World
Deforestation soars by 45% in Brazil's savanna region, threatening biodiversity
Deforestation has surged in Brazil’s Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna region, by nearly 45% compared to 2022 levels, according to data released Friday by the government’s monitoring agency.
The National Institute for Space Research reported that 3,000 square miles of vegetation had been torn down in the Cerrado biome between January and December 2023, especially in the states of Maranhao, Bahia and Tocantins.
This is the highest level since 2019, when the agency recorded its first full year of deforestation in the Cerrado, home of more than 800 species of birds and nearly 200 mammals, according to the non-profit WWF, or 30% of the nation’s total biodiversity.
BRAZIL’S AMAZON RAINFOREST FACES SEVERE DROUGHT, AFFECTING FOOD AND WATER SUPPLIES FOR THOUSANDS
Some of the most emblematic animals include jaguars, giant armadillos and anteaters, tapirs and maned wolves.
The sun sets behind the smoke of large-scale fires in the native Cerrado forest at the National Park in Brasilia, Brazil, on Sept. 5, 2022. Deforestation has surged in this tropical savanna region, by nearly 45% compared to 2022 levels, according to data released on Jan. 12, 2024 by the government’s monitoring agency.
Since taking office a year ago, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has halved Amazon deforestation, which reached a 15-year high under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Even though results has been uneven, the leftist leader has promised to promote development in the region that makes sustainable use of its resources.
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The situation in the Cerrado comes in contrast with Lula’s vow to end net deforestation by 2030 — two years beyond his current term.
Brazil is hiring new personnel for its understaffed environmental agencies and the nation also announced in September that it will provide financial support to municipalities that have most reduced deforestation. The measure, however, only applies to the Amazon region, not the Cerrado.
World
Turkey's Erdogan Says Israel Must Not Scupper US-Iran Deal
World
Waltz calls out Iranian diplomat at UN following drone strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz scolded Iran during this week’s U.N. Security Council meeting, saying Tehran “will not silence” the body following claims by the Islamic Republic’s representative that council members were spreading falsehoods about its recent attack targeting neighboring Gulf states.
“Let me remind you where you are,” Waltz told Iranian diplomat Amir Saeid Iravani. “This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations Security Council. You will not silence this body.”
Waltz’s remarks came during an emergency meeting of the council in response to drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait Sunday after new U.S. airstrikes against Iran.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz holds up images he said show the aftermath of Iranian drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait. (U.N. Security Council)
During his remarks, Iravani argued the council should not have met, while accusing the U.S., Bahrain and other members of lying.
“Once again, the representative of the United States has resorted to lies and disinformation against Iran in a desperate attempt to justify the US’s unlawful acts of aggression,” Iravani said.
He also rejected the “unfounded accusations made by certain Western members of the Council and the representative of Bahrain.”
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Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani of Iran speaks during a Security Council meeting after members voted on draft resolution on reopening of Strait of Hormuz at U.N. Headquarters. (Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Instead of addressing the root cause of the current crisis, they have ignored the unlawful aggression committed against Iran and sought to shift blame onto the victim,” he added. “Their double standards and hypocritical behavior have deprived them of any credibility to lecture others.”
In a post on X, Waltz reiterated his position.
“Iran will not silence us on our own soil,” he wrote. “That might work in Tehran, but not in the UN Security Council. We will tell the truth.”
HOW IRAN ATTACKS ARE FORCING THE PENTAGON TO RETHINK ITS DECADES-OLD MIDDLE EAST BASE STRATEGY
Firefighters work to extinguish fire in the aftermath of Iranian drone attacks, according to Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, at a location given as Bahrain, in this handout image released on June 11, 2026. (Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Bahrain/Handout via Reuters)
During the exchange, Waltz held up what he said were images of the aftermath of the Iranian attacks, including a family whose home in Bahrain was destroyed by a Shahed drone, a hotel full of tourists that was also hit and a building used by first responders that Waltz said was deliberately targeted.
“Are they lying?” Waltz said of the victims of the attack. “Is this hypocrisy? Is this what this council is here to denounce today? I ask the representative, are these lies? … I’d say not.”
Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain’s minister of foreign affairs, said that, since Feb. 28, the island nation has been subjected to 808 attacks comprising 203 ballistic missiles and 605 armed drones.
“These attacks deliberately targeted civilian facilities, critical infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in the deaths of three innocent civilians and injuries to 465 others,” he said, disputing Tehran’s claim that its aggression is directed solely against military objectives.
Washington and Tehran have repeatedly accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire agreement. On June 27, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran violated the deal.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz speaks after the United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution calling for the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran and the Middle East at U.N. headquarters in New York April 7, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
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The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman last week and the U.S. military retaliated, officials said.
“It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
World
Nabatieh recovery begins amid ongoing southern Lebanon tensions
In the city of Nabatieh, ambulance teams, civil defense units, scouts, municipal workers, and residents joined forces in a large cleanup campaign to remove rubble and reopen streets following extensive destruction caused by the Israeli war on Lebanon.
Published On 4 Jul 2026
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