UN climate report is a ‘code red for humanity’
People run away from the fire-devastated Sirtkoy village, near Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey, Aug. 1, 2021.
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UN climate report
The planet is becoming increasingly hot, with human activity changing the climate in unprecedented ways, a new scientific report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says, calling the situation a “code red for humanity.” The landmark report released on Monday, which is the first major review of the science of climate change since 2013, offered its most dire warnings yet: more extreme heat waves, droughts and flooding, with some changes now irreversible. “It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,” said report co-author Linda Mearns. But the report also suggested that catastrophe could be avoided if the world collectively acts fast.
Afghanistan
With the United States rapidly withdrawing from Afghanistan, the Taliban are precipitously taking over provincial capitals across the country. On Monday, Taliban forces took control of Aybak, the capital of Samangan Province in the north of the country, in a deadly campaign, which followed the capture of three provincial capitals on Sunday. Maps of Afghanistan show the devastatingly quick work of the Taliban across large rural swaths of the country, while at the same time, waging assassination campaigns targeting senior government officials in the capital, Kabul.
Greece
A massive fire on Evia, Greece’s second largest island, continues its devastation for a seventh day on Monday. Firefighters and locals are working to contain the blaze and save what they can as the fire decimates forests, and burns homes and businesses on the rugged island. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. The fire on Evia is the most severe blaze in Greece, where dozens of other wildfires have been raging as the country faces its worst heat wave in three decades. The severe heat has also led to fires elsewhere in southeast Europe.
From The World
New study on nuclear testing in French Polynesia reveals France’s ‘censorship and secrecy’
It’s been nearly two decades since France stopped testing nuclear weapons in French Polynesia. But many across French Polynesia’s 118 islands and atolls across the central South Pacific were disappointed last month when President Emmanuel Macron, on his very first trip to the territory that France has controlled since 1842, failed to apologize for the nearly 200 nuclear tests conducted between 1966 and 1996.
After the revolution, Sudanese women ask what’s next?
Today in Sudan, women can freely wear their hair uncovered in public and wear pants. Women now hold top positions in leadership and genital mutilation has been banned.
Some women in Sudan say that the new government’s changes are a good start for undoing historic, gender-based oppression, but that the country has a long way to go on women’s rights.
Global hit
? Here is the new collaboration single from Colombian trio Bomba Estéreo and Nigerian superstar Yemi Alade. The title is “Conexion Total” or Total Connection. Bomba Estéreo’s founder Simon Mejia says their music has always been inspired by Africa, and for Alade, music collaborations between Latin America and Africa are too few. We made a Spotify playlist with this and other global hits, curated by host Marco Werman and The World’s team. Enjoy ?
In case you missed it
Listen: Women in western Afghanistan fight for their lives
As fighting in western Afghanistan intensifies, thousands of women and children are forced to leave their homes. The UN estimates 270,000 Afghans have been displaced since January. Also, on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, a photographer roamed through the rubble of Hiroshima. His images of people exposed to the atomic blast were the only ones taken that day. And France dropped nearly 200 atomic bombs on French Polynesia between 1966 and 1996 as part of its nuclear testing program. During President Emmanuel Macron’s first visit to the territory last week, he acknowledged the damage but failed to apologize.
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