Global heating will reach at least 1.8C, UN report warns

Good afternoon.

Global heating will reach at least 1.8C under even the most optimistic future, well beyond the Paris agreement goal of 1.5C, according to a UN report that warns every fraction of temperature rise intensifies destructive extreme weather, ecosystem loss, and island and coastal city submersion.

The report by the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme said “there are no good outcomes above 1.5C”. Human health, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies could all be severely damaged. Some losses would be irreversible and many communities may have to relocate.

But scientists say the world could get back to 1.5C through deep, rapid emissions cuts and removing carbon from the atmosphere through steps such as establishing vast new forests alongside, not as an alternative to, deep cuts in fossil fuel pollution.

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In video

At the Nepal Police hospital in Kathmandu, grieving families are lining up to provide DNA samples in the hope of identifying victims of the devastating floods. Guardian Australia’s Cait Kelly, on the ground in Nepal, has documented the harrowing accounts of those searching for missing loved ones, including survivors who lost their parents.

You can watch the video here, and read Kelly’s feature story here.

What they said …

“If you made a short list of the biggest problems that we’ve got in our society, I think the role of social media would be on that list.” – Jim Chalmers

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says social media algorithms are one of the biggest challenges facing society today, hitting out at the business model of big platforms seeking to polarise users.

Chalmers added “our society, our social cohesion, the way that we come at big problems, including in my part of the shop, in the economy, is hampered, not helped, by the way that algorithms are dominating people’s day”.

Podcast

Tupac’s murder: solved at last?

Thirty years after Tupac Shakur’s death, a man has been found guilty of killing the hip-hop legend.

William Shaw speaks to the Guardian about the star’s life, legacy and untimely death.

Listen to the episode here.

Before bed read

Before a shark attacked Sydney teacher and mother Leah Stewart in June, drone surveillance was not permitted at Coogee beach because it lies directly under the flight path from Sydney airport’s east-west runway. But under a $34m initiative by the state government that out in July, 38 of Sydney’s ocean beaches, including Coogee, now receive dawn-to-dusk drone monitoring year round.

So what’s involved in flying a shark drone? Penry Buckley joined a morning of shark surveillance to find out.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: NUT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.