Your weekend must reads📰

👋Congratulations, friends: You've made it to the weekend − and to The Short List weekend edition✨. I'm John Riley, newsletter editor, and I've rounded up some of the week's best stories for your enjoyment.

First, some good news: Relief is on the way from the nasty heat wave we've been having. More on that now as we look at our must-read stories:

'Global boiling has arrived': July temps to smash records

☀️This week brought sobering messages on the challenges of global climate change. Scientists reported Thursday that July will end up as the Earth's hottest month on record and quite possibly the hottest single month in some 120,000 years. Temperatures in the sea off South Florida measured 101.1 degrees, among the hottest ocean temperatures ever recorded on Earth. And a study warned that a key Atlantic Ocean current is in danger of collapse, which would generate major weather and climate changes in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

In Ukraine, 'an ecological and political disaster'

🔵Seven weeks after a dam collapsed in a Russian-controlled area of Kherson province in southern Ukraine, thousands of Ukrainians are still struggling to access clean water and aid workers say the situation is dire. Cholera-like vibrio bacteria has been detected in the key cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa. Experts believe the environmental impact of the dam collapse could last for generations. Read more

At the Texas border, buoys and razor wire threaten migrant lives

🔵A federal judge will decide whether large water buoys placed by Texas as floating barriers to prevent migrants from crossing the Rio Grande can stay, following a federal lawsuit against the state. The state has also put up miles of razor wire along the Texas banks of the Rio Grande. That has resulted in adults and children being severely cut during river crossings. Graphic: How the barriers work

🔑Be advised: There are more great stories below.👇🏽 Have a great weekend!