Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

A general, a warlord and an economist.

Three men sit at the top of the government of Sudan,

each with his own agenda as the country fitfully heads towards democracy. Our correspondent speaks with all three to determine their prospects for success.

And many cities would love to be on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites.

Liverpool got there in 2004, but kept developing and modernizing.

Now it's been stripped of the title, and Liverpoolians don't seem to mind.

First up, though... In Zhengzhou, in China's province of Hennan, more than a dozen people are dead after floodwaters fill a subway tunnel.

Elsewhere in the province, an explosion at a chemical plant that had become inundated.

Floods throughout central China have forced thousands to evacuate. In Germany, nearly half a billion dollars of aid has been approved after extreme rains there caused flooding that took about 200 lives.

Many more are still missing.

In India's metropolises of Delhi and Mumbai, floods and landslides, in America's Pacific Northwest, wildfires so enormous they're causing

air pollution warnings thousands of miles away.

From California to New Mexico and Alaska and Minnesota, more than 1,800 square miles of

land have been torched thanks to drought.

Wildfires are rampant in Siberia too. In Madagascar, it's the worst drought in decades.

In New Zealand, more floods.

Directly ascribing these disasters to climate change isn't straightforward,

but they're undeniably in keeping with the kinds of events

that humanity must learn to contend with.

...