Friday Briefing

Dozens of migrants believed to have died off Cape Verde

More than 60 persons are believed to have died after a ship carrying them from Senegal capsized within the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Verde, the authorities stated this week. A Spanish fisherman discovered the boat floating about 150 miles north of Sal, one of many islands that make up Cape Verde, in accordance with the nation’s nationwide police.

The boat capsized after leaving Fass Boye, a fishing village about 90 miles north of Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on July 10. Thirty-eight individuals survived the accident, together with 4 youngsters, a spokeswoman for the U.N. migration company stated, including that seven individuals had been confirmed lifeless and 56 others had been nonetheless lacking and presumed lifeless.

Smugglers have been piling migrants into poorly constructed or overcrowded boats to make the crossing to Europe from their dwelling international locations in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. Many of the migrants take immense dangers to flee struggle and poverty at dwelling, whereas European international locations search to dam the migrants earlier than they attain their shores.

Context: At least 778 migrants died alongside the West African path to Spain in the course of the first half of the yr, in accordance with the Spanish migrant advocacy group Walking Borders.

Ukraine’s case of ecocide towards Russia

Droves of harbor porpoises are washing up lifeless on the shores of the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian officers say their plight speaks to the savage toll that Russia’s struggle is taking over marine life and on the setting extra broadly — one thing they need to doc for prosecution.

Currently, 4 particular acts — genocide, crimes towards humanity, aggression and struggle crimes — are acknowledged as worldwide crimes. Ukraine wish to add a fifth: ecocide. It is getting down to construct its case towards Russia, conducting autopsies of the lifeless porpoises whereas additionally investigating tens of 1000’s of registered Russian struggle crimes.

Quotable: “The environment is often called the silent victim of war,” stated Maksym Popov, an adviser to the prosecutor common of Ukraine, who’s particularly centered on environmental points. Ukraine is making an attempt to alter that, since “the environment has no citizenship, no borders,” he stated.

In different news from the struggle:

Maui officers defend their response to the hearth

Emergency officers in Maui have defended their choice to not use outside alert sirens final week to warn locals of the hearth because it headed towards the city of Lahaina, saying that the sirens are supposed for tsunamis and would have despatched residents to the hills and towards the flames. So far, 111 individuals have been confirmed lifeless, however solely 5 have been publicly recognized.

The devastation from the wildfire in Maui, the deadliest within the U.S. in additional than a century, reveals the issues in Hawaii’s efforts to adapt to local weather change: The state has left big areas of land coated in extremely flammable invasive grasses; did not undertake wildfire-resistant constructing requirements; and shut down dams, decreasing the island’s capability to retailer water.

In Canada: As a wildfire barreled towards Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, the town’s complete inhabitants of about 20,000 individuals was ordered to evacuate by Friday afternoon.

The British singer Lily Allen, now sober, has a brand new life in New York and a brand new string to her bow: appearing. She is presently enjoying a lead function in a West End revival of “The Pillowman,” working on the Duke of York’s Theater via Sept. 2.

“I still get to play with the human experience,” she stated of this profession transition, “but I don’t have to put my heart on my sleeve as much.”

Lives Lived

The British broadcaster Michael Parkinson, identified for his interviews with tons of of the world’s most well-known actors, musicians, athletes and politicians, has died at 88.

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

Mason Greenwood’s second likelihood: His Manchester United return.

“The Lionesses”: Building England’s girls’s soccer crew as a model.

Projecting the U.S. Ryder Cup crew: Which golfers will safe the ultimate few spots?

From The Times: Vlatko Andonovski, the pinnacle coach of the U.S. girls’s soccer crew, has resigned, ending a comparatively tumultuous tenure.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Forever chemical compounds

PFAS — chemical compounds present in numerous shopper merchandise — have been discovered to break rodents’ immune methods. Yet they lurk in a lot of what we eat, drink and use, and scientists are solely starting to know how they’re impacting our well being — and what to do about them.

“I’ve heard some people say, ‘Well, if everybody is exposed to PFAS, how come we aren’t all dead?’” stated Jamie DeWitt, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology on the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. In truth, she stated, “People actually are dying.”

That’s it for in the present day’s briefing. And a notice: I’m on trip subsequent week. You’ll be in my colleagues’ succesful palms.

Thanks for becoming a member of me, and see you subsequent time. — Natasha

You can attain Natasha and the crew at briefing@nytimes.com.