The meeting in Nairobi is the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, and governments, civil society groups, scientists and the private sector are attending.

“None of us live on an island. We live on planet Earth, and we are all connected,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, which is leading the process, told The Associated Press ahead of the talks. “The only way we can solve some of these problems is by talking together.”

At the meeting, member states discuss a raft of draft resolutions on a range of issues that the assembly adopts upon consensus. If a proposal is adopted, it sets the stage for countries to implement what’s been agreed on.

In the last round of talks in 2022, also in Nairobi, governments adopted 14 resolutions, including to create a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution globally. Andersen described it then as the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

For this year’s talks, countries have submitted 20 draft resolutions for discussion, including on how best to restore degraded lands, combat dust storms and reduce the environmental impact of metal and mineral mining.

But with countries having different priorities, it’s often hard to get consensus on the draft resolutions. However, Andersen said, there’s generally “a forward movement” on all draft resolutions for this year’s meeting, known as UNEA-6.

With this meeting’s focus on multilateralism, UNEP wants to build on past agreements it led between governments, such as the Minamata Convention to put controls on mercury and the Montreal Protocol to heal the hole in the ozone layer, Andersen said.

Björn Beeler, international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, thinks there’ll be slow progress on more complex issues such as financing around chemicals and waste.

Beeler also expects strong opposition on a draft resolution that wants to phase out the use of highly hazardous pesticides. The draft resolution, which was submitted by Ethiopia and is co-sponsored by Uruguay, aims to create a global alliance of U.N. bodies like UNEP, the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization.

“If this does go through, it would be very significant because it would be the first time ever to see global movement on highly hazardous pesticides,” said Beeler, who is attending the talks.

UNEP anticipates more than 70 government ministers and 3,000 delegates at the talks.

“What we should expect at UNEA-6 is decision makers looking into the horizon, being aware of what is it that’s coming to us that could potentially damage our planet, and taking preemptive action to prevent this,” said Andersen.

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Flights and intercity train traffic on which much of China’s commuters rely were delayed or canceled on Wednesday. Authorities in the provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shandong have issued warnings of travel hazards and other cold weather dangers.

Tens of thousands of workers with brooms and shovels have been deployed, assisted by snow plows in the hardest-hit regions.

The capital, Beijing, which hosted last year’s Winter Olympic Games, has seen temperatures around freezing.

No fatalities from the latest cold wave have been reported.

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A lorry carrying gas exploded in Embakasi district around 23:30 (20:30 GMT), “igniting a huge ball of fire”, a government spokesperson said.

Housing, businesses and cars were damaged with video showing a huge blaze raging close to blocks of flats.

Earlier, the government had said the blast happened at a gas plant. The cause is still being established.

Embakasi police chief Wesley Kimeto said that an adult and a child had died in the explosion, adding that the death toll may rise.

The fireball from the blast had “spread widely”, according to Mr Mwaura, and a flying gas cylinder had hit a garments and textiles warehouse, burning it down.

The blaze is also reported to have spread through several apartment complexes.

Witnesses told local media they had felt tremors immediately after the blast.

Many of the injured are said to have inhalation injuries and they include at least 25 children, the Standard newspaper reports.

One of those hurt, Boniface Sifuna, described what had happened for Reuters news agency: “I got burnt by an exploding gas canister as I was trying to escape,” he said.

“It exploded right in front of me and the impact knocked me down and the flames engulfed me. I am lucky that I was strong enough to get away.”

James Ngoge, who lives across the street from where the blast happened, told the AFP news agency that he was in his house at the time and “heard a huge explosion”.

“It felt like it was going to collapse. At first, we didn’t even know what was happening, it was like an earthquake.

“I have a business on the road that was completely destroyed.”

A journalist for the Nation newspaper living in the area said everyone had left their houses after the blast.

The Kenya Red Cross said on social media that crews had been “tirelessly battling the flames”.

Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the blast scene had been secured and a command centre had been set up to help co-ordinate rescue operations.

“Kenyans are hereby advised to keep off the cordoned area in order to allow the rescue mission to be carried out [with] minimal disruptions,” he added.

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Using an innovative technique called blue light intensity, scientists analyzed tree rings to reconstruct temperature variations and drought severity over centuries. The data revealed a stark increase in the frequency and severity of hot droughts, particularly in the past century.

The last two decades have seen the warmest temperatures in 500 years across Western North America, exacerbating soil moisture deficits and amplifying drought conditions. This rise in temperature has significantly contributed to the frequency and intensity of droughts, affecting regions historically prone to such events like the Great Plains and the Colorado River basin.

Furthermore, the study sheds light on the growing prevalence of compound warm and dry summers in the region, indicating a concerning long-term shift in climate extremes.

While dendrochronology has been used in the past to study climate variability, the introduction of blue light technology has revolutionized temperature reconstructions from tree rings, allowing researchers to delve deeper into the impacts of climate change.

These findings underscore the urgent need to address anthropogenic climate change and its role in accelerating these alarming trends.

One person survived, according to this aviation source with knowledge of the crash probe, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The survivor’s condition was not released.

The military and federal police responded to the crash in the Northwest Territories. Canadian Rangers on snowmobiles located the wreckage while search and rescue technicians parachuted down from a Hercules aircraft.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario said contact with the plane was lost shortly after it took off at about 8:50 am local time from Fort Smith, which is 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the regional capital Yellowknife.

The town’s hospital said it activated its mass casualty protocol while the Arctic territory’s chief coroner Garth Eggerberger said “there are fatalities,” without providing more details.

Northwestern Air, which operated the Jetstream twin turboprop airliner, said this was a charter flight carrying workers to a mine. It crashed 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) from the end of the runway.

All flights from Fort Smith have been grounded until Wednesday.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board deployed a team to investigate the accident.

The pre-dawn landslide buried 18 homes and sparked the evacuation of more than 200 people when it struck in Zhenxiong County, Yunnan province early Monday.

More than 24 hours since the disaster, state news agency Xinhua said rescue workers are now in a “race against time” to find those still missing, after a night of sub-zero temperatures.

“Search and rescue efforts persisted through the night,” firefighter Li Shenglong told Xinhua.

Twelve people have been confirmed dead, state broadcaster CCTV reported just after midday.

Wu Junyao, director of the natural resources and planning bureau of Zhaotong, told Xinhua that the disaster “resulted from a collapse in the steep cliff area atop the slope”.

Two hundred rescue workers have been dispatched to the scene as well as dozens of fire engines and other equipment.

The site is covered in thick snow and rescuers are “using all kinds of tools to search for survivors”, Xinhua reported.

Wu told Xinhua the rescuers are digging through collapsed debris of “100 meters in width, 60 meters in height, with an average thickness of around 6 meters”.

CCTV showed footage of rescue workers digging through twisted metal and concrete overnight in a bid to find survivors.

Other CCTV footage showed locals huddling for warmth around a fire in a shelter, eating instant noodles.

People from the surrounding area have chipped into to help with relief efforts, state media said.

“Our village is nearby,” Hong Jie, 38, told Xinhua.

“Our main focus is on distributing supplies, cooking, and delivering food to those in need.”

‘ALL-OUT EFFORTS’

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out” rescue efforts.

Landslides are common in Yunnan, a far-flung and largely impoverished region of China where steep mountain ranges butt against the Himalayan plateau.

Monday’s disaster occurred in a rural area surrounded by towering peaks dusted with snow, state media footage showed.

There was no immediate official explanation for what may have caused the landslide.

Efforts to establish what happened are underway, Xinhua reported.

China has experienced a string of natural disasters in recent months, some following extreme weather events such as sudden, heavy downpours.

Rainstorms last September in the southern region of Guangxi triggered a mountain landslide that killed at least seven people, according to media reports.

In August, heavy rains sparked a similar disaster near the northern city of Xi’an, killing more than 20 people.

“Rescue team found eight missing people, all of whom have no sign of life,” state media outlet CCTV reported.

The landslide hit the mountain village of Liangshui in Yunnan province shortly before dawn, when most residents were asleep. A total of 18 homes were buried, and more than 500 people evacuated, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Drone footage of the disaster site carried by local state media showed a broad slope of dark mud unleashed onto mountain terraces and village roofs covered in snow.

More than 300 rescue workers were deployed along with dozens of fire engines and earth-moving equipment, according to CCTV.

Footage aired on CCTV showed firefighters in orange jumpsuits climbing through the gray rubble of destroyed homes to search for survivors, against the backdrop of steep mountain ridges powdered with snow.

One man was pulled from the rubble shortly after 11 a.m. local time, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The area was hit by heavy snow on Sunday night, and although the snowfall has lightened since, the temperature still lingered below freezing Monday, CCTV said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local officials to quickly ramp up rescue efforts in a statement published by CCTV.

Xi also called on officials across China to be on high alert to avoid any major accidents as Chinese New Year celebrations approach, according to CCTV.

The remote mountains of Yunnan are prone to landslides, due to steep slopes and unstable soil.

Much of southern China, including Yunnan, is in the middle of a cold snap, with temperatures dropping near or below freezing, according to China’s Meteorological Administration.