Six In The Morning Friday 6 August 2021

 

Afghanistan war: Taliban capture regional capital Zaranj, officials say

A city in southwestern Afghanistan has become the country's first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in recent years, officials told the BBC.

Local sources said the insurgents had captured Zaranj, in Nimroz province, on Friday afternoon, in what would be a major blow to government forces.

It comes as the insurgents continue to make rapid advances in the country, as foreign troops withdraw.

They have taken swathes of countryside and are now targeting key cities.

‘New wave of volatility’: Covid stirs up grievances in Latin America

by Tom Phillips in Fortaleza, Ed Augustin in Havana and Dan Collyns in Lima

For Filipe da Silva, hitting the streets was about staying alive.

“Unfortunately, Brazil elected a murderer,” the 28-year-old declared as he and thousands of fellow protesters streamed through the seaside city of Fortaleza last month to decry the president’s bungling of a Covid epidemic that has killed more than half a million people.

For Eduardo Ramos, joining the largest protests in Cuba’s post-revolution history was about demanding political freedom and voicing anger at the hardships created by the pandemic.

Europe is burning: Four explanations

Barely halfway through summer, the area burned by wildfires raging through the Balkans, Italy and the southeastern Mediterranean has already eclipsed yearly averages.

Wildfires burning across southern Europe in the last month — whether sparked naturally by lightning, or by arsonists — have been flamed by drought and extreme heat. 

Scientists have no doubt that climate change is the key driver of yet another extreme fire season. They also understand that climate adaptation in fire-prone countries is inadequate to deal with wildfires that are set to worsen.

We look at why Mediterranean and Balkan countries are so prone to wildfires and explore the consequences of a warming world.  

UN report says Mediterranean ‘climate change hotspot’ will see temps 20% higher than global average

Warming across the Mediterranean will be about 20 percent higher than global averages in the decades to come, according to a damning draft UN report, as the region is hit with devastating heatwaves, water shortages, loss of biodiversity and risks to food production.

The Mediterranean will be hit by ever fiercer heatwaves, drought and fires supercharged by rising temperatures, according to a draft United Nations assessment seen exclusively by AFP that warns the region is a "climate change hotspot".

The assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- to be published next year -- details the future impacts that carbon pollution will have on the region, which this week sweltered in above-average temperatures while Greece and Turkey battle record-breaking blazes.

Tropical storm heading for Tokyo as Olympics draw to close

A tropical storm is forecast to hit Tokyo on the last day of the Olympics, organizers said Friday, but did not announce any changes to competition.

Japan's weather agency warned of strong winds, high waves and the risk of landslides and floods along the eastern coastline from Saturday afternoon to Sunday, when Tropical Storm Mirinae is expected to pass over the capital.

The Olympics closing ceremony is on Sunday evening, with medal events including water polo and rhythmic gymnastics taking place at indoor venues in the city during the day.

Hungary’s Orban braces for US ‘interference’ in 2022 election

The international left will do everything that they can do, probably even more, to change the government’, Orban tells Fox News.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said he is “prepared” for outside “interference” including from the United States in an election next year that could see the nationalist premier’s removal.

“That will happen, we are not worried about it, we are prepared for it,” Orban said in an interview broadcast early Friday with US television host Tucker Carlson, who had asked him if he was “worried that there will be international interference” in the election.