Expectations were low for Donald Trump’s address to the UN on Tuesday, and yet somehow it was even worse than expected. He does not perform well in formal settings, like chambers of government, preferring a blingier room, like Mar-a-Lago, or an outdoor rally. For years, he has made no secret of his hostility to the UN, and the very principles of international order that define it. In recent years, that hostility has deepened into something more like a full-on assault, with frequent attacks on the International Criminal Court (perhaps out…
Tag: Climate crisis
‘Forcing a reckoning’: How Asia is preparing for a ‘supersized’ El Niño
Asian governments are rushing preparations for the most severe El Niño weather event on record, with hundreds of millions of people bracing for multiple crises at once as extreme heat, heavy rain and food shortages hit the region. Fuelled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific – and developing alongside the human-driven climate crisis – El Niño is virtually guaranteed to grow to a very strong intensity towards the end of this year and into 2027. The World Food Programme has warned that about 50 million people will…
The world is being driven to the brink by thugs and dictators, but there is a route to a brighter future | Simon Tisdall
Don’t look up! The world is a mess. The sky could fall in any day. Unending wars, expanding humanitarian crises, rising authoritarianism, dysfunctional democracies, rampant racial and religious extremism, and unchecked lawlessness cast a dark cloud as the west’s new political year begins. Set all that against a backdrop of staggering global economic inequality, corporate and individual greed, irresponsible government indebtedness, dangerous AI gambles, climate breakdown and proliferating nuclear weapons, and a truly apocalyptic global outlook begins to take shape. It’s enough to make anyone shut their eyes, cover their…
China’s falling emissions amid Iran war spark hope of decarbonisation watershed
China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by 1% after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran, thanks to a sharp reduction in oil consumption and a steady rise in the use of electric vehicles and public transport, analysis shows. The report reveals the role of clean energy in cushioning the price shocks caused by the strait of Hormuz crisis to the world’s biggest oil importer. It also reinforces hopes that China, which is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, may be nearing a turning point in decarbonising its economy. China…
Swept away: inside the 4 September Guardian Weekly
Over the last week, the world has watched with horror the scenes from the Tibet-Nepal border where a devastating torrent of mud, water and ice tore along the Bhotekoshi River, destroying entire communities and leaving more than 1,000 people dead and several thousand more missing. From the Nepali town of Devighat, our south Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen describes a nightmarish scene of overflowing mortuaries and unidentifiable bodies, as shellshocked survivors of the flood slowly return to the ruins of their homes. The disaster happened after the collapse of a glacier…
Nepal-Tibet floods: death toll passes 1,000 as rescue efforts continue at hydropower tunnels – latest updates
From 1h ago Death toll from Nepal-China flood disaster exceeds 1,000, authorities say The death toll from the catastrophic flooding in Nepal and China has passed 1,000 as of Tuesday morning, officials said, with authorities reportedly burying hundreds of unidentified victims after the flood disaster overwhelmed morgues. Nepal’s disaster agency said in an update on Tuesday that 987 deaths had been counted there, with 3,916 people missing, including 583 foreigners. Chinese authorities, in their latest update on Sunday, reported 16 deaths and 546 people still missing. Armed police officers stand…
Nepal-Tibet flood: this is the cost of not acting in the face of the climate crisis | Sunil Acharya
As a Nepali citizen working on international climate policy for more than a decade, it is difficult to look at the harrowing images coming out of the catastrophic flash flood that thundered down valleys in Nepal, sweeping down the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, and not feel angry. Not just because of the destruction, but because it comes after years of warnings from scientists and civil society that a rapidly warming planet would make disasters more frequent, more intense and harder to predict. This is what the cost of…
Climate crisis could be destabilising mountain areas like Nepal, experts warn
The devastating flash flood that has ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilising the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people. Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause of the deadly torrent of mud, water and ice that tore along the Bhotekoshi River on Wednesday. It swept away buildings and roads and left at least 360 dead and 1,400 missing. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake was initially blamed for the…
What caused the catastrophic flash flood in Nepal and Tibet – and how does a glacier collapse?
Flash floods that swept through the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday have left scores dead and more than 1000 people missing. Here’s what we know so far, and what likely caused the disaster. Nepal flash floods: what we know so far On Wednesday morning local time, a landslide of ice and rock resulted in a torrent of mud, water and debris bursting the banks of the Trishuli river, also known as the Bhotekoshi, which runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away. Officials in…
Around the world, people are rejecting divisive and dangerous politics. We can – and must – build on that | Gordon Brown
Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, is already having to make one of his gravest decisions. He has to issue the instructions that he alone gives to the military, setting out the UK response in a doomsday scenario of a nuclear weapons attack on us. He will, as I did two decades ago, sign a piece of paper telling commanders whether or not to retaliate and, if so, whether through targeting civilian conurbations or military sites. These instructions are written down in the aptly named “letter of last resort”. Now,…