Today, Zelensky accuses Russia of planting explosives on the Zapparizia power plant. President Xi wants Putin about the use of nukes. The Taliban closes beauty parlors, Israel completes its operation in Genin, and the world sees its hottest day on record. From TLDR News, this is your daily briefing for Wednesday the 5th of July, 2023.
The Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky has, today, accused Russia of planting explosive objects on the Zapparizia power plant, something he claims is part of preparations to blow it up. The Zapparizia power plant was taken control of by the Russian forces in February of 2022, at the start of the invasion. Talking about this new increased risk of nuclear catastrophe at the plant, Zelensky said the world sees that the only source of danger to the Zapparizia nuclear power plant is Russia, and no one else. For their part, Russian military bloggers have spread rumours that an imminent false flag attack on the power plant would be blamed on Russia.
They've not provided any evidence for this claim. It should be noted that right now, Ukraine's state power company has reported that the water levels in the plant's cooling pond is stable. This is despite the reservoir from the Kukovka Dam being emptied following the hydroelectric power plant being destroyed. We'll update you when we know more about how this story develops.
There's more on the way, but be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to make the daily briefing part of your daily routine. Or just search for us on your podcast app to listen along. Despite their openly cozy relationship, specifically when it comes to the war in Ukraine, it's been reported today that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. This report comes from both Western and Chinese officials who claim that these comments were made as a face-to-face meeting between Xi and Putin in Xi's state visit to Moscow in March.
An additional claim made was that Chinese officials have privately taken credit for convincing President Putin to back down on his nuclear threats against Ukraine. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn't respond to a request for comment. But their parts back as the key of government have been skeptical of Beijing's claims to have pushed back against Russian nuclear threats, given President Xi's purported no-limits partnership with Putin and the Chinese proposed peace plan, which essentially overlaps with the Russian idea for peace. So that's the news from China and Russia today.
Let's move and discuss what's been happening in Afghanistan. The Taliban have cracked down further on women's freedom in Afghanistan by ordering the closure of hair and beauty salons in the country. A spokesperson from the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said that salons had one month to comply with the order. The Taliban have significantly rolled back progress on human rights since they retook Afghanistan in 2021.
But in the years since then, hair and beauty salons have managed to remain open, and worth many women, one of the last places they felt they could safely socialise outside the home, as well as providing some women with employment. One Afghan woman speaking to the BBC said it seems that Taliban do not have any political plan other than focusing on women's bodies. They are trying to eliminate women at every level of public life. The last time the Taliban were in power between 1996 and 2001, beauty salons were closed.
However, they reopened after the government was toppled by US-led forces in 2001. Despite the Taliban promising to do things differently following their 2021 takeover, they've steadily eroded the rights of women and girls. Schools and educational institutions, as well as many public places, including baths, gyms and parks, have been closed to females and restrictions have been placed on employment. On Monday, we cover the beginning of a major Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, focused on the city of Genin.
Today, Wednesday, the Israeli military has said that it's withdrawn from the city, following its large-scale operations, which it said was aimed at destroying Palestinian militant infrastructure and weapons caches in the Genin refugee camp. The operation involved hundreds of Israeli troops, backed by drones and left at least 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead, while thousands in Genin fled their homes. Early on Wednesday, as the withdrawal was being completed, the Israeli military said it intercepted five rockets launched from the Gaza Strip and carried out airstrikes in Gaza in response. Meanwhile, a car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv injured seven Israelis.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said the attack was an act of self-defense in the face of the ongoing Zionist massacre in Genin. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said whoever thinks that such an attack will deter us from continuing our fight against terrorism is mistaken, adding that the operation in Genin would not be a one-time action. The two-day operation was Israel's biggest in the occupied West Bank for many years, and marks a further escalation in violence in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. For those of you who are interested, we've got a new video out on TLDR Global that goes into what happened and what might happen next.
Monday, the 3rd of July was the world's hottest day since records began, according to U.S. researchers. Data from the U.S. National Census for Environmental Prediction found that the average global temperature reached 17.01 degrees Celsius on Monday, beating the previous record of 16.93 degrees set in August 2016.
It's the highest average global temperature since satellite monitoring records began in 1979, and is believed to be the highest since the beginning of the instrumental records at the end of the 19th century. The new record comes as many parts of the world experience heat waves, including in China, the southern U.S., and North Africa. Even Antarctica, where it's midwinter, a new July temperature record of 8.7 degrees Celsius was set. So why are things getting so hot?
Scientists say the combination of continued greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, and an emerging El Nino weather pattern are pushing up temperatures. El Nino, by the way, is an irregular, powerful natural fluctuation in the Earth's climate system, whose hot phase generally occurs every two to seven years. A climate scientist at Berkeley Earth said, unfortunately, it promises to only be the first in a set of new records set this year, as increasing emissions of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, coupled with a growing El Nino event, push temperatures to new highs. We end with some news from Nepal, where last week the Supreme Court issued an interim order that enabled same-sex marriages to be registered for the first time.
While it's only a temporary order pending a final verdict, the move takes Nepal closer to becoming only the second country in Asia to recognise gay marriage. A court decision in 2007 ended laws against gay marriage, and since then, the country has undergone significant changes, with non-female or non-male identifying people being able to choose a third gender on official documents, and a new constitution explicitly barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That's all we have time for on YouTube today, but the briefing isn't over. That's because I sit down with Zach to discuss the latest developments on the battlefield in Ukraine in the extended and free edition of the Daily Briefing, only on Nebula.
That's the streaming service we're building with a bunch of our creator friends, many of whom you're likely to be already watching. That means that by signing up you not only get an extended and free Daily Briefing every single day, you also get to watch exclusive and ad-free videos from the best educational creators on YouTube. That's things like real-life laws' incredible modern conflicts, which breaks down contemporary disputes around the world, Nio's underexposure, which beautifully dives into complex and shadowy topics you've always wanted to know more about, or extremities from Wendover Productions, which uncovers some of the world's most remote places. All of these are only available on Nebula, just like our extended Daily Briefings, and a whole bunch of other exclusive TLDR content which never comes to YouTube.
If you want to sign up, use the link in the description so that they know you came through us. That helps us out a whole lot, as does watching on Nebula more generally. So thanks for signing up, and we'll see you on Nebula.