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John Healey said that the Government’s “interest” in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is “that they live up to their promises to protect” rights, when he spoke to reporters after a Cobra meeting on Thursday. HTS is banned in the UK because of its past association with al Qaida, the terrorist organisation once led by Osama bin Laden. But its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, cut ties with al Qaida years ago and has sought to present his group as a more moderate and inclusive organisation, leading some to suggest the group should no longer be proscribed. When asked whether the Government was considering the status of the group, Mr Healey said: “Proscription is not a matter for now. “It doesn’t stop us talking to all the parties, and our interest in HTS is that they live up to their promises to protect the rights of all individuals and all groups, to respect international law and to prevent Syria becoming a base for a fresh terrorist threat.” Mr Healey said that Thursday’s meeting was “about making sure we have, as a Government, a laser focus on the role that we can play with allies to see a stable, peaceful transition. “So that the Syrians get the government they need for the future, and the region can see the stability in the future that it also needs.” Cobra meetings are called when ministers or officials need to respond to urgent matters. Following the toppling of the Bashar Assad regime over the weekend, the UK has paused decisions on asylum applications from Syria. Thousands of Syrians have been granted asylum in the UK but, earlier this week, the Home Office said decisions on applications would be paused while events unfold in Damascus. When asked how long the system would be paused for, and whether the move was fair, Mr Healey said on Thursday: “This is early days. “It’s a measure in response to rapidly changing developments, and the most important thing for us now is that the UK plays and will continue to play a full role with allies to see a stable, peaceful, orderly transition and that requires a political process. “It requires dialogue at the heart of it, and today’s ministerial meeting, the Cobra meeting, was about making sure that we do just that.” Earlier on Thursday, G7 leaders said that they “stand with the people of Syria” and “denounce terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms”. In a statement, Sir Keir Starmer and his counterparts said: “The G7 will work with and fully support a future Syrian government that abides by those standards and results from that process.” It went on: “After decades of atrocities committed by the Assad regime, we stand with the people of Syria. We denounce terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms. “We are hopeful that anyone seeking a role in governing Syria will demonstrate a commitment to the rights of all Syrians, prevent the collapse of state institutions, work on the recovery and rehabilitation of the country, and ensure the conditions for safe and dignified voluntary return to Syria of all those who were forced to flee the country.”
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Thousands of Syrians gathered in Damascus’ main square and a historic mosque for the first Muslim Friday prayers since former President Bashar Assad was overthrown , a major symbolic moment for the country’s dramatic change of power. The rebels are now working to establish security and start a political transition after seizing the capital on Sunday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Friday, pressing ahead with efforts to unify Middle East nations in support of a peaceful political transition in Syria. It’s part of Blinken’s 12th trip to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year in Gaza but his first after Assad was ousted. The U.S. is also making a renewed push for an ceasefire in Gaza, where the war has plunged more than 2 million Palestinians into a severe humanitarian crisis. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The October 2023 attack by Hamas in southern Israel that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has transported out of Syria an American who disappeared seven months ago into former President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system and was among the thousands released this week by rebels, a U.S. official said Friday. Travis Timmerman was flown out of Syria on a U.S. military helicopter, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation. Timmerman, 29, told The Associated Press he had gone to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and was not ill-treated while in Palestine Branch, a notorious detention facility operated by Syrian intelligence. He said he was freed by “the liberators who came into the prison and knocked the door down (of his cell) with a hammer.” Timmerman said he was released Monday morning alongside a young Syrian man and 70 female prisoners, some of whom had their children with them. He had been held separately from Syrian and other Arab prisoners and said he didn’t know of any other Americans held in the facility. — By Lolita C. Baldor THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court on Friday rejected a bid from human rights groups to block weapons exports to Israel and trading with the occupied territories, after finding there were sufficient checks already in place to comply with international law. The ten organizations told The Hague District Court last month that they thought the Netherlands was in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up following World War II, by continuing to sell weapons to Israel more than a year into the conflict in Gaza. “The government uses my own tax money, that I pay, to kill my own family. I’ve lost 18 members of my own family,” Ahmed Abofoul, a legal adviser for the pro-Palestinian organization Al-Haq, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, told the court during a hearing in November . The court ruling said that “it is not up to the interim relief judge to order the state to reconsider government policy. That is primarily a political responsibility.” Lawyers for the government argued it wasn’t up to a judge to decide foreign policy for the Netherlands. The activist groups pointed to several emergency orders from another court, the International Court of Justice, as confirming the obligation to stop weapons sales. In January, the top U.N. court said it was plausible Palestinians were being deprived of some rights protected under the Genocide Convention. The coalition said it will review the court’s ruling and is considering an appeal. CAIRO — Israeli attacks in and around a hospital in northern Gaza wounded three medical staff overnight into Friday and caused damage to the isolated medical facility, according to its director. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said Israeli quadcopter drones carrying explosives deliberately targeted the emergency and reception area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, where one doctor was wounded for a third time. Abu Safiya said “relentless” drone and artillery strikes throughout the night exploded “alarmingly close” to the hospital, heavily damaging nearby buildings and destroying most of the water tanks on the hospital’s roof and blowing out doors and windows. Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya has been hit multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation against Hamas in northern Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. “We demand international protection for the hospital and its staff,” Abu Safiya said in a statement released via the U.K.-based aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians, “as well as the entry of delegations with surgical expertise, medical supplies, and essential medications to ensure we can adequately serve the people we are treating.” Abu Safiya said there were 72 wounded patients at the hospital, one of the few medical facilities left in northern Gaza. He said he expected Israeli forces would allow a World Health Organization aid convoy to bring supplies to the hospital on Friday or Saturday, as well as a team of doctors from Indonesia. Israel has allowed almost no humanitarian or medical aid to enter the three besieged communities in northern Gaza — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp — and ordered tens of thousands to flee to nearby Gaza City. Israeli officials have said the three communities are mostly deserted, but the United Nations humanitarian office said Tuesday it believes around 65,000 to 75,000 people are still there, with little access to food, water, electricity or health care. Experts have warned that the north may be experiencing famine . BAGHDAD — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Iraq on Friday on his latest visit to the Middle East aimed at stabilizing the situation in Syria to prevent further regional turmoil. Blinken met in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani as part of the hastily arranged trip, his 12th to the region since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad. Blinken has already been to Jordan and Turkey on his current tour and will return to Jordan for urgent meetings on Saturday with Arab foreign ministers to try to unify support for an inclusive post-Assad transition that does not allow the Islamic State group to take advantage of the political vacuum in Syria and secures suspected chemical weapons stocks. In Baghdad, Blinken “will underscore U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership and to Iraq’s security, stability, and sovereignty,” the State Department said. “He will also discuss regional security opportunities and challenges, as well as enduring U.S. support for engagement with all communities in Syria to establish an inclusive transition,” it said in a statement. His trip comes as the Biden administration winds down with just over a month left before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has been highly critical of Biden’s approach to the Middle East and skeptical of the U.S. military presence in both Iraq and Syria. The U.S. and Iraq agreed in September to wrap up U.S.-led military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq next year, although Assad’s ouster and the potential for the group taking advantage of a political vacuum in Syria could complicate the timing of the withdrawal, according to American officials. DAMASCUS — The kingdom of Bahrain sent a message Friday to Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgency that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It said Bahrain is “fully prepared to consult with you continuously and to provide support in regional and international organizations to achieve what is in the interest of the brotherly Syrian people.” It added, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.” Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit. Syria was readmitted to the Arab League last year after 12 years of ostracization. It is still unclear how the international community will deal officially with the new interim government in Syria. JERUSALEM - Israel’s defense minister told troops to prepare to remain through the winter months on the peak of Mount Hermon, Syria’s highest point, located in a swath of southern Syria that Israeli troops moved into after the fall of Damascus to insurgents. The comments by Defense Minister Israel Katz signaled that the military will extend its occupation of the zone along the border, which Israel says it seized to create a buffer zone. In a statement Friday, Katz said that holding the peak was of major importance for Israel’s security and that it would be necessary to build facilities there to sustain troops through the winter. The summit of Mount Hermon, the highest peak on the eastern Mediterranean coast at 2,814 meters (9,232 feet), gives a commanding view over the plains of southern Syria. It also positions Israeli troops about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the center of Damascus. The mount is divided between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Lebanon and Syria. Only the United States recognizes Israel’s control of the Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israeli troops would remain in the zone until another force across the border in Syria could guarantee security. Israeli troops moved into the zone -– set as a demilitarized area inside Syrian territory under truce deals that ended the 1973 Mideast war -- after the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell last weekend. ANKARA, Turkey -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday there was “broad agreement” between Turkey and the United States on what they would like to see in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar Assad. “There’s broad agreement on what we would like to see going forward, starting with the interim government in Syria, one that is inclusive and non-sectarian and one that protects the rights of minorities and women” and does not “pose any kind of threat to any of Syria’s neighbors,” Blinken said in joint statements with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. The insurgent groups that toppled Assad in Syria have not made clear their policy or stance on Israel, whose military in recent days has bombed sites all over the country, saying it is trying to prevent weapons from falling into extremist hands. Blinken also said it was crucial to keep the Islamic State group under control. “We also discussed the imperative of continuing the efforts to keep ISIS down. Our countries worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS to ensure that that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said. The Turkish foreign minister said the two discussed ways of establishing prosperity in Syria and ending terrorism in the country. “Our priority is establishing stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground, and ensuring that IS and the PKK aren’t dominant,” Fidan said, in a reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party. Blinken said: “We’re very focused on Syria, very focused on the opportunity that now is before us and before the Syrian people to move from out from under the shackles of Bashar al-Assad to a different and better future for the Syrian people, one that the Syrian people decide for themselves.” Blinken and Fidan said they had also discussed a ceasefire for Gaza. “We’ve seen in the last couple of weeks more encouraging signs that (a ceasefire) is possible,” Blinken said. Blinken, who is making his 12th trip to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but first since the weekend ouster of Assad, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Thursday. The outgoing Biden administration is particularly concerned that a power vacuum in Syria could exacerbate already heightened tensions in the region, which is already wracked by multiple conflicts, and create conditions for the Islamic State group to regain territory and influence. Later Friday, Blinken is to return to Jordan for meetings on Saturday with Arab foreign ministers and senior officials from the European Union, the Arab League and the United Nations. ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey has appointed a temporary charge d’affaires to reopen its embassy in Syria, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported. The Turkish Embassy in Damascus had suspended operations in 2012 due to the escalating security problems during the Syrian civil war and embassy staff and their families were recalled to Turkey. The Anadolu Agency said late Thursday that Turkey appointed Burhan Koroglu, its ambassador in Mauritania, to the post. UNITED NATIONS- – Two U.N. aid convoys were violently attacked in Gaza, making it virtually impossible for humanitarian agencies to operate without putting staff and civilians at risk, the U.N. food agency says. On Wednesday, a 70-truck convoy from Kerem Shalom was waiting for personnel to safeguard the food and other aid destined for central Gaza when there were reported attacks by Israeli forces in the nearby humanitarian zone, the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday. More than 50 people are now estimated to have died in the attacks, including civilians and local security personnel who had been expected to ensure the convoy’s safety, WFP said. The Rome-based agency said the convoy was forced to proceed from Kerem Shalom to central Gaza without any security arrangements, using the Philadelphi corridor, an Israeli-controlled route that had been recently approved and successfully utilized twice. On the way, WFP said, conflict and insecurity led to a loss of communication with the convoy for more than 12 hours. ”Eventually, the trucks were found but all food and aid supplies were looted,” the U.N. agency said. In a second incident, Israeli soldiers approached a WFP convoy moving out of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, fired warning shots, conducted extensive security checks, and temporarily detained drivers and staff, the agency said. “As the trucks were delayed, four out of the five trucks were lost to violent armed looting,” WFP said. UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief has a message for Israel: Stop the attacks on Syria. Secretary-General António Guterres is particularly concerned about several hundred Israeli airstrikes on several Syrian locations and stresses “the urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday. The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the previous 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following last week’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The buffer zone was established after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1973 war. Dujarric said Guterres condemns all actions violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries that remain in force. And the U.N. chief calls on the parties to uphold the agreement and end “all unauthorized presence in the area of separation” and refrain from any action undermining the ceasefire and stability in the Golan Heights, the spokesman said.FILE – Author Percival Everett attends the 75th National Book Awards ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File) FILE – Taylor Swift performs during “The Eras Tour” on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File) FILE – Riley Keough, left, and her mother Lisa Marie Presley arrive at the 24th annual ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards on Oct. 16, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) FILE – First lady Melania Trump stands next to the 2020 Official White House Christmas tree as it is presented on the North Portico of the White House, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) FILE – This cover image released by FSG shows “Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney. (FSG via AP, File) FILE – This cover image released by Random House shows “From Here to the Great Unknown” by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough. (Random House via AP, File) FILE – This cover image released by Simon & Schuster shows “War” by Bob Woodward. (Simon & Schuster via AP, File) FILE – This cover image released by Dey Street Books shows “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” releasing on Nov. 19. (Dey Street Books via AP, File) FILE – This cover image released by Random House shows “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” by Salman Rushdie. The book, about the attempt on his life that left him blind in his right eye, will be published April 16, 2024. Rushdie’s first book since the 2022 stabbing he thought might end his life is both explicit in the violence Rushdie sustains and heroic in the will to live that Rushdie retains. (Random House via AP, File) FILE – Author Percival Everett attends the 75th National Book Awards ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File) By HILLEL ITALIE NEW YORK (AP) — Even through a year of nonstop news about elections, climate change, protests and the price of eggs, there was still time to read books. Related Articles Nikki Giovanni, poet and literary celebrity, has died at 81 Trivially Speaking: Novel suggestions for Christmas gifts with meaning Percival Everett, 2024 National Book Award winner, rereads one book often Gift books for 2024: What to give, and what to receive, for all kinds of readers Our critic’s picks: Best mystery fiction books of 2024 U.S. sales held steady according to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print market, with many choosing the relief of romance, fantasy and romantasy. Some picked up Taylor Swift’s tie-in book to her blockbuster tour, while others sought out literary fiction, celebrity memoirs, political exposes and a close and painful look at a generation hooked on smartphones. Here are 10 notable books published in 2024, in no particular order. Asking about the year’s hottest reads would basically yield a list of the biggest hits in romantasy, the blend of fantasy and romance that has proved so irresistible fans were snapping up expensive “special editions” with decorative covers and sprayed edges. Of the 25 top sellers of 2024, as compiled by Circana, six were by romantasy favorite Sarah J. Maas, including “House of Flame and Shadow,” the third of her “Crescent City” series. Millions read her latest installment about Bryce Quinlan and Hunter Athalar and traced the ever-growing ties of “Maasverse,” the overlapping worlds of “Crescent City” and her other series, “Throne of Glass” and “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” If romantasy is for escape, other books demand we confront. In the bestselling “The Anxious Generation,” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt looks into studies finding that the mental health of young people began to deteriorate in the 2010s, after decades of progress. According to Haidt, the main culprit is right before us: digital screens that have drawn kids away from “play-based” to “phone-based” childhoods. Although some critics challenged his findings, “The Anxious Generation” became a talking point and a catchphrase. Admirers ranged from Oprah Winfrey to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, who in a letter to state legislators advocated such “commonsense recommendations” from the book as banning phones in schools and keeping kids off social media until age 16. Bob Woodward books have been an election tradition for decades. “War,” the latest of his highly sourced Washington insider accounts, made news with its allegations that Donald Trump had been in frequent contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin even while out of office and, while president, had sent Putin sophisticated COVID-19 test machines. Among Woodward’s other scoops: Putin seriously considered using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and President Joe Biden blamed former President Barack Obama, under whom he served as vice president, for some of the problems with Russia. “Barack never took Putin seriously,” Woodward quoted Biden as saying. Former (and future) first lady Melania Trump, who gives few interviews and rarely discusses her private life, unexpectedly announced she was publishing a memoir: “Melania.” The publisher was unlikely for a former first lady — not one of the major New York houses, but Skyhorse, where authors include such controversial public figures as Woody Allen and Trump cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And its success was at least a minor surprise. Melania Trump did little publicity for the book, and offered few revelations beyond posting a video expressing support for abortion rights — a break from one of the cornerstones of GOP policy. But “Melania” still sold hundreds of thousands of copies, many in the days following her husband’s election. Taylor Swift was more than a music story in 2024. Like “Melania,” the news about Taylor Swift’s self-published tie-in to her global tour isn’t so much the book itself, but that it exists. And how well it sold. As she did with the “Eras” concert film, Swift bypassed the established industry and worked directly with a distributor: Target offered “The Eras Tour Book” exclusively. According to Circana, the “Eras” book sold more than 800,000 copies just in its opening week, an astonishing number for a publication unavailable through Amazon.com and other traditional retailers. No new book in 2024 had a better debut. Midnight book parties are supposed to be for “Harry Potter” and other fantasy series, but this fall, more than 100 stores stayed open late to welcome one of the year’s literary events: Sally Rooney’s “Intermezzo.” The Irish author’s fourth novel centers on two brothers, their grief over the death of their father, their very different career paths and their very unsettled love lives. “Intermezzo” was also a book about chess: “You have to read a lot of opening theory — that’s the beginning of a game, the first moves,” one of the brothers explains. “And you’re learning all this for what? Just to get an okay position in the middle game and try to play some decent chess. Which most of the time I can’t do anyway.” Lisa Marie Presley had been working on a memoir at the time of her death , in 2023, and daughter Riley Keough had agreed to help her complete it. “From Here to the Great Unknown” is Lisa Marie’s account of her father, Elvis Presley, and the sagas of of her adult life, notably her marriage to Michael Jackson and the death of son Benjamin Keough. To the end, she was haunted by the loss of Elvis, just 42 when he collapsed and died at his Graceland home while young Lisa Marie was asleep. “She would listen to his music alone, if she was drunk, and cry,” Keough, during an interview with Winfrey, said of her mother. Meanwhile, Cher released the first of two planned memoirs titled “Cher” — no further introduction required. Covering her life from birth to the end of the 1970s, she focuses on her ill-fated marriage to Sonny Bono, remembering him as a gifted entertainer and businessman who helped her believe in herself while turning out to be unfaithful, erratic, controlling and so greedy that he kept all the couple’s earnings for himself. Unsure of whether to leave or stay, she consulted a very famous divorcee, Lucille Ball, who reportedly encouraged her: “F— him, you’re the one with the talent.” A trend in recent years is to take famous novels from the past, and remove words or passages that might offend modern readers; an edition of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” cuts the racist language from Mark Twain’s original text. In the most celebrated literary work of 2024, Percival Everett found a different way to take on Twain’s classic — write it from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. “James,” winner of the National Book Award, is a recasting in many ways. Everett suggests to us that the real Jim was nothing like the deferential figure known to millions of readers, but a savvy and learned man who concealed his intelligence from the whites around him, and even from Twain himself. Salman Rushdie’s first National Book Award nomination was for a memoir he wished he had no reason to write. In “Knife,” he recounts in full detail the horrifying attempt on his life in 2022, when an attendee rushed the stage during a literary event in western New York and stabbed him repeatedly, leaving with him a blinded eye and lasting nerve damage, but with a spirit surprisingly intact. “If you had told me that this was going to happen and how would I deal with it, I would not have been very optimistic about my chances,” he told The Associated Press last spring. “I’m still myself, you know, and I don’t feel other than myself. But there’s a little iron in the soul, I think.”
Residents in two states have been warned electricity blackouts could leave them in the dark as a sweltering heatwave puts electricity reserves to the test. A heatwave warning remains in place for areas of NSW on Tuesday, including a severe warning for the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Metropolitan, Illawarra, South Coast and Southern Tablelands Districts. Batemans Bay, Bowral, Camden, Campbelltown, Hornsby, Liverpool, Nowra, Penrith, Parramatta and Richmond are expected to be most affected by the heatwave, with the CBD tipped to hit 31C on Tuesday while areas like Richmond are set to hit 39C. There’s a chance the soaring temperatures could lead to blackouts across the state, with NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday acknowledging the electricity grid could be under pressure as millions turn on the air conditioning. “We will be as quick as possible with updates to the community about potential interruptions with supply,” Mr Minns said. Authorities have issued blackout warnings for Queensland, with the highest-risk blackout times being between 3.30pm and 7.30pm. NSW Minister for Energy Penny Sharpe urged people to conserve energy, asking them to consider whether it was necessary to “have every single light on in the house” on a hot day. “Do you need to have your airconditioning down at 19 degrees?” Ms Sharpe asked. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on Monday confirmed three generator units at Lake Macquarie near Newcastle had gone offline. “AEMO has alerted the energy industry and is working with power station operators and transmission businesses to boost electricity availability,” a spokeswoman said. “If a market response remains inadequate, AEMO will take actions available to maintain supply.” However, the operator later said that “forecast electricity reserves have improved” in NSW. “As a result, the previously forecast Lack of Reserve Level 3 (LOR3) has been downgraded to a less critical Lack of Reserve Level 2 (LOR2). This improvement is largely due to the cancellation of transmission outages in the region,” AEMO said in a statement. “AEMO remains focused on maintaining electricity reliability in both New South Wales and Queensland this week, as high temperatures are expected to drive strong energy demand amid significant generation unavailability in NSW. “If electricity supply forecasts deteriorate, AEMO will take all necessary measures, including the activation of off-market reserves, to ensure supply reliability.” CALLS TO AXE ‘FOSSIL FUEL DINOSAURS’ Member for North Sydney Kylea Tink issued a call for Australia to transition from “unreliable coal-fired power stations”, claiming it’s “time for the fossil fuel dinosaurs to face reality”. “Businesses and households around the state are being let down by our unreliable, ageing coal-fired power plants,” Ms Tink said. “The threat of blackouts before we hit summer shows the urgency at which Australia must transition to renewable energy backed by reliable storage technology.” She claimed the situation highlighted “the Coalition’s nuclear fantasy is built on a house of cards”. “There is no way Australia’s creaking coal fired power stations can support a dynamic, growing economy until the 2040s – when the first nuclear reactors could be expected to be built under Peter Dutton’s so-called ‘nuclear energy plan’,” she said. “The only way for Australians to enjoy more affordable and reliable energy is to double down on investment in renewables, and invest heavily in large-scale battery storage solutions, backed by a national small-scale battery storage target. “It’s time for the fossil fuel dinosaurs to face reality – coal is inflexible and unreliable, and any blackouts in NSW later this week will be squarely the fault of the state’s ageing and decaying coal fired power fleet.” ‘DANGEROUS’ SEVERE HEATWAVE Residents in heat affected areas of NSW have been urged to seek a cool place and use fans or air conditioners where possible, according to an alert from the Bureau of Meteorology. “Severe heatwaves can be dangerous for many people, especially older people, babies, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with medical conditions and people who are unwell,” the alert states. “Seek a place to keep cool, such as your home, a library, community centre or shopping centre. “Close your windows and draw blinds, curtains or awnings early in the day to keep the heat out of your home.”
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