Independent Online News
Scorching temperatures are engulfing large parts of the Northern hemisphere, while devastating floods triggered by relentless rainfall have disrupted lives and livelihoods, underscoring the urgent need for more climate action, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.
According to the UN weather agency, June witnessed the warmest global average temperature on record, and heatwaves have persisted into early July.… Read the rest
During the first half of the year, 289 boys and girls died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, or double the number compared to the same period in 2022, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Friday.
The figure is equivalent to about 11 children dying each week, “far beyond what we hear in news headlines,” Vera Knaus, the agency’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement, told journalists attending the biweekly UN humanitarian briefing in Geneva.… Read the rest
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Thursday called for a swift investigation into the killing of 87 civilians in Sudan following the discovery of a mass grave in West Darfur.
The victims, who included members of the Masalit ethnic community, were allegedly killed last month by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militia, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said, citing credible information.… Read the rest
Helena Smith in Athens
With cruise ships decanting thousands of tourists in Athens, tough new controls have been imposed at the country’s most visited site
It’s official: more than 25 centuries after it was built and nearly 200 years after it began attracting tourists, the Acropolis will adopt crowd control policies to ease the very modern plague of soaring visitor numbers.… Read the rest
More new owners and a lack of training during Covid has ignited a pushback against rowdy canines
It’s a common enough sight in the large, securely enclosed dog park: let off their leads and given a licence to play, small dogs and big dogs racing up to one another, gleefully wagging their tails, the bold ones attempting a judicious sniff of their new acquaintance’s most intimate body parts, the young ones embarking on a “zoomie” together around the perimeter.… Read the rest