President Joe Biden has said Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s failure to turn up to the COP26 climate summit is a “big mistake”.
Addressing reporters at the end of the second day of the climate conference in Glasgow, the president of the United States said China has “walked away” on the biggest issue of our time.
The US president also suggested that “China has lost influence” in not accepting the invitation to attend the event.
“America showed up and decided to lead,” he added.
“By showing up, I think we had a profound impact on the way, I think, the rest of the world is looking at the United States and its leadership,” he told the news conference in Glasgow.
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“I think it has been a mistake, quite frankly, with respect to China, not showing up.
“They have the lost the ability to influence people around the world and here in Cop. The same way I would argue with Russia.”
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The US president also criticised Russia for not committing to climate goals.
Asked why the US should set such ambitious targets when nations such as Russia and China do not, he told reporters: “Because we want to be able to breathe.”
President Biden urged world leaders to ensure it is “a decisive decade of action” when it comes to tackling global warming, stressing that it is “not just a moral imperative, it’s an economic imperative as well”.
He told reporters that he had not seen any other two day period with as much progress on the issue of climate change as COP26 so far.
The US president added that the conference represents “an opportunity” for great progress, adding that there is “a lot more to do”.
“We have to keep accelerating our progress,” he said.
“For our part, the United States is going to keep raising the ambition and delivering a goal that we are reducing US emissions by 50% from the 2005 level by 2030.”
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson dismissed concerns that Chinese President Xi’s absence from the summit has hampered its chance of success, saying it “doesn’t mean the Chinese are not engaging”.
Mr Johnson said China has already made “a substantial commitment” in pledging to move to net zero by 2060 or before, but added that more “commitments” are needed.
“China has fantastic power to make change in the way it runs its economy, they’ve committed to no new financing of overseas coal, that’s a big change already, you’re starting to see the impact of that Chinese decision to stop financing coal overseas in the whole Asia Pacific region already,” he said.
It’s 5.30am, but the car park outside a laundrette in south central Los Angeles is already bustling.
A woman is setting up a stand selling tacos on the pavement and the sun is beginning to rise behind the palm trees.
A group of seven women and two men are gathered in a circle, most wearing khaki green t-shirts.
The leader, a man named Francisco “Chavo” Romero, begins by asking how everyone is feeling. “Angry,” a few of them respond. “Proud of the community for pushing back,” says another.
Ron, a high school history teacher, issues a rallying cry. “This is like Vietnam,” he says. “We’re taking losses, but in the end we’re going to win. It’s a war.”
Image: Francisco ‘Chavo’ Romero leads a volunteer group, attempting to warn people ahead of ICE raids
This is what the resistance against Donald Trump’s immigration policy looks like here. In the past month, immigration and customs enforcement agents – known as ICE – have intensified their raids on homes and workplaces across Los Angeles.
Since the beginning of June, nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The previous monthly high was just over 850 arrests in May this year.
Image: Police use tear gas against protesters, angry at a recent immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California. Pic: AP
Videos have circulated online of people being tackled to the ground in the car park of DIY shops, in car washes and outside homes. The videos have prompted outrage, protests and a fightback.
“Chavo” and Ron belong to a group of organised volunteers called Union del Barrio. Every morning, a group of them meet, mostly in areas which have high immigrant populations.
The day I meet them, they’re in an area of LA which is heavily Latino. Armed with walkie talkies to communicate with each other, megaphones to warn the community and leaflets to raise awareness they set out in cars in different directions.
Image: A volunteer from Union del Barrio shows Sky’s Martha Kelner how they try to stay one step ahead of ICE agents
They’re looking for cars used by ICE agents to monitor “targets”.
“That vehicle looks a little suspicious,” says Ron, pointing out a white SUV with blacked-out windows, “but there’s nobody in it”.
An elderly Latino man is standing on a street corner, cutting fruit to sell at his stall. “He’s the exact target that they’re looking for,” Ron says. “That’s what they’re doing now. The low-hanging fruit, the easy victim. And so that is proving to be more successful for their quotas.”
Image: This man, selling fruit on a street corner in LA, is a potential target of immigration agents
In the end, it turns out to be a quiet morning in this part of LA, no brewing immigration operations. But elsewhere in the city, dawn raids are happening.
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
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In June, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protestors demonstrating against immigration raids
Maria’s husband Javier was one of those arrested in LA. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19 and is now 58.
The couple have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. But Javier’s work permit expired two years ago, according to Maria and so he was living here illegally.
Image: Maria’s husband Javier was arrested after his work permit expired
She shows me a video taken last month when Javier was at work at a car wash in Pomona, an area of LA. He is being handcuffed and arrested by armed and masked ICE agents, forced into a car. He is now being held at a detention centre two hours away.
“I know they’re doing their job,” she says, “but it’s like, ‘you don’t have to do it like that.’ Getting them and, you know, forcing people and pushing them down on the ground. They’re not animals.”
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US troops accused of ‘political stunt’ after park raid
Maria wipes away tears as she explains the impact of his absence for the past four weeks. “It’s been so hard without him,” she says. “You feel alone when you get used to somebody and he’s not there any more. We’ve never been apart for as long as this.”
The family have a lawyer and is appealing for him to remain in the US, but Maria fears he will be sent back to Mexico or even a third country.
Image: Maria fears her husband, who has lived in the US for nearly 40 years, will be sent back to Mexico
“I don’t know what to say to my grandkids because the oldest one, who is five was very attached to his papas, as he calls him. And he’s asking me, ‘When is papa coming home?’ and I don’t know what to say. He’s not a criminal.”
The fear in immigrant communities can be measured by the empty restaurant booths and streets that are far quieter than usual.
Image: People in LA are being asked to report sightings of ICE officials so others can be warned
I meet Soledad at the Mexican restaurant she owns in Hollywood. When I arrive, she’s watching the local news on the TV as yet another raid unfolds at a nearby farm.
She’s shaking her head as ICE agents face off with protesters and military helicopters hover overhead. “I am scared. I am very scared,” she says.
All of her eight employees are undocumented, and four of them are too scared to come into work, she says, in case they get arrested. The process to get papers, she says, is too long and too expensive.
Image: Soledad, who owns a Mexican restaurant, plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive
“They call me and tell me they are too afraid to come in because immigration is around,” she says.
“I have to work double shifts to be able to make up for their hours, and yes, I am very desperate, and sometimes I cry… We have no sales, and no money to pay their wages.”
There is just one woman eating fajitas at a booth, where there would usually be a lunchtime rush. People are chilled by the raids.
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Soledad says she plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive.
“I’ve told them, get inside the fridge, hide behind the stove, climb up where we have a space to store boxes, do not run because they will hunt you down.”
The White House says they’re protecting the country from criminals. ICE agents have been shot at while carrying out operations, their work becoming more dangerous by the day.
The tension here is ratcheting up. Deportation numbers are rising too. But the order from Donald Trump is to arrest even more people living here illegally.
Two people are dead after multiple people were injured in shootings in Kentucky, the state’s governor has said.
Andy Beshear said the suspect had also been killed following the shooting at Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington.
A state trooper was earlier shot at Blue Grass Airport in Fayette County on Sunday morning, the Lexington Herald-Leader local newspaper reports.
Mr Beshear has said a state trooper “from the initial stop” and people who were injured in the church shooting are “being treated at a nearby hospital”.
The extent of the injuries is not immediately known.
State troopers and the Lexington Police Department had caught up with the suspect at the church following the shooting in Fayette County, according to Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
Mr Beshear said: “Please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence, and let’s give thanks for the swift response by the Lexington Police Department and Kentucky State Police.”
The Blue Grass Airport posted on X at 1pm local time (6pm UK time) that a law enforcement investigation was impacting a portion of an airport road, but that all flights and operations were now proceeding normally.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.