Headline

2023 Hottest Year On Record – EU Climate Monitor

Published

2 years ago

January 10, 2024

The year 2023 was the hottest on record, with the increase in Earth’s surface temperature nearly crossing the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The EU climate monitors said this on Tuesday.

Climate change intensified heatwaves, droughts and wildfires across the planet, and pushed the global thermometer 1.48 C above the preindustrial benchmark, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported.

“It is also the first year with all days over one degree warmer than the pre-industrial period.

“Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Nearly half the year exceeded the 1.5C limit, beyond which climate impacts are more likely to become self-reinforcing and catastrophic, according to scientists.

But even if Earth’s average surface temperature breaches 1.5C in 2024, as some scientists predict, it does not mean the world has failed to meet the Paris Agreement target of capping global warming under that threshold.

That would occur only after several successive years above the 1.5C benchmark, and even then the 2015 treaty allows for the possibility of reducing Earth’s temperature after a period of “overshoot”.

2023 saw massive fires in Canada, extreme droughts in the Horn of Africa or the Middle East, unprecedented summer heatwaves in Europe, the United States and China, along with record winter warmth in Australia and South America.

“Such events will continue to get worse until we transition away from fossil fuels and reach net-zero emissions,” said University of Reading climate change professor Ed Hawkins, who did not contribute to the report.

“We will continue to suffer the consequences of our inactions today for generations.”

The Copernicus findings come one month after a climate agreement was reached at COP28 in Dubai calling for the gradual transition away from fossil fuels, the main cause of climate warming.

The year saw another ominous record, two days in November 2023 exceeded the preindustrial benchmark by more than two degrees Celsius.

Copernicus predicted that the 12-month period ending in January or February 2024 would “exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level”.

Reliable weather records date back to 1850, but older proxy data for climate change — from tree rings, ice cores and sediment — show that 2023 temperatures “exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years”, Burgess said.

Records were broken on every continent. In Europe, 2023 was the second-warmest year on record, at 0.17°C cooler than 2020.

2023 saw the beginning of a naturally occurring El Nino weather phenomenon, which warms waters in the southern Pacific and stokes hotter weather beyond.

The phenomenon is expected to reach its peak in 2024 and is linked to the eight consecutive months of record heat from June to December.

Ocean temperatures globally were also “persistently and unusually high”, with many seasonal records broken since April.

These unprecedented ocean temperatures caused marine heatwaves devastating to aquatic life and boosted the intensity of storms.

Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of excess heat caused by human activity, and play a major role in regulating Earth’s climate.

Rising temperatures have also accelerated the melting of ice shelves -– frozen ridges that help prevent massive glaciers in Greenland and West Antarctica from slipping into the ocean and raising sea levels.

Antarctic sea ice hit record-low levels in 2023.

“The extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we now are from the climate in which our civilisation developed”, said Carlo Buontempo, C3S director.

In 2023, carbon dioxide and methane concentrations reached record levels of 419 parts per million, and 1,902 parts per billion, respectively.

Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after CO2, and is responsible for around 30 percent of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution, according to UNEP.

AFP

Headline

Insecurity: US Congressman Riley Moore Reveals Trump’s Mission In Nigeria

Published

10 hours ago

December 29, 2025

Editor

US Congressman Riley Moore has dismissed insinuations that President Donald Trump is attempting to bring war to Nigeria.

Moore made the remark in a post on his verified X handle on Monday.

His comments followed a US military airstrike on a terrorist enclave in north-west Nigeria on Christmas Day, reportedly carried out on the directive of President Trump.

“President Trump is not trying to bring war to Nigeria, he’s bringing peace and security to Nigeria and to the thousands of Christians who face horrific violence and death.

“The strikes against ISIS on Christmas, in coordination with the Nigerian government, have given hope to the Christians in Nigeria,” he said.

Recall that the lawmaker had previously stated that President Trump is focused on ending the killing of Christians in Nigeria.

It will be recalled that Moore led a US delegation on a fact-finding mission into alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria some weeks ago.

During his brief stay in the country, Moore travelled to Benue State, where he interfaced with religious and traditional leaders, as well as internally displaced persons.

Headline

Russia Calls up 135,000 Military Personnel

Published

17 hours ago

December 29, 2025

Editor

Russia has enlisted 135,000 conscripts for military service in 2026, following the conclusion of the autumn army draft by the Defense Ministry.

A statement on Monday said most personnel have been assigned to training units and military formations where they will “get a military specialty and learn to operate modern military hardware.”

The conscripts can choose to serve in any of the various military branches and armed services after an assessment of their health condition and the results of psychological examinations.

READ ALSO:Russian Strike On Odesa Region Kills Eight, Injures 27

The ministry disclosed that 680 recruits have joined scientific and research-production units, while 240 from the country’s national teams in Olympic disciplines joined sports companies.

However, military personnel who have served the established term of military service have been discharged and sent to their places of residence.

The latest enlistment confirms Russia is shoring up its troops deployed to the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine ahead of the new year.

A fortnight ago, European leaders reaffirmed their pledge to form a multinational force–under the aegis of the Coalition of the Willing–to assist Ukraine in securing land, skies, and seas.

The pledge is one of the six commitments the EU and heads of state developed for Ukraine’s security and economic recovery support measures.

In an interview with TASS on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned Europe’s insistence on sending military forces to Ukraine.

“We have said many times that our Armed Forces would view them as a legitimate target,” he said, warning that anyone who attacks Russia would face “a devastating blow.”

Headline

How Our Airstrikes Stopped Christmas Attacks In Nigeria — US Lawmaker

Published

3 days ago

December 27, 2025

Editor

Riley Moore, a member of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia’s 2nd District, has linked the absence of Christmas attacks in Nigeria this year to US military airstrikes carried out against Islamist militants on Christmas Day.

In a post on his official X account on Saturday, Moore contrasted the situation with the past two Christmas seasons, during which he claimed Christians were killed in attacks across parts of Nigeria.

The lawmaker noted that this year’s response targeted extremist groups instead of marking another period of violence.

He added that US forces acted decisively against militants in coordination with the Nigerian government.

“For the past two Christmases, Christians have been murdered in Nigeria. This year, thanks to @POTUS, Radical Islamic Terrorists were on the receiving end of 12 Tomahawk missiles as a present.

“The successful strikes on ISIS, in coordination with the Nigerian government, are just the first step to secure the country and end the slaughter of our brothers and sisters in Christ,” Moore wrote.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that American forces had conducted deadly strikes against Islamic State terrorists in north-western Nigeria.

Trump, who spoke via his Truth Social platform, warned that more attacks would follow if the militants continued killing Christians, adding that the Department of War executed numerous “perfect strikes.”