Global Pulse

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  • Brazil reports drop in Amazon deforestation rates, pushing back on US tariff accusations

    Brazil reports drop in Amazon deforestation rates, pushing back on US tariff accusations

    SAO PAULO — In a direct challenge to one of the core justifications the Trump administration cited for imposing new trade barriers on Brazil, Brazilian environmental and space officials unveiled dramatic new data Thursday showing a steep decline in Amazon rainforest deforestation rates.

    According to joint figures released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the Ministry of Environment, deforestation across the Brazilian Amazon fell 61.4% in May 2026 compared to the same month in 2025, marking the lowest May deforestation total ever recorded. Even with the sharp decline, 370 square kilometers (nearly 143 square miles) of forest were still cleared last month. In the Cerrado, a threatened central Brazilian savanna that has been heavily targeted by large-scale agribusiness operations, deforestation also dropped by 12% over the same period.

    Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco told reporters that May typically sees elevated deforestation activity, as it marks the beginning of the Amazon’s dry season, when land clearing operations become easier. Cumulatively, over the 10-month monitoring period from August 2025 through May 2026, Amazon deforestation is already down 37.5% compared to the same period a year earlier. Capobianco said the trend puts Brazil on track to hit its lowest annual deforestation rate on record once full-year data is finalized in the second half of 2026.

    The new data comes less than a week after the Trump administration formally proposed 25% additional tariffs on all Brazilian imports, claiming the South American nation engages in unreasonable trade practices that harm U.S. commerce. A U.S. Trade Representative investigation leading up to the tariff announcement specifically cited illegal deforestation in Brazil as a core complaint, alongside claims of unfair Brazilian trade policies.

    Capobianco argued that the updated deforestation numbers completely debunk the U.S. claims, saying “the unfair and unfounded accusation by the United States, which cited deforestation to justify imposing tariffs” has no basis in fact. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was present for the announcement, echoed the criticism, doubling down on his rejection of the U.S. framing.

    Lula noted that the Trump administration previously lied about a U.S. trade deficit to justify earlier tariffs on Brazilian goods last year, and has now shifted to false claims about deforestation. “They don’t understand the work we are doing to bring deforestation down to zero by 2030. This is not a decision by any COP or by the United Nations. It is a decision of our government,” Lula said. “It’s a matter of justice, of Brazil’s contribution to the planet, fulfilling our obligation to avoid deforestation as much as possible. Preventing deforestation benefits Brazil, benefits the Amazon and benefits the world.”

    Deforestation is the single largest contributor to Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, which drive global climate change. As the world’s largest tropical rainforest, the Amazon plays an outsized role in regulating global climate patterns; scientific research has linked widespread Amazon forest loss to disrupted agricultural output as far away as the U.S. Midwest and Western Europe, alongside accelerating planetary warming.

    After declining for decades following record highs in the 1990s and early 2000s, deforestation surged again during the 2019–2022 presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration rolled back nearly all major environmental protections and enforcement for the Amazon. Since Lula returned to office in 2023, however, deforestation has fallen steadily, hitting its lowest annual level in a decade last year.

    Even with the recent progress, the Amazon still faces a range of ongoing and emerging threats. Forest degradation driven by wildfires, illegal logging, and drought now impacts roughly 40% of the rainforest, and in recent years has outpaced full clear-cutting as the leading source of forest damage. A strong El Niño event this year is expected to worsen these risks, bringing higher temperatures and drier conditions that increase the likelihood of large-scale wildfires across the basin.

    This climate and environmental reporting from The Associated Press receives funding from multiple private foundations, with AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • Deadly Sudan drone strike targets funeral procession

    Deadly Sudan drone strike targets funeral procession

    A devastating drone attack targeting a funeral gathering at a cemetery in the central Sudanese city of El-Obeid has left at least four people dead and multiple others wounded, two prominent Sudanese human rights advocacy organizations have confirmed. The Sudan Doctors Network and Emergency Lawyers have jointly placed responsibility for the strike on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country’s main paramilitary faction fighting against the national army in the ongoing civil conflict.

    Emergency Lawyers added that the cemetery attack is just one incident in a sustained campaign of drone strikes that has rocked El-Obeid since Wednesday evening. Across this series of assaults, at least 23 people have been killed to date. The RSF has not yet issued any public statement or response to the allegations.

    Strategically positioned in Sudan’s oil-rich Kordofan region, El-Obeid is currently held by Sudan’s regular army and has emerged as one of the most critical battlegrounds in the country’s three-year civil war. The conflict erupted in early 2023 after a bitter power struggle between the army’s top leadership and RSF command collapsed the country’s transitional ruling agreement, breaking out into open nationwide fighting.

    Geographically, El-Obeid sits as a critical buffer between RSF-held territories in western Sudan and the majority army-controlled eastern regions. Analysts widely note that control of the broader Kordofan region grants effective command over Sudan’s entire national oil supply and a large portion of the country’s total land area, making the fight for El-Obeid strategically decisive for both warring factions.

    Beyond the cemetery strike, Emergency Lawyers documented additional drone strikes hitting civilian residential areas, the airport district, and zones surrounding a local army base. Thirteen of the total confirmed fatalities occurred when civilians gathered near previously destroyed homes to assess damage or search for missing loved ones, the organization said. Five more civilians were killed in earlier strikes earlier in the week, and a fourth attack on Thursday killed a truck driver who was transporting emergency food supplies to residents of the embattled city.

    Local residents described scenes of widespread destruction and despair following the strikes. “It is tragic. The roofs of houses collapsed on their occupants. When you look at some houses, you feel no-one could have survived,” one El-Obeid resident told AFP news agency in the hours after the latest attacks.

    The two rights groups have emphasized that the past week’s strikes are part of a systematic pattern of repeated attacks on civilian targets in El-Obeid that has stretched over multiple days. Three years into the conflict, Sudan now faces what the United Nations has called the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crisis. More than 11 million Sudanese people have been displaced from their homes by the fighting, and an estimated 28 million people across the country face acute levels of food insecurity. While no fully verified, comprehensive death toll exists for the conflict, independent analysts estimate that at least 50,000 people have been killed since fighting began.

  • Pentagon floors on lockdown after ‘hazardous materials’ incident

    Pentagon floors on lockdown after ‘hazardous materials’ incident

    The U.S. Department of Defense headquarters at the Pentagon was placed under partial lockdown Wednesday after building systems picked up a potentially dangerous irregularity in indoor air quality, triggering an immediate response from hazardous materials crews and local emergency services.

    Pentogon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the incident in an official statement, noting that the detection of the air quality issue prompted precautionary action while authorities work to assess the severity of the hazard. Per standard safety protocols, a shelter-in-place order has been issued for all personnel in the affected sections of the massive building, Parnell added.

    Local emergency response agency Arlington Fire & EMS confirmed its involvement in the operation via a social media post, stating that the department is on-site supporting the Pentagon’s response to the reported hazardous materials incident. According to reporting from multiple U.S. mainstream media outlets, uniformed police officers deployed inside the building have been outfitted with full gas masks and complete chemical protective suits as they conduct on-site operations.

    As the central headquarters of the U.S. national defense apparatus, the Pentagon houses more than 20,000 civilian and military government employees across its sprawling campus in Arlington, Virginia, making any safety incident at the site a high-priority emergency for federal and local authorities. As of the latest update, authorities have not released additional details on the source of the air quality issue, nor have there been any reports of injuries or confirmed toxic exposure among personnel.

  • Sweden ditches plan to imprison 13-year-old serious offenders

    Sweden ditches plan to imprison 13-year-old serious offenders

    Sweden’s center-right government has abandoned its controversial proposal to allow imprisonment of serious offenders as young as 13, after failing to secure enough parliamentary backing for the two-year reduction in the age of criminal responsibility. Instead, the administration will push forward a more modest overhaul, lowering the current threshold of 15 to 15, the legislative text expected to be drafted ahead of September’s national general election. The policy shift comes as Sweden grapples with a growing national crisis of underage recruitment into violent organized criminal networks, a trend that has reshaped the country’s long-stable security landscape.

    Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer explained that the revised reform is designed to address gaps in the current justice system, which currently sentences convicted children under 15 to placement in state-run youth care homes, known as SiS homes. Under existing rules, youth convicted of violent offenses cannot be held in standard prison facilities. Strömmer argued that the current framework fails both public safety and offender rehabilitation, noting that SiS placements have been linked to higher rates of recidivism among young violent offenders. “By lowering the age of criminal responsibility, we can impose fairer, proportionate sanctions and create better conditions for rehabilitation than we can today,” he told reporters, adding that the core goal of the policy is to “protect society from life-threatening crime, and protect crime victims — who are often children themselves.”

    Eight existing adult prisons have already been instructed to set up dedicated, isolated sections to house young offenders, separated completely from the adult inmate population to prevent radicalization and exploitation. According to government data, more than 50 children under the age of 15 appeared in Swedish courts last year facing charges of murder or attempted murder, a statistic that underscores the severity of the youth violence crisis.

    The push for reform comes amid a decade-long shift in Sweden’s homicide trends: the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) recorded a substantial overall increase in homicides over the past 10 years, rising from 87 murders in 2014 to 121 in 2023, though the total fell to 92 in 2024 as law enforcement cracked down on major gang networks. Much of the recent violence can be traced to a brutal turf war between two of Sweden’s most powerful criminal organizations: the Foxtrot gang, led by fugitive Rawa Majid, and the rival Rumba gang headed by Ismail Abdo. The conflict, which peaked in 2023, has seen gangs increasingly exploit underage members to carry out high-risk attacks, from targeted shootings and bombings to contract killings. Abdo was arrested in Turkey in 2025, while Majid is believed to be hiding in the Middle East, and both the United States and United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Foxtrot and its leader last year over their alleged ties to foreign interference.

    In a troubling development that has drawn international attention, multiple recent attacks on Israeli-linked targets in Sweden — including an attack on defense contractor Elbit Systems’ Gothenburg facility and the Israeli embassy in Stockholm — have involved suspects as young as 13 and 14. Sweden’s domestic security service Säpo has publicly linked these plots to Iran, accusing the Iranian government of recruiting Swedish gang members to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe. Iran’s foreign ministry has repeatedly rejected the claims as “unfounded and biased,” asserting the accusations are rooted in misinformation spread by Israel. The 2025 US and UK sanctions explicitly cited Foxtrot’s role in carrying out “violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime.”

    Not all stakeholders support the government’s criminal age reform plan. Maria Frisk, secretary-general of leading Swedish children’s rights organization Bris, argued that the solution to youth violence lies not in lowering the age of criminal responsibility, but in strengthening the underfunded and overstretched SiS youth home system. “Nothing indicates that lowering the age to 14 will turn the situation around,” she said in a public statement. Critics have also pointed out that SiS homes themselves have increasingly become recruitment grounds for criminal networks in recent years, as young offenders are exposed to established gang members within the care system, perpetuating a cycle of violence.

  • India’s viral Cockroach Party launches nationwide youth protests

    India’s viral Cockroach Party launches nationwide youth protests

    NEW DELHI – A youth-driven grassroots political movement that turned a derogatory label into a rallying cry has launched a nationwide protest campaign, putting new pressure on India’s federal government to address widespread discontent among young people over systemic failures in education and employment.

    Hundreds of students and young backers of the self-styled Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) gathered this Thursday for a major public rally at Savitribai Phule Pune University, located in India’s western state of Maharashtra. The demonstration comes one week after the movement held its first large-scale street protest in the national capital of New Delhi, marking the start of a coordinated national push for policy and political change.

    At the core of the group’s immediate demands is the resignation of India’s Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. CJP organizers say Pradhan must be held accountable for persistent examination irregularities and repeated high-stakes exam paper leaks that have upended the academic and career prospects of millions of young job seekers across the country.

    Addressing the crowd of supporters, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke – a political communications strategist and current Boston University student who recently returned to India from the United States to lead the movement – confirmed Thursday’s rally marked the official opening of a broad national campaign. Dipke announced that organized protests are already planned for multiple major Indian cities in the coming weeks, and warned that thousands of CJP supporters will march back to New Delhi later this month if Pradhan fails to step down from his post.

    “ The government cannot continue to ignore the voices of India’s youth,” Dipke told reporters on the sidelines of the Pune rally.

    The unusual story of the CJP begins back in May, when a comment from Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant sparked national outrage. During a hearing related to youth unemployment, Kant compared some unemployed young people to “cockroaches” – a remark that sparked immediate backlash from young Indians across the country. Rather than reject the insult, CJP founders and supporters embraced the term, rebranding it as a symbol of resilience and survival in the face of persistent economic and political barriers.

    The movement’s rapid growth on social media has been unprecedented: it has already amassed more than 22 million followers on Instagram, making it one of the most visible youth political mobilization efforts in India today. What started as a reaction to a single offensive comment has since expanded its scope, with the CJP now centering a broader set of grievances that resonate with millions of young Indians: widespread youth unemployment, skyrocketing living costs, and a lack of transparency and accountability from the ruling government.

    A defining feature of the CJP’s political identity is its blend of self-deprecating humor and sharp political criticism. Supporters lean into the joke, jokingly describing themselves as “unemployed and chronically online,” while short-form videos and viral memes mocking high unemployment, systemic corruption, and government dysfunction have racked up millions of views across platforms. The satirical energy of the movement has spawned dozens of parody CJP accounts, all of which have adopted the cockroach as a unifying, tongue-in-cheek political symbol that sets the movement apart from traditional, formal Indian political parties.

  • Toronto police officer dies in raid linked to US consulate shooting

    Toronto police officer dies in raid linked to US consulate shooting

    A decades-long veteran law enforcement officer with Toronto’s police force has been killed in a deadly gunfight during a coordinated raid targeting suspects connected to a brazen March shooting at the United States consulate in downtown Toronto, according to official police statements.

    The confrontation unfolded in the early hours of Thursday at a residential high-rise, where members of the Toronto Police Service executed search warrants as part of their months-long investigation into the consulate attack, which both U.S. and Canadian authorities labeled a national security incident at the time of the original shooting. Forty-three-year-old Marc Pinizzotto, who had 18 years of service with the force and five years with the elite Emergency Task Force, was struck by gunfire during the exchange and later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

    A second suspect was also hit in the crossfire and rushed to hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries; police have not yet released the individual’s name to the public. A third suspect, identified as 19-year-old Zara Jabbi, remains at large, and law enforcement has warned the public that he is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw issued an urgent public appeal, urging anyone who spots Jabbi to contact emergency services immediately rather than approach him.

    Original details of the March consulate attack confirm two male suspects exited a vehicle, fired multiple rounds at the fortified building using what appeared to be a handgun, then fled the scene in the same vehicle. No personnel inside the heavily secured consulate were injured in that earlier incident. Thursday’s search warrants were also linked to other unsolved shootings across the city, though police have not released additional details about those cases.

    The fatal shooting of the officer was publicly acknowledged by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra during a Canada-U.S. trade conference held in downtown Toronto the same day. Hoekstra extended condolences to Pinizzotto’s family and colleagues, noting that the ongoing joint investigation into the consulate attack is a testament to the close law enforcement cooperation between the two North American neighbors, and a reminder of the grave risks frontline officers take every day.

    Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell remembered Pinizzotto as a deeply valued and respected member of the policing community. A visibly emotional Demkiw told reporters Thursday that the entire city is reeling from the loss, saying “there is very heavy sorrow in our communities right now.” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow also issued a statement of tribute, calling Pinizzotto’s line-of-duty death heartbreaking news for the entire city.

    The violent incident comes just one day before Toronto is scheduled to host its first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where host nation Canada will face off against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the city’s BMO Field.

  • Bangladesh claim first ODI series win over Australia

    Bangladesh claim first ODI series win over Australia

    Cricket history was made in Mirpur on Wednesday, as Bangladesh pulled off a landmark five-wicket victory over Australia in the second ODI, claiming their first ever ODI series win against the six-time world champions. The underdog hosts have now sealed back-to-back wins over Australia, adding an ODI series triumph to their T20I series victory against the same opponent in 2021, with one match still left to play in the three-match tour. What makes the win even more remarkable is the context of the matchup: before this series, Bangladesh had never won an ODI series against Australia, falling to 0-3 sweeps in each of their four previous encounters. Their only prior individual ODI win against Australia came in a tri-series with England back in 2005, and they waited 21 years between their first 50-over win, which they earned in the opening match of this current series. The match, disrupted by rain, relied on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method to set a revised target for Bangladesh, after a late rain delay cut Australia’s innings short. Australia, missing several of their star first-choice players including pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, top-order batters Travis Head and all-rounder Mitch Marsh, got off to one of the worst possible starts in ODI history. Inside the first two overs, Australia were 0 wickets for 3 runs, becoming only the fourth men’s ODI side in nearly 5,000 matches to lose three wickets without scoring a single run. A sensational collapse was only avoided thanks to a resilient fightback from stand-in captain Josh Inglis, who scored 34, and a match-saving seventh-wicket partnership of 103 runs between Marnus Labuschagne and Xavier Bartlett. Labuschagne finished the innings unbeaten on 55, while Bartlett hit a valuable 52 off 63 balls. Just before the rain rolled in to stop play, Bartlett and spinner Adam Zampa fell to the Bangladesh bowling attack, cutting Australia’s final total to 187 for 8 from 42 overs and adjusting the target Bangladesh needed to chase to 192 runs from 41 overs. Bangladesh’s chase got off to a shaky start, with opening batter Tanzid Hasan Tamim out for a golden duck on the very first over. Middle-order batters Soumya Sarkar and Najmul Hossain Shanto steadied the innings, putting together an 86-run second wicket partnership that put Bangladesh back on track, with Sarkar scoring 42 and Shanto adding 41. The pair fell in quick succession after their stand, leaving the hosts on 98 for 3 halfway through their chase, but Bangladesh never let the momentum slip. Tawhid Hridoy hit an unbeaten 40, and captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz contributed 22 not out to guide the side across the finish line with six full overs to spare. In a moment that underlined Bangladesh’s fighting spirit, Mehidy was hit on the body by a bouncer from Australian paceman Nathan Ellis, and required medical attention after a stretcher was called onto the pitch, but he refused to leave and finished his innings to secure the win. The result means Bangladesh cannot lose the series, with the final match of the three-match ODI series set to take place in Mirpur this Sunday, kicking off at 06:00 BST. Beyond the bilateral series, this result carries major implications for 2027 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup qualification. Only the top eight teams in the ICC ODI rankings by September this year will qualify directly for the tournament. Currently, England sit in eighth place, Bangladesh ninth, and the West Indies 10th. England face a difficult away series against top-ranked India in July, meaning Bangladesh’s rising ranking points from this historic series could push them above England and alter the automatic qualification landscape ahead of the 2027 tournament. Bangladesh still hold an unfinished goal against Australia: while they now hold ODI and T20I series wins against the side, they are still yet to claim a Test series victory over Australia, a milestone they will look to reach in future matchups.

  • Artan to referee Uefa Super Cup after losing World Cup spot

    Artan to referee Uefa Super Cup after losing World Cup spot

    In a striking show of solidarity for a Somali official denied entry to the United States for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, European football’s governing body UEFA has named referee Omar Artan as the head official for this summer’s UEFA Super Cup between European giants Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa. The annual showpiece match, which pits the previous season’s UEFA Champions League winner against the UEFA Europa League champion, will kick off on August 12 in the Austrian city of Salzburg.

    The appointment comes after collaborative talks between UEFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), with both bodies backing the nomination for the highly respected African official. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin emphasized the value of Artan’s experience and skill in an official statement announcing the decision, noting that Artan has already established a strong track record at the highest levels of CAF competition despite still being a relatively young official.

    “Football is made to connect people, and Uefa wants to show its respect to Omar and his outstanding officiating skills, which had earned him such a prestigious nomination,” Ceferin said, adding that he appreciated enthusiastic support for the initiative from CAF president Patrice Motsepe.

    Artan, who claimed the 2025 CAF Men’s Referee of the Year award and has featured on FIFA’s international referee list since 2018, was set to make history as the first Somali referee to officiate at a men’s World Cup finals when he traveled to the U.S. earlier this month. But his long-held dream of participating in the tournament was derailed when U.S. border officials in Miami turned him away, even though he held a valid diplomatic passport and approved single-entry U.S. visa.

    A U.S. government official confirmed earlier this week that Artan was denied entry over unsubstantiated allegations of “association with suspected members of terror organisations.” The denial falls under a long-standing travel ban first introduced during the Trump administration that includes Somalia among the restricted countries. After consultations with U.S. authorities, FIFA confirmed Artan would be forced to withdraw from the 2026 World Cup tournament.

    In comments shared with The New York Times this week, Artan pushed back against the claims made by border officials, saying he was questioned extensively about alleged links to Somali militant group Al Shabab, and denied any knowledge of or connection to the organization. He added that all his documentation was fully in order for the trip. “I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa,” Artan said. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.”

    The unexpected nomination to the UEFA Super Cup marks a major show of support from European and African football governing bodies, recognizing Artan’s professional accomplishments while highlighting football’s core mission of uniting people across borders and geopolitical barriers.

  • Here’s how to avoid heat-related illnesses and stay cool this summer

    Here’s how to avoid heat-related illnesses and stay cool this summer

    BERLIN – A new warning from the World Health Organization’s European regional office has underscored the deadly human cost of rising global temperatures, announcing Thursday that more than 200,000 people across the continent have died from heat-related causes over the past four years — and the vast majority of these fatalities could have been avoided.

    As communities across the Northern Hemisphere brace for what could be another record-breaking summer of above-average temperatures, public health officials stress that extreme heat is far more than just an uncomfortable nuisance. Unregulated exposure to sustained high temperatures can trigger heat exhaustion, and progress to life-threatening heat stroke that requires immediate medical intervention.

    Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director for WHO Europe, framed the escalating heat crisis as an immediate consequence of human-caused climate change in an official public statement. “The impacts of climate change are a clear and present danger, and its most immediate and lethal manifestation is extreme heat,” Kluge said. “Heatwaves are no longer freak weather anomalies. They are now a recurring crisis inflicting suffering, claiming lives and fracturing our health systems and infrastructure.”

    The agency is pushing national governments and local public health institutions across Europe to roll out comprehensive heat action plans immediately. Recommended interventions range from opening free, accessible public cooling centers for at-risk communities to implementing mandatory heat safety policies for workplaces, including scheduled outdoor work breaks and flexible shift scheduling that keeps employees out of the dangerous midday sun. Kluge emphasized that the long-term public health goal is non-negotiable: “Our goal is clear and our ambition is bold: zero heat-related deaths.”

    The WHO’s warning came on the same day that global meteorologists confirmed the development of a new El Niño event in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Characterized by unusual natural warming of Pacific surface waters, El Niño is already projected to strengthen to potentially historic levels through the Northern Hemisphere summer and fall. Climate scientists explain that this natural climate cycle will amplify the existing long-term warming driven by decades of fossil fuel emissions, creating a high risk of turbocharged extreme weather events across every continent.

    To help people protect themselves from heat-related illness this summer, WHO has published a set of clear, evidence-based public safety guidelines:

    First, limit exposure during the peak heat window. The hottest hours of most summer days typically fall between mid-morning and late afternoon, so officials advise staying indoors or in shaded areas during this window when possible. If outdoor work or travel is unavoidable, avoid strenuous activity and prioritize shaded rest stops. WHO also recommends spending at least two to three hours in a cool environment every day during heatwaves, and reminds the public to regularly check official local heat warning updates to stay informed of changing conditions.

    Second, take proactive steps to cool indoor living spaces. During daytime hours, close all windows and cover exposed glass with blinds, curtains or external shutters to block hot incoming sunlight. Once temperatures drop after dark, open windows to let in cool evening air. For households with air conditioning, WHO recommends setting thermostats to 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) and pairing cooling with a fan to boost comfort while reducing energy use. The agency also noted that low-income urban and rural communities are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat, as substandard housing and lack of access to affordable cooling technology leaves them far more exposed to dangerous indoor overheating.

    Third, maintain hydration and dress appropriately for hot conditions. Public health officials advise drinking one cup of water per hour even if you do not feel thirsty, to avoid gradual dehydration that can lead to serious health complications. Regular cool showers or baths are an effective way to lower core body temperature, and when those are not available, wiping skin with a cool damp cloth or using a mist spray can provide relief. Clothing should be lightweight, loose-fitting and light-colored to reflect sunlight, and the same rule applies to bed linens for overnight cooling. Anyone heading outdoors should also wear a wide-brimmed hat, UV-protective sunglasses and high-SPF sunscreen to avoid additional sun-related health risks.

    Finally, prioritize protection for the most vulnerable population groups. WHO repeatedly stresses that children and pets should never be left inside a parked vehicle, even for a few minutes: internal temperatures can spike to deadly levels in as little as 10 minutes under direct sun. For caregivers pushing baby strollers, covering the carriage with a thin wet cloth provides cooling shade, while dry cloth traps heat and raises internal temperatures to dangerous levels — adding a small portable fan can also improve airflow for infants. Regular check-ins are critical for at-risk groups including adults over 65, people living with disabilities, and those with preexisting heart, lung or kidney conditions, as well as people who live alone who may not have anyone to help them if they become ill from heat. Manual laborers and other outdoor workers are also at especially high risk when work schedules do not allow for heat-related adjustments.

  • Sudanese paramilitary drone strikes kill at least 15 people in central region, officials say

    Sudanese paramilitary drone strikes kill at least 15 people in central region, officials say

    As Sudan’s brutal civil war enters its fourth year, a new wave of overnight drone strikes carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main paramilitary group, has left at least 15 people dead and dozens more injured in the central Sudanese city of el-Obeid, health officials confirmed Thursday. The rising reliance on unmanned aerial attacks has become one of the most dangerous and destabilizing features of the ongoing conflict, which has already plunged the nation into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

    The assault began late Wednesday, hitting multiple locations across el-Obeid including an area adjacent to a Sudanese military position, according to two health workers from el-Obeid Hospital, the main facility receiving casualties from the strikes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as they lack official authorization to engage with media outlets. They added that more than 10 people were wounded, with several suffering critical injuries that require urgent advanced care.

    Dr. Mohamed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, an organization that monitors casualty figures across the country, told the Associated Press that RSF drones also targeted two additional civilian sites: a funeral gathering at a local cemetery, where four attendees were killed, and a functioning gas station. Dr. Elsheikh noted that he could not immediately confirm whether the casualties included only civilians, only combatants, or a mix of both.

    Aid workers on the ground report that drone strikes have intensified sharply across el-Obeid in recent days, with public gatherings of any kind repeatedly targeted. An anonymous aid worker with the global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps, speaking out of fear of retaliation from armed groups, explained that the escalating violence has forced local schools to suspend all classes, while city markets only operate partially as residents stay home to avoid attack.

    Emergency Lawyers, a Sudan-based aid and conflict monitoring group, released a statement Thursday warning that the final death toll is expected to rise, as drone sorties continued to fly over el-Obeid well into Thursday. The group documented that residential homes near the headquarters of the Sudanese military’s 5th Infantry Division were hit, alongside a truck transporting critical food supplies into the city. The truck’s driver was killed in the strike.

    “This series of attacks indicates a widespread pattern of targeting civilian gatherings, neighborhoods and infrastructure, including during rescue operations and funerals,” the group said, adding that it has grave concerns over the indiscriminate nature of these strikes, which put non-combatant residents at constant lethal risk.

    Sudan’s long-running conflict first erupted in April 2023, when decades of latent tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF boiled over into open civil war. To date, the conflict has killed at least 59,000 confirmed people, displaced more than 13 million Sudanese from their homes, and pushed large swathes of the country into catastrophic famine conditions. The United Nations estimates that more than 30 million Sudanese — over two-thirds of the country’s total population — require urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance.

    As the conflict has dragged on, military control has become geographically split: the Sudanese military holds power across northern, eastern, and central Sudan, including strategic Red Sea ports and the country’s critical oil refining and pipeline infrastructure. The RSF and its allied militias control the entire Darfur region and large portions of Kordofan along Sudan’s border with South Sudan, both resource-rich regions holding major oil reserves and gold deposits.

    Security and conflict experts confirm that drone warfare has now overtaken other forms of attack as the deadliest threat to civilian populations in Sudan, with both warring parties receiving shipments of drones and other military equipment from multiple countries across the Middle East and beyond. Humanitarian workers add that the recent surge in drone attacks across Kordofan has severely hampered already fragile aid operations in the region, leaving vulnerable communities cut off from critical food, water, and medical support.