Translated by: Matilde São José and Daniela Aires

Floods in Pakistan
Pakistan is the latest stage for extreme phenomena triggered by climate change, where millions of people became homeless due to intense and unceasing raining. The Pakistani government has already asked the international community for humanitarian aid, since these floods have already made 1,250 victims, including 441 children and have put 33 million human lives at risk.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations will visit the country on September 9, in order to draw the attention of the international community to a problem that is being underestimated by the latter. However, France was one of the first states to assist Pakistan with medical supplies and dehydration bombs.

Inspection of the Zaporíjia nuclear power plant
Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was part of the team that carried out an inspection of the Zaporijia plant, following its proximity to fighting and bombing between Ukrainian and Russian forces. The IAEA reported that the physical integrity of the plant was “compromised several times” and that the Agency will stay at the location for constant evaluation, specially of the safety measures, to avoid a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl.

During the inspection, the IAEA’s director admitted being concerned during situations when artillery and other weapons were heard firing outside the nuclear power plant, but the emergency systems, the reactors and the control rooms are working to an incredible degree of “professionalism”.

Other news:

• Mikhail Gorbatchov, the last leader of the USSR, died this Tuesday at the age of 91, and his body was exposed to the public in the Hall of Columns in Moscow. Vladimir Putin was not present at the funeral, but paid tribute to the ex-Soviet leader with flowers this Thursday.
• This Thursday, an assassination attempt was carried out against the Vice President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández. During a public event where she was surrounded by supporters, Fernández had a gun pointed at her face, but it stuck and did not fire.
• During an official visit to Mozambique, the Portuguese prime minister apologized to the Mozambican people for the Wiriyamu Massacre of December 1972, where around 400 civilians were killed by Portuguese forces.
• The President of Turkey accuses Greece of occupying demilitarized islands in the Aegean Sea, adding that Turkish forces are prepared to “do whatever it takes“, even though Athens has contested this occupation and dealt with Erdogan’s statement as another threat.
• Al Shabaab forces in Somalia attacked again food transport and killed 18 people in Hiran.
• Domingos Simões Pereira, the leader of the PAIGC and former prime minister of Guinea-Bissau, argues that the country has plunged into a situation of “total anarchy”, as he was prevented from arriving at the airport by Guinea-Bissau security forces, even though there was no order that justifies such impediment.
• According to a long report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the re-education camps where Chinese authorities keep Uighurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region could constitute crimes against humanity. In a context of counterterrorism, the arbitrary detentions perpetrated by the Chinese government represent serious violations of human rights, the report states.