cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/51045371

PM will use independence day trip to announce sharing of classified information about Storm Shadow components.

PM will use independence day trip to announce sharing of classified information about Storm Shadow components.

AVROTROS is again boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, the Dutch public broadcaster announced on Monday. The event has lost its neutral character because “a participating country is still involved in a large-scale military conflict,” AVROTROS said, referring to Israel. The broadcaster is returning responsibility for Dutch participation to the NPO. It is unclear whether the Netherlands will take part in the Contest under a different public broadcaster.

In France, up to 3 million chickens died from heat in just a few days this June.

By Bill Bramhall, https://www.gocomics.com/bill-bramhall/2026/08/18

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/2226457/deaf-actress-kaylee-hottle-who-played-jia-in-godzilla-vs-kong-and-godzilla-x-kong-the-n

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/2226457/deaf-actress-kaylee-hottle-who-played-jia-in-godzilla-vs-kong-and-godzilla-x-kong-the-n

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/72479665

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/[email protected]/p/1837115/trump-officials-want-to-use-human-rights-aid-to-advocate-for-white-south-africans-and-r

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/[email protected]/p/1837114/trump-officials-want-to-use-human-rights-aid-to-advocate-for-white-south-africans-and-r

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10061181

• Estonia, Luxembourg and UK are the top three in biennial Yale University index in tackling pollution and other issues
• US, China are falling further behind, the researchers say

...

The biennial Yale University index again ranks Estonia as the best-performing of 177 assessed countries, after strong recent efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and protect its ecosystems. Luxembourg is second, and the UK is third, having moved up from fifth place in the 2024 index.

European countries dominate the top 20, with only Japan, in 16th, not situated in the continent. Australia is in 25th place, two places ahead of the US. Laos is the last-ranked nation, with the bottom three rounded out by India and Bangladesh.

...

Despite this worsening situation, several countries, most notably the US under Donald Trump, have recently scaled back efforts to combat the climate crisis. The Yale index uses data up to 2024, capturing the last part of Joe Biden’s presidency rather than Trump’s, but still finds that even then the US’s emissions were falling far too slowly to reach net zero by 2050, as the science demands must be done to avoid disastrous climate breakdown.

China, now the world’s largest carbon emitter ahead of the US, has made huge progress in developing its clean energy sector, the Yale report finds, but still derives 56% of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and performs relatively poorly on its marine conservation and biodiversity stewardship, the scorecard found.

...

“Europe has really stepped out in front and is continuing to pursue climate change with not the full vigor it might have a few years back when the political circumstances were different, but they’re getting the payback for decades now of work on this issue at the cutting edge,” said Esty.

“The laggards in the US and China both are still lagging, seem to be falling further behind and are holding back the global community’s efforts to achieve the targets that have been agreed upon.”

China has climbed the table somewhat to 129th position, however, after previously being ranked near last due to the dangerous air pollution suffered by many of its major cities. It has since removed many of the coal-fired power plants near cities that caused such problems. The Yale index also marks India down for its tree cover loss, pesticide pollution risks and ocean conservation from the last index. “India’s performance is shockingly bad for a country that aspires to be a leader in global terms on the economy,” Esty said.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49312332

Linked article has paywall; equally good article (but with slightly less not-the-onion headline):

Family of Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in UK, wins posthumous government pardon

cross-posted from: https://altgag.net/post/21794

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49119147

alternative video upload: https://streamable.com/e/noif73

Volkswagen is in talks with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems ‌over a deal that would shift production at the carmaker's Osnabrueck plant from cars to missile defence, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the plan.

https://www.reuters.com/business/volkswagen-shift-production-missile-defense-one-factory-deal-with-israeli-2026-03-24/

Volkswagen wants to move from building cars to supplying systems used in warfare at its Osnabrück factory - and make billions from it.

The deal is not done yet. We call on Volkswagen to:

• Stop negotiations on this deadly deal immediately
• Rule out producing parts linked to Israeli military technology;
• Keep the Osnabrück site focused on civilian manufacturing;
• Publish full transparency on any talks with military contractors

(from posted link)

Please consider sharing on bluesky too: https://bsky.app/profile/wemoveeurope.bsky.social/post/3mozpadvy672m