Climate records fall as Europe bakes in heatwave

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Soaring temperatures broke records in Germany, France, Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday, as a heatwave gripped Europe for the second time in a month in what scientists said were becoming more frequent events as the planet heats up.
– Paris saw its highest temperature since records began and Britain reported its hottest weather for the month of July.
– The mercury in Paris touched 42.6 C (108.68 F) in mid-afternoon, above the previous Paris record of 40.4 C (104.72 F) recorded in July 1947.
– In Britain, the temperature reached its highest for July, hitting 38.1 C (100.58 F), said the Met Office, the national weather service.
– An all-time high was measured in Germany for a second day running, at 41.5 degrees Celsius (106.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
– In the southern Netherlands, the temperature peaked at 40.4 C (104.7 F), topping 40 C (104 F) for the first time on record, Dutch meteorology institute KNMI said. That broke the national record of 39.3 C set the previous day. Before this week, the national heat record had stood for 75 years.

Climate specialists said such heatwaves are becoming more frequent as a result of global warming from greenhouse gas emissions.

[Reuters]

Myanmar’s ‘minimal preparations’ for Rohingya refugee return

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Myanmar has made “minimal” preparations for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees sheltering in neighboring Bangladesh, according to an Australian think-tank, despite the country saying it is ready to start repatriation.

More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee northern Rakhine state in western Myanmar during a 2017 military-led crackdown the United Nations has said included mass killings and gang-rapes executed with “genocidal intent”. Almost 400 Rohingya villages were burned to the ground during the violence.

A Reuters investigation in December 2018 found that the authorities have built houses for Buddhists in former Rohingya areas. A resettlement map drafted by the government revealed that refugees, rather than returning to their original villages, would be herded into several dozen Rohingya-only settlements.

While authorities have promised to resettle the refugees, analysis of satellite imagery shows “no sign of reconstruction” in the overwhelming majority of their former settlements while, in some areas, destruction of residential buildings has continued, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said in a report released July 23.

The AHA Centre report, leaked to the media in June, has predicted that half a million refugees would come back within two years.

The UN has said conditions in Rakhine are not yet conducive for returns.

[Reuters]

The case for humanitarian aid to North Korea

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News reports suggest that North Korea may once again be facing serious food shortages, and calls from the United Nations for the world to provide humanitarian assistance have grown. Such assistance has not always gone to those who needed it most, and Pyongyang strongly resists any kind of international monitoring to try to make sure it does.

Even so, the United States should open its pocketbook. At its core, providing food and medical assistance is an issue of morality and humanity.

In May, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report stating that some 10.9 million people in the country—approximately 43 percent of the population—suffer from food insecurity, and nearly as many lack access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services. Ten million North Koreans lack access to safe drinking water, and the U.N. estimates that 16 percent do not have access to basic sanitation. Meanwhile, UNICEF notes that while there has been some improvement in recent years, one in five North Korean children suffers from stunted growth.

While North Korea’s government may have a callous attitude toward its people, Americans believe that every life has value. Right now, lives are at stake. We can help to save them, and we should.

[Foreign Policy]

UN calls out Saudi Arabia and UAE for not paying Yemen aid pledges

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United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock called out Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for only paying a “modest proportion” of the hundreds of millions of dollars they pledged five months ago to a humanitarian appeal for Yemen.

Both countries each promised $750 million at a U.N. fundraising event in February (that was seeking $4 billion):
– Saudi Arabia so far has paid only $121.7 million and
– the United Arab Emirates about $195 million, according to U.N. figures.

Saudi Arabia leads a Western-backed military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015. The United Arab Emirates is a key member of the coalition.

The United States sells billions of dollars worth of weapons and military equipment to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The United States has paid more than $288.7 million to the U.N. Yemen appeal, making it the largest donor for 2019.

The United Nations describes the situation in Yemen – where the four-year-long war has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions on the brink of famine – as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

 [Reuters]

Unauthorized migrants face public backlash in Mexico, survey finds

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Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants after a year of heightened migration from Central America through the country, according to a survey conducted by The Washington Post and Mexico’s Reforma newspaper. The data suggests Mexicans have turned against migrants transiting through their country.

A 55 percent majority supports deporting migrants traveling through Mexico to reach the United States.

More than 6 in 10 Mexicans say migrants are a burden on their country because they take jobs and benefits that should belong to Mexicans.

[Washington Post]

UN refugee agency deeply concerned about US asylum curbs

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The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. says it’s “deeply concerned” about new U.S. restrictions on asylum, saying it will put vulnerable families at risk.

UNHCR comments late Monday came after the Trump administration said it will end all asylum protections for most migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. According to the plan, migrants who pass through another country — in this case, Mexico — on their way to the United States will be ineligible for asylum.

UNHCR says the rule overly restricts the right to apply for asylum, and threatens the right not to be sent back to countries where people could face persecution.

The rule went into effect Tuesday and will affect many refugees fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. It is certain to face legal challenges.

[AP]

UN statement on the US again withholding funding from UNFPA

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UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, notes with regret the determination by the United States of America to withhold funds from UNFPA for the third consecutive year.

This unfortunate decision will impede UNFPA’s crucial work to protect the health and lives of hundreds of millions of women and girls around the globe, including in humanitarian settings.

Therefore, UNFPA hopes that the United States will reconsider its position. UNFPA remains keen to maintain an open dialogue with the U.S. Government. UNFPA has had the pleasure of welcoming delegations under various U.S. administrations, and none have found UNFPA to be in violation of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment.

Since its founding 50 years ago, UNFPA strives to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

[UN]

Millions displaced as monsoon floods hit India, Nepal and Bangladesh

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More than a hundred people have died and millions were forced to leave their homes as monsoon rains have devastated parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

At least three million people have been displaced in north and Northeast India, reports the BBC, including almost two million people in the northern Indian state of Bihar, and more than 1.7 million people in northeastern Assam state, a region known for its tea production.

“Many people have taken shelter on the highways, that will be the state for the next two to three weeks until the water recedes,” Mohamad Farukh, CEO of the disaster relief NGO Rapid Response told TIME about the situation in Assam State. He says that he expects the situation to “deteriorate over the next two to three days” in India as water flows to the region from Nepal and Bhutan.

In Nepal, police said 67 people have died and 30 people are missing, according to the BBC.

Storms have also killed at least 29 people in Bangladesh in the last week, including 18 hit by lightning, reports the BBC.

Cox’s Bazar, a lowland coastal district where about a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been stuck after fleeing violence, has not been spared. It is the “most severe weather since the massive Rohingya refugee influx of 2017,” according to a statement on the International Organization for Migration’s website. Landslides, floods and wind have damaged hundreds of structures and directly impacted 5% of Cox’s Bazars residents, it says. “Monsoons and landslides are making the Rohingya refugees’ difficult situation even more precarious,” Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on their website.

[TIME]

I am 15 and am blocking your commute so my generation has jobs to go to and a planet to live on

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“I am going to be late for work because of you! You lot don’t have jobs to go to!” a red-faced woman yelled at last month’s youth climate march in London. Admittedly, by occupying Westminster Bridge, the schoolchildren had caused some disruption, but that was the point. Commuters might be late for work, but [a new generation] will not have jobs to go to or even have a healthy planet to live on unless our governments take immediate action on climate change.

  This group of schoolchildren are part of an ever-growing movement. In May, more than a million children in 1,600 towns in at least 125 countries took part in the school strikes for justice.

Although you might not agree that occupying roads and disrupting traffic is the best way to bring about change, these actions certainly get people talking and it forces the issue of climate change on the political agenda.

Most of us are aware of the catastrophic effects of climate change – from prolonged drought to devastating tropical storms, heatwaves and wildfires. But climate change does not just affect the natural world. It will also intensify inequalities damaging our rights to life, health, food, water, housing and livelihoods. Climate change is not just another political or moral issue that people and politicians are able to ignore. It puts the survival of humanity and our human rights at peril. But it seems that some people –especially the so-called Gen Z (aged 7-22) – see this more clearly than others.

Young people are often dismissed as inactive by older generations who see our obsession with mobile devices and social media sites as a sign of lassitude. But Generation Z are using technology to mobilize. Growing up with instant access to information the Internet has to offer, Generation Z stands to be the most well-informed generation ever. Equipped with instant messaging and mobile phones, mass mobilization of youth for causes we care about is now easier than ever. An army of young people can rally behind the cause of climate change through the tap of a button and co-ordinate themselves to engage in acts of civil disobedience, such as peacefully demonstrating and occupying.

[Amnesty International]

How a community brought down child mortality by 95%

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Imagine a world in which pregnant women and little kids get regular home visits from a health worker — and free health care. That’s the ground-breaking approach that’s being adopted in one of the world’s poorest countries: the West African nation of Mali.

A nurse from the country’s cadre of community health workers visits each of the homes in her designated area, which contains roughly 1,000 people, at least twice a month. She diagnoses, treats and refer patients. It’s part of a free door-to-door health-care plan that began in 2008 as a trial by the government.

When data from seven-year trial was compiled by a team including researchers from the University of California, they found that child mortality for kids under age 5 dropped by an astounding 95%, according to findings published last year in BMJ Global Health. The population in the study area was 77,132 in 2013. During the seven years of the study, child mortality rates for that demographic fell from 154 deaths for every 1,000 live births in Yirimadio, among the worst in the world, to 7 – comparable to the 6.5 figure in the U.S.

And now the program will be extended to the entire country. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta announced a target date of 2022 for nationwide coverage — at a cost of $120 million. This localized, free health care for pregnant women and children under age 5 could help the West African nation meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. A key factor will be the provision of community health care workers who’ll be trained to do the door-to-door work.

The decision has earned praise from policy experts and patients alike. “This is long overdue,” says Dr. Eric Buch, a medical doctor and professor of health policy and management at South Africa’s University of Pretoria, who was not involved in the study. “Free health care for mothers and children under 5 is a very effective way of reducing mortality, and it could have a huge impact.”

The key to long-term success is long-term funding. Mali’s planned reforms rely on external funding from bodies such as the Clinton Health Access Initiative to supplement government spending. But there is no guarantee this funding source will last in future decades, and Mali will need to find a long-term solution that may involve restructuring its budget.

[NPR]