* President delivers speech on latest efforts to get Americans vaccinated * WHO criticizes US plan to distribute coronavirus vaccine boosters * Full story: US to offer booster shots starting 20 September * Milley: US intelligence did not suggest possibility of rapid Taliban takeover * US embassy says it ‘cannot ensure safe passage’ to Kabul airport * Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email 12.04am BST BERNIE SANDERS: THE PLANET IS IN PERIL. WE’RE BUILDING CONGRESS’S STRONGEST-EVER CLIMATE BILL The Vermont senator writes in an oop-ed for the Guardian: _Just take a look at what’s happening right now: A huge fire in Siberia is casting smoke for 3,000 miles. Greece: burning. California: burning. Oregon: burning. Historic flooding in Germany and Belgium. Italy just experienced the hottest European day ever. July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded. Drought and extreme weather disturbances are cutting food production, increasing hunger and raising food prices worldwide. Rising sea levels threaten Miami, New York, Charleston and countless coastal cities around the world in the not-so-distant future._ _In the past, these disasters might have seemed like an absurd plot in some apocalypse movie. Unfortunately, this is now reality, and it will only get much worse in years to come if we do not act boldly – now._ Related: The planet is in peril. We’re building Congress’s strongest-ever climate bill | Bernie Sanders 11.30pm BST THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION HAS CRITICIZED WEALTHY COUNTRIES’ APPROVAL OF COVID-19 VACCINE BOOSTERS WHEN SO MANY AROUND THE WORLD REMAIN UNVACCINATED, WITHOUT ACCESS. Agence France-Presse reports: _“We’re planning to hand out extra lifejackets to people who already have lifejackets, while we’re leaving other people to drown without a single lifejacket,” said Dr Mike Ryan, the director of the WHO’s health emergency programme._ _“The fundamental, ethical reality is we’re handing out second lifejackets while leaving millions and millions of people without anything to protect them.”_ Related: WHO condemns rush by wealthy nations to give Covid vaccine booster Continue reading...
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