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- Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warns of strongest El Niño in decades
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- Pakistan mediates preliminary deal to end US-Iran conflict amid tensions
- UK Government to Implement Ban on Social Media for Under-16s
- EU governments secure powers to block payouts to democratic backsliders.
- US and EU Push for Sanctions Against Iran Following Nuclear Deal Dispute
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Get you up to speed: Australia warns El Nino weather pattern set to be strongest in decades
The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia has warned that a very strong El Niño weather pattern has formed in the tropical Pacific, projected to be one of the strongest in seven decades. Sea surface temperatures have exceeded El Niño thresholds, confirming the intensification of this phenomenon.
The Bureau of Meteorology has indicated that this El Niño event could peak at levels among the highest recorded since 1950, with a significant likelihood of persisting until at least November. The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization projected an 80 percent likelihood of the phenomenon occurring between June and August 2026, heightening concerns over its potential global impacts.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts that the current El Nino event could peak at levels among the highest observed since 1950, prompting widespread concerns over agricultural production in Australia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has emphasised the need for immediate climate action, stating that “the only effective response is climate action equal to the crisis.”
What remains unclear — It is not specified how El Nino’s intensification might specifically affect Australia’s agricultural exports this year.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warns of strongest El Niño in decades
The Bureau of Meteorology says forecasts point towards a ‘very strong El Nino event’.
Australia’s weather bureau has warned that an El Nino weather pattern has formed in the tropical Pacific and could intensify in the second half of the year, becoming one of the strongest in seven decades.
The Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement on Tuesday that sea surface temperatures in the region had exceeded El Nino thresholds, and atmospheric indicators also suggested the phenomenon has begun.
“Forecasts are pointing towards a strong to very strong El Nino event, based on the extent of warming in the central tropical Pacific,” it said.
“Around half of the models indicate this event could peak at levels among the highest observed since 1950.”
Forecasters expect the weather to bring excessive rain to the Americas and hot, dry conditions to Asia, which is already experiencing crop-planting issues, raising concerns about food supplies.
According to the bureau, El Nino is linked to reduced rainfall in winter and spring, particularly affecting Australia’s eastern coast and leading to higher daytime temperatures in the south.
The weather pattern is especially damaging to Australia because it affects agricultural production in the country, which is among the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, sugar and beef.
Scientists have said climate change will supercharge the effects of this year’s El Nino.
The last time Australia experienced an El Nino weather pattern was from 2023 to 2024, and it caused the driest three-month period on record. Before that, one of the strongest events in 2015 and 2016 led to widespread drought and reduced oilseed and grain output.
Historians say past instances of El Nino have caused famines that killed millions, notably in 1877 and 1878.
According to the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an El Nino weather pattern is characterised by warming of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Equatorial Pacific and typically occurs every two to seven years, lasting about nine to 12 months.
In a report on June 2, the WMO found that there was an “80 percent likelihood of an El Nino event during June-August 2026″.
“Probabilities for this to continue until at least November are near or above 90 percent,” it said, adding that the weather pattern was set to impact global temperature and rainfall patterns, increasing the risk of extreme weather.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also warned in a video message following the publication that the world must treat this as “the urgent climate warning it is”.
“The only effective response is climate action equal to the crisis – ending the addiction to fossil fuels, accelerating the shift to renewables, protecting the most vulnerable, and delivering early warning systems for all,” he said.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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