Saturday, September 17, 2022

Six In The Morning Saturday 17 September 2022

 

Moscow ‘unlikely’ to halt Ukraine advance

  • The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Russian forces are “likely too weak” to stop the continuing advance of Ukrainian troops along the entire Oskil river in the eastern Kharkiv region.
  • Britain’s military intelligence reported Russian troops established a new defensive line between the Oskil river and the town of Svatove, a zone that includes a strategic supply route.
  • Ukraine’s prime minister thanked the United States for sending a further $1.5bn in international financial aid.
  • A third UN ship left Ukraine bound for Ethiopia with 30,000 tonnes of much-needed wheat on board.



Criticism intensifies after big oil admits ‘gaslighting’ public over green aims


Fury as ‘explosive’ files reveal largest oil companies contradicted public statements and wished bedbugs upon critical activists



Criticism in the US of the oil industry’s obfuscation over the climate crisis is intensifying after internal documents showed companies attempted to distance themselves from agreed climate goals, admitted “gaslighting” the public over purported efforts to go green, and even wished critical activists be infested by bedbugs.

The communications were unveiled as part of a congressional hearing held in Washington DC, where an investigation into the role of fossil fuels in driving the climate crisis produced documents obtained from the oil giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they wish bedbugs on you, then you win,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of Sunrise. The organization accused Shell of a “legacy of violence and of ignoring the wellbeing of communities across the globe”.


‘We may never find them’: Desperate Ukrainians forced to trawl through dead looking for lost loved ones


The Missing: Bel Trew follows families who may never know the fate of their relatives

All day the Ukrainian women search through photos of corpses posted by Russian soldiers showing off their kills, in the desperate hunt for their missing loved ones.

In the crude images of frozen grey faces, blood-smeared torsos and the scraps of remains, they look for a flicker of something recognisable: a scar or a ring.

“Twenty hours a day I go through these Telegram channels  looking for him,” said Maria, her face gripped by grief.

“We are a community of women who are looking for our loved ones. All of us have to trawl through the photos of the dead. We have to see if they are there.”


India sees spike in suicides among wage workers

Murali Krishnan New Delhi


The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years, and the absence of a social security net, has led to a marked increase in suicide among daily wage workers.

India is seeing an increase in suicides among daily wage workers, according to the latest report by the National Crime Records Bureau.

The report released in August revealed that the share of daily wage workers is the largest among those who die by suicide in India.

Out of 164,033 suicide cases reported in 2021, just over 42,000 suicides, or one in four, were among wage workers.


'Unprecedented' super typhoon approaches southern Japan


The Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents to evacuate parts of the southern island of Kyushu on Saturday, ahead of a large and powerful typhoon expected to bring up to half a meter of rain when it makes landfall on Sunday.

Nanmadol, classified as a super typhoon by the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, has the potential to be the most destructive tropical storm to strike Japan in decades.

Japan's weather agency said it may issue a "special warning" for Kagoshima prefecture and other parts of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, as early as Saturday evening with the possibility of high waves and heavy rains in the regions. It would be the first such alert for any prefecture north of the Okinawa island chain, domestic media reported.


China, Europe, US drought: Is 2022 the driest year recorded?


By Reality Check & Visual Journalism
BBC News

Europe and parts of China have experienced extreme temperatures this summer, dry conditions in Africa have put millions at risk of starvation, and the American West continues to see a persistent lack of rainfall.

Scientists say warmer and drier seasons are likely to become the norm, but have these past few months been the driest on record?

How dry is the earth?

One measure of drought conditions used by scientists is based on the level of moisture in the soil as measured by satellite imagery.

We have compared these dry conditions over the past three months to average conditions since the beginning of this century, to build up a picture of how extreme recent weather patterns have been.






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