Warmest May on record, the WMO warns

LAST month was the warmest May on record, and carbon-dioxide levels have risen to a new high, despite the economic slowdown from Covid-19, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported. The Secretary-General of the WMO, Petteri Taalas, has urged member states of the United Nations to renew efforts to tackle climate change. He said last Friday: “Governments are going to invest in recovery, and there’s an opportunity to tackle the climate as part of the recovery programme.” The appeal coincided with World Environment Day, celebrated annually on 5 June. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “Climate disruption is getting worse. Fires, floods, droughts, and superstorms are more frequent and damaging, oceans are heating and acidifying, destroying coral ecosystems. And now, a new coronavirus is raging, undermining health and livelihoods. To care for humanity, we must care for nature.”

Nigerian found fatally injured in her church

POLICE in Nigeria have launched an investigation after a 22-year-old woman, Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, was found fatally injured in the church that she attended in Benin City, southern Nigeria, on Wednesday 27 May. She was found, by a church security guard, unconscious in a pool of blood, and rushed to hospital, where she died the next Saturday, her family reported. A group of protesters, including students at the University of Benin, where Ms Omozuwa studied microbiology, marched to police headquarters to demand justice. The head of Redeemed Christian Church of God, the denomination of the church in which she was found, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said last week: “All I can do at this time is to pray for the family of Omozuwa and do everything possible working with relevant authorities to bring the perpetrators to book.”