As the UK sweltered under a ferocious autumn sun this week, Christians took part in 13 climate pilgrimages around the UK, from Glasgow to Brighton, to highlight public concern regarding the climate crisis, and to call on the Government to end new oil and gas expansion.

The Met Office announced that the heatwave in England and Wales this week was the first time since records began that temperatures have been higher than 30ºC for six days in a row in September.

The Revd Vanessa Elston, a pioneer priest in Southwark diocese, took part in a pilgrimage in Battersea. She said: “The public are really concerned about the climate issue. We don’t want to be paying sky-high energy bills to fossil-fuel companies in a cost-of-living crisis. Renewables are cheaper; so it’s high time our leaders made them a viable option on a large scale.”

As temperatures rose, leaders of the G20 group of nations met in Delhi, where they called for peace in Ukraine, agreed that the world needed $4 trillion to fund the energy transition away from fossil fuels, and called for accelerating efforts towards a “phasedown of unabated coal power”; they said that poorer nations needed financial support to ensure a “just transition”.

Before the summit, church leaders representing more than 600 million Christians, had called on the G20 leaders to implement progressive carbon taxes and to end subsidies for fossil fuels, which could raise $3.2 trillion for the needed energy transition.

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Christians held a prayer vigil outside World Vision this week, calling on them to stop banking with @Barclays – the largest funder of fossil fuels in Europe.

My latest piece for the @ChurchTimes on growing pressure for charities to clean up their banking.https://t.co/EtrzeomRfm

— Joe Ware (@wareisjoe) September 14, 2023

The world is at “the beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era, according to the leading global energy watchdog, which for the first time has forecast that demand for oil, natural gas and coal will all peak before 2030.

The International Energy Agency projected that the consumption of the three major fossil fuels will start to decline this decade because of the rapid growth of renewable energy and the spread of electric vehicles.

“We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era and we have to prepare ourselves for the next era,” IEA head Fatih Birol said of the projections, due to be published next month in the body’s World Energy Outlook. “It shows that climate policies do work.”

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Today the Episcopal Church commemorates John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, 1830

Rector of Trinity Wall Street, 3rd Bishop of New York (1816-30) and founder of General Theological Seminary, he helped promote the extension of the Episcopal Church in Central & Western New York pic.twitter.com/wIkunzNNCd

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 12, 2023

A San Francisco husband slept through his wife’s call from the World Trade Center. The tower was burning around her, and she was speaking on her mobile phone. She left her last message to him on the answering machine. A TV station played it to us, while it showed the husband standing there listening. Somehow, he was able to bear hearing it again. We heard her tell him through her sobbing that there was no escape for her. The building was on fire and there was no way down the stairs. She was calling to say goodbye. There was really only one thing for her to say, those three words that all the terrible art, the worst pop songs and movies, the most seductive lies, can somehow never cheapen. I love you.

She said it over and again before the line went dead. And that is what they were all saying down their phones, from the hijacked planes and the burning towers. There is only love, and then oblivion. Love was all they had to set against the hatred of their murderers.

Read it all.

We will #NeverForget911. pic.twitter.com/lkbNvyiEdl

— 9/11 Memorial & Museum (@Sept11Memorial) September 11, 2023

From here:

Flight 175 passenger Brian David Sweeney leaves a voice-mail message for his wife, Julie, after his plane is hijacked.

Answering machine: “Message one.”

Brian Sweeney: “Jules, this is Brian—listen, I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you, I want you to do good, go have good times, same to my parents and everybody, and I just totally love you, and I’ll see you when you get there. Bye, babe. I hope I call you.”

Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Gift of Julie Sweeney Roth

Today, we pay solemn tribute to the lives lost on 9/11, a day that forever changed our world. Through the darkest of times, we found strength, resilience, and unity. Let this beacon of hope stand as a symbol of our unwavering resolve to never forget #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/FC8X6m76qK

— One World Observatory (@OneWorldNYC) September 11, 2023

From there:

I got up and turned on the TV, and there was just this big black hole in the World Trade Center. And there was just smoke billowing out of it. I called my sister Cathy I said, “You might wanna wake up, turn in your TV and take a look at what they’re showing.” The commentator’s saying that it’s an American Airlines plane. And I casually asked Cathy, I said, “Do you know where Betty is?” And she says, “Betty’s supposed to be flying out of Boston.” And I said, “Do you think Betty is on that plane?” We just didn’t know. So I left a phone call on her cellphone, just asking her when she’s landed or anywhere you’re on the ground, to just give us a call and tell us you’re okay. And there was no call from Betty. I called American Airlines, and it was only then that it was confirmed that Betty was on the flight.

I just want to add, through your passing, Betty, our family’s gotten very very close. Dad, who’s quite stoic, doesn’t really say a whole lot, man of the family, one day told us that he cries himself to sleep. Even to this day, he just keeps staying up watching TV, hoping somehow that you’ll reappear. And we’re all still waiting for that phone call from you to tell us that you’re okay. We just miss you a whole lot.

You may find the transcript of Betty Ong’s conversation reporting the hijacking from the American airlines plane here.

One World Trade Center rises through fog as the sunrises on the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, Monday morning #newyork #newyorkcity #NYC #sunrise #neverforget @agreatbigcity pic.twitter.com/rliOYFgq4D

— Gary Hershorn (@GaryHershorn) September 11, 2023

The Man Behind the Red Bandana from Drew Gallagher on Vimeo.

On [a] Monday [in September 2003], the last of the 343 firefighters who died on September 11th was buried. Because no remains of Michael Ragusa, age 29, of Engine Company 279, were found and identified, his family placed in his coffin a very small vial of his blood, donated years ago to a bone-marrow clinic. At the funeral service Michael’s mother Dee read an excerpt from her son’s diary on the occasion of the death of a colleague. “It is always sad and tragic when a fellow firefighter dies,” Michael Ragusa wrote, “especially when he is young and had everything to live for.” Indeed. And what a sobering reminder of how many died and the awful circumstances in which they perished that it took until this week to bury the last one.

So here is to the clergy, the ministers, rabbis, imams and others, who have done all these burials and sought to help all these grieving families. And here is to the families who lost loved ones and had to cope with burials in which sometimes they didn’t even have remains of the one who died. And here, too, is to the remarkable ministry of the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, who played every single service for all 343 firefighters who lost their lives. The Society chose not to end any service at which they played with an up-tempo march until the last firefighter was buried.

On Monday, in Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, the Society therefore played “Garry Owen” and “Atholl Highlander,” for the first time since 9/11 as the last firefighter killed on that day was laid in the earth. On the two year anniversary here is to New York, wounded and more sober, but ever hopeful and still marching.

–First published on this blog September 11, 2003

A total of 343 New York fire service personnel died trying to save lives on 9/11. pic.twitter.com/7ziMiFBLnq

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) September 11, 2023

President and Mrs. Bush, I want to say a personal word on behalf of many people. Thank you, Mr. President, for calling this day of prayer and remembrance. We needed it at this time.

We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious, or political background may be. The Bible says that He’s the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles. No matter how hard we try, words simply cannot express the horror, the shock, and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning. September eleven will go down in our history as a day to remember.

Today we say to those who masterminded this cruel plot, and to those who carried it out, that the spirit of this nation will not be defeated by their twisted and diabolical schemes. Someday, those responsible will be brought to justice, as President Bush and our Congress have so forcefully stated. But today we especially come together in this service to confess our need of God. Today we say to those who masterminded this cruel plot, and to those who carried it out, that the spirit of this nation will not be defeated by their twisted and diabolical schemes. Someday, those responsible will be brought to justice, as President Bush and our Congress have so forcefully stated. But today we especially come together in this service to confess our need of God.

We’ve always needed God from the very beginning of this nation, but today we need Him especially. We’re facing a new kind of enemy. We’re involved in a new kind of warfare. And we need the help of the Spirit of God. The Bible words are our hope: God is our refuge and strength; an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

But how do we understand something like this? Why does God allow evil like this to take place? Perhaps that is what you are asking now. You may even be angry at God. I want to assure you that God understands these feelings that you may have. We’ve seen so much on our television, on our ”” heard on our radio, stories that bring tears to our eyes and make us all feel a sense of anger. But God can be trusted, even when life seems at its darkest.

But what are some of the lessons we can learn? First, we are reminded of the mystery and reality of evil. I’ve been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept by faith that God is sovereign, and He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering. The Bible says that God is not the author of evil. It speaks of evil as a mystery. In 1st Thessalonians 2:7 it talks about the mystery of iniquity. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah said “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” Who can understand it?” He asked that question, ‘Who can understand it?’ And that’s one reason we each need God in our lives.

The lesson of this event is not only about the mystery of iniquity and evil, but secondly it’s a lesson about our need for each other. What an example New York and Washington have been to the world these past few days. None of us will ever forget the pictures of our courageous firefighters and police, many of whom have lost friends and colleagues; or the hundreds of people attending or standing patiently in line to donate blood. A tragedy like this could have torn our country apart. But instead it has united us, and we’ve become a family. So those perpetrators who took this on to tear us apart, it has worked the other way; it’s back lashed. It’s backfired. We are more united than ever before. I think this was exemplified in a very moving way when the members of our Congress stood shoulder to shoulder the other day and sang “God Bless America.”

Finally, difficult as it may be for us to see right now, this event can give a message of hope–hope for the present, and hope for the future. Yes, there is hope. There’s hope for the present, because I believe the stage has already been set for a new spirit in our nation. One of the things we desperately need is a spiritual renewal in this country. We need a spiritual revival in America. And God has told us in His word, time after time, that we are to repent of our sins and return to Him, and He will bless us in a new way. But there’s also hope for the future because of God’s promises. As a Christian, I hope not for just this life, but for heaven and the life to come. And many of those people who died this past week are in heaven right now. And they wouldn’t want to come back. It’s so glorious and so wonderful. And that’s the hope for all of us who put our faith in God. I pray that you will have this hope in your heart.

This event reminds us of the brevity and the uncertainty of life. We never know when we too will be called into eternity. I doubt if even one those people who got on those planes, or walked into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon last Tuesday morning thought it would be the last day of their lives. It didn’t occur to them. And that’s why each of us needs to face our own spiritual need and commit ourselves to God and His will now.

Here in this majestic National Cathedral we see all around us symbols of the cross. For the Christian–I’m speaking for the Christian now–the cross tells us that God understands our sin and our suffering. For He took upon himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, our sins and our suffering. And from the cross, God declares “I love you. I know the heart aches, and the sorrows, and the pains that you feel, but I love you.” The story does not end with the cross, for Easter points us beyond the tragedy of the cross to the empty tomb. It tells us that there is hope for eternal life, for Christ has conquered evil, and death, and hell. Yes, there’s hope.

I’ve become an old man now. And I’ve preached all over the world. And the older I get, the more I cling to that hope that I started with many years ago, and proclaimed it in many languages to many parts of the world. Several years ago at the National Prayer Breakfast here in Washington, Ambassador Andrew Young, who had just gone through the tragic death of his wife, closed his talk with a quote from the old hymn, “How Firm A Foundation.” We all watched in horror as planes crashed into the steel and glass of the World Trade Center. Those majestic towers, built on solid foundations, were examples of the prosperity and creativity of America. When damaged, those buildings eventually plummeted to the ground, imploding in upon themselves. Yet underneath the debris is a foundation that was not destroyed. Therein lies the truth of that old hymn that Andrew Young quoted: “How firm a foundation.”

Yes, our nation has been attacked. Buildings destroyed. Lives lost. But now we have a choice: Whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people, and a nation, or, whether we choose to become stronger through all of the struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation. And I believe that we’re in the process of starting to rebuild on that foundation. That foundation is our trust in God. That’s what this service is all about. And in that faith we have the strength to endure something as difficult and horrendous as what we’ve experienced this week.

This has been a terrible week with many tears. But also it’s been a week of great faith. Churches all across the country have called prayer meetings. And today is a day that they’re celebrating not only in this country, but in many parts of the world. And the words of that familiar hymn that Andrew Young quoted, it says, “Fear not, I am with thee. Oh be not dismayed for I am thy God and will give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand upon “thy righteous, omnipotent hand.”

My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us and will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us as we trust in Him. We also know that God is going to give wisdom, and courage, and strength to the President, and those around him. And this is going to be a day that we will remember as a day of victory. May God bless you all.

🇺🇸 In Memoriam #September11 pic.twitter.com/0tnKjDTywR

— William Reymond (@WilliamReymond) September 11, 2023

Almighty God and Father who wills that people may flourish and have abundance of life, be with us especially on this day when we remember such destruction, darkness, devastation, death and terror; help us to honor the memory of those whose lives were utterly cut short, and to believe that you can make all things new, even the most horrible things. Redeem and heal, O Holy Spirit, grant us perspective, humility, light, trust and grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sunrise envelops the Statue Of Liberty and in the distance the Twin Towers – 1978.#September11 #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/BOY1kBhenH

— Michael Warburton (@MichaelWarbur17) September 11, 2023

“The cloudless sky filled with coiling black smoke and a blizzard of paper—memos, photographs, stock transactions, insurance policies—which fluttered for miles on a gentle southeasterly breeze, across the East River into Brooklyn. Debris spewed onto the streets of lower Manhattan, which were already covered with bodies. Some of them had been exploded out of the building when the planes hit. A man walked out of the towers carrying someone else’s leg. Jumpers landed on several firemen, killing them instantly.

“The air pulsed with sirens as firehouses and police stations all over the city emptied, sending the rescuers, many of them to their deaths. [FBI agent] Steve Bongardt was running toward the towers, against a stream of people racing in the opposite direction. He heard the boom of the second collision. “There’s a second plane,” someone cried.”

–Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Random House [Vintage Books], 2006), pp.404-405

11 Sept 2001: al-Qaeda conducts #terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in NYC & the #Pentagon in Arlington, VA by flying planes into the buildings. A 4th plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania. The White House or #Capitol was the likely target. #ad https://t.co/XGZkU8NhZE pic.twitter.com/6gl3uaavJW

— Today In History (@URDailyHistory) September 11, 2023

The US House of Representatives China committee plans to hold a Taiwan war game with financial and business executives in New York on Monday, in an effort to raise awareness about the risks attached to Americans investing in China.

Mike Gallagher, the Republican head of the panel, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, its top Democrat, will lead the delegation, according to a person close to the committee.

The war-game participants include representatives from investment banks, in addition to current and former executives from pharmaceutical companies and retired four-star US military officers. The committee declined to name the financial executives who will participate.

The bipartisan delegation will also meet other financial executives in New York, as the committee steps up its scrutiny of how American investment in China could undermine US national security. On Tuesday they have scheduled a hearing that will include testimony from former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission Jay Clayton and Jim Chanos, the hedge fund short seller.

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US House panel plans Taiwan war game with Wall Street executives https://t.co/6majRMqQAH

— Financial Times (@FT) September 8, 2023

Nyamut Gai lost everything four years ago when armed militias stormed through her village in South Sudan, a landlocked African country tormented by civil war, famine and flooding.

Desperate, she and her family fled almost 600 miles north across the border to Sudan, where she worked as a cleaner in the capital, Khartoum, and began to settle in. But then, a fierce war broke out in Sudan in mid-April between rival factions of the military, sending her packing yet again.

As she and her family made the weekslong journey by foot and bus from Khartoum, her 1-month-old son began coughing and withering away from hunger, and soon died. When she finally crossed the border into South Sudan, any sense of relief she felt was shattered when her 3-year-old son succumbed to measles.

“We are not safe anywhere,” Ms. Gai, 28, said on a recent morning at a muddy and congested aid center in Renk, a town in South Sudan.

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Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese fled a grisly civil war years ago to settle in Sudan. With war now raging in Sudan, they are streaming home to a country ill-prepared to take them back. https://t.co/0u0yV1Hu22

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 7, 2023

Car insurance is a growing burden for Kalisa Hobbs.

Hobbs, who lives near the northern shore of Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain, said the cost of her auto coverage jumped almost 30 percent this year when State Farm added hundreds of dollars to her annual premium, raising it to $1,806. “I’m not going to go hungry or homeless, but like everybody else I live on a budget, and when that budget gets interrupted, it’s difficult,” said Hobbs, 56, who works as a communications manager at a paper mill. “It’s just on my credit card, and I’ll pay it off when I can.”

Hobbs has been swept up in a larger trend affecting hundreds of thousands of American drivers: soaring car insurance rates, with some states seeing increases above 50 percent in the past year.

Premiums have kept climbing even as other types of inflation have cooled. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, car insurance for U.S. drivers in July was 16 percent more expensive than in July 2022, and 70 percent more expensive than in 2013.

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The value of claims submitted has risen because repairs and replacements have become more expensive, companies say.

And natural disasters make things worse. https://t.co/8QJ6slriE6

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 6, 2023

Two years of high inflation has many Americans shopping in places they wouldn’t normally, scouring for coupons and discounts and learning to do without.

The hit to the average budget is huge: The typical household spent $202 more in July than they did a year ago to buy the same goods and services, tweeted Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi. “And they spent $709 more (in July) than they did two years ago.”

People, especially those with annual earnings less than $100,000, are trying multiple strategies to stretch their dollars, according to the Dallas Fed – from delaying major purchases and medical treatment to decreasing the use of utilities and tapping charities.

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Two years of high inflation have ravaged most American households. Here's what resilient Americans have to do to get by, https://t.co/15QLDLp0Rd

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 6, 2023

The unexpected deficit surge, which comes amid signs of strong growth in the economy overall, is likely to shape a fierce debate on Capitol Hill about the nation’s fiscal policies as lawmakers face a potential government shutdown this fall and choices over trillions of dollars in expiring tax cuts. The Senate will return this week from August recess, and the House will be back the following week. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) approved a deal in June to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, but it did little to alter the long-term debt trajectory.

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🇺🇸 U.S. deficit explodes even as economy grows – Washington Posthttps://t.co/IAXBFZ66WK pic.twitter.com/AEnOvk8hVP

— Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) September 4, 2023

The ability of the Church in Wales to bring people together in good conversation and partnership should never be underestimated, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, told the Church’s Governing Body on Tuesday.

In a presidential address that drew parallels with the story of Nehemiah, and focused on challenge and opportunity, he announced the Church’s hosting of a two-day all-Wales climate summit in the second part of next year. It will draw together academics, activists, pressure groups, and stakeholders to discuss the health of the country’s waterways, and the impact of industry, agriculture, and residential domestic use on its landscape.

Wales had the opportunity to redesign its approach to energy, water, land use, and the sustainability of food supply at every level, Archbishop John said. “We are not the experts, save we know what good signposting looks like, and what human flourishing involves. We have a role as people of neutrality that invites confidence.

“Our capacity and commitment to show what human society could look like is well understood and appreciated. We have seen that church must mean much more than gathering and breaking bread on Sunday; that our commitment to justice, to the creation, to the poor might take us into uncomfortable places. That is what the Kingdom of God invites and involves.”

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The ability of the Church in Wales to bring people together in good conversation and partnership should never be underestimated, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, told the Church’s Governing Body on Tuesday https://t.co/bJUxYcLzBw

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 6, 2023

On this three day weekend, when we rest from our usual labors, loving Father, we pray for all who shoulder the tasks of human laboring the marketplace, in factories and offices, in the professions, and in family living.

We thank you, Lord, for the gift and opportunity of work; may our efforts always be pure of heart, for the good of others and the glory of your name.

We lift up to you all who long for just employment and those who work to defend the rights and needs of workers everywhere.

May those of us who are now retired always remember that we still make a valuable contribution to our Church and our world by our prayers and deeds of charity.

May our working and our resting all give praise to you until the day we share together in eternal rest with all our departed in your Kingdom as you live and reign Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

–-The Archdiocese of Detroit

Happy #LaborDay! We’re honoring the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity and well-being. https://t.co/Ub7b8FOSMh pic.twitter.com/NLWdJmpBTg

— U.S. Department of Labor (@USDOL) September 4, 2023

Read it all.

Analysis: The crisis in Niger could reach a tipping point this weekend. Kiari Liman-Tinguiri, Niger’s ambassador in Washington, spoke about the fraught state of play in an interview with Today's WorldView. https://t.co/Wa7Z9MBUZr

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 4, 2023

It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when ice typically forms around Antarctica. But this year, that growth has been stunted, hitting a record low by a wide margin.

The sharp drop in sea ice is alarming scientists and raising concerns about its vital role in regulating ocean and air temperatures, circulating ocean water and maintaining an ecosystem crucial for everything from microscopic plankton to the continent’s iconic penguins.

“This year is really different,” said Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and an Antarctica expert at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “It’s a very sudden change.”

A continued decline in Antarctic sea ice would have global consequences by exposing more of the continent’s ice sheet to the open ocean, allowing it to melt and break off more easily, contributing to rising sea levels that affect coastal populations around the world.

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A record low level of sea ice around Antarctica is alarming scientists and raising concerns about its role in ocean and air temperatures. https://t.co/BHajpX5ew7

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 3, 2023

For the past two and a half years, Oregon has been trying an unusual experiment to stem soaring rates of addiction and overdose deaths. People caught with small amounts of illicit drugs for “personal use,” including fentanyl and methamphetamine, are fined just $100 — a sanction that can be waived if they participate in a drug screening and health assessment. The aim is to reserve prosecutions for large-scale dealers and address addiction primarily as a public health emergency.

When the proposal, known as Measure 110, was approved by nearly 60 percent of Oregon voters in November 2020, the pandemic had already emptied downtown Portland of workers and tourists. But its street population was growing, especially after the anti-police protests that had spread around the country that summer. Within months of the measure taking effect in February 2021, open-air drug use, long in the shadows, burst into full view, with people sitting in circles in parks or leaning against street signs, smoking fentanyl crushed on tinfoil.

Since then, Oregon’s overdose rates have only grown. Now, tents of unhoused people line many sidewalks in Portland. Monthslong waiting lists for treatment continue to lengthen. Some politicians and community groups are calling for Measure 110 to be replaced with tough fentanyl possession laws. Others are pleading to give it more time and resources.

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Oregon’s experiment to curb overdoses by decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs is in its third year, and life has changed for most everyone in the city of Portland: “At four in the afternoon the streets can feel like dealer central” https://t.co/K6ziIxzbBV

— Jim Russell (@ProducerCities) August 1, 2023

Cardinal Czerny first looked at the new geological epoch of today, called the anthropocene, which has brought about “a staggering turning point in the history of our planet.” Human beings, Cardinal Czerny recalled, have significantly altered all planetary systems: the atmosphere, oceans, continents and ecosystems. What is unprecedented in our time is the combination of various crises, including the ecological crisis, cultural wars, the plight of hundreds of millions of poor people and refugees, and the digital age, with its opportunities and pitfalls.

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development went on to emphasise that in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, he urges us to take into account all aspects of the global crisis linked to climate change and to reflect, in particular, on the cornerstones of an “integral ecology for a new humanity.”

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Cardinal Michael Czerny speaks at the 4th International Congress on the Care of Creation held in Lisbon, Portugal, and underscores the urgent need for "transitioning from a fossil-fuel economy to a clean-energy economy."https://t.co/YNC3ebIMm4

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) July 31, 2023

West African leaders on Sunday threatened military action against Niger, where soldiers seized power in a coup on Wednesday, unless the country’s democratically elected president is restored to office within a week.

The demand was issued by the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, a 15-member regional bloc, after a crisis summit in Nigeria. It echoed earlier calls by the United States and France, major security allies of Niger, who warned they will cut aid and military ties worth hundreds of millions of dollars unless the deposed leader, Mohamed Bazoum, is reinstated.

After coup supporters massed on Sunday outside the French Embassy in the capital, Niamey, burning French flags and calling for the withdrawal of French troops, President Emmanuel Macron issued a stiffly worded warning. Any attack on France’s citizens or interests in Niger will be met with an “immediate and uncompromising” reaction, Mr. Macron said in a statement.

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West African Nations Threaten Military Action Unless Niger Coup Is Undone https://t.co/8i6TQ8W9jg

— Declan Walsh (@declanwalsh) July 30, 2023

After debate on Charleston City Council began to stir over the next steps for a proposed 8-mile sea wall around the peninsula, city officials presented a timeline for the project, as well as opportunities for negotiation.

Dale Morris, the city’s Chief Resiliency Officer, told members of a newly formed citizen commission July 27 that the city should be finalizing a design agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal partner on the project, in the next few months.

The agreement will dictate some broad priorities for the project, as well as the roles the two government agencies will play in the design process.

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After debate on Charleston City Council began to stir over the next steps for a proposed 8-mile sea wall around the peninsula, city officials presented a timeline for the project as well as opportunities for negotiation. https://t.co/g8noOioxeI

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) July 27, 2023

I am pleased to update you that we have crossed another important milestone in the progress we are making towards our church sanctuary construction. Since the beginning of the initiation of our contract with Habersham Land Company, the transfer of the property has been contingent upon the financing.

As you know, we have raised the pledge commitments over a number of years, therefore a bridge loan from a lending institution was needed. More specifically, we needed to provide a loan commitment letter from a Bank to prove we could, in fact, build the building.

We have believed for a few months now, that we had enough money in pledges and cash on hand to prove that a bank would want to enter into a loan relationship with us. However, this past Wednesday, the first bank did extend a commitment letter to us. Therefore, what we hoped for and saw good reason to believe would happen, has happened. We have satisfied the conditions to close on the property.

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The Parish Church at Habersham in the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina nears groundbreaking for new Common Worship building https://t.co/CszGrBO217 #southcarolina #parishministry #anglican #acna #religion #lowcountrylife #stewardship #realestate #beginnings #worship pic.twitter.com/4KgndQ4GKl

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 27, 2023

Shunned in the West, his authority tested by a failed mutiny at home, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia needs to project normalcy and shore up support from his allies. So on Thursday, he will host African leaders at a flashy summit in St. Petersburg, part of his continuing outreach to a continent that has become critical to Moscow’s foreign policy.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, some African countries have backed Mr. Putin at the United Nations, welcomed his envoys and his warships, and offered control of lucrative assets, like a gold mine in the Central African Republic that U.S. officials estimate contains $1 billion in reserves.

But if Mr. Putin sought to move closer to African leaders as he prosecuted his war, the 17-month-old conflict is now straining those ties. This summit is expected to draw only half the number of African heads of state or government as the last gathering in 2019, a situation that the Kremlin on Wednesday blamed on “brazen interference” from the United States and its allies.

The summit comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Black Sea over Mr. Putin’s recent decision to terminate a deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain to global markets. Russia’s withdrawal has caused food prices to spike, adding to the misery of the world’s poorest countries, including some of those attending the Russia-Africa summit.

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Shunned in the West and tested by a failed mutiny at home, Vladimir Putin will look to project normalcy and shore up support from other parts of the world as he hosts African leaders at a flashy summit in his home city, St. Petersburg, this week. https://t.co/s9flu3mDVI

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) July 26, 2023

Presidential guards in Niger have seized President Mohamed Bazoum and blockaded his residence, as well as key ministries, sources say.

The African Union, the UN, the EU and the United States have all condemned their actions.

President Bazoum is a key western ally in the fight against Islamist militancy in West Africa.

Crowds in the capital Niamey have taken to the streets of in support of the president.

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Breaking: Reports are coming in that Niger's president Mohamed Bazoum is being held in a coup attempt. The African Union has condemned the "attempted coup d'etat", describing it as "unacceptable".

Read the latest here:https://t.co/EMjaGab8vK

— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) July 26, 2023

The Gulf Stream is a mighty river in the ocean that powers past South Carolina with such force and momentum that it sucks water away from our coast, lowering our sea level by as much as 3 feet.

It’s also part of a much larger conveyor belt of warm and cool waters called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, a current system that moderates the Northern Hemisphere’s climate like a radiator in a car.

But because of a rapidly warming planet, the AMOC system could collapse between 2025 and 2095, researchers said in a new study published in the journal Nature Communications that’s raising alarms across the globe.

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Gulf Stream and Atlantic ocean current system could collapse, causing seas to rise in SC https://t.co/8tFTs5toVv via @postandcourier

— Sandra Bundy (@SandraBundy) July 26, 2023

Last week, Keir Starmer confirmed that a Labour Government would continue the current Government’s policy of the two-child benefit cap. This policy limits the payments that families in receipt of Universal Credit receive to only their first two children and was introduced in 2014 to ensure that ‘people on benefits face the same choices as those in work’.

The reasoning behind the policy does not stand true, as 58 percent of families affected by the limit are in fact households with at least working adult. The cap has instead had a detrimental impact on the lives of families across the country, and the Child Poverty Action Group estimates that the policy is pushing approximately one million children into poverty for prolonged periods.

Child poverty increases the likelihood of lower educational outcomes, as well as poorer mental and physical health. Those who experience it are also more likely to require support from public services later in life, negating any short-term benefits to the country’s finances that continuing to implement the cap would have. Removing the two-child limit would be the most cost-effective way of reducing the number of children living in poverty and would immediately lift an estimated 250,000 children out of poverty.

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'My hope is that this Bill will bring an end to this cruel policy'@BishopPaulB urges the Labour and Conservative parties to back his Private Members’ Bill on abolishing the two-child benefit caphttps://t.co/H1FUnetFDb

— Politics.co.uk (@Politics_co_uk) July 24, 2023

A record number of children are living in temporary accommodation, as the level of homelessness in England soars.

The housing department revealed on Tuesday that 104,510 households were in temporary accommodation by the end of March this year — a 25-year high.

The total number of children in the same situation is at the highest level since records for that measure began in 2004, with 131,370 children living in temporary accommodation.

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A record number of children are living in temporary accommodation, as the level of homelessness in England soarshttps://t.co/KOTwx7L29i

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) July 25, 2023