able to deliver the message of Afghan people with the international community,” said Khalis.

Associated Press journalists Olivia Zhang, Peter Dejong, Aleksandar Furtula, Seth Borenstein and Joshua A. Bickel contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Matiul Haq Khalis, head of the National Environmental Protection Agency from Afghanistan, speaks to members of the media at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Matiul Haq Khalis, head of the National Environmental Protection Agency from Afghanistan, speaks to members of the media at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

NEW YORK (AP) — An arbitrator upheld five-year suspensions of the chief executives of Bad Bunny’s sports representation firm for making improper inducements to players and cut the ban of the company's only certified baseball agent to three years.

Ruth M. Moscovitch issued the ruling Oct. 30 in a case involving Noah Assad, Jonathan Miranda and William Arroyo of Rimas Sports. The ruling become public Tuesday when the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a petition to confirm the 80-page decision in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The union issued a notice of discipline on April 10 revoking Arroyo's agent certification and denying certification to Assad and Miranda, citing a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. It barred them from reapplying for five years and prohibited certified agents from associating with any of the three or their affiliated companies. Assad, Miranda and Arroyo then appealed the decision, and Moscovitch was jointly appointed as the arbitrator on June 17.

Moscovitch said the union presented unchallenged evidence of “use of non-certified personnel to talk with and recruit players; use of uncertified staff to negotiate terms of players’ employment; giving things of value — concert tickets, gifts, money — to non-client players; providing loans, money, or other things of value to non-clients as inducements; providing or facilitating loans without seeking prior approval or reporting the loans.”

“I find MLBPA has met its burden to prove the alleged violations of regulations with substantial evidence on the record as a whole,” she wrote. “There can be no doubt that these are serious violations, both in the number of violations and the range of misconduct. As MLBPA executive director Anthony Clark testified, he has never seen so many violations of so many different regulations over a significant period of time.”

María de Lourdes Martínez, a spokeswoman for Rimas Sports, said she was checking to see whether the company had any comment on the decision. Arroyo did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

Moscovitch held four in-person hearings from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 and three on video from Oct. 10-16.

“While these kinds of gifts are standard in the entertainment business, under the MLBPA regulations, agents and agencies simply are not permitted to give them to non-clients,” she said.

Arroyo's clients included Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and teammate Ronny Mauricio.

“While it is true, as MLBPA alleges, that Mr. Arroyo violated the rules by not supervising uncertified personnel as they recruited players, he was put in that position by his employers,” Moscovitch wrote. “The regulations hold him vicariously liable for the actions of uncertified personnel at the agency. The reality is that he was put in an impossible position: the regulations impose on him supervisory authority over all of the uncertified operatives at Rimas, but in reality, he was their underling, with no authority over anyone.”

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FILE - Bad Bunny appears in the press room at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)