Pakistan is racing to prevent further loss of life as it reels from one of its worst climate disasters with floodwater threatening to cover up to a third of the country of 220 million people by the end of the monsoon season.
Climate change minister Sherry Rehman said Sunday the unprecedented rain had created a “climate catastrophe” with floodwaters submerging homes, destroying farmland and displacing millions of people.
“We’ve had to deploy the navy for the first time to operate in Indo-Pakistan, because much of it resembles a small ocean,” she told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
On Monday, the death toll reached 1,061 since mid-June as the unrelenting rain raised fears of more fatalities to come.
On Monday, new satellite images showed homes and fields completely submerged along the Indus River, as well as the cities of Rajanpur and Rojhan in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. Islamabad (CNN)
Isn’t it about time for everyone to admit CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL?
U.S. consumers are responding to surging prices for new cars and trucks by going deeper into debt, pushing the average new vehicle loan to a record-high $40,290 during the second quarter, credit monitoring company Experian said Thursday.
The average monthly payment for a new vehicle loan rose to $667 in the second quarter, up nearly 15% from a year earlier, Experian said in its latest report on the automotive finance market. The average amount borrowed rose 13.2%, Experian said. (CNN)
The price of new cars doesn’t seem to keep buyers away.
Buyers want a new car and are willing to go deeper in debt to get the vehicle they desire.
It is amazing that so many of us are willing to take on more debt while many of our other expenses are rising with inflation.
The future of environmentally friendly travel might just be here — and it’s Germany that’s leading the charge, with the first ever rail line to be entirely run on hydrogen-powered trains.
Fourteen hydrogen trains powered by fuel cell propulsion will exclusively run on the route in Bremervörde, Lower Saxony.
The trains, five of which began Wednesday, will gradually replace the 15 diesel trains that currently run on the route, with all 14 running exclusively by the end of the year. Just 1 kilo of hydrogen fuel can do the same as around 4.5 kilos of diesel.
The trains are emissions-free and low-noise, with only steam and condensed water issuing from the exhaust. They have a range of 621 miles, meaning they can run for an entire day on the network on a single tank of hydrogen. A hydrogen filling station has already been established on the route. The trains can go at a maximum of 87mph.
The pandemic forced Freed Bodyworks, a wellness center offering massage therapy, yoga, acupuncture, mental health counseling and other services, to shut down for four months.
But while clients returned when it reopened in the summer of 2020, workers did not.
Almost two years later, owners Frances Reed and Jessica VonDyke were forced to shut the business’ doors.
“I couldn’t hire anyone,” said Reed. “We never had trouble with our demand for services. It was 100% a supply issue for us.”
Before the pandemic, Freed Bodyworks had 20 practitioners booking up to 550 clients a month. It reopened with a skeleton crew of eight.
Moreover, the shutdown of in-person instruction at massage schools dried up what had once been a dependable pipeline of emerging talent.
“In the entire time period from when we reopened until closing, I managed to hire three people, and that was with full-time recruiting.” (CNN)
Some 27 ships loaded with grain have left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since August 1 under an export deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, which has laid “the groundwork for a permanent peace environment,” Turkey’s Defense Minister said in a speech on Saturday.
“Since August 1, a total of 53 vessels have sailed for grain shipments, 27 of which have departed from Ukrainian ports,” Hulusi Akar said at Istanbul’s Joint Coordination Center (JCC) alongside United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (CNN)
Let’s hope he’s right!
The center is made up of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN officials overseeing the Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain and fertilizer.