🔥 Axios PM: Global heat crisis

Plus: Mysterious monolith | Thursday, June 20, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Presented By U.S. Travel Association   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Jun 20, 2024 Good afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 489 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: Extreme weather everywhere   Firefighters try to extinguish fires burning in Athens, Greece, yesterday. Photo: Petros Giannakouris/AP It's not just the U.S. Record heat, flash flooding, wildfires and other extreme weather events are ravaging nearly every corner of the globe, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports. 🇯🇵 Japan has set numerous heat records in June and is also seeing record rainfall for the second straight month. Bullet train service had to be suspended due to the threat of landslides. 🇪🇺 Europe has already seen heat waves sweep across Greece and Sicily, imperiling tourism in both locations, as well as damaging flooding in Germany. 🇧🇷 In Brazil, catastrophic flooding has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Mexico and parts of Central America are still in the grips of the same long-lasting heat wave that's affecting the southwest U.S. 🇮🇳 New Delhi, India, has recorded 37 straight days with temperatures above 104. Zoom out: A bevy of studies show the strong links between heat waves and human-caused global warming. 🌊 What's next: A lot of dangerous weather and climate events are yet to come, including what is anticipated to be a potentially record-setting Atlantic hurricane season. Go deeper.     2. 🍔 McDonald's heats up fast-food price wars   Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   McDonald's is launching a new $5 meal deal nationwide as the fast-food price wars heat up, Axios' Kelly Tyko and Nathan Bomey report. Restaurant chains are feeling compelled to put the "value" back into the value meal after years of price hikes have hampered sales, and McDonald's is under particularly acute pressure. 🔮 What they're saying: Neil Saunders, GlobalData managing director, recently told Axios that consumers really want everyday low prices, not limited-time deals and offers. "McDonald's $5 meal is sensible, but it will only be offered for a limited time so it will not resolve perceptions that the chain has become very expensive," Saunders said.     A message from U.S. Travel Association Travel is an essential driver of the U.S. economy     Travel is essential to economic growth and job creation in states and communities nationwide. The proof: In 2023, travelers in the United States directly spent $1.3 trillion, producing an economic footprint of $2.8 trillion and supporting more than 15 million American jobs. Learn more.     3. Catch me up   Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toast during a reception yesterday in Pyongyang. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images 🇷🇺 Russia and North Korea signed a mutual-defense pact, agreeing to come to each other's aid if either of them is invaded. Go deeper. ⚖️ Judge Aileen Cannon rejected suggestions from two of her superiors on the bench to pass the high-profile case to a more experienced judge. Go deeper. 🎤 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not qualify for CNN's presidential debate next week. Go deeper. 🏀 The Los Angeles Lakers have hired JJ Reddick as their next head coach, ESPN reports. Reddick played in the NBA for 15 years. He's now an ESPN analyst and hosts a podcast with LeBron James.     4. 👀 Whose monolith is this?   A monolith juts out of the rocks near Gass Peak, Nevada, on Sunday. Photo: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP There's a large, shiny monolith atop a remote desert mountain outside of Las Vegas, and no one is quite sure how it got there. Las Vegas police and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have both been mystified by the shimmering prism since discovering it last week. ⁉️ Similar columns have popped up around the world over the past four years — first in Utah, then Romania, central California and in downtown Las Vegas. They usually disappear shortly after they're first spotted.     A message from U.S. Travel Association Biometric technology eases and secures the travel process     Secure biometric technology makes air travel safer and more seamless. Here's how: The majority of recent air travelers are comfortable using biometrics to board a plane, get through security or check in for a flight, making the air travel experience efficient and hassle-free. Learn more.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: