In August, the situation goes on a world tour in the evening: SPIEGEL correspondents report from the metropolises and remote corners of Asia, Africa, America and Europe. And, of course, you will continue to receive your news briefing here: news, opinion, stories – everything that is really important during the day.
1. (Water) necessity is the mother of invention
When reservoirs are suddenly just puddles, it's suddenly a matter of bare survival. The city leaders of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, have had to deal with this gloomy scenario in recent months.
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Improvised watering hole near Montevideo
Photo: Pablo Albarenga / DER SPIEGEL
The region is experiencing an unprecedented drought, like so many countries around the world, due to the La Niña weather phenomenon and climate change. When the taps threatened to dry up completely, the planners in Montevideo made a courageous decision. For weeks, the water from the tap tasted of mud and salt, but no one wanted to drink this broth anymore, as my colleague Nicola Abé impressively describes in this text.
So if you can, grab a bottle and get water from the supermarket. "The example of Montevideo shows how the valuable resource of water is in danger of being privatized, especially in times of climate change," says Nicola. "We have to be smarter, we have to be prepared for the unexpected, we need a plan B and C," she quotes a water expert as saying in the text.
After reading Nicola's text, one immediately wonders: does Germany have such a plan B and C? If I remember correctly this SPIEGEL cover story from July, probably not.
Read the full story here: How the city of Montevideo ran out of drinking water
2. Coup coup?
In Niger, in West Africa, too, the climate crisis is hitting mercilessly. Droughts are becoming more frequent, and the rainy seasons have failed to materialize in recent years. But now the Sahel state is facing completely different problems: a military junta overthrew the first democratically elected president out of office at the end of July, similar to what happened in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso. The West, especially France, is losing more and more reliable partners in the Sahel.
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Supporters of the coup plotters demonstrate in Niger's national colours and with Russian flags in Niamey
Photo: AFP
Now there is even the threat of war. The West African community of states Ecowas wants to restore the old order in Niger, if necessary by force. On Sunday, an ultimatum to the coup plotters expired, and now many are wondering: is Ecowas getting serious now? Is a violent expulsion of coup plotters actually also a coup? And is France getting involved? For all those who want to keep track of everything: My colleague Malte Göbel from the news team and I have dealt with the most important questions about the conflict in Niger in an FAQ.
Read more: Berlin warns coup plotters of 'harsh personal consequences'
3. Are the children still safe?
"I'll call the Youth Welfare Office" – this threat will hardly pull in the future in the dispute with annoying parents. Because, as my colleagues Silke Fokken, Milena Hassenkamp and Swantje Unterberg have found out, there is an absolute shortage there. Positions can no longer be filled, and cases have been skyrocketing since the corona pandemic. "It was already clear in the morning that there was no way I could manage my tasks until the evening," a former youth welfare office employee is quoted as saying.
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Children's Emergency Service poster in Berlin (2020)
Photo: Emmanuele Contini / IMAGO
Cases must therefore be prioritized, there is no time for prevention anyway, according to the result of the depressing research. The text also contains a diagram that makes the seriousness of the situation quite clear: Since 2013, child endangerment and the need for help have risen steadily, by more than 100 percent in ten years. At the same time, the offices are whistling out of the last hole. "The system often abandons the children. If more investment is not made soon, no one will give them a chance," says colleague Milena Hassenkamp.
Read the full story here: The child protectors can't do more
What else is important today
Britain accommodates asylum seekers on barge for the first time: The »Bibby Stockholm« once offered shelter to homeless people in the port of Hamburg – now it stands for Britain's new asylum policy. In the future, those seeking protection will be crammed here. It's not just human rights activists who are sounding the alarm.
Only ten California porpoises left in the Gulf of California: Illegal hunting has brought California porpoises to the brink of extinction in the Gulf of California. The International Whaling Commission is now warning of the extinction of the species – and is calling for the use of alternative fishing gear.
Russian space agency wants to launch first moon mission since 1976: It is supposed to be the first launch to the moon in almost 50 years: On Friday, Russia apparently wants to send the lander "Luna 25" to the Earth's satellite. However, an astronomer considers the flight to be very complicated.
News and background on the war in Ukraine
Fear-mongering is not a strategy: With every new type of weapon that is to be delivered to Ukraine, a debate about "escalation" flares up – as is now the case with German Taurus cruise missiles. This is dubious.
Will farmland in Kherson soon turn desert? Due to the rupture of the Kakhovka Dam, masses of water have flooded hard-fought areas in southern Ukraine. Now the water is gone. But a picture from space shows that there is another problem.
Here you will find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine: The news update
My favorite story today...
... is set at night in the poor suburbs of Buenos Aires. There, the floodlights are switched on and negotiations are unrestrained, as my colleague Marian Blasberg describes in this text. A lot of money is at stake in clandestine football matches, young people use their savings as bets, and some earn their living in the crisis-ridden country. I'm certainly not a football fan, but after this report I will turn on the livestream and watch one of the games that are often broadcast on the Internet.
I'm in good company with that, because THE Argentine superstar Lionel Messi is also supposed to watch the games from his new home Florida. He looks down on the kickers, so to speak, and they look up at him, because Messi is their great role model, as Marian has noticed during his nightly visits to the game. "Actually, many of them live as wild as Maradona, but long for a quiet, bourgeois existence like Messi," he says. No wonder in a country where inflation is now in the triple digits.
Read the full story here: When the demimonde of Buenos Aires plays futsal at night
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+
A false suspicion – now this woman has to fight for her career: The case of a Berlin founder shows how merciless state institutions can be: a company goes bankrupt, a development bank has to give in – and the question remains open as to who has to pay for all this.
The Puppeteer of Belgrade: Protests in his own country, supporters beating up KFOR soldiers, a dark man as head of the secret service: despite everything, President Vučić is still regarded as an important negotiating partner in the West. Vladimir Putin should be pleased.
How to gamble away 150,000 euros on the stock market:Get involved in the stock market with your smartphone, as easy and cheap as shopping: Through neobrokers, many people have discovered the appeal of fast securities trading. But what sounds good can go terribly wrong.
What is less important today
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Tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg: martial arts as image correction
Photo: Susan Walsh; Francois Mori / dpa
Muscle Musk and Squabble: For weeks, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have been arguing about an alleged martial arts duel to decide who is the stronger of the two. Two male egos from the tech industry comparing their muscles and promoting their platforms along the way. Because while Musk is teasing on Twitter, pardon: X, Zuckerberg is wedging back to threads. At the moment, the question is on which service the struggle (if it ever takes place) should be broadcast. "I'm ready today," says the Meta boss.
Mini concave mirror
Here you will find the whole concave mirror.
Cartoon of the Day
And tonight?
You can safely skip X or Threads or Facebook. Instead, I recommend a virtual trip to Kenya, my adopted home. Here, the so-called Great Migration is in full swing, thousands of animals make a pilgrimage from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Here, too, as in our situation today in the evening, it is a matter of disappearance. Because the poor animals have to cross a river where crocodiles are waiting for the next meal like in a drive-through. Current videos of this spectacle can be followed very well on https://www.discoverafrica.com/herdtracker/.
With this in mind: Safari njema,
Yours, Heiner Hoffmann, Correspondent