(KABUL, Afghanistan) — /Nine-year-old Zarlasht says she cried when her mother first cut her hair.
She says she felt uncomfortable in the clothes her older brothers lent her, but pulling the sweatshirt hood over her head could make her look more like a boy and help ensure her survival when she’s on the streets of Kabul.
As dusk falls, Zarlasht walks near a bakery storefront, but it will be another hour of work before she can buy a loaf of bread. She walks with two-plastic wrapped packets of watermelon-flavored gum, trying to sell pieces to anyone who passes.
Most will ignore her.
In the two years since she’s been working on the street, Zarlasht says she usually makes between $1-2 a day. She says she spends it at the bakery to feed her four siblings and parents who wait each night for her return.
“I am always scared going out to do some work,” she tells ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell, who spoke with Zarlasht through a translator and followed her as she navigated part of a day in her life in Kabul. While she says she hasn’t faced anything as dangerous so far, she fears of one day being kidnapped. “I don’t know what will happen,” she says.
Her father sells vegetables in a market, but doesn’t make enough money to feed the family. Her mother, Shahpari, suffered a stroke she says was caused by the explosive sounds of war. She says it left a side of her body partially paralyzed and while some movement has returned, she claims she is unable to work. Shahpari explained that while her other children assist their mother throughout the day at home, Zarlasht, the youngest, is tasked with finding money for food on the street.
The young girl is not alone. UNICEF estimates that there are 60,000 street children in Kabul, alone. Thousands more were forced out of their homes in the days following the Taliban takeover. They walk the streets, desperate for money and food as the stranglehold on the national economy tightens.
Malnutrition can lead to frailty, but also an inability to sleep, focus, study, and stay motivated. UNICEF expects that international humanitarian food assistance could decrease from reaching 38% of the Afghan population to only 8% in the next few months, warning that 1.1 million children in the country could die this year due to lack of food if there is not serious intervention.
In Kabul, a local cafe offers a rare refuge for kids working on the streets.
Salam Cafe provides ice cold water and free, nutrient-rich meals three times a day to at least 45 Afghan street kids who are a part of the Hospitality for Humanity program.
For Zarlasht, it allows for a desperately needed reprieve during her day. Taking a break from selling watermelon-flavored gum on the street, she can eat thick slices of watermelon with other people her age.
The few rooms have become a clean and safe space where Afghan street working children can more comfortably be themselves. Kids draw and leaf through picture books. Instead of competing for spare change on the traffic-congested streets, the boys and girls sit together and play rock-paper-scissors.
In the cafe, teachers also lead classes to practice writing, reading, and other skills at a time where many girls in the country have been unable to attend formal school for close to a year.
“They have big dreams,” the co-director of Salam Cafe, Salma Aslami, says of the children she works with. “Many of them told me I wish I become I the future a good engineer, teacher, doctor.”
Instead, she says they “are being tortured.” She assesses the situation is only getting worse.
Funds for the cafe are being depleted. If its doors close, aid workers say the kids might only be able to receive up to one meal a day elsewhere. Aslami says they can already face severe abuse on the streets.
While just this month the Supreme Leader of the Taliban has ordered to take beggars off the streets and offer jobs or education, Aslami hasn’t seen a difference. “They will pay them a salary, but nothing has been done yet,” she claims.
“I don’t know how long more we will face this kind of difficulties,” Zarlasht admits. “I wish to have better life and get out this kind of life. We have bad life.”
While the cafe has been a safe space for her, the demanding work is still waiting for her once she steps outside its walls. The bakery she sells gum outside of is only a 10-minute walk away.
With the few dollars she makes a day, Zarlasht hopes to make enough money to someday also pay for her mother’s medicine. Despite recent attacks by the Taliban on girls’ access to education, she says she aspires to become a doctor.
“I want to get rid of these problems,” she says.
Until then, she says she may be forced to remain out on the streets, wandering through passersby, waiting for others to look down and notice.
ABC News’ Ian Pannell and Cindy Smith contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A Spanish “stonehenge” has reemerged amid the country’s devastating drought, officials said.
The historic marvel, officially called the Dolmen of Guadalperal, has only been visible four times, according to officials.
Experts believe the striking circle of dozens of megalithic stones has existed since 5000 BC. However, it was first discovered by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier in 1926 before it became flooded in 1963 due to a rural development project under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
Now, the structure sits in a corner of the Valdecanas reservoir located in the country’s central province of Caceres.
As Spain faces its worst drought in 60 years, officials say the water level in the reservoir has dropped to 28% capacity.
“It’s a surprise, it’s a rare opportunity to be able to access it,” archaeologist Enrique Cedillo from Madrid’s Complutense University told Reuters.
The structure itself has an unknown creator, experts say.
Dolmens are vertically arranged stones that usually support a flat boulder or capstone, according to the New World Encyclopedia. How they became erected, however, remains a mystery.
Because it is common to find human remains near or in dolmens across Europe, it is believed that the structures served as tombs, New World Encyclopedia said.
The dolmen was last visible in 2019, when Europe was facing a drought, NASA said. This 2019 drought was the first time the entire structure became visible since it was flooded in 1963, according to NASA.
A petition by Asociación Raíces de Peraleda was posted on Change.org in 2019 to have the structure moved from the reservoir. As of Thursday, it has over 45,000 signatures.
“It is a megalithic dolmen of great value that is now, for the first time, and who knows if it will be the last, fully accessible,” the petition reads.
The petition continues to read that the association launches a “voice of alarm” to officials to move the dolman, in order to “rescue” it and take “advantage of the current circumstances since it is still well preserved.”
The petition states that the structure is deteriorating, as the rock has become porous and is cracking in some areas. It warns that if the structure is not moved, it may not be strong enough to move in the future.
The Iberian peninsula where the dolman lives is at its driest in 1,200 years, with winter rains expected to diminish further, a study published by the Nature Geoscience journal stated.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 18, 3:59 PM EDT
Russia reportedly tells Zaporizhzhia plant workers not to go to work Friday
Russia has reportedly told some workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant not to go to work on Friday, according to Ukrainian officials.
In an official Telegram channel, the main director of Ukraine’s military intelligence said Thursday, “Occupiers announced an unexpected day off on August 19. At the nuclear plant there will only be operational staff. All other employees will be denied entry.”
The official added that representatives of the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom also have “temporarily left the territory of the plant.”
This comes as both Ukraine and Russia have warned of a provocation being planned at the plant Friday.
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Aug 18, 1:08 PM EDT
Zelenskyy calls on UN to ensure demilitarization of Zaporizhzhya plant
During a meeting in Lviv on Thursday with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the U.N. to ensure the demilitarization and “complete liberation” of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant from Russian forces, according to a statement from his office.
The two “agreed upon the parameters” of a possible visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, Zelenskyy’s office said.
Russia has claimed a demilitarized zone around the plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, would make it more vulnerable.
During their meeting in Lviv, Zelenskyy also called for a U.N. fact-finding mission to head to Olenivka, where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion late last month.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Aug 18, 12:04 PM EDT
Russia rejects calls to create demilitarized zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The international calls and proposals for Russia to create a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine are “unacceptable,” according to Ivan Nechayev, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department.
“Their implementation will make the plant even more vulnerable,” Nechayev said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Moscow is expecting experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant “in the near future,” according to Nechayev.
The secretary-generals of the U.N. and the IAEA have called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia plant, near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation. However, heavy fighting around the site has fueled fears of a catastrophe, like what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine over 36 years ago.
Aug 18, 9:34 AM EDT
Firefighter describes destruction after deadly strikes in Kharkiv
A Ukrainian firefighter who responded to the Russian missile attacks in Kharkiv overnight told ABC News that the scale of the blasts was “one of the biggest” he’s ever seen.
One of the rockets struck a large apartment block on Wednesday night, killing at least nine people and injuring another 16, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“It went through all four floors and hit the ground and almost blew up everything,” the firefighter, Roman Kachanov, told ABC News during an interview on Thursday. “All the buildings around were without windows.”
“There was a dormitory, and the building was almost completely ruined,” he added. “There was a playground that was smashed like a big titan blew it up.”
Kachanov is among the rescue workers searching for survivors amid the smoldering rubble.
“I’ve seen three bodies on the floor covered by objects,” he said. “We tried to extract them and while we tried, the other wall started to fall and we had to run away as fast as we can.”
Kachanov said another missile hit the city before dawn Thursday, not far from where he and his team were working. He said the blast “was very loud” and “sounded close.”
“Everyone had to lay down,” he recalled. “The team had to split — fire truck had to leave to go to that other fire.”
Aug 17, 5:40 PM EDT
Large apartment block struck in Kharkiv, at least 7 dead
At least seven people are dead and another 13 injured by strikes on a large apartment block in Kharkiv, officials said.
Based on recovered shrapnel, authorities determined an Iskander-M missile system was used in the strike, said Ivan Sokol, Ukraine’s director of the regional Department of Civil Defense.
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the three-story residential building, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.
-ABC News’ Tatiana Rymarenko
Aug 15, 1:49 PM EDT
Shelling resumes near power plant, both sides claim the other is firing
More shelling was underway Monday in city of Enerhodar, which is under Russian control and where the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is located.
Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov urged residents to stay inside. He said Russian forces seized another government facility in Enerhodar, a lab where 30 of the employees are refusing to cooperate with the Russian-appointed administration.
Meanwhile, Russia’s semi-official Interfax reported that Ukrainian forces opened fire in Enerhodar.
Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator Energoatom said the plant remained occupied and controlled by Russian forces on Monday. The Ukrainian staff continues to work and make every effort to ensure nuclear and radiation safety, but Energoatom warned that periodic shelling by Russian troops with multiple rocket launchers since last week caused a serious risk to the safe operation of the plant.
Aug 15, 5:53 AM EDT
Griner to appeal Russian conviction, lawyer says
Brittney Griner’s defense team filed an appeal for the verdict by Khimky City Court, according to Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners law firm.
The WNBA star was found guilty on drug charges in a Moscow-area court this month.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Aug 14, 4:44 PM EDT
1st UN-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat set to depart for Africa
The first UN-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat is set to head for Africa from the near the port city Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.
The MV Brave Commander is loaded with 23,000 tons of wheat that will be shipped to Ethiopia as part of a mission to relieve a global food crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has halted grain exports for months, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov announced at a news conference.
Kubrakov said the UN-chartered ship is scheduled to leave the Pivdenny port near Odesa on Monday.
“When three months ago, during the meeting of the President of Ukraine (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Kyiv the first negotiations on unlocking Ukrainian maritime ports began, we have already seen how critical it is becoming a food situation in the world.” Kubrakov wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “This especially applies to the least socially protected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, for whom Ukraine has always been a key importer of agro-production.”
He said Ethiopia is in desperate need of Ukrainian grain.
“This country has been suffering from record drought and armed confrontation for the second year in a row,” Kubrakov said. “Ukrainian grain for them without exaggeration — the matter of life and death.”
He said he hopes the MV Brave Commander will be the first many more grain shipments under the U.N. World Food Program.
Aug 12, 2:28 PM EDT
‘They treat us like captives’: Exiled Zaporizhzhia manager on conditions at plant
An exiled manager at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant told ABC News that the Ukrainian staff is treated “like captives.”
Oleg, who asked to be referred by a pseudonym, said he felt threatened by the Russian soldiers.
“They didn’t say, ‘I’m going to shoot you now,’ but they always carry guns and assault rifles with them,” said Oleg, who managed one of 80 units at the plant but was able to leave last month. “And when an assault rifle or a gun has a cocked trigger, I consider it as a threat.”
Amid reported shelling in the vicinity of the plant, Oleg said he was primarily concerned about its spent fuel containers, “which are in a precarious position, and they are not shielded well.”
Aug 11, 4:43 PM EDT
UN secretary-general calls for all military activities around nuclear power plant to ‘cease immediately’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “calling for all military activities” around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in southern Ukraine “to cease immediately,” and for armies not “to target its facilities or surroundings.”
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator Energoatom said Russian forces shelled the plant for a third time on Thursday, hitting close to the first power unit. Earlier on Thursday, Energoatom said five rockets struck the area around the commandant’s office, close to where the radioactive material is stored.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed interim governor of Zaporizhzhya Oblast, issued a statement claiming Ukrainian forces struck the plant, hitting close to an area with radioactive material.
Guterres said he’s appealed to all parties to “exercise common sense” and take any actions that could endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
“Instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster,” he said, adding that he’s “gravely concerned.”
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, pleaded with the U.N. Security Council Thursday to allow for an IAEA mission to visit the plant as soon as possible. He said the situation at the plant is deteriorating rapidly and is “becoming very alarming.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 18, 12:04 PM EDT
Russia rejects calls to create demilitarized zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The international calls and proposals for Russia to create a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine are “unacceptable,” according to Ivan Nechayev, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department.
“Their implementation will make the plant even more vulnerable,” Nechayev said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Moscow is expecting experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant “in the near future,” according to Nechayev.
The secretary-generals of the U.N. and the IAEA have called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia plant, near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation. However, heavy fighting around the site has fueled fears of a catastrophe, like what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine over 36 years ago.
Aug 18, 9:34 AM EDT
Firefighter describes destruction after deadly strikes in Kharkiv
A Ukrainian firefighter who responded to the Russian missile attacks in Kharkiv overnight told ABC News that the scale of the blasts was “one of the biggest” he’s ever seen.
One of the rockets struck a large apartment block on Wednesday night, killing at least nine people and injuring another 16, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“It went through all four floors and hit the ground and almost blew up everything,” the firefighter, Roman Kachanov, told ABC News during an interview on Thursday. “All the buildings around were without windows.”
“There was a dormitory, and the building was almost completely ruined,” he added. “There was a playground that was smashed like a big titan blew it up.”
Kachanov is among the rescue workers searching for survivors amid the smoldering rubble.
“I’ve seen three bodies on the floor covered by objects,” he said. “We tried to extract them and while we tried, the other wall started to fall and we had to run away as fast as we can.”
Kachanov said another missile hit the city before dawn Thursday, not far from where he and his team were working. He said the blast “was very loud” and “sounded close.”
“Everyone had to lay down,” he recalled. “The team had to split — fire truck had to leave to go to that other fire.”
Aug 17, 5:40 PM EDT
Large apartment block struck in Kharkiv, at least 7 dead
At least seven people are dead and another 13 injured by strikes on a large apartment block in Kharkiv, officials said.
Based on recovered shrapnel, authorities determined an Iskander-M missile system was used in the strike, said Ivan Sokol, Ukraine’s director of the regional Department of Civil Defense.
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the three-story residential building, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.
-ABC News’ Tatiana Rymarenko
Aug 15, 1:49 PM EDT
Shelling resumes near power plant, both sides claim the other is firing
More shelling was underway Monday in city of Enerhodar, which is under Russian control and where the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is located.
Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov urged residents to stay inside. He said Russian forces seized another government facility in Enerhodar, a lab where 30 of the employees are refusing to cooperate with the Russian-appointed administration.
Meanwhile, Russia’s semi-official Interfax reported that Ukrainian forces opened fire in Enerhodar.
Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator Energoatom said the plant remained occupied and controlled by Russian forces on Monday. The Ukrainian staff continues to work and make every effort to ensure nuclear and radiation safety, but Energoatom warned that periodic shelling by Russian troops with multiple rocket launchers since last week caused a serious risk to the safe operation of the plant.
Aug 15, 5:53 AM EDT
Griner to appeal Russian conviction, lawyer says
Brittney Griner’s defense team filed an appeal for the verdict by Khimky City Court, according to Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners law firm.
The WNBA star was found guilty on drug charges in a Moscow-area court this month.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Aug 14, 4:44 PM EDT
1st UN-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat set to depart for Africa
The first UN-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat is set to head for Africa from the near the port city Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.
The MV Brave Commander is loaded with 23,000 tons of wheat that will be shipped to Ethiopia as part of a mission to relieve a global food crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has halted grain exports for months, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov announced at a news conference.
Kubrakov said the UN-chartered ship is scheduled to leave the Pivdenny port near Odesa on Monday.
“When three months ago, during the meeting of the President of Ukraine (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Kyiv the first negotiations on unlocking Ukrainian maritime ports began, we have already seen how critical it is becoming a food situation in the world.” Kubrakov wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “This especially applies to the least socially protected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, for whom Ukraine has always been a key importer of agro-production.”
He said Ethiopia is in desperate need of Ukrainian grain.
“This country has been suffering from record drought and armed confrontation for the second year in a row,” Kubrakov said. “Ukrainian grain for them without exaggeration — the matter of life and death.”
He said he hopes the MV Brave Commander will be the first many more grain shipments under the U.N. World Food Program.
Aug 12, 2:28 PM EDT
‘They treat us like captives’: Exiled Zaporizhzhia manager on conditions at plant
An exiled manager at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant told ABC News that the Ukrainian staff is treated “like captives.”
Oleg, who asked to be referred by a pseudonym, said he felt threatened by the Russian soldiers.
“They didn’t say, ‘I’m going to shoot you now,’ but they always carry guns and assault rifles with them,” said Oleg, who managed one of 80 units at the plant but was able to leave last month. “And when an assault rifle or a gun has a cocked trigger, I consider it as a threat.”
Amid reported shelling in the vicinity of the plant, Oleg said he was primarily concerned about its spent fuel containers, “which are in a precarious position, and they are not shielded well.”
Aug 11, 4:43 PM EDT
UN secretary-general calls for all military activities around nuclear power plant to ‘cease immediately’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “calling for all military activities” around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in southern Ukraine “to cease immediately,” and for armies not “to target its facilities or surroundings.”
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator Energoatom said Russian forces shelled the plant for a third time on Thursday, hitting close to the first power unit. Earlier on Thursday, Energoatom said five rockets struck the area around the commandant’s office, close to where the radioactive material is stored.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed interim governor of Zaporizhzhya Oblast, issued a statement claiming Ukrainian forces struck the plant, hitting close to an area with radioactive material.
Guterres said he’s appealed to all parties to “exercise common sense” and take any actions that could endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
“Instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster,” he said, adding that he’s “gravely concerned.”
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, pleaded with the U.N. Security Council Thursday to allow for an IAEA mission to visit the plant as soon as possible. He said the situation at the plant is deteriorating rapidly and is “becoming very alarming.”
(NEW YORK) — The planet continues to experience a massive loss in forest land as the world warms and allows severe wildfires to run rampant in regions spanning the globe.
Overall, forest fires are getting worse worldwide, according to a new report released Wednesday by Global Forest Watch, a forest monitoring platform led by the World Resources Institute. The data captures stand-replacing fires, which kill all or most of the living overstory trees in a forest, and includes wildfires, escaped fires from human activities such as agriculture and hunting and intentionally set fires that result in tree cover loss.
Tree cover loss due to fires is now twice as high as it was in 2001, with forest fires destroying about 7.4 million more acres of land — an area roughly the size of Belgium — last year compared to the turn of the century, according to the researchers, who analyzed two decades of fire data from the Global Land Analysis and Discovery Lab at the University of Maryland.
Forest fires also accounted for more than 25% of all tree cover loss in that past 20 years, with 2021 ranking as the second-worst fire season on record due to unprecedented damage to boreal forests in the Northern Hemisphere, according to the report.
About 70% of all fire-related tree cover loss over the past 20 years has occurred in those boreal forests, likely due to warming temperatures in northern, high-latitude regions, the researchers said.
Nearly 23 million acres of land — an area the size of Thailand or roughly 16 soccer pitches per minute — were scorched globally last year, according to the report. The rate of tree cover loss due to fire is increasing by about 568,000 acres — roughly 4% — every year.
In tropical forests, which are moist and wet environments, stand-replacing fires were historically rare events. However, fire loss in the tropics is increasing about 5% per year, which is an annual increase of about 89,000 acres, the experts said. Almost all fires that occur in the tropics are started by people, such as escaped fires from agriculture and land cleaning.
The top five countries that experienced tree cover loss over the past 20 years were Russia, at 131 million acres; Canada, at 66.7 million acres; the U.S., at 29.7 million acres; Brazil, at 23.5 million acres; and Australia, at 15.6 million acres. Extreme weather caused a significant spike in bush fire activity in Australia from 2019 to 2020.
Climate change is likely the major driver of increasing fire activity, the researchers said. A “climate feedback loop” has occurred in which rising temperatures create drier conditions, causing more forest area to burn, which then release even more carbon into the atmosphere.
The obliteration of forests could further hinder efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate global warming.
Forests are critical to Earth’s ecology for their ability to capture and store carbon out of the atmosphere, alter the air quality and quantity of drinking water and provide habitat for the world’s land species.
But longer fire seasons and an increase in fire frequency could turn some forests into a net source of carbon emissions, releasing more carbon than they are absorbing, which poses a long-term threat to countries’ ability to uphold commitments under the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution.
The cause of increasing forest fires are complex and vary significantly by geography, the researchers said, adding that there is no “silver bullet” to reversing the trend of increasing tree cover loss due to fires.
In addition, there is no solution to bring fire activity back down from historic levels without drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and breaking the fire-climate feedback loop, according to the analysis. Human activity in and around forests is also making them more susceptible to wildfires, especially in the tropics.
(ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine) — As Russia and Ukraine trade accusations over attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a worker there told ABC News he fears not only for the safety of his family but also the world.
“If something happens to the spent fuel storage, the consequences could be the same as Chernobyl,” the worker, who spoke to ABC News on condition of anonymity, warned during an interview in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian man, who is an engineer at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar, said he plans to return to work soon out of a sense of duty to his country, despite his wife urging him to quit. He described how the Russian soldiers at the plant “are always armed and wear balaclavas.”
“If they don’t like the look of you, they can yell at you,” he said. “I’ve heard that some people were beaten.”
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia plant, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation.
“If everyone leaves the station, who will work there? We need to help Ukraine,” the engineer told ABC News.
However, heavy fighting around the site has fueled fears of a catastrophe, like what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine over 36 years ago.
On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl plant, about 65 miles north of Kyiv, exploded and spewed enormous amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere, forcing more than 100,000 people within a 1,000-square-mile radius to evacuate. It remains the world’s worst nuclear accident.
Russian forces seized the now-defunct Chernobyl plant and the vast, surrounding radioactive area soon after launching the invasion but ceded control of the facility to Ukrainian troops when they withdrew from the area at the end of March.
Meanwhile, skirmishes between Russian and Ukrainian forces near the Zaporizhzhia plant caused a fire to break out at a training complex there in early March. On Aug. 5, shelling at the site resulted in several explosions near the electrical switchboard, causing a power shutdown, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations.
Last week, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant has deteriorated rapidly to the point of becoming “very alarming” and the agency’s technical experts must be allowed to visit the area to address mounting safety concerns.
On Wednesday, in his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops must “immediately” withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia plant and nearby areas “without any conditions.”
“Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions. Everything depends solely on the direction and speed of the wind,” Zelenskyy warned. “If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.”
The Ukrainian president also accused Russia of using “the cover of the plant” to launch strikes on nearby Ukrainian-controlled territories and storing troops, weapons and equipment in its facilities. Russia has denied the allegations and accused Ukrainian forces of repeatedly firing on the site.
If shelling hits the spent fuel storage at the Zaporizhzhia plant, the engineer told ABC News “it might be like another Chernobyl,” as radioactive material will leak and contaminate the environment.
“Every day, the Russians come closer and closer to the unit, shellings are closer and closer,” he said. “There is no order or stability.”
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea fired two cruise missiles on Wednesday as South Korea’s president marked his 100th day in office.
Pyongyang has test-fired its missile system 19 times this year alone, including the latest launch of two cruise missiles Wednesday morning, as intelligence in the U.S. and South Korea has confirmed that North Korea is prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday at a press conference that if North Korea expresses a “steady will” to denuclearize, an “audacious” economic booster program could be on offer from the South but said that talks between the two Koreas will not take place unless it is to establish a substantive and long-lasting peace.
Unlike the previous pro-North government, Yoon’s new administration has taken a more aggressive approach to North Korea’s military provocations in the past 100 days.
When North Korea fired eight ballistic missiles from four different regions in the country, South Korea and the U.S. joint forces fired eight surface-to-surface missiles as a countermeasure the following day.
The joint forces are now gearing up for the 10-days-long Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise which is set to begin next Monday.
Public sentiment in South Korea has broadly indicated that, with no end in sight regarding the easing of tensions between the two nations, it might make sense for South to go nuclear itself.
“Those who assert that South Korea should develop its own nuclear weapons point out the unequal, threatening fact that North Korea has it and South Korea does not,” Kim Hyung-suk, president of the Council on Diplomacy for Korean Unification, told ABC News. “But it’s only an instantaneous idea. There are numerous restraints to actualize a South Korea-made nuclear weapons program.”
According to a public opinion poll report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 71% out of 1,500 people surveyed said that they are in favor of South Korea developing its own nuclear weapon while just 26% percent were against the idea.
Asked by ABC News whether he agrees with such sentiments, Yoon said he remains committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty which he referred to as an “essential prerequisite for lasting world peace.”
Yoon, however, is currently facing strong disapproval ratings in South Korea due to domestic political conflicts within his own party, a majority opposition in the National Assembly, and several scandals coming from within his own cabinet. Yoon apologized to South Korean’s on Wednesday for these issues and pledged to “listen” to the people with “modesty.”
(NEW YORK) — The saga of WNBA star Brittney Griner continued Monday after her attorneys filed an appeal over her conviction and nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession.
The move comes as U.S. officials continue to seek a prisoner transfer for her and fellow captive American Paul Whelan.
ABC News Live spoke with Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., who has been a frequent emissary in hostage negotiations through the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, about the latest developments.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Let’s start with the news of Griner’s team filing an appeal. I’m curious, does that have any impact, you think, on diplomatic talks for a prisoner exchange to bring Griner and fellow detained American Paul Whelan home?
RICHARDSON: Well, indirectly, it basically says the legal process is over except for the appeal, and it’s reasonable to have this appeal [for a] nine-year sentence in a penal conflict. Now, there can be negotiations between the United States and Russia. Both seem disposed.
There’s been a prisoner exchange about two months ago, Trevor Reed, that I was indirectly involved in. I think the legal team of Brittney Griner has been effective [in] showing contrition, acknowledgment of the mistake and now the appeal. And I think…this potential return date from the American side is very important to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. So I think both sides are moving in the right direction and I’m optimistic.
ABC NEWS LIVE: All right. You’ve just described yourself as a catalyst in these talks that are taking place at a government-to-government level between the U.S. and Russia. We know you traveled to Russia ahead of the release, as you mentioned, of American Trevor Reed earlier this spring. Have you or can you say or will you be traveling to Russia ahead of any release, potential release of Griner and Whelan?
RICHARDSON: Well, no, I can’t get into that information. But what I can tell you is that I talked to both sides. I talked to the White House. I talked to the Russians. I have contacts in the Russian government. When I was U.N. ambassador, for instance, the foreign minister [Sergey] Lavrov was my counterpart. I have others that I dealt with as secretary of energy. So I’m not a replacement for the negotiations, [or] some kind of an interlocutor indirectly.
So I don’t want to get into too many of these facets, but I’ve had experience. And I think…both sides are moving in the right direction because they’ve done it before, despite the fact that the relationship between the United States and Russia is toxic. Totally toxic.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Yeah, we understand that, and of course, appreciate it and would not want to jeopardize any future release. But I am curious about this. Russian officials have criticized the U.S. for openly discussing the offers on the table, but they did confirm this weekend that detained Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is the name at the center of negotiations. You spoke to our George Stephanopoulos about this a little bit — a week or so ago. [Is there] any concern here that these talks could break down for any reason, including the U.S. being too public with that information? In other words, would you [have] preferred that America didn’t throw his name out there?
RICHARDSON: Well, I question that because I think private diplomacy is a lot better, but obviously the negotiations weren’t going too well. So what the U.S. did was when things aren’t going well, you kind of throw a little bit of a bomb. And so far, I think it’s moved in the right direction. Now, eventually, I think it’s not going to be a two-for-one deal. I think it’s going to be a two-for-two.
The Russians obviously probably will want more, but you never know. Again, humanitarian issues like prisoner exchanges, like this agreement on grain and fertilizer that the U.N. broke…are steps in the right direction on the humanitarian front that eventually might help in a very toxic relationship between us and the Russians.
ABC NEWS LIVE: So you just used the word optimistic. I’m going to see if I can push a little bit further. Are you confident that a deal can get done here? And if so, any idea about a timeline without giving anything away? Or are we talking weeks, months, [a] year?
RICHARDSON: Well, you don’t want to get into a timeline. I know the families are suffering. I think it was a great effort to combine them. An American Marine, a basketball star. We want both, but I think the Russians will want parity. So I’m optimistic because it was done before.
And I think Brittney Griner’s attorneys have handled this well. And lastly, I think both sides want it. Obviously, the president wants to get his prisoners back and Putin wants to get his prisoner back, especially Bout, who was politically very important. So there’s [a] political reality here. So I’m optimistic.
ABC NEWS LIVE: You mentioned the families. Let’s touch on that a little bit. I think when people talk about situations like this, they want to know what each government is doing. But I think sometimes lost in the translation are the families that have been dealing with this for however long they have been in each individual case. You’ve written books on it. Obviously, there’s an empathy there that you have. How do you tell the families to have patience in any kind of meaningful way during these negotiations?
RICHARDSON: Well, first, Mickey Bergman, who specializes in dealing with the families, handles that for our foundation.
We worked for the families, my foundation. We don’t work for the government. We don’t take orders from the government, either. The families work closely with us. We help them. We advise them. We don’t try to lift their spirits when there’s little, but then we move in directly into negotiation.
So that’s different from other groups that do very excellent in hostage diplomacy. But we get right in there and try to make things happen. We’re not replacing the government. Eventually, the U.S. government has to make the decision. The president, who I think [is] handling this well for a prisoner exchange. And as you know, prisoner exchanges have been criticized in the media and in the public.
ABC NEWS LIVE: You mentioned this a little earlier on that, of course, this is happening with the backdrop of this Russia-Ukraine war. How does that complicate negotiations? You’ve done this time and time again, but now there’s a war involved in this one, [and] Russia is not happy with America for supplying aid and weapons to Ukraine. So how does that complicate this?
RICHARDSON: Well, it complicates things a lot because the relationship between our leaders or secretary of states or presidents is almost nonexistent. But there are channels like our private channels, like our embassy in Moscow. So there are ways that we talk, but it complicates things. But usually, governments before, they better the relationship.
In this case [it’s] a very toxic relationship. Sometimes humanitarian efforts like a prisoner exchange, like the release of human rights prisoners, like the spring deal, the fertilizer deal between Russia [and] Ukraine brokered by the U.N., are steps that might lessen the tension and improve a very bad relationship.
(LONDON and CAIRO) — Since 1989, when the Iranian supreme leader of the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued an apostasy fatwa against the Indian-British Salman Rushdie, it has not been just the “The Satanic Verses” author who has been threatened and attacked.
Multiple writers, translators and publishers have been targeted around the world by extremists with links to this fatwa, which included a religious death warrant for “all the editors and publishers” of the novel who were “aware of its contents.”
Rushdie was hospitalized after being stabbed multiple times in New York on Friday, about 33 years after the fatwa was issued.
Rushie’s agent and family released statements Sunday saying he has a long road ahead but is improving and is off a ventilator. The stabbing marked the latest violent attack on people who were targeted around the world with direct and indirect links to the fatwa.
Ettore Capriolo
Ettore Capriolo, an English literature expert who had translated “The Satanic Verses” into Italian, was stabbed multiple times on July 4, 1991, in Milan, Italy. He survived the attack.
Talking to the local press, Capriolo said he had forgotten about “The Satanic Verses” translation and had moved on to other works when received a message from a young man saying he was from the Iranian embassy with a translation proposal.
A few days later, the man showed up at Capriolo’s house. As they sat for a chat about the proposal, the guest asked him for Rushdie’s address. The translator said he didn’t know it. As the young man was leaving, he turned and punched Capriolo in the face before stabbing him several times, local media reported.
The attacker was never arrested, and the only comment from the Iranian embassy at the time was that they did not know anyone named Capriolo and they had never searched for him, local media reported.
Hitoshi Igarashi
Eight days later, a 44-year-old Japanese scholar, Hitoshi Igarashi, was found stabbed to death at his office on July 12, 1991, at Tsukuba University in Tokyo.
A year and a half earlier, Igarashi and his publisher Gianni Palma held a press conference in Tokyo to announce their translation of Rushdie’s work. Midway through the session, a Pakistani Muslim took over the stage and attempted to assault Palma. The attacker was arrested and reportedly deported afterward.
Aziz Nesin
Turkish writer and humorist Aziz Nesin started translating “The Satanic Verses” in the early 1990s. In May 1993, Nesin published excerpts from the controversial novel in the newspaper Aydinlik.
The move, along with some of his speeches led to riots in Istanbul by Islamic fundamentalists who denounced Nesin for “spreading atheism.”
A few months later, on July 2, 1993, a mob reportedly organized by Islamists gathered around the Madimak Hotel in the Anatolian city of Sivas, where a cultural festival was taking place, to protest the presence of Nesin, according to The New York Times. They reportedly set the hotel on fire. Nesin and many other guests escaped, but at least 37 people were killed, according to multiple reports.
William Nygaard
Publisher William Nygaard, who had put out a Norwegian translation of Rushdie’s novel, was shot three times outside his home on Oct. 11, 1993, in Holmenkollen, Norway. He survived the attack, but was hospitalized for months.
Both Nygaard and the translator of the novel, Kari Risvik, had received death threats before the attack, according to local reports.
Twenty-five years later, in October 2018, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service said two people were charged with attempted murder; one from Iran and one connected to Lebanon.
Naguib Mahfouz
Egyptian writer and Nobel Prize laureate for literature Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed in the neck by a Muslim extremist outside his Cairo home on Oct. 15, 1994.
He survived the injuries, but his right hand was paralyzed afterward, according to The New York Times.
Mahfouz had denounced the fatwa against Rushdie, saying that “the veritable terrorism of which he is a target is unjustifiable, indefensible.”
The controversy around “The Satanic Verses,” had revived criticisms against Mahfouz’s novel “Children of Our Alley.” The book, published in 1959, had been deemed blasphemous by some, including extremist cleric Abdel-Rahman, known as “the blind sheikh.” If Mahfouz had been killed 30 years ago, Rushdie would not have appeared, Abdel-Rahman said in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Nabaa.
“Nobody can force any piece of literature on art on anyone; people choose whatever they want to read,” Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, an Egyptian writer, told ABC News. “Such fatwas should stay away from literature and arts.”
Denying any effects of such fatwas on the readership of literary books in the long term, Abdel-Meguid said that “the intended aim of such attacks is never achieved.”
“In the contrary,” he added, “they encourage people to read the books which these extremists regard as blasphemous.”
(KABUL) — It’s exactly one year since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, barring most women from having jobs, and all girls from seeking more than a sixth grade education.
While the militants are celebrating what they call “Independence Day” on the streets of Kabul, a small group of women were protesting in the streets. Some were beaten by the Taliban for doing so.
ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell sat down with Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a Taliban spokesman, who denies women and girls are being oppressed.
“Women are being given their rights… each society interprets rights of human beings, men, women, children, neighbors, the planet, animals, differently,” he claims.
Pannell reports that more than 90% of Afghans no longer have enough to eat. He says one year after America’s withdrawal lapsed into chaos Afghanistan is isolated, sadder and hungrier than ever.
