"In the country that gave the world the word tsunami, the Japanese nuclear establishment largely disregarded the potentially destructive force of the walls of water. The word did not even appear in government guidelines until 2006, decades after plants — including the Fukushima Daiichi facility that firefighters are still struggling to get under control — began dotting the Japanese coastline."
"The Boyle Heights and Garden Grove emergencies are raising questions about emergency planning, inspections and accountability. The real test of California’s chemical safety system comes after the smoke clears, experts say."
"The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday declared an emergency across the nation's largest power grid, citing soaring demand and supply risks as extreme heat grips the region."
"Zombie fires are not a new phenomenon, but researchers in Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada have found that with hotter summers and blazing wildfires, fire has the potential to lie dormant in dry undergrowth, even under snow. When the next summer rolls around, with dry conditions, those fires can reemerge."
"A long and dangerous heat wave will blast a large swath of the central and eastern United States this week, the National Weather Service said, with temperatures rising ahead of the July Fourth holiday and feeling even hotter because of the high humidity that’s arriving with it."
"Severe weather has gripped the globe this week, with record-shattering, deadly heat in Western Europe. In the US, heat, wind and drought conditions fueled wildfires in the Southwest, while heavy thunderstorms, wind and floods caused destruction in eastern and central states. ... Yet on the evening of Tuesday, June 23, despite leading their shows with severe weather headlines, nightly news shows on NBC, ABC and CBS failed to mention climate even in passing."
"Three firefighters were killed and two sustained burn injuries when they were overcome by flames from fast-moving wildfires in hot, windy conditions near the Colorado-Utah border."
"France has been preparing for climate-fueled heat waves for more than two decades. In 2003, more than 14,800 people died as summer temperatures hovered above 95 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks. The devastating event led French policymakers to build one of the world’s most comprehensive heat-resilience programs."
"Congressional Democrats called for investigations Wednesday into renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as the ongoing drama over the president’s problem-plagued, $16 million rehabilitation project continued to roil the capital."
"A business controlled by the American billionaire Ira Rennert reached a $150 million settlement in the United States with 1,373 Peruvians who claimed they were poisoned by lead and other toxic substances while growing up near a Peruvian smelter, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Wednesday."
