onsdag 1 juli 2026
Climate Threat Global Challenges
The oceans are at record highs – and could get warmer with El Niño
The oceans are warmer than ever before at this time of year, according to data from the EU's climate service Copernicus. On June 21, the average global sea surface temperature between the 60th latitudes was 20.86 degrees, writes CNN. That's just above the June record recorded in 2024.
The heat has been driven by the weather phenomenon El Niño, which is characterized, among other things, by unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator. Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo warns that the new heat records could be the beginning of a new phase "that once again leads us into uncharted territory."
- With sea temperatures at these levels and El Niño on the horizon, we are likely to see more temperature records broken in the coming months, he says.
Scientists to Save Coffee from Climate Change
The world's coffee beans are threatened by climate change, and scientists are currently working to secure access to the black gold, writes Nature.
- Coffee is seriously threatened by climate change, says Kassahun Tesfaye, a plant geneticist at Addis Ababa University.
The problem is that the two plant species that generate almost all of the annual consumption, about 10 million tons of coffee beans, both have their limitations. Arabica is temperature-sensitive, while robusta requires very large amounts of water.
Several possible solutions are being explored, from making the two most important coffee species more resistant to experiments with other species within the coffee genus.
Over 100,000 killed since coup in Myanmar
More than 100,000 people have been killed in civil wars in Myanmar in the past five years, according to conflict monitor Acled.
The death toll since the military coup in 2021 is at least 100,114, according to the independent American Acled (Armed conflict location and event data).
The coup – which overthrew the elected leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – triggered a civil war in which both the ruling military junta and armed opposition groups have committed abuses against civilians.
“I am so deeply resentful and very angry. But I don’t even know who to be angry with anymore,” Thein Aye Nu, whose husband was killed in an airstrike last month, told AFP.
Analysts consider Myanmar’s civil war to be Asia’s deadliest active conflict. According to the UN, more than 3.7 million Burmese are displaced within the country’s borders.
Russia closes border crossings with Finland
The Russian government has announced that it is temporarily closing several railway crossings with Finland and the Baltic States.
The closure will apply from Wednesday to selected passages in Latvia, Estonia and Finland, Russian state media reports.
In Finland, this applies to the border crossings of Vartius, Niirala and Imatra, writes the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.
All passenger, freight and goods traffic is affected, according to the Russian state news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti.
There is no information about the reason for the closure or how long it will last.
Finland's border with Russia has been closed to passenger traffic since 2023.
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