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Global Temperatures Are on Course for Another Record This Year
The world is on pace to set another high temperature benchmark, with 2016 becoming the third year in a row of record heat.
NASA scientists announced on Tuesday that global temperatures so far this year were much higher than in the first half of 2015.
Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, said that while the first six months of 2015 made it the hottest half-year ever recorded, “2016 really has blown that out of the water.”
He said calculations showed there was a 99 percent probability that the full year would be hotter than 2015.
The No-State Solution to the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Twelve years ago today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion at the request of the United Nations General Assembly on the legality of the wall Israel has constructed in the West Bank. The ICJ affirmed that all of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are “occupied Palestinian territory”, and that Israel’s wall, as well as its settlements, violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Fires in central africa
Central and Western Africa are experiencing a massive wildfire outbreak due in part to drought and our ever challenging climate anomalies. This is not only escalating an intense CO2 plum over Africa, it is also adding to the ongoing predicament of our near term demise as a species. Scientists say “..there’s a significant risk that we’ve already hit “the limit” and that a carbon feedback is underway.” No coverage from major news organizations.
Major Wildfires in Central and Western Africa as Drought, Hunger Grow More Widespread
Hong Kong facing weakest real estate market in 25 years
One of the world’s priciest housing markets has seen an unexpected slump, according to first quarter economic reports. Hong Kong is suffering from dwindling retail sales and facing its weakest property market in 25 years.
Another of Asia’s financial-hub, Singapore, is suffering from similar problems, despite seeing a slight economic expansion in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg.
Both countries are being effected by China’s economic slowdown.
“As financial centers, both cities cannot escape the geopolitical and economic forces coming out from China,” said Andrew Sheng, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Global Institute in Hong Kong, who previously worked at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Malaysia’s central bank. “So the slowdown will affect them both.”
