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In the first half of this year, China saw an average of 4.1 high temperature days where the maximum daily temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest since 1961, the National Climate Center said in a statement Sunday.

The national average was calculated from the number of high temperature days recorded by weather stations across the country.

China has already experienced four regional heat waves so far this summer, which arrived earlier and have been more widespread and extreme than in previous years, according to the center.

Northern China, a heavily populated region with hundreds of millions of residents, has been particularly hard hit, with more heat waves expected in coming weeks.

So far this year, Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, has seen 17 high temperature days, followed by Beijing’s 14 days.

Across the country, 110 weather stations have seen record temperatures, the center said.

China’s first heat wave this year arrived on May 28, more than two weeks earlier than usual and affecting 15 provinces.

How to Spot Misinformation and propaganda

Introduction

In today's world, it can be hard to know what's true and what's not. With so much information available online, it's easy to get lost in a sea of facts, opinions, and outright lies.

That's where misinformation comes in. Misinformation is false or misleading information that is spread intentionally or unintentionally. It can be spread through social media, email, or even word-of-mouth.

How to Spot Misinformation

There are a few things you can do to spot misinformation:

• Be critical of the information you see and hear. Don't just accept everything that you read or hear as fact.
• Check the sources of information. Where did the information come from? Is it a reliable source?
• Look for evidence to support the claims that are being made. Can you find other sources that corroborate the information?
• Be aware of your own biases. Everyone has biases, but it's important to be aware of them so that they don't influence your judgment.

Here are some additional tips for spotting misinformation:

• Look for clickbait headlines. Clickbait headlines are designed to grab your attention, but they're often misleading.
• Beware of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories are often based on misinformation, and they can be very harmful.
• Don't share memes or videos that you're not sure about. Memes and videos can be a great way to share information, but they can also be used to spread misinformation.
• Use fact-checking websites to verify information. There are a number of fact-checking websites that can help you to verify information.

Conclusion

Spotting misinformation can be tricky, but it's important to be able to do it. By following these tips, you can help to ensure that you're getting accurate information.

Here are some funny things to keep in mind when spotting misinformation:

• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• If it makes you angry, it's probably trying to manipulate you.
• If it's on the internet, it must be true. (Just kidding!)

So, there you have it. A few tips on how to spot misinformation. Be aware, be critical, and be skeptical. And most importantly, share your methods of identifying bad actors, misinformation, and propaganda. We can all do our part to fight the spread of misinformation.

Here are some resources that can help you learn more about misinformation:

https://adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/

Is a media bias chart that rates news sources on a scale of 0 to 64, with 0 being the least biased and 64 being the most biased. The chart also takes into account the reliability of each source, with 0 being the least reliable and 64 being the most reliable.

I believe that this website is a powerful tool that we can use to fight disinformation and ensure that our community is getting accurate information. It is also complementary to the Bias Compass, which is a tool that helps people to identify their own biases.

Here are some of the ways that we can use the website:

Evaluate the credibility of news sources before we share them with our community. This will help us to avoid sharing misinformation.

Understand the different types of bias that exist in the media. This will help us to be more critical of the information that we share.

Find more reliable and unbiased sources of information to share with our community. This will help us to make sure that our community is getting accurate information.

Use the Bias Compass to identify our own biases and be more aware of how they might be influencing our interpretation of information.

• FactCheck.org: https://www.factcheck.org/
• Snopes.com: https://www.snopes.com/
• PolitiFact.com: https://www.politifact.com/
• The Washington Post Fact Checker: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/

Thank you for reading!

ROME -- Hundreds of flights across Italy were canceled Saturday, forcing travelers at the peak of tourist season to make alternate plans, after air transport unions went ahead with a planned work stoppage two days following a train strike that paralyzed rail service.

Summertime in Italy is often the peak season for transport strikes, stranding commuters and tourists alike as unions press demands for better work contracts and conditions. This year, the strikes are taking their toll amid a tourism boom following two years of pandemic losses.

National carrier ITA said it canceled 133 flights, most of them domestic but a few to European destinations such as Madrid, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Low-cost airlines Ryanair and Vueling canceled dozens of other flights due to the strike from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Striking workers included pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers and airport personnel.

The website of Naples' airport showed dozens of flights canceled starting at 10 a.m., a similar scene at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport.

”Yeah, it got canceled. It was ITA Airways to Catania," lamented Stefania Spatola from Philadelphia, who was traveling with 35 members of her family. "All our flights got messed up. It’s horrible. It’s really, really horrible.”

The infections have caused mild to moderate symptoms in most cases, including high fever, bone pain and fatigue lasting three to five days in all cases, the health ministry said on Monday. Vomiting and nausea have also been reported in some cases.

The mildness of symptoms should put people's minds at ease, says the ministry.

A convoy was sent last week and another with three personnel is heading to the village on Monday afternoon, the ministry said.

The ministry has struggled to determine the illness in patients in Al-Qus village in the Upper Egyptian province of Qena as the symptoms are similar to those suffering from a cold or influenza viruses.

Samples have been taken from those thought to be infected as well as local water sources for testing, the ministry’s statement added.

Over the past few weeks, many residents in the Al-Qus have reported their symptoms to local health care units, leading experts to suspect an outbreak of dengue fever in the village. Tests conducted by the ministry on those infected have not confirmed its presence so far.

As the disease is borne by mosquitoes, residents have been asked to cover water sources and avoid contact with the insects until further tests are conducted.

According to the World Health Organisation, dengue fever typically presents flu-like symptoms lasting 2-7 days. Symptoms first emerge 4-10 days after an infected mosquito bite.

Common symptoms include high fever, accompanied by at least two symptoms such as headaches, pain behind the eyes, nausea and vomiting, swollen glands, joint, bone, or muscle pains.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court ruled Tuesday that an investigation into the Philippines’ deadly “war on drugs” can resume, rejecting Manila’s objections to the case going ahead at the global court. The court’s investigation was suspended in late 2021 after the Philippines said it was already probing the same allegations and argued that the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn’t have jurisdiction.

The Philippines launched its appeal after judges in January agreed with the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, that deferring the investigation to Manila was “not warranted.” At the time, judges ruled that the domestic proceedings did not amount to “tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the court’s investigation.”

At a hearing Tuesday, Presiding Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said the five-judge appeals panel, in a majority decision, agreed and rejected the Philippines’ appeal.

More than 6,000 suspects, most of them people who lived in poverty, have been killed in the crackdown on drug crime, according to government pronouncements. Human rights groups say the death toll is considerably higher and should include many unsolved killings by motorcycle-riding gunmen who may have been deployed by police.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended the crackdown as “lawfully directed against drug lords and pushers who have for many years destroyed the present generation, especially the youth.”

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from The Hague-based court in 2019 in a move rights activists said was an attempt to evade accountability and prevent an international probe into the killings in his campaign against illegal drugs. However, the ICC still has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed when the country was still a member state of the court.

The current Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said last year that Manila has no plan to rejoin the ICC, a decision that supported his predecessor’s stance but rejects the wishes of human rights activists.

“The ICC appeals chamber decision rejects Philippine government claims that the ICC should not investigate in the country,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Marcos should back up his stated commitment to human rights by cooperating with the ICC prosecutor’s inquiry.”

LONDON -- Iran's infamous hijab police, known as the "morality police," are again patrolling the streets, Iranian authorities said.

The controversial measure was announced Sunday along with a series of other severe actions that are being taken against women just 10 months after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, an event that sparked bloody nationwide protests.

"The police … will take legal action against those who, unfortunately, continue to break the dressing norms regardless of the consequences of doing so," said Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi, spokesman of the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic.

Raoul Wallenberg

Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian Naples businessman Abe Asli, 78, with right elbow leaning on statue, and other dignitaries in Stockholm in late May. Asli honored Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who helped to rescue Jews during the Holocaust of World War II. Naples businessman Abe Asli, 78, with right elbow leaning on statue, and other dignitaries in Stockholm in late May. Asli honored Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who helped to rescue Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.More It’s been more than three decades since Naples businessman Abe Asli left his beloved adopted country after 20-plus years to give his children the opportunity to live and study in the United States.

As the years passed, Asli’s love for Sweden never wavered. Nor did his abundant admiration for Raoul Wallenberg, whose heroism in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust inspired Asli to commission a bust of the late Swedish diplomat at his own expense.

“I talked to him every day,” Asli said. "I told him, ‘Don’t be sad, my friend, I’ll get you in a good place. I will never give up before I get you home.’”

In late May, what grew into a decade-long effort culminated with the unveiling of Stockholm’s first Wallenberg statue at a prominent waterfront spot in the Swedish capital.

Until recently, the bust remained in Asli’s East Naples office for nearly 10 years, he said, as he navigated from afar the byzantine twists of municipal bureaucracy in Sweden’s capital and largest city.

Wallenberg rescued thousands of Jews Frustrated at times, the 78-year-old Asli remained undeterred, enlisting support from officials not only in Sweden but also United States and Israeli diplomats.

The bust is near the site where Wallenberg (representing a neutral country in the war) was commissioned to lead a rescue operation in Budapest, Hungary, where the U.S.-educated businessman had contacts.

Sheltering both Jewish refugees and other victims of political persecution in a series of safe houses, Wallenberg was last seen in January 1945, when he left the city to meet a Soviet commander and never returned. He is believed to have died in a Soviet prison two years later.

Wallenberg is credited with saving thousands of Jews during World War II.

“He fought against injustice, and brutality ― political brutality,” Asli said. “And they killed him."

“In many, many countries, people are sitting in prison for having conversations like this,” Asli added, describing the contemporary relevance of Wallenberg’s legacy and his own efforts to keep history alive.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban authorities have further increased restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan in recent months, including in education and employment, the U.N. said in a report on the human rights situation issued Monday.

Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health has announced that only males will be allowed to take exams to pursue specialized medical studies, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said in the report, which covers developments in May and June.

That follows a ban on female medical students taking graduation exams announced in February and a prohibition on women attending universities issued last December, the report said.

The U.N. said it has recorded instances in which the Taliban have enforced previously announced limitations on women’s freedom of movement and employment.

In early May, two Afghan female staff of an international non-governmental organization were arrested by Taliban forces at an airport because they were traveling without a male companion, or mahram, the report said.

In June, a midwife was detained and interrogated for five hours by the Taliban’s intelligence service, which threatened her with death if she continued her work with an NGO. She resigned two days later as a result, the report said.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said more than two dozen cats have been infected with bird flu across Poland, but no people appeared to have been sickened.

In a statement on Monday, the U.N. health agency said it was the first time so many cats had been reported to have bird flu over such a wide geographical area in a single country, amid an unprecedented global outbreak of the latest version of the H5N1 version of the disease.

WHO said that late last month, Polish authorities informed agency officials of the unusual deaths of more than 45 cats in 13 geographical regions of the country. Testing last week found that 29 had H5N1.

As of June, the most recent variant of H5N1 has been reported in birds and other animal species in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Since 2020, WHO said a dozen human cases have been reported.

Scientists worry that rising cases of H5N1, particularly in animals that have frequent contact with humans, might lead to a mutated version of the disease that could spread easily between people, triggering another pandemic.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts had suspected that the next global outbreak would be sparked by H5N1. But while bird flu has killed hundreds of millions of birds globally, it has sickened fewer than 900 people since 2003 and has not been able to spread easily among humans.

WHO said it was unclear how the domestic cats in Poland became infected with bird flu and said officials were still investigating possible sources of exposure, including contact with wild birds that are known to carry H5N1. The agency said the risk of people in Poland being infected with bird flu was “low” and “low to moderate” for people exposed to cats, including cat owners and veterinarians.

Last week, WHO and partners warned that the increasing numbers of mammals infected with H5N1 were unusual. Experts have previously cautioned that pigs, which are susceptible to flu viruses from both humans and birds, might act as a “mixing vessel,” leading to the emergence of mutated viruses that could be lethal to people.

Since last year, authorities in 10 countries have reported bird flu outbreaks in mammals, including farmed mink in Spain, seals in the U.S., and sea lions in Peru and Chile.

Several hundred "experienced" Wagner fighters have arrived in the Central African Republic to "ensure security" ahead of the July 30 referendum, a group linked to the Russian paramilitary group said on Sunday.

"Another aircraft has arrived in Bangui with instructors to work in the Central African Republic. The scheduled rotation continues. Several hundred experienced professionals from the Wagner company are joining the team working in the CAR," the Officers Community said on Telegram for international security (COSI).

"Russian instructors will continue to help soldiers from the Central African armed forces and CAR law enforcement agencies provide security, in anticipation of the constitutional referendum scheduled for July 30," the statement said.

Along with this release, COSI released a photo showing at least 30 people masked in military fatigues, standing in line on what appears to be an airport runway. According to the United States, COSI is a front company for the Wagner group in the Central African Republic. It is led by a Russian, Alexander Ivanov, under US sanctions since January.

In its press release published on Sunday, the COSI assures that its instructors have been training for "more than five years" the Central African security forces and have thus made it possible "to strengthen the country's general level of security".

At the beginning of July, several foreign sources had claimed that an unknown number of Wagner mercenaries were leaving the Central African Republic, information firmly denied by the government.

The status of the private paramilitary company and the continuation of its operations have been uncertain since its aborted mutiny in Russia on June 23-24.

But its interventions abroad, particularly in Syria and several African countries ( Sudan , Central African Republic, Mali ) have not been publicly questioned. As soon as the end of the mutiny was announced, Bangui affirmed that Wagner's activities would "continue" .

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday a new nuclear consultative group between South Korea and the United States would be a “starting point” to build a strong and effective deterrence against North Korea.

Officials from the United States and South Korea are meeting on Tuesday in Seoul for the first Nuclear Consultative Group discussion, aimed at better coordinating allied nuclear response in the event of a war with North Korea.

“Through a South Korea-U.S. alliance upgraded to a new nuclear-based paradigm, we will make substantial efforts to fundamentally block North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” Yoon told a briefing.

The NCG was first announced during the bilateral summit in Washington in April amid growing calls in South Korea for its own nuclear weapons, a step Washington opposes.

China and North Korea have criticized the group’s formation as further raising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

On Monday North Korea, which test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week, condemned the NCG for “openly discussing the use of nukes” and warned against allied plans to increase displays of military force, including so-called “strategic assets” such as U.S. aircraft carriers, bomber aircraft, and submarines.

When asked whether South Korea will have a role in U.S. nuclear war planning, a senior U.S. administration official told Reuters the group was more about sharing information.

“A lot of the objective here is to make sure that our South Korean allies have more transparency, more access, more direct connection with planning, so that they can understand how government officials have long been thinking about what goes into defense and deterrence for South Korea,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks.

The inaugural meeting will be co-chaired by South Korea’s Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo and U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.

“We will discuss information sharing, consultation system, steps for joint planning and implementation to strengthen nuclear deterrence against North Korea,” Yoon’s spokesperson, Lee Do-woon, told reporters on Monday.

U.S. Brigadier General John Weidner, who will represent U.S. Forces Korea at the talks, told a defense forum in Seoul last week he expected the discussions to establish a framework for new, bilateral table-top military exercises that will strengthen planning between the allies.

BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) - A remote township in China's arid northwest endured temperatures of more than 52 Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) on Sunday, state media reported, setting a record for a country that was battling minus 50C weather just six months ago.

Temperatures at Sanbao township in Xinjiang's Turpan Depression soared as high as 52.2C on Sunday, state-run Xinjiang Daily reported on Monday, with the record heat expected to persist at least another five days.

The Sunday temperature broke a previous record of 50.3C, measured in 2015 near Ayding in the depression, a vast basin of sand dunes and dried-up lakes more than 150 m (492 ft) below sea level.

Since April, countries across Asia have been hit by several rounds of record-breaking heat, stoking concerns about their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing climate. The target of keeping long-term global warming within 1.5C is moving out of reach, climate experts say.

Prolonged bouts of high temperatures in China have challenged power grids and crops, and concerns are mounting of a possible repeat of last year's drought, the most severe in 60 years.

China is no stranger to dramatic swings in temperatures across the seasons but the swings are getting wider.

On Jan. 22, temperatures in Mohe, a city in northeastern Heilongjiang province, plunged to minus 53C, according to the local weather bureau, smashing China's previous all-time low of minus 52.3C set in 1969.

Since then, the heaviest rains in a decade have hit central China, ravaging wheat fields in an area known as the country's granary.

This week, the United States and China are looking to rekindle efforts to fight global warming, with U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry in Beijing holding talks with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.