for his predecessor, benedict xvi, who he says is very ill. the vatican says benedict s condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. we ll speak to a climate change specialist. hello, welcome to the programme. we start with the fallout from the announcement that china s borders will be reopened next month. in the last hour, the us announced it would require negative covid tests for travellers from china from the 5th of january. that follows tighter measures outlined by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan, and india. american officials accuse the chinese authorities of a lack of transparency, as cases of covid have been surging there. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently
what is striking about thisjune is that we did not see outstanding peak temperatures. the highest got in the uk was 32.2 celsius. much lower than those 40 degrees peaks we saw in july last year. what we saw this june was consistently high temperatures. normally, you d expect temperatures. normally, you d expect temperatures in the late teens, may be the early 20s. this year, for a fortnight on end we had temperatures in the mid teens, nudging even into the 30s in some areas. we are going to find outjust how much of a record a cause. the met office is going to tell is on about an hour s time. they are also going to give as an estimate of the role they think climate change has played in all of this, because they think climate change is pushing up the average temperatures we are seeing injune. so, we will get that in about an hour s time. there are calls for whistle blowers in the national health service to get more support. 25,000 people came forward last year to raise concerns
been a really good example. what the met office said a couple of weeks ago is it s looking like 2023 globally will be even hotter, so more droughts, more peak temperatures. so at the moment, the canary in the mind is singing, and we ve got to listen, we ve got to adapt and allow space for nature to do this adaptation. adapt and allow space for nature to do this adaptation. interesting, and resumabl do this adaptation. interesting, and presumably there do this adaptation. interesting, and presumably there isn t do this adaptation. interesting, and presumably there isn t exactly - do this adaptation. interesting, and presumably there isn t exactly a - presumably there isn t exactly a great deal of time for this adaptation? great deal of time for this ada tation? ~ ., . ., great deal of time for this ada tation? . ., . ., . ., adaptation? we are in climate change now, it s adaptation? we are in climate change now. it s not adaptation? we are in climate change now. it s not or ada
we explain the consequences. for example, it s striking that 50% of all human calories come from just three plant species rice, maize and wheat. many of those crops are going to be seriously challenged by new peak temperatures or prolonged periods of acidity. so for food security feeding a growing population reasons alone, we all need to be very concerned about the impacts of climate change. but do you also, then, wade into very complex debates about engineering of new genetic types of plant? do you tell the world that, you know what? given that we re at a world population of 8 billion and it s going to go higher, we need to embrace genetically modified plants. we would be mad to exclude genetic modification and gene editing as a potential tool in the battle against climate change, in the battle to provide food security to, as you say, a growing population. is it the role of kew to get involved in that kind of debate? so, it s not.