(UN News)* — The global average temperature for July 2023 was the highest on record and likely for at least 120,000 years, the UN weather agency and partners said on Tuesday [].
WMO/Eneko Perez | Global air and ocean temperatures are reaching new record highs.
“The global average temperature for July 2023 is confirmed to be the highest on record for any month,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director at the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The month is estimated to have been around 1.5C warmer than the average for 1815 to 1900, so the average for pre-industrial times.”
Briefing journalists in Geneva, Ms. Burgess noted that July had been marked by heatwaves “in multiple regions around the world”.
GENEVA, 27 July 2023 (UNICEF)* – Around half of children in Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million – are exposed to high heatwave frequency, according to an analysis of the latest available data from 50 countries published today by UNICEF in a new policy brief.
This is double the global average of 1 in 4 children exposed to high heatwave frequency.
UNICEF/UN0729694/PancicMilica Radovanovic (11) and Lazar Seferovic (11) cool off during a hot day in Belgrade, Serbia, July 2022
(UN News)* — The threat of famine, with people slowly starving to death, must be considered a red line for international peace and security, the UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator said on Thursday [], warning that warring groups deliberately use hunger as a tactic of war.
Globally, over 250 million people suffered acute hunger in 2022, the highest in recent years, with about 376,000 people facing famine-like conditions in seven countries – all affected by armed conflict or extreme levels of violence. Another 35 million people are on the edge, Reena Ghelani said.
By Reuben Lim Wende and Fabien Faivre in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar*
In hard-hit Rakhine State, heavy rains will bring further hardships for hundreds of thousands of displaced people whose homes were damaged by Cyclone Mocha. | Español
31 July 2023 (UNHCR)*— Each year, between June and October, communities across Myanmar’s Rakhine State brace themselves for the near-daily deluges that sweep across the region during the monsoon season.
2 August 2023 (WMO)* — Record-breaking rainfall induced by tropical cyclones has caused devastation and casualties in the Chinese capital Beijing and the surrounding province of Hebei, prompting a major relief and rescue operation. Other Asian countries have also been hit.
Beijing recorded its heaviest rainfall over the past few days since records began 140 years ago.
It logged 744.8 millimeters of rain, the maximum amount of precipitation recorded during the rainstorm, between 8 p.m. on Saturday 29 July and 7 a.m. Wednesday 2 August at a city reservoir, according to the Beijing Meteorological Service in a report cited by the Xinhua News Agency.
31 July 2023 (WMO)*— Intense heat is gripping large parts of the Northern hemisphere in this summer of extremes, causing major damage to the people’s health and the environment. China set a new national daily temperature record, and many new station temperature records have been broken.
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Wildfires have caused devastation and dozens of casualties and forced evacuations of thousands of people in parts of the Mediterranean, including Algeria, Greece, Italy and Spain.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) has recorded a significant increase in intensity and emissions from wildfires in the eastern Mediterranean during the second half of July, particularly in Greece.
(UN News)* — United Nations agencies on Tuesday [] kicked off World Breastfeeding Week, emphasizing the need for greater breastfeeding support across all workplaces.
In the last decade, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding has increased by a remarkable 10 percentage points, to 48 per cent globally, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Promoting and supporting breastfeeding at workplaces can help drive the progress higher and towards the global target of 70 per cent by 2030, they said.
“Supportive workplaces are key. Evidence shows that while breastfeeding rates drop significantly for women when they return to work, that negative impact can be reversed when workplaces facilitate mothers to continue to breastfeed their babies,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said in a statement.
Intelligence or… what? What are AI possibilities, vis-a-vis its human counterpart? A new human master?
You be the judge.
Freepik
It is claimed that ChatGPT does not have access to the Internet but I find this incongruent. Therefore, this piece assumes that AI depends on the Web in the same way that a microorganism needs a body to survive and grow, possibly eventually killing it.
San Jose, 28 July 2023 (IOM)* – “I arrived in the Dominican Republic knowing I owed USD 4,500. Still, I did not know the conditions under which I would have to repay it,” tells Andrea*, a young Colombian woman who left her country in search of better opportunities. “I soon discovered that all the money I earned was taken from me and that I was required to work long hours, from 8 AM to 3 AM the next day.”
Andrea was a victim of sexual exploitation in the Dominican Republic after accepting a fake job offer. Illustration: IOM 2023/Milena Somogyi
Andrea was grappling with her country’s economic hardship and a lack of employment options. Amidst her desperation, a friend told her of a promising job opportunity in the Dominican Republic. The offer was tempting: a good salary and a significant loan from the company to cover her travel expenses.
(UN News)* — More than two days of armed violence at the Ein El Hilweh Palestine Refugee camp in southern Lebanon continues to impact civilians, including children, a senior UN official in the country said on Monday [].
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Ziad Taleb | United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Headquarter in Gaza
Eleven people were killed and another 40 were injured, including a staff member with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said Dorothee Klaus, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, citing reports.
Two schools operated by the agency sustained damage, and more than 2,000 people were forced to flee in search of safety.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 