Steve McGookinWeather extremes prompt urgent climate warnings
Unprecedented rainfall in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands this week led to catastrophic flooding that left almost 200 people dead and many still missing. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the scene of the devastation and said the world “had to be faster in the battle against climate change”.
Politicians from around the world called this weekend for a “global green deal” to tackle the climate crisis as the world emerges from the effects of Covid.
As parts of the US continued to suffer unrelenting temperatures, experts say climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events around the planet.
As the UK baked, Saturday was apparently the hottest day ever in Northern Ireland, with temperatures of 31.2C recorded in the County Down town of, yes, Ballywatticock.
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Sustainability And The Centenary
Build Back Differently: How NI Can Tackle Climate Change
‘Everything Is Getting Much Worse, Much Faster, Everywhere’
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Covid shadow hangs over Olympics
With the Olympic Games set to open on Friday amid continuing public opposition as Tokyo remains in a state of Covid emergency, the first athletes tested positive inside the Olympic village.
Covid infections are again on the rise across the world, once more highlighting inequalities between wealthy and poorer countries, with every nation being affected one way or another. Experts have called it a “tale of two pandemics.”
As the US considers moves towards normalizing travel to Europe, the inequities on both sides of the Atlantic are just as pronounced and the situation just as uncertain.
Facebook pushed back this week after President Biden accused the social network of “killing people” by allowing vaccine misinformation to be promoted through its pages.
oh, and, er…
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Lobbying For Lung Health In The Time Of Covid
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Chaos reigns ahead of “Freedom Day”
As England prepared to ease most legal Covid-related restrictions on Monday, there were warnings that UK infections – currently running at around 50,000 per day, already the highest in the world – could quadruple by the end of the summer. Many international scientists warned against the re-opening, saying it posed a “danger to the world.”
On Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided he would, after all, self-isolate after close contact with Health Minister Sajid Javid, who tested positive the previous day.
The incoherence surrounding the government’s Covid approach comes after a general backlash this week to the ugly racism prompted by last Sunday’s Euros final and what it said about modern Britain.
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From Wembley To Stormont: A Political Lesson From The Beautiful Game
Italy Win Euros In Dramatic Penalty Shoot-Out
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PM seeks to ‘draw a line’ under Troubles
MLAs are set to gather at Stormont on Tuesday for an emergency recall session after the government moved to impose a statute of limitations on Troubles prosecutions. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the proposals would end all legacy inquests and civil actions related to the conflict and allow Northern Ireland to “draw a line under the Troubles”.
The plan met with widespread opposition from local politicians and victims groups. The Assembly will debate a motion calling for victims and survivors to have a “full, material and central role and input into the content and design of structures to address the legacy of the past”.
Meanwhile confusion continues over the effects of the Brexit Protocol and what the Johnson government might end up doing about the arrangements it negotiated.
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Genuine Progress On Legacy Remains Elusive
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Voting Rights showdown for US
In the weekend marking the one-year anniversary of the death of civil rights icon Rep John Lewis, Congressional Democrats and President Biden are under increasing pressure to act to protect voting rights across the US, amid the realization that time is running short for them ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Texas Senate Democrats who fled to Washington DC to deny a statehouse quorum, preventing Republicans from enacting local voting restrictions, are continuing to put pressure on national leadership to pass federal legislation protecting voting rights, despite several of them testing positive for Covid.
In better news for the Biden administration, the president’s Child Tax Relief plan went into effect this week – it could cut child poverty “in half” – but infrastructure and other potential measures remain stuck in the legislative mire of the Senate.
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Cuba protests intensify
Protests against the ruling regime in Cuba increased this week on the island and in several cities across Florida. The protests could prove a tricky political hurdle for the Biden administration and local Democrats, but could also prove to be an opportunity.
Meanwhile, anxiety continues to grow over US plans to finally withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next month, and what that might mean for the region.
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Democrats Face Foreign Policy Test (2020)
Trump’s Iran Move Upends the Chess Board (2020)
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