- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
COP28: Trying to save the planet in 'Disneyworld' crowds
COP28 in Dubai is the biggest UN climate summit ever. But the victims of its success are the thousands of delegates, observers and lobbyists who have to wait in long winding queues every day at the entry to the giant site on the edge of the desert.
Even five days in, delegates are still running from the metro to try to lessen the wait at the security gate.
A staggering 88,000 people are accredited to COP28, with another 400,000 registered to visit the "green zone" around it in the old Dubai 2020 Expo site.
The worst was the weekend, when more than 100 world leaders flew into the United Arab Emirates with their entourages to add even more to a crowded programme.
It "was horrible yesterday", said Natalia Cauvi, a member of the Peruvian delegation. "You arrive at the venue" -- where the future of the planet is being negotiated -- "very tired", she complained.
Ecuadorian Johnson Cerda of Conservation International, a veteran of 21 COPs, was equally frustrated. "We missed one meeting in the morning."
- 'It's too big' -
"It's too big, there's too much competing information, it's like Disneyland," said another delegate called Kirsten who was racing to be on time for a meeting.
The good thing, however, is that there are more NGOs and observers than ever. UN Climate has accredited 600 new organisations since last year.
"We started with 50, today here we have 400 indigenous representatives in this COP," said Cerda.
"We are key stakeholders, we bring our knowledge," he insisted.
Dan Bondi, another COP veteran and a member of the UAE delegation, sang the praises of the organisational skills of the Emirati hosts. "We thought 25,000 was a lot of people in Copenhagen in 2009. Again last year at Sharm El-Sheikh we thought 50,000 was a lot."
Bondi was too diplomatic to say, but even water was sometimes scarce at the Egyptian resort. No such problems in Dubai -- and there's plenty of coffee, even if it costs 20 dirhams (five euros, $5.45) a cup.
- 'It was more intimate' -
At the last count on Sunday evening, more than 110,000 badges have been issued for the "blue zone" run by the UN where the actual talks take place, including more than 23,000 technical, security and other event staff.
Around half of those people were physically on site on Sunday afternoon, the UN's unflappable media coordinator Alexander Saier pointed out to AFP early Monday.
Saier said there are a few reasons for COP's enormous expansion. "There has never been such interest" in the climate crisis; Dubai is well linked and its 2020 Expo site is big enough to take the crowds.
While there are quotas for NGOs, the media and professional organisations, the real reason for COP's supersizing is the national delegations. They account for more than 50,000 people this year -- 61 percent of the 88,445 total.
Many have more than 500 people -- with more than 1,000 sent by China and Nigeria -- and 3,000 from Brazil. But the Emirati delegation tops even that at 4,000-strong.
"It used to be so much more intimate," said Saier, with more than a little nostalgia for his first COP in the quiet German town of Bonn in 1999.
"The bubble was a lot smaller."
M.A.Colin--AMWN