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A man holds a Russian flag, as Nigerians protest in the streets during anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Kaduna state, Nigeria August 5, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Nigeria hems in tailors over Russian flags, Thailand's Move Forward disbanded, EU-Mercosur nears trade deal, Scorched China turns off the lights, Foreigners stoke Portugal’s housing crisis
4: Measure twice, arrest once, they say. Nigeria has detained several tailors and their “sponsors” for making the Russian flags that protesters were seen waving during recent anti-government demonstrations in four northern states. Unrest surged nationwide last week in response to subsidy cuts and soaring inflation. Nigerian authorities say waiving a foreign flag during protests is a “treasonable offense,” but the move comes amid heightened concern about Russian influence in sub-Saharan Africa, where Moscow-friendly forces have recently carried out several coups.
10: A Thai court on Monday banned the anti-establishment Move Forward party’s current and former executives from politics for 10 years over its opposition to laws that protect Thailand’s royal family from criticism. The rank-and-file members will be allowed to keep their seats in parliament and are likely to form a new party, albeit without the same leadership that secured the most votes in the 2023 election.
780 million: Negotiators are in the homestretch on a free trade deal between the EU and Mercosur, a trade group comprising South American heavyweights Brazil and Argentina, along with Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. If inked, it would create a single market of 780 million people and save EU companies more than $4 billion a year in tariffs. The talks took a hit recently when France objected on environmental grounds, but a new draft will include climate change commitments. To ratify, the EU needs only a simple majority of its 27 members.
12.5 million: The Chinese tech capital of Hangzhou has ordered its 12.5 million residents to stop using any “non-essential lighting” to relieve power grids as a record heat wave scorches large swathes of eastern and southern China. The soaring temperatures have not only tested power generation, but they’ve also raised concerns about adequate irrigation for rice farmers in the middle of the early-season harvest.
94: Rental prices in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon have soared 94% over the past decade, while home prices have risen twice as much as that. Experts blame the shortage of affordable housing on an influx of wealthy foreigners lured by tax breaks, a growing number of economic immigrants (especially from Brazil) seeking employment, and the rise of short-term rentals that cater to the country’s tourism industry.
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro looks on during his swearing-in ceremony as caretaker president following the death of President Hugo Chavez in Caracas March 8, 2013.
Hard Numbers: Venezuelan opposition arrests, Bangkok’s murder mystery, Acropolis closed amid heat wave, More Kenyan police arrive in Haiti, Voting day for von der Leyen
102: Ahead of presidential elections set for July 28, Venezuelan authorities have arrested at least 102 people linked to the political opposition this year, according to Foro Penal, a local legal aid non-profit. Three-quarters of them were jailed after the official presidential campaign period began on July 4. On Wednesday, police arrested the security chief of opposition leader Marina Corina Machado. Polls show strongman President Nicolas Madurotrailing badly ahead of the vote.
6: Authorities said Wednesday that traces of cyanide were found in the blood of six Vietnamese nationals, two of whom had dual US citizenship, in a luxury suite of a Grand Hyatt in Bangkok. The group was last seen alive on Monday by a waiter delivering room service. Police say there was a possible financial motive related to an investment … and that the suspected perpetrator is among the six dead.
5: Greece’s most-visited archaeological site, the Acropolis, was closed for five hours by the Ministry of Culture on Wednesday amid a brutal southern European heat wave. Wildfires, meanwhile, are proving difficult to contain amid the extreme heat and led to the closure of a major border crossing between Greece and North Macedonia for several hours on Wednesday.
200: Another 200 Kenyan police officers joined the UN-backed mission in Haiti this week to support local authorities against the violent gangs who took over the capital city of Port-au-Prince in a joint offensive last February. The Kenyan-led mission also expects new arrivals from Jamaica, Bangladesh, Chad, and others to help grow the force to 2,500 personnel in the coming weeks.
361: In the EU parliament later today, MEPs will decide whether to confirm Ursula von der Leyen as Commission president in a knife-edge vote that will either result in another five-year mandate for the EU executive’s first female leader or tip the bloc into a temporary crisis. Despite no other candidate standing, it looks like she will just barely, if at all, get the 361 votes she needs.
People wait to dive at the "bon secours" beach, as a heatwave hits France.
Hard Numbers: August hits heat threshold, Pakistan polls in sight, Russian defector gets rich, Armenia looks for new friends
1.5: You already know that August was a scorcher in many places around the world, but now the numbers are in — last month was the second hottest ever recorded, with global temps exceeding pre-industrial averages by 1.5 degrees Celsius. Does that figure sound familiar? 1.5 degrees is the threshold beyond which climate experts say we should NOT go.
4: Pakistan’s beleaguered interim government now says elections will be held within four months because it needs time to design voting districts on the basis of new census data. But critics, including supporters of the wildly popular former PM Imran Khan — who is jailed on graft charges he says are bogus — suspect the delay is meant to give the government more time to help its preferred candidates.
500,000: Doing the right thing can be lucrative! A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine with his chopper will receive an award of $500,000 from Kyiv. Meanwhile, his former comrades – who have not defected – launched a missile on Wednesday that struck a crowded market in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 17 people.
175: Russia has raised an eyebrow at plans for 175 Armenian troops to take part in peacekeeping drills with the US military. Since the Soviet collapse, Russia has been Armenia’s main security partner, but the current Armenian government is frustrated at Moscow’s seeming inability to stabilize things in the decades-long conflict between Armenia and its arch enemy, Azerbaijan.
A rescue worker searches for victims after a train derailed in District Sanghar in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
Hard Numbers: Train derailment, bombing anniversary, Barbie's billion, winter heat, stunning soccer saves
30: At least 30 people were killed and another 90 injured after a train derailed in Pakistan’s Sindh province on Sunday. The country’s railway system has a notoriously dubious safety record, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
25: It has been 25 years since al-Qaida terrorists bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people and injuring thousands. The attacks took place eight years after US troops landed in Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
1 billion: "Barbie" finished its third weekend in cinemas with more than $1 billion in global ticket sales, making Greta Gerwig the first solo female director to hit that mark. Warner Bros. says none of its movies have ever sold so many tickets so fast.
100: Despite it being winter in the southern hemisphere, South Americans are sweltering amid a record heatwave, with temperatures as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This is another grim reminder of the fast-emerging reality that political leaders must think urgently about how to invest in new technology and infrastructure to help people adapt to a hotter planet.
11: Swedish goaltender Zecira Musovic was the star of the show in a tough World Cup match between Sweden and the United States, scoring 11 saves against 22 attempts on goal before the shootout that eliminated the US from contention. Sweden now advances to the quarterfinals against Japan.An Egyptian girl whips her wet hair while cooling off in the water amid a heatwave in Hurghada, Egypt.
Hard Numbers: El Niño heats up, Eurozone inflation cools down, Senegal’s Sonko launches hunger strike, Congress gets a spark
3.5 trillion: As if the world’s hottest month on record weren’t enough, El Niño, the Pacific Ocean climate phenomenon that raises temperatures around the world every few years, is back. Experts say that droughts and seawater changes associated with the warmer temps could lop $3.5 trillion off global growth by the end of the decade.
5.3: Eurozone inflation fell to 5.3% in July, down nearly a full point since May. Falling energy costs were the main reason, but core inflation — which excludes energy and food prices — is still at 5.5%, meaning the ECB isn’t likely to back off on its rate hike policy any time soon.
7: After he was hit with seven new legal charges, prominent Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko began a hunger strike. Sonko, currently serving a prison term for "corrupting youth" in a conviction that provoked riots, says the government is trying to keep him from challenging President Macky Sall in next year’s election.
25: At least 25 US members of Congress currently drive electric vehicles, according to a straw poll by Politico. Twenty-three of them are Democrats, but one of them is Republican representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who rocks a “Friends of Coal” license plate on his Tesla Model S.CORRECTION: An earlier version of this piece erroneously stated that 25 members of the US Senate were driving electric cars. It is actually 25 members of Congress. We regret the error.
A church is pictured during sunset as a heat wave hits Europe in Oisy-le-Verger, France.
Why we need to adapt to a hotter world
World Weather Attribution, an organization of scientists working on climate-related issues, published a report Tuesday on the extreme heat that has plagued the northern hemisphere this summer. The report’s main takeaway: Extreme heat in North America, Europe, and China this year was made more likely thanks to climate change.
Greenhouse gas emissions and other man-made factors are not the only culprits, the report says. The naturally occurring El Niño weather pattern, which occurs when warm waters rise to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, pushing more heat into the air, has also played a role.
The report’s authors claim, however, that their computer models suggest climate change has made the heatwave in North America 2 C (3.6 F) hotter and the heatwave in China 1 C (1.8 F) hotter than if natural causes alone were to blame.
But lost in the debate over how much blame to assign human or natural causes is the fast-emerging reality that political leaders must start thinking more urgently about how best to invest in new technologies and new infrastructure that allow people and economies to adapt to a hotter planet with less predictable weather. In coming years, billions of dollars will be spent to change the way we live, work, and survive in a world of hotter temps and extreme weather events.
We’ve only just begun to consider the political, economic, social, and human implications of that.
Participants wave rainbow flags during the Korea Queer Culture Festival 2022 in central Seoul, South Korea, July 16, 2022.
Hard Numbers: Small step for gay rights in South Korea, floods in Brazil, Botswana’s endangered rhinos, India’s heat warning, Roald Dahl rewrites
1: For the first time, a South Korean court recognized the rights of a gay couple after the Health Insurance Service denied the two men spousal coverage. A lower court originally ruled against the couple, but an appellate judge determined that denying the couple coverage was discriminatory despite the fact that South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriage. The case could now be heard by the Supreme Court.
44: The death toll from devastating floods in southeastern Brazil rose to 44 on Wednesday after President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva visited the state of São Paulo. Shoddy infrastructure in Brazil makes homes particularly vulnerable to severe flooding and landslides. Search and rescue efforts continue as dozens remain missing.
33: Botswana says it has seen a surge in poaching in recent years, with one third – 33% – of the endangered species having been wiped out over the past five years alone. Authorities attribute this to a demand for rhino horns in East Africa and say there are fewer than 400 of the animals left in the country.
37: India’s meteorologists issued their first heat warning of the season in recent days as parts of western India are set to reach 37 degrees celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit). Many Indians are extremely anxious after last spring's wet bulb weather brought one of the country’s worst heat waves in over a century and led to scores of deaths.
59: Is children’s author Roald Dahl the latest victim of the culture wars? Puffin, the publishing house with rights to Dahl’s classics, is making a slew of alterations to his books, with journalists finding 59 changes to “The Witches” alone. Oompa-Loompas, the beloved characters from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," will now be dubbed "small people,” not "small men.” Dare we ask: What do you think of the move? Please drop us a note with your thoughts.US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
What We're Watching: Pelosi in Kyiv, Indian scorcher, Modi tours Europe
Pelosi visits Ukraine — will Biden go next?
Over the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-level US official to visit Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. Pelosi met with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday amid growing pressure from Kyiv for President Joe Biden to travel to the country, which Zelensky feels would be a symbolic show of US support for Ukraine. Biden has so far been non-committal, but Pelosi's trip is arguably more significant at this time, given that Biden wants the US Congress to approve $33 billion in additional aid for Ukraine. Meanwhile, a long-awaited operation was underway to evacuate 100,000 people trapped in a steel plant in Mariupol, the only part of the besieged Ukrainian port city not yet occupied by the Russians. The UN is coordinating safe passage with the Red Cross for the evacuees to reach Zaporizhzhia.
India on fire
For weeks, vast swaths of northwest India — along with parts of neighboring Bangladesh and Pakistan — have been suffering a record-breaking "heat dome" that pushed surface temperatures beyond a blistering 60 C (140 F) on Saturday. On top of putting hundreds of millions at risk of death from extreme heat and fires, the prolonged scorcher has worsened an already acute shortage of coal due to high global prices and the war in Ukraine. This is a big problem because most Indian cities rely on coal-burning plants to generate electricity, which could mean power cuts for hospitals, offices, and factories. What's more, the heatwave has forced farmers to harvest crops early, throwing a wrench into India's plans to export more wheat to make up for the shortfall in production from Russia and Ukraine. So, what'll PM Narendra Modi do about it? Keep reading ...
Modi goes to Europe
On Monday, Narendra Modi is kicking off visits to Germany, Denmark, and France, where he will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. The main agenda item? Making progress on a proposed EU-India free trade agreement, one of several FTAs that Modi wants to secure to attract foreign investment to help the Indian economy recover from the pandemic. But the elephant in the room will be India's neutrality on the Russian war in Ukraine and recent moves to buy cheap Russian oil despite sanctions – policies at odds with EU unity against Russia and long-term plans to wean the continent off Russian energy. Still, don’t expect the Europeans to put too much pressure on the Indians on such a prickly issue.