What to know about the heat dome hovering over the US
Even as the heat dome begins to wane, portions of 20 American states from the Ohio Valley to the Deep South and the Carolinas to southern New England remain under heat alerts today.
Temperatures in the 30sC to around 37C blanket the region.
A combination of a cold front
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Bay of Islands hapū achieve Ngāpuhi-first Treaty of Waitangi milestone
The hapū grouping's area of claim encompasses most of Pēwhairangi/the Bay of Islands. It includes the eastern Bay of Islands' Ipipiri Islands, where wealthy American writer Zane Grey set up his gamefishing base at Urupukapuka Island's Otehei Bay in 1926, going on to dub New Zealand the 'Angler's El Dorado'. It also includes Motukōkako (Piercy Island), which features the internationally famous Hole in the Rock boat trip tourist destination, and Cape Brett. Rihari said Te Whakaaetanga Trust's Crown Deed of Mandate had been recognised after 18 years' mahi. Te Whakaaetanga Trust chairman Herb Rihari. Te Whakaaetanga Trust's achievement comes 14 years after the Government's controversial 2011 Tuhoronuku Deed of Mandate, which was towards a single settlement for all of Ngāpuhi. That deed was rescinded in 2015, after major rejection from within the iwi's 100-plus hapū. The July Deed of Mandate meant the Crown formally recognised the trust's mandate to negotiate a Treaty of Waitangi settlement on behalf of its affiliated hapū. Rihari said it also opened the door to 'negotiate redress that acknowledges the maemae [hurt] of the past and creates meaningful opportunities for our hapū and mokopuna'. 'It provides a foundation for enduring redress, cultural and economic revitalisation and the restoration of hapū mana across our rohe,' Rihari said. Te Whakaaetanga Trust represents coastal hapū Ngāti Kuta, Ngāti Manu me ngā hapū rīriki – Te Uri o Raewera and Te Uri Karaka, Ngāti Torehina ki Matakā and Patukeha. The trust is made up of two people from each of the hapū it represents. Rihari said the hapū grouping's area of claim approximately encompassed an area bounded in the north by the Bay of Islands' Purerua Peninsula. Its boundary ran from the peninsula's tip, southeast across the waters of the Bay of Islands to Cape Brett and Rāwhiti. Rihari said the boundary then travelled southwest to Karetu. Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith (front, second from left) at a Te Kotahitanga meeting in the Bay of Islands. Photo / Susan Botting From there, the claim's western boundary headed roughly north to Tapeka Point and included the settlements of Ōpua and Russell. It continued northwards across Bay of Islands waters, including Moturoa Island, to Te Puna Inlet. From there it stretched to the northern side of Purerua Peninsula, the claim encompassing all of the landform to the east and including the maunga (mountain) Matakā at the peninsula's tip. Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith told Local Democracy Reporting Northland the Crown Deed of Mandate for Te Whakaaetanga was a positive achievement. 'We're pleased to be making progress,' Goldsmith said. Northland Māori leader and Te Kotahitanga co-chairman Pita Tipene said it was a major milestone for Ngāpuhu hapū working towards Treaty of Waitangi redress. It offered a model for Ngāpuhi tribes, such as those around Waimate, Taiamai, Kaikohe and Whangaroa, who were collectivising towards the same goal. Tipene said it was important the Government approached any Ngāpuhi Treaty of Waitangi hapū redress on a hapū-based commercial and cultural basis. However, Goldsmith poured cold water on that. 'The Government has indicated its preference for a single financial redress for Ngāpuhi, with a small group of cultural-based settlements sitting underneath,' Goldsmith said. 'Te Whakaaetanga is now mandated as one of the groups with which we will be discussing a cultural settlement.' Rihari said the next stage would be preparation for formal negotiations with the Crown and the trust was committed to ongoing kōrero with all who 'held an interest in our shared future'. Rihari said many hands, hearts and minds – past and present – had contributed to the kaupapa of achieving the deed of mandate milestone over many years. 'Ehara tēnei i te mahi māmā, engari he mahi nui mō ngā uri whakatupu. Mā tātou katoa tēnei e kawe, mā te rangimārie, mā te kotahintanga, mā te aroha hoki. 'This is not easy work, but it is important work for the generations to come. Together, through unity, peace and aroha, we carry it forward.' ■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. ■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Scoop
22-07-2025
- Scoop
Droughts Are Causing Record Devastation Worldwide, UN-backed Report Reveals
21 July 2025 This is according to a new report from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) and the International Drought Resilience Alliance on the global impacts of droughts from 2023 to 2025. 'Drought is a silent killer. It creeps in, drains resources, and devastates lives in slow motion. Its scars run deep,' said UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. 'This is not a dry spell,' stressed Dr. Mark Svoboda, report co-author and NDMC Director. 'This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I've ever seen. This report underscores the need for systematic monitoring of how drought affects lives, livelihoods, and the health of the ecosystems that we all depend on.' Record devastation in Africa According to the report, as 90 million people face acute hunger across Eastern and Southern Africa, some areas in the region have been experiencing the worst drought ever recorded. In Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, maize and wheat crops have suffered repeated failures. In Zimbabwe in particular, the 2024 corn crop was down 70 per cent year on year, maize prices doubled, and 9,000 cattle died of thirst and starvation. Some 43,000 people in Somalia died in 2022 alone due to drought-linked hunger. The crisis continued through 2025, with a quarter of the population facing crisis-level food insecurity at the beginning of the year. As a result of drought, Zambia is suffering one of the world's worst energy crises: in April, the Zambezi River plummeted to 20 per cent of its long-term average, and the country's largest hydroelectric plant, the Kariba Dam, fell to 7 per cent generation capacity, causing electricity blackouts of up to 21 hours a day. This has led to the shuttering of hospitals, bakeries, and factories, further compounding the devastation. Worldwide impacts But the effects of drought extend beyond Africa. For example, by September 2023 in Spain, two years of drought and record heat caused a 50 per cent drop in the olive crop, doubling olive oil prices nationwide. In Türkiye, drought-accelerated groundwater depletion has triggered sinkholes, endangering communities and their infrastructure while reducing aquifer storage capacity. In the Amazon Basin, record-low river levels in 2023 and 2024 led to mass deaths of fish and endangered dolphins, disrupted drinking water supplies and created transport challenges for hundreds of thousands. Ongoing deforestation and fires also threaten to shift the Amazon from a carbon sink to a carbon source. Declining water levels in the Panama Canal slashed transit by more than one-third, leading to major global trade disruptions. Among the spillover effects were declines in American soybean exports and shortages and rising prices reported in UK grocery stores. Call for cooperation and solutions The report listed several recommendations to help combat this crisis, including stronger early warning systems, real-time drought and drought impact monitoring, and nature-based solutions such as watershed restoration and indigenous crop use. It also called for more resilient infrastructure – including off-grid energy and alternative water supply systems – and global cooperation, particularly regarding transboundary river basins and trade routes.
Otago Daily Times
19-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Queenstown's first couple of ice hockey
Queenstown ice hockey is much the richer for a couple from the sport's powerhouse nations, the United States and Canada. Both 37, Kellye Nelson and Colin McIntosh coincidentally both arrived in Queenstown in 2017, each intending on just a short stay. However, they soon met and fell for each other, and have since become huge contributors to Queenstown's two national league teams — and have also started representing their adopted country. From Lino Lakes in Minnesota, in the US, Kellye's backyard was, literally, a lake that froze in winter, "so that's where I found my love for skating". "And you kind of had to play ice hockey if you lived in Minnesota." She did dabble in other sports — she and her dad even started lacrosse at her high school — but hockey won out. As for its attraction, Kellye, who was coached by her dad, says "I'm very competitive and I love being able to get in there — you're essentially learning a new way to walk — but for me it's more the community and the teammates I've met". "I've never met a bad hockey player." Kellye played division three for an American university but was also away from the sport while studying in Prague, in the Czech Republic. After a year in Australia she had a five-year sales job in the US, and was then sitting out a non-compete period for another job when she decided instead to take a break in NZ — "I remembered NZ was a place Americans could do a working holiday before they were 30". Arriving in early 2017, she started at a surf camp up north before wending her way to Queenstown, not even knowing there was ice hockey here. Meanwhile, Colin also grew up with the sport, playing road hockey and ice hockey with his three brothers in La Pas, Manitoba. "Hockey was my life, still is. It's just the best sport in the world." As to why, "it's the hardest sport to play, the skill it takes is just insane". Having played professionally in North America and Europe, he heard from a friend about the Stampede, then after making inquiries was contacted by stalwart player Mike McRae. Two weeks later he was on a flight to Queenstown to become a Stampede import. He'd only intended staying a season, but meeting Kellye, who'd started managing the ice rink, changed things. After that Stampede season they travelled to Germany to play there before returning in 2018 — Colin then had the following offseason in Sweden. While Colin's Stampede career's so far run to 100-plus games with 100-plus goals, Kellye initially played two seasons for Dunedin-based Southern Storm before founding the Wakatipu Wild. From day one she's been the captain and McIntosh the coach — they note many players take some time to realise they're a couple. "It's been a lot of hard work and tapping my friends to support us because it's not a cheap sport," Kellye says. Colin notes the Wild's just continued improving year upon year. He experienced a very tough 2022 when he couldn't play after developing pericarditis in reaction to a Covid vaccine. "There were times where my heart rate was 200 beats per minute, just walking from the couch to the kitchen [was hard]. "There were a good six months of darkness because I couldn't leave the house, couldn't go to the rink, and that rink's always been my solace." When he returned to play he was 15kg-20kg overweight, and only got back to his best the past two seasons. He's again been able to help the Stampede stay on stop, and, this year, his second with the Ice Blacks, was their player of the tournament at their division's worlds in Dunedin. "To do that in front of my dad was definitely an honour." Having waited longer for her citizenship — "I was one of the first Kiwis to pledge the oath to the king" — Kellye made her Ice Fernz debut at this year's worlds, also in Dunedin. For this couple, though, encouraging others to step up has been as important as their own contributions. Colin even has his own equipment business, Enigma Hockey, aimed at selling gear as cheaply as possible. Kellye's also been thrilled to have her parents over recently for the first time in eight years, "and I got to play with dad on one of the social league nights — he even scored a goal". Managing Harcourts' holiday homes division, she's not planning to live in North America again. However, Colin, operations director for the Whakatipu Youth Trust, misses family back home, and while Queenstown's "definitely a long-term spot, I just don't know if I could live here forever".
