Migrant boat collapse claims 12 lives

France

Migrant boat collapse claims 12 lives
At least 12 people have died after a migrant boat sank while attempting to cross the English Channel from France on Tuesday morning. The boat is believed to have set off from the French coastal town of Le Portel before “breaking apart” in difficult conditions. Initial reports said the boat was carrying at least 100 passengers, but that number has not yet been confirmed. Sixty-five people have been rescued. Of the 12 dead, 10 are women and girls. The incident brings the total number of known deaths in migrant crossings across the English Channel this year to 30. Authorities in the United Kingdom have criticized the criminal gangs that run the crossings and profit from carrying excessive numbers of passengers in often unseaworthy vessels.

This map shows the routes by which boats often cross illegally, bringing migrants across the English Channel from France to England. It also shows the spot where a ship sank in rough seas yesterday morning, killing at least 12 people. Click on the map for more information.

Graphic source: Yahoo! News
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China
China-Africa summit begins
Dozens of African leaders are coming to Beijing for the three-day Forum on China-African Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, a key platform for China to engage with Africa, where Beijing has previously made huge financial commitments to support major infrastructure projects. China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for more than a decade, having provided loans of more than $182 billion to African countries between 2000 and 2023 for megaprojects such as ports, railways, highways and hydroelectric dams. African leaders are expected to push China to take more of their exports to diversify and address large trade deficits. China is expected to lobby for greater access to key minerals such as lithium, copper and cobalt, which it currently mines in several African countries. Beijing is also expected to push for more exports of its Chinese-made products, particularly renewable energy products.

This map shows the debt-to-GDP ratios of African countries receiving financing through China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Click on the map for more information.

Graphic source: Bloomberg
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United Kingdom
Mass extinctions by “Tag-Team”
In a new study published in Nature GeosciencesScientists have shown how a land-sea “tag-team” interaction millions of years ago during the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana led to a massive devastation of marine life. Their research provides a new explanation for a series of severe environmental crises caused by the seas becoming depleted of dissolved oxygen, called oceanic anoxic events (OAEs), that occurred during the Mesozoic era, between 185 and 85 million years ago. The team found evidence that plate tectonics played a role, by analyzing phosphorus released from basalt, a volcanic rock, on both the seafloor and the continents. Using an Earth system model to simulate the effect of phosphorus pulses on ocean chemistry, they found that it led to a nutrient overload that recreated the series of OAEs. This land-sea interaction created “dead zones” that effectively functioned as a “reset button” for the planet’s ecosystems.

This map shows the global distribution of sedimentary deposits that indicate oceanic anoxic events (OAE) in relation to plate boundary features. Click on the map for more information.

Q: Which ecoregion in Brazil faced the most severe water reduction in 2023?

A: Pantanal
South America’s largest country is facing the worst drought in recent history. Satellite images monitored by Brazil’s environmental institute MapBiomas showed in June that the Amazon and Pantanal regions were experiencing severe water shortages. The Pantanal biome is expected to dry up the most in 2023, with a 61% decrease compared to the historical average of 1985. In the past week, record fires have been detected in the Cerrado plateau, a tropical savanna, and the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, a biodiverse region teeming with diverse plant and animal species. The Pantanal, located between the Amazon and Sao Paulo, lost about 1.2 million acres (600,000 ha) to flames in June. Scientists said the Pantanal fires were “40% more intense due to climate change.”

Source

Q: The proposed country of Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest is defined by the watershed of which river?

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