Climate Change & Environment
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More flooding hits Vermont, US Northeast

A storm that left up to two months' worth of rain in Vermont and saturated other parts of the Northeast was moving out Tuesday, but more flooding was expected after already cutting off access to some communities, including the main approach to the state capital.

There have been no reports of injuries or deaths related to the Vermont flooding, according to emergency officials. But dozens of roads were closed, including many along the spine of the Green Mountains. And the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and advisories for much of the state from the Massachusetts line north to the Canadian border.

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Spain sweats as temperatures soar in new summer heatwave

Temperatures were soaring across Spain on Monday with the mercury set to touch 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in the south as the country braced for its second heatwave in a fortnight.

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Flooding in southwest Japan leaves 2 dead, at least 6 missing

Torrential rain has been pounding southwestern Japan, triggering floods and mudslides and leaving two people dead and at least six others missing Monday.

Rains falling on the regions of Kyushu and Chugoku since the weekend caused flooding along a number of rivers as well as mudslides, closing roads, disrupting trains and cutting the water supply in some areas.

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Extreme flooding overwhelms New York roadways, killing 1 person

Heavy rain spawned extreme flooding in New York's Hudson Valley that killed at least one person, swamped roadways and forced road closures on Sunday night, as much of the rest of the Northeast U.S. began bracing for potentially punishing rains.

As the storm moved east, the National Weather Service extended flash flood warnings into Connecticut, including the cities of Stamford and Greenwich, before creeping into Massachusetts. Forecasters said some areas could get as much as 5 inches (12 centimeters) of rain.

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China opens shelters for heat relief as extreme temperatures lead to deaths

Cities across China opened their air raid shelters to offer residents relief from the heat Friday as unusually high temperatures across parts of the country started claiming lives.

Northern China is experiencing strings of days with record-high temperatures, compounded by drought. Earlier this week, Beijing reported more than nine straight days with temperatures exceeding 35 C (95 F), according to the National Climate Center — a streak unseen since 1961.

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Earth's climate has entered uncharted territory

As a warming Earth simmered into worrisome new territory this week, scientists said the unofficial records being set for average planetary temperature were a clear sign of how pollutants released by humans are warming their environment. But the heat is also just one way the planet is telling us something is gravely wrong, they said.

"Heat sets the pace of our climate in so many ways ... it's never just the heat," said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University.

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In Lula's first six months, Brazil Amazon deforestation dropped 34%

After four years of rising destruction in Brazil's Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6% during the first six months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's term, according to government satellite data released Thursday.

From January to June the rainforest had alerts for possible deforestation covering 2,650 square kilometers (1,023 square miles), down from 4,000 square kilometers — an area the size of Rhode Island — during the same period last year under former President Jair Bolsonaro. This year's data includes a 41% plunge in alerts for June, which marks the start of the dry season when deforestation tends to jump.

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Countries agree to slash shipping emissions but can't stay within warming limits

Maritime nations agreed Friday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by about 2050 in a deal that several experts and nations say falls short of what's needed to curb warming to agreed temperature limits.

Countries at the meeting of the United Nations' International Maritime Organization in London, seen as key to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, signed a deal for shipping emissions to reach net zero "by or around" 2050. The less firm deadline was agreed to take account of "different national circumstances."

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For the third time this week, Earth sets an unofficial heat record

Earth's average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record.

The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit, 17.23 degrees Celsius, surpassing the 62.9 and 17.18-degree marks set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world's condition.

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Rights group reports allegations of dozens of abuses in critical minerals supply chains

A human rights advocacy group says it found allegations of dozens of labor and environmental abuses by Chinese-invested companies involved in mining or processing minerals used in renewable energy.

The report released Thursday by the Business and Human Rights Resource Center in London says it found 102 cases of alleged abuses in all phases of using such minerals: from initial explorations and licensing to mining and processing.

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