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Hurricane Melissa – the most powerful storm in Jamaica's history – was made four times more likely by climate change, according to a study. The catastrophic category 5 hurricane struck the island on Tuesday, bringing sustained winds that peaked at 185mph, flash floods and landslides. Now, experts have warned that our over–reliance on oil, gas and coal increased both the likelihood and intensity of the storm. Looking ahead, hurricanes like this will only get worse unless global warming is urgently curbed, they added. 'Man–made climate change clearly made Hurricane Melissa stronger and more destructive,' Professor Ralf Toumi, director of the...

As the climate changes, Chicago and the Great Lakes are sometimes referred to as a "climate haven," an area that will be sheltered from some of the worst impacts. Far from Gulf Coast hurricanes and California wildfires, Chicagoland seems like a safe place to be in a warming world. But is it? "There's really no place in the world that is truly a climate haven. It's more a matter of picking your poison," said climate researcher Dr. Kirstina Dahl. "My top concerns would probably be increased flood risk." Heavy rain is now 10% heavier than it was in 1970. Just...

It has become a tired adage, but nonetheless true. The world’s poorest countries will suffer the most from climate change despite being least responsible for it. Leaders in the Caribbean and from vulnerable island states around the world have been repeating this for years. And they have been asking the world’s rich countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions over generations have fueled warmer seas and bigger storms, to help them prepare. With Hurricane Melissa scouring Jamaica with vicious intensity before setting its sights on Cuba and the Bahamas, it is likely that many of the affected countries will once again be...

Industries and individuals around the world burned record amounts of oil, gas and coal last year, releasing more greenhouse gases than ever before, a group of leading scientists said in a new report, warning that humanity is hurtling toward “climate chaos.” “The planet’s vital signs are flashing red,” the scientists wrote in their annual report on the state of the climate. “The window to prevent the worst outcomes is rapidly closing.” “The climate crisis has reached a really dangerous stage,” said William Ripple, the report’s co-lead author and a professor. Other scientists who helped write the report said the Trump...

Russian lawmakers Tuesday endorsed a bill mandating year-round military conscription, rather than just in the spring and fall, as authorities seek to fill the ranks as fighting in Ukraine grinds through a fourth year. The legislation, which was approved by the lower house, the State Duma, in a third and final reading of the measure, turns conscription into a permanent process. Once the bill is vetted by the upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, it would allow conscription offices to summon draftees for medical exams and other procedures at any time of the year. The bill’s...

Climate deniers use scientific aesthetics to reinforce and legitimize their message. At the same time, their main opponents, the climate activists, are portrayed as emotional and irrational. This has been demonstrated by researchers from the Universities of Gothenburg and Amsterdam, who have studied how climate deniers communicate online. "Disinformation is not just about incorrect facts, but about how these facts look and feel. In today's digital media landscape, messages are spread through images, memes and visual narratives that influence us in an instant, before we even have time to think. By understanding the aesthetic logic behind climate denial, we can...

Climate change is reducing the chances of runners breaking marathon records, new research claims. The study, external by US-based non-profit organisation Climate Central said rising temperatures "have made record-breaking runs in some races nearly impossible". It also predicted that optimal running conditions - which it defines as 4C for men and 10C for women - will be less likely in 86% of 221 global marathons by 2045. Former women's world record holder Catherine Ndereba said: "Climate change has altered the marathon. "Dehydration is a real risk, and simple miscalculations can end a race before it begins. Every step now carries...

WASHINGTON — Vladimir Putin is feeling the sting of President Trump’s new oil sanctions — so much so that he dispatched one of his top henchmen on a desperate charm offensive across the US. Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin-linked financier who once served as Moscow’s backchannel to Washington, spent the weekend trying to schmooze top Trump officials and going on a media blitz. But the move failed spectacularly, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent bluntly blasting Dmitriev as a “Russian propagandist,” and NATO Amb. Matt Whitaker flatly rejected his overtures — saying the administration’s energy crackdown would continue. On one of the...

Gov. Tina Kotek wants Oregon to go full force on harnessing the potential of forests, farms, wetlands and waterways to reduce emissions, preserve wildlife habitat and help communities withstand the threat of climate change. That’s the focus of a sweeping executive order Kotek issued on Thursday to prioritize conservation on both natural landscapes such as forests or wetlands as well as on so-called working lands – farms, ranches and commercial timberlands. It also includes waterways and state-managed ocean waters. The order comes as the state faces both a significant revenue shortfall due to federal tax cuts and the loss of...

The warming of the world’s oceans caused by climate change helped double Hurricane Melissa’s wind speed in less than 24 hours over the weekend, climate scientists said Monday. Melissa is currently a Category 5 storm, the highest category, with sustained wind speeds of over 157 mph. Melissa is forecast to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday before crossing Cuba and the Bahamas through Wednesday. “That part of the Atlantic is extremely warm right now — around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above normal,” said Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at the University of...

GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. weather agency plans to cut some posts and is reviewing its priorities as dozens of countries, including the United States, are late with their fees, a spokesperson said on Friday. The World Meteorological Organization, set up in 1951 to coordinate global data for weather forecasts, created a review task force this week during a meeting in Geneva aimed at improving early-warning systems for deadly climate disasters. Outstanding late payments to the WMO amount to around 48 million Swiss francs ($60 million) as of the end of August, a WMO document showed, equivalent to two-thirds of its...

Real-time data shows the water temperatures underneath Tropical Storm Melissa are 600 times more likely due to climate change. The analysis is operated by Climate Central, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the science and communication behind climate change. The organization compares current sea surface temperatures to average, then overlays the current and forecast track of tropical systems. Melissa is currently a tropical storm southeast of Jamaica and southwest of Haiti. The storm will move over very warm water, around 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and that warm water will be a key piece of the storm's rapid intensification. Melissa is predicted...

President Trump makes a statement from his Truth Social account that all trade negotiations with Canada are immediately terminated following the Canadian government purchasing ads to lie to the American people about tariffs. PRESIDENT TRUMP – “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs. The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior,...

Doctors have long known that heat puts a strain on the heart, kidneys and other organs. Those risks are exacerbated for pregnant people, as the body’s processes for staying cool are altered. It’s a problem that climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline and coal, is worsening. Intensifying extreme heat events, high temperatures well into the night and shattering weather records means more exposure for pregnant people, particularly in developing countries. Here’s what to know about the science of pregnancy and extreme heat: Pregnancy changes the body in myriad ways, which can make it more difficult and...

When world leaders convene in Belem, Brazil, next month for the United Nations COP30 climate talks it will mark ten years since the landmark Paris Climate Agreement to cut emissions enough to avoid the most catastrophic warming. But a pair of recent reports show that global action is not even close to meeting that goal. “None of the 45 global indicators that we track are on pace,” Kelly Levin, chief of Science, Data and Systems Change at the Bezos Earth Fund, said in a press briefing on the report The State of Climate Action 2025. The report assessed progress on...

Geneva (AFP) – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for a fightback against climate disinformation ahead of next month's COP30 summit after US President Donald Trump branded climate change the "greatest con job ever". Guterres issued a robust defence of "clear-eyed" climate science and data, without which, he said, the world would never have understood the emergence of the "dangerous and existential threat of climate change". "We must fight mis- and disinformation, online harassment, and greenwashing," Guterres said at the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) weather and climate agency. "Scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth." The...

Two new studies are helping to shed light on the extent Canadians feel climate change is impacting their mental health. A national study published today suggests about 2.3 per cent of people in Canada experience climate change anxiety at a level the authors considered “clinically relevant,” causing meaningful distress and disruption in their lives. The severe manifestation of climate anxiety was more common among people who had directly experienced climate change impacts. The study suggests Indigenous people had the highest prevalence of severe climate anxiety of any group, at almost 10 per cent. The paper suggests that number could reflect...

...Organizers said about 2,600 No Kings events were planned across nearly every state, and that it projected a bigger turnout than the 5 million it said attended its previous nationwide action in June...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world is on track to add nearly two months of dangerous superhot days each year by the end of the century, with poorer small nations hit far more often than the biggest carbon-polluting countries, a study released Thursday found. But efforts to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases that started 10 years ago with the Paris climate agreement have had a significant effect. Without them Earth would be heading to an additional 114 days a year of those deadly extra hot days, the same study found. The international collection of climate scientists World Weather Attribution and the...

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has introduced H.R. 5704, the Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013 in an effort to reestablish safeguards against government-led influence campaigns targeting Americans. The bill seeks to prohibit the domestic dissemination of U.S. government-funded media content intended for foreign audiences. The legislation would reverse a provision included in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that lifted a decades-old ban on distributing State Department and U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) content within the United States. "The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act opened the door for taxpayer-funded propaganda to be used against the American people," said Massie...