North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a major political which he is expected to address his increasingly tense relations with Washington and Seoul over the expansion of his nuclear and missile programs. North Korea has ramped up missile testing to a record pace this year, exploiting a divide in the United Nations Security Council by Russia's war on Ukraine. But Kim has also been struggling to improve a dysfunctional and heavily sanctioned economy made worse by pandemic border closures in recent years, an issue he may also address during the meeting at the years end.

We utilize carbon in our society constantly: economies, housing, and transportation. However, this article focuses on a specific type of carbon: Blue Carbon. The video explains that Blue Carbon is the carbon that is stored in the soil and plants of coastal habitats. Specifically, it is the coastal ecosystems that are very helpful in storing carbon from the atmosphere. The ecological term is a carbon sink which can store up to 10 times the amount of carbon as a tropical rainforest.

The built environment has always played a major role in climate change (roughly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions can be allocated to constructing and maintaining buildings). But the building sector hasn't garnered a wide amount of attention at international climate conferences. However, an increase in climate-related natural disasters has made adaptation and resilience within buildings and infrastructure an immediate concern. In addition, the energy crisis that spread through Europe due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a massive regional effort to rapidly reduce heating oil and gas use and improve building efficiency.

The arrest of an Indian climate activist, Ajit Rajagopal (an architect and activist from Kerala in south India), by Egyptian security forces has renewed alarm about the regime's dire human rights record as it prepares to host the Cop27. About 60,000 political prisoners including human rights and environmental activists have been locked up on bogus charges and tortured in the past decade.

The City of Mexico, Mexico's largest state, approved same-sex marriage on Tuesday. There are now only 3 states left out of 32 in Mexico that have not approved same-sex marriage. Currently, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina have the highest amount of same-sex marriages in Latin America

President Vladimir Putin is "doubling down" the security across all of Russia, especially along the border. This is due to the counterattack from Ukraine which has taken some of Russia's own territory but also continues to attack Russian settlements along the border of the country. To carry out President Putin's decree, all regional governors have been ordered to set up "operational headquarters" which are ordered to "meet the needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and troop formations"

Hurricane Ian strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it approaches Florida today (Wednesday), with the center of the storm on track to make landfall on the state's west coast during the late morning or early afternoon. Maximum sustained winds were near 155 mph, with higher gusts. That is just 2 mph away from being upgraded to a Category 5.

Bakhmut, a city with a prewar population of 70,000, is critical to Russia's objective of taking the rest of the mineral-rich Donbas region. On battlefields in the rolling hills of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, and near the Black Sea in the south, Ukrainian troops have tried to inch forward without losing control of territory. However, they face an opponent whose forces have been bolstered by inmates-turned-fighters and by Iranian drones.

Queen Elizabeth II has died today (9/8) after her 7-decade rule as head of the British Monarchy. The crown now rests on the head or Charles III, the late queen's son.

China has the ability to blockade trade going in and out of Taiwan. Due to Taiwan's close proximity to mainland China and most of Taiwan's ports being on the island's west coast, China has the option not necessarily to invade the island of 23 million but slowly starve them. How will the US respond?

Conflict still wages between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine on the defensive side is still putting up a fight to reclaim parts of their stolen home against this current invasion. Kherson became the first major Ukrainian city to fall into Russian hands after troops advanced into the city from the Crimean Peninsula in the opening days of the war.