The Daily Populous

Thursday August 3rd, 2023 morning edition

image for Amazon deforestation falls over 60% compared with last July, says Brazilian minister

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by at least 60% in July compared to the same month last year, the environment minister, Marina Silva, has told the Guardian.

A year ago, under the far-right then president, Jair Bolsonaro, the Amazon was suffering one of the worst cutting and burning seasons in recent history.

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and environment minister, Marina Silva, present a plan to prevent Amazon deforestation in June 2023.

The key to the improvement in Brazil, which is home to 60% of the Amazon, she said, had been a strong target.

“The main reason is the decision of Lula to aim for zero deforestation.

In the first six months of the year, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 34%, compared to the same period last year, according to the Deter satellite alert system.

Nonetheless, she saw encouraging signs compared with the last time she was environment minister, from 2003 to 2008. »

Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau separating, after 18 years of marriage

Authored by ctvnews.ca

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife are separating after 18 years of marriage, and while they plan to co-parent their children, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau will no longer be considered the prime minister’s spouse in any official capacity.

Justin Trudeau leaves with his new bride Sophie Gregoire in his father's 1959 Mercedes 300 SL after their marriage ceremony in Montreal on May 28, 2005.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joined on stage by wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, left, and children Xavier and Ella-Grace, during his victory speech at Party campaign headquarters in Montreal, early Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. »

Wisconsin lawsuit asks new liberal-controlled Supreme Court to toss Republican-drawn maps

Authored by apnews.com
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The latest challenge asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case directly, rather than have it work through lower courts, arguing that the state legislative maps are an unconstitutional gerrymander.

In 2021, the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court decided that it would adopt maps that had the least amount of change as possible from the previous maps drawn in 2011 by Republicans.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, on a 4-3 vote then adopted Republican-drawn legislative maps. »

‘There was no promise not to enlarge NATO’ - Harvard Law School

Authored by hls.harvard.edu

“I was in those meetings, and Gorbachev has [also] said there was no promise not to enlarge NATO,” Zoellick recalls.

“Gorbachev agreed again,” Zoellick recalls, to the principle that Germany could choose to enter NATO.

Putin does not see Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state … He believes that they are all Russians, living in a greater Russia. »