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‘A dangerous moment’: China warns of consequences if Pelosi visits Taiwan

‘A dangerous moment’: China warns of consequences if Pelosi visits Taiwan

The Guardian reports: Reported plans for the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to visit Taiwan could spark one of the most perilous moments in cross-strait relations for decades, analysts have warned. Pelosi’s visit has not been confirmed but there is speculation it could occur in the coming weeks. She would be the highest-ranked US official to visit since Newt Gingrich in 1997. China has warned that a visit by Pelosi would have “consequences”. “I think the Chinese have to do…

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How is the jet stream connected to simultaneous heat waves across the globe?

How is the jet stream connected to simultaneous heat waves across the globe?

The Financial Times (via Inside Climate News) reports: The deadly heat waves that have fueled blazes and caused transport disruptions in Europe, the U.S. and China this month have one thing in common: a peculiar shape in the jet stream dubbed “wavenumber 5.” Scientists are racing to understand whether the band of fast-moving air that controls weather in the mid-latitudes is changing in a way that makes heat waves more frequent and persistent. “The jet stream is the leading driver…

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Covid origin studies say evidence points to Wuhan market

Covid origin studies say evidence points to Wuhan market

BBC News reports: Scientists say there is “compelling evidence” that Wuhan’s Huanan seafood and wildlife market was at the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak. Two peer-reviewed studies published on Tuesday re-examine information from the initial outbreak in the Chinese city. One of the studies shows that the earliest known cases were clustered around that market. The other uses genetic information to track the timing of the outbreak. It suggests there were two variants introduced into humans in November or early…

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The Supreme Court is making America ungovernable

The Supreme Court is making America ungovernable

Lisa Heinzerling writes: Like many governmental agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency has an elaborate process for developing important rules. As I saw during the Obama administration, when I headed the EPA office that oversees this process, getting a major rule over the finish line can take years. Almost every step of the way offers obstacles to addressing any serious environmental problem. This work just got much harder, if not altogether impossible. In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court held…

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How gun manufacturers are fueling violence across America

How gun manufacturers are fueling violence across America

Ryan Busse writes: Americans are rightly anguished by gun violence and the question of what’s motivating the young men who have committed a succession of horrific mass murders. We seem to be fumbling around for answers: Is it racism and radicalization, or untreated mental illness, or toxic video games, or too-easy access to guns? All of these may be parts of the problem, but equally none of them makes complete sense outside of the larger context: The gun industry’s modern…

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Estonia’s prime minister has a message for the West: ‘Don’t worry about Putin’s feelings’

Estonia’s prime minister has a message for the West: ‘Don’t worry about Putin’s feelings’

Michael Weiss reports: Sitting in her office in Stenbock House, a well-appointed neoclassical building in the heart of Tallinn’s medieval Old Town, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wanted to discuss the last 80 years of European history. But she had only 20 minutes. An attorney by training and a former member of the European Parliament, Kallas was in a tenuous position when she met with Yahoo News on July 8, so much so that she nearly had to cancel her interview….

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The Middle East is being confronted with the devastating impact of climate change

The Middle East is being confronted with the devastating impact of climate change

The Associated Press reports: Temperatures in the Middle East have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing, and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity. The Middle East is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impact of climate change — and already the effects are being seen. In Iraq, intensified sandstorms have repeatedly smothered cities this year, shutting down commerce and sending thousands…

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Extreme heat makes pregnancy more dangerous

Extreme heat makes pregnancy more dangerous

Yale Climate Connections reports: Esther Sanchez’s pregnancy this summer has coincided with extreme heat in Madrid, Spain, where she lives. Overnight temperatures there have been particularly uncomfortable. One recent morning, her living room was still 88 degrees Fahrenheit [31 C] at 6 a.m. “So it was impossible to sleep and to rest and have a normal day — a normal life,” she said. For many pregnant people — a group that can include women, girls, transgender men, and nonbinary people…

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U.S. officials grow more concerned about potential action by China on Taiwan

U.S. officials grow more concerned about potential action by China on Taiwan

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration has grown increasingly anxious this summer about China’s statements and actions regarding Taiwan, with some officials fearing that Chinese leaders might try to move against the self-governing island over the next year and a half — perhaps by trying to cut off access to all or part of the Taiwan Strait, through which U.S. naval ships regularly pass. The internal worries have sharpened in recent days, as the administration quietly works to…

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The last ‘Arab Spring’ democracy is dangling by a thread

The last ‘Arab Spring’ democracy is dangling by a thread

CNN reports: Once regarded as the sole democracy to have emerged from the mass protests of the Arab Spring in 2011, Tunisia is today voting on a newly minted constitution that analysts fear could be the final nail in the coffin of its democratic era. Polls opened early on Monday and are due to stay open until late. It is unclear when the results will be announced, but many expect the landmark vote to pass, since there is no minimum…

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Russia wants to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government

Russia wants to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s top diplomat said Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its “unacceptable regime,” expressing the Kremlin’s war aims in some of the bluntest terms yet as its forces pummel the country with artillery barrages and airstrikes. The remark from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes amid Ukraine’s efforts to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports, something that would help ease global food shortages, under a new deal tested by…

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Inside the siege that shaped the Ukraine war

Inside the siege that shaped the Ukraine war

The New York Times reports: The two Mi-8 helicopters tore across enemy territory early on the morning of March 21, startling the Russian soldiers below. Inside were Ukrainian Special Forces fighters carrying crates of Stinger and Javelin missiles, as well as a satellite internet system. They were flying barely 20 feet above ground into the hottest combat zone in the war. Ukraine’s top generals had conceived the flights as a daring, possibly doomed, mission. A band of Ukrainian soldiers, running…

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Don’t blame Dostoyevsky

Don’t blame Dostoyevsky

Mikhail Shishkin writes: Culture, too, is a casualty of war. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some Ukrainian writers called for a boycott of Russian music, films, and books. Others have all but accused Russian literature of complicity in the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers. The entire culture, they say, is imperialist, and this military aggression reveals the moral bankruptcy of Russia’s so-called civilization. The road to Bucha, they argue, runs through Russian literature. Terrible crimes, I agree, are being committed…

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White ‘Christian’ nationalism threatens American democracy

White ‘Christian’ nationalism threatens American democracy

John Blake writes: Three men, eyes closed and heads bowed, pray before a rough-hewn wooden cross. Another man wraps his arms around a massive Bible pressed against his chest like a shield. All throughout the crowd, people wave “Jesus Saves” banners and pump their fists toward the sky. At first glance, these snapshots look like scenes from an outdoor church rally. But this event wasn’t a revival; it was what some call a Christian revolt. These were photos of people…

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