News 6th August
You can see from the photos below from CNN how big the damage was from the explosion in Beirut. The story is that a big load of ammonium nitrate was take off a damaged ship in 2013 and was then stored in a warehouse. There are strict rules about how to store this chemical but no one seems to have taken responsibility and so it was left in a bad state all this time. When it is left like this it becomes hard and very dangerous. There was a fire and the sparks which could be fireworks could be the trigger to set off the ammonium nitrate like a huge bomb. The red colour is from these chemicals and the white explosion is the huge force that is released. Building as all around were flattened. Thousands of people were injured but the large number who died is still not known.
French workers (83%) are going back to work now – that compares with only 34% in the UK. Germany, Italy and Spain have around 75% back in the office. Other countries have more confidence in the testing and tracing systems.
Bad news for help to the poor countries. There is a big increase in need because of the virus in very poor countries. But nearly half of the UK charities which work in those countries may have to close down as they do not have the money. These are small charities that help with schools and getting clean drinking water, setting up small businesses. The UK Government took away nearly £3 billion from the grants to overseas work. That has a big impact. Even big organisations like Comic Relief are affected …where maybe one quarter of staff will lose their jobs.
