Before the Ever Max ship carrying lava lamps, sofas, Halloween costumes and artificial Christmas trees could make its inaugural Panama Canal voyage this month, a historic drought forced it to drop weight by offloading hundreds of containers.

Weather-related disruptions denied the vessel, owned by Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine, a chance on Aug. 1 to set a record for carrying the most containers through the vital maritime shortcut that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The Panama Canal Authority has reduced maximum ship weights and daily ship crossings in a bid to conserve water.

Maritime transportation experts fear such events could become the new normal as rainfall deficits in the world’s fifth-wettest country spotlight climate risks affecting the ocean shipping industry that moves 80% of global trade.

Ship owners have the options of carrying less cargo, shifting to alternate routes that can add thousands of miles to the trip or grappling with queues that earlier this month backed up 160 vessels and delayed some ships by as much as 21 days.

The restrictions already are sending China-U.S. spot shipping prices up as much as 36% amid soaring sea temperatures that climate scientists warn could supercharge extreme weather.

“You have to wave a caution flag because the temperatures are so far above normal,” said Drew Lerner, founder and senior agriculture meteorologist at World Weather, whose customers include global commodity traders.

Canal operators are on a tightrope as they work to manage maritime trade disruption and prepare for what is shaping up to be an even drier period next year, said Peter Sand, chief analyst at air and ocean freight rate benchmarking platform Xeneta.

More than 14,000 ships crossed the canal in 2022. Container ships are the most common users of the Panama Canal and transport more than 40% of consumer goods traded between Northeast Asia and the U.S. East Coast.

U.S-bound vessels caught in the bottlenecks have carried Barbie dolls, auto parts, BYD solar panels, water treatment equipment, diabetes testing kits and other goods, according to data from Steve Ferreira, CEO of a company that audits ocean shipping bills.

Restrictions at the canal started earlier this year, affecting about 170 countries and virtually every type of good – including soybeans and liquefied natural gas from the United States, copper and fresh cherries from Chile, and beef from Brazil.

Bulk carriers that transport commodities from corn to iron ore, as well as tankers that move oil, fuel, gas and chemicals also are affected. Some energy companies are rerouting vessels laden with coal and liquefied natural gas to the Suez Canal.

Ingapirca is an Incan archaeological site which is considered to be the largest one which was discovered in the Republic of Ecuador.

Located more precisely in the Cañar Province of the central, more southern part of Ecuador, there have been also some other similar sites that were discovered around the country, however, none of them as large as Ingapirca.

Holding evidence of very sophisticated irrigation and diplomacy among the builders of the ancient world, it is significant to be noted that the Cañari indigenous people settled the area even before the Incans came.

After long time of disputes between the Cañari and Inca people, together they decided to settle their differences in order to live peacefully, which provided for the city to develop faster and better.

It was at that time when the entire complex was ambiguously developed with a complex underground aqueduct system in order for the entire site to be supplied with water.

The most important structure was the Temple of the Sun which partial ruins have survived until today, and archaeologists can learn a little bit more about the people that once lived here.

The temple has intriguing features which are visible in other Incan structures around South America, where the stones with which it is constructed are carefully chiseled and fashioned to fit together perfectly, of course without mortar on the outside.

Having been the place for numerous ritual celebrations, researchers noted that the Temple of the Sun was positioned so well, so that on the solstices at the exact time the sunlight would fall through the doorway in the center of the small chamber, at the top of the temple.

Even though it is not fully researched, Ingapirca is still being studied by all kinds of researchers, where even the anthropologists are fascinated how the Cañari and Incan people lived together, even if the Inca people outnumbered the indigenous Cañari.

Each of them kept their customs, and both people also kept their important autonomy.

Estimated that some 80 important people of religious and political importance resided here, there were around thousand locals that surrounded them, living in peace and prosperity.

Being one of the most visited places in the country, Ingapirca nowadays is definitely one of the most significant archaeological finding which have been studied since 1970s.

Wildfires ravaging Canada’s British Columbia province are showing some signs of easing and the weather conditions should improve through Monday into Tuesday, through crews are still battling “epic” blazes, emergency officials said.

More than 35,000 people have been driven out of their homes over the past four days as flames spread in the western region, forcing the federal government to deploy the military.

Blazes are also raging further north as Canada reels from its worst wildfire season on record, which many experts have blamed on climate change. Other fires, exacerbated by severe drought, have been reported closer to the U.S. border and in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

British Columbia, which sits on Canada’s Pacific coast, could get some rains this week from Tropical Storm Hilary, which hit California on Sunday, forecasters have said.

Jerrad Schroeder, deputy manager at the Kamloops Fire Centre, said late on Sunday he was expecting “really good” firefighting conditions over the next 24-36 hours with temperatures down in the mid-20s degrees Celsius and humidity rising.

The air quality index in many fire-affected areas – including Central Okanagan, Eastern Fraser Valley, Kamloops – hit above 10 on Monday, signaling a high risk, the British Columbia government said.

About 140,000 square km (54,054 square miles) of land, roughly the size of New York state, have been scorched nationwide, with smoky haze extending as far as the U.S. East Coast. Government officials project that the fire season could stretch into autumn because of widespread drought-like conditions.

About 2,000 km to the north, a wildfire burning out of control in Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territories (NWT), has turned the remote city into a smoky, ghost town with almost all the of its 20,000 residents evacuated.

Some 400 armed forces personnel are helping the NWT government deal with the fire, Canada’s Department of National Defence said on Sunday. Fires continued to burn about 15 km from Yellowknife and it was unclear when they will reach the city, officials said.

Jason Brolund, Fire Chief of West Kelowna in British Columbia, one of the worst affected areas by the fires, said conditions have improved which is helping firefighters to put “boots on the ground.”

“We haven’t been challenged with extraordinary fire behavior. We are dealing with things like we are used to seeing. However, we are dealing with them on an epic scale,” Brolund told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Ecuadorean referendums to ban oil drilling in a part of the Amazon and mining in a forest outside Quito easily passed, drawing cheers on Monday from Indigenous leaders and environmentalists despite warnings from oil and mining groups about billions in lost income.

A ban on oil development in part of the Yasuni Amazon reserve passed with just under 59% approval, with nearly all votes counted. A ban on mining in the Choco Andino forest near Quito has 68% support.

The Yasuni vote – which gives state oil company Petroecuador a year to shutter production in the 43-ITT block – is set to result in the loss of about 12% of Ecuador’s 480,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil output.

Petroecuador did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has said a “yes” would cost Ecuador $13.8 billion in income over the next two decades.

The Yasuni ban will lead to a 1.9% reduction in projected economic growth between this year and 2026, the central bank predicted last week.

Two other Petroecuador blocks in the area are unaffected.

The “yes” victory sends a message to investors “including major U.S. banks and asset managers, that the era of unchecked resource extraction is at an end,” said Kevin Koenig, of advocacy group Amazon Watch.

A single hectare (2.5 acres) of the Yasuni has 650 species of trees, as well as hundreds of species of animals, according to the environment ministry.

Both oil and mining guilds have said their industries are needed to shore up the battered economy and that bans would expose the areas to illegal mining and deforestation.

The local Quito referendum will scupper six gold concessions.

Ecuador’s Chamber of Mining has said opposition to mining nationwide is blocking some $1 billion in potential investment for the next two years.

Mining was the country’s fourth-largest source of income last year, behind sales of oil, bananas and shrimp, bringing in $2.8 billion.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s duty as consoler in chief will be put to the test on Monday when he visits Maui, nearly two weeks after wildfires swept through the Hawaiian island and killed more than 110 people.

Biden will pause his vacation in Lake Tahoe to fly from Reno, Nevada, to Maui, where he and first lady Jill Biden will take a helicopter tour of the burned-out areas.

They will then visit the devastated city of Lahaina to see the wildfire damage firsthand and receive a briefing from state and local officials.

After the tour, Biden will make remarks “paying respects to the lives lost and reflecting on the tragic, lasting impacts of these wildfires on survivors and the community,” a White House official said.

Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024, has been criticized by some Republicans and others for his initial response to the Maui fires. Biden said on Aug. 10 he would expand federal aid to Hawaii and promised help to anyone who needed it.

He went several days without speaking about the tragedy while vacationing at his Delaware beach house.

The wind-whipped firestorm that raged through Lahaina in west Maui on Aug. 8 killed at least 114 people in a death toll that is still mounting. The number of people officially believed missing is now 850, down from over 2,000, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said overnight on Facebook.

The White House countered that Biden has been leading a “whole of government” effort to help Hawaii recover. Biden himself said he did not want to travel to Maui until he was assured he would not interfere with emergency response efforts.

On Monday, he will announce the appointment of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 9 administrator Bob Fenton as the chief federal response coordinator to oversee a long-term federal recovery effort, the White House official said.

Biden also will meet with emergency responders, survivors and community members, the official said.

“I will do everything in my power to help Maui recover and rebuild from this tragedy,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday. “And throughout our efforts, we are focused on respecting sacred lands, cultures, and traditions.”

Biden has traveled to a variety of disaster zones, including places struck by hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, since becoming president in January 2021. His visit on Monday came as Tropical Storm Hilary dumped rain on Southern California and Southwestern states.

Maui presents a special challenge as the remains of some of the victims are still being recovered from burned-out buildings.

A cargo ship fitted with giant, rigid British-designed sails has set out on its maiden voyage.

Shipping firm Cargill, which has chartered the vessel, hopes the technology will help the industry chart a course towards a greener future.

The WindWings sails are designed to cut fuel consumption and therefore shipping’s carbon footprint.

It is estimated the industry is responsible for about 2.1% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The Pyxis Ocean’s maiden journey, from China to Brazil, will provide the first real-world test of the WindWings – and an opportunity to assess whether a return to the traditional way of propelling ships could be the way forward for moving cargo at sea.

Folded down when the ship is in port, the wings are opened out when it is in open water. They stand 123ft (37.5m) tall and are built of the same material as wind turbines, to make them durable.

Enabling a vessel to be blown along by the wind, rather than rely solely on its engine, could hopefully eventually reduce a cargo ship’s lifetime emissions by 30%.

Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill Ocean Transportation, said the industry was on a “journey to decarbonise”. He admitted there was “no silver bullet” – but said this technology demonstrated how fast things were changing.

“Five, six years ago, if you would ask people in shipping about decarbonisng, they would say ‘well, it’s going to be very difficult, I don’t see this happening any time soon’,” he told the BBC.

“Five years later, I think the narrative has changed completely and everybody is really convinced that they need to do their part – everybody is just struggling a little on how we’re going to do this.

“That’s why we’ve taken the role as one of the larger players to underwrite some of the risk, and try things, and take the industry forward.”

The Pyxis Ocean will take an estimated six weeks to reach its destination – but the technology it is using has its origins in something much faster.

It was developed by UK firm BAR Technologies, which was spun out of Sir Ben Ainslie’s 2017 America’s Cup team, a competition sometimes called the ‘Formula One of the seas’.

Some 850 people are still missing after the devastating wildfires in Maui, County Mayor Richard Bissen has said.

Over 1,200 people who had been on the list of those missing have been found safe, Mr Bissen said on Monday, warning numbers are expected to fluctuate.

One hundred and fourteen people are confirmed to have died.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the island for the first time since the deadly fires swept through earlier this month.

The blazes destroyed most of the historic Maui town of Lahaina and the fires are now considered the worst natural disaster in Hawaii state history.

“Our lives have changed forever and things will not be the same,” Mr Bissen said in a video update posted to social media. “What will be the same is the way we care for each other as we grieve and go through this together.”

To date, 27 of the deceased have been identified and 11 families had been notified, he said.

Details of who the victims are have begun to emerge in recent days – they so far include an avid musician, and loving grandmothers and fathers.