Climate Catastrophes Strike Around the Globe

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at climate crises in South Korea, India, and Southern Europe; Syria’s battle for U.N. aid with no strings attached; and a communications blackout in Sudan.

The deadly impact of climate change continues to rear its ugly head as countries around the world faced devastating environmental crises this week.

On Friday, more than 4,000 homes in South Korea lost power due to torrential rain, causing landslides that damaged residential areas, flooded parking lots, destroyed key infrastructure, and felled trees. More than 130 flights were canceled, and at least 136 people were forced to evacuate. Government officials issued a high-alert warning for more flooding to come this weekend as the Korean Peninsula battles the height of its monsoon season. For Saturday alone, weather experts predict as much as 100 millimeters of rain could fall.

In India, at least 100 people have died over the last two weeks due to severe monsoon weather. Himachal Pradesh state has been hit the hardest, with landslides forcing local officials to close schools. More than 1,000 streets across northern India remain closed due to power infrastructure damage blocking roadways. As many as 30,000 people have been evacuated to relief camps, and more than 60,000 tourists were rescued this week after being stranded in Himachal Pradesh, tweeted Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the state’s chief minister.

“We are not going to escape from the imminent effects of climate change, regardless of our mitigation and adaptation efforts,” said Abhiyant Tiwari, head of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s health and climate resilience programs in India.

Meanwhile, Southern Europe is set to record its hottest temperatures in history next week as a heat wave scorches the Mediterranean. Nicknamed Cerberus after the underworld’s three-headed dog in Greek mythology, Europe is breaking the three-digit mark in Fahrenheit, forcing ambulances to remain on standby at popular tourist destinations. Italian officials issued red-alert warnings for 10 major cities, Greek authorities suspended working hours from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. in high-risk areas to prevent medical crises, and firefighters in the Balkans are struggling to contain brush fires erupting near villages.

Environment experts worry this year’s heat wave death toll could surpass last year’s, when more than 61,600 people died in Europe due to extreme temperatures, according to a report published in Nature Medicine on Monday.

• How Sudan Became a Saudi-UAE Proxy War by Talal Mohammad
• What Did the NATO Summit Change for Ukraine? by Jack Detsch and Robbie Gramer
• The Long, Destructive Shadow of Obama’s Russia Doctrine by Adrian Karatnycky

Syria’s “sovereign decision.” Syrian officials announced on Thursday that they will continue to allow United Nations humanitarian aid to enter rebel-held northern areas of the country through the Bab al-Hawa crossing but with government oversight, thereby giving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad control over almost all aid deliveries in the north. This comes after the U.N. Security Council failed, thanks to a Russian veto, to extend a 2014 agreement on Thursday allowing international relief access to Syria’s rebel-held territory without Syrian government involvement.

Damascus’s announcement is a “sovereign decision,” wrote Bassam Sabbagh, Syrian ambassador to the U.N., to assist the roughly 4.1 million people in northwest Syria dependent on these humanitarian supplies. Syria maintains that the U.N.’s aid mechanism violates Damascus’s sovereignty and that Assad’s regime should have control over how aid enters the country. However, some U.N. Security Council members were quick to denounce Syria’s decision, with British ambassador Barbara Woodward warning that “without U.N. monitoring, control of this critical lifeline has been handed to the man responsible for the Syrian people’s suffering.”

Sudan’s tensions escalate. A communications blackout rocked Khartoum, Sudan, on Friday amid a surge of increased fighting between the country’s army and paramilitary forces. Residents reported losing mobile and internet power for several hours, causing panic as locals struggled to contact their loved ones. It is unclear as of now what caused the blackout; however, witnesses saw fighter jets and drones fly overhead as well as heard a variety of weapons being used near the army’s headquarters.

Fighting in Sudan broke out almost three months ago between Sudanese Armed Forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo, who heads the Rapid Support Forces. At least 3,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, and more than 1.7 million people have been forced to evacuate the capital. Millions more lack basic necessities, such as food and medical supplies. “Twenty years after the war in Darfur began, this new chapter of conflict is one of global consequence because of a potent cocktail of tribal alliances, ruthless warlords, international backers, and coveted minerals,” argued researcher Justin Lynch in Foreign Policy.

One giant leap for India. The race to space is back on the table for India, which launched a rocket to the moon on Friday. Mission Chandrayaan-3 is the country’s second attempt to reach Earth’s closest neighbor after a 2019 missile launch failed to put a robotic spacecraft on the moon’s surface. If Chandrayaan-3 succeeds, then India will become the second country this century, after China, to land a rover on the moon.

Friday’s launch was just the latest in a long string of efforts to expand New Delhi’s space program. In June, India and the United States agreed to send a joint mission to the International Space Station next year. This comes as the Indian Space Research Organization is developing a program to send its own cadre of astronauts into orbit.

As tensions mount in Guatemala between the first and second rounds of the country’s presidential election, incumbent President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday took the unusual step of doing what?

A. Publishing a letter saying he won’t stay in power
B. Ordering the electoral court to certify the election results
C. Dissolving the Guatemalan Congress and ordering new elections
D. Declaring the two leading candidates will serve as co-presidents

If you’re a picky eater—and are not lactose intolerant—then Burger King Thailand has your perfect meal. Behold the Real Cheeseburger, complete with a sesame bun and 20 slices of American cheese. That’s it: No meat patty, sauce, vegetables, or even a pickle. Although the limited-edition item celebrated its last day for in-store purchase on Thursday, you can still order the cheesy treat on Burger King Thailand’s website or at select retail locations, including one on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok.

A. Publishing a letter saying he won’t stay in power

Conflicting decisions from Guatemala’s electoral authorities and a top prosecutor mean the fate of a scheduled August runoff is unclear, FP’s Catherine Osborn writes in this week’s Latin America Brief.

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