No Two Communities in Greenland Are Connected by Road.

At 830,297 square miles of land, Greenland is our planet’s largest island. But even though it is strategically located between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, hosts Thule Air Base, has hydrocarbons and abundant precious metals (including uranium, platinum, tungsten, titanium, nickel, and copper), contains the world’s largest national park, has been inhabited for over 4,500 years and has more than 50 distinct settlements, there are no roads between any of those communities. There are roughly 93 miles of roads in Greenland within those communities, but only about 56 of those miles are paved and only the capital, Nuuk, has traffic lights (two of them).

UN Gathers Most Votes in Support of Ukraine to Date.

The UN General Assembly passed "Territorial integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the UN Charter," a resolution condemning Russia’s illegal annexation of four partially occupied regions in Ukraine.

One hundred and forty-three countries supported the resolution calling on states, international organizations, and the UN not to recognize Russia’s annexation and demanding the reversal of the annexation declaration. Thirty-five countries abstained from voting, and five countries, including Russia, Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea, and Syria voted against it. The vote follows recent escalations in Russia’s missile attacks targeting civilian areas of multiple Ukrainian cities.

In the Months Since Russia’s Brutal Invasion of Ukraine, Its Trade With China Has Surged.

Days before Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, President Biden and US allies warned that an invasion would result in devastating sanctions and crippling costs. By summer’s end, some 30 countries had imposed various forms of sanctions on Russia’s energy and financial sectors, as well as on Russia’s ability to import semiconductors and key technology components.

But many other countries have chosen not to join the sanctions effort, and some seem to view the invasion—complete with atrocities and veiled threats of strategic nuclear weapons—as a business opportunity.

Brazil Rainforest Destruction Accelerates to Fastest Rate Since 2008.

Between January and March of 2022, 363 square miles of Amazon rainforest—an area roughly the size of New York City—was deforested in Brazil, the highest quarterly rate of deforestation the country has ever seen.

The fact that throughout the past 20 years the Amazon rainforest—also known as the “lungs of the world”—has been devastated by deforestation is hardly news. Between 2001 and 2021, Brazil lost 62.8 million hectares of tree cover, nearly 12% of the country’s total tree canopy.