World leaders promised to protect Earth’s forests, cut methane emissions and help South Africa wean itself off coal at the U.N. climate summit Tuesday — part of a flurry of deals intended to avert catastrophic global warming.

Britain hailed the commitment by more than 100 countries to end deforestation in the coming decade as the first big achievement of the conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow, known as COP26 — but experts noted such promises have been made and broken before.

More than 120 world leaders were heading home after two days in which they received stark warnings about the state of the Earth from Johnson, naturalist David Attenborough, Queen Elizabeth II and — most powerfully — the people of countries and regions already facing climate upheaval.

Johnson said at a news conference that it was important to “guard against false hope,” but added that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the outcome of the talks. The conference aims to keep the world on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — the goal set at the Paris climate conference six years ago.

On Tuesday, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden launched a plan to reduce methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. The announcement was part of a broader effort with the European Union and other nations to reduce overall methane emissions worldwide by 30% by 2030.

Clamping down on methane flaring and leaks from oil wells and gas pipelines — the focus of the Biden plan — is considered one of the easiest ways to cut emissions. Reducing methane from agriculture, in particular by belching cows, is a trickier matter.

AFGHANISTAN: DEADLY BLASTS, GUNFIRE HIT KABUL MILITARY HOSPITAL

At least 25 people were killed and 43 others were wounded in an attack on Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital in the capital Kabul, interior ministry sources told Al Jazeera.

Two explosions hit the entrance of the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan military hospital on Tuesday, followed immediately by heavy gunfire, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the gun and bomb assault in the centre of the capital, but a Taliban spokesman blamed an ISIL affiliate.

A Taliban official later said a suicide bomber and gunmen were behind the attack.

“The attack was initiated by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up at the entrance of the hospital,” said the official on condition on anonymity, adding the assailants had all been killed.

Photographs shared by residents showed a plume of smoke after the blasts in the former diplomatic zone in the Wazir Akbar Khan area in central Kabul.

A health worker at the hospital, who managed to escape the site, said he heard a large explosion followed by a couple of minutes of gunfire. About 10 minutes later, there was a second, larger explosion, he said.

The UN’s mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack and called for those responsible to be held to account.

BANNED TLP MAY BE ALLOWED TO CONTEST POLLS

Pakistan is to free more than 2,000 jailed activists of a banned Islamist militant group and allow the movement to contest elections, under a deal with the government struck to end weeks of violent clashes, negotiators on both sides said.

In return, the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan has agreed to shun the politics of violence and withdraw its longstanding demand to have France’s ambassador expelled over the publication of blasphemous caricatures, they said on condition of anonymity.

PM Imran Khan’s government banned TLP after its rallies turned violent earlier this year, designated it a terrorist group and arrested its chief Saad Rizvi. Two members of TLP’s negotiating team and one from the government side said the centrepiece of the deal was to lift the ban and allow the group to contest polls. “The state has acknowledged that TLP is neither a terrorist group nor a banned outfit,” another TLP member told local Dunya News TV.

COP26: BIDEN ATTACKS CHINA AND RUSSIA LEADERS FOR MISSING SUMMIT

US President Joe Biden has criticised the leaders of China and Russia for not turning up to the COP26 climate summit.

In a speech on Tuesday night, Mr Biden said climate was "a gigantic issue" and China "walked away" - adding it was the "same thing with Russia and Putin".

Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Chinese leader Xi Jinping are at the summit.

Both countries however have sent delegations to the talks, which are due to run for two weeks until 14 November.

China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the US. Russia is the fifth largest after the EU and India.

More than 120 leaders turned up at the conference in Scotland's largest city.

Countries have already announced major deals, including a global pledge to slash methane levels by 2030 as well as to end and reverse deforestation by the same year.

Both China and Russia are signatories of the pledge to reverse deforestation. Before Mr Biden's speech, Mr Putin virtually addressed a meeting on forest management at the COP26 summit on Tuesday, saying that Russia takes the "strongest and most vigorous measures to conserve" woodlands, according to a Kremlin press release.

FACEBOOK TO END USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE

Facebook has announced it will no longer use facial recognition software to identify faces in photographs and videos.

There have been growing concerns about the ethics of facial recognition technology, with questions raised over privacy, racial bias, and accuracy.

Regulators had not yet provided a clear set of rules over how it should be used, the company said.

It has faced a barrage of criticism over its impact on its users.

Until now, users of the social media app could choose to opt in to the feature which would scan their face in pictures and notify them if someone else on the platform had posted a picture of them.

In a blog post, Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence at the firm said: "Amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate."

TALIBAN BAN USE OF FOREIGN CURRENCY

The Taliban announced a complete ban on the use of foreign currency in Afghanistan on Tuesday, a move sure to cause further disruption to an economy pushed to the brink of collapse. “The economic situation and national interests in the country require that all Afghans use Afghan currency,” it said. The use of US dollars and Pakistani rupee is widespread in Afghanistan markets.

LEAKED SMS SHARPENS AUSTRALIA-FRANCE SUB ROW

France on Tuesday accused Australia of the usage of “very inelegant strategies” after a textual content message despatched by means of President Emmanuel Macron to Australian chief Scott Morrison was once leaked in an obvious bid to indicate that he knew in regards to the cave in of a big submarine deal previous than he maintains.

Media in Australia and Europe reported at the SMS which the French chief despatched to Mr. Morrison two days prior to Australia introduced that it had torn up a decade-old multi-billion-dollar contract with France to construct a brand new fleet of submarines.

France, which reacted furiously to the cancellation, has all the time mentioned it have been blindsided by means of the announcement, and Mr. Macron added to the furore on the weekend by means of accusing of Mr. Morrison of mendacity to him.

However the revelation of the textual content message on Tuesday may also be noticed as suggesting Mr. Macron was once much less stunned by means of the cancellation than he has admitted.

“Must I be expecting excellent or unhealthy information for our joint submarine ambitions?”, reads the SMS despatched to Mr. Morrison 48 hours prior to the professional contract cancellation announcement which was once made at a information convention.

A supply as regards to Mr. Macron, who requested to not be named, mentioned the leak was once evidence of “very inelegant strategies”.

Status by means of previous assurances that Mr. Macron had now not been given advance caution of the cancellation, the supply mentioned the SMS didn’t undermine that narrative.

“To the contrary, this SMS displays that the President didn’t know that they had been going to cancel the contract,” the supply claimed.

YAHOO PULLS OUT OF CHINA, CITING ‘CHALLENGING’ ENVIRONMENT

Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday it has pulled out of China, citing an “increasingly challenging business and legal environment”. Chinese authorities maintain a firm grip on internet censorship in the country and require companies operating in China to censor content and keywords deemed politically sensitive or inappropriate. “In recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment in China, Yahoo’s suite of services will no longer be accessible from mainland China as of November 1,” the firm said in a statement. It said it “remains committed to the rights of our users and a free and open internet”.

The company’s withdrawal coincided with the implementation of China’s Personal Information Protection Law, which limits what information companies can gather and sets standards for how it must be stored. The move comes just days after US gaming giant Epic said it will shut its popular game “Fortnite” following the imposition of strict curbs on the world’s biggest gaming market.