Greenland’s ice sheet has experienced a “massive melting event” during a heat wave that has seen temperatures more than 10 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Danish researchers.Since Wednesday, the ice sheet covering the vast Arctic territory has melted by about 8 billion tons a day, twice its normal average rate during summer, reported the Polar Portal website, which is run by Danish researchers.The Danish Meteorological Institute reported temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), more than twice the normal average summer temperature, in northern Greenland.And Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the territory recorded 23.4 degrees C (74.1 F) on Thursday — the highest recorded there since records began.With the heat wave affecting most of Greenland that day, the Polar Portal website reported a “massive melting event” involving enough water “to cover Florida with two inches of water” (five centimeters).The largest melt of the Greenland ice sheet still dates to the summer of 2019.The area where the melting took place this time, though, is larger than two years ago, the website added.The Greenland ice sheet is the second-largest mass of freshwater ice on the planet with nearly 1.8 million square kilometers (695,000 square miles), second only to Antarctica.The melting of the ice sheets started in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000. The mass loss in recent years is approximately four times greater than it was before 2000, according to the researchers at Polar Portal.One European study published in January said ocean levels would rise between 10 and 18 centimeters by 2100 — or 60 percent faster than previously estimated — at the rate at which the Greenland ice sheet was now melting.The Greenland ice sheet, if completely melted, would raise the ocean levels by six to seven meters.But with a relatively cool start to the Greenland summer, with snowfalls and rains, the retreat of the ice sheet so far for 2021 remains within the historical norm, according to Polar Portal. The melting period extends from June to early September.
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Panicked tourists in Turkey hurried to the seashore to wait for rescue boats Saturday after being told to evacuate some hotels in the Aegean resort of Bodrum because of the dangers posed by nearby wildfires, Turkish media reported.Coast guard units were leading the operation and authorities asked private boats and yachts to assist in evacuation efforts from the sea as new wildfires erupted. Video showed plumes of smoke and fire enveloping a hill close to the seashore.The death toll from wildfires raging in Turkey’s Mediterranean towns rose to six Saturday after two forest workers were killed, the country’s health minister said. Fires across Turkey since Wednesday have burned down forests and some settlements, encroaching on villages and tourist destinations and forcing people to evacuate.The minister of agriculture and forestry, Bekir Pakdemirli, said Saturday that 91 of the 101 fires that broke out amid strong winds and scorching heat had been brought under control. Neighborhoods affected by fire in five provinces were declared disaster zones by Turkey’s emergency and disaster authority.Government assistancePresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspected some damage Saturday from a helicopter.Speaking from the town of Manavgat, Erdogan announced that the Turkish government would cover the rents for people affected by fire and rebuild their homes. He said taxes, social security and credit payments would be postponed for those affected and small businesses would be offered credit with zero interest.”We cannot do anything beyond wishing the mercy of God for the lives we have lost, but we can replace everything that was burned,” he said.A man watches wildfires in Kacarlar village near the Mediterranean coastal town of Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey, July 31, 2021.Erdogan said the number of planes fighting the fires had been increased from six to 13, including planes from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, and that thousands of Turkish personnel, as well as dozens of helicopters and drones, were assisting the firefighting efforts.At least five people have died from the fires in Manavgat and one died in Marmaris. Both towns are Mediterranean tourist destinations. Tourism is an important source of revenue for Turkey, and business owners were hoping this summer would be much better than last year, when pandemic travel restrictions caused tourism to plummet.Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 400 people affected by the fires in Manavgat were treated at hospitals and released, while 10 others were still hospitalized for fire injuries. In Marmaris, 159 people were treated at a hospital and one person was still undergoing treatment for burns.In southern Hatay province, flames jumped into populated areas but later apparently were brought under control.Common occurrencesWildfires are common in Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions during the arid summer months. Turkey has blamed some previous forest fires on arson or outlawed Kurdish militants. Erdogan said Saturday that authorities were investigating the possibility of “sabotage” causing fires.Meanwhile, a heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean.Firefighters on the Italian island of Sicily battled dozens of blazes Saturday fueled by high temperatures, prompting the region’s governor to request assistance from Rome. Some 150 people trapped in two seaside areas in the city of Catania were evacuated late Friday by sea, where they were picked up by rubber dinghies and transferred to Coast Guard boats.Temperatures in Greece and nearby countries in southeast Europe are expected to climb to 42 degrees Celsius (more than 107 Fahrenheit) Monday in many cities and towns.
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France secured a comfortable win over Iran in Olympic men’s basketball on Saturday to qualify for the quarterfinals and remain undefeated in the preliminary round.Real Madrid’s Thomas Heurtel led with 16 points in France’s 79-62 victory at the Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo. They swept their opponents in Group A, including a shock defeat of Team USA on Sunday, the first Olympic loss for the Americans since 2004.”The focus really was more about us and trying things out,” Evan Fournier, who plays for the NBA’s Boston Celtics, said about France’s decisive win. Despite his team’s dominant showing so far, he wouldn’t speculate on medal odds.”Quarter-final first. Focus on that,” he said. “Too many times we’ve beaten very, very good teams and we lost in the semi-final, so no more of that.”The men’s quarterfinals are Tuesday.Iran finished 0-3 in the group stage. Arsalan Kazemi lamented that the travel restrictions imposed on Iran affected their performance.”We cannot really get out of Iran for any good friendly game,” he said at a press conference. “For Olympic preparation, we could have gone to a lot of different countries like other teams and played like 10, 11, 12 good games, and would have come here and would have competed differently.”The United States bounced back with a win over Iran earlier this week and will face the Czech Republic later on Saturday.Team USA has historically been the team to beat at basketball, with a 139-6 record and 15 gold medals since 1936. But as the sport has grown in popularity around the globe, many national teams can field teams with NBA experience, and the U.S.’s talent advantage has shrunk.Before losing to France at these Games, the United States dropped two straight exhibition games this month, including a defeat to world 22nd-ranked Nigeria. 
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The United States said Friday it has laid off nearly 200 local staffers working for its diplomatic missions in Russia ahead of an August 1 deadline set by the Kremlin for their dismissal. The move is the latest in a series of measures taken by both sides that have strained U.S.-Russia relations. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the layoffs are regrettable and something the U.S. had hoped to avert, despite a sharp deterioration in ties between Moscow and Washington, which show few signs of improvement.  FILE – Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the State Department in Washington, July 12, 2021.”These unfortunate measures will severely impact the U.S. mission to Russia’s operations, potentially including the safety of our personnel as well as our ability to engage in diplomacy with the Russian government,” Blinken said in a statement. “Although we regret the actions of the Russian government forcing a reduction in our services and operations, the United States will follow through on our commitments while continuing to pursue a predictable and stable relationship with Russia,” he said.  The Russian Foreign Ministry was silent on the matter, and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a query. Russia earlier this year announced a ban on almost all non-American staff at the embassy in Moscow and consulates in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok. That came in response to U.S. expulsions of Russian diplomats and tit-for-tat closures of numerous diplomatic facilities in each country. Those expulsions and closures came in the context of U.S. sanctions imposed over Russian interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, and the arrest of opposition figure Alexey Navalny and crackdown on his supporters, as well as involvement in the SolarWind hack of U.S. federal agencies. All are activities that Russia has denied. After the announcement of the ban, the embassy suspended routine consular services and since May has been processing immigrant visas only in the case of life-or-death emergencies.  The suspension of consular services has also left Russian businessmen, exchange students and romantic partners adrift because they are no longer able to obtain U.S. visas in Russia.  Still, the U.S. had been cautiously optimistic that the Russian decision might be reversed at last month’s meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in Geneva. But those hopes evaporated even after the two sides resumed strategic arms control talks this week. FILE – U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.Thus, Friday’s announcement sealed the employment fate of 182 locally employed staffers who worked as office and clerical staff, drivers and contractors at the U.S. facilities. Only security guards who work outside the gates of the compounds were exempted from the ban.  “The United States is immensely grateful for the tireless dedication and commitment of our locally employed staff and contractors at U.S. Mission Russia,” Blinken said. “We thank them for their contributions to the overall operations and their work to improve relations between our two countries. Their dedication, expertise and friendship have been a mainstay of Mission Russia for decades.”We value our deep connection to the Russian people,” Blinken added. “Our people-to-people relationships are the bedrock of our bilateral relations.” 
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The United Nations warns global hunger is increasing and urgent action is needed to stave off famine and death over coming months in nearly two dozen unstable, violence-prone countries.A report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program said more than a half-million people are experiencing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity and 41 million are at risk of famine.The report from the WFP and FAO focuses on the particularly serious situation in 23 so-called hunger hot spots.  Most of those countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, with others in Central America, Asia and the Middle East.Patrick Jacqueson, FAO officer in charge of the Geneva office, said acute hunger is set to increase in those countries over the next four months without urgent, scaled-up humanitarian assistance.“Conflict continues to be the primary driver for the largest share of people facing acute food insecurity,” Jacqueson said. “Closely associated with conflict are humanitarian access constraints, which remain significant, compounding food insecurity. Weather extremes and climate variability are likely to affect several parts of the world during the outlook period.”The report said dry conditions are likely to affect Haiti, Nigeria’s Middle Belt and the “Dry Corridor” in Guatemala, while above-average rainfall and flooding are forecast in South Sudan, central and eastern Sahel, and Gulf of Guinea countries.400,000 face starvation in TigrayThe report highlighted the perilous situation in Ethiopia and Madagascar, the world’s newest highest-alert hunger hot spots.Annalisa Conte, WFP Geneva Office director, said the aggravation of conflict in recent months is having a catastrophic impact on the food security of the Tigrayan population in Ethiopia.  She warned that more than 400,000 people would face starvation if they did not receive sufficient humanitarian aid.“If we move to Madagascar, Madagascar is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years,” Conte said. “On top of that, economic decline largely caused by COVID. As a result, 1.3 million people are currently facing the acute food insecurity.”The FAO and WFP said fighting, blockades that cut off lifesaving aid to families on the verge of famine, and a lack of funding were hampering efforts to provide emergency food aid to millions of desperate people.The agencies said families who rely on humanitarian aid to survive were hanging by a thread. They noted that most of those on the verge of famine in the 23 hot spots were farmers and must receive help to resume food production.  That, they said, will allow them to feed themselves and become self-sufficient.
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Firefighters continued to battle raging wildfires in southern Turkey Friday that have killed at least four people and forced the evacuation of villages and hotels.More than 70 wildfires broke out this week in Turkey’s Mediterranean and southern Aegean region and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that crews were still trying to contain them in 14 locations after bringing 57 other wildfires under control since Wednesday. Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said the uncontained wildfires were in six provinces and vowed to hold accountable anyone found to be responsible for starting them. Authorities said Thursday that investigations into the fires had begun.The mayor of the Turkish resort town of Marmaris said he could not dismiss the possibility of “sabotage” as the cause of a mountainside fire that threatened holiday homes and hotels on Thursday.Erdogan said a plane from Azerbaijan would join planes from Russia and Ukraine to battle the fires, adding “with the arrival of the planes, we are turning in a positive direction.”In addition to at least five planes, the Turkish president said 45 helicopters, drones and nearly 1,100 firefighting vehicles are involved in the effort.Wildfires are common in Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions during the dry summer season, but arson or Kurdish militants have been blamed for some previous forest fires.
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Amazon.com Inc has been hit with a record $886.6 million (746 million euros) European Union fine for processing personal data in violation of the bloc’s GDPR rules, as privacy regulators take a more aggressive position on enforcement.The Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) imposed the fine on Amazon in a July 16 decision, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday.Amazon will appeal the fine, according to a company spokesperson. The e-commerce giant said in the filing it believed CNPD’s decision was without merit.CNPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, requires companies to seek people’s consent before using their personal data or face steep fines.Globally, regulatory scrutiny of tech giants has been increasing following a string of scandals over privacy and misinformation, as well as complaints from some businesses that they abuse their market power.Alphabet’s Google, Facebook Inc, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp have drawn heightened scrutiny in Europe.In December, France’s data privacy watchdog handed out its biggest ever fine of 100 million euros ($118.82 million) to Google for breaching the nation’s rules on online advertising trackers.
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France’s European Affairs Minister on Thursday called Britain’s decision to lift quarantine requirements for all fully vaccinated travelers arriving from Europe except France “discriminatory and incomprehensible” and said he hopes it is reviewed as soon as possible. Clement Beaune made the comments during an interview on French television a day after Britain announced it was dropping the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated visitors from the European Union and the United States but that it would review rules for travelers from France only at the end of next week. FILE – French minister for European affairs Clement Beaune arrives at a General Affairs meeting in Luxembourg, June 22, 2021.The British government has said it is keeping quarantine rules for travelers from France because of the presence of the beta variant there. But Beaune told French broadcaster LCI the beta strain accounted for fewer than 5% of COVID-19 cases in France, and mostly occurred in overseas territories from where relatively few people traveled to Britain.  “We are saying to the British that, on the scientific and health levels, there are no explanations for this decision,” he said. In a Wednesday interview, British Transportation Minister Grant Shapps said the government will not be able to review the decision until the end of next week because they need to see the data. Beaune said he will continue pressuring Britain to review the requirement, but said, for now, he is not planning to impose similar measures on British travelers to France.  Some information in this report came from Associated Press, Reuters and AFP. 
 
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Thursday marks the second and final day of the Global Education Summit in London, hosted by Kenya and the United Kingdom. International governments and corporations pledged to donate $4 billion for the Global Partnership for Education, which provides fair access to public education in 90 countries and territories that account for 80% of children out of school. The summit emphasized the importance of equitable access to education amid warnings that COVID-19 has exacerbated already under-resourced public education programs in less economically developed countries. Experts alerted the organization that it was unlikely for those forced out of schools due to the pandemic to return. Australia’s former prime minister Julia Gillard gestures as she speaks during the closing ceremony on the second day of the Global Education Summit in London, Britain, July 29, 2021.Julia Gillard, former Australian prime minister and chair of the partnership, noted that the pandemic affected access to education in all nations but poorer countries where families may lack internet connection or electricity were devastated. Gillard said that this pledge puts the partnership on track for completing the goal of raising $5 billion over five years. Ambassador Raychelle Omamo, Kenyan Cabinet secretary for foreign affairs, warned of the pandemic’s devastating impact on global education, saying “education is the pathway, the way forward.” Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner from Pakistan and activist for female education, spoke to the summit leaders and stressed the significance of accessible education for young girls who are often discriminated against. She warned that 130 million girls were unable to attend school because of the pandemic and said that “their futures are worth fighting for.” Addressing the conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his government’s commitment to girls’ education and its goal of enrolling 40 million more girls in school by 2026. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson applaud during the closing ceremony on the second day of the Global Education Summit in London, Britain, July 29, 2021.”Enabling them to learn and reach their full potential is the single greatest thing we can do to recover from this crisis,” Johnson said. Johnson faced criticism for advocating for girls’ education while simultaneously cutting the U.K.’s overseas aid budget. The prime minister pledged $602 million to the Global Partnership for Education, while slashing $5.6 billion from the U.K.’s international development allowance. British officials said that the budget cut is temporary and was a necessary action due to the economic strain from pandemic recovery. The Global Partnership for Education also received criticism for continuing funding to partner countries that openly discriminate against students. Investigations by Human Rights Watch uncovered open exclusion of pregnant students in Tanzania and Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh.  Some information for this report came from the Associated Press. 
 
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Canada’s decision to reopen its borders to international visitors is encouraging tourism operators in tiny Prince Edward Island, who are hoping the Asian visitors who have become a mainstay of the province’s economy will soon be back.

Best known in Asia as the setting for the “Anne of Green Gables” novels, this province in Atlantic Canada has long been a magnet for visitors — especially from Japan and more recently China — who come to visit the house where the century-old children’s stories are set.

But travel restrictions imposed by the federal government last year in response to the coronavirus pandemic brought all of that screeching to a halt, reducing overall visits to the island by 70% compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to provincial officials.

Prospects brightened this month when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that fully vaccinated Americans would be able to enter Canada for nonessential travel beginning on August 9, and that visitors from other countries would be admitted as of September 7.

That is good news to George Campbell, who operates a museum in the real-life house where author L.M. Montgomery set the early 20th-century stories that have more recently been made into a movie and a Netflix series. Fans of “Green Gables” from China are an important part of his clientele.

“We are eager to have Chinese tourists visit our province and my museum,” Campbell told VOA ahead of a reporter’s visit to the white clapboard house with its iconic green gables. “It is wonderful that they will travel so far to come and visit.”

While it was Green Gables that put Prince Edward Island on the map for many Asians, enterprising islanders have been quick to offer the visitors other ways to spend their money.

According to the federally funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp., bus tours have been established that cater to Chinese tourists, and golf courses have begun offering Motion Pay, a payment system favored by many Chinese.

Wang Shoutao, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, told VOA that visitors from his country have been attracted to other parts of Canada as well.

“In recent years, tourism exchanges between China and Canada have been developing, and Canada has become a very important destination for Chinese tourists,” he said without addressing recent friction between the two countries over the detention of two Canadian citizens in China.

A formal statement provided by Wang said, “Friendship between the peoples holds the key to sound state-to-state relations, and heart-to-heart communication contributes to deeper friendship.”

For Prince Edward Island, the personal connections forged by tourism have led to more permanent links. Until it was supplanted by India in 2017, China had been the largest source of new immigrants settling in the province for a decade.

The National Post newspaper reports that 2,400 Chinese newcomers arrived in 2006-09, making a visible impact in a province of 160,000 people whose main industries are tourism, potato farming and fishing.

The province, located at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, is also looking for new business opportunities with China, according to Peter McKenna, a professor at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI).

“I would say that the province is interested in examining possibilities and the potential for greater linkages with China,” McKenna told VOA. “One of those areas would be in the fishing or the seafood sector. I think there are opportunities there for companies in PEI and Atlantic Canada in general to develop a market in China.”

Jeffrey Collins, another UPEI professor who works on trade policy for the provincial government, agreed that trade with China is important to the island but said it is still far overshadowed by the exchange of goods and services with the United States.

“PEI’s export growth to China, as impressive as it has been in recent years, is very much based on a handful of products, chiefly lobster,” he said. While that trade remains “robust despite larger geopolitical tensions,” he noted, “key limitations are in transportation access and need to develop deep business cultural ties with Chinese buyers/consumers.”

While the Asian influx has been a boost to the island’s economy, not everyone in the province’s tightly knit community has been happy to see the growing numbers of what are often described by longtime Atlantic Canadians as the “come-from-away.”

“If anyone in PEI tells you that there is no racism, they’re lying or not aware of what’s going around,” said Satyajit Sen, a policy adviser at the Federation of Prince Edward Island Municipalities. “It exists and you can sense it, especially during the COVID times.”
 

Sen, who spoke to VOA in a Vietnamese-run coffee shop, said the island’s enviable standard of living, which he also enjoys, cuts both ways when it comes to the small-town mindset.

“It could be a sense of insularity, a sense of island-ness, which is largely a positive, but which can also be a negative if people come from away, which is not a good term to be honest with you.”

Anxiety about outsiders has been heightened during the pandemic, which has infected relatively few people here. Sen said this has led to people vandalizing cars with license plates from outside Prince Edward Island.
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Current and future attempts by the United States to use its military might abroad could very well meet the same fate as the country’s nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, a U.S. government watchdog warned, citing the repeated failure of top officials to learn from their mistakes.

U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko unleashed the blunt assessment Thursday during a discussion with reporters, accusing wave after wave of top-ranking defense officials and diplomats of lying to themselves, as well as the American public.

“We exaggerated, overexaggerated,” Sopko said in response to a question from VOA. “Our generals did. Our ambassadors did. All of our officials did, to go to Congress and the American people about ‘We’re just turning the corner.’

“We turned the corner so much, we did 360 degrees,” he said. “We’re like a top.”

Sopko said that while there were “multiple reasons” the U.S. failed to create a more effective and cohesive Afghan military, some of it was “this hubris that we can somehow take a country from that was desolate in 2001 and turn it into little Norway.”

But another key factor, he said, was “mendacity.”

Top ranking U.S. military leaders “knew how bad the Afghan military was,” Sopko said, adding that they tried to keep such problems hidden.

‘We changed the goal posts’

“Every time we had a problem with the Afghan military, we changed the goal posts,” he said. “The U.S. military changed the goal posts and made it easier to show success. And then, finally, when they couldn’t even do that, they classified the assessment tool.”

Sopko cautioned that part of the problem with setting up Afghanistan for success also hinged on Washington’s refusal over almost 20 years to plan for long-term success.

“We’ve highlighted time and again we had unrealistic timelines for all of our work,” he said, pointing to a series of reports by his office during the past 12 years.

“Four-star generals, four-star military, four-star ambassadors forced the USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] to try to show success in short timelines, which they themselves knew were never going to work,” Sopko said. “These short timelines, which have no basis in reality except the political reality of the appropriations cycle or whatever, whatever is popular at the moment, are dooming us to failure.

“That unfortunately is a problem not just with Afghanistan,” he added. “I think you find it in other countries where we’ve gone in.”

Sopko’s critique Thursday came just after the release of his office’s most recent report, which described the situation on the ground in Afghanistan as “bleak” and warned that the Afghan government could be facing an “existential crisis.”

Pentagon and State Department officials did not immediately respond to Sopko’s criticism, but they repeatedly have defended U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Last week, America’s most senior military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, said Afghan forces were well trained and well equipped, even though the Taliban had “strategic momentum.”

Milley also has defended the U.S. model known as “train, advise and assist,” calling it “the best approach” to counterterrorism.

 
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There is growing international criticism of Israel following allegations that software from the private security company NSO was used to spy on journalists, dissidents, and even political leaders around the world. A group of American lawmakers is urging the U.S. government to take punitive action against the company, which denies any wrongdoing. In Israel, some experts are calling for better regulation of cyber exports. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem.
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The U.S. Senate is starting debate on a new infrastructure spending package after President Joe Biden and a group of centrist Republican and Democratic senators reached agreement on it after weeks of wrangling over what to include and how to pay for it.

The White House declared Wednesday that the roughly $1 trillion package, including $550 billion in new allocations, would add about 2 million jobs to the U.S. economy each year for a decade. Many of those will be in construction work to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, building new broadband connections in rural areas of the U.S. and improving transit and water infrastructure.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate voted 67-32 Wednesday evening to proceed with debate and votes on amendments to the legislation, although final overall congressional passage of the measure could be weeks away.

“This deal signals to the world that our democracy can function,” Biden said in a statement. “We will once again transform America and propel us into the future.”

The White House said the package, one of Biden’s biggest legislative priorities, “will grow the economy, enhance our competitiveness, create good jobs, and make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just.”

While Biden had reached a basic agreement with five Republican and five Democratic centrist lawmakers a month ago, the lawmakers and White House negotiators stalemated over how much to spend on specific types of infrastructure.

The deal now, according to the White House, includes the biggest-ever federal investment in public transit, $39 billion, to upgrade and expand rail and bus systems, as well as the biggest-ever expenditure for passenger rail service since the creation of the existing Amtrak passenger rail system in 1971.

The spending plan calls for significant spending for bridges, clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, access for all Americans to high-speed internet, thousands more electric vehicle charging stations and improvements to the country’s electric grid.

“We now have an agreement on the major issues,” said Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator with Democrats. “We are prepared to move forward.”

Biden voiced his approval as he toured a truck plant in Pennsylvania. “I feel confident about it,” he said.

Biden, six months into his four-year presidency, views the infrastructure package as especially important to show voters that bipartisan deals can be worked out in politically fractious Washington.

Portman said the package will be “more than paid for,” although the White House was vague in describing the funding.

The White House said the deal “will generate significant economic benefits.” It said the package will be paid for with “a combination of redirecting unspent emergency relief funds, targeted corporate user fees, strengthening tax enforcement when it comes to crypto currencies, and other bipartisan measures, in addition to the revenue generated from higher economic growth as a result of the investments.”

Now, Biden is planning to advance, solely with the votes of Democratic lawmakers and no Republican support, a more ambitious $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package focusing on childcare, tax breaks and health care that touch almost every aspect of American life.

It would be paid for by raising the country’s corporate tax rate and taxes on individuals earning more than $400,000 annually, both of which Republicans oppose.
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Brittney Griner has long been open about her ongoing battle with depression, an ailment that triggered suicidal thoughts when she was younger and last year drove her out of the WNBA bubble because the isolation was too much to handle.

Her own struggles made the U.S. women’s basketball player feel deeply connected to Simone Biles for choosing her own well-being over sporting glory. Considered the best gymnast in the world, Biles pulled out of team competition in the middle of the event and then opted not to defend her 2016 gold medal in the all-around Thursday night at the Tokyo Games.

“It’s a very tough decision to step away. Especially at the Olympic level,” Griner said Thursday. “If you’re not your best self, you’re not going to be the best in your sport or help your team.”

The topic of mental health, growing in frequency in sports over the past year, was everywhere at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, a day after Biles made her decision to not compete in the all-around. Olympians in many sports have spent the past two days coming forward to recount their own battles while offering support to Biles.

“This Olympic Games has not only had a conversation about mental health, but now has movement in the right direction of mental health support,” U.S. swimmer Allison Schmitt said after the Americans won silver in the 4×200 freestyle relay.

On Thursday, Biles expressed appreciation about the response she’s received, posting on Twitter: “the outpouring love & support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before.”

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard, a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team, said his success and salary doesn’t make him immune to personal struggles. The discussion sparked by Biles made him reflective Thursday of his own journey.

“When people describe what depression looks like or battling mental health issues, sometimes I think back like, ‘Man, I had a couple of those moments. I just didn’t recognize that’s what was happening,’” he said.

Lillard said he’s careful about his social media consumption, which can distort and intensify already strong emotions.

“We are in an era where everybody has access to us,” Lillard said. “In the past, being a professional athlete or being an Olympian, you were in front of the world but everybody couldn’t just tweet you and everybody couldn’t slander you on Twitter and you become a trending topic and talk about you on Instagram and the Internet just wasn’t such a powerful place.”

At the Olympics, the support for Biles has been overwhelmingly supportive. Social media has been harsher; strangers have accused Biles of being weak, a quitter, and said her decisions in Tokyo have tarnished her legacy.

Former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry, an IOC member and chair of the IOC Athlete’s Commission, recommends athletes avoid the social platforms during competition. “Some people can leave negative comments, and they can be really hurtful to athletes,” Coventry said.

Across the Games, here is some of the other discussion about mental health heard among Olympians on Thursday:

SAM MIKULAK

The three-time U.S. Olympian and six-time national champion will retire following next week’s parallel bars final and plans to attend grad school. A gymnast for most of his 28 years, Mikulak said he’s considering a career as a mental health professional.

He said he’s spoken to Biles since her stunning withdrawal Tuesday from team competition after she botched her vault routine and recognized she wasn’t in the right mental space to continue.

“She seems like she’s doing what’s best for her,” Mikulak said. “I am really proud of her for prioritizing mental health and making sure that everyone knows and understands that we’re not just athletes. We’re human beings, and sometimes it’s too much, and when that’s the case you have to do what’s best for you.”

CHRISTEN PRESS

The U.S. women’s soccer star said she relies on a twice-daily meditation practice to decompress and process, a tool she uses year-round whether playing in a tournament or out of season.

“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to develop a self-love and self-care that can power me through stressful times,” Press said. “We all have history and baggage. And I think as people, knowing that it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves first, can really help us take care of each other in a more beautiful way.”

RORY MCILROY

The Irish Olympic golfer welcomes the conversations. To him, they’re like any other health discussions — and shouldn’t have a stigma attached.

“I’m glad that at least the conversation has started,” he said. “It’s not taboo anymore. People can talk about it just as (if) somebody has a knee or elbow injury. If you don’t feel right, 100% right mentally, that’s an injury too.”

The persisting notion of “powering through it” persists, he acknowledges. But McIlroy says hearing from people like Biles and swimmer Michael Phelps about mental health makes an impact — a positive one.

“When you hear the most decorated Olympian ever talk about his struggles and then probably the greatest gymnast ever talk about her struggles, then it encourages more people that have felt that way to come out and share how they felt.”

ISADORA CERULLO

The Brazilian rugby player said her team works regularly with a psychologist.

“We treat our brains as much as we treat bodies,” Cerullo said. “Every international event, especially the Olympics, has its own mental struggle and additional mental weight attached to it. You see that with Simone Biles putting her mental health ahead of everything, and it’s opening up a conversation about how important mental health is for athletes — and everyone else. Athletes are just the tip of the iceberg.”

PHIL DALHAUSSER

The U.S. men’s beach volleyball player said criticism of Biles was unfair. He noted the enormous pressure Biles has been under as the face of the Olympics and her status as the greatest of all time, with “GOAT” sometimes printed on her leotard.

“She’s been in the gym, probably since she’s been 3. And this is her life,” he said. “So whatever is going on in her head must be so bad that she’s willing to pull herself out of a competition? To me, that sucks.”
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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched people’s mental health everywhere and Zimbabwe is no exception. But some Zimbabweans hit hard by the stress have found unique support at the “Friendship Bench,” now the country’s biggest counseling service. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.

Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe 
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Weeks after the discovery of more than 1,000 probable unmarked graves at now-closed schools for indigenous people, leaders of Canada’s First Nations are torn over whether to press for further forensic investigation and the repatriation of remains, or to let the sites be preserved undisturbed.

Indigenous communities have had two months to absorb the shock since the discovery of what appear to be hundreds of unmarked student graves near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School was announced in May.   

Scientists used ground penetrating radar to explore the site on the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation’s traditional territory in the western province of British Columbia, where the closed school building still sits. They found 200 anomalies that remain “targets of interest” and probable burials under a present day apple orchard. 

Using similar detection methods, hundreds of other probable unmarked graves of students have since been found on property of other closed residential schools across Canada, bringing the total to about 1,300.   

Indigenous residential schools were paid by the Canadian government and run by various Christian churches starting in 1828. The last one closed in 1996. 

For most of their existence, Native children were taken by force from their families and placed into these institutions to be assimilated into Western culture. Reports abound that sexual, physical and verbal abuse were common.

A suspected grave site cannot be confirmed until it is excavated, and some First Nation leaders are demanding a thorough investigation of the sites and an effort to repatriate the remains.

Tk’emlups te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir is calling the site in Kamloops a crime scene and says what happens next has to be done carefully and in consultation with the community and survivors.

“We do know that our membership has been grappling with the information that has been shared. And we do know that every step that we do take moving forward, we’re going to be having the community consultation with our membership,” she said during a press conference in Kamloops. 

But many of the survivors, like Evelyn Camille, want the sites to be left undisturbed.

“Yes, they may have to be some studies to be done,” she said at the same press conference. “What good are those studies going to do for us, for an individual, for me? It’s good to tell me that yes, they were murdered. Is that going to make me feel better? I don’t think so.  Those remains should be left undisturbed.”  

Other Canadians are telling pollsters they are shocked by the revelations and want to see something done to acknowledge the mistreatment of indigenous children. A survey by Toronto-based Ipsos Public Affairs found that 77 percent of the public thinks there should be a national day of remembrance for the victims.

“It’s about people who were truly victims, in this instance, and Canadians do have a lot of sympathy for what happened here,” Ipsos Public Affairs CEO Darrell Bricker told VOA. “They’re feeling badly about it, they want to see something done about it.”     

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was one of the largest of the 139 that existed across Canada.

It is expected that many more potential unmarked graves around other schools are yet to be discovered.  
 
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Nearly a year’s worth of rain fell on the Chinese city of Zhengzhou over four days this month. Flooding killed 71 people, including 14 trapped in a subway station as waters rose.

Zhengzhou is part of a Chinese government initiative to build “sponge cities” in response to increasing urban flooding across the country. These cities aim to use natural processes to soak up rainwater rather than sending it coursing through concrete drainage pipes and channels that can get overwhelmed or cause other problems.

These systems are catching on around the world as city planners embrace the benefits they provide, such as stormwater management, urban cooling and aesthetic appeal.

But experts say the storm that drowned Zhengzhou was more than any city’s drainage system could handle. And because of climate change, these kinds of storms are becoming increasingly common around the world.

“The intensity, the frequency of the storm events is much greater than we’ve been used to,” said Neil Weinstein, executive director of the Low Impact Development Center, a nonprofit group focused on sustainable stormwater management techniques.

“The sponge city concept … is really good at slowing down modest-sized storms,” said David Sedlak, civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “But it’s not a replacement for the flood control infrastructure that many of our cities need to protect us from these super big floods and storms that arrive in a short period.”

Rapid urbanization

China launched its sponge city project in 2015 with 16 pilot cities. Another 14 were added the next year.

The move was a response to increased flooding in Chinese cities following the country’s rapid urbanization.

In 2000, just over one-third of the Chinese population lived in cities. In 2019, that figure reached 60%, according to official statistics.

Building those cities meant paving over forests, fields and farmland. Unlike the green areas they replaced, pavement and the roofs of buildings do not absorb rainwater.

As the area covered by these hard, impervious surfaces increases, so does the amount of water running off of them during rainstorms.

“Runoff all of a sudden has nowhere to go,” said Colleen Chiu-Shee, a graduate student at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Big storms can overwhelm drainage systems and lead to flooding.

At the same time, urbanization is leading to water shortages in some cities. Drainage systems designed to quickly move water off city streets do not give rainwater a chance to seep into the ground and recharge underground water sources.

Low-impact development

Other cities worldwide have dealt with the same issues. For example, in Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities, increasing development has led to untreated sewage spilling into streams when heavy rains overburden the sewer system.

Beginning in the 1990s, urban planners in the Washington suburb of Prince George’s County, Maryland, began looking to natural systems to help control stormwater problems. The concepts, originally known as low-impact development, have traveled around the world under various names.

The basic idea is to get away from concrete pipes and channels that quickly move water out of the city. Instead, the goal is to slow down the water and give it a place to soak into the ground.

At its simplest, this includes grass-lined ditches called bioswales on roadsides or parking lots. At the other end of the scale are large constructed wetlands that absorb water and remove some forms of pollution.

Plants are key components of these systems. They absorb water through their roots and release it into the air from their leaves. The roots also help aerate the soil to allow more water to infiltrate the ground.

Green vs. gray

The presence of plants is why these systems are also known as “green” infrastructure, and it differentiates them from traditional “gray” infrastructure that relies on concrete and pipes.

Green infrastructure also has added benefits, Sedlak said. “One is that by growing more trees and vegetation in the city, you cool it and make it more livable. The other is, you infiltrate more of that water into the ground and you have a chance of getting that water back out later as a water supply.”

That’s why China calls them “sponge cities,” said Shaw Yu, a retired University of Virginia civil and environmental engineering professor. They absorb water when it rains, “and then when water is needed, it could be pumped out, like when you squeeze the sponge.”

Researchers are reviewing the sponge city program, and so far, “the results are very mixed,” MIT’s Chiu-Shee said. A lot depends on who is running the program and the priorities of the investors and developers, she added.

But no city is designed to deal with the kind of rain that soaked Zhengzhou, or the flooding that struck Germany and Belgium earlier this month.

“The whole world is learning about how badly climate change can really affect cities nowadays,” she said. 
…

Farid Noori was teaching online from the United States to high school students in Kabul, Afghanistan, when a bomb attack started.

“At that very moment,” Noori said, “I had an online, remote class on Afghanistan’s environment with some of the school’s students. One of my students got injured. As days went by, the death toll climbed to 100, mostly schoolgirls, making this one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul’s history.”

At least 90 students were killed and 275 others were injured May 8 at Sayed Ul Shuhada high school, mostly girls and mostly Hazara, an ethnic minority often the target of Islamic fighters. Boys have class in the morning, and girls in the afternoon. The attack occurred around 4 p.m. as the girls were leaving school.

For Noori, who came to the U.S. for school, the attack was profound because it was an attempt to stymie advanced education.

Educated, competed in Vermont

Noori moved from Afghanistan on a high school scholarship in 2011 and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a degree in economics. He discovered mountain biking while in high school and raced for Middlebury. Currently, he is a master’s candidate in business administration at the Sam M. Walton College of Business in Arkansas.

“It was an attack on education and Afghanistan’s future generation, particularly Afghan girls, attempting to stop them from going to school,” he said.

After the attack, there was national and international condemnation and heightened concern about the future for Afghan girls. Attempts were made to memorialize the victims, and the country came together in support and sympathy.

But the attack soon slipped from collective memory, a familiar pattern after repeated incidents of terrorism, he said. But society cannot afford to forget about this tragedy, he added.

“It was an attack on our brightest. And if, as ordinary citizens, we show that such barbaric acts of terrorism cannot be tolerated, that in response to such cruelties, we will double, triple our collective efforts to invest in the education of our children, then we will be sending a strong message to the terrorists behind this attack that our will and dedication to the future of our children is stronger than theirs,” he said.

More than violence

Noori said he wants Americans to know there’s more to Afghanistan than violence. To draw attention to Afghanistan, the education of its youth and its natural beauty, he rode 185 kilometers up Whiteface Mountain in New York state’s Adirondacks on Tuesday.

“It felt like [it was] a right of passage doing this ride because, you know, the challenge. I had a lot of time to think about them and that was the most incredible feeling, and it motivated me to push harder,” Noori said.

He rode 21 times up and down Whiteface Mountain to achieve the elevation of Afghanistan’s highest peak, named Naw Shakh.

It took 11 hours, 3 minutes to finish, raising nearly $9,000 of his $25,000 goal, crowdfunding under the title “Start Some Good, Education Will Prevail.” 

“An incredible day, the last four hours of which was in pouring cold rain,” Noori said. “But the amazing show of support from strangers and friends, and some who joined the ride, made the day go faster and easier.”

“It was a show of solidarity that meant a lot,” he said, thinking about those girls.

Symbol of overcoming challenges

Noori uses Naw Shakh, the 52nd-tallest mountain in the world that has been largely inaccessible to climbers because of Afghanistan’s political turmoil, as a symbol of overcoming challenges. He said it could become a tourism destination.

Noori has also encouraged biking in Afghanistan to empower Afghan youth “with the joy of riding and competing on mountain bikes.” He said the sport connects people across borders who  share a love of cycling, and he founded an organization — Mountain Bike Afghanistan — to foster that interest.

“We use the bike as a tool to bring joy and hope into the lives of Afghan youth and promote gender equality,” he said. “We believe the bike is the most effective tool for the emancipation of Afghan women and normalizing their freedom of movement in Afghan society. We organize events and provide equipment to get more Afghan women on bikes.”

In 2018, Noori and his team in Afghanistan launched the annual Hindu Kush Mountain Bike Challenge in response to the growing popularity of mountain biking among Afghan youth.

They kickstarted Afghanistan’s first official cross-country mountain bike race and kindled a culture of racing and community gathering. Hindu Kush is 805 kilometers of mountain range that stretches through Afghanistan into northern Pakistan and Tajikistan and is part of the Himalaya range of the world’s biggest, most challenging mountains, including the tallest, Mount Everest.

“Everyone concerned with peace and stability in Afghanistan has a responsibility to do more to show ongoing support to victims of such tragedies” as the attack on Sayed Ul Shuhada, Noori concluded.
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The five million residents of Sydney, Australia will remain under strict lockdown orders for another four weeks as the number of new COVID-19 infections continues to rise.

The extension for Australia’s largest city was announced Wednesday when authorities in New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, reported 177 new infections over a 24-hour period, slightly higher than the previous record of 172 new cases posted on Tuesday.

“I am as upset and frustrated as all of you that we were not able to get the case numbers we would have liked at this point in time but that is the reality,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters during a news conference.

The latest outbreak has been traced to a Sydney airport limousine driver who tested positive for the delta variant after transporting international air crews in late June. At least 11 people have died as a result of the surge, including a woman in her 90s on Wednesday.

Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 through aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 33,473 total confirmed cases and 921 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But it has proved vulnerable to fresh outbreaks due to a slow rollout of its vaccination campaign, with only 13% of its citizens fully vaccinated.

In Japan, the Kyodo news agency is reporting that Tokyo, the host city of the pandemic-delayed Summer Olympics, recorded just over 3,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, breaking the single-day record of 2,848 new infections posted on Tuesday.  Olympics organizers also confirmed 16 new coronavirus infections related to the Games on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 169.  The Japanese capital is under a fourth state of emergency that will remain in effect until August 22.

South Korea also reported a new single-day record of 1,896 infections on Wednesday, surpassing the 1,842 recorded last Wednesday. South Korea now has a total of 193,427 COVID-19 infections, including 2,083 deaths.

In the United States, President Joe Biden is expected to issue an order Thursday for all federal government employees to either get a COVID-19 vaccine or undergo regular testing, according to anonymous administration officials. The president told reporters Tuesday the policy was “under consideration” during a visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates 1,700 medical centers and outpatient clinics for retired military personnel, became the first U.S. federal agency on Monday to impose such a demand on its employees, mainly on its health care providers.

The order would be part of a new overall strategy by the White House to encourage more Americans to get inoculated due to a steady rise of new infections, primarily among unvaccinated people, which has led to a repeat of hospitals overflowing with new coronavirus patients first seen at the start of the pandemic.

The latest figures from Johns Hopkins say 195.3 million people around the globe have been infected with COVID-19 since the first cases were detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019, including 4.1 million deaths.  The United States leads both categories with 34.6 million infections and 611,288 deaths.  A total of 3,926,883,424 vaccine doses have been administered around the world. 

(Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.)

 
…

Eighteen migrant laborers sleeping on a highway in northern India after their bus broke down died when a truck rammed into the vehicle, police said Wednesday. 

At least 19 others were injured in the accident in Uttar Pradesh state, a senior police officer told reporters. 

Most of the passengers were returning home to the eastern state of Bihar after working in the states of Punjab or Haryana. 

The passengers got off the bus after its axle shaft broke and were sleeping next to it when a truck crashed into it from behind. 

Rescue workers retrieved some of the bodies from under the mangled double-decker bus. 

“The district administration and the police have launched a probe and we are ensuring that the wounded receive the best medical treatment that’s available,” said police officer Satya Narayan Sabat. 

India’s vast network of roads is poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous. 

About 150,000 people are killed each year in traffic accidents in India, according to the government. 

Among the main factors contributing to the high number of fatalities are excessive speeding and people not using seatbelts or wearing crash helmets. 
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